Tuesday May 27th was my last day of teaching for this year. We started exams on Wednesday; it will go on until June 5th, then one week of busy work and then that's it, done for the year. I'll be done on June 12th! Jacqui's school goes on until the 19th. However, she will finish working on the 12th as well so we can fly back together on the 13th. My flight had been booked by the school last year, and to change the date to wait for Jacqui would be more expensive than her losing a week of salary. That plus the fact that she would not have much to do at school - all the kids will be gone so there isn't much to do when you don't have your own classroom - made the choice easy. We will therefore fly out in the early morning of the 13th to get to Toronto shortly after noon. We are looking forward to spending two months at "home" - wherever that may be!!
Jacqui had a really busy week of tutoring; all kids have tests and exams this week and next, so it's a little bit of panic city for students and parents! A least she gets a bit of a break as Thursday is a religious holiday and we get the day off. It will be the first time that we spend a long weekend in Kuwait, but we just got back from Ottawa last week and are leaving in two weeks, so it's kind of hard to justify going away for this weekend! We are just planning on spending time at the Palms, relaxing and enjoying ourselves. It still weird to thing that we start our weekend when most of our friends back home still have three days of work to do before you get there. Granted, we will have worked two days by the time your weekend is over, but it's still weird anyway. Pretty soon, we'll have the same weekends!
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Monday, May 26, 2014
Sunday, May 25th - Too much hot!!
The end of our school week went by quickly - weeks are short when you start on Tuesday and get done on Thursday! There was some fatigue and jet lag for a few days; Jacqui seemed to get back on track a lot faster than I did. We didn't do much Friday; it was a nice relaxing "nothing" day, which was very nuch needed. We went to the Palms in the afternoon and did grocery shoppping afterwards. Like I said, real exciting day.
Saturday wasn't much more exciting. Jacqui was basically tutoring all day as it is pretty much the last week of "real" school for the kids - they stop going to school as soon as high school exams start or as soon as the JK/SK graudations are done, even though there are still a good three weeks left on her school calendar! (Jacqui's school finishes on June 19th). And today Sunday, she tutored again, coming home past 9:30 pm, after seeing 4 different kids. She's so busy she started doing like some airline companies and double booked (by accident) one of her time slots!
Like the title says, it is getting to be "too much hot". Our temperatures at 6 am are in the low 30's and we are hitting 42 - 43 in the afternoon. It's on the warm side! However, most of the outdoor workers haven't started to work at night yet, to avoid the heat. It should come in the next few weeks.
Here are a few pictures of what we see on construction sites. Everything is made of concrete; there is no wood used except to make scaffolding when building smaller buildings. In these buildings, pretty much everything is done by hand - ie unloading the cement bags from the trucks, pulling up the concrete to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors, etc... Needless to say, safety is not a big concern either. Workers do not wear proper footwear (they wear sandals), hardhats, harnesses or any safety equipment. But somehow, buildings do go up!
Saturday wasn't much more exciting. Jacqui was basically tutoring all day as it is pretty much the last week of "real" school for the kids - they stop going to school as soon as high school exams start or as soon as the JK/SK graudations are done, even though there are still a good three weeks left on her school calendar! (Jacqui's school finishes on June 19th). And today Sunday, she tutored again, coming home past 9:30 pm, after seeing 4 different kids. She's so busy she started doing like some airline companies and double booked (by accident) one of her time slots!
Like the title says, it is getting to be "too much hot". Our temperatures at 6 am are in the low 30's and we are hitting 42 - 43 in the afternoon. It's on the warm side! However, most of the outdoor workers haven't started to work at night yet, to avoid the heat. It should come in the next few weeks.
Here are a few pictures of what we see on construction sites. Everything is made of concrete; there is no wood used except to make scaffolding when building smaller buildings. In these buildings, pretty much everything is done by hand - ie unloading the cement bags from the trucks, pulling up the concrete to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors, etc... Needless to say, safety is not a big concern either. Workers do not wear proper footwear (they wear sandals), hardhats, harnesses or any safety equipment. But somehow, buildings do go up!
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| First, they tear down the old building |
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| Wooden scaffolding on a new building, ... |
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| tied together by some kind of rope |
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| Cement blocks used in construction - they are solid |
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Wednesday - May 21st - Julie's grad from Med School, and our trip to Ottawa
Our weekend in Ottawa was great. Tiring, but great. We got to spend time with friends and family, and to witness Julie's graduation from medical school.
We left our apartment Tuesday night at 10h30 am local time (3h30 pm Tuesday afternoon EDT) to get to Ottawa 24 hours later, landing at 3h15 pm. All flight were on time, and we had a 3½ hour layover in Frankfurt and a little more than one hour in Toronto. Needless to say, we both were tired, but Jacqui more than me. Julie picked us up at the airport and drove us to our hotel. After a quick shower, we went for an early dinner (ribs, beans and beer!!) then called it a day. Jacqui was sleeping early and I watched 2 of the 3 periods of game 7 between the Bruins and the Habs (kinda slept through the second period!)
On Thursay, Julie and Jacqui did the "girls thing" - massage, manicure and pedicure while I went for lunch with Genevieve, a former colleague with who I used to carpool; she was in Ottawa for the provincial math conference that same weekend. When I walked her back to the University, where the conference was held, I had a chance to meet up with another 8 of my former colleagues, which were all attending the same conference. We didn't have much time together, but it was still very nice to see all of them. We had a BBQ at Julie's place for dinner, with her roommate Fatima and her family that came from Vancouver, and Julie's boyfriend Dave. We both had a good night of sleep after this very nice day.
Friday was grad day. Jacqui and I went for lunch at Mama Grazzi's, in the Byward Market (one of our favourite restaurants) and then went to the Conference Center for Julie's grad. We saw her a bit before they had to go in to get ready; that was the last time we saw her as a student. Kinda weird when you think about it. The graduation itself was very nice: the speeches were interesting and it moved at a pretty good pace. I don't have any words to describe the feeling that we got when she was waiting her turn to receive her doctorate and then was called on stage by the words "Docteur Julie Emond". I still get emotional just thinking about it. It was the culmination of a lot of hard work, and she deserves everything that she has. There was a short reception after the ceremony, where we got to meet a few of her friends, a bunch of new doctors. By seeing those young people in that room on Friday, I think we're in good shape for our future health care! We then headed out for dinner at the Keg, where Nic and Vin were waiting for us. They had gotten to Ottawa after 3pm; it was very nice to have the whole family together again, even if it's just for a few hours. We went back to Julie's place after the meal and started playing a board game, but Jacqui and I were fading away quite fast! The game didn't last long.
We met Saturday for lunch in the Byward Market. We all had a good lunch then went back to Julie's to start that board game again. It was much better than the previous night. We also had game 1 of the Habs and Rangers on TV; now that game didn't last long! Vince and Nic went back to Guelph and Waterloo after the game; it was Vincent's first weekend off in a while and he wanted to "socialize" with his friends! Julie had her graduation celebration in the evening, so she had organized a pre-drink party at her place. Parents were invited, so we got to met some parents and a few more doctors. It was quite interesting and also very nice to see all those beautiful people all dressed up. After dropping off Julie and Dave at the reception hall (the War Museum), Jacqui and I went for dinner at Stella's, in the market. Another good meal!
We met Julie, her boyfriend Dave, her roommate Fatima and her fiancé for lunch and then headed back to the airport at about 2h30 pm. It was kinda hard to leave but we know that we are coming back in a month (June 20th). So we took our 5 pm flight to Frankfurt, where we had a 7 hours layover and then flew to Kuwait. We were back at the apartment shortly after 9 pm, totally exhausted, but so glad we did this trip. We would not have missed this for the world.
We left our apartment Tuesday night at 10h30 am local time (3h30 pm Tuesday afternoon EDT) to get to Ottawa 24 hours later, landing at 3h15 pm. All flight were on time, and we had a 3½ hour layover in Frankfurt and a little more than one hour in Toronto. Needless to say, we both were tired, but Jacqui more than me. Julie picked us up at the airport and drove us to our hotel. After a quick shower, we went for an early dinner (ribs, beans and beer!!) then called it a day. Jacqui was sleeping early and I watched 2 of the 3 periods of game 7 between the Bruins and the Habs (kinda slept through the second period!)
On Thursay, Julie and Jacqui did the "girls thing" - massage, manicure and pedicure while I went for lunch with Genevieve, a former colleague with who I used to carpool; she was in Ottawa for the provincial math conference that same weekend. When I walked her back to the University, where the conference was held, I had a chance to meet up with another 8 of my former colleagues, which were all attending the same conference. We didn't have much time together, but it was still very nice to see all of them. We had a BBQ at Julie's place for dinner, with her roommate Fatima and her family that came from Vancouver, and Julie's boyfriend Dave. We both had a good night of sleep after this very nice day.
Friday was grad day. Jacqui and I went for lunch at Mama Grazzi's, in the Byward Market (one of our favourite restaurants) and then went to the Conference Center for Julie's grad. We saw her a bit before they had to go in to get ready; that was the last time we saw her as a student. Kinda weird when you think about it. The graduation itself was very nice: the speeches were interesting and it moved at a pretty good pace. I don't have any words to describe the feeling that we got when she was waiting her turn to receive her doctorate and then was called on stage by the words "Docteur Julie Emond". I still get emotional just thinking about it. It was the culmination of a lot of hard work, and she deserves everything that she has. There was a short reception after the ceremony, where we got to meet a few of her friends, a bunch of new doctors. By seeing those young people in that room on Friday, I think we're in good shape for our future health care! We then headed out for dinner at the Keg, where Nic and Vin were waiting for us. They had gotten to Ottawa after 3pm; it was very nice to have the whole family together again, even if it's just for a few hours. We went back to Julie's place after the meal and started playing a board game, but Jacqui and I were fading away quite fast! The game didn't last long.
We met Saturday for lunch in the Byward Market. We all had a good lunch then went back to Julie's to start that board game again. It was much better than the previous night. We also had game 1 of the Habs and Rangers on TV; now that game didn't last long! Vince and Nic went back to Guelph and Waterloo after the game; it was Vincent's first weekend off in a while and he wanted to "socialize" with his friends! Julie had her graduation celebration in the evening, so she had organized a pre-drink party at her place. Parents were invited, so we got to met some parents and a few more doctors. It was quite interesting and also very nice to see all those beautiful people all dressed up. After dropping off Julie and Dave at the reception hall (the War Museum), Jacqui and I went for dinner at Stella's, in the market. Another good meal!
We met Julie, her boyfriend Dave, her roommate Fatima and her fiancé for lunch and then headed back to the airport at about 2h30 pm. It was kinda hard to leave but we know that we are coming back in a month (June 20th). So we took our 5 pm flight to Frankfurt, where we had a 7 hours layover and then flew to Kuwait. We were back at the apartment shortly after 9 pm, totally exhausted, but so glad we did this trip. We would not have missed this for the world.
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| Our invitation to the ceremony |
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| Before graduation |
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| She's up next! Nervous? The answer would have been Yes! |
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| Congratulations!! She did it!! |
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| Julie and Dave |
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| A doc between two proud parents |
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| A toast, to our new favourite doctor! |
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| Nic, with his playoff beard, Jul and Vin, with a fairly fresh haircut! |
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| Julie and Dave, before going out to celebrate |
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Tuesday, May 13th - We're coming to Ottawa!!!!!
Our bags are packed, our schools know that we'll miss the next 4 days of work, our driver has been told to be here at 10h30 pm, ... we are ready to go. We are so looking forward to being back in Canada, even if it's just for a few days. Julie's graduation from med school on Friday is an event we wouldn't miss for the world, no matter where we are on the planet! So, about 24 hours after we leave our apartment, we'll be in Ottawa. I've already decided that my first meal will be ribs, pork and beans, and beer!! Yes, I am looking forward to it!
As for Julie graduating from med school, well, it's always been her dream. She worked hard to make that dream come true, but here she is now, Dr. Julie Hélène Emond (it will need some getting used to). We are very proud of her and of all that she has done so far. A new adventure begins for her; it will be interesting to follow it.
More details on her grad and on our trip to Ottawa in my next entry, which will probably come after we get back, next Monday.
As for Julie graduating from med school, well, it's always been her dream. She worked hard to make that dream come true, but here she is now, Dr. Julie Hélène Emond (it will need some getting used to). We are very proud of her and of all that she has done so far. A new adventure begins for her; it will be interesting to follow it.
More details on her grad and on our trip to Ottawa in my next entry, which will probably come after we get back, next Monday.
Friday, May 9, 2014
Friday, May 9th - we are shopping!
Another week gone by. Pretty uneventful. I watched the Habs-Bruins game on Saturday night; kinda nice to have a game played at normal hours (for here!). We went shopping to the Avenues after school on Thursday and discovered another part of the mall that we hadn't seen yet! Yes, it is that big! On Friday, we went to the Gold souk, shopping for gold. It was quite interesting: there was a lot of nice stuff and a fair amount of other stuff I wouldn't buy (even if it's made of gold). They have a lot of 21 carat gold, which is very yellow and very soft. All the local people wear it (and it great quantity!). We are now waiting anxiously for the next few days to go by so we can board a plane for Ottawa on Wednesday. We are so looking forward to this!
Friday, May 2, 2014
Thursday, May 1st - It's tough getting back
Getting back to work after our week in London was hard. Jacqui went home when we arrived and took the day off; I went to work. It made for an early evening that night! It took us a few days to get back into the swing of things. The rest of the week was fine. Time is flying by; we'll be done in a month and a half. We will also be back in Canada in less than two weeks (May 14th to 18th) for Julie's graduation. We are very much looking forward to that! The upcoming weekend should be fairly quiet (what a surprise). We'll probably go to the Palms as temperatures are now in the mid to high 30's - nice beach and pool weather! Jacqui started tutoring again and I've got exams to prepare. Sounds like a lot of fun!!
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