forever young
so this is what it feels like to be done?
i finished my take-home on Friday. not sure how great it went, just happy to hand the damned thing in! OH MY GOODNESS, i am finished my degree!! how long have i waited to say that? what a mission it has been.
on Saturday the whole family (minus twins) went down to Port Stanley to celebrate Omi's 75th birthday party. Onkel Bart regaled us with party magic tricks (his little hobby) and the boys played guitar and the women made so, so much food. for Omi, we'd all pitched in to buy a beautiful handcrafted oak box, into which we all put homemade hearts, wrapped with notes to her. it was neat to see what everyone came up with. i made an origami heart with patterned paper i made myself, Mom found this little glass heart, Eva made one out of wire, Brahm and his dad made ones out of wood (gorgeous!), etc. i was impressed. Omi made us each read our notes out loud, so no one had a dry eye in the room, least of all her. Dad was absolutely amazing and created a "special edition" of the London Free Press, in honour of Omi's birthday.
it's a German tradition to do this. someone, a close family friend or whomever, makes a fake newspaper in celebration of an event, be it a birthday, wedding, whatever. you include articles, relevant advertisements, forecasts, anything really. for my parents' wedding, for example, their friend wrote an article on "Women of Hamburg mourn loss of Andreas Rudolph" and "Sunny skies ahead for next 25 years", etc. it's a fab idea. anyway, Dad wrote hilarious articles all relevant to my grandmother, including pieces from Mazda, Naya water, the German-Canadian Club, etc. and, of course, there was one big one about the whole family. it was absolutely brilliant.
everyone ended up having a lovely time, despite the weather and despite the dogs' antics - including digging a moat round the Leupens' pond, haha. after stuffing our faces, we only left around 8:30. Dad then drove me straight on to Toronto, meaning i crashed into bed as soon as i got in.
work went alright, despite my clumsiness. accidentally broke two cakes in one go, eek. all good though, accidents happen. was quite amusing that not even half an hour later, a colleague - in the same way - breaks seven little individual ones! brilliant. came home from work, watched the new Doctor Who. (review pending, i know.) and polished all my shoes. god knows what i'll do tonight. i HATE that my laptop is toast. if i weren't so tired, i'd sit and read more of Watching the English, this delightfully interesting book Lee gave me. as it were, am very sleepy, and might just tuck in early.
tomorrow morning i get to go up to Keele to participate in training for the big Pre-Departure Training Session on Wednesday! i am SO excited, you have no idea. i can remember going to my own session quite vividly. with Dave, Adri, Sheila, and dozens of other Glendonites (we're fantastically international that way). the excitement and nervousness was palpable, and by the end no one could stop talking or thinking about all the amazing possibilities and adventures which lay ahead! oh god, it was a beautiful day. and now, Lauren the Canadian and i will be helping out! i remember almost everything the returnees told us, that day, and so i think it'll be a neat thing for me to be the one giving advice this time! i very clearly remember a girl back from Italy who told us "do not fall in love". she'd met a boy in her grandmother's town, and fallen for him, and struggled with being apart after her leaving. so much for me listening! if only i knew then, haha. and now that girl will be me. oh no worries, i know they won't take me seriously, and nothing i say would stop anyone from going and falling in love abroad but... someone's gotta make the point! besides, as much as it was a very bad call, haha, to fall in love with an Englishman, you all know very well i'm glad i did. but yes! Lauren tomorrow, and much nostalgia. we look forward to spreading the enthusiasm and York-love. it will be especially lovely for me, cos each of the Britain exchange students will have gone through their interviews with me! so i'll actually get to see first-hand how happy i've made them all.
and afterwards...? no idea. Adri will be at work, at Rahier(!) and the boys - get this - have decided to finally go through with their crackpot mission (since second year!) to walk to Keele from Glendon. this journey takes approximately half an hour by bus, on the highway. nutters.
Tuesday will see me and Danilo going to the Harry Potter Exhibition at the Ontario Science Centre. i'm fully aware of how geeky this makes us, but frankly - i could not care less! i'm sure we'll have a blast. Wednesday is the Training Session all day. till Friday when i work again, these are the only plans i have all week. hopefully it will stay sunny, i would like to spend one last summery day in downtown Toronto before leaving the city for good. i want to soak up some more of the places i've come to love. maybe even sneak in a meal at Messini? i'm leaving the city for good! who knew, all those years ago that i - of all people - could actually get attached to Toronto? i know it is probably one of the least loved cities in the country (by outsiders, that is) and i thought i was one of that ilk but... four years (give or take) has proved me wrong. i don't know if i ever will or could live here again, but it has been a very special experience.
i’m feeling:
complacent
i finished my take-home on Friday. not sure how great it went, just happy to hand the damned thing in! OH MY GOODNESS, i am finished my degree!! how long have i waited to say that? what a mission it has been.
on Saturday the whole family (minus twins) went down to Port Stanley to celebrate Omi's 75th birthday party. Onkel Bart regaled us with party magic tricks (his little hobby) and the boys played guitar and the women made so, so much food. for Omi, we'd all pitched in to buy a beautiful handcrafted oak box, into which we all put homemade hearts, wrapped with notes to her. it was neat to see what everyone came up with. i made an origami heart with patterned paper i made myself, Mom found this little glass heart, Eva made one out of wire, Brahm and his dad made ones out of wood (gorgeous!), etc. i was impressed. Omi made us each read our notes out loud, so no one had a dry eye in the room, least of all her. Dad was absolutely amazing and created a "special edition" of the London Free Press, in honour of Omi's birthday.
it's a German tradition to do this. someone, a close family friend or whomever, makes a fake newspaper in celebration of an event, be it a birthday, wedding, whatever. you include articles, relevant advertisements, forecasts, anything really. for my parents' wedding, for example, their friend wrote an article on "Women of Hamburg mourn loss of Andreas Rudolph" and "Sunny skies ahead for next 25 years", etc. it's a fab idea. anyway, Dad wrote hilarious articles all relevant to my grandmother, including pieces from Mazda, Naya water, the German-Canadian Club, etc. and, of course, there was one big one about the whole family. it was absolutely brilliant.
everyone ended up having a lovely time, despite the weather and despite the dogs' antics - including digging a moat round the Leupens' pond, haha. after stuffing our faces, we only left around 8:30. Dad then drove me straight on to Toronto, meaning i crashed into bed as soon as i got in.
work went alright, despite my clumsiness. accidentally broke two cakes in one go, eek. all good though, accidents happen. was quite amusing that not even half an hour later, a colleague - in the same way - breaks seven little individual ones! brilliant. came home from work, watched the new Doctor Who. (review pending, i know.) and polished all my shoes. god knows what i'll do tonight. i HATE that my laptop is toast. if i weren't so tired, i'd sit and read more of Watching the English, this delightfully interesting book Lee gave me. as it were, am very sleepy, and might just tuck in early.
tomorrow morning i get to go up to Keele to participate in training for the big Pre-Departure Training Session on Wednesday! i am SO excited, you have no idea. i can remember going to my own session quite vividly. with Dave, Adri, Sheila, and dozens of other Glendonites (we're fantastically international that way). the excitement and nervousness was palpable, and by the end no one could stop talking or thinking about all the amazing possibilities and adventures which lay ahead! oh god, it was a beautiful day. and now, Lauren the Canadian and i will be helping out! i remember almost everything the returnees told us, that day, and so i think it'll be a neat thing for me to be the one giving advice this time! i very clearly remember a girl back from Italy who told us "do not fall in love". she'd met a boy in her grandmother's town, and fallen for him, and struggled with being apart after her leaving. so much for me listening! if only i knew then, haha. and now that girl will be me. oh no worries, i know they won't take me seriously, and nothing i say would stop anyone from going and falling in love abroad but... someone's gotta make the point! besides, as much as it was a very bad call, haha, to fall in love with an Englishman, you all know very well i'm glad i did. but yes! Lauren tomorrow, and much nostalgia. we look forward to spreading the enthusiasm and York-love. it will be especially lovely for me, cos each of the Britain exchange students will have gone through their interviews with me! so i'll actually get to see first-hand how happy i've made them all.
and afterwards...? no idea. Adri will be at work, at Rahier(!) and the boys - get this - have decided to finally go through with their crackpot mission (since second year!) to walk to Keele from Glendon. this journey takes approximately half an hour by bus, on the highway. nutters.
Tuesday will see me and Danilo going to the Harry Potter Exhibition at the Ontario Science Centre. i'm fully aware of how geeky this makes us, but frankly - i could not care less! i'm sure we'll have a blast. Wednesday is the Training Session all day. till Friday when i work again, these are the only plans i have all week. hopefully it will stay sunny, i would like to spend one last summery day in downtown Toronto before leaving the city for good. i want to soak up some more of the places i've come to love. maybe even sneak in a meal at Messini? i'm leaving the city for good! who knew, all those years ago that i - of all people - could actually get attached to Toronto? i know it is probably one of the least loved cities in the country (by outsiders, that is) and i thought i was one of that ilk but... four years (give or take) has proved me wrong. i don't know if i ever will or could live here again, but it has been a very special experience.
i’m feeling:
complacent