New Steps

Hints of Fall

2007-08-18T10:18:00.001-04:00

Yeeeeehaa! This morning I woke up and it was cold! Since we sleep with our bedroom window open, I had a pretty darn good excuse to cuddle with the hubbie. But really what does it for me is that the wind blows from the north today and it reminds me so much of my favorite season: FALL!
There's a bright blue sky too, so I think I'll go walk in the woods.

I've been catching up on other people's blogs, and I must say I wish I could all invite you to Quebec. I miss our talks, our C.S. Lewis Sundays, French brunches, *sniff, sniff*

I had a "French brunch" with waffle the other Saturday, but it's not the same without 15 some peeps with sleepy eyes. I had invited some of my husband's brothers ans sister, and even though the table wasn't bending with tons of fruits, ice cream, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, crêpes and French toast; I guess they liked it.

To all CMU peeps, Cheers!

This ain't the summer for resting!

2007-08-08T08:36:00.000-04:00

You know what's fun about Quebec? Or perhaps I should say me now, I have discovered I have my own time zone! Who would have thought?

Since I am now a teacher, I'm supposed to be off during the summer, but really, "vacation" seems to be out of my vocabulary lately.

In July we moved to a new apartment from Montreal to the Laurentians. It's a much bigger place and although St-Jerome is more quiet we're getting used to it. We have also attended 2 weddings (pictures below). The first one is my cousin, and the second was Matt's brother. To top it all, Matt's sister gave birth on the 22nd.

Strange how it fits in a few sentences but seems like a few months have gone by with so much going on! University seems even further in the past. I guess it just means life goes on.

it's a very short update, but the pics should entertain you until I post again...!

-------- Matt's brother's Wedding

My Cousin's Wedding

(I did her hair, quite the job!)
And baby Gabriel

Is Quebec in a different time zone?

2007-01-26T20:18:00.000-05:00

Well, isn't that a good question? I mean my last post was in what, october?

Let's summaize by topic and bring things up to date:

Husband
he is fine, and it is going well, as we are setting in a better routine between us-work-friend-family time. If most of you remember me as cuddly, well I assure you, this husband is perfect for me!

Family
We have a new little niece, freshly popped out on Dec. 23. Her name is Maya. we are also expecting another niece/nephew for this summer. Matt's grandparents have been quite sick, which has led us to spend more time with them (we are expecting to loose one of them within the next year or so...)
We will be attending Matt's brother wedding this summer in July, and we are most excited!

Work
I've been having tons of fun at my new job. Teaching English at adult school is just awesome. I have the chance to interact with my students beyond teacher-student standards. it's also nice to have the time to chat with them and help them out figure out other stuff in their lives. So I might after all get my teacher license for Quebec province.

Matt is looking to a switch from managing at Blockbuster to start into mutual funds and financial planning. it puts a little stress on us, but he is so enthousiast about it, and it good to see him in a better mood.

Christmas
well, let me tell you... it was a non-stop celebration from dec. 24 till jan. 2. we had parties on the 29, 30, 31 and the 1st, we stayed up till 4am. We were burnt, or dead, I, not quite sure. We had a good time with our families and friends.

Viva Las Vegas!

2006-10-24T22:59:00.000-04:00

That's the song that was playing in my head after I had my meeting with the director of the school i am to work at. It went very, very well.

I am to start with 7 hours a week, with a group of 20-25 students. Their levels are varied (from grade 9-12 English), but they are working individually, and all I have to do is sit at a desk waiting for them to come ask questions. I know, it sounds too good to be true, but honestly my task is to guide them in their exercises, explain, have them do pre-test and test (which are already made) and to correct it.

The best part is that my day starts at 9:25am and finishes at 3:55pm, and that includes an hour long lunch break. And the kicker, is that I was offered another 15 hours a week before the end of the meeting!

I'm starting on November 6th, I'll let you how it goes.

VIVA LAS VEGAS!
(By the way did you know that ZZ Top did a remake of Elvis Presley's song? Weird...)

Ingglelish, uh I mean English!

2006-10-18T21:10:00.000-04:00

Today was an interesting day. I've been very spaced out, and at the sime time feeling restless all day. Anyhoo, I got a phone call for a job I had applied for 2 weeks ago. So it looks like I'll be teaching English starting this November! I'm meeting the principal on Monday for the details. The fun part is that I will be teaching adults (18 and over) so they are usually motivated to learn. Yeah! Matt and I went to celebrate on a date (we take anything as an excuse for a date!)

On another topic, this weekend we are having my mom's family reunion. We are renting a chalet for about 50 people. And since we are close to Halloween, we decided to have a theme night on Saturday: Pirates. Aaaarrgh! It shuld be pretty funny to see everybody dressed up as a pirate! We are going to have some games about sinking ships, treasures and all. Gee, do I love my family!

I'll put pictures up afterward you can be sure!

toodles!

Cajun Shrimp and Grey Skies

2006-10-12T20:01:00.000-04:00

It's been kinda rainy the last few days, and it seems even more depressing because last weekend was so gorgeous. I had a pedicure appointment today (small joy!). It's an upper class salon, but I got this appointment very cheap. When came the time to choose the nail polish color, I usually go for softer tones, pinks, golden... but today I decided to shake my toes (instead of my fist) to defy the grey clouds: I chose a bright orangee-red color! Of course my feet were going right back in my shoes (the weather being too cold to wear sandals) but hey, who cares?!? My toe nails were secretly shining today! I tried to look up a similar color on internet. Although I saw one that was close to it, I didn't like the name- cajun shrimp. Urgh! Who thinks of those names for heaven's sake!
Instead I picked this one to show you: Friar, Friar pants on Fire...

**Sigh, sigh**

Chinese Thanksgiving?!?

2006-10-11T21:15:00.000-04:00

I'm not big on traditions, but I have to admit I'm a little disappointed by my Thanksgiving weekend. I had been expecting a nice turkey diner....

Saturday morning, bright and early, my husband and I went up north to harvest my uncle's vineyards. We were about 30 people to take off the nets (to keep birds from eating the grapes), and then proceed to cut off the nice, plumply, juicy, tasty grapes. We had two fields to harvest, but it only took us about 3 hrs. We spent the afternoon playing football, and let me tell you that it was quite interesting to see my uncle going nuts running, jumping, pushing. Imagine a little 5" Quebec French guy giggling as he speeds by you. Nevertheless, I manage to get a touchdown for my team; quite a feat if you consider I'm only 5"3. Hence forth I've been called Speedy Mimi!

We finished the day by having supper with a few of my cousins (some where my uncle's where we had been harvesting and they, of course, brought the wine!). We had a nice fondue.

Sunday morning we had a brunch at my parents: no turkey. I was starting to get anxious to see that sexy bird, but we still had the supper to look to.

Sunday supper was at Matt's parents. They usually are a bit more traditional then my family. Gasp and inner giggle! We were to have fondue, again! I asked if there would be turkey meat? No... sniff, sniff. I had to imagine the little bits of meat were juicy turkey.

I guess next year I'll have to plan it myself!

Sporadic is the word...

2006-09-19T18:11:00.000-04:00

humm, doing a blog is not as easy as it seems... or maybe it's only a matter of getting started into the groove...

So, after quitting (I still have trouble with that word!) one of my jobs (for I had three) to take a time to reflect and find a suitable job, well, life is just what it is.

I do not find that I'm less stressed. I still accept little contracts, in fear that we won't have enough money to pay the bills. I'm stuck between fun jobs that pay less and have few hours or trying to find a job where I could use my B.A. but that are RARE in Quebec. Aaaargh!

I've had a year in heaven or hell I don't quite know.... I'm suppose to be reflecting, and all I do is worry. Does it ever stop?

On the bright side, I finally have the time (and energy!) to take a latine dance class, and to sign up at the gym. Bachata/Merengue classes are fun, with sweaty guys trying not to step to on your toes or hit you in the b**bs when doing a turn...

Last Thursday I went to this Tae-box class. Hilarious! Well first I found out I'm not so in shape as I used to, second ,the instructor was so clueless, didn't really know how to explain movements to the class. funny is that after a few minutes of throwing punches I started to feel like an idiot for punching in the air (having put down the weights, I had taken some too heavy ones!) the guy in front was trying to concentrate it looked like he was about to poop, and quite honestly, by then I stayed for the sake to prove myself I could do the whole hour. I' planning to go to another session, but maybe something different like aerobics...

oh! and I still get the chance to play the mennonite game even though I'm not at CMU anymore... *wink, wink*

And finally... wedding pictures

2006-08-01T21:14:00.000-04:00

obviously, we didn't take only 4 pictures, but it gives you a brief overview of how it went about. And of course, of course I'll be posting more!

Ceramic painting: still need a little practice...

2006-03-08T17:13:00.000-05:00

well, last time I said we went ceramic painting for Valentine's day, and we got them back not so long ago. I'll let you figure out which one belongs to whom...!

Valentine's bug

2006-02-22T14:10:00.000-05:00

So Matt came to help out, and I decided to get some Valentine's bug (they're quite the pair, eating all the chocolate on top of that!!), and a supper in a restaurant. Our poor waiter was alone for 10 tables or so, since a co-worker had called in "sick" on valentine's day. After supper we went to café céramique, which is a café (duh!) where you can paint your own ceramic. Cool, but we still haven't seen what they look like since they need to be cook and glazed... I wonder...

Valentine's day adventures

2006-02-22T14:04:00.000-05:00

So when you don't have a boyfriend, or when you do, Valentine's day sort of looks different. This year was interesting as Matt was in charge of the day and I was for the evening. Matt took the day off to come help me out at work and brought this "little gift". Yes, it made for a very happy Mimi!

2006-02-21T23:15:00.000-05:00

And that's what you get for working 2 jobs: a tired Mimi!

pictures of my precious muffin

2006-02-21T22:55:00.000-05:00

2005-11-02T21:23:00.000-05:00

My friend Amanda and I at the top of La Mesa school

2005-07-29T12:36:00.000-04:00

these are my little 5th graders singing "My God is so BIG". We managed to learn it in Spanish, English and French!

2005-07-29T12:30:00.000-04:00

all the kids climb it... (see me?!?) This is my friend Connie from Pasto.

2005-07-29T12:29:00.000-04:00

This is the BIG tree from the plaza central.

2005-07-29T12:18:00.000-04:00

trying to teach "good morning!"

2005-07-29T12:16:00.000-04:00

aren't they cute???

my incredible teaching methods...!

2005-07-29T12:13:00.000-04:00

Version Française

2004-12-16T16:12:00.000-05:00

http://myleneencolombie.blogspot.com

2004-12-16T12:16:00.000-05:00

This is the college I'll be working at in January

2004-12-15T17:10:00.000-05:00

My friend Amanda and I

Water War in Bolivia

2004-12-15T01:20:00.000-05:00

Hey peeps!

I was just watching a documentary with my friend Amanda about the water war in Bolivia in 2000. My friend was there with a peace organisation when it happened. She has awesome pics of it, but also incredible stories! This seem to be a good resume of it:

http://www1m.mesh.ne.jp/~apec-ngo/english/water/2002_speech_Pablo_Solon.htm

People used to pay $1 to $2 a month at first, but with the privatization of the water (yes, even the rain water collecting was forbidden!!!) their bill went up to $15-$20/month - which represent their entire salary for the month. Outrageous, no?

Pictures

2004-12-14T03:33:00.000-05:00

Hello... or good night!

Here's a link to my friend's website if you want to see pictures of the women delegation I accompanied last November. I'm the orange patch in the group! You can view it in slide show, look in the upper right corner.

http://carolinapeace.org/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=WFP-DelegationNov2004

2004-12-13T22:51:00.000-05:00

Me in Medellin in October

2004-12-13T22:40:00.000-05:00

Imagine, squashing a bug like that!

Newsletter 2

2004-12-13T13:08:00.000-05:00

Warm greetings from Colombia! (wink! wink!)

It’s not that warm here, but I can’t help thinking that most of you by now have a foot of snow on the ground and are facing temperatures under 0. For us in Bogota, the sun is finally starting to be more present, and in the last few days I’ve had the chance to witness some spectaculars sunsets.

It seems that unintentionally my work has been taking a slow pace recently. Not that it made me stressed, but as my plans are always changing here, you do get to enjoy more the everyday life. So instead of working on the writing for the conflict guide I’m designing, I got to spend a week in Cachipay with the Plenert family in mid-November. It was also an occasion for me to go to La Mesa (about 1 hour from their place) to meet the school principal, teachers and kids of where I’ll be teaching in January. It was a great time let me tell you! The school has about 1 class for each level (kindergarten to grade 11) so it makes for big classes. I couldn’t really tell if the kids were in class or in recreation b/c their teaching style is a little different from our. In any case, it sounds like a great place and the teachers were really happy to know there would be another gringa (north American) coming to help out next school year. The kids have so much energy, that my only concern is that I might enjoy a little too much of their company, and as my friend Annemarie says, I might be burnt or dead quite a few times during my stay!!!

Back to Cachipay, I was staying at the finca (farm) with the Plenerts, and I ended up overcoming one of my fear: bug squashing! Every night I was inspecting my bedroom to find spiders and bugs and… SQUASH THEM! I thought “better squashed than sleeping with me”. I became quite good at it until God reminded me that he wasn’t done with me. I had to face a horn bug! I included a picture so you see I’m not joking! I can proudly say that I squashed one, without it splashing bug juice on the wall! By the end of my week I deserved a bug squashing certificate, but the Plenerts did not have any left…

Another interesting thing I did lately was to visit a salt cathedral a little north of Bogota. It’s a salt mine into which they have carved a cathedral and the stations of Jesus’ life. You could even lick the walls to taste! Again, I did that with the Plenerts, and I couldn’t help laughing when we realized it reminded us of the Mines of Moria! There were four huge stone pillars underground in the cathedral, representing the four evangelists, and they actually have masses down there.

Finally, please keep me in your prayers so that I won't feel too homesick during Xmas and also for the conflict resolution workshops I'm about to give (probably in early January). Pray that people will keep an open mind and that they will feel free to participate and open up for an honest exchange.

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to all,
Mylene

Newsletter 1

2004-11-11T13:01:00.000-05:00

And in the beginning…. Everybody was talking fast!

Well, so it seems. My Spanish being a little rusted, not everything made sense at first. Oh well, it gives you a good opportunity to laugh at yourself!

I have been here for a month and you will forgive me for not writing earlier, but time goes by differently here. For example, meal times are a little different. Breakfast is around… well, when I get up (waken by the oh!-not-so-gorgeous sound of the rooster that lives behind our house), lunch is around 1 or 2 pm, and supper around 7 pm. There is only about 12 hrs of daylight (6am-6pm), so obviously getting up later than 9am doesn´t really make sense... I think I´m also getting used to the “colombian cold”. Yes, yes, all you Winterpeggers can laugh, I know 12-15 degrees (above 0) isn´t that cold! But the thing is that I caught a cold at the end of my first week!!! The next best thing to it, is that I got to drink a lot of hot chocolate – made of real chocolate. Not the powder stuff we use in Canada. Yummi! Another good thing here is that every morning I can walk around the corner to get fresh fruits (bananas, guavas, passion fruits, oranges) to make fresh juice! There are also a lot of panaderias (bakery) to get fresh bread and croissant. Have I forgot to mention the coffee!? Well, there are still a lot of new kind of food I am trying, I´ll cook some for you guys when I get back!

Bogotá seems very much to me like any big city. Okay, they do speak Spanish here, and there are a lots of little stores and homeless dogs and crazy taxi drivers and holes in the pavement; but seriously, they have a better bus system than Winnipeg! Hurray for the Transmilenio!!! And as for the danger, from armed groups for example, it is not oppressive, actually it is not that “obvious” in the city. You still notice it, like the presence of so many police officers. That is one thing that annoyed me a little at first. Everywhere you look there is a police officer, dressed like an army guy, with a gun (automatic riffle, for all I know) hanging from his shoulder. I haven´t dared to ask if they are loaded, but even at the banks you get your bag/purse checked before going in. After a month, it seems to be becoming part of the “usual” here, and I found out the other day that most of them are willing to chat with you while you wait in line! The danger seems to be getting higher as you travel towards the outskirts of bogota and or to key areas of the country (coast line, mountain regions, cultivating areas, borders with other countries). Although I said that the danger is not that threatening here, it is ever present. You can bet that 4 out of 5 people you see on the street have had a relative threatened/sequestrated or killed by one of the armed groups. The fifth person is the neighbor of one of the other four… At church we have a time for prayer requests, every sunday I have been there someone have asked that we pray for a family member being sequestrated or threatened. It sounds grim, but there is the other side of so much violence and fear: love and creativity. Unfortunately it is overlooked by the media 98% of the time.

Last week I went to ciudad Bolivar, one of the poorest area of Bogota (south-west of where I live). I was accompanying a women delagation of Witness for Peace from the US. Among other things, we found out that the area is a corridor to several armed groups (legal and illegal) who are discriminating/persecuting the youth of the area to control the corridor. Young people get systematically arrested and detained for no reason, beaten up, and sometimes killed. They also tie them up outside the police station as an example/warning to the rest of the community. The approximate rate of this illegal social cleasing is 2-3 teenagers a day. The landscape counts many hills. On one there is the military base, where most of the torturing/killing happens, and on the next hill there is a tree. That tree is called arbol estrangulado “the choked tree”. The reason being that it is about the only one around -because of the many houses- and that’s where people go hang themselves out of desperation (lack of jobs, violence from armed groups, youth being killed, etc). Let me tell you that one went right home… On top of that because this area is so poor and violent, humanitarian aid workers do not want to go work there. Therefore we met one, only one, organisation working there: Organizacion Femenina Popular (Popular Organisation of Women). In the last 3 years, they have opened 4 soup kitchens, organized a few community food cooking projects and done a lot of education on people’s situation. They work wonders from scratch and the people they are helping are little geniuses of creativity. I like their slogan: “Las mujeres no parimos, ni forjamos hijas e hijos para la guerra.” Women do not give birth nor raise daughters and sons for the war.

And so as not to finish on a sad note, I notice that I started this letter talking about food, and I will end it in the same way. Oatmeal, thick, no? Try it the Colombian way: blend it in the mixer first with a little more milk and water than usual, and warm it up in a pot on the stove with a few cinnamon sticks and a spoon of sugar. It makes a delicious hot drink and not as heavy as the usual way we eat it!

Keep on writing me, I enjoy reading every bit of news from you!

Ciao, Mylene