More PICS of the Family

Grandma playing Pictionary, we guessed it . . . eventually!
Little Hannah playing pictionary, it took us less time to guess hers than grandma's
Uncle Tim, carving up the turkey, very very delicious!
The Family, playing games!

CHRISTMAS WITH THE FAMILY

Merry Christmas!!!

On Christmas Day, I went to Grandma's house were I enjoyed a delicious dinner and then Grandma and I played seven games of Rummikub! I won four and Grandma cheated on all of them!

Then on Boxing Day we had the family gathering. The roads were a little rough but definitelydrivable. Once we arrived we played a friendly game of touch football, which evolved into tackle football once the little ones went inside. Then we ate a remarkably delicious turkey dinner, ate Christmas pudding then played pictionary!

Christmas in Korea

Sorry I didn't take any pictures but we had a good time. Sunday morning, Nusha called and we drove into Pohang to pick her up from the bus station. It was a nice sunny day so we drove to Homigot (the most easternly point in Korea) to see the ocean and wander around watching people taking pictures of themselves and the ocean. We found a coffee shop and sat and had coffee for a couple of hours. Back at the apartment later that day, we made supper (mini quiche, peanut butter chicken, stuffed mushrooms and tomatoes and pumperknickle bread). Next day, JeongHo and Lily and children came over and we spent most of the day together. After they left, we watched the movie Life is Beautiful on YouTube. On Sunday after church, we drove into Daegu to take Nusha back and then went for supper with a Napalese family that we have known for a couple of years. We got home around 9 last night. Your father was quite tired and needed to get his rest as he needs to be alert and motivated for his classes this week.

It was a different Christmas. I'm getting used to these holidays now - not being with family and slowly getting over the loneliness of missing home. My preference would be being with you guys and I am hoping that we will be able to have a Christmas together in the near future.

Love you and missing you.

Albanian Christmas part 2

Look at the eyes... no LOOK at the eyes....the thicker the makeup the better (especially on the eyes for most Albanians!!) Its crazy!!!!
So... my hair was straightened BUT try to straighten naturally curly when the humidity is 100% and what do you get???? A 'striagthened' frizzy fro!!!!! Oh yes you know its true!
Do you see the tall white girl? Oh thats me!!! I'm dancing Albanian. We all hold hands and dance in a big circle! I love it because I never know what to do with my hands when I dance. Now I do.... you hold onto someone elses!!!
Tracey and I went to an Albanian hair dresser (shes a dear sister from Church) and she did our hair and makeup. We look VERY Albanian now with lots and LOTS of makeup on!
I got a Kinder surprise!!!!!
This is my Santa's Sack that Tracey put in my room at 1:30 am when I was sleeeeeeeeping.... full of wonderful goodies!!!!
This was my present from Nicole: the movies Beaches and Steel Magnolios and the book Sacred Hearts

Christmas in Albania part 1

Here are some people in Gramsh where we had OM Albania Christmas party. People from Lushnje, Durres and Gramsh all got together!

Korca

Here are some pics of the drive up to Korca. Look SNOW!!!!!!

Christmas Music

I have just discovered Straight No Chaser and enjoying their music.

Here's a link: http://www.sncmusic.com/

What are you listening to this holiday season?

Christmas in Winnipeg - ain't it lovely!

I just needed to post some pictures of the beautiful snow and frost! We had a heavy fog two nights ago and the frost was thick and beautiful. Admit it Dad you love it!!!And for those of you who no longer remember, ours is the last condo on the right (the one with the 4 Sale sign in front . . . ah the number of times I could have sold the house . . . )

Christmas 09 - roommate gift exchange

Merry Christmas to all!!

Well today, being the last possible day to do so, the roommates and I exchanged Christmas gifts. Shelley leaves tomorrow for New York, and Kerry is going to Brandon. So it'll just be little ol' me.

This is our Christmas "tree". It felt strange not having anything so I decorated up the old plant stand. Please not

e the tree skirt and decorations hanging in the "branches".

Shelley and her significant other (Wilson)

Kerry Zhou and her gift from Shelley.

And of course your truly, with all my booty.

Vienna (Christmas 2009)

Hi all

I am back from Vienna and let me tell you Vienna at Christmas is lovely.  When we arrived there was no snow on the ground but it snowed all weekend and it was very Chirstmassy.  In Vienna we stayed with Andrew (couch surfing) and he really took care of us, he was showed us all around town including a place to get the best Schnitzel in town.

When we first got to Vienna we checked out the University of Vienna

some pictures from inside the University.  The University was unbelievable beautiful but it was cold (not cold in nature but cold in temperature) the ceilings were so high it would have been impossible to heat.

After the University we checked out some churches and Christmas markets. Here is a picture of the Christmas market at night with the town hall in the background.

After we finished at the Christmas market we wandered around at the center of the town a little and here is a picture of the main castle downtown.

Some pictures of downtown

We decided to call it an early night because we had a big day on Saturday.

We started off the day by checking out this castle (it was Sisi's castle (who ever that was)).  After the castle we hit some art galleries and generally spent the day looking around Vienna and I must say that it is beautiful, so beautiful in fact I want to go back during the summer.

Sunday we went to a few buildings and art galleries, below is one of the buildings that we went to see.

It was a really good trip and if you are interested in seeing more pictures check out my facebook profile.

I had a great time and certainly intend on returning.  I have to run you all have a great day and I will talk to you all soon.  Love ya all.

I am trying out a new approach for one of my classes. I would like to use a program called Voice Thread. The idea is that I would put up a picture and have the students comment either by recording their comments or type comment. You are going to be my guinea pigs. Please leave record your comments or add text. I want to see how this works. Thanks.

http://voicethread.com/share/817717/

FINISHED!!!!!

I AM FINISHED!!!

I have finally written my LAST exam of my undergraduate career!!!!! HURRAH!!!!!!

Shoping anyone!!1

Dad and I are trying to connect with different groups of students on campus. Tonight we hosted a dinner for 11 Chinese students. I attempted to make some Chinese dishes, drawing on my limited knowledge of Chinese cooking. I think it went OK - they certainly ate lots - there was very little left over. We played Catch Phrase afterwards which always brings lots of laughter. We play it where if you get caught holding the gameboy when the buzzer goes off, you have to sing a song, do a dance, tell a joke or story. This usually leads to lots of laughs and craziness.

Tomorrow we are heading into Daegu for a shopping trip. Does anyone want anything? We need to stock up on some groceries from Costco and pick up several items. We haven't decided for sure but we may stay overnight and come back on Saturday.

Our classes are done, we just need to calculate marks and enter them into the system. On Monday, Dad begins the class for the winter break. My class was cancelled due to lack of students. That's OK with me as there are lots of things I can do to keep busy.

Well toodle-do. Need to go to make my list for shopping tomorrow - thinking about doing some Christmas baking next week.

Sunday

Hi

Just to let everyone know I will not be around this sunday for our usual skpe date because I am off to Vienna (WOOHOO).  I will make sure to take lots of pictures though.

Also here are some more pictures from the streets of Ljubljana

These are little shops that sell everything from christmas gifts, to hot wine to various street foods

Another shop that sells street food, usually it is difficult to get to because there are so many people crowded around.

another photo of the lights downtown.  If you ask me I miss the more traditional way of doing lights

as you can see there are a ton of people out this was taken on a saturday at about 5:30 in the afternoon and the streets were completely packed.

Well thats all for now I will talk to you all later.  Love ya

Christmas Video

check out this video: http://www.tangle.com/view_video?viewkey=245611efda776f78a8a1

Musical, THe Fantastics

Dad and I went to a musical this week. A student group put on the Musical 'The Fantastics'. There were a couple of songs that we really enjoyed:
file://hp/documents/PLANT A RADISH Lyrics

The fathers of the main characters were really funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6gvqfcXSHo&feature=related

It was fun to go to a musical. The English pronunciation was difficult but just fun to go to a musical.

Chants

Hi

There are two reasons that I am posting today the first and probably the most predominate reason is I am looking for a way to waste some time I am getting sick of reading about vertical integration and all the considerations which need to go into deciding whether or not a firm is better off to buy from the market or to simply vertically integrate.  The second reason is I was on the bus yesterday coming home from lunch and I noticed an advertisement for Gregorian chanting, now I am generally a curious person and since I have never heard any gregorian chanting I decided that I needed to explore this musical genera more carefully so when I got home instead of cracking the books to read more about the delightful subject of vertical integration.  I hit the net to find some Gregorian chanting and I came across this group called The Gregorian and they do untraditional gregorian chanting (!?!?!?!?! i know you are all thinking) well let me explain this group of monks? chant more up to date songs for instance I downloaded an album of beetles songs and it is very relaxing to listen to (I may have even found something that I am able to listen to while I am studying because it is soothing without being interesting enough to make me want to listen to the words).  Anyways I just thought that I would throw that out there for something a little different to look into if you are looking for some new music.

Ciao

P.S I also changed some settings on the blog so I am wanting to see how the new settings work.  If everything works as I hope we will all now receive email notifications whenever someone posts on the blog or makes a comment.  I am hoping that this relieves some of the surprised "you posted on the blog?!?!?!" also Netty I am not sure if I got your email right so if you read this post and didn't get an email telling you it was there either shoot me an email with your email address or comment on the post and I will make the correction.

P.P.S my new thing is using crazy combinations of ?!?!?!?!?!? to express both shock and surprise, in case you were not able to figure that out from my post.

Christmas in Slovenia

Hi All

I know that I have been promising pictures of Ljubljana however I just have not gotten around to it until now.

I am sorry about the quality of this picture, I still don't have the hang of taking pictures at night, stupid slow shutter speed and shaky hands (this is why I could never be a surgeon)

The castle is lit with a number of different color lights, white is the most boring color but the picture turned out the best, I took like 40 different pictures of the castle hoping that one of them would work out and this was the best picture. The problem was that the castle is up on a hill and I am taking the picture from the city which is heavily lit so most of my pictures are either very blurry because of all the lights in the fore ground or you can see the lights in the fore ground but the background is just black.

I know that these lights are a little strange but that it was designed by artists so what more needs to be said. I am going to try to take a picture of some more Christmas decorations which look to me like sperm trying to fertilize an egg but I am not sure how the picture will work out.

This i must admit was pretty they have a number of giant christmas trees like this all over the city all done up in lights. Very nice.

It is strange here, since the weather is very nice it seems there are a ton of people in the center of town just hanging out and drinking hot wine and eating and meeting and shopping. You for sure would never see anything like this back in Winnpeg, I like it!

For Students and Teachers alike.

Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.
- Don Marquis

What are you procrastinating with?

I'm currently, at this exact moment that I am writing this, procrastinating studying. I'm tired of studying and I still have a full week and a half left . . . boohoohoo!!

More Christmas Stories to read together

http://www.allthingschristmas.com/stories.html

A Cup of Christmas Tea

It's that time of the year again. Here it is:
http://www.atthewell.com/christmas/tea/

You can read or listen as it is read for you.

Enjoy

Wined and Dined at Posco

Today, one of my students in the night class, invited Dad and I for a tour of Posco. Posco is the 3rd largest steel company in the world. The headquarters is in Pohang. My student, Byung Don, picked us up around 9 this morning. We first took a tour of Posco and then visited the company Museum. The company was started in 1948 and is attributed with 'making' Korea in the 50's and 60's when Korea was 'dirt' poor. They have subsiduaries all over the world today. In the factory we watched as huge slabs of molten steel was rolled out into sheet metal. It was very interesting. Posco has provided the backing for a University - Posteck which is one of the major universities in Korea. Posco has created its own city for the workers - schools, housing, and shopping all within a short distance from the factory. The company looks after the workers but expects complete devotion in return. After the tour, Byung took us for lunch at a nice restaurant. Dad and I stayed in town and went to a movie later in the afternoon. We saw 2012. Too much Hollywood, very little substance. The computer graphics were good I guess but that is the only redeeming value. We took the Handong bus back home. All in all, a good day.

For all the economists out there . . .

An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today.
- Laurence J. Peter

NO MORE LAB EXAMS . . . .HURRAH!!!

Hello Hello,

Well Winterpeg is starting to feel a little more wintery-like. The temperatures are closer to normal (for this time of year . . . there was a windchill today of -22) and WE HAVE SNOW!!! Not a lot of snow :( but still . . . ;) While Winnipeg may not be decked out in all the finery of Ljubjiana (or however you spell it), we do have snow which makes Christmas look pretty! Also, while I may not have the pleasure of enjoying mulled wine under the heating lamps of a small outdoor cafe, I have discovered that cooked pudding is ridiculously easy to make and exceptionally delicious (even the roomies like it). I may even make some more today (so much chocolately wonderful goodness). Why you don't like it Dad, I'll never know! When you come home Mom, we'll have to make some together!

I hope that everyone is enjoying their week!

Christmas in Ljubljana

HI all

I don't have any pictures yet because the last few times I have been down town I have forgotten my camera but Ljubljana is officially in the Christmas Spirit. There is a massive Christmas tree downtown which was cut down just outside the city and there are lights all over down town. Also they have little venders all over the place selling hot wine. What is hot wine you may ask well it is something that I am sure even you non-drinkers would enjoy. It is basically red wine which is heated up and served with some spices (usually cinnamon and cloves) and sweetened a bit. Everyone here in Ljubljana has their own version and I vow that I will try to find the best version out there. There honestly is not much better then sitting outside (yes we can sit outside the temperature is only about 4 of 6 degrees in the evenings and they have heating lamps all over, actually I have been told that people sit outside all year long) and enjoying a hot wine or two while chatting with friends. Life is good.

Also on an unrelated note I have been enjoying Burek (Lynnette I am sure that you have tried this), I am not sure if I have mentioned to you but burek is basically like a pastry (philo dough) with beef or cheese, or pizza fillings in between the layers. It is good greasy food, it tastes delicious but the thing is that while I may like burek, burek does not like my stomach. It is just a little too greasy for me which is a shame.

The one last thing is I managed to find those cupcakes in Ljubljana, they didn't have pumpkin so I had to settle for banana (cream cheese frosting), milk chocolate, chocolate orange, and dark chocolate. They were pretty good I must admit (defiantly the best cakey thing that I have tried here so far). American thanksgiving was really good the american girl who made it was all in a tisy that she ruined the meal but it was delicious, especially the sweet potatoes (made with lots of butter, brown sugar, and pecans) actually it was more like a dessert then it was a side dish but I was not going to complain.

Well that is all for now I am going to try to remember to take pictures of downtown this week to show you what it looks like.

1 Down . . . 7 to go

Happy "LAST DAY OF NOVEMBER" everyone!!

Today I had the first of eight exams in the next three weeks. It went alright, though I definitely did some fancy guess work for a couple of questions. . . .OOPS! Oh well no time to think about it, I'm on to studying for the next one (tomorrow morning). Did everyone remember that yesterday (as in November 29, Sunday) was the first day of Advent. Did you remember to light the candle of Hope? I must admit that I am now listening to Christmas music (Micheal W. Smith's Christmas album to be exact!), even though we still don't have snow on the ground and it doesn't really feel like the Christmas season.

What are you guys doing to celebrate Advent?

Picnic

Hey family!

here are some pics

I will try to explain them as we go! I went on two picnics. One with Eunha and Tracey and one with people from the church! We had a great time!!

Eunha, Tracey and I went for a bit of a coffee picnic one day but the mossies were hungry!
This is where we had our picnic was, the sun was going down! Really nice!
This is our Korean leader's bosses daughter, you can tell that they are Korean by how she is dressed like an eskimo!
the trees were all changing colour!!! So beautiful, not as vivid as home but still beautiful! And where we had a picnic with people from the church!!
The monastery where the guy who freed Albania got married. We didn't get to actually see inside but only from the distance!!