Six more days until I'm home for Easter, Yahoo!!!!

Good day all you fine people. I am super excited and enthusiastic to come home and see my family, Stefan, and friends. I can't wait....YAAAAA!

So last weekend ended up going by way to fast. The school banquet dinner was very good. The Lobster and Filet Mignon were an absolute treat. I had some white wine to accompany my fabulous dinner, and some intellectual (hehe golf) conversation. The member of the board that I sat with is an insurance broker. Thanks to my daddy, and my work experiences at Empire Life, I was very equip for conversation. It turns out that the man's daughter is one of my students. Luckily, she is doing very well in class and is an absolute pleasure to teach. We played a game after dinner and the awards where you had to find an item in your purse/wallet to win a prize. The awards were quite astonishing. My props go out to one teacher who has taught for 41 years. WOW!!! The music teacher, Jocelyn became a grandmother in the middle of the evening. Her son who lives in Barrie called her with news of the arrival during dinner. He sent her a picture of the new born and this is her first grandchild. She was ecstatic!

On Saturday, I spent the day in the glorious Bermuda sun. Finally! I went down to the beach that was buzzing with activity. I read my book, relaxed and managed to alter my skin colour just a tad. I am no longer pasty white. In the evening Maria came to pick me up for mass. I saw most of the school staff at this one. Afterwards, we went to the church hall for the dinner and bingo. Dinner was okay... not comparable to the steak and lobster from the night before. Bingo was surprisingly entertaining. They also had a raffle with may different items. I saw a handful of students there and it was nice to meet some new people. The sisters were very happy to see me there. I didn't win at bingo, but I was sitting at the table with an older Portuguese couple and it was fantastic to see them play. One woman would get excited every time her numbers would call, and then when she was close to winning she started saying "just one more" in Portuguese. It was very cute. I think Vavo Rosa may have to join me for some afternoon bingo this summer.

On Sunday, I went for a run to Maria's house again. Her husband Steven is in Boston, so she was eager for the company. We went for a walk to Southlands. Southlands is a 37-acre private estate in Warwick, featuring rare exotic plants, hidden quarry gardens and coral sculptures. This place is usually not open to the public. The banyah trees there are AMAZING!!! They have giant root like stumps spurring out from the base of the branches. You can't tell where one tree begins and another ends. They are truly one of life's fun little pleasures. Kids were swinging from their vines, I wanted to try but I restrained myself as I wanted to appear mature. I did however test the resiliency of the vines. They felt like a metal fiber as I tugged on the end of one it would send a current up through the vine to the tree branch and back....very cool!!! I will try to take pictures of them this weekend. I think I will play tourist again. hehe

This week has flown by. I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow. My midterm report cards are due on Monday, so I have to get back to marking papers. No need to complain though, I am grateful to have the work. There is a birthday party tonight that I was invited to, so we shall see if I can go out. Progress pending. The party is at a bar called Robin Hood, and four bands will be playing. We shall see how I feel when 5 o'clock rolls around. Also it is raining, and I don't like to walk alone in the rain, especially at night. So I think I'll go if I can swindle a ride.

As for the rest of my weekend, Saturday I am going to roam the country in search of treasure. And on Sunday, I am going to church because it is Palm Sunday. After church, there is a two hour walk from the beach near my house around a view parishes and back. The Annual Palm Sunday Walk held by the Bermuda National Trust organization. We will walk through different estates and on private property that is not normally open to the public. If it is raining, I am not going to go. :)

I can't wait to come home....6 more days. YES! So excited.
Mom please don't forget to pick me up on Thursday. :P
I miss you all.
Love you and I can't wait to see you.

Please respond via email with any purchase requests. :)
Até logo(until later/see you soon). xoxo

Go HC GO!!!!

For my avid blogger fans I apologize for my lack of entries over the last couple of weeks. Things are really starting to move here on the island. Well for me anyways. Did you know that people in Bermuda have to paint their cars almost yearly? The cars here have to be road approved and they are not allow to have any rust on the vehicle. This is a difficult thing to be mindful of because of all the water, mist, and rain. On weekends you can see people washing their cars all over the island. The cars all look new and they are always clean. This is a fantastic concept for the tourism driven economy here.

Last weekend was quite busy. On Saturday I spent the morning cleaning my apartment and doing laundry. In the even I went out to an Irish Folk Night at a private boat club at Spanish Point. My initial perception was that this place resembled a coffee house. There were tables and chairs facing a make-shift stage. There were candles on the tables and all the patrons of the club were either performing throughout the night or knew someone who did. It was a very intimate and entertaining atmosphere. That all changed when Alannah and her husband’s (Mike’s) band got up to play. It went from Folk to Rock very quickly… they are awesome. After the bar we went into town to the famous “Pickled Onion.” This place was crawling with people, but I was happy to listen to some dance music. We ended up dancing at the bar area because the dance floor resembled a can of sardines. I have never in my life heard Portuguese music at a club until then. I was with a large group of people so it was nice to mingle, meet new people and get out on the town.

- - - Cue time change - - -

In the morning I went to church with Maria and Steven. After lunch I took a nap and then I went for a run. The day was absolutely relaxing and beautiful outside. I ran to Maria’s house and then we went for a walk. There are trails that run between the beaches on South shore. They are absolutely gorgeous, because they squeak out onto private little coves as you walk the sandy trail.
The work week has been very unique. I have to use a flashlight to walk to the bus stop in the morning. People all seem to have their eyes half closed on the bus, like we are all walking zombies. The week at school has resembled such as well. There was a major fight earlier this week. Some students videotaped it and put it on the internet. I don’t understand why they have to document everything in their lives other than the schoolwork of course. Crazy… anyways, drama, drama, drama. And as a result I have been chosen to spearhead a anti-cyberbullying campaign.

Today was a real treat. After work I ventured up to National Stadium (the hub of all sports in Bermuda). I went up there because I found out that the “Canada” team was playing hockey again the Bermuda Juniors. Go Holy Cross Go!!! I tracked down my Almamater -- High school field hockey in Bermuda. My former coach is still at the haul of this ship. The coach brought me some Tim Horton’s coffee, so very thoughtful and kind of him. We chatted for about a half hour about work, school, life, etc. The girls seemed to be having a great time. I had emailed him last week, but I received an out of office reply. So I asked around town and I was able to get a hold of the schedule. I watched their game and I walked them back to town. They have been taking the bus around the country, touring and enjoying the experience.

I also was asked to join a local field hockey team as a goalie. I think I have changed since high school because I was thinking this evening that my nails look really good and if I play I might break one before I have a chance to get a manicure….:P EEeeekkkk…plus I don’t know that I want to play nets. Not only is it a large time commitment, but how would I get a tan wearing stinky borrowed hockey goalie equipment in the sun? However, meeting a new group of people would be very nice. I may give it a shot.

I have another busy weekend planned. Friday evening is our staff appreciation dinner at work, mmmm yummy lobster. On Saturday night I am accompanying Maria to church and then to the St. Patrick’s Church’s – St. Patricks Dinner & Bingo Night….that’s right I said BINGO!!!! ~ Ciao for now

Party Week!

Last week proved to be quite a busy week back at school. I am starting to push my students out of their comfort zone and they are not easing into the process of actually having to do multiply tasks. They complain but I continuously remind myself that I too complained about the work I was given in high school, but I pulled up my socks and got it done.

Wednesday was the school’s 120th birthday and it was a very inspiring celebration. There was a mass in the morning and the bishop of Bermuda came to orchestrate the ceremony. There were six other priests including two from Waterloo, Ontario who also came to celebrate. After mass we had a buffet lunch, with soup, sandwiches and salads. During the last period of class that day everyone received a cupcake and we sang happy birthday to the school. The story of this school originated from a group of nuns who traveled with a large statue of St. Joseph from Halifax to Bermuda. They had a modest school house when they began, and to this day 120 years later, it still remains the only Catholic school on the island. The two nuns that are still here assured all of us that they were not part of the original fleet that arrived by boat 120 years ago.

After school on Friday I went out for drinks with a couple of colleagues. We went to a little bar called Latin, and it is located two blocks from the school. The guacamole there was amazing, but there was one downside to this “happy hour,” the menu had stated that it was $9. So we ordered two for four people thinking $18 was a great deal, but later we found out that pp min. 2 was written in the smallest possible font at the bottom of the menu. Note to self, read menus very cautiously when ordering food in Bermuda. Oh well it was worth it, and the place was very nice. The restaurant is decorated in rustic colours, and it has an outdoor patio that was filled with a barrage of thirsty customers decked out in sharp business attire.

I lost track of time and by the time I left it was about 9 o’clock. Opps. So I went to the bus stop and planned the safest route home I could think of. While waiting for the bus I had a very interesting encounter. Firstly, I was hit on multiple times by a 20 year old with a broken arm. Since I was stuck waiting I figured I would talk to the guy and not appear to be interested, but still have a friendly conversation. He was nice, and he thought I looked 22. I gave him a fake name and work place. He continued to tell me his life story and sat next to me on the bus. UGH!!! Anyways, so when I sat down the woman behind me started to flick my hair. Then she said the most horrifying thing… .”Don’t move there is a cockroach in your hair.” I froze like a deer in headlights and whined for her to get it out. Some man then reached forward and sent it flying across the bus. For the rest of the ride, the young man named Jamal decided to tell me all about Bermuda and its traditions. He told me where I should go and what I should do while I’m here. He was entertaining but I was so happy when he had to leave. So to proceed with my safe route home, I decided to walk through the resort to the street that leads directly to my house. There is security on the premises and cameras so I think after sundown this is a good way for me to go. I do not stay out usually, but as I said I lost track of time.

Saturday I decided to go on an adventure to Dockyard, the part of the island that I had yet to venture towards. I took a bus for the ride out to the clock tower mall, which is catered to cruise ships. The place is filled with little jewelry shops and tourist souvenirs. There was an artist’s gallery there filled with wonderful paintings of the area. Her name is Lisa Rego, she is not related to Maria or her family but I think I would like to buy one of her paintings as a memento of my time here.(www.lisaregoart.com) I like the one called Habourfront best because it depicts the architecture of the coloured concrete homes. The reflection in the water is perfect and the little boy fishing is a great reminder of the students that I will and have taught. The island way of things is very laid back and casual. I think this image is a good representation of the persona of Bermudians in general.

I went to a glass blowing place which is also where they make the Bermuda Rum cakes. I had a few samples… Yummy! There was a clay pottery place that sold lovely things, including the house signs I mentioned last week. It started to pour so I decided to postpone the remainder of the dockyard tour; instead I jumped on the covered ferry and set out for Hamilton. Once I arrived about 20 minutes later, I did some browsing in a few shops, grabbed some groceries and caught a bus home for the evening.

Yesterday was a very eventful day. Maria’s mom and dad, Angelina and Jose, celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. First, I went to church with the entire Rego family at St. Peter’s church in St. George, Bermuda. The church was small and minimal, but it was fun to see some students there at the 9am mass. I was able to meet their parents and introduce myself in a non-academic atmosphere.

Maria had planned a surprise party for her parents, so we headed back to her house to cook for 20 people ~ just kidding. She ordered catering to the house from Café Azoerian, a Portuguese restaurant in town. We had chicken with chorizo, potatoes, vegetables, a cream of cod dish and soup to start. Then for dessert there was rice pudding, Portuguese custard tarts (cajadas), sweet bread (massa), cake, other desserts I don’t remember.

The Rego’s got married via correspondence. Jose was in the army and Angelina’s brother went with him to get the papers so that his sister could marry Jose. So they had wedding pictures taken in their different locations and celebrated alone. Since there was never a proper wedding together they were not able to cut the cake as a couple so Maria decided to recreate the moment. She had a Bermudian wedding cake made for the event. There are two layers to the cake, the bottom is fruit cake and the top is vanilla.

Once lunch was over, Stephen decided to play bartender so we all ended up doing shots of slippery nipples (sambuca and baileys). They were a pretty rowdy bunch, and it was a lot of fun to meet them all. I was sent home with leftovers for the next week, enough to feed a family of four. I brought is all to work today so hopefully I can share it all.

I will be home soon. I can’t wait to spend time with my family on Easter. They fly kites here in Bermuda for Good Friday and I may try to bring one home. I am having a great time here. See you all soon.

Love, Lisa.

Loquats, Southern Strangers and Stain Glass Nudes

A little bit about Bermuda.

In Bermuda all the houses have names. Some are the names of places like The Netherlands and Bayridge. The Cliff, Lemon Tree, Blue Rocks, Amber, Looking Glass, and Mango Hill are just a few of the ones I've seen. Dimensions and Serendipity would suggest that a house could elude to be circumstantial, giving the name a somewhat abstract appeal. Some simply describe the location like Windy Cottage. Others are named after people like Irwin, Evelyn, and Tucker's Villa.

My house is called Shadow Lawns. I know it sounds somewhat mysterious. There are palm trees lining the walk to the main house by they are by no means creating large ambiguous shadows. In the back yard, is the tree that I think this property is named after. It is a large bare branched tree (Royal Poinciana I believe) that cast creepy finger-like shadows at night. From May to Sept. this tree supposedly will blossom with scarlet flowers. Right now the loquats on the loquat trees are just about ripe everywhere on the island. I picked one off a tree this morning to try and they are very tasty. They start out on the outside tasting like a pear but they are juice on the inside like a plum. They are a yellow-orange colour and there is a tree at the center of the school that I work at.

I had a fantastic day exploring Horseshoe Bay Beach on Wednesday. This beach is absolutely gorgeous. I took about 30 pictures and I will be sure to email you. I went to the beach with the intention of relaxing by the ocean, reading a book and taking in the breath-stealing beauty of Bermuda. After about an hour of hanging out I decided to go exploring. I walked the coastline of the beach to the end where there is a cove. I was in there taking pictures and looking around for washed up tressure when a man asked me to take his picture. This guy had grey flowing hair and was probably in his sixties. He had an extremely southern accent. He wanted to take the picture to make his wife jealous. He wanted to email it back to her and make her feel remorse for not joining him in his journey.

After taking his picture three times, and a video of him. He returned the favour for me. I started to explore further on my own, and I found a lookout point not far from the cove overlooking the shoreline for miles. Mark (the southern guy) was still in the cove below me, so I waved a hello. He decided to venture up and was very greatful to me for once again taking his picture. He works for a reinsurance company which is a huge industry here in Bermuda. He is also a real estate agent in Mississippi. He was only down for a couple of days but he was very friendly. We parted ways and I continued on this walking path that joins Horseshoe Bay Beach with Warwick Long Beach (the largest beach on the island). I didn't make it all the way there but I will someday soon. The trails would be great to ride on if you had a peddle bike. I was hunger so I turned back for home.

I went golfing yesterday at Belmont Hills Golf Course. I played pretty will with borrowed clubs and no practice. I think minus a few mental lapses I wasn't far from being "on my game." I rode in a cart with Jackie, the health and social science teacher. Half way throught the round she told me how courageous and brave she thought I was for coming down here. That thought had never really occurred to me, I felt anxious, nervous, and even afraid at times. I was pleasently surprised to hear that, I just want to teach. Shortly after Dustin asked me if I took lessons because my swing was quite natural. I told him that I had some unofficial lessons from my coach, SPK. So then we started talking about hockey. He is a nice guy, newly married with a two year old little boy named Hudson. Dustin is one of the Physical Education teachers at the school. I had a birdie on the 18th hole, my best of the day I outdrove everyone and stuck a seven iron over 150 to the green. Then I sunk a 10 foot putt. I was pretty happy! I only lost one ball all day in an errand play, but I found one also so I came up even.

This morning, I went for a hour run to Church Bay Park, there is a little beach here, but the views of the rocks along the coast are the real appeal. There are picnic tables and benches overlooking the ocean here. There is a resort just before it called The Reefs. The little villas are quite cute and there is a practice putting green on the property which I thought was a neat idea. I have yet to see any mini-golf places here on the island but I guess that is an American concept. In Florida mini-golf was a reason to create a minor theme park.

I went to the Bermuda National Art Gallery today. This grand building is next to the Bus Terminal and I had been meaning to venture in and check it out. The gallery is also the location of City Hall in Hamilton, Bermuda. Two exhibitions are currently running at the art gallery, David L. White and Vivienne J. Gardner's collections. White's collection was comprised of mostly scenic landscapes depicted in watercolour, and oil pastels. They were very pretty but they resembled the usual tourist fair here in Bermuda. The oils were very well done and I like the images of people. He had one with a man sleeping on the pier and another with a woman sweeping the front step called "The Green Door."

V. Gardner's collection was awe inspiring. She is a little old woman who has been creating stain glass artwork for years. She creates pieces for churches and private homes. I really enjoyed seeing the compositions that she has created with sketches or etches done into the glass. These resembled a sketch on an x-ray machine. She had one of a tiger, and unicorn, and one of a nude woman. They were very interesting and extremely vibrant. I wandered around downtown for the remainder of the day. Then I did some shopping and returned home for dinner.

Congrats to the Canadian Women's Team!
Go Canada Go!!! I really hope these boys can pull it together for the next two games.
Let's go LOUUUU!

I'm excited... FORE!

Sunday...

I woke up Sunday morning and finished my book (Jane Austen Ruined My Life, by Beth Pattillo). I really enjoyed this novel because it helped me to realize a simple truth. Life is about exciting new beginnings and not happy endings. Today I picked up a follow up novel, another fluff piece that I think will be fun to read on the beach. The new book is called Summer School by Domenica de Rosa. This book is about a woman who runs a summer writing seminar at her estate in Tuscany. So far it's quite good.

After finishing off my book on Sunday morning I decided to go out for lunch. I walked up the hill to Gibb's Lighthouse. Next to the lighthouse is a little restaurant called "The Dinning Room." This is owned by a very successful restaurant group here in Bermuda. They only serve breakfast and lunch. I walked in and asked for a table of one. The place was very quaint, dark colours, with white linens and views of the ocean from all sides. The waiters were speaking in Italian, and the place was very busy. I ordered my chicken sandwich, which was phenomenal because it had pesto sauce, with bacon and tomato severed on grilled focaccia bread (mmm...). After I placed my order I saw a friendly face enter the restaurant. Alannah (the music teacher at school) and her boyfriend Michael came into the place. They sat at the table next to mine and joined five others for their monthly brunch. They asked me to join, so I did.

There were two couples, Yans(Australia) and Rita(England), Janina(Vancouver) and Steve(Ottawa) and Steve's nephew from Calgary. They were all very nice people, and all the guys play in Mike's band. They kept bringing up songs during lunch that they were reminded of in conversation that they thought would be interesting to add to their setlist. The conversation went on for about three hours. I really enjoyed the social interaction and the food. I will go back there for sure.

Later that evening I ventured into town on my noble steed (the bus), and I went to a local pub to catch the game. I love the fact that the only decent sports bar in town is in the back of an Irish pub. Outback is the name of the bar at the back of Flanegans. When I got there it was swamped with Canadian hockey jerseys. I found the one person in the bar that I knew, Jen who had invited me out. She was very surprised to see me, so I bought some beer and I sat down. She was sitting at a packed table of people. The place was so packed that we had to share a chair... aka one cheek on the seat for each of us. Jen only knew the other Newfy in the group and the others were made up of a couples softball team. The girl next to me ended up being from Belleville. She went to school in Ottawa and has been here for the past four years. She loves it here with her American husband. The hostility surrounding this game at the bar was awesome. :P Anyways so you know how the game ended. I jumped back on the bus and came home.

Yesterday was a quick day at work. I had a few parents drop in to my class to ask questions about my math club. I had one parent-teacher meeting and it was an interesting event. She is well aware of where her son is with regards to being "lazy." So she tries to do all his planning/organizing for him. She was making excuses for him like, he is a November baby... and so he is behind all the others because he is young.

Anyways, my lunch again was out of this world. I went with a group for Indian food at House of Indian. They serve a lunch buffet and the butter chicken and naan bread combination was outstanding. I was so full I had to take a nap when I got home from work. As you can imagine I skipped dinner that night as well.

Today we had a Professional Activity where we learned how to teach inquiry-based curriculum. This was a refresher course for me so I felt confident offering my opinion and ideas. I am so excited to golf on Thursday. Dustin the Physical Education teacher is a member at Belmont Hills (a higher end private course on the island) and he got Jackie and I in to play. I am going to borrow clubs so who knows what my performance will be like, but either way I'm Super Excited.

A bad day to be a duck

A little bit more about Bermuda...

The Bermudian accent is quite unique, it is a cross between a Jamaican and English accent. Students often "axe" me questions in class. I have some students who axe me to go to the "Lu" others want to go to the baaathrm. They generally speak quite quickly all the time, but they move slow. Everyone is always late, what they call island time. The school is extremely loud all the time. Students shout down the hall at each other, and they all try to talk over one another. One teacher from Brooklyn, Annette, likes to yell at her students all day. Her class is two over from mine and she teachers grade 5/6. She grabbed one boy by the ear and dragged him into my room this week so the child would spit out his gum. No gum, but cellphones are okay as long as you keep them in your locker. I got an email on Thursday to look for girls who had their nails painted, because during mass the VP noticed that some had colour on their nails. This to me seems a little too controlling. I think there are more serious things for me to spend my day doing other than checking out manicures in class.

~ Teaching perhaps ~ Privates school are great for plenty of reasons, but in maintaining order you must also teach respect. I find that this school is trying to maintain order in an environment where the students don't respect the teachers. I try to demand it, and take control of situations when confrontation occurs. The school however has adopted the pass the buck theory, where you just give them conduct points and then the principal deals with the issue. This diminishes the power of the individual teacher as they are made out to be tattle tales. I enjoy the public systems theory of each teacher dealing with the problem and as a last resort send the child to the principals office. I think the private system is worried about protecting their investments and rightfully so, but it is definitely something to consider when choosing education for your child.
This is a very different private school environment then what I experienced at Albert College over the past two summers. The students that I've had there were absolute angels, and they all wanted to learn.

The bus is an interesting mode of transportation, where else can you find a collage of personality and a jigsaw puzzle of appearances in one place. Two women were chatting on Wednesday and they were both Irish. Their accents were so thick that I could barely understand what they were saying as I ease dropped on their conversation. I was only paying attention because one of the girls was new to the island and I wanted to hear any advice that might apply to me as well. In the morning the bus is packed. The aisle are full of people standing, I don't know if I'll enjoy the bus in the summer with the smelly people and hot conditions. I like to listen to music or read my book while riding on the bus. I am always sure to say hi to people, but I have yet to have a conversation. Everyone keeps to themselves and minds their own business on the bus. I think it's fun for now.

Jackie, the health and science teacher, picked me up three times this week when she saw me waiting for the bus in the morning. Janet the Language Arts teacher has been gracious enough to give me rides home from school several times this week as she passes by my area on her way home to Somerset. The staff at the school is extremely nice, and everyone seems to get along. When she brought me home yesterday there were six young boys chasing away the ducks from the pond on the seventeenth hole. They were throwing things at the ducks and trying to attack them with sticks. I walked over to talk to the leader of the pack. He said that his dad was the course manager and he had told him to get rid of the ducks. "They poo all over the course," said the kid. I told him to have fun but try not to kill any of them. He said that they were trying to hurt one so they could catch it. "My dad will give us $20 for every duck we catch." They were out there for another few hours tormenting those poor ducks.

Today has been the most relaxing day thus far here on the island. I woke up this morning and started to clean the apartment. I did my laundry and I read a book by the pool while waiting for it to finish. After that I went for a run. This time instead of my usual loop I went farther down south shore to horseshoe bay, an absolutely gorgeous little beach. I cut through a path back to the Fairmont Property grounds to where their private beach is. From there I made my way up the steep long hill up to the top of the resort and then I cut through the golf course back to my place. I got lost around the 18th hole where I found two golf balls (Callaway Big Bertha and a Tit-less Pro V1). I was scanning the edge of the course on the way to the house and sure enough across the street from my place there was a dead duck in the woods. The duck had a few broken wine bottles around it so I'm not sure who murdered the duck but it was so sad to see. There was only one duck left in the pond area. Poor little duck...