Happy Birthday to Me

Growing up. Getting older. Earning your wrinkles. Obtaining wisdom and the right to pass gas in public. Alright, maybe I'm not there yet but birthdays never seem to get easier. That is, when you feel you have no direction in your life, a birthday is just the marking of another failed year past rather than a celebration. A year and a half ago, New Years Day 2011, I sat in a coffee shop with my dear friend Mallory discussing the future. Neither of us had a 5-year plan, heck we weren't even sure when we'd finish our degrees. But I told her my vision for the next 18 months. I would finish this darn thesis by the end of the year, if it was the last thing I'd do, I would take some linguistics classes in the winter semester of 2012, graduate that summer and move to Korea to teach English in September. And here's the best part: my plan came true! Everything I set out to do, in the time limit I set for myself, happened. Oh wait, there was one unexpected thing that I didn't plan for - I met a wonderful boy who fit right in and he's coming to Korea with me! I don't think I could have asked for a more complete year. It started with a bang too - last year I met my childhood idol Bill Nye The Science Guy on my birthday and he signed my t-shirt. Twenty-five was great, and I'm looking forward to 26. Hey! That feels good. It's been a while since I was able to say that.

My birthday is not actually going to be the most fun day. Because we are moving abroad, I have to get all my vaccines up to date. And I'm due for a booster shot (the tetanus one) and they want to test me for immunity to MMR. Ughh needles. But I did get an oral vaccine for typhoid fever and traveller's D + cholera. Yay for oral vaccines! And I have to get a chest x-ray. My guess is to show I don't have TB, but hasn't Korea heard of the skin test?? I'm also waiting in line to get my license plates renewed. Today is the only day I'm in Ontario all month, so it's the day to get health and car stuff taken care of.

Well, it's only noon and I managed to get all my errands done! Great Scott! Now I'm off to help my mom move into her new home. Tonight we have dinner plans in Toronto with my good friend Sandhya and a movie about a male stripper comes out today, so what better way to celebrate?!

Bye for now,

Jennika

June 29, 2011 - Meeting Bill Nye on my 25th birthday

June 29, 2012 - This year my dad got me a cake and it was delicious!

Braaaaaains!

Well, it's just after midnight .. which means it's my birthday! Jean-Marc and I are currently driving to my hometown (Courtice, Ontario). We got on the road even later than we wanted to because it took some time to get all the suitcases and boxes packed into the car. We probably won't get in until almost 4am. I'm pretty sure my father would be proud though if he saw all the stuff we stuffed into my tiny vehicle. Haha.

Today was quite stressful. I woke up with just as many boxes around me as the last couple of days. As much packing as we'd done, there was still so much to do. By 9pm, I did manage to get all my personal things into boxes, but I had to leave most of them in a closet because there just wasn't enough room in the car. The nice part is that half the packing of my apartment is done for the official move in August. Yay!

Today was also my last day at work. And what a day it was!! So, I work at the Montreal Neurological Institute, which is world famous for the work done there by Dr. Penfield (burnt toast heritage moment anyone?). A colleague of mine has been trying to get me into the viewing room to watch a neurosurgery for years. And finally, on my last day ever, it happened!! This morning I made my way up to the hospital, through a really tiny corridor, past the nurses station, and straight into an episode of Grey's Anatomy. Nah, it wasn't really like Grey's - the surgeon was definitely no McDreamy, but the scene was incredible. I was observing OR #1 - the original Dr. Penfield operating room. I was the only person in the viewing room. They had just cut back the scalp and were controlling the bleeding. The patient had had a tumor removed before and you could see where his skull had previously been opened up. I couldn't help but think about Hannibal Lector, and it felt a little surreal to be watching them remove a piece of the skull, but when I got right up to the window, there was only about 6 feet between me and the live brain. And you know what? I saw it move. A live brain "breathes"; and this causes a small movement as it's oxygenating. Sort of like a pulse (yes Jon, a pulse☺). It was amazing. I was completely awestruck. I get to play with brains all the time through my involvement with Brain Awareness Montreal; heck I even used to have a cow brain in a jar on my bureau. But this was the first time I'd seen one live and it was phenomenal. On top of this, my labmates brought in a pear au chocolate dessert to celebrate my birthday and my last day. It was the perfect end to my 3.5 years at the Neuro.

Since it's my last day and all, I'd like to thank everyone, particularly my labmates, at the Neuro and McGill for the great memories. As many of you know, getting my Masters was not an easy process, but it was made just a little more bearable by working alongside and getting to know such wonderful people. So thank you! You will be missed.

Jennika

The smoking dog!

Tonight is our last night in Montreal. We celebrated with Mel and Jo because it also their last night. They move to Quebec city tomorrow. Oi! We went out to Le Chien Fumant; what a great meal. I had the 1/2-Poulet et Morilles Lavalloises and Jennika had the Porc Aigre-Doux a La Rhubarbe et Petoncles. Oh was it good! I can still taste the morilles with the gravy so yummy. And for the first time in my life I had tartare. Making Papa proud I think.

Jennika is packing like a fiend and I'm trying to help but I'm mostly reading "A Storm of Swords". It is hard to help someone else pack. Not because I don't want to, but because you can't organise it the way they want it done. So I've been trying to stay out of the way and help clean up instead.

My last two classes tomorrow, a quick run to the old port with stop at a dollarama, a bit of packing my own shiznak, and a five hour drive to Ontario tomorrow. Time for some sleep.... Or maybe I will see what Tyrion is up to next.

Ciao, JaM's

I leave JULY 31st

As Jennika put in her post, I received my travel itinerary for Korea today. I will be flying out of the Montreal airport on July 31st. Crazy! My feeling are moving from intellectual (I'm going to make enough money to pay off my loans) to visceral (I'm going to be able to pay for warm exotic vacations and eat great food!).

Today, I finished the MCAT course with one of four classes. Three more to go. It will be great to move to a real physics classroom where I can use demos to make the experience richer instead of straight up lectures. I am thankful for my experience as an MCAT teacher. They have forced me to colour code my notes, which helps certain students organize their thoughts. My board work has also improved. Luckily, the MCAT material is close to the AP physics B curriculum so now I have lectures created for most of that class. I will be able to concentrate on making the class more interactive, doing group projects, and creating fun experiments. 

When I start at Bugil Academy, students will be getting into Ideal Gases. I want to try a Predict, Observe, and Explain activity Aldona and I worked on for our Science Pedagogy Class. You take a tea-light and float it on some water. When you cover candle with a beaker, the flame quickly stops and the water level rises in the beaker. It is such a rich experiment involving ideal gases, isobaric processes, heat transfer, and consumption of fuels. I'm also going to need some steal wool. I wonder if you can get that in Korea?

Ciao, JaM's

From Calm to Chaos in 2.5 Seconds

Moving is stressful. But moving to another country? That's another level of stress. You have to be sure to pack all the things you like back home because you won't be able to find them in the new country, or they will cost 5 times the price. Pack enough clothes for a year because they don't have your size in the new country and fit this into 2 suitcases under 50 lbs. You have to worry about visas, contracts, consulates, electronics adapters, paying all your bills back home, vaccines, international driver's licences, oy!

But that is only the start when you live in an apartment that you first have to move out of, before you can even start packing for the foreign country. And this is where you will find Jean-Marc and I right now. Well, mostly me because I've been living here for almost 3 years and have accumulated a lot of stuff in my 300 sq. ft apartment. Yesterday I took pictures of the apartment to advertise it to potential subletters and to remind myself in a few years how I used to be cool living in my own downtown Montreal studio. Since we will be gone for most of July visiting family, and I'm not working, paying rent is going to be a big chunk of my savings over the next 2 months. So I have found a subletter for the first 9 days we are gone. Yay! But that means I have to pack up all my personal items into my 2 door Sunfire and move them back home. I may have to leave a few boxes in the closet because it's not looking too promising.

I keep reminding myself that this is the start of a new life chapter and in a few short weeks (5 to be exact - JM just got his itinerary today and he is flying out of Montreal to Korea on July 31st), our lives will really be changing. I still haven't signed the contract with Bugil Academy, but today I got an e-mail from my boss that said "Dear Jennika. I'd like to inform you about a few things. 1. You can feel easy in your mind about coming Korea. I mean everything is OK." So cute! But of course I'm stressing because there is still so much to do. In the meantime, I have to get ready for work. This is my last week in the lab and the project I've been working on is very much up in the air. I guess I'll have to tackle this packing tonight after dinner. Bye for now!

Jennika

Yesterday = Calm

Today = Chaos

Holy Batman there is a lot to do before we leave.

Hey folks Jean-Marc here.

I only have one week left in Montreal. It has gone by so fast it feels like I'm still settling in. Being in Montreal with Jennika has been great! I've had the chance to see concerts, eat terrific food and hang out at tam tams. I was lucky enough to spend lots of time with my cousins Jo & Mel and Mel's little boy Ailin.

Jennika and I will be starting our birthday vacation on Thursday. Whoop Whoop! Off to Niagara Falls and then a cute B&B in Vermont. Then we will start the trip home to go see my family in Nova Scotia, so I can say goodbye before leaving for Korea. 

But before that I have lots to do. I have sent some documents off to Korea to get my visa issuance number. Once I get that number, I can apply for my E7 visa here at the Korean Consulate. In the meantime, we have a nice laundry list of things we should do before we leave. 

• Create an international will
• Get an international drivers licence
• Talk to a Travel Clinic doctor
• Talk to a CRA agent (Canadian Revenue Agency) about taxes and duties while in Korea
• Pack up Jennika's apartment
• It seems like every time we complete a task, a new item on this list pops up

We are also creating a list of supplies to pack. I have a handsome relocation allowance, so I will be taking as many essential items as possible to Korea to help the transition go a little smoother. We are hoping to get a bunch of these items while in the states next week.  

It will all work out, 

JaM's