December 26th - Boxing Day Sales

Today is Boxing Day. I don't think that many people outside of Canada understand what Boxing Day represents for Canadians so let me try to explain. While Americans have Black Friday - the day following their Thanksgiving - as their big day shopping day we have December 26th. Today is argueably the busiest shopping day in Canada. Every store has a sale and millions of people are out there looking for the many great deals out there. However, only the fearless go out shopping as it feels and looks similiar to the million of people making that famous annual journey to Mecca. (See above.) A lot of people touching your ass as they squeeze past you in a desperate attempt to grab that last PSP on sale for the unbelievable price of $170 or 100 DVD-R for $15. If you want to experience something truly Canadian - and you don't like the idea of eating sap from trees - try getting here for a Boxing Day. You'll understand how Gordie Howe learned to throw his famous elbow. I'm sure it was perfected during those many December 26s fighting off crazy Boxing Day shoppers. You'll be doing the same.

December 25th - My Christmas

December 25th - My Christmas
Originally uploaded by cherubichomer.

Well, Merry Christmas. While everyone else is probably spending their time with people they want to be with and eating large, gluttonous meals the dwarf and I find ourselves at work at the hospital. I can't really complain. The pay is pretty good considering I'm working a statutory holiday but I'm not getting much eats besides the chocolates and danish cookies the doctors have purchased as Christmas gifts for our department. Contrary to popular belief, you can have too much chocolate. They have offered all hospital staff working this day a free Christmas meal but I can't get myself psyched up to eat preformed pieces of turkey drowned in Knorr packaged gravy and then canned fruits for dessert. This is a picture of Dwarf at my computer terminal at work.

December 24th -Skiing at Cypress

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Originally uploaded by
cherubichomer.

Christmas eve. Narv, Corey, Guy, and I planned to go cross country skiing. However, Guy bailed on us (very disappointing) so the party only consisted of the three of us. X-country skiing is very fun but very difficult. I fell a couple of times and it felt the same as being body checked in hockey. It hurt. A lot. Only got to ski for a couple of hours before Corey was paged to go to work. (He was on-call for Hydro.) Whatever. I was getting pretty tired anyways. Plus, it's very demoralizing when 4 year olds with perfect form are beating you through the paths. However, we had a very good and fun day. Especially when we were pretending we were Miriam Bedard running - or skiing - from the police. "Run, Miriam, Run!!"

December 3rd

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Originally uploaded by cherubichomer.

This is a plush bear with it's hand in a small plastic bucket. It might be an odd picture but it's a much better picture than the one I took of myself with my hand in the small plastic bucket. Today is my parents' wedding anniversary. This bear was at my sisters place where the anniversary party was. So was the bucket.

December 2nd - Formosa

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Originally uploaded by cherubichomer.

It's been a long time since I posted on the blog. I find myself back in Vancouver waiting out time until I get my next international teaching placement. The agency hasn't given me anything really concrete for a while, which is making me a little angry. But, I guess all I can do is wait. At least the hospital has given me back my job so I'm making some cash while I wait it out. Another thing I'm doing is teaching mathematics at a private school called Formosa. It's a chinese school that offers mathematics challenge courses to keen kids and Norm had been doing it for a while but doesn't want to do it any more so he asked me if I wanted to take it over. Initially, it was set up by a well respected math teacher from one of the east side schools, it's fallen a bit in quality. I'm teaching a class of tens and elevens but haven't done any challenge questions at all. In fact, I'm just teaching them the curriculum. Surely, it's not much fun for the students but I can't teach them what I don't have; Norm said he'd get me challenge questions but hasn't yet. The classes are small (2 in the elevens and up to 8 in the tens) and the kids are easy enough to teach. This is the gnome on the teacher's desk - actually, it's just a student desk at the front of the classroom but whatever.