Celebrating
It turns out the potluck was a good 30th birthday. I feel very lucky to have been with friends I have known for at least half my life so far. We had a delicious meal with everyone's dishes while sitting outside in the backyard. Sometimes it is so hard to try to see people with their busy schedules, so a birthday was a good excuse to spend time with them. After the meal we had our traditional piñata. My friends' two year old daughter got rather worried that we were hurting the colourful fish, but then was pretty excited when candies appeared. Inside I opened some gifts and then we played Bananagrams, a birthday gift which I am told is like 'speed Scrabble.'

The next day after buying some new shoes at the mall, I went first Swing dancing to the bands at the free stage, and then Salsa dancing to the Cuban bands in the beer gardens. My feet are a little blistered, but I think I got in a good six hours of dancing. Now I have to think about doing some real work again..

Dreams
At 5am I had a fairly clear memory of my dream. It was about two kites. I think there was a new one and an old one, and maybe the new one had been a birthday gift. My sister(s) and I were flying them in the backyard and it was a windy day. The kites started to twist together and I could control them, but my sister couldn't. Having the two kites twist together was a really bad thing to have happen. Near the end of the dream the two kites had pretty much wrapped themselves together and the police had come. They came into the house with two angry dogs and went out back to deal with the kite situation. The twisted kites were dangerous because they could hurt someone. That's as far as the dream went or that I remember. The only connection to the previous day I could make at the time was that when we were in the backyard my friends' two year old daughter had looked up in the sky, pointed, and said the word 'kite.' I remember I was surprised that she knew the word. Maybe the dream was also in fact a reaction to the strange combination of food from the potluck?

Birthdays
Today I turn thirty, and it seems like one of the ages when you ask yourself what have you done with your life until now. I thought I would organize a crazy party with a Galician carnival theme, but now it's just going to be small potluck. In some ways tomorrow will be the real celebration with a day full of dancing at the Jazz festival. It's hard not to compare yourself to others, and your parents at your age. It always seems they have done something that you would have like to have done and then what about the future. Maybe I would have felt more satisfied if I had made plans earlier and worked towards having a house, a family, and then I would feel more grown-up. In a lot of ways I am fine with where I am. I know the little questions of 'what if' always lurk in my mind or in others and I just want to have fun today. I think twenty-seven is still and will always be a magic number for me. It can be any month of the year, but something about it being the 27th makes it a special day.

All that Jazz

Yesterday was the first day of the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival. I went to the free stage and found some friends their to listen first to the Halifax band Gypsophilia and then stayed for Tim Vaughn's show. Great weather, fun people watching, and a little bit of dancing. Here's a photo of the sunshine and first band from last night.

Salsa in the bowl
Saskatoon salseros have started dancing outside on Thursdays. I stopped in and danced in the cuban-style rueda de casino at the River Landing today. I took a Salsa class this winter to mix a little Spanish and dancing into my long cold evenings. It was very fun to be outside in the sunshine now. There is an amazingly energetic cuban named Orlando who now lives in Edmonton, and through workshops and road trips there is a growing group of cuban-style Salsa dancers in Saskatoon. I should however credit Ares, a newcomer from the Philippines who is leading the outdoor Salsa dancing movement. Hooray for more dancing!

Feliz día de San Juan
Today I miss not being in Spain and Galicia. San Juan is celebrated with singing and dancing around bonfires that are built up with objects or messages on paper of things you would like to put behind you. The fire is purifying, and later in the evening you can make a wish and jump over the fire. In the morning, after soaking roses or other flowers in water overnight, the cleansing is complete when you wash yourself with this perfumed liquid. During the fiesta on the beach or in your neighbourhood square, sardines are cooked and eaten, and aguadiente is drunk. Somehow I can't see this being started in Saskatoon, nor celebrated with the same fervour.

Making Decisions
I had a nice conversation this morning with a friend while having tea outside at the River Landing park. We are considering renting a house near there and both struggle with making decisions, planning for the future, and staying in one spot. I think if you are comfortable with a choice it is easy to make, and if it it's not then maybe it's not a good choice. I told her this was a realization I made while shopping for a watch to replace the one I had lost. It took a long time to find a new watch, and in the end I bought won almost exactly like the old one. The story is not really about the watch, nor about the fact that I am a creature of habit, but about how at that moment I realized I can make decisions and I do know what I want. At that time I was rather uncertain about a relationship, and I understood, not really wanting to admit it, that maybe we shouldn't be together. Then I told her another story about shopping for shoes in Spain a few days after I finished the pilgrimmage. I spent a lot of time shopping and in the end didn't buy any shoes. I was stuck with the fact that I needed shoes that would meet the criteria of my last job. It was a job that I didn't want to go back to and emotionally drained from the pilgrimmage it took a lot of energy to decided things. I also told her about decision making advice I have been given in the past. First is to make one decision and think about how you feel, another is the old draw a line down the middle of a page and weigh the pros and cons, and third is not to think to much about deciding. If an unsettled feeling wakes you up at 5:00 a.m., it's not a good sign.

I liked the conversation, and feel rather indifferent about moving into the house (even though it's kind of a big change). It's kind of a bad habit of mine to make last minute decisions and then figure out or stress about the details afterwards. I think my friend would make an interesting roommate, the landlord seems nice, and the house is alright. A one year lease is a little bit scary for people who like to travel, but feel obligated to be little more grown-up and settled now at this stage of life...

Short films
Yesterday I stopped in to see the new exhibits at Mendel. This is one of my favourite galleries because the exhibits are just the right size. They are not so big they overwhelm you, there is a nice amount of Saskatchewan content, and there is always a piece or two of rather unsual art.

I was highly entertained by the short film 'Monkey and Deer' by Graeme Patterson. It brings to life the theme of the dying prairie town with a whimsically animated Monkey and Deer. It reminded of a film I saw earlier this year called 'Three Minute Miracle' by Amalie Atkins. It was something about the music, the prairie landscape and the playful story that made me think of it. The Atkins film is harder to describe but it involves the journey of a young girl carrying a giant cake, and a fantastical and memorable music scene with a group of wolves or bears singing a song about teeth. I hear the film has now travelled to Berlin. On the prairies it seems the wide open spaces lend themselves quite well to imagination and creativity.

Duende
This is a word I learned in a short Flamenco lesson I had in one of my ballet classes back in 1996. It is the spirit or passion of the dance, and something that is a little hard to explain. I remember waking up in the days following that lesson wanting to practice the short pattern we had been taught and intrigued by the dance's magic.

Having since been to a Flamenco performance in Seville, and taken some Flamenco lessons last year in Regina it was neat to be brought back into the space where it started. The dance studio has now become or returned to being a theatre space, and last night there was a performance by the Saskatoon Alma Flamenco dance group. The guest performer was Maria Regnier, a dancer from Calgary and an excellent Flamenco artist. To complete the circle she was also one of the people in my ballet class for that first short lesson, and now having studied in Spain she performs with the duende. I really should take the Flamenco shoes I bought in Madrid in December out of their box.

An Early Saint Jean Baptiste Day
Last night was Saskatoon's Saint Jean Baptiste Day fête at Ecole canadienne française. There were tables and chairs set up in the outdoor skating rink, and a fun show featuring music students from the school and the fransaskois artist François Tremblay. At first I felt a little out of place without having a family with me, but then I met some people in the food line up. I got in line behind François, who I don't really know, but while organizing Francofièvre last year I had gone to one of his shows. I casually spoke with him and the woman behind me. The first question the woman asked us was where we were from, and this is a typical question often asked to find out if your a 'true' fransaskois. Something you just have to ignore. After that there were a few awkward moments because she had never heard of François, nor the fact he was the guest performer that evening, and then for some reason she thought we were a couple. I ended up sitting with the woman (whose name I have now forgotten) and some others from the Friday 5 à 7. I really enjoyed listening to some of the young musicians I had been in touch with last year.

During the show the FFS director was the M.C. and spoke about the upcoming events this summer and in particular the francophone pavilion at Folkfest. This unfortunately will be one of the memorable events of the evening which you will understand if you say the word Folkfest with a French accent, and then imagine someone going on and on enthusiastically about it. Perhaps we should have used the name Mosaic like in Regina for Saskatoon's multicultural summer festival.

In any case Bonne Fête de la Saint Jean Baptiste for those who will celebrate it on the 24th.

Prairie peddling

I think I ride my bike at least once a day. Most of the time I am on the Meewasin trail, a path that follows the Saskatchewan river and takes you most places in the city. Being on the prairies, hills are not so much an issue, it is rather the gophers, or prairie dogs that you have to watch for. I think in my twenty minute ride to the university today I saw at least thirty, and about half dashed accross the path as soon as I got close to them. One of these days it is not going to pretty, but in the meantime they are rather entertaining popping in and out of holes and wiggling on the grass. Here's a photo of one I almost hit today. Please note ground hogs in Saskatchewan are much smaller than the gargantuous, badger-sized ground hogs in Ottawa.

Who is Mommo?

Dress code: Like Mommo choose your family! I have been very puzzled by this note on a party invitation from a friend in France. My first thought was it could perhaps be a reference to the book 'Momo' by Michael Ende, oddly enough the first book I ever read in Spanish. Around the time I read the book, I made friends with a Japanese girl named Momoko, or Momo for short, in my Spanish class in Bilbao. Thirdly, after doing a Google search there seems to be a Turkish film out recently with a double 'm' spelling, but none of these ideas seemed right.

As it turns out I had the wrong movie. Were I French I might have caught the reference to the film called "La vie est un long fleuve tranquille" (Life is a Long Quiet River) a popular comedy from the 90s. I think I would need to see the film before being able to decide on my 'costume,' however I unfortunately will not be able to attend. I did go one year to what I will call the 'hottest' party of my life at my friend's mother's house in a small town outside of Lyon. It was the summer of the heat wave and temperatures were + 50 C. I remember spending most of the time in their pool.

From the invitation I also deduce that PAF means something like BYOB only in this case according to your family you choose to bring a bottle or a dish of something to eat. Parties are definitely more interesting with a theme...

Age perspective
Yesterday was my sister's birthday. She moaned and groaned about getting older now that she is twenty-one. It makes me realize that I don't really care to complain about turning thirty anymore. She didn't want to do anything for her birthday, and I had been thinking the same thing about my upcoming birthdate. After her drama I have decided to organize a potluck on the 27th. It's nice to have a sister to see yourself in the mirror once and a while.

On a similar note, my muscles have been sore the past couple of days because it seems I was not quite in good enough shape for my run. I don't think I was ever really sympathetic enough with Seniors who complain about stairs and low couches. I now can appreciate the struggle of going down stairs or worse yet trying to sit down on the toilet. I am glad this is just a temporary condition to remind me to keep in better shape. Hooray for being young and healthy!

Invented memory

"Notre mémoire est une fiction. Cela ne veut pas dire qu’elle est fausse, mais que, sans qu’on lui demande rien, elle passe son temps à ordonner, à associer, à articuler, à sélectionner, à exclure, à oublier, c’est-à-dire à construire, c’est-à-dire à fabuler." Nancy Huston

I like this quote by the author Nancy Huston, and it is also part of the inspiration behind an art exhibit a friend I met in France is helping design. The photos on the website give you a bit of an idea of what the exhibit is about. http://www.infabula.org/blog/ I am also a bit of a fan of the former Canadian turned French author. It is interesting to think about memories constantly being reinvented in the mind, and the video art installation that juxtaposes different people's stories about their lives. Often when I think about the past I wonder if that is what happened, what someone told me about it. or what I want to think or remember about that time.

Jobs
I finally found out that I still have a job come next week. I found a full-time teaching position contract in my work mailbox this morning. Good to know since my current contract ends Friday. I also got a phone call this evening asking if I could substitute teach a couple of evenings at a newcomer drop-in centre this summer. Guess I won't start handing out résumés tomorrow. My two university classes, plus a full-time job will definitely keep me busy this summer.

Bridge City Boogie
Today I ran 10 km in the Bridge City Boogie. I think that makes my third 10K with my first two being in 2006 in Vancouver for the Sun run and in Ottawa on race weekend. I was signed up with a team from work called the U of S Langwidj Senter Fenetik Fenaetiks (this is not Swedish, rather a phonetic spelling of English). Being the only one from my team in the 10K I hung out more with the Groove Armada team that had some dancing friends on it. Surprisingly I finished the run in a minute or two over an hour. I was rather worried about not having trained enough.

During the run it was fun having my sister Maggie and my Dad cheering at the start of Kiwanis park and my mom as a volunteer road marshall further along on Broadway. My sister commented that it is now full circle for my dad because as a small child I used to help at water stations when he ran marathons. My favourite part of the run was cheering on the musicians and volunteers along the way. My least favourite part was the last kilometre of the race when the runners merged with the walkers. Once you made it through the slow moving herd of walkers often with strollers, the volunteers wanted you to immediately stop and line up for a treat bag just past the finish line. After running 10K your body prefers you to walk a little bit to decelerate. In any case it was a pretty good run.

Le dernier 5 à 7
The FFS (Fédération des francophones de Saskatoon) has organized Friday night socials since September. The translation of 5 à 7 in English is happy hour and the building that houses a number of the fransaskois associations has a small bar, tables & chairs, a dance floor and a foosball table. I have been a bit of a regular on Fridays, helping out behind the bar or taking part in the foosball or 'Baby foot' tournament. My partner Céline and I surprisingly made it to the playoffs without ever winning a game. I think it was because we were the most dedicated team that showed up for all of our games during the tournament which ran from October/November to May. Not sure if my French or foosball has improved much, but usually it was a good time.

Final party toast
I volunteered to give the toast to the students tonight at the final party. I explained it was a reason & examples toast, just like the paragraph style my students work on. My five reasons were: T-O-A-S-T, students are thumbs-up, outgoing, amazing, spectacular, and terrific. I tried to say 'cheers' in different languages: Gan bei or Kampai or Konbe (with different intonations is Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) and Fisehatak (the arabic word can sound similar to Pizza hut in English) However I think my Spanish 'salud' was best pronounced.

Podcasts

Since my iPod gift this fall I have been listening to a couple of podcasts. They are nice entertainment while biking to work or jogging. The English one is of the CBC radio show DNTO (Definitely not the Opera)and it seems now I am a fairly regular listener to Sook-Yin Lee and the guests that she interviews. The Spanish one is even edgier in a science-fiction kind of way. The Rosa Vientos is a late night radio show in Spain that features some of the strangest and fantastical interviews and stories that I have ever heard. I may be developing a strange new vocabulary in Spanish, but at least I am getting some practice in while here in Saskatoon.

Comparing eyes
Today to practice comparatives and superlatives in class I gave students a questionnaire asking things like: 'Who has the biggest hand?' and then 'Who has eyes similar to yours?' When I asked how eyes can be compared I expected answers like colour, size, etc. One student mentioned lines above the eye, and I was rather confused. Actually I still am because I don't notice lines or eyelid creases. Apparently this is a big deal to some people, and some even have surgery to get a 'double-eyelid' vs. a 'single-eyelid.' To me the idea is crazy, but I guess all plastic surgery is in a way.

Carrot soup day
Today is cloudy and could be rainy, but it hasn't really rained. I guess Saskatoon is trying to keep the title of driest spring ever. Because of the mood of the sky I decided to make carrot and ginger soup for supper.

Here is the recipe in case you have winter spring weather chez vous.
2 cups chopped carrots
3/4 cup each, chopped onion and potatoe
1 Tbsp olive oil
900 ml chicken broth
1 1/2 Tbsp fresh ginger root
1/8 ground black pepper
1 Tbsp fresh cilantro

Directions: Cook first three ingredients (about 5min. or until they start to burn if you're like me)
Stir in broth, ginger & pepper (don't be like me and put in too much ginger)
Boil gently for 20 minutes, blend with a hand mixer, and stir in chopped cilantro.
This is a Campbell soup recipe from an old magazine.

Video Experiment
As I have an assignment due next week for which I need to prepare a class activity using a video, I decided today my students would be my guinea pigs. Little do they know about my experimentation. Because of our health unit right now, I chose the film Juno. Their pre-viewing activity was a reading scan of a movie review printed from a website. Then they had eight listening comprehension questions for a five minute clip at the beginning of the film (around the twenty minute mark). For the post-viewing activity I asked them to write three discussion questions on the topics from the film: teen pregnancy, adoption, or abortion. When we started they did not know the word pregnant, and I wondered how much they would get out of the film clip. Overall they got most of the listening questions, but for me the interesting part of the activity was the discussions. One group started with the question: 'What would you do if your girlfriend was pregnant?' Culturally the film was probably a little shocking. From what I understood the treatment for pregnancy before mariage in China would likely be an abortion, and in Saudi Arabia the girl would probably be killed, but no one gets pregnant before mariage. If nothing else one small group was highly entertained by learning the word 'condom' in English. I liked the richness of the video for dialogue and cultural content, so I think the experiment was a success.

Burundese Baby Shower Surprise

Yesterday I had a wonderful time at my friend Anne-Yvette's baby shower. About a dozen women, and some of their children went to our friend Céline's apartment. Earlier in the day Noel, Anne-Yvette's husband had biked over to the apartment to do some work for the Saskatoon French-speaking african society (CAFS). His plan was to have bike problems, and call his wife to come over and pick him up. Luckily she did not go out (actually stayed home to have a nap), and then despite being annoyed he had not take the car in the first place, came over about 45 minutes later. Not only were we waiting, but we also had a webcam connection over MSN to her sister in France. Anne-Yvette was very surprised. At first she hid in the doorway, next she scolded us and then started to cry when she saw her sister. Apparently her sister had only just installed MSN that morning.

In a mixture of French, English and Kirundi we exchanged stories about when we had first met Anne-Yvette, and when we had learned she was pregnant. We played a memory game where 10 baby objects were displayed on the coffee table. They were unveiled for about 30 seconds and then we had to try to write as many of them as we could remember on a paper. Another game we played was to identify objects hidden in baby bottles filled with rice. One had a diaper pin, and the other had a toy baby fireman. A third game involved a ball of yarn and you had cut a piece of string to try to guess the diameter of Anne-Yvette's stomach. The last game was to be blindfolded and try to find as many safety pins as possible in a bowl filled with rice in about 30 seconds. My favourite idea was that we were asked to prepare food for a potluck, but also to make extra so that the couple could have food to freeze for when the baby comes. There was lots of good food, and even a cake that read 'happy baby shower'

I enjoyed playing with the kids. For a while four little girls were 'doing my hair' and surprisingly I left with no knots! I learned another name tradition which is that parents choose a last name for their child, and Anne-Yvette wants her child to have the last name 'Moutoni' which means something like 'honey' or 'sweet.' I was also impressed to have a demonstration of how to tie cloth around your waste to carry a baby. I am not sure if I could do it on my own, but it looked very efficient. I think I should try to spend more time around children because I still like to play.

Here is the link for the rest of the photos.

65 years later

Today is the 65th anniversary of D-day. I received a card two days ago from some friends in Courseulles-sur-Mer , Normandy reminding me that it is the anniversary of their liberation. I found some notes in a journal from 2003 about a woman in the town telling me about the arrival that morning in 1944 of 'aliens,' these machines that moved on water and land. During the eight months I was there I think I walked along Juno beach almost every day. The people gave me a wonderful welcome, told me some incredible stories of memories of the war, shared photos and objects from the war with me, and in some ways I feel like I lived part of the landing experience. Take a minute to learn a little bit about the history http://www.junobeach.org/ or visit a veteran.

Books

Last night I finished reading The Freedom Writers Diary. I would describe it as motivational teacher literature. My mom got a signed copy from the Literacy for Life conference in Saskatoon last month. Erin Gruwell, the teacher from Wilson High School in California, was a guest speaker at the event. She sounds like a very dedicated educator and the way her students journal about the books they read in class makes me think I should try to read a few of them. Most of my real reading these days is about language teaching theory and developing teaching materials for my two CERTESL classes. Though I am always open for fun book reccomendations.

Ultimate Frisbee

My ultimate team Sticky Fingers finally won a game last night. I think the score was 15-8 and it is the first time the team has won a game while I've been playing. We did not do so well in the winter season, but hopefully we'll do a bit better this summer.

Last week, I asked my students to write a reasons & examples paragraph about a sport that they like. I decided to write them a paragraph on ultimate frisbee. While writing, I tried to make their most common errors, and asked them to be the teacher and tell me what corrections I should make. The interesting part of the exercise for me was the challenge to explain grammatically some of the sentences that I wrote using structures they hadn't learned yet.

Ultimate Frisbee is a sport that I like for three reasons. First of all, the games is friendly. The players like to have fun, and cheer loudly on the field. Everyone has great team spirit, they always tried to help others out. Since there are no referees in this sport then both teams tell each other when there is a foul or mistake. The play stops, so the people can move to the correct position. The second reason I like Ultimate is, because of the challenging catches. Sometimes it is very difficult to catch the disc however you need to run very fast. The crazy people dive like Superman to catch the disc. Don’t forget a disc is very light, the wind will occasionally surprise you also an important rule is to always use both hands to catch a disc in case the wind moves it unexpectantly. Finally, Ultimate Frisbee is a dynamic activity. Since the disc can move very quickly the players need to be able to move quicker. For example, a good thrower with no wind, can made the disc go to the end of the field, so you must run fast. Otherwise the game often changes directions. After every point or interception by the opposite team you need, to go towards a different end zone. Therefore, there is a lot of action during every game. Because of the friendly games, challenging throws, and the dynamic activity I enjoy playing Ultimate Frisbee.

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that Swing
Tuesday evenings have become my swing dancing night. There is a round wooden stage or dance floor built into the new River Landing park. Overlooking the river, you can join in a free intro. lesson at seven and then dance until around ten. For some reason the dance from the 1940s was quite popular during my university days, and Ottawa had and has a great swing dance scene. There are some fun dance scenes in the movies, great music, and generally a friendly crowd that make me really like it. A few weeks ago I was in Edmonton for the Swing Fling dance workshop and it was all about Lindy Hop, which I think is my favourite in the Swing family right now. The instructors were Sharon and Juan and not only are they great dancers, but teachers as well. I have been sending some people this youtube clip I found of them dancing. Enjoy ! The Saskatoon Swing website also has a nice photo right now of the River Landing too.

A Belated Easter Surprise

I just counted and it has now been seven weeks since the Easter rabbit came this year. It also seems it has also been that long since I last washed my sheets. Therefore, I can definitely conclude that I am not a princess since I did not pass the 'pea test'. Not only did I not find the eggs under my pillow Easter night, but now it seems there was another egg. I found traces of it in small brown marks on the sheets, pants, shirts, socks, and underwear that all just went through the wash. The load is now going back through the wash with a smattering of shampoo to hopefully clean away some of the Easter joy. Throughout the year and on different occasions Easter treats are discovered in places the Easter rabbit forgot they were hidden. Having found a small bag of hardened jellies from a past Easter this year, I thought the hunt this time round was over, but I guess not. Beware of the perils of hidden treats.

Behind the scenes and into the mens washroom
Yesterday was Doors Open Saskatoon. I love the event in Ottawa because there are so many interesting and historic buildings to visit. In Saskatoon it is much smaller scale, and every so often you luck out and get an interesting guide. On my short tour I visited the Little Stone School House, the U of S Law Building, the Drinkle Building, and the McLean Block. I have to say my favourite was the Law Building and we managed to get on the tour with the Sustainability Coordinator. She gave us very detailed explanations of the new environmental design. This ranged from the use of Saskatchewan wood for the furniture and wall panels, recycled carpet on lease from a company called Interface, an overview of the rooftop garden, and then into the mens washroom for an explanation of the waterless urinals. One young girl on the tour was very reluctant to follow the group inside. There was merely a detailed explanation, and it lacked perhaps a demonstration. I also enjoyed visiting the Drinkle building No.3 not so much for the detailed display on the early 19th boom of Saskatoon, but the fact that my parents had lived there in the 1970s and have always told us interesting stories about that place. At present it seems like a quiet, modern appartment building with all of the renovations. Back in the day, the shared washroom on their floor definitely made for a lot of stories, especially with the lonely resident who insisted on visiting with everyone when they came down the hall. Here is the link for an exterior Doors Open Saskatoon tour.