Vancouver

The credits have rolled for this blog already. This blog followed me through my life in China, Mongolia, India, Ghana, and Switzerland. This is the 'post blog update':

I have now been back in Vancouver for three months already! I have reconnected with family and friends, went to my Mom and Gary's wedding, as well as Jamie and Chris's, worked a few jobs (a language school and a restaurant), and have recently been hired for what I think is a great opportunity, at a shelter for homeless youth in downtown Vancouver. I love being here, and have already made a lot of new friends and connections. Yey!!!!

Leaving Switzerland!

Leaving Switzerland and returning to Vancouver was no easy decision I assure you; leaving my friends and colleagues, my apartment, and this globetrotter extraordinaire (Phase 1) time of my young life. In Switzerland I became a better teacher, a calmer traveller and, really, an adult.

Here are some pictures of my last few weeks in Switzerland. The cast of High School Musical, Cranium with Sarah's parents, Interlaken Metal Festival, and camping with the crew down South.

ISTA Portugal

This year we took ten kids to the Ista Festival (International Schools Theatre Association) for four days. Lucky for us, the host school, St. Julian's, is at the beach. Alongside playing at the beach and frolicking in Portuguese gardens like nymphs, we did a lot of theatre. Melissa and I got into some pretty serious stage combat in our teacher workshop and... errr... sorry about the black eye, Melissa!

We spent the day at this enormous private gardens doing outdoor theatre. Talk about inspired!

We made a fabulous one minute chase video on our lunch break. Then we put 105 kids to sleep in the courtyard. Teachers needed some down time!

Melissa and I enjoying the beach... before the kids dragged me into the ocean with all my clothes on. I mean, throwing a teacher in the ocean is like a small piece of heaven for a middle schooler. The child in me was envious.

Musical Indulgence

Melissa and I went to London for five days and saw these six musicals. A smattering from across the 20th century, we saw musical theatre in many of its forms. Andy came down and visited for a few days as well, which was added value. And then, we made up our own musical...

Merry Ol' England

Class trip 2009 to London. Fun, tiring, lovely kids. I'll write more when I get more exciting photos.

Locarno

A three day weekend in the Italian part of Switzerland. Kari and I decided a few months ago that we would rent a camp site and a trailor at a camp group in Ticino. We then invited more people and, with very little planning, enjoyed ourselves and the new onset of summer, fabulously.

Windsurfing - Tarifa

One week to get a grip on windsurfing was just perfect. Now I am a pro on my own terms. This is a video of all the times I fell because really, it is more interesting than all the gliding around. This is our day time location and night time funhouse.

Spain is Pretty.

Spain. Accumulated wandering pictures.

Cathleen, Devon, Stefan and I chillax in the gardens.

Then we motor around the gardens. Beep Beep! Coming through!

Espana - Semana Santa in Seville

For Easter, some colleagues and I headed to Seville, Spain to see their cultural festivities for the occasion. The different robes represent brotherhoods in the Catholic Church and they make processions through town, from their church to the Cathedral, carrying crosses, candles and enormous floats depicting scenes from the Bible over the course of the week. Our daily routine was to wake up, find a cafe and then play cards and chat until the square filled up with people. A hush would fall over the crowd, the procession would float by and then we would find a new cafe. Without fail, a procession always came by. It felt like going back in time because it hasn't been comercialized yet. It just all seemed to happen around us.

Sledding Swiss Style

So in the Utliberg park there are these trails that snake down the mountain. In the winter, the trails are for sledding, free and unsupervised, all for one and one for all sledding. Well, sledding is dangerous! I felt like we should have paid 15 dollars to get in and had a set of rules to follow. But no, it was just us and the ice. Even with some nasty turns and crashes, we took the train up and did it all over. Fun and its free!