Showing posts with label Shopping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shopping. Show all posts

Thursday, 24 April 2014

Updates: Life As I Know It Of Late

So, I'm behind on updating you all, as usual. And for this I apologise....but will probably end up backlogged again soon when I'm too lazy to write or busy having fun so don't take it personal. I'm very grateful for my solid 28-30 post views, compared to the 4 I used to have lol - and YES I love checking those hit counts, making me feel special for all of half an hour after I post.


Maple Syrup Trip

Right, so pre-Easter my most exciting escapade was going maple syrup collecting with some of the LBG. This basically consisted of me risking my very non-expendable only child life climbing all over snowy hillsides that may as well have been mountain sides (everybody knows we only children like to exaggerate and amp up our descriptions to highlight how special we are, so allow me).

It was actually really interesting though. I'm not gonna lie, I sincerely thought they would stick some kind of tap/funnel/tube thing into the tree and maple syrup sap would just sludge it's way out. For all those who were sadly misinformed like me, check ben ça



Special thanks to my lovely assistant, and 5 points to anyone who can spot the moment where he airs (ignores) my question lol. So yea, maple syrup starts off as maple water, then it has to be boiled down into the good stuff. 

That was probably one of my most enjoyed experiences de la vie québécoise. I would have taken more photos of the farm etc but I was too busy trying to hold onto the tractor/not fall into mud or snow.

The only downside in being Quebecois for the day was trying and failing to do things they could do easily, and failing miserably. Instead of going down the hill the long way on the tractor, we decided to scale the hillside like the other young people. Well, Joe went down pretty smoothly, while me, Aimee and Leanne's descent was basically like this:

We basically bumper-carred each other all the way down.

Weather Changes

Nick Carter was always my favourite Backstreet Boy <3
So, this past week or so it's been raining all over the place and I'm so happy about it I may as well be a 90's boy band about to do the wet shirt scene lol.

You see, as much as rain on-top of heavy snow leads to the black ice I always love to complain about, this time it's different. The rain has been employed as natures clean up crew to finally shift all of this bleak snow and slush out of the way so Spring can finally move in and the layers and boots can start coming off. Let me say it loud and clear people: 

Spring is finally IN!!!!


Hair #TheStruggle

So, anyone who sees me in person or on social media and cares knows I've been rocking braids since Cuba and actually loving it. But anyone who has braids/knows about black hair will know that they can only last so long and only have a few months life span. I've decided I'm at the end of mine. How did I come to this decision? I heard the one thing you never want to hear from a restaurant manager, ever: 

Excuse me sweetie, did you loose your braid? [said while she holds it horizontally between her fingertips and its blatantly yours]

When life reaches that stage, you know it's time to call it a day. So who can guess how this weekend is gonna be spent? For once I'm glad I have nothing else to do but take down my braids, sad I know. I can almost see the faces of all my students now when I walk into school back to original hair, which I'm guessing they've all rationalised no longer exists over the past month. Monday is gonna be fun.


Easter Escapades

Allow me to use N*SYNC to describe to you how my 5 day Easter break arc was looking about a week and a half ago:

Leanne and Dan are Chris in the blue PJs hanging out in the back waiting for their family to visit/ weekend engagements. 

Joe and Aimee are JC in the purple PJs already living it up gallivanting cross contry/countries to visit family members.

Meanwhile I'm regrettably bleach blond, curly fro Justin, crying left outside alone because I have nothing to do/nowhere to go. So I did something about it.


I decided to ignore my non-existent bank balance in favour of the ridiculous #YOLO mentality and book myself a Greyhound facilitated trek to good old NYC rather than stay in Buckingham doing nothing. In true Monique fashion I left it all to the last minute before I booked my ticket and asked my family in Jersey and my old friend Mike (who I met in Cuba - calling in the favours lol) to take me in over the weekend. Luckily for me everything panned out well and I managed to see quite a few off my relatives and have a day to myself to strut around Times Square like a celebrity. On the latter day two amazing things happened:

I navigated the subway like a BAWSE

I saw Mario Lopez in H&M and completely lost my senses for a good few minutes.
Even though getting there and back was absolute murder thanks to being stuck at border patrol and carrying the heaviest bag in the entire WORLD (with only myself and my lack of packing skills to blame) I don't regret it. I got to see even more parts of the city I'd never seen before. That being said I need to lock off all these trips to the US and stick to francophone destinations for the rest of my time here I think. Given the chance I would still go again though.

#SorryNotSorry




Sunday, 1 December 2013

So...we chaperoned a disco, went to Montreal, ate some ethnic food, saw some drug dealers...normal quebecois weekend...

Ok. Obviously more explanation is needed. So first I'll do a recap of my week:

The temperatures have dropped. And when I say dropped. I mean dropped. This week we had the first snowfall, a charming calf high blanket that turned my hilly forest walk to a slip n' slide deathtrap climb in the woods. Yes I fell once. That is all.

Had my first taste of -16, followed by -20...never in all my life....have I been this cold! And it's only the beginning! What is my life becoming?! Canadian. That's what.

School has been a nightmare as the English teacher I work with is going off sick for 4/5 weeks so this week was a mad rush of plans, prep and briefings as well as getting ready for CHRISTMAS!!!

Oh sweet, sweet beautiful holy grail of all festive holidays! Birth of the Saviour, cookies, dinners, gift giving, family (waaaaa I miss mine already!), friends, love, peace, joy, SINGINGGGGG!! I could literally go on, forever! And plus - MY BDAY!!!! #Woiii

This is also an exciting development for me as it will be my first joint birthday ever spent without my usual bday twin - my cousin Jacob, born same date, 1 year apart, same time, 1am and 1pm [freaky, right?] - instead it will be with the lovely Leanne, another LBG member in La Chute (google if you wanna know her location) who I also share some funny similarities with at times (namely the day we discovered we were bday twins and craved the same foods at lunch and dinner etc lol). So that'll be fun!

To compensate for my teacher's absence and what I'm feeling might be a worrying lack of Christmas spirit, I'm hoping to transform the classroom into a grotto of joy - this word has taken on new meaning and significance in my life since the 1st of December lol - so fingers crossed all goes well!

To all you grinches out there, you can all just swerve out my way and out my face as I bring the joy!


 This message will also be relayed to any and every grinch found in any of my classes over the next 3 weeks.
My new favourite hashtag for school: #JoyByForce

These poor kids. I'm planning playlists and everything as we speak. None of this cartoon character crap. They will be getting ballads, covers, classics, remixes, mashups, medleys, whatever I can get away with really.

Everyone knows, from the first of December, all bets are off, honey.

I admit though, festive coloured weaves are a step too far.....
but sequins, metalics, santa/elf colours and garish jewellery will all be featuring in my wardrobe very soon.

 ANYWAY.

Supervised a school disco in St. Andre with Joe and Aimee and Dan this weekend. Tbh me and Dan begged for this opportunity because we wanted to get in on all the disco lols we heard about from the last one. I personally wanted to meet/see all of the secondary school kids I've heard so much about and catch some joke -jokes that I'm deprived of in my small-town, primary school assistant life lol, children are so uneventful. They played some very non-child disco tracks too, things that I would have danced to in my 18+ uni freshers days, lots of Pitbull (yes, Culo was played), Ke$ha and other house/pop/club tracks....it was weird seeing a bunch of 8-16 year olds tear up the floor to this. But it made me remember how fun it was to be that age, when you were old enough to likelike the opposite sex but not brave enough to do anything about it, and just danced with your friends in tight groups performing routines. And then there were those mavericks who managed to get a slowdance towards the end of the night - hilarious to see. Another thing that made me feel special was seeing one of my kids there! I know not his name -awkward - but he's not in my bilingual group so I haven't taught him and his class fully yet, but I'd know his face anywhere lol. I can't wait to chaperone [I love that word lol] another one (spying on kids and their party antics is hilarious!).


After that we ventured to Montreal the next day. Not really sure why. But we went lol. We had what me and Joe refer to (or what I call it when I talk to Joe lol) as an ethnic food day. FYI Joe is half Libyan and I'm 2nd/3rd gen. Jamaican so we like to have a little #ethnicpeopleproblems connection time every now and again, and generally discuss race etc. Oh life. But yea, after nothing but regular North American/Canadian/Quebecois food, which is more sugar and fat, rather than spice and flavour based, we had Vietnamese food (SO GOOD) for lunch and Indian for dinner(how I've missed korma so). It was just nice being united with all these aromas and flavours that are so readily available at home, but we're so deprived of here. London, you sweet, multicultural paradise you, for all your problems, you do alright with cultural integration and amalgamation when it comes to food.

We did do a fair bit of thrift shopping - the best pastime when in search of winter necessities! - and I left with a grandad cardigan and a bow tie I am convinced was calling my name. Now to create an occasion and outfit to wear it with/for.

The Spanish bookshop was another happy discovery, got to shake the dust of my espanglish and bought some holiday turrón! Just, chocolate/caramel/almond/hazelnut/buttery goodness really! Gotta try not to polish of my minis goody bag!




We went to Jean-Drapeau park and froze our toes off to get a riverside view of the city and snow. And went on walks all over. Walking up some steps towards a monument/in search of a bus stop. 3 guys dotted around in winter jackets start going:

Got that weed n****


In my head I was somewhere between here (above) and here (below).


[I'm not even gonna deal with this again, I was ready to blacklist Monty with QC right then and there, seriously, why are the big cities with actual diversity to their names the ones that wear racism on their sleeves?]. Obviously I thought, must have walked in on some kind of private joke between the three of them. Nope. Weed n****. Weed. Coke. Cocaine. Crack cocaine.

Erm, I'm sorry. What? Is this life? Drug dealers out in broad day in Montreal?



 Smh and Lord have mercy. Times are hard in this life.


So yeah. That was Montreal. Today was spent at a Christmas market in La Chute where I ended up buying more for me than for family and friends - my excuse is that they're not really arts/crafts/herbal/natural/organic/preserves produce kinds of people. In the end I bought:


  • Baklava (another #EthnicFoodDay hit from a previous trip to an Afghan restaurant)
  • Cinnamon honey (this winter sickness needs to fall back, so Ima fight with tea!)
  • Lamb sausages (the free samples convinced meeee)
So. A random but fruitful weekend.

Wish me luck for this week! If you want to know my feelings towards this coming week check my previous post on Mondays....that little girl speaks my feelings truthfully.

*turns up worship music playlist, proceeds to chill and mentally prepare for Monday*

xxxx

Thursday, 7 November 2013

Late Updates (2 weeks ago)

Ok so, before we get into it, Ima write myself a mini 'to do list' of all the things I have to blog about. This week and last week were just flippin draining so I haven't had any real energy to blog so I'll catch y'all up now ^^


  1. Do I even remember last week
  2. Thanksgiving madness
  3. Coconuts
  4. Shopping out of control
  5. Carrie
  6. Pumpkin pie changed my life

Do I Even Remember Last Week

Look yeah, let me be honest. Last week was so stressful and so poo that I don't remember anything apart from wanting it to be over. I know my grade 6 classes were being lazy, difficult and disruptive (love how I'm using all of these teacher phrases but all I wanted to shout at them was 'shut your boat!', 'fix up man!' and some of my other favourite S.L. expressions that you basically can't  shout at a bunch of kids). It made me remember how much I hated teenage girls - considering I was one and went to an all girls school, I'm allowed to say this - with all the eye and neck rolling, and the whole oh if my girl is being lazy and not do work I'll talk to her and not do work too. Flip. Sake. I can't tell you about yourself and I can't get you to work. Let this week be over. But, as always, Thursday half-day comes right on time and the weekend begins.

Thanksgiving Madness

The way in which I was determined to make Canadian Thanksgiving good after my week was not serious. Between begging my friend in Sept-Iles to trek all the way to Quebec City to come meet me/us - Basically a small bunch of assistants decided to make our way to QC to spend Thanksgiving there with the other assistants placed there. I, obvioulsy rolled with the LBG - seeing as we had a 4 day weekend, incuding Monday off! We ended up staying two nights in Montreal, two nights in QC.

Montreal. Was. Beautiful.



Went to Schwarts - Celine Dion's famous deli restaurant - for the BEST smoked meat sandwich I have ever had (it was basically the only time though). But, as one of the deli mandem added 'tout est fait avec l'amour'. And trust, I could taste it. So, I told him so. Don't hate, I don't live there, so I can say stupid things with no fear of consequences lol.

Other highlights included going to a University club playing some good old school tunes, being dragged from said club across Montreal at 3/4 am in search of La Banquise, the best poutine in Quebec. Although I was not happy to be trekking all over in the cold, it actually was the best poutine I have ever eaten.

On the downside, we had our car towed. Literally walked to the parking lot and Joe goes 'where's the car?'. Worst 3 words to hear when you are across the country. Queue a long journey to inner-city, hoodrat ends of Montreal to the impound to get the car from the meanest woman in town. 25$ each later and we were on our way to QC....

QC is also, in its own antique/vintage way, as beautiful as Montreal. The Old Town is just gorgeous!

Although it was very easy on the eyes the Thanksgiving plan was in shambles....we basically had no where to go for Thanksgiving dinner due to crappy planning. On the upside unlike our previous prison bunk-mate hostel in Montreal (who had lost our reservation so stuck us in a 10 bed room complete with mystery guests) the QC hostel was to die for (private 5 bed room with our own modern big shower bathroom - those of you who are no stranger to hostels will know this is like the holy grail for all hostels, no disease ridden showers for me!).

In the end we plonked ourselves in a cosy - meaning rammout- restaurant for lunch and toured around in the markets which was loverly.

The whole weekend included several moments of chubbiness including:

the biggest salad I have ever seen and tried to consume
smoked meat sandwhich
a&w burger (they actually look like the picture)
beaver tails ....unwise...smh
poutine (twice)
bubble tea (the rank milk powder version with some funky ass tapioca - the lady's kimono was legit, but her kills, were not)
Maccy D's (the real deal, not the crap we get in England that could never compete with BK)

So all in all we vowed never to eat again. Which lasted about 5 mins.....Building up layers for winter you see....

Coconuts

Just so you know, this little story might be more for me than it is for you. Teaching kids can be soooo hard and I'm seriously trying to figure out if this is what I even want to do with my life. Sometimes I literally just can't, it feels like the definition of insanity....for those of you that live under a rock:

But then sometimes, one kid, or sometimes more will say or do something so cute, or funny or quirky, that I think yea...this is kind of worth it, to get to see this everyday. One of my grade 2 bilingual's zipper was down so when I told him he proceeded to show me he was wearing a 'coquille' by knocking on it like a door. He then explained himself by saying 'I wear it when we play soccer because *insert name here* always kick me in the coconuts'. Now, I don't know why but this little boy had me creaaaaasin! The way he just fired it out ahahahaa! It was too much. And once again the other boy in the group said something interesting and he goes 'shut the front door!'. I'm telling you, when a 6/7 year old says that, funny as hell!

Other good/interesting ones:


  • (teaching them to spell ight words) 'like Shine Bright Like a Diamond, like Rihanna' - said by a girl obvs lol.
  • 'I could change the world with my colouring' - again, a girl.
  • 'Monique. That's my grandma's name.' - Said by two of my students who happen to have exceptional grandmas...
  • 'I have a bunny toy that I sleep with. But it's not mine it's a dead girl's bunny.' - File under W for Weird....From what he explained it used to belong to the girl and he somehow ended up with it, family toy or something...yea....
  • 'Holy moley macaroni I hate apples!' - Just...yea....
  • 'My family call me hard butt because one time my brother elbow me in the butt and break his arm.' - ...no words just lol....
  • 'I didn't read it because I had soooo much stuff to do  but I know what it's about!' - this kid is 8, little do they know, that excuse still works in Uni.....


Shopping Out of Control

So. I have a problem. Paying with plastic is not healthy....neither is student loan.....paying for christmas chalets....makeup...groceries....or going to the shopping centre to buy some stuff....

THIS is what buying stuff turns into...



 Stuff. Otherwise known as:


  • 33$ on tights. TIGHTS. Well, needed tights and thermal leggings... I swear, I cave to sales person peer pressure faster than anything.
  • 45$ boots.....
  • other unnecessary yet necessary items.


Carrie

So, we decided to go cinema, ended up watching Carrie. All I can say is:

  • This is why parents should tell their kids about puberty
  • This is why kids don't shower together in UK schools (what kind of prison style set up is going on across the pond?)
  • American teenage girls (in films) are all evil, and sheep...so are their sex-crazed boyfriends
  • Never let your daughter date a dodgy older guy
  • Never let your children manipulate you and/or go unpunished
  • Never leave children in care of the mentally ill
  • Don't trust mentally ill people that abuse the Bible or any other religious theology etc...
  • Like Ellen DG says, just be kind to one another



Pumpkin Pie Changed My Life

People, including myself, said it wouldn't work. Obviously we were not North American and had no North American friends. I bought it, I tried it, I loved it. My life has been changeddddd. I'm telling you. On a cold day, with a cup of tea (p.p., tea and autumn weather were made to be friends)...it doesn't get any better. At least until Christmas.