The Journey Home

Cadets this past Monday went by like standard routine; the only differences were that I had to return all the resources I borrowed & tell the unit where I was heading off too. The cadets wished me well on my way back to Canada & my upcoming summer employment. The officers held a small after party to celebrate my time spent at the unit & mourn my departure. Or was it the other way around?

By the time I got back to my empty room, it was late in the night & I decided to stay awake rather than nap. With the help of my roommate Ben, we carried my suitcases to his car at 4:45am & drove towards the airport. The Christchurch Airport is in the middle of a mass expansion project, meaning I had to be dropped off several metres away from the International terminal. With my suitcases stacked on a metal cart, I thanked my roommate for the lift & bid him farewell until the next time we met.

Lucky for me, there were no queues at the Air New Zealand check in counters & I was able to get everything done in 5 minutes. Once free of my heavy suitcases, I reluctantly paid the $25NZD departure fee & made my way through security. With two hours to spare, I napped on a chair for several minutes before I was awoken by loud Chinese tourists.

The flight to Sydney was uneventful & I spent most of the time watching the critically acclaimed action film The Dark Knight. My plane touched down in Sydney 3 hours later & I was dropped off in the same area where I waited for my flight to Christchurch after visiting my brother in Australia. Unfortunately, I couldn’t locate that $3200AUS cognac set in the Duty Free store.

It was here where I met up with my brother & we both hopped onto the 14 hour flight to Vancouver. Yes, 14 hours! Nothing serious happened when we were waiting except for the occasional crying baby. Despite being in my twenties, I have yet to fly in a Boeing 747 or an Airbus 380 – the largest passenger jets in the world. It’s tough to sit through a 14 hour flight, especially when you’re flying second class (PC name is economy class). Despite the entertainment system, the flight slowly progressed to its end, and the quality of food wasn’t that bad but not as good as before. Next time, I’m flying first class (PC name is business class).

Landing in Vancouver ended my 51-week absence from Canadian soil & after disembarking from the aircraft, I had an extreme craving for Tim Horton’s donuts. Unfortunately, my brother & I didn’t get the chance to seek out a Timmy’s because of the long customs lines, baggage transfers, & the fact we missed our direct flight to Ottawa. Luckily, we were transferred to the next flight two hours later. However, the chosen plane had to be grounded for mechanical failure, and the replacement was smaller meaning staff had to divert several passengers to even later flights! Wow, air travel is so great, isn’t it? I’m kind of glad that the Ottawa flight was downsized because it limited the amount of crying babies.

Personally, there has to be a section on a passenger aircraft dedicated to parents with infants & little children. Earplugs can only do so much. And the second class seats need to be bigger – airlines are making a big mistake favouring quantity over quality.

I was ecstatic when I walked into the new modern Ottawa Terminal that had not long ago finished an expansion project. There was no trace left of the old run down terminal of the 1980s & 1990s. I was also glad because my return journey was finished. Flying halfway across the planet in a span of 28 hours & crossing 8 time zones can be hard on the head in the form of jet lag.

After picking up our baggage, my brother & I were picked up by our joyful parents who treated us to a welcome back dinner (alcohol included) before we collapsed onto our beds for much needed rest. My bed is a lot higher off the ground than I thought it was.

Well, this is it for a while. My BLOG is not finished or over, but in a state of limbo. I’ll definitely be paying Middle Earth another visit in the near future (predicting March 2010). In the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger, "I'll be back!"

As long as the Internet & Google exist, this BLOG will be present in cyberspace. Even though I won’t be posting anything new for a while, that doesn’t mean you have to stop visiting. There’s 76 posts to reread & enjoy!

So, until next time, cheers!

Top Ten Moments of My Middle Earth Stay

Even though the TVs in Ilam Village give you access to just 5 channels, I was glad that one of them, C4, provided me with The Daily Show with John Stewart. If I chose to stay up later, I’d flick over to the Prime Channel to watch The Late Show with David Letterman. Letterman’s comedy is good enough for me to endure his opening monologue & his Top Ten List.

So, to recap the best that has happened in Middle Earth, I’m going to mimic Letterman with my own Top Ten List. Letterman, if you’re reading this, I’ve credited you as the creator, so please don’t sue.

Before I begin, I would like to point out that these are NOT the only moments/memories that have happened during my stay. There was much to choose from when I jotted down all the non-incriminating stuff that I could come up with. After much deep thought & personal debate, I’ve finally come up with a list. To those moments & memories that didn’t make the cut, don’t feel like I’ve forgotten about you, because I have not and never will.

Okay, so let’s begin. [drum roll]

At Number 10: Skiing the high mountains of Temple Basin & tramping the scenic landscape.

[drum roll]

At Number 9: Constantly hearing riders say ‘Thank You’ when getting off public buses.

[drum roll]

At Number 8: The bigger & comfier movie theatre seats & the fact that they’re assigned.

[drum roll]

At Number 7: Ilam Village Life (random power failures, loud drunken parties, elevator breakdowns, TV with only 5 channels, roommates, etc).

[drum roll]

At Number 6: College Life (bar outings, entertaining lectures, parties, friends, etc).

[drum roll]

At Number 5: Touring Dunedin, Invercargill, Sydney, Brisbane, & Canberra with my older brother Roman.

[drum roll]

At Number 4: Whale watching & drinking expensive wines with my visiting parents.

[drum roll]

At Number 3: Being called Mr. D. on teaching practice & at cadets.

[drum roll]

At Number 2: Learning Maori & NZ English culture (Rugby & the All Blacks, CHC to Phuket ad, Hair Poo, Te Puke, the Haka, Shag Point, LJ Hooker Real Estate, etc)

[extended drum roll]

And the Number 1 Moment of My Middle Earth Stay: Skydiving over Christchurch from 12,000 feet!

Next up is catching my flights back to Canada while meeting up with my older brother, Roman, along the way, in Sydney. Hopefully, we’ll arrive in Canada swine flu free & not be quarantined and subjected to intensive searches by Airport/Border Security.

When I lift off from Christchurch to Sydney tomorrow in the very early morning, my record for surviving on my own will stand at an all time high of 30 consecutive weeks!

Final Thoughts

Where do I begin?

My room is beginning to look empty & barren, as I slowly pack everything that I’ve chosen to take with me into two large suitcases & my laptop carrier. After choosing what will be left behind & recycling the academic waste, it still looks like I’ll be taking a lot of stuff with me. In a way, the cleaning & packing makes me feel like the secret police, completely erasing all traces that this room was occupied for 51 weeks.

When I shut & lock my room door for the last time, I’ll be closing another chapter of my history. The memories & interactions from this chapter will remain in people’s heads, in digital pictures, and of course, through this BLOG. It’s most likely I’ll return to this isolated archipelago in the southern hemisphere because of all the positive moments that have occurred, (and it’ll give me a reason to continue this BLOG).

This past week, I’ve been relying on pre-made food such as pizza, Subway, & sushi (two packages for $10!). Hopefully, the business establishments that I frequently visited, such as, Woolworths, Subway, Hell Pizza, & Blockbuster, will be able to survive without my financial input.

Reflecting on the Graduate Teaching Program, I’d have to say that the teaching quality is quite good, the atmosphere is mostly welcoming, and overall it’s a program worth attending . . . that’s if you want to be a teacher & have the finances to spend (around $30,000CAD). Studying overseas has taught me why universities like international students so much – they’re willing to pay double the home tuition to get the same piece of paper.

One thing that’s for certain is that I have to take up guitar before I start teaching music in high school. Learning guitar is probably the most popular instrument students want to learn – because of portability, & frequent use in popular music (electric & acoustic). I already have melody & rhythm down pretty good thanks to piano & drums, but now I need to transfer that onto guitar.

Even though I was unable to start an electronic music show on RDU Campus Radio, I’m glad to have been given the opportunity to review 7 NZ & international electronic music albums for CANTA Magazine – it’ll look really good on my CV (my last two reviews will be forthcoming in early July). The best part was that I got to review high profile NZ artists such as Sola Rosa, State of Mind, & Optimus Gryme.

The last week of lectures has mostly been devoted to ‘Thank You’ speeches from professors, course evaluations, and parties put together by the graduating body. I have to admit that my food/alcohol expenses were higher in the last few weeks because of all the celebrations (because we completed the program), and mournings (. . . because we completed the program & will not see the friends we’ve made).

On Thursday, to mark the end of Professional Studies, the class went to Drexels for brunch. The layout of the restaurant is quite contemporary but the menu reminds me of Denny’s in North America. I was surprised to see that they had real Canadian Maple Syrup, and they served 250 dozen eggs per week! After staring at the menu for quite some time, I settled for Eggs Benedict with a hot chocolate.

For Friday evening, the entire gang flocked to Santorini’s, a lively Greek themed restaurant near the Avon River in downtown Christchurch. We took up an entire corner of the restaurant because there were so many of us.

While dining on exquisite food & filling up on exquisite alcohol (Heineken in my case), the entire establishment came to life when two males started playing traditional Greek music. This led to several female waitresses encouraging customers to join in on circle dances. And who could forget the traditional Greek song & dance, ‘The Macarena’? Several birthdays were also acknowledged by having the person dress & dance on top of a barrel with one of the waitresses. The evening festivities were concluded by a friendly limbo contest. Yeah, Greeks sure know how to party. While all of this was happening, I was frequently looking around the restaurant, trying to spot the supposed cameras that were filming a possible My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2.

But the night was not over yet, despite the weather turning cold & into a light wet drizzal. Upon leaving Santorini's, the whole gang hopped across the river to The Bog Irish Bar. There, we were met by the February intake students & we dined on Guiness, Tequilla shots, while dancing to live modern music. (As always, the sound was quite loud). Well, I only opted for Guiness (dark chocolate milkshake looking beer), because I can't handle straight Tequila, along with a side order of Bog Fries for $6NZD. The rest of the night was all a blur but I made it safely home without a scratch & slept in bed for some time before realizing I hadn't starting packing.

My final thoughts will conclude in the upcoming post, ‘Top Ten Moments of My Middle Earth Stay.’ After that, I’ll be documenting my journey back to Canada, except it may take some time to load it up due to jet lag & the busy schedule awaiting me in the Great White North.

Final Week

It’s hard to believe but the final week of my stay in Middle Earth is here. In just 9 days, I’ll be flying back to my homeland for the first time in a year. I’ve been slowly preparing for the day when I have to drag myself out of bed at 0430 hours to get to airport by 0500 & then wait for my 0700 flight. Since I’m not a morning person, I’ll be relying on a good energy drink to keep me awake while I drop off my baggage & go through nit-picky security.

Scared that its 15 minutes of fame are over, swine flu has launched a surprise offensive, especially in Australia, with the total number of cases spiking to 1300! That’s a slight worry for me because I’ll be travelling to Sydney to meet my older brother whose been studying in Canberra for a year. Although, my roommate Ryan just came back from a week long trip to Sydney, he said that he didn’t notice a pandemic & that he was swine flu free.

With the end in sight, the midyears in my class have been planning on how to celebrate the inevitable end of the graduate program. On the 19th, both senior professional studies’ classes will converge to have a group lunch and/or morning tea. Hmm, I should probably ask someone if I have to bring something & if it’s a BYOB?

Most of my assignments are completed with some already handed in. I just have to put the finishing touches on the remainders & then I can sit back & relax . . . for several minutes because my suitcases need to be packed. On Monday morning, [insert The Mamas & The Papas song here], I’ll be starting the senior history lecture with a presentation about Parihaka & its significance to NZ & Mäori history. Long story short, think 19th century NZ, Mäori land resistance, & Gandhi like leadership.

Creative English class has been interesting & humourous because students have been showing vids & pics of English being used creatively. And that includes Engrish (failed Chinese/Japanese attempts in translating to English). So far, the class favourites are: Total Eclipse of the Heart - Literal Video Version; The Longest Words in the English Language; & Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukak
Apikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu (all one word) - one of the longest place names in the world. One exercise I particularly loved was creating new diseases; I came up with cardiorrhea – when the heart craps out.

In the world today, it looks like Iran is getting close to erupting into anarchy because the hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won reelection amidst allegations of vote rigging & fraud. The world would be much better off without that lunatic but in a totalitarian society, I have my doubts that the moderate protests will achieve anything.

Speaking of protests, conservative Americans are once again trying to convince the American public to not support Obama’s health care reforms because it’ll turn the system into a failed Canadian system. I have no idea what these people are smoking or getting their information from, but the Canadian healthcare system is far better than the one down south. Sure, we have long waiting lists but at least we don’t have to pay gigantic hospital bills. It’s one of the main reasons why thousands of Americans flock across the northern border to buy the same prescription drugs for a fraction of the American price.

One of the main reasons why I’ll never live in the USA is because of the greedy healthcare system, where the pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, clinics, and hospitals are allowed to charge whatever they want, rendering millions of Americans bankrupt. It would appear that healthcare is only for the rich. (Currently, there are 43 million Americans without health insurance). I would like to recommend Michael Moore’s film Sicko, which deals with this situation. Only a socialized health system works.

Not Guilty

After much O.J. Simpson like press coverage & anticipation, the final verdicts in the David Bain murder retrial are [drum roll] not guilty. Back in 1995, Bain was convicted for murdering his family and served 14 years in prison before a higher court granted his appeal for a retrial. Despite being in high spirits, he now has to fight the system again for financial compensation. Democracy may be the best form of government right now but they’re still faults in the system. The bigger question one must ask is how does the government calculate a proper sum of money that says ‘We’re sorry’?

Aside from the David Bain retrial, not much else has been happening. There’s been less rain & more sun, but the strong winds are still present. I was surprised to see & hear a flock of ducks flying above Ilam Village yesterday because they’ve been absent for a very long time.

Since there’s only two & a half weeks left for me, my professors are making sure that they’ll remember me . . . via the assignments I owe them. They’re coming along steadily & should all be completed on schedule. I still can’t figure out how & why some people choose to work on an assignment the day/night before it’s due? If I had followed that path, I would have failed everything & be stuck in the alternative education program.

The term is almost finished for my roommates, who’ve taken to partying to celebrate another term well spent. In over a night or two I’ve met many happy, um, alcohol-fuelled people. Thankfully, no one got poisoning. The next step will be studying & passing exams.

With such ‘little time’ left here in Middle Earth, I’ve been skimming the Ottawa Citizen Newspaper to get a feel of what to expect when I arrive back in my hometown. I’m glad to see that construction on a new arts centre in Orleans has finally completed. Between 2005-08, I performed selected piano pieces in a series of community concerts in the building next door.

I’m still not pleased with the planned light rail route for Ottawa because a large portion of it will run parallel to a dedicated bus route. Rather than lumping all transit services into one congested corridor, the city should be expanding transit into communities that really need them. I think every city council member should pick up a copy of the game SimCity 4 & play it for several hours because it can teach you quite a bit on how to plan & build an effective transit system.

Today is June 6th, a significant day 65 years ago, when Allied Forces sent 160,000 soldiers across the English Channel in 5,000 ships to invade the Norway Toast. Er, I mean the Normandy Coast. Operation Overlord as it was called, opened the second front against Hitler's war machine in northern France. To make sure the landings were successful, 20,000 troops were paratrooped behind enemy lines the night before to stir up trouble & prevent the Germans from reinforcing Normandy. If the invasion had failed, my guess is that WWII would have ended in a ceasefire & the resulting World Order would be tripolar (USA, Nazi Germany, USSR).

And now back to assignments.

Queen's Birthday & Such

The big news down here in Middle Earth is the recent capture of William Stewart, a 47 year old fugitive who managed to stay on the run from the law for 3 months by slipping through police undetected, earning him infamy & the nickname Billy the Hunted One. With him back behind bars, he’s now known as Billy the Captured One.

Following that is the release of the government’s budget to combat the Recession. Long story short, no tax cuts, and there’ll be a deficit of a few billion dollars.

And to top it all off, comes the problem of boy racers (known as street racers in North America). Federal & Municipal governments are passing strict laws to combat the road pests with severe punishments such as prolonged impoundment, and having your racer compacted into a cube.

While these stories surround the community, college life has been going quite steady. My classes are senior history, junior music, Creative English, and Prof. Studies. With regards to assignments, I have to write a Y12 history unit plan about the IndoChina Conflict (1945-1975); arrange a song for a Y10 music class; and create a portfolio full of resources that would help me in teaching English. In Prof Studies, we looked at how to deal with the sexual harassment, & bullying (cyber, texting, verbal).

Ilam Village received a new neighbour this week, Pizzacarto, a pizza, coffee, & gelato shop. The business made itself at home in a big empty room that sits across the laundry room. Despite odd location, I paid them a visit last night to test the quality of pizza and was impressed with the quality, although the price was quite high ($12.50NZD for a thin crust medium pizza). Next time I’ll be trying the gelato.

The people of Middle Earth will be getting a three day weekend because it’s the Queen’s Birthday on June 1^st. The extra day off gives me more time to complete assignments for my classes. Canadians, however, get an extended weekend a week earlier for celebrating Queen Victoria Day.

On the world stage, I was shocked to hear & watch Canada’s Governor General Michelle Jean partake in the consumption of seal meat while touring the territory of Nunavut. Annually, 900,000 seals are clubbed to death in Northern Canada for food & clothing. As much as I respect the Inuit, they need to find another source of food. If I were Prime Minister, I’d replace clubbing with shooting, and slowly & continually reduce the maximum quota until it reaches zero.

Another shocking surprise to me is the ending of May – almost half of 2009 is already complete! The first decade of the 21^st century is nearing its end! I never thought it would get here so fast. So much has happened & yet it feels like not a lot of time has passed.

North Korea’s insane & stubborn 12 year-old-but-stuck-in-a-66-year-old-body dictator, Kim Jong Il, has got it in his head that if he dies, then his country will die with him. And so he orders his isolated Stalinist country to conduct another underground nuclear weapons test, and announce that they’ll no longer follow the terms to the 1953 truce with South Korea. I’ve always wondered if the situation in Korea would ever be resolved and right now it’s looking like there may be another Korean War.

And lastly, the university has recovered from a major computer network failure, which prevented me from posting a link to my latest CD review for CANTA Magazine. I reviewed Where I Was Born, the debut lounge album from NZ's own Rare Shot Blue.

Monsoon

It’s been raining, it’s been pouring, but I’m nowhere near snoring. For reasons that have yet to be discovered, I tend to sleep well when there’s a storm outside. The sun was out last weekend but this week has been nothing but grey, wet, & cold – Invercargill in October (or all year round I’m guessing). I'm still surprised that Christchurch is not under water after such a downpour. Apparently, it's supposed to clear up by Monday. I’ve had to switch over to my Avirex winter jacket when venturing out into the autumn bliss so that I don’t catch the rhinovirus (common cold) or swine flu. Hot food items such as hot chocolate, pizza, & pasta have become my best friends for the duration of the cold weather.

Aside from the crummy weather, the first week back at the College of Ed after teaching practice turned out quite well. It was great to see everyone back after nine weeks & we shared stories of the good, the bad, and the ugly during Professional Studies class. The main thing everyone wanted was Crisis Management Training, out of feelings of paranoia, and/or wanting to be prepared for the worst in the future. I spotted an ad in the NZ Education Gazette about an upcoming 4-day CPI training course this coming Monday, but researching the details proved disappointing because of prices ($645NZD for just one day; $1500NZD for 4!).

The Canadian midyear students (including myself) met with Mike Johnson, the director of CANTEACH, the program that made it possible for us to study here in Middle Earth. With only 4 weeks left, it was time to start thinking & practicing on how to best apply for teaching positions in NZ, and back in Ontario, Canada. (Mock interviews are practiced in Prof Studies). The Graduate Diploma in Teaching & Learning (Secondary) will certify us Canucks to teach in NZ, and the Canadian province of Ontario. If you wish to apply to a different province, Mike suggests to get into Ontario first, but to forget about British Columbia because of the insane amount of paperwork & requirements.

In short, to get certified anywhere, one must fill out a registration package, provide documents & evidence of your completed qualifications, and several hundreds of dollars for processing fees (filing). After the meeting, all I can say is one needs a degree in correctly filling out forms. Form filling . . . and lawyers are probably the main reasons why the world is in such a mess today.

Cadets is going steady with an upcoming lesson to teach on Monday about the role of the Engineers. In short, they build things then blow them up. The corps is currently studying the possibility of acquiring & renovating a portion of the Godley Head Defence Battery for future cadet exercises. Unfortunately, that portion does not include the bunkers, gun emplacements, and vacant armouries; those are publicly owned. (It would have been cool to recommission & rearm the battery so that cadets can train in coastal defence). But the barracks, officers mess, & community hall are not accessible to the public and in need of a touch up. All that's needed now are capital investments because the renovation costs are quite expensive.

It’s hard to believe that there’s just 4 weeks left in my course. The rainy weather makes it feel like I just arrived to begin my studies. In four weeks, I’ll be back in my Canadian homeland, resting up & taking several extra courses to strengthen my teaching qualifications. After that, I may be heading back to Middle Earth to begin teaching in 2010. Only time will tell.

End of TP2

And then there was none. May 15^th arrived faster than I thought, and just like that, my teaching practice at Villa Maria ended. The day before, myself & the other student teachers put together a special Morning Tea for the VM faculty as a way of saying ‘Thank You for putting up with us.’ Up for grabs were savouries, egg sandwiches, cherry tomatoes, biscuits (crackers), and chocolate cake. By the end of the lunch hour, everything was gone.

Counter to my hunch last week, I taught 11 lessons for my last week instead of 15. For Friday, my associates took over their classes because us student teachers needed to sort through everything & return any borrowed resources, such as textbooks, charts, and/or maps. As well, we were debriefed by the assistant principal, stating what we liked & disliked, and suggesting any needed improvements.

In my mind, Villa Maria is a well equipped school, with every classroom having a projector & computer, and the working environment is quite orderly. Of course, students will always get unruly on any day – it happens – you just have to cope and make sure they don’t burn down the classroom. My associates were quite helpful during my term but I could sense that they were a little annoyed that I had to use their laptops for some of my lessons because mine is obsolete.

As I observed my classes for the last time, the students were sad to hear that I was leaving them, but they applauded my teaching abilities & wished me all the best. I was even more surprised when one of my Year 11 classes presented me with a Thank You card. Unlike men, women enjoy given cards to people for any kind of occasion.

What makes NZ education system unique compared to North America is that it’s more activity based rather than content based. Confused? It means that students are to learn & understand the content through activities that promote self-discovery. My main weakness is that at times I still fall back on the old North American way of teaching, labelled as ‘chalk & talk’.

Where do I go from here? Well, back to the College of Education of course! For the next five weeks, it’ll be college lectures like before & then I’ll be finished. I’m already pondering on what my classmates will say when we all meet on Monday. It’s been 9 weeks since we were all together – there’ll be much to share. Come to think about it, it’s been 9 weeks since I last stepped onto the college campus – maybe the layout has changed?

Even though teaching practice has finished, it doesn’t mean that the flow of work has stopped as well. This weekend will be spent cleaning the flat, doing the laundry, and preparing for lectures on Monday. Rather than get a head start on Friday night, I just treated myself to Pure Blonde beer & partied with my flatmates. Ilam Village is always loud on Friday nights; thankfully I have earplugs.

Speaking of loudness, there’s some sort of a cult gathering happening above the small computer room where I’m writing this post. It may be hippies or a Christian student group but they certainly love banging a loud drum & chanting a chorus I can’t understand. Well, whatever, the laundry machines are calling.

And Then There Was One

It’s now the month of May, meaning the weather is getting colder & wetter. While Canada get sunny & hot, Middle Earth sinks deeper into a freezing winter. Luckily, by the time that happens, I’ll be on a plane back to Canada. The sixth week of teaching practice has ended with me teaching 10 lessons & being positively assessed by the College of Ed for the second time. I’m glad that I was assessed in my other Y11 HIST class because my Y10s are the rowdy bunch – must be something in the water.

Even though I have one week left to teach at Villa Maria, my associates won’t be letting me go that easily. It appears they won’t take back the reins of the classroom until I’m fully gone, meaning I’ll be teaching all my classes next week. That makes it 15 lessons! It’s hard to imagine how these experienced teachers can do all that every week & still go home alive. To stay ahead of the game, I’ve been spending more time after school go over everything twice, and received a crash course in efficient photocopying.

Like always, I’ve been paying attention to what’s been happening in the world & swine flu is still in the news. I’m glad to see my hometown moving ahead with plans to expand light rail transit (LRT) but I’m not impressed with the planned routes. I can’t understand why they’re putting so much emphasis on an east-west line when they should first expand the north-south line to the airport and into Hull, Quebec?

President Barack Obama celebrated his 100 days in office (very well managed in my mind), thus giving the biased, conservative news agency, Fox News, to unload an unlimited amount of ludicrous criticisms on him. It leaves me wondering how Americans can watch American news because when I try to watch Fox News, CNN, or MSNBC, my IQ drops several notches. The only credible news source in the USA right now is the Daily Show with John Stewart!

The only big stories down here are the recent police standoff in Napier, the murder retrial of David Bain, and the crisis in Fiji. Since I'm teaching my Y9s about forms of government, we'll be looking at the Fijian crisis & how the people's rights, especially of the media & journalists, are being denied by a self-centered military man who thinks he can do no harm. Sigh, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Um . . . I thought I would have more to write but I guess not. Aside from the wet weather, and busy school teaching, there’s not much else I can think of right now. Cadets is going steady; I taught the Basics how to tie several knots (Reef, Fisherman’s, & Figure 8) for bushcraft. For the next lesson, I’ll be getting them to tie the Clove Hitch & Bowline.

Hard, Hard Week

The first week back at Villa Maria after a two-week break was more than I expected. Lacking a personal laptop means devoting more time to preparing lessons because you now have to factor in the time to getting to an available computer. The climax of the week came on Friday when I taught three classes for the first three periods. In total, I taught 7 classes which doesn’t sound like much, but when you’re a heavy planner like me, making sure the lesson is covered from every angle, planning & teaching one lesson can be just as tough.

Thursday offered some warmth because it was a Professional Development (PD) Day. Rather than teach young students, the teaching faculty was treated to a presentation of how to implement the new curriculum into the classroom. The presentation was quite interesting, and high spirits were kept throughout the day with privately catered munchies. Long story short, the new curriculum can’t be taught the old way, not just via textbook with chalk & talk. In the age of the Internet & social networking, the way to teach is in a process of transformation meaning lessons now have to be fun & interactive. The old way is boring & obsolete.

By Friday evening, the whole Hinau block in Ilam Village decided to share my feelings of overworked by suffering three power failures over the course of four hours. I’m guessing students were cranking up their heaters to the max because of no insulation, thus sending the power grid into overdrive. When the power quit, students flooded outside to gaze at the stars, and publically voice their displeasures. ‘I suppose this is what life is like in North Korea,’ I quietly reflected, before dressing myself in the dark after having a hot shower.

On a musical side note, CANTA's latest magazine issue contains two CD reviews by yours truly: I was reviewing the latest releases from NZ groups Sola Rosa & State of Mind.

Two of my associates will be away during the first half of next week, leaving me to fend for myself at the time when the college will be stopping by to conduct its final assessment of my teaching potential. I should be fine if I budget my time wisely.

Swine flu seems to be the new fad these days, but with the paranoid reactions being taken by Mexican, American, Canadian, and other world governments, I’m guessing this sickness will be a one hit wonder like SARS back in 2003. There have been reported cases here in Middle Earth, even in Christchurch, but it hasn’t reached the point where everyone is walking around with face masks.

Back in Canada, my Liberal Party will be paying their respects to Stephane Dion, a Quebec politician who was the party’s leader from 2006-08. It’s somewhat odd to hear this dedication considering the party treated him as a subhuman. He was forced out of the leadership because he didn’t win the last election, and was replaced by Iggy, a man who claims to know so much about Canada that he spent the last 30 years overseas. It was either him or a singing nudist. Dion was not the lowest point of the party’s history, it was the party itself because they are out of touch with reality. Most of the blame goes to Quebec, who wouldn’t let go of Dion’s Clarity Act in 2000. The most Iggy will ever get is a minority government, despite his charismatic nature. Dion will return in the future because there’s no one else to lead the party. If I were Dion, I would have fought until the bitter end; it would have taken more than an army to boot me out.

Back to lesson planning.

Last Minute Preps

Just like the first, the second week of break has come & gone. In two days, I’ll be back at Villa Maria teaching history & social studies. I’ve been spending the remaining days doing last minute preparations and trying to get rid of this annoying cold I caught yesterday. I’m contemplating whether to get sushi or onion.

Through past experiences, I discovered that eating wasabi covered sushi is very good in clearing a blocked nose. Wasabi, aka ‘Japanese horseradish’ is a very strong spice, and it will burn a clear nasal path after you breathe in the strong scent after consumption. If wasabi is unavailable, like when I fell ill when studying in Ukraine in 2006, my host family made me breathe in the scent of onion through my nose. Hopefully, my cold will be vaporized by Monday because I have two classes to teach that day. It’s odd that in the early 21^st century there’s still no cure for the common cold.

Ben finally got his new computer, after waiting an extra two months, and driving it down from Nelson. Watching him play Grand Theft Auto IV got me thinking about my computer situation. It’s hard to plan lessons when you’re one & only laptop has called it quits and will only give you the Blue Screens of Death whenever you boot it up. Hopefully, I won’t have any troubles at the airports when flying back to Canada, because the security officials make you turn on your laptop to make sure it’s not a bomb. Scouring the Internet for the best deals on new laptops keeps me from listening to the angry voice in my head that wants to bash my old laptop for entertainment. It would make a nice vid for the BLOG, I might add.

My PC at home functions well, but it’s six years old, and I think it’s time for an upgrade. I’ll wait until Microsoft releases its latest operating system, Windows 7, because I don’t want to take a chance with Windows Vista. The cost for my dream PC stands at around $3000CAD, thanks to all the ultra powerful components I want it to have.

My American roommate, Ryan, came back from travelling all over with his American friends. The highpoint of his trip was when his Subaru car broke down in Auckland. Ever since buying it at a second hand auction, the Subaru has been nothing but trouble for him & his friends. It’s in the shops getting its engine fixed but if I were him, I would have abandoned it in Auckland or sold it.

As a Canadian, it was odd to see veterans selling poppies in public places in late April. Canadians only wear poppies for Remembrance Day on November 11th. Upon doing some research, it came to my attention that April 25th is ANZAC Day, where Australia & New Zealand honour the men of the Australian & New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli, Turkey during the First World War. Services are held at dawn and always include the lone bugler playing 'The Last Post' and 'Reveille'.

The Allied objective of the Gallipoli Campaign (25 April 1915 - 9 January 1916) was to capture the Ottoman capital of Istanbul and to secure a sea route to Russia. Turkey was allied with Germany & Austro-Hungary during WWI. The attack was poorly planned by the British & French, but would be carried out by confident Australians & New Zealanders who were eager to go into battle for the first time. Long story short: there were heavy casualties on both sides and in the end, the Turks reppelled Allied forces off the mountainous peninsula.

There’s not much else I can think of right now; my cold is giving me writer’s block. That’s it! Sushi time! Before I go, I’ll just say that I’ll be ready on Monday and I look forward to finishing the final three weeks of teaching practice. I just hope my diploma won’t be as big as my Piano ARCT certificate from Toronto.

Gone With The Wind

On paper it’s break time, but in practice it’s mostly the opposite. Teachers & future teachers may receive mandatory holidays & vacations but a large portion of that spare time is devoted to behind-the-scenes schoolwork like marking tests & assignments, and planning units & lessons. Having a two-week break is beneficial in that it’s possible devote time for R&R before continuing with research & planning. Truthfully, this past week has been mostly leaning towards the R&R side but I spliced in serious work whenever possible.

Since I’ll be briefly teaching the Year 9s about Rwanda, I rented Hotel Rwanda from Blockbuster to get a better mindset about the place. I won’t be showing them the movie because there’s no time for a film study but I’ll encourage them to see on their own time. Hotel Rwanda is set during the infamous 1994 genocide where 800,000 Tutsi were slaughtered by Hutu extremists in 100 days.

The genocide would have been happening during this time 15 years ago, while the Western & European powers didn’t care at all, refusing to support the UNAMIR mission, and only stepped in after the Tutsi rebels, the RPF, ousted the Hutus from power. It upsets me that the same is currently happening in the Sudanese Darfur region & little is being done.

The Belgians are to blame for creating the Hutu & Tutsi division via ethnic classification on identity cards in the mid-20^th century when Rwanda was ruled by the European power. The Tutsi were the elite & the Hutu were poor farmers.

The pendulum will be swinging to the other side for this week, and I may be spending many days at Villa Maria preparing my lessons. With this much focus on teaching practice, you tend to ignore the obvious & differences around you. Just yesterday, I noticed & remembered that the company handling Ilam’s elevators is called Schindler’s Lifts!

The flock of ducks that usually hang out in Ilam’s Quad Area have mysteriously disappeared. I’m guessing they decided to migrate somewhere else during the winter months. The weather has also changed into constant overcast, drenching Christchurch in a dome of white & grey gloom. It actually makes you feel like you’re living in a self-contained biosphere. Well, at least there’s some sun out today.

Lastly, I never thought this day would arrive so fast; it’s mid-April meaning I’ve beaten my previous record of 19 weeks living without the close assistance of my parents. My record is now 20 weeks & counting! I can still remember way, way back in the day when going to a sleep over or staying awake all night was a big deal. Well, when I journey back to Canada I’ll have to decide what to do first: go to Tim Horton’s, or get a shawarma?

Break In Between

The Middle Earth (New Zealand) school year is divided into 4 ten-week Terms, spread across the months between February & November. Students receive two weeks of break in between each term. My teaching program has it that my second teaching practice takes place on the last 4 weeks of Term 2 & the first 3 weeks of Term 3. Not noticing until the last minute, week 4 of TP (week 10 for high school students) came & went, finishing on Thursday because of Easter’s Good Friday. Personally, every Friday is a Good Friday. As well, despite all that I’ve been taught about Easter, I still can’t figure out where the chocolate egg producing bunny fits in?

Before I could rush home, pop open a bottle of expensive champagne, and yell ‘Freedom!’ at the top of my lungs, I visited my four teaching associates & separately planned the next set of lessons for Term 3. It’s only break time for the students because teachers have to prepare for the next term & planning ahead is always encouraged.

For Year 11 History, I’ll be wrapping up the origins of WWII before moving on to NZ during the Cold War. The Year 10s will be looking at the Treaty of Waitangi, and Y9s will be learning about Rwanda before moving on to systems of government. There’s quite a lot material to prepare for but having two weeks makes the tasks much easier. As long as I stay away from procrastination, I’ll be fine.

I had originally planned to travel around but after the first several weeks of practice, it became apparent that I would need this break to rest, ready, and reentre the last three weeks of practice strong & confident. University students are also on break at this time but started last week and finish the same time as I do.

Thursday’s Morning Tea was more of a party because the principal’s secretary was retiring & the faculty were acknowledging & celebrating her years of service & accomplishments. Even if I had my camera with me, it would have been next to impossible to photograph the layout of the snacks & treats because they were devoured within minutes. As well, there were speeches from faculty, wishing the secretary the very best & that she would be missed. Naturally, the secretary had the final say & she thanked everyone for the special morning tea and explained her plans for the future.

Well, that’s pretty much what this week was like. There’s not much else to write because I dedicated my previous post to Tuesday’s Y9 fieldtrip to Ferrymead. So, for the next two weeks, I’ll be preparing my next batch of lessons for Term 3, while reflecting on the true spiritual meaning of Easter – two weeks vacation (paid if I were a certified teacher).

Ferrymead & the Bridle Path

During the fourth week of teaching practice, I was invited by one of my teaching associates to participate in a Year 9 Social Studies field trip to Ferrymead Heritage Park followed by an afternoon tramp on the Bridle Path. I happily agreed since I hadn’t gone on any field trips during my first teaching practice. The bright & early sun was shining when the two Y9 classes (totalling 45 students) converged in the Hall (used for assemblies) for the morning briefing. Maintaining order wouldn’t be a problem because we had more than the required amount of adult supervision: two teachers, one student teacher, and 8 parents.

Ferrymead is like Upper Canada Village, a historically orientated town, except built to show Kiwis & tourists what Middle Earth life was like back in 1907. It’s located near the Lyttelton Tunnel & Christchurch Gondola, meaning a long bus ride from Villa Maria. Unlike North America with its yellow/orange painted school buses, we were transported on a reserved city bus.

Upon arrival, students were lead by Ferrymead staff to the train station where they would put on 1907 oriented clothing. To make it easier for them, the girls were instructed to wear civilian clothing (known as mufti) for the field trip; that & it would be difficult to tramp the Bridle Path in their school uniforms. There were plenty of traditional dresses to go around but some girls chose to experience 1907 as boys by wearing grey slacks. Changing into character was optional for staff & some indeed chose to play along.

After the students were briefed on how to act (children are to be seen, not heard), they were split into four groups & would conduct a morning ‘Round-Robin’, visiting the school, general store, bakery, and typical house residence.

School in 1907 operated with gender segregation in mind: girls & boys played outside in separate areas and sat opposite each other in the classroom. For the simulation, my group learned to sing God Save The King and how to write with fountain pens. Since Ferrymead was simulating a rural town, the school was one classroom. Naturally, the teacher was male & to be feared by his pupils because he maintained discipline via a wooden cane & a strap. Lucky for the girls, the cane & strap are no longer used; instead, present teachers prefer tasers.

The General Store was where everyone in town would go to do their shopping. Products such as jams, toys, dolls, hard candies, player pianos, rice, soaps, & washboards were stocked, having been delivered from the port town of Lyttelton. I was surprised to see canned fish from New Brunswick on sale. Back then, consumers would hand over their shopping list to the general store staff who would collect the necessary items. Nowadays, there are many options at your disposal: ordering online with delivery, self-checkout at the grocery store, or good old fashion collecting everything yourself and letting the cashier scan everything for you.

The Bakery mostly specialized in supplying bread but also provided many other baking products. Girls were taught how to make biscuits and shown how the large stone oven operated. The wood burning oven is privately owned and is still used to bake bread, which is sold in farmers markets. It takes 8 days for the oven to completely cool down before being safe to clean.

A typical rural house residence was small & pretty cramped. There would only be about four rooms and daughters would help their mothers with the intensive tasks of cleaning, ironing, bed making, cooking, silver polishing, and rug beating. My group found it quite challenging to accomplish all these chores with pioneer equipment and were glad to be living in the modern age. Back then, it would take a whole day just to complete one chore!

Once the Round-Robin was completed, students & staff changed out of character clothing and proceeded to have lunch. Once our stomachs were full, we thanked the staff of Ferrymead, boarded the bus and headed off to Lyttelton.

The Bridle Path is a track that was constructed in 1850, from Lyttelton to Christchurch, giving early settlers a route over the mountains. With the experiences of 1907 life still fresh in their minds, it was time for the Y9s to journey the same route early settlers took to establish the city of Christchurch. Having done plenty of marching & walking in cadets, this would a piece of ‘k-a-k-e’ for me. It’s a good thing I brought sunscreen because the last time I was up in the hills (Godley Head) my face got burned.

As for the girls . . . they heavily complained and exaggerated their pains at the beginning but after a while, they started enjoying the tramp, especially after watching a mountain biker pass by them on the way up. The tramp up to the summit took about 40 minutes since I was in the rear, making sure no one was left behind. The view of the Christchurch valley below was breathtaking and many students stopped to snap pictures with their mobile phones.

The way down was a challenge because the rocks were slippery so I suggested to the students to walk down on the side of the path. The further I descended, the calls of grazing sheep became louder. At one point, the sheep were silenced by Y9s whistling at a group of men who were tramping in the opposite direction because they weren’t wearing their shirts.

Once the tramp was completed, we waited for our bus to arrive, the students passing time by playing games and thanking the parents with bars of chocolate. When the bus arrived, we all piled in and made a quick pit stop at Ferrymead, picking up the baked biscuits before settling in for the happy ride back to school. By the time we disembarked, the final bell at Villa Maria had rung.

The trip was declared a success with the teachers noting that they overheard some students planning on tramping the Bridle Path over the Easter Break. I enjoyed the field trip as well and was glad that it took place on a sunny Tuesday . . . because Wednesday & Thursday was nothing but rain.

*(And if any of you are still shocked & confused, no, tasers are not being used by Kiwi teachers today).

What To Write?

The month of April has arrived . . . and I’m experiencing mild writer’s block at this moment. I know that much has happened this past week, but my mind is being slow today, wanting to make use of the sunny day rather than writing. Already, the third week of my second teaching practice has come & gone, with me teaching history lessons on the Spanish Civil War, the Abyssinian War, the first & second Anschluss attempts between Germany & Austria, and an economic lesson on production & productivity. I’ve become accustomed to teaching with the latest version of Microsoft PowerPoint, making it easier for students to copy notes, and letting me keep an eye out for troublemakers. According to my associates, my teaching has improved and I’m not in any hot water.

Since I don’t have time to prepare lunch in the early hours of the morning, I rely on Villa Maria’s canteen services & I have to admit, they do make good honey chicken wraps and club sandwiches. As well, the faculty put on a special Morning Tea, with savouries & treats, because a teacher was turning 30.

I'm aware that I haven't posted any pictures of Villa Maria but those will be forthcoming - I've just been paying more attention to lesson planning & preparation.

As always, I’ve been paying attention to world news & I was surprised to hear that the transit service in my hometown of Ottawa recently purchased several double-decker buses. Apparently, they can carry more passengers than the long articulated buses (I prefer calling them accordion busses). It’s a step in the right direction after the dreaded 53-day strike; all the city needs to do now is tinker with the proposed light rail plan before commencing expansion.

Parts of London, England are flaming because of people protesting the G20 Summit. It’s tough to agree with the voices of protesters when some of them think the best way to deal with the recession is vandalism. However, I agree that it’s unfair for the working class to suffer while fat bankers pocket huge bonus payments, like the AIG execs. Maybe it’s time we abandon the unfair spoils of capitalism & switch over to socialism? If the G20 leaders don’t want to be bothered by protesters, then maybe they should conduct their meetings via cyberspace. It’s the 21^st century: why are world leaders meeting face to face when it can be done through the internet with webcams?

Following in the footsteps of the current recession, my old laptop has crashed & won't start up again. There were times in the past where I could get around the Blue Screens of Death (BSOD) but I think this is truly the end. It's really not surprising since it was operating on Windows 2000 Pro! When I get a new laptop, it'll run either Windows XP Pro SP3 or the new Windows 7 that's coming out in the near future. I'm skipping Windows Vista.

After the Easter Break, I’ll be starting a new topic with my Year 9 Social Studies class: Life In Rwanda. It’s good that I mentioned it because April 7^th is the day of remembrance for the 1994 Genocide. Over a period of 100 days, 800,000 Tutsis were slaughtered by militant Hutus with machetes while the world sat around & did nothing. World governments keep voicing the phrase, ‘Never Again,’ but have continually failed to stop genocides. The Armenian Genocide, the Holodomor, the Holocaust, Pol Pot’s Cambodia, Rwanda, & now Darfur. If it were up to me, I would send covert special forces to pay unannounced visits to the leaders of tyrant nations & have them removed. So far, humanity is the only race capable of hating its own kind.

Bad things aside, many trees here in Middle Earth have been changing their colours, a sign of autumn & the eventual arrival of winter. It will be odd when I return to Canada because I’ll be leaving in winter & arriving in summer. For those of you in North America, yes, it is possible for snow to fall in July – just fly down to the southern hemisphere!