Giving Thanks

Today is the Canadian Thanksgiving (ie. the REAL Thanksgiving). While we should all be grateful and appreciative of what we have every single day of the year, this holiday really makes you stop and think about the important things in life.

Many of you who are reading this blog know that my mother passed away in March this year. That life changing experience made me appreciate the good things in life a lot more. I try not to take things for granted (but let's be honest, that's part of human nature), and I try to live life to its fullest. I try to appreciate the little things and find joy in what I do. I am more deliberate in my decisions, and I choose to try to surround myself with positive things (and people) that are worth my time. Life is too short to waste your time on things (and people) that make you unhappy. This is something that I am working on.

I had a really hard time yesterday after skyping with my dad and brother back home. I felt like I should have been home for Thanksgiving. I felt like I was missing out on a family holiday, the first one without my mom. I felt like I needed to be there on the nature walk in Spring Valley, where we took our last family photo. It really upset me.

Spring Valley- Thanksgiving 2009

But, I am so thankful for my wonderful friends and family. Of course I have such a great support system back home, but I've also founds some really great friends here too. Mandi and Rob helped to turn my day around yesterday. We hung out by the pool and Rob made us delicious BBQ chicken pizza. I am truly thankful for them :)

So here are some shout outs to the people who make me smile and those who I care deeply about. To the people who I could not live without and who have helped make me the person I am today. To the people I love and want to be surrounded by:

To my family- I love you and I miss you every day. I am happy to be here and I'm loving my job, but I am always thinking of you. Thank you for putting up with my quirkiness, my craziness, my stubbornness, and all the other weird things I do. And you know that I do a lot of weird things.

To my friends back home- I love you and miss you too! Thank you for all of your love and support, especially this year. I really want to keep in touch, so let's keep skyping! I love when your faces light up my screen! I would also be very thankful if you came to visit!!

To my new friends here- You are all amazing and I couldn't imagine a better group of people to be working and living with. Thank you for your friendship, support, and the fun times! I'm excited for all the adventures to come :)

To my mom- Thank you for being the best mom I could ever ask for, for the past 23 years. Thank you for loving and caring for me; for listening; for worrying; for supporting; for laughing; for smiling; for believing; and for everything else you did. The list of your virtuous qualities is much too long for one blog post. I love you and miss you every single minute of every single day. You are forever rooted in my heart.

Even if you are American or another nationality that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving in October, take our Thanksgiving as a reminder to appreciate life and what you have (I single out the Americans only because they're always the ones who poke fun at Canadian Thanksgiving).

Happy Thanksgiving! And to anyone who is reading this, thank you for being interested and taking time out of your busy lives to read about mine!

xo Sam

Green Green Green! Hello Hello Hello!

Wow, blogging on a regular basis is hard! It's not that I don't have things to say, if anything I have too many things to say! Life is just a lot of fun and very busy, but I need to start dedicating the time to document my experiences before I forget them! Also, it takes FOREVER to post an entry. This one took me about an hour and a half with all the pictures and formatting etc.

I can't believe that it's October already and I'll be starting week 8 of teaching! It's ridiculous how fast time flies! Teaching is going well, and my class is getting a little bit crazy! Of all five grade 3 classes, I think that I have the most dramatic bunch. I have some drama queens who pull each others hair, scream, and push each other. I have one girl who has anger management issues and like to throw things. I recently stopped her from hurling a chair across the room. Classroom management is definitely a challenge at times. The mornings are pretty good for the kids, but once they come back from lunch recess...it's an entirely different class! And it's not just my class that goes nuts in the afternoon, it's most of the school. Besides that, I love my students and I'm having a great time with them! I wrote a song about the 6 main nutrients for our nutrition unit and we are in the process of recording them singing! I will post the song when it's done :)

The beautiful 3rd Grade team at Open House and test taking time...it's hilarious how they're obsessed with using all possible notebooks to set up blockers so no one will see their paper.

Two weekends ago was the common curriculum days at my school, which means that we hosted other teachers from surrounding schools for workshops. Amanda Young, one of my fellow Queen's con-eddies, came to Cali from her school in Armenia and we had such a fun weekend together! It was so nice to catch up with her and it was the perfect weekend to visit!

Amanda & I; In one of my workshops for Destination Imagination!

That weekend was the end of the Festival Mundial de Salsa, and we went to watch some of the competition. The dancing, music and costumes were incredible and it was a lot of fun! We then went out to La Fuente (a hole in the wall salsa bar where people spill out into the streets) and had a "great" time. Let's just say that I talked a lot that night hahaha...

On Saturday after the workshops were over, we went to Surella's husband's cute little restaurant in San Antonio for delicious quiche. It was in the perfect location for the Calle del Arte. The Calle del Arte is a one day art show that takes over some of the streets of San Antonio. Stands with handmade jewellry, instruments, art, mats, clothing, and hats line the streets; vendors sell ridiculously large cups of beer; live music and dancing at every corner. It was an absolutely lovely afternoon! I was so sad to see Amanda leave on Sunday!

Calle del Arte! I love the picture of the woman sleeping in the shade of her hats.

Last Friday was our Primary house integration day. We have houses (like in Harry Potter!!) and they are: Condors (that's me!), Eagles, Falcons, Owls, Woodpeckers, and Hawks. It was a day of chaos, but so much fun! There was so much school spirit! We all had matching shirts, there were balloons, noisemakers, pom poms, face paint- it was awesome! I even made a bird hat and wings. They called me "Mama Condor" haha!

Mama Condor and a rainbow of school spirit!

This past week was spirit week at school and the theme was Salad Dressings. It was pretty cool! Monday was Thousand Islands day (tropical, hawaiian etc). Tuesday was Ranch Day (cowboy/girl). Wednesday was Blue Cheese Day (dress in blue). Thursday was French Day. And friday was House Dressing Day (school, colombian, or house colours). It was a great idea and the kids loved it. Weirdly enough, Markham District is also doing this spirit week theme THIS week...Craaazzzyyyy MDHS!

Anyhoo, I will do my best to update more often (especially with the constant harassment from Stacy). Also, have I mentioned that I will be in the Amazon Rain Forest in 2 weeks? I'm SO EXCITED!

Sam, out.
xo