Back in Montreal

We made it!!! Good ol' Sunshine brought us back safely from the Maritimes. The drive was long, of course, but we made good time. We spent Thursday in Fredericton with Sara again, and this time we arrived early enough to meet Larry. Friday we headed up to Quebec City to visit Mel and Jo and Ailin in their new home. Beautiful suburbia! Ailin was so cute, and even learned my name. They have a pool so we took a quick dip before dinner. Ailin was loving swimming with Jean-Marc. Then it was back on the road to Montreal. We got in late last night and after bringing everything in my apartment, immediately crashed. It is nice to be home!

Upon arrival we discovered that not everything survived the heat though. Here are some before and after pictures:

The only one that made it was a plant that has been in the family for years .. and that my mom gave to me 2 years ago because she figured I would kill it. Too bad!!! It's as luscious as ever. Muahaha!

Alright, time to get ready for my cousin Blake's wedding tonight. JM is going to meet my extended family - exciting!

J.

KOREA UPDATE!

Alright fellow followers, here is the update as to what is going on with Korea (since this blog was originally created to keep everyone in the loop about our situation).

Jean-Marc:

• Mailed all of his documents to Korea on June 22nd to get his visa issuance number. This means the school goes to an immigration office and has them approve that JM is not taking a Korean’s job. Once he has this number, he can apply for the visa. It took the school over 2 weeks to get him his visa issuance number. They finally sent it to him via e-mail on July 12th. 
• JM mailed his visa application with accompanying transcripts, passport photos, and money order to the Korean Consulate in Montreal on July 13th. 
• JM gets a call from the consulate on July 18th saying he gave them the wrong issuance number. JM contacts the school in Korea to find out what is happening, turns out the number hasn’t even been processed yet. 
• They e-mail him another visa issuance number (this time the real one) on July 20th, which JM forwards to the consulate. The consulate told him on the 18th that if he gets the number in soon, there should be no problem having the visa processed by July 30th. 
• JM’s flight has been booked by Bugil Academy and he is scheduled to fly out of Montreal on July 31st. He hopes to pick up his visa (and passport!) from the consulate on the 30th. Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly.

Jennika:

• Accepted the job offer from Bugil Academy on June 22nd. The school then took 2 weeks to send me a contract. It was e-mailed to me on July 6th. Bad timing. 
• Since we were traveling, I didn’t have time to print it off and review it until we were in Halifax. I did this on July 11th. They had changed one line from the original contract they sent me about having to return a loan if I didn’t work for more than 6 months. I e-mailed Bugil to inquire about this change and what amount of money I would owe. 
• I sent all of my documents (transcripts, notarized and apostilled diplomas, passport photos, copy of my passport, health statement, criminal record check and the signed contract) to Korea on July 14 via Purolator. Because we are in a rural area, the mail doesn’t go out until July 16. 
• It was delivered on July 20th. No one from Bugil has confirmed this for me, I just tracked my package online. I really hope they don’t take weeks to get me the visa issuance number. 
• Originally, I was aiming to leave on August 8th so that I would have a week to acclimatize before I started work. Because things move ridiculously slow in Korea, this most likely will not happen. 

So that’s the update. JM is much further ahead in this process than I am. I don’t mind having the extra time to pack and prepare here in Canada, but I am worried that because my contract starts August 16th, they will force me to start teaching as soon as I arrive. Here’s hoping my school is more humane than that! For now, I’m off to the beach.

Jennika

Plug for Popcorn and Chocolate

This post has one purpose: to rave about the awesomeness that is Chrissy Corn from the Chagrin Falls Popcorn Shop and Nutty Steph's Chocolate Bars.

So first, the chocolate. We already blogged about how cool the shop was and how we ate so much chocolate before we even bought any. But the chocolates we did buy were fantastic! Particularly this bar right here:

Jean-Marc and I ate the whole thing in 5 mins. We couldn't stop!

And now the popcorn. So Graham's uncle part owns this popcorn shop and brought tons of popcorn to the wedding. Like boxes and boxes of it. Graham told us to grab some for the road and how happy we were that we did!! This cranberry flavoured corn was heavenly. If you are ever in the states (particularly Ohio since this is where the shop is) BUY SOME! You will be glad you did.

This particular bag we ate while playing cards with JM's parents. They also loved it!

A Day with Family

In April, the day I moved to Montreal, my brother flew into Halifax. I missed him by 12 hours. For awhile, I thought that was my last chance to see my brother before we move to Korea. Just before our trip to Niagara, however, I found out that he would be back in Nova Scotia until the twelfth of July. We debated going on our birthday vacation, but we decided to go and make a mad dash to Halifax to see my brother before he left for Florida. Getting on the road was a bit of a struggle. Logging so many hours in the car wears you down and Jennika’s apartment was a welcome refuge. We gritted our teeth and headed to Halifax.

I did get to see my brother. A few times in fact; we met at the Jazz Festival when we arrived, had a picnic with my parents in Point Pleasant Park, supper at the Henry House (Michel and I both had the Ultimate Burger), and finally a night at the Pogue Fado. As always it was nice to see my brother. 

Momma K catching Michel juggling only 2 apples.

 At the Pogue, I had also invited a few of my friends to join in my farewell to Halifax. It was great to catch up with my Hali peeps, but I wish I’d had more time to talk to each of them. Thanks so much to everyone who came out. You folks in the maritimes are fantastic; I will miss you in Korea - please come visit! 

We are now on our way to Arichat, my hometown, to start my medical appointments. Gotta get all my vaccines and my health checked out before I go to Korea.

Cheers, JM

On our way to the ‘Scosh

Well folks, we made it to Halifax! We are just crossing the bridge and it has been a long couple of days. We had so much to do on Monday in Montreal that we didn’t get on the road until 4:30pm. We had arranged to spend the night in Fredericton, New Brunswick at JM’s cousin’s house because we knew doing the full 14 hours was not going to be possible. Driving that much takes it out of you - and we have just crossed the 3200km mark since we left Montreal.

The whole purpose of this trip is for JM to visit with family before he leaves for Korea, so it was nice to spend time with Sara, his cousin, and see her new home and puppy. I had met Sara at Christmas with all of the Britten clan (JM’s mom’s side of the family), but with 12 siblings and 256 cousins it is hard to spend time with each one.

We enjoyed breakfast and lunch with Sara, relaxed and chatted in her cozy backyard and hit the road close to 3:30pm. We made one stop for homemade ice cream off the side of the highway. While it was delicious, it was also ridiculously expensive. Poor Jean-Marc owed me an ice cream so he had to pay for that one.

We will be in Halifax for two nights and then off to Cape Breton for two and a half weeks. JM’s parents are spending the summer on a lake in Marble Mountain and I’m so excited to be there!

Jennika

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The Wedding

Sara and Graham’s ceremony took place at the old Round Church in Richmond, Vermont, where Graham is from. The church is a national historic landmark and was built in 1814. We thought it was very elegant and classy as it was quite simple and painted only white on the inside. The church is non-denominational, so there was no decor associated with any particular religion. Rather than regular pews, there were small 4-person box pews, which in the early 1800s was designed to help shelter the patrons from drafts. They would even have to bring hot coals or soapstones from home to stay warm. It was very cute.

Members of Sara and Graham’s families sang or played songs composed for the wedding. Though the weather was extremely humid, the atmosphere in the church was light and joyful. Sara’s vows made us both teary and everyone laughed when she promised to be the mother to 6 foot 5 Graham’s ‘tall babies’. Jennika’s favourite part was how they confirmed their vows by saying “I will” instead of the classic “I do”. It was original and even felt more genuine.

The reception was held at Graham’s parents’ farm. Appetizers and drinks were served just behind the house followed by photos and an open toast. The fact that the toasts were voluntary meant no one felt the pressure to prepare anything and we got a good picture into the individual lives of Sara and Graham, as well as their life together. We learned about Graham’s frugality and paranoia from Kris, and Sara’s free-spirited nature from her Michigan arts crew. We learned about how they met at a cocktail club in Burlington, were both very artistic, and how they complimented each other’s weaknesses and strengths. After dating for a short time, Sara and Graham managed a long distance relationship when Sara had to move back to Kentucky. It’s nice to see how when something is right, it can withstand the distance.

Dinner was served in an old barn that Graham and his father had fixed up for the wedding. A new floor and lots of powerwashing made it shine, and it was a fantastic spot. The night continued with dancing, bonfires, and delicious food. Sara’s sister had made the wedding cake and we all agreed it was the best of all the desserts. The food was Kentucky Derby inspired and there were Kentucky quilts on the walls of the barn. Following the dinner, Graham’s cousins put on a grandiose fireworks display that outdid the Canada Day and Independence Day shows we’d seen earlier this trip. It was a great way to round out the night.

Sunday morning we woke up and had breakfast in the barn with all the guests who’d camped out. Sara’s mom brought in the best bagels that Jennika had ever had, topped with some of that delicious Vermont cream cheese. We packed up the car, said our goodbyes and had to be on our way. After traveling for 10 days, we have quite a few loads of laundry to get in and tomorrow, JM’s birthday, we plan to drive all the way to Halifax from Montreal. Hopefully Sunshine (Jennika’s car) can handle this trip. So far we’ve done almost 2000km and we aren’t even half way done.

Nighty night,

JaMs and Jennika

Chocolate, Camping, and Canda

Last year, when I was in Vermont, I had tried this amazing granola from Bien Fait, a local creation, and ate it with organic yogurt, fresh peaches and wild blueberries that we had picked earlier that day. This trip, I came in search of more granola. Unfortunately, it seemed that this local treasure was more native to eastern Vermont, near Caspian Lake. I couldn’t find it in the markets near Waitsfield and the owners of the B&B had never heard of it. But they did, however, recommend Nutty Steph’s Granola and Chocolates, which was a shop just up the road.

Side note, this is probably one of the most amazing things JM and I noticed about Vermont. Every town has produce and products that are grown and made locally. And local really means local - within a few miles of that town. Even the local restaurants advertise who’s farm the ingredients came from. The milk, cheese, herbs, greens, eggs, even the meat was fresher. The B&B had things like soap, tea, art, and wine that were all from Vermont. It was nice to see a place like that promoting the businesses in the area. It gave the whole state a real homey feel.

So we checked out Thursday morning and headed up to Nutty Steph’s to see if it measured up. And boy - did it ever! Jean-Marc and I walked into this cute little shop with wall to wall chocolate. There were large bags of granola and many homemade chocolate bars, truffles, freeze-dried raspberries, and flavours of all kinds. The best part? You could sample just about anything!!! We tried some chocolate dipped candied ginger, some white chocolate infused with dried raspberry dust (also called the Love Bar), maple walnut bar, pina colada bar (white chocolate with coconut), and all 3 kinds of magic chunks, which are granola clusters dipped in chocolate with either fruit and nuts, peanut butter or mint. We walked out of there having had our chocolate fix for the day, and a few extra bars for the road. We are looking forward to trying their lemon ginger pecan bar and the pistachio cranberry. Yum yum!

Then we headed to the campground. Now, if anyone is ever thinking of going on a vacation, staying at a gorgeous B&B first, then a campground second is not the preferable order. Having been accustomed to the amenities provided by the B&B, going to the campground was a considerable change in lifestyle. We did, however, have the company of JM’s college friends. After hearing so many great stories about them over the past few months, it was really nice to put name to face and I had a fun time getting to know them. We spent Friday morning at the beach, got a little too much sun, had a BBQ lunch over at Graham’s house, and headed back to the beach to relax in the afternoon. Later that night we went to Radio Bean for dinner with some of Graham’s friends from Burlington. They were extremely welcoming to the Canadian crew and it was nice to experience such hospitality.

Saturday is the wedding and then we’re headed back to Canada to start the East Coast part of this trip. JM still hasn’t got his visa issuance number but my school finally sent me a contract - only 2 weeks after I accepted the job. Of course there were no instructions sent with it, nor did they get my citizenship right. Apparently I’m from ‘Canda’ - haha. I don’t know with all this traveling when I’ll have the opportunity to print and sign it, but at least I have a job! Woohoo!

Until next time,

Jennika

American Independence Day

Well, you may have guessed it... we saw some 4th of July fireworks and an all american parade. We started the day with another lovely breakfast at the Wilder Farm Inn of fresh yogurt and granola, and blueberry/peach pancakes with maple syrup. Then we headed off to Richmond, Vermont to meet Graham and Sara at the house by the bridge for the parade. The parade was over run by tractors and fire trucks. The parade was a little lackluster, but we were told that it had been much better in previous years. For example, this year there were no dogs with americana hats. For SHAME! How can you have a parade without cute animals?? The closest thing we got to that was a float by a local man who has carved all the birds of Vermont out of wood. At the end of the parade Graham’s mom invited us back to her house for lunch. Which was a lovely picnic in their backyard. They live on a gorgeous, rustic farm and this is where the wedding will be on Saturday. It’s a beautiful venue.

We then learned of a free frisbee golf course in Waterbury. Graham’s father lent us his set of frisbees and we played the 18 hole course. We hoped our skills from ultimate would translate to the game, but we found the official golf discs to be very different and hard to control. They are much smaller, flatter and they feel heavier. We even had to fish them out of a brook at one point. While on the course, a nearby little league game was suspended due to impending thundershowers. We didn’t falter even after the crash of thunder and the falling rain, we played on (Jennika was freaking out a little bit). Our feet were soaked but we managed to get through the whole course. At the end of the game, we went to the Ben and Jerry's Factory to celebrate Jennika’s win on the course. We had made a bet: loser buys ice cream. We found it more cost effective to just buy a pint and went mining for peanut butter cups on the ride home. Yum yum!

After showering at the inn, we headed up to Sugarbush, a local ski resort where they have a large fireworks display on the 4th of July. We pulled out a sleeping bag and sat on the hood of the car - very old school and romantic style. It was really cute to see the kids running around in their pajamas and talking about how exciting the finale was.

Tomorrow we check out of the inn and head off to North Beach campground in Burlington. Jean-Marc’s Mount Allison (undergrad) friends are all driving up tomorrow and we are camping for 3 nights together, the last night being the wedding night at Graham’s parents’ farm. We may be without internet, so see you in a few days!

Jennika and Jean-Marc

Life in Vermont

Jennika and I started the day off with a pottery class. It was our first time and I think we did a good job. We still need a good deal of practice centering the clay on the wheel. As the wheel spins you are supposed to force the clay to the center by a series of karate chop-palm smoothing motion and a coning action. When the clay is centered you can then start shaping it into a bowl, plate or vase. Jennika made a beautiful vase to place flowers in for our place in Korea.  

This was done at the Wilder Farm Inn which is a great B&B in Waitsfield, Vermont run by Luke and Linda. After our class Luke, also the pottery teacher, told us of a nice hike and river to bathe in. The hike’s peak allowed for a view of lake Champlain and Canada after a steep ascent. The river was spectacular. It had lots of little water falls and secluded pools. We profited from one of these pools to cool down after our long hike. I’m a bit of a wimp when it comes to cold water but Jennika was happier than a clam.  

Tired from our adventures we went to American Flatbread in Warren, VT. Before eating in a barn like structure, we observed three piglets feeding in their pen. Their little noses pushing in the ground looking for grubs and eating some grass when the mood struck them. They are a very cute animal and Jennika coaxed a few oinks out of them. The pizza was made from local produce and cooked in a wood fired oven to perfection. Half of the pizza was made from a ragu and the other from maple-fennel sausage. We both preferred the caramelized onions and mushrooms on the sausage side. 

Tomorrow we are hoping to go into Richmond, Vermont to meet up with my university friend Graham. He is getting married in a few days and many of my university friends will be there to celebrate. Tomorrow, however, the reason to be in Richmond is their fourth of July celebration. It will be the first time I celebrate America’s Independence day. I have in the past watched the movie Independence Day with Will Smith but that doesn’t count.

JM

It’s birthday vacation time!

Since our birthdays are 10 days apart (Jennika’s was June 29th and Jean-Marc’s is July 9th), we decided to plan a vacation to celebrate. It started with going to Niagara Falls for 2 nights since Jean-Marc had never been before. Jennika did her undergrad in the area, so we stayed with one of her long-time college friends Larissa for the first night. Larissa is awesome! She is expecting a baby in August and yet she still welcomed us and cooked us an amazing dinner. We cannot rave more about her pollo pesto penne pasta plate that we couldn’t stop eating. Her parents had brought back the pesto and the pasta from Italy and it definitely moved Italy up on Jennika’s list of places to go. Delizioso!

The next morning we headed down to Niagara Falls to board the Maid of the Mist, a boat that goes right up to the falls (American and Canadian!). It’s easy to see that Canada must have won the war of 1812 because we definitely got the better side of the falls, he he. Getting up close to the Horseshoe Falls, you really get to feel how much power the many tonnes of water barrelling over the edge have – the boat would suddenly get pushed to the left or to the right. Later, we stood at the outlook at the edge of the escarpment where all the water falls of the cliff. This is one of Jennika’s favourite spots because you can just get mesmerized by the water speeding up, and suddenly dropping off (see below for a video). Jean-Marc was really surprised by how green the water was, and not the polluted algae green, but Caribbean green and clear. It was breathtaking.

In the afternoon we purchased an adventure pass that included mini-putt, a ferris wheel, the wax museum, and a few other things. It was kind of cool being a tourist – there is sooo much to do on Clifton Hill. Our Niagara adventure was also Canada Day, which we celebrated by watching fireworks down by the falls, just over the Rainbow Bridge. It was a really nice end to the day.

After having breakfast at our B&B in Niagara, it was time to hit the road. We had an 8-hr marathon drive ahead of us because we needed to check into our B&B in Vermont by 7pm. And we only got lost twice! Once right across the border, which we quickly figured out and got back on track, but the second incident lead us 20 miles off course (about 30 mins). That one was a bit of a shock. Here we were following the 9 north, but we were supposed to be on the 9N north. PS. New York, we hate your signage.

So we made it to the B&B, which was recommended to us by my friend Katy, and we are already relaxing. The room we picked is gorgeous, with large wood furniture and luxurious bedding. We will be asleep before 11pm – and it will be most excellent.

Night, night.

Jennika and Jean-Marc

Waiting to get on the Maid of the Mist

A view of Horseshoe falls in the background

A video of water rushing over the edge of Niagara Falls