the traveling turner

basketball

2009-12-05T02:32:00.002-07:00

Christmas 2008

2009-01-07T15:19:00.002-07:00

Unfortunately, I have been here for the last 30 mins trying to upload pictures from the last month yet there has been no success. I can't figure it out but I figured there at least 2 people who have asked for my blog to be updated (my dad and his brother, Uncle Bill). Therefore, I'll simply write...boring I know.

I arrived home on the 15th to an abundance of snow, good Canadian weather and a long awaited urge to see winter climate. I was not disappointed. It was fantastic to be in cold weather after being in Singapore for the last 2 years. I didn't come home last Christmas and let me say, Christmas without snow is an odd feeling. However, it is my decision to live overseas (as Mark always points out) so let me just say the weather was perfect.

The first week flew by with a visit down to Lethbridge for a night as well as catching up with old friends and family. Was great to see everyone. I even got to go Christmas tree hunting! We found one for our family friends, the Tanners, and cut down a small one for our house. Quite fun to play in the snow again, and even eat it!

As most people know by know, the rest of my holidays (at least after Christmas until now) has had to do with May. I proposed to May on the 27th, surprising her with a quick outing that meant something to us followed by me coordinating (with the help of both her and mine parents) a family dinner at a Greek restaurant. Although it was too loud for the elders in the group, it was quite a fun evening with dancing, laughter, and most of all, sharing the experience of our engagement with the families. The Diaz's were all to great for help organise the dinner and keep the secret from the 30 other relatives around at the time. Not even her brothers knew why they had a special dinner with the Turners on the 27th! But we had been planning since October so they had a lot to do with it. And to my family - for driving up for the evening as well as Mark and Daniel joining May and I, her two brothers Mark and John (eery names to have as brother in laws heh?) and John's girlfriend Vanessa for swimming at the WATERPARK in West Ed!!! A great 2 hours of fun but we definitely showed our age - only being able to go on each slide once and being spent after such a short time!! All in all, the engagement plans worked out wonderfully, she did show a lot of emotion (even after the famliy dinner when we went back to her Aunt's house where the other dozens of relatives were waiting in anticipation!) Can't wait for the 3 pigs and 2 water buffalo to be sacrificed as promised by her grandma!!

Also, I had the chance to see my first Oiler's hockey game with May and her family - was great fun and even ran into some old acquaintances from our University of Lethbridge days.

We followed up the weekend by coming back to Airdrie for a few days, then heading back to Edm for New Year's with May's friends (and of course it was May's bday...) and again back to Airdrie until Sat morning. It was great to get some Turner family time in as even John and Leah came up from Lethbridge for the days after New Years. Good fun and Mark didn't make May do the dishes too much. (luckily my father and mother are all too kind to let me use their cars!)

I had the chance to see my parent's house that they are building on the land several times throughout the holidays. It is truly remarkable. You must see it if you have the chance - mom and dad love having guests!!! But it is stunning and pictures do not do it justice how unique it really is. There have been some hiccups but I'm sure everytime they do get up there and realize how close to actually being able to stay up there, makes it all worthwhile.

As for me, I leave tomorrow (Jan 8) back to Singapore. It has been a wonderful break. Back to Singapore which I do look forward to. School keeps me busy, as well as coaching the high school boys basketball team. We have a few tournaments to get ready for as well as coaching the SE Asia games school team. Should be fun! Also keeping busy with ultimate frisbee on the weekends (and soon to be on the weekdays)...have a tournament in Bali on the Easter weekend that I will go to (and hopefully May) but we have just found of a great chance to go to Japan in April. We will definitely go very soon (either Easter or summer) as it has been too long since we've seen our lovely samurai parent in laws. And I hear Anna is quite the character now! Other than that, waiting until the summer when May's parents and brothers will be coming down for a few weeks and we will join them in the Philippines. Good fun to be had!

Sorry again about the pics - if you know of people on facebook, simply go to my profile and check those photos there of Christmas 2008 #1,2,3. Lots of good memories...

Summer of house building and pinoy weddings

2008-09-05T19:57:00.011-06:00

Of course, being home was excellent to see family. Matt and Yuko were home from Japan with their little baby Anna. As well, Luke and Dalia came up with Haley from Singapore for a few weeks. And, Leah and John came up from Lethbridge every once in a while to make it the whole Turner get together.

The major part of time at home consisted of going to the land 4-5 times a week and working with Daniel, Mark, Pops and Mom. It was great working all day with them, the traveling and sleeping, listening to music everytime we pulled into Airdrie, and reading books. And our daily drafts. What a sight seeing the house being built.

Another great part of the summer was the wedding the Philippines. One of May's cousins, Mone, who we stay with her and her family every time in Manila, was married a great guy Clark. It was a great wedding - what a weekend. My good friend Kelly Jo was visiting from Canada so she was along for the ride, as well as we met with my good buddy Scott, an old University mate who is now living in Manila teaching. The family was kind enough to allow both of them to come to the wedding and it was a great time. We had some dance offs, Scott made some new friends and was with May's awesome family. Good times

As some may know, I've been playing ultimate frisbee on a team here for the last 2 years. Made of mostly Singaporeans, we have traveled to a few tournaments in Manila, Kuala Lumpur and even Bali (which they won - I wasn't there. Go figure). It is a great bunch of people, love playing the game and you meet heaps of people from around Asia in the tournaments. At the end of August, we were in the Singapore Open. We finished 5th, but we hoped we could have done better. Looking for some more tournaments though and hopefully do better.

This is the only one I could find that showed me actually doing something...they just like me for this reason - to catch the discs up high. Guess it helps to be a tall white guy

My niece, little AT

2008-05-23T07:11:00.001-06:00

It is amazing what you can do when Matthew gives you advice on how to put a video on a blog.

Australia and diving

2008-04-29T05:32:00.014-06:00

As some of you know, I recently spent 3 weeks in Australia visiting a certain someone while I was on holidays. Yes, I know I go down there far too often but I hope by next year that certain someone will be in Singapore working

Anyways, our main thing to do this visit was to get our diving certificate. May planned it all (I know, shocking since I am usually the one planning our trips so this was a nice change. Quite funny to have the constant emails to double check if it was ok!!)

Best part about our travels was that we got to drive again. I never drive in Singapore so it was nice to hit the roads again and travel for hours through the countryside. It was a gorgeous drive up the Eastern Coast from Sydney to just south of Brisbane to a small town called Coffs Harbour. It is here that we did our diving certificate. We stayed for 4 days, over the Easter holidays and it was packed with backpackers. But the diving was great and awesome to do.

A gorgous town right on the ocean, with a huge bay and a classic wooden pier stretching out into the bay. Gorgeous to climb up the hill and view back into the sunset and cloudy hills in the distant.

And yes, we managed a few pics on the ocean. We spent a few evenings just sitting on the beach, eating food and having some beverages. Really nice people there. May thinks you should buy your house there Daniel!!

We left Coffs on Monday and headed up to north of Brisbane to a place called Redcliffe. May had organised that we go on a dolphin diving expedition. So we loaded onto a big boat and drove out an hour to a small sandy island with a huge dive wreck around it that we snorkled through. Kind of cool.

Best part was the monstrous sand hill that we climbed only for me to race down against a 10 year old gal. I won, letting gravity take its course against my large, rolling frame. We ended up playing with the little girl in the ocean and doing some photo ops. Also, we managed to have her hooked to hang out with us for the hour long boat ride back, doing tough maths questions that stumped May! She finally had a dose of my life and what it is like to converse with the young ones.

This picture is for my father since we stopped at a koala sanctuary on the way back. They had the cute bears (who don't do much) as well as part of the marsupial family (those are kangaroos and wallabees Matthew, in case you didn't know..but I won't tell anyone). But, here is an Emu who vaguely resembles my father.. same feathers as you have Dad??

Here are our diving shots. Finally May made it in and looked like a pro..awesome to see. Too funny of a story that I'm sure some of you will hear about. If we don't bring it up, make sure to ask me and I will tell you of her adventures.

I do happen to look thinner in water, with the tight suit favouring the contours of my body. I know, I know..

On one of our dives, we managed to go into an area with there are commonly Grey Nurse Sharks. It is said that these were almost hunted to extinction because the Auzzies didn't know the difference between them and the Great Whites so they hunted all of them. They are slowly growing back in Marine Sanctuaries like Coffs Harbour. But an eery and amazing feeling to descend on them and see about 12 of them, slowly moving around with flow of the ocean. Incredible

Other than that, not much else here. 2 more months of school until it is time to go and fulfil my calling of completing the house on the land. I know, it won't be done without one of the originals so I will spend my holidays there. I look forward to it

Vietnam

2008-02-16T17:53:00.011-07:00

In case you are wondering, yes it has been 3 months since my last entry. Many things have happenend and it has blown by. May has been here since Christmas and it has been fantastic. Many great times as we spent a lot of time with Luke and family. May was luckier than me since she got to be a babysitter for 4 hours every Tuesday. Spending lots of time with Little Haley. What a smiley kid. Awesome to see

Our trip to Vietnam was over 4 days. Chinese New Year is probably one of the biggest holidays in Asia. Prices shoot up and everything is incredibly booked up. We managed a flight to Ho Chi Minh City, which is formerly Saigon. It is the southern part of Vietnam, near Cambodia. May and I went, Luke, Dalia and Haley (on her first family trip in SE Asia), Craig and Lou as well as meeting 3 of Dalia's friends there. Above is a picture of May and I on a little boat on the Mekong River, a major river that enters into Vietnam and continues throughout Cambodia, Laos and Thailand and the rest of Asia.

Since it was Chinese New Year, or TET as it was called in Vietnam, we were invited by our hotel to a TET gala dinner where there was traditional Vietnamese games, customs and many other "touristy" things. It was quite fun actually. May studied this game for about 30 minutes while the rest of us toured around. Basically the people holding the sticks and raise and lower them at a rhythmic beat, spreading them and keeping them narrow at different times. May and I tried it and almost succeeded except for May stumbling at the end. She blamed my big feet of course but as it is when we dance, I am Babaganoosh with smooth feet and she hops around, stepping and pouncing away on people's toes. I'll let you decide who's fault it might have been.

This next pictures is good one. I'm sure you are wondering what the heck it is. They had this at the hotel and a few of the celebrations we went to. It is a "stone-age" version of the piano. They play this at celebrations and it is awesome. Really quite cool. (Side note: I have bet Luke that I will make one in Canada with Canadian stones, typically from the area around our land, and offer it to my father. Much to like hunting deer, this bet is worth a cool grand) Let the searching begin..... if anybody has flat stones that about a foot long, 6 inches wide, stash them away and we can begin our Beethovanish adventure)

With Vietnam still being a communist country, there were red flags abound in the city. Perhaps it was multiplied by the TET celebration, but I still chuckled at it all. (I'm chuckling too at the thought of dad leaning sideways so he can see it...sorry I didn't turn it around for you)

Again, quite the celebration of their country. Honestly a great visit and I want to go back and spend more time touring around to other major cities and even the rural area. Hopefully one of the summers coming up or holidays sessions.

The major streets downtown were shut down to allow people to walk around and one of the streets had this as their major attraction. It is now the Year of the Rat, or Year of the mouse in Vietnam, and May, Lou and Dalia loved these things. Narually, I took into the situation. Funny thing is that to our right is a major roundabout. Now, one thing about Vietnam, that I unfortunately don't have a picture of, is the traffic. Motorcycles probably outnumber cars by at least 5 to 1. Roads don't really have rules, it is essentially give way to bigger cars but then wiggle through with your bike at your will. Naturally since it was a huge holiday, the roads were packed (as you will see on the fireworks picture below). The roundabout was crazy since it was standstill but still somehow moving motorcycle traffic. Anyways, it was a doozy to cross. Lou had her video on her camera rolling and had it at hip level looking into the traffic coming to her. As we crossed the road like Frogger, going up, backing up, side stepping...too funny. Have to travel all together, in one big flat line so that people can still go around you. Such an experience

We stole Haley for a morning as Luke and Dalia were getting together and we played around. This one is cute but the next one is better...

Haley loves her feet and I love mine too. We are just so similar, minus the fact that I can't put my foot in my mouth. (Despite any rumours that go out there...I swear, there isn't a picture of me putting my foot in her mouth and hers in mine...who would do that?)

Best buds for life

Hope you enjoyed the pics and update. Yes, May is gone so I do have a morning of watching tv and doing nothing except catching up on emails, blogs and my ipod. Hope you enjoyed pops and mom. Enjoy - miss you all

And there was no ring giving over the last two months contrary to what people thought...who would want to get engaged and then spends a year or so doing a long distance.....

update...I know, 3 months late

2007-11-30T22:16:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone, (or at least my father since he still reads this)

Just to give you a quick update on where I am and at right now. Still in Singapore teaching and the first semester is almost done. It has been a great semester with a fantastic classes with only a few challenges here and there. Definitely more confident dealing with my teaching and planning for the class. I enjoy the liberty to do what I can when I want and to try different things that I see here and there. Such a great profession and I still enjoy it immensely.

I've enjoyed a few travels here and there. This month, I went down to surprise May in Sydney for a weekend and it was a fantastic surprise for both of us. It was a great long weekend for us and I hope that I didn't mess with her exams too much. Also, I went to Manila a few weekends ago for an ultimate frisbee tournament with the team I play for in Singapore. It was a super fun time, incredibly tiring from playing and no sleep, but great to see the Philippines again as I really do think they are some of the kindest people I know. A guy from another team let me and 4 other guys stay with him. Since we chose the red-eye flight out on Friday, didn't arrive until Sat morning @ 5am, drove to his place for breakfast, went straight to disc right after, played all day, came back by 8pm, and then we went out for dinner with out team and out to a party after that. And began to play again at 8am on Sunday. It was an awesome experience and we lost on the semis to the eventual winners. A wicked first overseas tournament for me.

The following photos are of my two beautiful nieces. Anna, older by 3 months, is the one with all of the hair. She is doing fantastically with her and her parents in Tokyo. She has started eating and I can't wait until she is here for Christmas. Matt, Yuko and Anna will be here for 7 days over Christmas and it will be great.

The one in the jolly jumper is little Haley, whom I get to see at least once a week with our weekly dinners and play dates. She is awesome and grows bigger each week. She is getting more animated and playful which is great for me. She leaves next week for her big debut in Canada with her parents. I would be more upset if I didn't have her cousin coming down to visit me and taking her place as my niece in Singapore.

Along with my brother and his family coming down for Christmas, May arrives on the 22nd and will stay until February as she is on her Summer break from Uni. Her first year has come and gone and it has been great to have her so close. (Yes, in long distance relationships, 8hrs by airplane is close as well as only a 3 hour time difference) Also, I met up with an old roommate Scott whom I went to school with in Lethbridge for 3 years and we had some good times. He is in Manila teaching so we will have him here for some time I think. Also, Matt's friends who live in Vietnam are coming through for Christmas before they head to Thailand for New Years. Also, he has another friend from Tokyo coming down with him for a few days and spending it with us. Should be a full house during my first Christmas away.

Also, May and I plan to go to Manila for New Years. It will be a great time with her and her family there as they are such incredible hosts. I can't wait to be done school and begin my holidays knowing that all of these exciting things will begin soon.

Take care all and drop by whenever you are in SE Asia

Adam

Summer 2007 in Canada...and Sydney

2007-08-10T06:15:00.000-06:00

I guess you'll see by the photos that I visited the famliy for 4 weeks. It was fantastic - all the boys were even home for 36 hours! First time we were all together since Luke's wedding, 2 years ago. We spent a lot of time up on the land building my parent's house. You can tell by the photo at the bottom. It really was incredible. I arrived with only the bottom floor completed. We cut, measured and put up the top floor, then there were 5 of us up on the land with Dad when we put on the roof. Great experience. (If you want live footage, have a look at Matthew's blog. Great shots of us building the house. And of course, of the start of the summer - little Anna.

She's at the bottom (one of the many photos that were taken) and she really is a delight. Such an adorable baby and I have to say Matt and Yuko did quite well. Very well behaved, doesn't cry much and laughs which brings a smile to everyone's face. What a treasure.

And of course, Dalia and Luke are expecting at the end of the month. That will be great since they are still in Singapore, so I will be an uncle full time (I hope - they kid that I won't be able to see the baby, let alone babysit it!)

Other than that, life is great. I had an absolutely great time with May, as I visited her for a week (see picture at the top) in Sydney. I hadn't started school yet and she was just beginning a semester so it allowed for a lot of well-spent time. We saw a theatre production called Priscilla and it was a treat. Full of dancing tunes and great humour, we were giggling all night and ended up dancing until 3am at a local bar! Great times. And we relived our Filipino times by going to a Filipino restaurant with some pinoy friends of hers. Quite a fun time.

I'm back at school and going full time! The last week was spent preparing for the students (meetings, meetings and more meetings - with planning and setting up the class in between). I can't wait to begin as I have much more confidence now, willing to try new things, adapt to different things out there and so on. Will be a good year.

But, just wanted to throw in an update for you people that are still reading. Enjoy, and really, if you want to see some great footage of the summer, check out Matt's blog. I have to admit, he really did a good job.

brothers in Singapore

2007-06-11T01:38:00.000-06:00

Hey all,
Yup, two of the bros just came through. Daniel and John are on their way around SE Asia and they passed through Singapore. They spent a week in Japan first, visiting Matt and his favourite girls Yuko and Anna, and they have just left to visit some friends in Australia - Kim, Rod, Tanner, Libby and Marcy. Should be fun time with them. After that, they are off to New Zealand to see Mark in Auckland. But, enough about their travels.

We were off to Kuala Lumpur the first days they were here. We left Saturday and saw a concert of a good friend of Luke and I's, Steve. It was a fantastic show and we had some good buddies come with us. We were back in Singapore in no time and we spent the week making dinners, going out for some good Lebanese food one night, a Brazilian restaurant another time and then Luke and Dalia had us over for some home cooking. Some really fun times and we even made it to the zoo. The boys came in a few times to play some PE - let's just say a few balls were thrown a little hard at the young ones. But, the kids loved it so it was all good.

Other than that, it was all good. Lots of laughs - we even had time to play some ping pong. I have my work cut out for me this summer if I want to beat Daniel. I know what I'm doing this summer...

Enjoy the pics - I'm home in 3 weeks. Will be fun to be building the house and seeing family again. Can't wait.

April holidays PICS

2007-05-03T04:35:00.000-06:00

Hello all, here are some pictures of May and I's adventure through NZ and Australia.
The first one is of May and I with our tickets to Ben Harper. Fabulous show and outstanding night. The one on the right, is Mark and I before we entered into Waitaimo caves, where the glow worms were. Cool visit and fun times.

Here is a view of the Blue Mountains that May and I visited. Great scenery and it was good to see my colleague Bruce and his home there.

May and I outside the Sydney Opera house. We had some really good dinners on the harbour and it was quite nice to be walking around there. A very nice area
The one on the left is of Mark and I at Piha, which was a beautiful beach north of Auckland. We had a relaxing time viewing the beach and playing frisbee and laughing. The picture on the right is of our dinner out in Auckland. Lots of laughs there with our Argentinian waiter. And yes, Mark deliberately put on a white shirt so we could be twins!

I hope you enjoyed the pics. Really a great time and I was quite fortunate to enjoy it with some good people

April holidays

2007-04-22T06:35:00.000-06:00

Hello all,
It has been far too long and thanks to the constant pestering/requests from my father, I thought I'd throw in an update. (a disclaimer though - I haven't received the pictures from May yet so I will throw those on here when I get them in a week or so)

Being a great school I'm at, we had 3 weeks off and I was lucky enough to go and visit May in Sydney, AUS and then we went to Auckland, NZ for 10 days. It was quite a great trip, nice and relaxed with lots of good times.

Sydney was great. May had organized a surfing trip out to Bondi beach and we tried surfing for 2 hours. It was quite fun - didn't pick it up at all (well, I got up a few times but in no way am I anything special.) But it was a blast even though it was fall after fall. Great times - we met an actor there too. A fella by the name of Kevin who was in Mystery Alaska (as the big goofy character Tree) and he's in the new Wild Hogz movie, as the big guy, shaved head. It was pretty funny. But I know the next time I go back to Auzzieland, I will try out the surfing again. So addicting.

We relaxed a lot there, kind of just went around the city. Shopped for a whole day since I was on a mission for my father to get some products for him. Oh to be Rick's son... We were also lucky enough to see Ben Harper in concert. It was absolutely outstanding. Such a great performer - one of the best performers I've seen. I was lucky because it was a colleague that had just recommended the week before and we bought tickets on Ebay.

We were off on Good Friday to see Mark. What a great lad - awesome to see him and we had a ball the whole time. We went for a walk across Auckland to see one of the big hills - such an awesome, beautiful country with so much nature. Great to see all of that greenery. The next day, we took a drive up to a beach called Piha. Incredible scenery and good times throwing frisbee with Mark and May. They did quite well together - May put up with all of his over the line jokes and she loved them. Awesome (and she lost 4 nights in a row in cards so she had to dishes for those nights...too bad) Mark was a great host too because he cooked for us every night. Wonderful meals (May and I were easily impressed since she's at University and I have a small kitchen so I can't do as much) But it was wonderful to have him cooking. Another day we were really ambitions - we left at 5am to drive down to Waitamo caves (only 2.5 hrs away so we were there an hour early...), where there is a huge amount glowworms. They light up the cave ceiling in blueish dots (resemblant to stars in the sky) and it was great floating down a little river looking up to the ceiling and seeing all the glow worms.

Then we went 2 hours East to Rotorura, which is famous for its Maori villages. We booked a dinner and entertainment thing and it was quite entertaining. They sang and danced traditional pieces (well at least they said it - it was a performance but heh, interesting to see). The food was good with the hundreds of other tourists and nice to meet some other people. And finally, at 1am, we rolled back into Auckland. So glad we didn't travel the touristy thing like that everyday so that was nice. Nice and relaxed.... We also spent a day in a nice park playing cards and throwing frisbees....and walnuts. Pretty funny.....

Other than that, really, really relaxed with Mark in Auckland. Sophie was there for the last 2 days with her friend Chanel from Canada and it was fun to hang with them, and have some good dinners and wines. I do admit that I have been turned onto the Sauvignon Blanc from NZ (Hawkes Bay or Marlborough).... never been a big fan for white but I think I've found some keepers. Lots of wine drunk though which is always a good thing right?

MAy and I made our way back to Australia again on Sunday and we went for dinner at Manly Beach with some Aunts of hers. Really nice people and nice to see more of Australia. They toured us around the waterfront, seeing the Wharf with the celebrities houses and the great views of the Opera house and the bridge. The next day we took off to the Blue mountains to meet up with a colleague of mine, Bruce. A 2 hour train West and it was awesome - a national park that had great nature there. We saw the different cliffs and peaks and watched the sunset off of one...so gorgeous. He has a great little home there and it was nice to spend some good time with him.

And now I'm back in Singapore, starting school for the last 8 weeks. Crazy how fast it has gone and I'm sure the last 2 months will go ridiculously fast. The brothers are coming around the end of May, and I'm off to Bali in 2 weekends. And there is always the issue of school...but it is all good. Nice to be home too and back to things. I'm currently awaiting the birth of the first niece and nephew - Yuko went into labour today around noon and I have yet to hear from Matt but I'm pretty excited. Luke's hoping for the birth since it is his bday today.

I'll throw up some photos when I get them.
Take care all and I hope life is well for you,
Adam

Fantastic girl, fantasic location

2007-03-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

Hello all,
Happy belated Chinese New year! I hope the month of February was a good one for you all.
I had a splendid February as May was on her way down to school in Australia so she came down early to spend 2 weeks with yours truly.

We had a marvelous time as I think May tasted all of the delicacies that Singapore has to offer. (Actually, I'm quite sure there are many more types of food and great restaurants but since I don't eat out really often, May was only exposed to the few places that I have been too or heard of) We did eat wonderfully well as Singapore is quite good for that - good places to eat. Just a thing about this place - people always eating out and you could almost argue that you spend less eating out instead of buying groceries every week...which is what I do every week but heh, I like making food and having my snacks here and there.

As well, we went to Langkawi (which is a little resort island of the the North coast of Malaysia). I had heard wonderful things of this resort island and we weren't disappointed. We even had some good adventures from the get go. I had been so excited just to get tickets for the Chinese New Year weekend that a good 2-3 weeks before actually going, I realised that we didn't have accomodation. Actually, I always realized we didn't but I am so use to my ways of just going to places and finding hostels, hotels, whatever when we get there. It may take a while and you will get rejected lots but that is all part of the adventure. However, I did try frantically for a week to try and find accomodation by calling over a dozen places and emailing a dozen more. Finally, I settled with the idea that yes, lots of places are completely booked for the weekend, but those are only the places with websites and emails available to my searching. So, we decided to just go up there and see what happens.

We arrived on the Friday night at 11pm and alas, the first 4 places did reject us. After about 45 minutes, we did find a place that a guy offered us. It was quite a dive of a place but we took it as we were tired and he said if we take this for Friday night, he will try and find us a place for the next two nights which we wanted. The only stipulation is that he wanted the money upfront (about 140 Sing dollars)...I complied as I realized we weren't in a negotiating position and I trusted him to a find a place which is all that mattered. If it would be a nice place for that money was another issue....

We didn't sleep much the first night as the bed was horrible (possibly the worst mattress I have ever slept on...springs digging along your whole back...wonderful...) and it was very Asian. I do love it since we are quite spoiled in Singapore with our easy living so I really don't mind going easy elsewhere. The next morning, he did hook us up with a great little place right on the beach. Brand new hotel, new and good facilities. We lucked out immensely so I guess it did pay off to trust him. (I want to go on the record and say May didn't want to trust him...)

We had a wonderful time of eating great Malaysian food (and some good Thai restaurants as well..)... Asian food period was great. Had good times on the beaches and we even toured around the Western part of the island looking for waterfalls that we never did find. (again, I would like to point out that May is involved with this...I drove and she did directions...but a small point so lets not hold it against her)... and of course a splendid 2 hour massage. Love Asia......
But, a great time altogether with May. Wonderful person and we had a ball. We are off to New Zealand to visit Mark in April. Should be a fun week with him and he said he will show us some really wonderful things that NZ has to offer.

On a side note, I found out last week that yet another brother of mine, and his wife, are expecting. Luke and Dalia announced that they are expecting. Late August is the date.... Congratulations to them. I will get to be a first hand uncle over here next year...can't wait!!!

Enjoy some of the pics and take care all. I hope life is treating you well...remember to always find the positives!
Adam

a quick update

2007-01-31T05:29:00.000-07:00

Hello all,
Well, at the urging of my father who needs some reading to take up time in his retired life, here is a quick update from my end. The time at home during the holidays was well spent. Good times with the family and it was nice to catch up with people. As well, it was quite enjoyable to have the time off from teaching. Really enjoy the job but it is always nice to get a break.

But I am back at school and the first month has gone by. Great to be back teaching and things are full swing with so many things going on. Never a dull moment and it keeps you on your toes! Singapore is great and I have started playing ultimate frisbee on Sundays to take up my day. It is a great sport and I am learning lots as I go - hopefully my team keeps on having patience with me.

Only have a few travel plans to update you on. May is coming down in February for 2 weeks and we are going to Langkawi, Malaysia for my 4 day weekend. She is on her way to Sydney to begin school there so she is stopping by for a bit. Will be a great time - still working on the accomodation part but I think we will relive Europe a bit and just go there and see if we can find a good place! oh the good times....

And I will head to New Zealand for April break to see my brother Marky. Look forward to it as I haven't seen him for over a year and have always wanted to see NZ. He says it is great so must be something...

As I said, not much new. Just giving my father something to read, and to update the people that still read this. I hope life is treating you all well and that you are making the most of what is going on.

Take care and best of luck,
Adam

The holiday travels

2006-12-17T18:20:00.000-07:00

Hello family and friends
Yes, the first semester of teaching is over. Amazing how fast the 5 months went!!! Had a really good time, and I hope the kids did too!!! I have not been asked to NOT come back so I guess everything is all good. Must be doing something right. Definitely growing in teaching confidence, as I am more willing to try new things and not as dependent on Luke and all of the other great people who help me out non-stop. But it has been awesome so far. Such a great school and it is even better since I have been on holidays since Dec 8th. But it did take a while to get there since as everybody warned me, the last 2 weeks of school are so very hectic with writing reports, planning events for the holiday season and working with the rest of the schools events that they have organized.

2 days after school ended, I left for Cambodia for 6 days. Left bright and early on Sunday (6am) and was there in a guesthouse within 2 hours. Didnt want to waist too much time as I knew that I only had 3 days or so to see all of the Angkor temples before heading to Phnom Penh for the last 2 days of the holiday. Basically, the Angkor temples (most commonly referred to as Angkor Wat when you visit it, which is the main temple along with Angkor Thom) were built back between the 7-12 centuries by the Angkor people. Incredible structures really when you think back to that time. The basics of them are 5 levels always leading upwards to the sky, the Mure mountain (if I remember correctly what my guide told me). And then it is often surrounded by water (the ocean) which was almost always a moat. Some of the temples still have the moats around them still with water, while some just have the depression where the water used to be. But I always found the most incredible thing of the height of these things and the steepness of the steps leading up to the next level. And with my large feet, compared to the common Cambodian, it was always a trial to fit my foot on the stairs while climbing. But, I did climb to the top of every temple and always regretted that as I realized I would soon have to head back down, on the extremely steep and narrow steps. To give you an idea, if you were climbing the stairs (sometimes probably 3 meters higher or in some cases to the highest point of a the temple, a good 5-10 meters in height) but each stair is maybe 4-6 inches wide...and smooth stone from everybody climbing it over the centuries. But good times!!! Only stumbled once, luckily it was on the first 3 steps!

Unfortunately, I am not writing this on my computer in Singapore where I have the pictures downloaded or else I would include the pictures to show you. When I get back in January, I will update this entry with a few pictures.

The 3 days in Siem Reap were great (this is the city that is 6 km out of Angkor Wat) and where I stayed. I even managed to meet up with Ang Roe and her friend Fran. We knew we would both be there but never really made any plans so it was lucky that I saw her the first night I was there, just walking in the streets. Nice to have dinner with them both nights.

After 3 days of touring around each day seeing the temples, I took off to Phnom Penh by bus. (Some advice for future travellers of Cambodia and the temples, take your time seeing them. I only spent 4-6 hours each day, driving around with my motorcycle taxi guy. Most people that I met said they were templed out but I attribute that to them seeing non-stop temples for 8-12 hours straight. I was up early every day, for the sunset with one...fantastic... but then I would be home for lunch, have a nap, read and have a massage. Then it was dinner time. There is outstanding food in Cambodia - soo good. And very cheap. Keep it short for each day if you have the time and appreciate the immensity of the temples and the work involved.)

Anyways, in Phnom Penh, arrived there after 6 hours on a bus. Found a guest house and took right to seeing the sights. For those like me that did not know much about Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge regime, I will try to summarize it a bit. The Khmer Rouge was a communist group who took over the country under the leadership of Pol Pot. And for 4 years (I think 1975-1979), they committed what is essentially genocide. From my understanding, they wanted to create an agragrian society, where everyone was equal and subsistent on farming. Thus they murdered millions of people who were either lawyers, doctors, teachers, engineers..basically anyone who was educated and also any resistance that they met. Two of the famous places to visit, the Killing Fields (I just finished the book yesterday) and S 21. A school that was transformed into a prison. The school is still there to visit with thousands of pictures of the people murdered and the torture methods used there. Crazy. And the Killing fields is quite a site. Dozens of empty mass graves in a small area. This is where the young children who were the Khmer Rouge murdered thousands of Cambodians. Quite depressing of course but definitely affects how you view our world and some of the other countries involved. I know it is only literature (The Killing Fields and Sideshow are two books that I will read), but it demonstrates how no one paid attention to this country, but instead to Vietnam where the US was fighting there. That is the reason for the title of the one book, Cambodia was a sideshow to what was happenning in Vietnam. Yet the atrocities are crazy. Millions of people yet the US did nothing. And it was largely their war with Vietnam that forced the Khmer Rouge into a power and into the cities, away from the country side and borders. Sorry, a little US biasedness but not too farfetched for our neighbors to our south.

Anyways......I am in Japan right now. It is great to see Matt and Yuko. Good times. We had a great dinner on Saturday with Yukos parents. Such nice people they are.

I am off for CAnada tomorrow (it sure is nice to break the flight in half like this by having a stopover here in Japan.) Am looking forward to being home and seeing family and friends. Take care all of you and go see Cambodia - it is not at all dangerous and the people are so kind. Really.

Thailand and visitors

2006-11-13T18:23:00.000-07:00

Hello family, friends and other visitors
I hope all is well in your area of the world and that life is treating you well.
Things continue to treat me well here in Singapore. Teaching is fantastic still - approaching reports in 3 weeks so I have to get started on that. Lucky I only have 11 students to write them for - will definitely save on time! Getting more and more comfortable with teaching - learning different things that work or not every day and trying new things here and there. I'm sure the students at times are a little mystified but heh, good thing we get along so they don't realize my teaching skills are very raw!

Ang Roe (a sister of a good friend of mine) came through with a friend of hers for 4 days last week. They arrived late Sunday night and then left Weds night. A few late nights while they were here (well, late for me - almost midnight!) but it was good to see some familiar faces. Toured around little India and went to the night safari (the zoo at night) - my second visit in 2 weeks. They had some awesome travelling stories as they had just spent 7 weeks in Australia and were even in Thailand for coup - their time was cut short so they have spent the last week there. I think we might meet up in Cambodia as I'm headed there in a month to kick off my holidays in December. Cannot wait - am very excited.

Luke and I joined 10 other guys and we went to Phuket this last weekend. One of the things of beauty about Singapore - leave Friday night, an hour and a half away and you're at a beach resort in Thailand. We had a really good time on Friday night - fairly late out touring around and seeing the different sights of Asia. Always amazed at how gorgeous the lady boys look like down here. Have shown all my visitors the lady boys of Asia and they doubt me as well (even went on a school night to the local area here in Singapore - still tons of people there). It is definitely an interesting dynamic of some Asian cultures. Makes you look at my own culture, and others I have seen, in different ways. Always good to have different perspectives right?

Quite humourous since the purpose of our trip to Phuket with the 10 other guys was to kick off the first international tournament of Killer Bee. (I know this game isn't very popular to many people outside of Singapore and area since it was brought here by a Canadian teacher from the Maritimes..) It is a game involving discs and a beach. Teams of however many people (3-6) or more... Basically, one team lines up 30 feet away with their backs to the other team while the other team lines up and tries to hit the other person with the frisbee. You get points for hitting and such. Play about 9 innings of throwing back and forth and that is your game. Actually quite amusing since it is a tense 30 seconds just waiting for a disc to hit you - always makes you jump a bit when you do get hit, especially if you have the misfortune of getting hit in the head, or hard in the back, knee or anywhere really. But, that is what our Sat and Sun afternoons consisted of - playing on the beach, go swimming, then come back for more. Quite an easy lifestyle when it is possible to escape to the beach like that and spend your time like that, for relatively cheap. One of the many perks of this gig down here.... Also get to play in a dodgeball tourney this weekend. Can't wait

Am looking forward to my first month or so of having my place to myself. I haven't been alone for more than 2 weeks since the visitors have come through. Always good to see them but will be nice to just relax...wait, guess there are those reports that I have to work on at night!
Joined a basketball league and am playing every Tuesday and Sunday. The ultimate frisbee league hasn't really panned out as they aren't starting the league until January ... supposedly. But I do manage to play on Sundays if I'm not away.

Well, just thought I'd give a quick update. Am headed home for the holidays come DEc 15th. I make a 5 day stopover in Japan to see Matt and Yuko but after that, am home for 2.5 weeks. Will be nice to see the family and whoever else I can meet up with.

Take care all and hope life is treating you well,
Adam

Visitors

2006-10-21T22:49:00.000-06:00

Hello all,
Over the last 2 weeks, I have had a friend from Spain visit. Enrique is a guy that my uncle put me in touch with during my time in Spain. He was kind enough to put myself, along with May and Pam who were travelling with me, up for a weekend. Him and his family were fantastic to us. So, he had decided to come down to SE Asia for 2 weeks and stay with me. Good thing I have the new place since it gives him his own little place to have.

He has been fantastic to have here. He is very outgoing and his first 3 days were spent going on a bus, getting off at a stop that he thought was interesting, talk to a few people, the get back on the very next bus. Did this for the course of the day. It was a great for him to see the city and he knows places that I have only just learned about! However, with all of this walking, he developed quite the blister on his foot which caused quite a limp for a few days.

Last weekend, we visited a few travel agencies and finally found one that could plan a trip for him up to Malaysia. He left the next day, went to KL and visited a similar place that I went to - up in the Highlands of Malaysia. He absolutely loved it, seeing the different parts of Asia and seeing a different side of Asia compared to Singapore. Was gone for 3 days, came home and relaxed a bit, saw more of Sinapore and then took off again for some of the Indonesian islands reachable by ferry. Spent a night there then came back Friday. That night he experienced the effect of the Deepavali festival (a Hindu celebration) and the long weekend due to this festival and Hari Rara which happens in two days, Tuesday. The customs, border control was packed with people and it took him about 2 hours to get through. Quite a jam of people leaving/entering the country for the festivals in this part of the world.

We will take it easy the next few days - do some last minute shopping this weekend and go to the Singapore zoo tonight. The Night Safari is a good little exhibition.

So to all of those future visitors, come on down. Good times to be had. He has joined me a few times on outings with some friends - quiz night one time and last night, some gatherings with some friends last night. He experienced some of the local nightlife last night which was good for him.

Have another friend (who is the sister of a good friend of mine from back home) coming in two weeks so I have some time over the next 2 weeks to relax a bit and enjoy the living on my own. Getting settled in nicely. Enrique will be missed as he was a good friend to have visit.

Teaching is still going well - great little job with lots going on. Love it. A few travel plans set in stone now - going to Japan for sure when I come home in December. Will be good to see Matt and Yuko for a few days - has been almost a year since I have seen them. Hopefully will decide between Cambodia or Laos to visit the week before I go to see them...still up in the air.

Hope all is well with whoever is reading this. Thanks to Adam Roe for reminding me to write - good to chat with him.

Take care
Adam

Malaysia and more

2006-10-05T01:34:00.000-06:00

Hello all,
Well, during my week off from school, I decided to head up to Kuala Lumpur and the rest of Malaysia. I was at a teaching conference for the beginning of the weekend, educational and really good food. It was nice to network around and meet some different teachers from different countries and schools.

As soon as it was over, caught a bus ride up to KL and visited some friends. Went to Chinatown and bought a few things, nothing like beating the deals compared to the expensive Singapore stuff! KL was nice - more Asian than the Singapore that I was exposed to of late. So modern Singapore is, whereas, as a taxi driver and I discussed, KL is more Asian with thousands of motorbikes, a little less clean, and more authentic. I like Singapore, don't get me wrong, but it is nice to get out of the modern city and see what else. I'm up at a nice little mountain city (or high hill compared to the Rockies) and it is great. It is only 15 degrees here, still short and t-shirt weather but not the constant sweating. Really nice quiet little town, staying at a hostel (miss those days of travelling around and sleeping in hostels - really do...). Even went for a 3 hour hike through the jungle. Quite intense - lots of hills and the path seemed like it wasn't used too often. Saw a few too many spiders than what I'm comfortable with and it didn't seem like anyone had taken that path for a while. But it was great to out there and just hike around.

Heading back to KL tomorrow, will hang out with Steve (a buddy of Luke's and I). Should be good times. Will head back to Singapore on Saturday in time for dinner for the bday. Just heading out with Luke and Dalia I think for a nice quiet time. Hopefully we can play some games or something. Then, it is all day Sunday, making sure the place I now have is up and running. Still need some essentials before my friend Enrique from Spain comes. He arrives on Monday and is here for 2 weeks. Should be fun - hopefully we can make it out to Thailand or something. But there are some cool festivals the weekend of the 20th. Deepavali is a Hindu festival and ends around that time. As well, Hari Raya is a big festival and I have heard it is a great time down in Little India.

Nice to have this break during the middle of a semester. Little over 6 weeks until the semester ends. It is really a fantastic job here - great time teaching and great to have such a good position. Will be nice to have my own place. I'm sure I will still hang out there at times and also, I'm sure will be at my place since I'm buying a PS2 so that we can hang out. (Dalia won't let him have one so he has to come to my place to play!!! Ha ha, just kidding.) They're up in Cambodia for the week with the in-laws. Hope they have a good time...soon I'll head up there!

Well, should get running and actually enjoy my time away from teaching and away from the bustle of city.
Take care all and I life is treating you well wherever you are,
Adam

Still lovin' it

2006-09-10T04:10:00.000-06:00

Yup, still enjoying my time here. Teaching is still fantastic, settling in nicely to some routines and such and just generally enjoying how things are going. Of course, they roll so smoothly because I have been fortunate with how things have panned out - the school is awesome to teach at, Luke and Dalia are great to me and they have lots of good friends who actually hang with me too so it makes the transition to a new city a little easier.

Getting into lots of different sports too - played in my first ultimate frisbee game and tournament. (for those of you who don't know, ultimate frisbee is basically throwing a disc to the other 6 people on your team, you go from one end to the other, once you catch it you can't run with it and must get rid of it within 10 seconds, if you drop a pass or throw it out of bounds, it is the other teams possession...those are the essentials) Pretty fun - we played with a buddy of Luke who came down with some people from KL (Kuala Lumpur) and it was a good time. We didn't do very well but I had a good time learning the game and meeting some more people. Quite a tiring game as it is a lot of running around (played for about an hour, or first to 13 points) but normally there are lots of subs (we only had 9 guys, and 4 play at a time) so I am a little sore today. But definitely good times. I even organized my next trip in a month - I have a week off during the first week of October and am going to head up to KL to visit Luke's buddy Steve. Will stay with him and then probably get a few bus trips to some cool coastal towns. He has been there for a year or so and knows a few good spots.

Also met a couple that lived in Eastern Europe for a bit (Bulgaria)...would love to do that eventually. Awesome to meet people from the different parts of the world. So much to see and do - just makes me want to pursue so many different possibilities.

Am looking at a place to move into by the end of the month. Have only seen one place but hopefully will see some more in the next week or so, then I'll make the decision. It has nothing to do with Luke and Dalia - they are outstanding to live with. I just want to live on my own. The school gives me a great housing allowance so I mine as well use it right? Am excited at the possibility and it will be good to have my own place. Deciding between what features to think about - close to this and that, need this and that....oh to think this time of year, I usually start another University year. My have things changed!

I have my first visitor coming in October - Enrique (who I stayed with in April in Spain - he had the wonderful family who lived in Teruel and put up May, Pam and I for a weekend) is coming to visit for a few weeks. Also, Angie, the sister of my good friend Adam, is stopping in for a few days. So for those who did get those casual invites to come to SE Asia and stop by and see me, I am serious. Singapore is a nice break if you are travelling around the many other Asian countries and you get free accomodation here so why not?

Other news, the Turner family is expecting its first grandchild (nephew/niece for us uncles). Matt and Yuko announced over the last few weeks that they are expecting. Congratulations to them - guess I will have to make a visit up there next summer. We are all pretty excited here and it even works out well with the visit of the family next May - Daniel, Dad and John were already planning something and now they can even work in a visit to see the new baby. Good timing!

But, I should get something to eat. Take care all with whatever life is throwing at you all and enjoy it to the fullest.
Adam

3 weeks in

2006-08-11T23:39:00.000-06:00

Hello those of you that still check this,
Well, it has been 3 weeks since arriving and all is well. I now have 2 years under my belt and so far, so good. It has been awesome teaching every day, to finally have my own class to work with and do stuff with. One thing I always felt in teaching practicums that I did at U of L is that it was never mine to completely decide. Nothing about the teachers I was with, they were wonderful - it was how it was. Whereas now, we do what we do when we can. Of course, this comes with its own other perks, such as dealing with more disciplinary issues and such, but I think I am up to the task.

A very good gig here though. The staff is amazing at helping me out as a 1st year. So many resources passed on, as well as great ideas and just fantastic people. Good school too - small classes, good programme they use, etc. Really like it so far. And love the bike ride in the morning to get here - Luke and I bike every morning for 25 minutes at 6:30 am. Have to beat the traffic. But it gives a good chance to get here early, settle in before the students come.

Other than that, not much else. Going to a basketball game tomorrow - Spain vs Argentina. Should be fun. Then off to a concert this Thursday (I know, a school night) - INXS. And Friday is a BBQ at another international school that Luke is taking me to.

I now have my own bank account (that actually has some money) as well as my own phone. I know, I succumbed to the Singaporian thing. But, need a way to keep in contact somehow I guess. Played ultimate frisbee for the first time last week - quite fun. Will hopefully join a league if someone wants this first-time player. As well, hope to get set up with a vball league and maybe a bball league. Who knows..I don't know if I'll have enough time.

But, take care. I know, not much to say but just wanted to drop a post in.
Adam

Singapore

2006-07-20T01:18:00.000-06:00

Hello all,
I'm sure there aren't a lot of people who still read this now that I they know I have returned to Canada and have left again for Singapore to be a teacher and they think, what can a grade 5 teacher write about? Good point considering I'm sure people won't want to hear about my daily struggles as a first year teacher. But, I hope to update this every once in a while about travels to the surrounding countries around Singapore. I'm sure there will be some wonderful experiences to be had and hopefully I will be able to share them with you. So there Reeder, I'm sure my parents at least will want to hear about my time away!
Anyways, just let people know, I will be keeping this up to date, every month or so. Really, only in hope to give you a read that you can't believe keeps going and going like some of my previous posts did!!
Take care all and until the next time,
Adam

Last pictures

2006-07-04T22:50:00.000-06:00

Well,
I imagine most people don't read this anymore since I am home. But for those who do still express interest, I have posted all of my pictures over the last 3 months. This includes Paris, some more Spain, Italy, Greece, Germany and the Philippines.
Take care all and hopefully I can catch up with a few of you,
Adam
http://photos.yahoo.com/abenturner

Canada...

2006-06-22T06:57:00.000-06:00

HEllo all
How is everyone? I hope life is treating you all well and that things aren't too stressful.
Just wanted to let everyone know that I did make it home yesterday, Wednesday the 21st. After almost 6 months of traveling, it is nice to be home and be with family and back home with the food and other perks (not liveing out of a bag!)
I spent a week in Germany before leaving from Switzerland on Tuesday. Frankfurt was an amazing atmosphere for the World Cup. The 3 days I was there, the streets were constantly filled with people wearing their country's jersey, waving flags, singing and chanting. Such a great atmosphere. They had two large television screens set up in the Main river running through the city and you could watch in the stands amidst thousands of other fans, all chearing and singing for their country. My brother's friend Jimmy was an excellent host and we had some good times. We even managed to catch the Oilers game last Saturday because his buddy lent us the satellite card. Was a mighty late night though...5 am finish time. Crazy.

I headed South of Frankfurt to a city called Freiburg. This city borders the Black Forest, which is it's main thing that it is know for. There, I met up a gal Inka, who was in Spain on a university exchange while I was there. As well, Conrad, who was in the same teaching exchange program to Jaen (but from SFU), arrived a day before I did after traveling around for the last 3 months, similar to me. It was great to catch up with both of them and Inka let us stay at her place. The next day, two other people that was part of the circle of friends in Jaen, arrived. Karla and Dorian lived in Jaen and went to University there. Dorian was from U of L, on a exchange and Karla was from the U of A. They were great to hang out with in Jaen and it was awesome to catch up with them as well. We spent most of Monday trying to find a place to watch game 7 with the Edmonton Oilers and we succeeded in finding an Irish pub, where the lady let us come back at 1: 30 am and sit and watch the game until 5. It was a sad end but a good time with those people.

I left for Geneva the next morning, way too early (or maybe I think that because the night before was so late). I made it there, flew out to London Gatwick, slept in the airport and then departed at 6 am. I arrived Wednesday morning to my family awaiting there. Great to see them - a lot has changed since I left. My dad has since retired and has grown a beard and my mother has lost a remarkable amount of weight. So great to see that for her.

Some of you may have known that I was going to come home middle of July roughly. I had planned to go to Eastern Europe (Czech Rep and Hungary mainly) and to stay in Europe for the electrifying atmosphere of the World Cup. (I have to admit I have become a soccer junkie over it - have watched so much soccer over the last week and will continue to do so...will be tough with the time difference though I'm sure!) Anyways, the reason why I am home earlier is because I received a teaching position at an International School in Singapore. During my 4 days in Singapore, my brother Luke managed to get me an interview at his school that he taught at last year. I went in, chatted for a bit and they offered the position. It is a grade 5 class, about 15 students max and will hopefully coach and teach a few language classes. I am super excited as my hopes of teaching overseas look like they will begin in Singapore. I will live with Luke and his wife Dalia for the first little bit and we'll see what happens after that. I'm walking into an amazing situation being just out of University. Great setup, have a solid connection to help me adjust to living there, Luke just taught grade 5 so his references are all accessible, and the staff seems awesome. I really believe it was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Their position opened up about a month ago and they knew through Luke that I was interested and passing through. Again, good fortune is on my side.

So, I am home for about a month. Have to be back down there around the 19th fo July so I am busy organizing stuff here, passports and such. Hope to see as many people as I can before I depart again but time will tell.

Take care all,
Adam
For those interested, I should have all my pictures of my travels post-April up in the next few days on my photo album through Yahoo.

A little touch of Asia

2006-06-13T05:05:00.000-06:00

Hey all
I hope all is well with everyone back at home. I arrived safely to the humidity and heat of the Philippines a little over 2 weeks ago. Good flight and caught up on some movies that I had missed. Good ol' Singapore Airlines!
May and her cousin met me at the airport and then went back to her uncle and aunts place an area of Manila, Marikina. Their house was wonderful; I had my own room and bathroom while her family that arrived later that night were all sharing rooms. Right away, Filipinos were living up to their incredible hospitility that I was told about. Saw lots of Manila - her aunt and son showed us around. We were really lucky to have all of our meals prepared and have drivers to go everywhere (and with AC). Went up to Tagatay, a gorgeous place where there was a volcano crater with water all around. Had lunch looking out onto it. Had lots of traditional Filipino meals - rice with everything, so much seafood, pig feet, ox tail, and an endless selection of fruit. Fresh mango and pineapple with almost every meal. So delicious.

We made our way out to Boracay for 4 days after 4 days in Manila. Was excited to go since two good friends lived and worked there for a year or so. After arriving, we found the place that Mrs. Diaz, May's mother, had reserved. Turned out to be fairly lackluster. We quickly found another place that was cozy - our own kitchen area, two big rooms with mattresses on the groun to accomodate us 5 (May, her mum, John and Mark - her bros, and me...I know, intruding in the family time!). Mrs. Diaz cooked often - crab the first night from the fish market nearby, pork chops another time, and always rice. So delicious though.. One day we rented a boat for an island tour..tried catching fish using fishing wire wrapped around a bottle acting as your spool, 2 hooks and shrimp as bait. Didn't catch anything but Marky caught a little guy. Then went snorkling on the other side of the island. First time - was fantastic. Awesome to see the fish - had them eating the bread out of our hands (Mrs. Diaz was mad because we brought the bag of cupcakes instead of the bad bread that she had bought ... oops! At least the fish enjoyed it!!) Then arrived on an island where we had bought a big fish and prawns and they prepared it for us. We toured around the tiny island, found the caves to visit and played around lots. May lost her sandals in the water and yours truly had to swim and get them, after waiting until the floated around to the beach..the things I do for that girl! Went home early because Mrs. Diaz wasn't feeling too good and we were pretty tired. Saw a great sunset, played around, went for some drinks and caught a band playing some tunes on the beach. The next day was pretty relaxed, went on a flying fish at night and played on the beach again during the sunset. Had a good dinner then went to Coco Mangas, where my friends Scotty and Kaelan worked. Danced and had a few drinks.

(Wow, this is going to take a while to update you guys..just to let you know, there is another week to fill you in on so you can stop reading and come back again sometime..)

Back to Manila to be pampered at her Aunts and Uncle's house. Then we were off to the province of Becal where her parents grew up in a tiny fishing village called Bagamanoc. After an hour plane ride, 2 hour 4x4 ride through the hills, we arrived on the coast. Such a cute town - was amazing to see people living 10 people in 2 rooms, content cleaning themselves in the street, and smiles all around. Was the only white guy for miles and was even the first white guy for a lot of people, especially a few of May's cute little cousins who were amazed at how my nose wasn't flat at the bridge, between the eyes. They were mesmorized for a bit while meeting me. I learned some Tagalog here and there, but May's extended family was incredible. So kind, always welcoming me. The people here were incredible - send someone out to get drinks and snacksas soon as we arrived, always hospitable. Amazing. Awesome to meet all of May's family - her mom's cousins, aunts and uncles who, 3rd and 4th cousins of May, her grandparents - such good times. Last Friday was the 60th anniversary for her dad's parents - a little ceremony and then a party. Nothing like karaoke, drinking and eating during the middle of the day in Bagamanoc. So fun. I even had a traditional barong compliments of the Diaz family who wanted this white guy to dress up so he didn't stand out too much (forget about the fact that I was the first white guy that some of these people had ever seen..) Amazing feeling that was - never had been in the position/scenario. Incredible how welcoming everyone was though - never a hint of racism except from the constant ribbing as the only white guy from May's family! jerks... Again, great food, shared a room with May and her two brothers. A few times there were water shortages so we had to use a bucket and a scooper and "dabo" - poor the water on top and clean ourselves that way. I was so proud - got through once while only using one bucket full!! Not even May and her brothers could do that! As if they're Filipinos! Couldn't swim too much because of the jellyfish in the water during the day but we did play at night one time as the sun was going down then showered in the streets. So awesome. What else..saw a cock fight (well four of them), karaoked lots, ate tons, drank a bit, played cards (learned a new Filipino game), sang Karaoke, ate, visited lots of people, experienced a few blackouts every day (they call them brown outs here..kind of humourous), karaoked...they love it there I tell ya! May's cousins were so great - good times playing basketball with the boys, hanging with everyone at the Feria (just little carnival games they had)...so fun. Definitely a super great time...had a blast.

Am now in Singapore, visiting Luke and Dalia. Will head back to Frankfurt this Friday and hang there for a few days, try to meet up with some people in Switzerland and Freiburg (lower Germany) then who knows.....

TAke care all
AT

Frankfurt...for a bit

2006-05-22T02:49:00.000-06:00

Well,
It is back on the travelling road for me. May and I left Greece after 10 days of awesome times. Between teaching May how to drive a moped, endless tzatizki dippings, lots of gyros, cooking for ourselves in our little kitchen consisting of one frying pan, a pot and a strainer, playing on the beach and beautiful sunsets in Oia, we had a blast. Oh yeah, we had a heck of a tournament of Speed...I know, I know, we could have played different games but we had a blast, playing everyday and yes, that pino beat me. I have been stressing over different strategies for days now..

I left May in Athens on Friday afternoon, 6 hour train ride to Patra, hour break to call home, catch some dinner, then a 30 hour ferrz ride back to Venice. Arrived early Sunday morning, caught a train within the hour to Milano, slept all 4 hours. Within 20 minutes of arriving was on board towards Basel. 6 hours later, caught another train to Frankfurt within 15 minutes and finally arrived around 10 pm last night. It was the longest bit of traveling for me and quite the change from May and mine easy living that took place in Santorini. But 50 hours later, accross 4 countries, I made it to Jimmy's place. He is a friend of Matt's, my older brother, and has been here for about 6 years. He gave a nice bed (complete with spider man blanket, spider man pillow slip, spider man posters...all compliments of his 5 year old son Nolan, who also happened to leave a pair of Snoopy boxers in the bed too..), the internet right now that I am using
, and his bike that I plan to use over the next two days to tour around in. Should be good times with him before I am off to the Philippines for 2 and a half weeks on Wednesday. But I do make it back here for a few days to start off my world cup tour.

Just wanted to say hi to everyone, this guy is still safe and sound in Germany now. Take care all
Adam

Greece

2006-05-10T01:35:00.000-06:00

Well
May and I have parted ways with Pam and have ventured down to Greece. Pam heads home today from Venice and spent the last 6 days in Cinqueterra after May and I left. Lots of 20 question games and good times traveling with MAy's friend with lots of good experiences. After spending 10 days in Italy with Pam, a few in Rome, a few in Tuscany (which were all quite rain-filled but since we have had beautiful weather up until this point, can't really complain), and the last 3 days in Cinqueterra (highly recommend to those who are thinking of traveling around Italy in the future), we spent a day in Venice, which was also very unique. Italy was great, super kind people and really good food. We had excellent gelati (ice cream..) every day, thanks to May and her urges, and super cheap pizzas and pastas. And great mussels in Cinqueterra (Monterosso more specifically) which we haven't found an equivalent of yet.

A 30 hour ferry ride later, we arrived in Patras, spent the night and then ventured to Athens. We decided to go right down into the Cyclades, Santorini more specifically, and have been here for 2 nights already. We plan to stay here until next Monday and really just relax and hang out. We have our own studio/room, with a little balcony area for meals (we've eaten breakfast out there the last 2 mornings) and a kitchen in which we successfully made a little spaghetti meal out of last night. Nice to finally make our own meal instead of always eating out. Great food all over but it is nice to have a settling down feel. We're off on a little tour today to the hot springs, volcano and another island. Should be fun. We rented bikes for the week and that should be our transportation and we plan on renting a moped for a day or two eventually.

Next week we're up to Oia, another village on a cliff though, as oppose to Perissa which is all beach front. We really beat the rush as there are only a few tourists here and there and I imagine by the end of the month, this place will be crawling with people for the rest of summer. Good thing we're here while we are!

I guess that is all for now. Just relaxing and enjoying the time as we are off to the Philippines on the 25th of this month (we part ways on the 19th as I fly out of Frankfurt and May, London).
Take care
AT

Italy and more

2006-04-30T06:54:00.000-06:00

Hello all
I know, it has been forever since I have written in here so I will make a few updates.
First, my week in Spain with my brother Luke and his wife Dalia, along with May and Pam, passed by awesomely. They saw lots of Spain considering it was only a week - Alhambra, the Alpujarras, Mezquita, Flamenco, an Arab spa, and so much more. We ate extremely well and it was almost good to see Luke and Dalia finally leave as now, May, Pam and I are eating more on a traveling budget!!! (sorry Luke and Dalia but it is true!!) My highlite was seeing the Alpujarras. They are part of the Sierra Nevada, many little villages nestled into the mountain side. After a 40 minute white knuckled drive along the mountain, we were 1500 m up and enjoyed fantastic scenery and great little Spanish lifestyle. White-washed houses, steep walking streets..incredible. I would definitely recommend this to anyone visiting the Andalusian province, specificially Granada. Make the trip out there and stay a few nights..incredible. Of course, it was too cold for Dalia, as it was a jaw-dropping 5 degrees..too cold for her Singapore weather of 25 every day.

After Luke and Dalia left, May, Pam and I caught a 22 hour ferry from Barcelona to Civitaveccia, and then an hour train ride to Rome. We saw the typical stuff..Colosseum, Roman Forum, Pantheon, different plazas, etc. Rome is definitely the big european city that I had been expecting from the big cities like Paris, Barcelona and Madrid. Tons of traffic, polluted but still, crazy to be there. The Vatican was quite impressive. Crazy the history there and we did see the must-sees - St. Peters Basilica (including a view from the top of the dome), inside as well which was equally impressive, Sistine Chapel, Pope John Paul II tomb, etc. Pretty impressive those Catholics.

Before I forget, we passed a weekend in Teruel with a fantastic Spanish family. Enrique (Kike) invited us three out to his village, north west of Teruel for the weekend after Luke and Dalia left and before we headed out to Italy. It was a nice change to relax with a family, in a beatiful house with a wonderful family. Montse, Pedro and Javier were a great time to hang with (13 and 14 years old) and Kike and his wife, Esther, were way to generous. Fresh laundry, incredible food (paella, I made my first Spanish tortilla or omelette, and more) and just a great home feel was much needed. Also, the city had much to offer with Mudejar art and a Spanish lovers story similar to Romeo and Juliet in the likes of Diego and Isabel. Quite cute..so thank you to those wonderful people for a great experience.

We are in Tuscany as of now, near Cortona as Pam and May, and I too I must admit, are Under the Tuscany Sun fans. Quite beautiful. We are on our way to Cinqueterra tomorrow and then May and I take off to Greece from Venice on Friday...hopefully. Pam is headed home the following week so we will have our goodbyes soon.
So great to be traveling and it is quite different now in Italy with now me in the dark with Italian being the language. Many similarities between it all with French and Spanish, of course since they are all of the Romance category, so I can get by here and there with understanding. But I look forward to Greece where it will be complete confusion at times I'm sure.
Take care all as I should run.
Enjoy whatever life is throwing at you right now
Adam

Back in Spain

2006-04-14T03:35:00.000-06:00

Hola everyone
Well, Luke, Pam, May and myself are back in Spain for a week. Luke's wife Dalia arrives today and then we start our one week tour of Spain tomorrow. We are renting a car tomorrow and driving around. Hopefully everything works out since we have Luke, who has lived in Singapore the last 4 years and has driven very little. And then me, who hasn't driven in 3 months and rolled his car 2 months before that...believe, I'm knocking on wood as I type.

Paris was fantastic. Really like all the monuments to visit - the usual stuff of Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, the Catacombes, we were right beside the Bastille (or former location of it), Basilique de Sacré Coeur. And very laid back too...we didn't pack our days with stuff to do, which was nice since this trip I have planned around Spain is pretty non-stop.

We leave tomorrow, drive all the way south to Granada, stay there, head to the Alhambra on Sunday. Sunday night we are staying in the Alpurrajas, little moutain villages imbedded in the Sierra Nevada. Then we are off to Jaén on Monday to see my old stomping grounds, Cordoba on Tuesday to visit the Mesquita, see some Flamenco dancing and have an arab spa (those are both hopefully's..). Then we are off to Madrid or Toledo...we have not decided yet. I would prefer Toledo but that is just me...lots of medievil monuments there that I wouldn't mind seeing. Then we are back in Barcelona next Thursday night, as Dalia and Luke leave on Friday.

The girls and I have received an invite from Enrique, a man my uncle met in Africa last September. We have kept up some email communication and he has been so kind to offer to let us visit his home city of Teruel (Southwest of Barcelona and Northwest of Valencia for those map people out there). We will visit for the weekend and then starting Sunday, we are off to Italy for about 2 weeks and then Greece for the remainding 2 weeks before May and I are off to the Philippines.

Really am glad to be back in Spain. Really have taken a liken to this place...actually nice to be back speakin Spanish, in a familiar setting than that of Paris and France that we experienced the last 4 days.

Some general comments about France..the people are not stuck up like the stereotype suggests. Very friendly and genial people we encountered throughout our travels. And no negative experiences. Interesting the level of security or police in most areas. Outside the Louvre, around the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe, 4-5 military people carrying automatic weapons patrolling the area. Very interesting. I did not figure out if it was because the France gov't problem with the opression of the minorities or just the general threat of terrorism from outside of interior forces.

Also, the day we visited the Louvre, there were demonstrators regarding the CPE (which I gathered was the government agency regarding emloyment or something similar..never figured the acronym. It was always in the news though and the problems with the people and that agency) Anyways, the demonstrators were stating it was free to get in, you don't have to pay, etc. I asked one of them and they stated that it was just the goverment's way to make money on culture, tourism, etc. But of course we didn't heed this warnings....But definitely some tension with the people in the government, or the CPE. Racial regarding the previous riots and the work situation as well with all people.

But enough for today, hope all is well with everyone and everything is fantastic on this end. So crazy, 3 more months to go..
AT

france

2006-04-07T02:40:00.000-06:00

Hello all
Hope this all finds you well. I have met up with my brother in Barcelona (for those that know the family, Luke came up from Singapore where he has 3 weeks off from teaching..and he chose to spend them in Europe with me). We stayed there for 2 days, then we were off to San Sebastian, at the north of Spain, in the Basque country and right by the France border. It is a magnificent place and honestly, if anyone is near the border, or even in Madrid for a few days, head on up there. Fantastic city, great beaches, lots of cool things. Overall, a great place. Would love to go back and probably in my top 3 places in Spain that I have seen. I would recommend it to anyone to make the venture up there. Great food too...
You can get by on Castellano Spanish too, although it is in the Basque region. Most of the signs are in Basque and Castellano Spanish, yet, hardly anyone speaks it. Quite a different dialect too...very few similarities to either Castellano or Catalan (Barcelona region) Spanish spoken throughout the rest of Spain that I have been exposed to. Very interesting to see though..

We're now in Bordeaux right now, staying with a friend of Luke's from Singapore. It is really nice to be relaxing as I know the next 2 months will be non-stop. Headed to Paris tomorrow for 4 days and then off for our 1 week tour of Spain after that...so we're really doing nothing here except hanging out.

Weird to be in a French environment now..I find myself always answering or thinking in Spanish, evident by my kebob incident yesterday of trying to order. What a mess...tough when the brain is always thinking in another language! I am by no means a Spanish expert now, but I have been in the habit of always functioning in Spanish so it is different to be conversing in French.

Quick note, I read the confessions of an economic hit man by John Perkins. Absolutely intriguing and thought-provoking. Finished in 4 days, amidst all the train rides we had. Very interesting book on the globalization, commercialization of the world as a whole by the super powers, and in most cases the U.S.A. I recommend it to anyone out there interested in those ideas...

Take care and until the next time,
Adam

End of Jaén..new travels

2006-03-30T11:46:00.000-07:00

Well, I can't believe time has flown by so fast. It has been aboslutely incredible the last 3 months. The travels on the weekend, the people met - Spaniards, Canadians in the program and others in Jaén, international students - the teaching, the experiences. All have been wonderful and I feel incredibly fortunate for this opportunity. It was about this time last year when I was wondering after applying if I would get the opportunity. Really glad I did so thank you U of L and the people involved.
The last week or so has been busy saying goodbyes, doing last minute things, still experiencing the culture and having visitors from Canada. On Monday, Erika (my prof from U of L), came to visit for a few days. We had a meeting about the Mobility Program, with all of the Canadian students except one, and then had a fantastic Spanish dinner. Such great hosts the people were at the restaurant. Saying goodbye to lots of people and really glad to have met them. One last night out tonight with most of the Canadian students and most of us are off tomorrow!
Teaching has been awesome the last 2 weeks as it has been games and this week, teaching them line dancing. Has been really fun and the kids seem to enjoy it. Will miss the school - the teachers, the students, the lifestyle. Quite a gig out here..hope to come back in the next few years.
I leave tomorrow for Malaga, fly out on Saturday morning to Barcelona where I will met my brother Luke who is flying in from Singapore. He has holidays from teaching so we're spending 3 weeks together in France and Spain. We have 10 days together, then we meet up with May and Pam in Paris, come back down to Barcelona where we meet Dalia, Luke's wife, and we start a one-week tour of Spain with me as the guide!! Poor Luke, Dalia, Pam and May!! No, we have lots of stuff planned - Alhambra in Granada, the Mezquita in Cordoba, flamenco dancing, arab spa, staying in the mountains..hopefully everything works out!!!
And then I'm off with May and Pam to Greece and Italy for a month before heading over to the Philippines with May and we're meeting her fam there for 2 weeks. Then back to Germany for World Cup where I hope to meet up with some fellow Albertans in Switzerland and then after that, either back to Spain or Eastern Europe for 2 weeks. I don't know...we'll see.
That is more or less the rough plans. Hopefully no major hiccups occur, but you never know.
I hope to keep up to date with this blog but that all depends on internet access and if there is time.
Best of luck to all and we'll be in touch!
Adam

Bullfight

2006-03-26T06:46:00.000-07:00

This weekend Eric and I went to a bullfight, here in Jaen. It was a charity event, with some pretty big names I guess making an appearance. We had heard our fair share of people pointing out the negatives of it all (the bulls are all drugged up, hallucinating, torture of the bulls as they are wailing in pain, etc.), but I for one wanted to check it out myself.

Needless to say, the show was pretty interesting. There was a total of 7 bulls over a 3 hour show. The first bull consisted of a matador on a horse, shoving small spear-like things into its neck/back (from on top of the horse), and later trying to "peg" on smaller spears, more of a challenge since they have to get closer to the bull. Later, he dismounted, did his ole thing, and this is all culminated by the matador, positioning himself directly in front of the bull, raise his sword, and thrust it into the neck/back (much like the first picture here on the left). The sword is about 2 feet long I would say and it goes all the way in...at least on this one it did. He was the only bull to drop instantaneously. Later, one of the extra matadores (matadores in training who are around the ring with pink sheets throughout the show), then shoves a small spike into the back of the skull, thus killing it. Then, two horses come out and drag the bull out of the ring, much to the delight of the crowd.

The second matador, who was one of the most impressive, fit the stereotypical matador..minus the glitsy outfit. Tight pants, hat, sword, red sheet, and moved around artistically as the bull would race after him time after time. These last 6 bulls were killed in a different manner than the first. The bull would race out, a training matador would do its thing on it for a minute or so, the bull would then attack one of the 2 horses in the ring now (who are in full armor since the bull essentially rams into it while the horseman spears it in the back. This is said to tire the bull out and to start the bleeding) Now, two other matadores in training, would position themselves in the middle of the ring, and as the bull races towards them, they would dodge it and drove the tips of two spear like things into its back. This is what is always hanging off the back of the bull in the pictures. There are 4 spears stabbed in like this. Then, the matadore of the show, enters, does his thing for 10 minutes, very fancy, very artistic, teasing the bull hera and there and at times, quite impressive considering it is a 1000 lbs beast with a few centimeters of them. (at one point, one of the matadores let the bull pass, and as it came around again, the matadore stepped in front of it and proceeded to run backwards, with his hand on the bulls head, for a good 10 seconds while the bull would continue running..) But after the artistic flare part, he grabs his sword, positions himself, and thrusts the sword in.

However, out of these last 6 bulls, none of the dropped instantaneously. They would continue struggling, eventually begin to tire (and of coure, the interior bleeding all the while killing them), then collapse. It is part of the game of after thrusting the sword in, to see if you do indeed drop it. If not, you wait and judge to see if another blow is needed. At times the matadore was ready to strike again as the bull was just sitting there, but then the bull would begin to swagger, blood would rush out of its nose, and then collapse. And then the spike thing happens, eventually killing it.

One more twist, after the bull is dragged out, everyone starts waving a white piece of cloth. The president of the bull fighting who is in attendance, then shows one, two, or three pieces of cloth. Essentially, this is to show how good of a show it was. For one and two pieces of white cloth from the president, the ears are sawed off. If it is really good, which the 4th matadore was, the 3rd piece of cloth is shown and the tail is then sawed off. Then, the matadore walks aroud the stadium, to a standing ovation and proceeds to throw the ears into the lucky people in the audience! One little boy got the tail and he looked happier than I have ever looked at Christmas time! All the while, people are throwing anything into the stadium - flowers, shirts, hats, etc. - and the matador then throws it back to the audience (and the audience then gives it back to the person eventually..) This is to show appreciation for the fight...

So, I hope I have depicted this even quite accurately. It is quite the spectacle but definitely not for the weak-stomached. To see a 1000 lbs animal, crumble to the ground and then have a spike driven can be disturbing at times. And the blood-drenched back is hard for some. I am not quite sure of the consequences of each sword and stake used, but Eric and I imagined that the sword would be driven vital organs, thus causing internal bleeding and slow death. Hence, why 3-5 minutes may go by before the bull eventually falls after the sword is driven in by the matadore. And the stake is to finish it off, and Eric believes the brain stem is severed...or something to that detail since the bull turns over and is rigid-like.

Please don't jump to conclusions about this sport, or event. I am sure outsiders could view many north american spectacles as horrific to animals and to people. Take it as it is - a different custom that has been around for centuries, and part of their culture.

My last week here...crazy to believe it and it will go by so fast..

Valencia...Las Fallas

2006-03-22T06:05:00.000-07:00

Well,
Another weekend has passed and another great experience. We went to Valencia this last weekend (Eric, Conrad and I and we met my friend Kristin from Murcia there). We left Thursday evening, arrived rather late and couldn't get into our campsite, so we camped off the main road, by the ocean more or less. Friday, we settled into our campsite, which was south of Valencia - about 20 km, and almost wished we had stayed in the woods. The campsite had a lot for us of about 20 X 25 ft. However, this was covered with a layer of gravel. Of course, we brushed away the rocks and then tried for an hour of pushing/hammering in the pegs for the tent. We did eventually get it set up, had a quick nap since the night before was a little late, and then headed off for the day.

We arrived at 1, proceeded to the main square where we were told there were fireworks and firecrackers at 2pm every day. We couldn't make our way into the main square since it was already packed and the all the streets leading into it were as well. So we settled for our spot about 50 meters back from the square and listened to 5 minutes of deafening firecrackers and fireworks display. It makes sense now whey they have most firework shows not in the middle of a city! We hung around until 5, picked up Kristin, went back to the campsite, made a quick salad, and then headed back in around for St. Patties day festivities.

After the first Irish pub, we went through a few side streets and found ourselves at paella competition. I have had paella before in Linares (see blog entry), which is essentially rice, chicken and shrimp mixed with saphron spice and water and other vegetables. But these people were having a competition of in the open street, all of them had wood fires and a little stand to mount there huge bowl/plate that they would make their paella in. We watched a few people make it, then I started up a conversation with a few older guys (in the 40s) about what they were doing. They knew I spoke english by my broken spanish accent and proceed to tell me that one of the guys is moving to St. John's NB in July for 3 months. We met him, his family, his sisters family and they offered us to join them in eating the paella. FANTASTIC!! After a few hours with them, we continued onto another Irish pub and drank a few more rounds until about 4...

Next day, we headed back in about 3pm, and really took it easy. Toured around to see most of the fallas. I'll explain quickly what they are. They are huge caricatures made by people from the surrounding villages and areas that are sometimes depictions of society or satirical. Or, they could just be interesting figures. (this ranges from a falla dedicated to Disney images, to one of Bush and Bin Laden playing guitar together..) The whole purpose of this week long festival is to display these all over old Valencia, in the intersection of those narrow streets. Now, imagine sometimes huge fallas about 10-15 meters high and taking up the intersection. This whole festival culminates on Sunday evening, when they are all burned (except the best one) at midnight!! (They are often made of styrofoam with a wooden skeleton/infrastructure). To finish off Saturday, we headed out for dinner in a near buy village, went to the beach, had a bottle of wine and played with some firecrackers...Eric went crazy with these things. You could buy them in almost any little convenience store for cheap...really cheap.

Another aspect of this festival is the firecrackers. Since they can be bought anywhere, anybody has them. Little kids will be setting them off in the street beside you, and Eric for that matter, so the first day you are on the edge all the time..explosions all around you, all the time. By Sunday, I had grown accustomed to the noises and didn't jump everytime an unexpected explosion happened. And you could imagine the noise when they are set off in little narrow streets...

Anyways, Sunday was spent all day in Valencia. A little Bodellon in the local park (which was the old river that went through the city but when it flooded in the 50's, they redirected it around the city and converted the ancient river bed and walls into nice parks), then waited in an intersection with a falla that we wanted to watch burn. Around 10:30, they set off the smaller one. Then at midnight, they have a 3-4 minute firecracker/firework show and then the actual falla is lit using firecrackers that were laced around the caricatures and figures. This is quite humourous since people are gathered around for the display, move back a bit when the firecrackers go off, then slowly as the whole display goes up in flames, they get hit with the intense heat wave. So incredible...As you'll see in the pictures, it looks like a huge blaze which it was! So crazy that they have this in the little streets, but there were firefighters on hand spraying the surrounding buildings and trees to prevent anything. (that is a disclaimer for all of you people reading this thinking "what is wrong with Spaniards? Huge bonfires in the middle of their small streets?" Then, we went to the main square for the huge burning of the main falla after a very impressive firework display, synchronized to 2 Valencian classical songs. Oh yeah, we were in the main square again at 2 that Sunday to see the fireworks and firecracker display (I wore my ear plugs since we were in the actual square and the vibrations from the display really were deafening. Also, to give the magnitude of some of the noises, we could actually feel the power from the explosions at times.... In the pictures, that is what the picture of the mass gathering of people with the fenced off area. This area is the size of a basketball court and is devoted solely to the firework and firecracker display at 2pm and 1am every day.

All in all, a great weekend. This weekend is busier than ever with last classes for my one group of kids, spanish classes at the university, trying to plan our last time things with people and so on...will get to go to a bull fight this Saturday in Jaén. Will be interesting to see...Also have to pack and get everything organized for my 3 months of travel...
Thank you to those who have read this novel of an entry...pictures should be up this weekend..
AT

Jack and Barcelona

2006-03-14T08:29:00.000-07:00

Here is my boy, Jack Johnson. For all of you that don't know him, he is an American artist with a good little sound. I ventured off this weekend to Barcelona to see him play Saturday night. A lot of traveling time (10 hrs there and back) but he was well worth it. Such a good artist live, and his opening bands - Matt Costas and ALO (who features the pianist from Jack's band..very talented musician) were both very good. It was a rather small venue. In the same stadium from the '92 olympics in Barcelona, it filled the floor and most of the seating in the first row. Really great since we managed to end up front row, a bit to his right. Maybe 30 feet from him and the stage. Great for Kristin who came since she is a little shorter so she loved actually seeing him! And, two Scottish gals asked if they could stand in front of me as they thought I could see from anywhere in the crowd! I complied and they were quite fun gals.

We met, or I should say Kristin met, one of the few spaniards who were there. The audience composed mostly of foreigners - Americans on exchanges, French and other nationalities. The spaniards just explained that Jack isn't that big in Spain, or at least to spaniards. Unfortunately there were a few American gals (4 of them and then one guy later) who really irritated the crowd around us, and the Scottish gals. In my view, they were being quite obnoxious, dancing around, a little drunk, and bumping into people non-stop. Of course, they argued they were just having a good time but others didn't see it that way. Nor did I. Very arrogant of them and obnoxious. But what can you do. Too bad since I'm sure some people will remember those Americans and group most Americans under that umbrella..which I can attest isn't true for all of our neighbors to the South. Anyways, we went with out with the Spaniards after for a drink in Barcelona and it was nice to meet them. I was quite tired and out of it so Kristin did most of the conversing. Thanks Kristin!

We walked around the rest of the night, sticking to the main roads as the Spaniards warned us of some gangs that are in Barcelona, and other major cities in Spain. Which was a good thing since we had planned to go to the Barrio Gothic (an older part full of Gaudi pieces and other interests) but they advised against it. And after asking some more students today at school, there are some rival gangs in Spain. The Latin Kings and the Netas. Very dangerous at times as the stories go.

I eventually left Barcelona Sunday morning around 8am, and after pulling an all nighter...alright, a few naps here or there on a park bench and in the train station. Good to nap on the train but when I was awake, it is quite the scenery here in Spain. From the awesome Mediterranean ocean along the coast - Barcelona and Valencia, and then into the interior full of fields. Closer to the south, we approached some mountain ranges, or Sierras. And typical to Jaen and its province (Andalucia), the olive tree farms were abundant as I approached home. Very diverse as I saw throughout my train rides this weekend. What a country..

Time is winding down fast. The next two weeks are my last, and I'm trying to organize some fun classes. For the older ones, we might do some educational two-stepping. Teach them a few moves here and there and a line dance, country style. Nothing like exposing them to some cultural Albertan dancing. Headed to the University almost every day to teach a few classes here and there, as well as have night classes for Spanish. And then there are some classes I'm assisting with, some conversational classes. I've found a few language partners to practice my Spanish, and their English. So, things are shaping up to be quite busy for the last 3 weeks. It is a shame that the month of February was the University's exam week as I would have liked to had the opportunity to participate like this the whole time we were here. But, all you do is enjoy what is left right.

And on top of all this stuff, still have Las Fallas this weekend in Valencia for 4 days. Going to be quite the show as they say it is better than Cadiz, the huge carnival at the end of February that I went to.

Take care and for those Jack fans, enjoy the pics on the yahoo link.

Adam

University classes

2006-03-10T01:54:00.000-07:00

Hello all
I have had the opportunity this week to join a few univeristy classes. I have met a few profs on my own, and they have let me teach 2 classes this week, and more for next week and then the week following. As well, I have observed a few other English classes and one French classes. Really useful to see a person with more experience handle their class, the material and little things they do while teaching.

The teaching last night went well. Similar to the high school situation by taking a text from the text book, reading it and discussing it. On a whole, there were some students whose English was very good and contributed regularly. But, there was the odd student who didn´t comprehend what I was saying or what the text was suggesting. They were 2nd year University students so that did come as a bit of a shock. But, a good experience overall since it was nice to talk to some students who were more mature, and some were my age or older. And oddly enough, a few guys from my University Residence were in the class. I'll have to ask them at lunch what they thought of the class. I didn't have an issue with the older students surprisingly, as it worked out well..they were less shy than other people to contribute. Always funny with the languages. I guess you can never escape the mentality of students to be reluctant to contribute in another language. I am getting better at encouraging them to speak which is very useful for me.

I am off to Barcelona this weekend for a concert with my friend Kristin from Murcía. Very very excited but a lot of traveling time to do and hopefully I can do some planning during the 8 hr train ride there and back on Saturday and Sunday..but realistically, I don't think so.

Next weekend have 3-4 more classes with University people, some observing, one participating in with the language assistant and the other two teaching. Should be great....and don't worry, still keeping up at the high school. Always good times...

Take care all
Adam

Gibraltar

2006-03-06T02:12:00.000-07:00

Crazy to visit this little piece of rock, 5 km by 1km, right at the southern tip of this Iberian peninsula. After a 5 hour bus ride there, we arrived in this little piece of UK culture. From double decker buses, to many students running around in little uniforms (reminded me of Hogwarts), to hearing that oh so familiar language..with that slightly different accent.

We treated ourselves to some good ol´ fish n´ ships right away, and then after looking around for the best deal, within the time limit of 4 hours, we decided to take a taxi tour, which was probably the best deal. We went to the southern tip (Jews gate or Hercules pillars), and luckily we saw the coast of Africa. After many pictures of Africa, and then southern-most point of Spain to the West, we proceeded up to St. Michael´s cave. This is a cave full of staglamites and a few stalamites. Interesting the legends of these were first thought of the passage that brought over the famed Gibraltar apes (macaques I believe and they weren´t monkeys the local driver told us because they don´t have tales...whether this is true, I hope someone will let me know in the future). But the caves were very interesting.

Then we proceeded along the face of the mountain by taxi to where the macaques were. Everyone eventually took a picture with them, and a few unfortunate Canadians, had other macaques jump on them unexpectandly after the other macaque had left. Quite humourous I thought.

We then went to the final destination of the 2 hour tour, the Great Siege tunnels (there was a famous seige during 1779-1783 where the Brits held off the Spanish for control of the rock). So there are tunnels throughout the northern face of the rock, with little areas to shoot cannons out of every 30 meters or so. And this was their success to winning according to some of the history blurbs. Quite interesting though to think back to that day and age, and what it must have been like to survive around that time...

Surprisingly, this is all we accomplished in our 4 hours. That was really enough time I thought because yes it might have been nice to look around and buy a few things, but we all know that I´m not one to buy little trinkets here and there, especially not while I´m traveling. So, we hopped back on the bus for a 5 hour journey home.

I hope to get the pictures up soon but we´ll see if I have the time.
Teaching is still going well. Lessons are going well, at least in my mind, and there has been some positive feed back. This week, I´m going to venture into a few University classes, as I´ve made some contacts with 2 profs, and they´ve asked me to come speak for a bit. Will be a good experience I think, with the older ages and higher level of English..possibly.

Take care all and I hope this finds you well,
Adam

pictures

2006-03-01T13:19:00.000-07:00

here are updated pics of CADIZ and some hikes and nightlife in the Jaen folder (as well as a visit to the Nature reserve from last week)

http://photos.yahoo.com/abenturner

Take care
Adam

(my shortest entry ever...there you go all you people saying that they are too long..)

CADIZ

2006-02-28T04:19:00.000-07:00

Hello all
I hope life is treating you well, and for all you university people, I hope that reading week was a nice time off for you.

This weekend we (myself, Eric, Shane and Joyce) went to Cadiz, on the south-western coast, by Portugal, for the Carnival de Cadiz. (this is a rather large festival which draws people by the thousands and everyone is dressed up) What a riot! We arrived around 8 on Friday, settled in, and then headed in by train to see some of the festival. We missed most of the little spectacles (there were suppose to be singing and dancing competitions all Friday and Saturday). Unfortunately, we missed them all weekend. But we walked around most of the night from 10-1, had a bite to eat, and continued walking. Eventually, we decided to go home and as we were leaving, we ran into a girl that Shane knew from SFU. So we decided to stay a little longer and it was awesome. We went back to this plaza that we had visited before, when it was completely empty. Now it was completely full with people doing bodellon (which is essentially drinking in the streets. People huddle around in a circle, drink the beverages that they had purchased beforehand and socialize.) So we came back and it was packed (obviously, when we visited all the plazas around 12 or 1, it was too early...and 10 minutes later, a group of 15 people or so with instruments, starting entering into the plaza from the streets, and playing life music. Just percussion beats and stuff but it was awesome. Instantaneously, everyone started dancing around and it was fantastic. This lasted until around 3, when we decided to finally go home.

The next day (Saturday), we headed back into Cadiz, to see some of the sights. Nice little place, with a great view of the ocean. We headed back home, to get some rest before heading back into Cadiz on the 11 pm train. The weather had turned for the worse, really windy and pouring by the time we arrived in Cadiz. (sorry..we were staying in Puerta Santa Maria, about 10 km out of Cadiz...when we booked about a month ago, Cadiz was booked solid..only option left was to stay out of the city..but the trains were a good, cheap way to get into Cadiz. Plus we had a cozy little bungelow in Puerta Santa Maria)

So we arrived in Cadiz, just pouring outside, thousands of people dressed up (we made pour attempts to wear some different hats or something..severely underdressed for the party) so bodejon started in the train station. For about 30 minutes, we stayed there until the rain subsided and then headed off. Thousands and thousands of people all over the streets...awesome time. Just walked from plaza to plaza, seeing so many different costumes. And I tell you, this Carnival puts anything similar to Halloween back West to shame...they go all out here, dressed to the 9´s in their costume...so wicked. (horrible for us though since we were really underdressed..) But wicked time just chilling and doing bodellon and talking to the odd person here or there, meeting up with other people. Around 5 am, we decide to trek it back to the train station. (We had planned an all nighter since the last train to leave was around 1 am and then next one wouldn´t be until 5:30 on Sunday morning...)

Here is where probably my worst experience so far has been in Spain. The authorities had figured that instead of having thousands of people all packing into the train station and purchasing tickets, they would form a line, held in by barriers, before the train station entrance, and allow 20-30 people in at a time. Now, picture 100´s of people arriving every 10 minutes into this ¨bottleneck¨, and it gets pretty packed. So, it did get bad for about 20 minutes (we were in it for about 45 minutes, slowly moving a few feet every 5 minutes). Just an unfortunate situation of people at the back not realizing how packed it really is, pushing to get up to the front, every one packed like sardines...thankfully nobody fell..or worse. A few people had fainted, and they were helped out to the side, over the barriers to the ambulance on hand. Really, a necessary way to handle the huge masses heading the train stations, and a better way to do it instead of letting everyone into the train station like some people thought in the crowds, but just a little nerve racking thinking of the possibility of disaster..

Sunday was spent ¨recuperating¨, sleeping until 3-4, heading out for some great seafood at a local restaurant, and then heading back to Cadiz for a pretty good firework show. Quite impressive as I have seen some good ones at the Epcot center in DisneyWorld and out on Vancouver Island in Bouchard/Butchart Gardens...Also saw a cool little parade full of fantastic floats

All in all, a fantastic weekend, awesome experience to see some Spanish festivities. Next time, I would recommend renting a bigger car than a 2 door little hatch-back. Was crammed in the back for 4 hours since Shane had to sit in the front because he gets car sick otherwise. Said goodbye to a few people we had met over the 2 months last night...We are here for 3 months, most of the people we have met are leaving since their semester has just ended and a new group of international students are arriving for the semester beginning this week.

Quick note about the bodejon thing, partying outside by the thousands. Interesting that over here, have yet to see anything remotely close to fighting, except for the small shoving match in Murcia. But, considering the elements this weekend - huge party, outside, lots of drinking...and witnessing not one act of violence or even serious vandalism (I say serious because I have photo of a police van sprayed with that candy like stuff out of the spray can)...says something about Spanish culture I believe. I commented to a few other Canadians, Eric and another dude Dorian who is here in Jaen, and has been for 6 months, that scuffles, brawls, fights, just does not happen here. (And Dorian goes out lots here and I asked him last night, and hasn´t seen anything..) Very interesting...and I´m sure if something similar to the Carnival happened in Canada, or North America, for that matter, there would be huge amounts of police, a large amounts of brawls and scuffles...just from my experience of going out to smaller events like hockey games, going out in Lethbridge and Calgary, and even the Calgary Stampede...as I´m sure all North Americans that read this have experienced.

Take care...hopefully I get pictures up soon...might have to nap today...good thing it is Andalucia´s Day and there is no school

Cordoba...and pictures

2006-02-18T17:22:00.000-07:00

Hola
Hope everyone is doing well with life. Things are still going awesome over here...ventured to Cordoba this weekend for the day. It is the home of the Mezquita, a Muslim monument, built back in the 900´s when Muslims had conquered the Iberian peninsula. It was absolutely breathtaking the grandeur of it and detailing again. Similar to the details found in the Alhambra from Granada, yet slightly different when you look at closely. Also, amazing because there is a huge Cathedral built in the middle, for when the Catholics reconquered Spain during the Reconquista....a sort of symbol to show that they were back in power...incredibly huge. So fascinating to see the blend of Muslim and Catholicism within one monument. And to top it off, a very unique Jewish quarter with one of 3 synagogues found in Spain...ancient, ancient, ancient. The synagogue was only one building but amazing how old it was and again, the idea of it surrounded by Muslim and Catholic monuments shows the history of this unique country. As well, went out to Medina Azahara, where the Muslim emirates created a home for them, away from the city. All ruins now but really great to see.

http://photos.yahoo.com/abenturner

So the pictures in Cordoba are divided into the first part being about the ruins of Medina Azahara (from 34-66). Then there are Mezquita pictures (67-92) showing the details. I know some of them are really dark but there was scarce light in some of the pictures...amazing all the pillars...over 1200. The rest of the pictures are of Cordoba, and there are a few (93-96), that were of the main plaza (a huge open area) that was filled with a sort of medievil bazaar. Awesome area that we stumbled upon (Eric, Joyce and I) during our travels and really glad we did. All the bazaar venders, with their own little stands, were dressed in medievil times, selling all sorts of little things. Really cool to see..

Also, there are new albums of Linares (where we went a few weekends ago), there are more Jaen pictures (all those that have an "adam" file extension) of nightlife and such. Good times...still doing the Spain thing of staying out really late and am kind of getting use to it. I find that as long as I have one early night out of the bunch, it is not too bad. And siestas always help..

Also, some Murcia pictures are in there (see last blog entry for that story..). As well, I have my Sierra Nevada pictures up..hopefully I can steal some of Eric´s pictures and post more up there as he took far more. Amazing the little valley that divides snowy peaks from those without. (see 28-29)

And for Adam Roe, there is a picture of the Alhambra water stair case in the Granada album now. Took a picture the second time back. (It is a staircase that has water going down the rails..those royalty always trying to flaunt their prestige by having intricate free flowing draining systems in a land incredibly dry) (adam-09)

Anyways, I said I´d comment on the issue about students and behaviour and I know this is long already but oh well, you can stop reading now if you don´t want to read about it. I really do believe kids here are more well-behaved here. Yes they do talk tons but as far as physical behaviour problems such as bullying or fights amongst students, I think they are far less frequent than in North America. There have been some instances amongst some of the Canadian teachers here (3 that I have heard of), but they were minimal (2 pushes, a hair pull). I don´t know what it is, lack of violence in their society, different upbringings, etc. I think Spaniards are incredibly sociable and that contributes to their non-stop talking. And as a teacher, a young one albeit, I would rather deal with talking and class management as oppose to physical violence, bullying, harsh verbal abuse, temper losses into physical outbursts. Yes, Spanish students do speak out when they disagree with something but I find that is the extent to it.

In Murcia, I saw the first physical scuffle here in Spain between two guys outside a bar. It was late (4 am) and two guys started shouting, and a few pushes and then they were seperated. IT stopped everyone in their tracks and I believe because it is just so rare. And Kristin even pointed out that that is the first physical scuffle she has seen in her 5 months here. I just think things rarely excalate to physical outbursts.

One more thing about the Sierra Nevada trip....it was awesome in the bus because some students broke out in Flamenco singing, clapping and beats. Someone was playing on a box the beat, other kids were clapping according to the singing done by one gal. So neat to drive home to that from the mountains...

Sorry for the huge post....a lot of things to mention.
Take care all and hope this finds you well

Sierra Nevada

2006-02-16T04:27:00.000-07:00

Our trip to the mountains yesterday was great. A really early start (7 am) but it was well worth the drive. A little dodgy up the mountain said as our big bus was just swerving around some blind corners, hoping that their wasn't people coming.

Sierra Nevada is the highest point in mainland Spain...I say mainland because the Canary Islands have the tallest mountain. It was gorgeous as we rounded a bend and saw the snow covered mountain. Crazy also because just across the valley, there was absolutely no snow. Really a sight to see. A little disappointing in the sense that we were approaching the resort and both Eric and I are thinking how great this is going to be with all the chair lifts going up the mountains, different runs, etc. Then, we take a turn to the left and ascend the to other side. Essentially, we went to the bunny hill if you will. It was still super fun as we went tobagganing with 25 14-15 year olds who had never gone before. So funny and crazy. That was in the morning and then after lunch, the students and I (Eric is more experienced) learned how to ski. This was the first time I have tried skiing since grade 7 and I did not bad. Sure it was a bunny hill but still. So, we did look over to the mountain every once in a while and wished we were on it (I would have been doing snowboarding for sure...not an expert by any means but my snowboarding is better than the snow plowing that I was mastering yesterday..)

I was a little worried headed out since I did not have any winter gear but I borrowed a pair of wind/waterproof pants and then wore some shorts over top (the layer system is so efficient). Then I thought of buying gloves but decided against and opted to use my soccer goalie gloves for protection (10€ for a one day use of gloves didn't sit well for my frugal self). But they worked wonders. But it turned out that I was more prepared than most students. Most of them dressed as if it was a regular day. Maybe 2 pair of pants but for most, a small pair of gloves, a few sweaters and they were off. It was absolutely gorgeous out (sun shining the whole day) but I was soaked after the first hour of always sitting in the snow and on the tobaggan. All in all, a good time.

Interesting talking to another teacher here about their system here. Most students are streamed after 4 ESO (which is about grade 10 of compulsary subjects). After, they choose more academica routes (to eventually go to University..this is the baccalaureate route) or other routes such as commercial business, arts, computer technology, other occupations such as hairdressing, airline work, etc. Essentially a streaming system for the last two years of school and for the baccalaureate route, a very important 3 day exam period that determines their acceptance into universities after their high school education is completed in June. Similar to SAT's in my view. And their acceptance is based upon 60% high school mark and 40% 3-day exam period. So there you go, some educational information on Spain...

Some people have asked me how I find students behave here in Spain and I reply more or less the same. Sure you have the students here and there who disrupt classtime and such with too much talking but all in all, same type of problems. However, I do think that behaviour problems here in Spain are much different. I was discussing this yesterday with Eric because on the way up to Sierra Nevada with the students, we stopped for 30 minutes to have coffee or snacks. There were only 3 other teachers (or supervisors) and Eric and I...for 55 students. I have noticed that students here do talk alot but when it comes down to it, I would rather animated and jovial talking instead of behavioural issues such as fights, bullying, etc. Students here are pretty kind towards eachother I think, in comparison to students back home. Very few putdowns and bullying is almost non-existent (at least I haven't seen it). Always friendly, jovial banter between students. But just an ovbservation and I will comment more later but the bell just rang for me to go teach.

Until the next time,
Adam

Maki in Murcia

2006-02-13T11:39:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a treat. I went to Murcia to see a fellow Airdrian, Kristin Yaehne. Was really fun. She had a going away party for a roommate of hers and met some other ERASMUS students (an international exchange program all throughout European universities). There were a lot of students from Belgium and France so my french received much practice. Always a challenge to change from French with them, to English with Kristin, to Spanish with the other students...good times. Then on Sunday I had brought some Maki stuff (sushi rolls for those people that don´t know) WAs great to finally make my own meal. Love the food here but there is something to be said for meals made by your own hands. Was a great treat. Quite a different ring to making Maki in Spain, with a gal from Airdrie and her Italian and American roommates trying it for the first time..

Things have been great the last few week or so..Last Thursday saw a Flamenco lesson with a Spanish girl, Carmen, that I met. Wasn´t the real thing, just a lesson for about 10 other ladies wanting to learn, but it gave a good idea of how awesome it would be. Will definitely try to catch a show when I´m touring Spain with the bro and Dalia, and May and her friend Pam. But good fun to go out after for tapas for wine and snacks with some Spanish people. Hang out too much with other Canadians and always speaking English. And then on Friday, went to a University function and spent the time talking to other profs about stuff all in Spanish. So, getting better at communicating as those two days showed and nice to see improvements. Interesting chats with them about what languages are easier to learn..Spanish, English or French.

So between finally communicating in spanish at a relatively fluent level and not just nodding and saying yes all the time, things are good. As well, going to the Sierra Nevadas in 2 days..just got the invite today with my school. Going to try skiing finally..have always been scared to since Grade 7 so what better place than Spain!! And then have a trip to Gibraltar in 3 weeks planned with another school. Going to be great to go for a day with lots of Spanish students and give it some more practice. Will be a challenge going skiing with no equipment (we can rent stuff but not clothing...hopefully something comes up in the next day..)

But, keeping this short. Hope everyone is doing well with whatever life is throwing at them
Adam

Future plans

2006-02-07T04:55:00.000-07:00

Hello all

Thanks to everyone who leaeves comments. I love hearing what you think and keep them coming. (and I´m glad my older father and godmother have mastered the techinical aspect!) I encourage others, especially those interested in education and such, to visit some of the other blogs from students abroad. There are different issues that they are facing as well.

Things continue to go well here. Went to Granada for the weekend again to meet up with a friend from Airdrie and her parents. It was nice to see some other Canadians and to see Kristin. Granada is a must of anyone makes it to Spain...so much to do. Had a dinner with other internatonal students on Saturday night in a quaint little place, under a tapas bar. The roof was extremely low (needless to say, I didn´t get up much) but it was good company, some beer, wine and lots of good food. Really good time and started off the night well. Hopefully I can get some pictures uploaded soon for you to view.

Our time is filled with teaching and meeting new people, as well as planning future weekend events. We have a weekend planned to go see the Carnival of Cadiz (West of Jaén, near Portugal and right on the ocean). It is suppose to be a great time and we´re spending our 4 day weekend there. Should be exciting! As well, we are trying to plan a weekend in Valencia for Las Fallas, another festival in the middle of March. Suppose to be a great time so hopefully we get our lodging booked soon...still waiting to hear back from them. Those are the two big things that we´re trying to do together, all 7 of us Canadians. I´m also going to Barcelona to see a concert with my friend Kristin from Murcia...travel all day and night on the way back just to see Jack Johnson..cannot wait. Just another American artist for those of you who don´t know him...but I like him a lot. Also have plans to see Cordoba (and the mosque there), Ubeda and Baeza (both world heritage sights apparently...must sees according to many Jaén people. So, most of my weekends from now on are booked up....I don´t know when I´ll have the opportunity to plan!!

Teaching is still going well. I wish to find relevant things to talk about in the classes to get them to participate and today went well. (they expressed interest in music, sports, lifestyles....so my homework for the future is to find french and english texts about those things to get them to talk..) We didn´t even talk about the text I prepared because they wanted to discuss certain issues like politics and lifestyles in Canada. I guess whatever works for the students .. I´m not going to shove my idea of interesting at them and force them to talk. Have to roll with the punches.. There is some truth to what Eric said in his blog..sometimes, there are just blank faces staring back at you and it becomes a good challenge to get some words out of them. But if anyone can remember back to their language classes, it always was a trial to get out there and talk. So I commend those students that do talk..But it is all a great experience and am extremely fortunate to be here.

So lots going on...I´m going to see some Flamenco classes this Thursday .. cannot wait!! It will be fantastic and the gal I´m going with said there might be a chance of even trying to dance!! Cannot wait to shake this booty.. Off to Murcia for the weekend to hang with Kristin and see her town. Should be fun. Am also planning for future plans with people traveling over and my plans for the 3 months after...am even close to buying a ticket home eventually!!

Take care all and I hope this finds you well,
Sorry for the long winded post again..just get rambling I guess. So thank you to those who read the whole thing!
Adam

quick update

2006-02-02T07:43:00.000-07:00

Well,
not much is new here. Teaching is going very well. I had my first horrible horrible class where I was left almost helpless because I couldn´t "reprimand" the students for constantly talking all the time. At the end, I did manage a if this happens again next class, then another class will be working with me in English, not them. (No, I am not high on myself as a teacher...) This seemed to get the message accross since they did react like they were concerned. We´ll find out next class I guess.

If you´ve been reading Eric´s blog, yes it snowed in Jaén last weekend. Over the last 2 years, the only times it has snowed has been when Canadians were here. A little chilly and I think I was about to come down with something, but as the last blog said, I did take the night off and I am thankful for it. Eric is sick still (3 days running), Conrad is out of commission, 2 of the other girls have missed teaching this week...Guess in my older age, I am getting wiser and don´t feel I have to go out all the time!

Going to Granada this weekend to see a my friend Kristen from Airdrie, where I grew up. Her parents are over visiting her for 2 weeks so I thought I would join them for Saturday. Then I will see her again next weekend in Murcia, where she teaches English. Will be a good weekend I think.

Other than that, nothing exciting. Interesting talking to some of the other Canadians about what they have noticed about Spanish culture. It is quite the culture difference here in many respects and since I have been told that my blogs are often "long-winded", I won´t bore you with the details. There are many differences from the openness of Spanish culture to the somewhat patriarchal system that still exists, hidden and openly. At least, these are my opinions. Great to talk to some teachers here too about the education system and what not. Again, somewhat different. But, part of the reason I´m here is to learn about new things and question our own systems - socially, educationally, religiously, politically, etc.

But, should sign off before I ramble. Take care and we´ll be in touch.
Adam

pictures...finally

2006-01-28T13:55:00.000-07:00

Hello all
I have been neglecting this as of late and I'm sorry for that. But I have a good reason..I have been spending my time downloading pictures from my camera and then uploading them to a yahoo account. So you'll be able to view some of the things that I have seen..pretty similar to Eric as we have been to a lot of the same places but there are a few different ones..

http://photos.yahoo.com/abenturner

At least I hope this works!!

Today, Eric and I went to Linares, where Jose (who visited Lethbridge last year) lives. We had an excellent home cooked meal (paella) and it was fantastic. Jose and his sister showed us around Linares, a few museums, a church, a bull ring (so cool - empty but still cool..) and museum dedicated to Andres Segovia, a huge guitarist back in the day. I had never heard of him but he was from Linares and he had pictures with some pretty important people (the pope, a few kings, president Carter)..so I guess he was a pretty big deal.

Other than that, we met the university president on Friday. It was a big affair with tv and newspaper pictures so we're waiting to find ourselves in one of the minor headlines. It was a cute little affair. Also, I think the nightlife has finally caught up with me since I have caught a cold/really bad sore throat. I'm hurting a lot and should probably not go out but it is Conrad's birthday so I think I will make an exception. Also, it has been pretty cold as of late and it actually snowed last night..the guys here at the res were loving it outside this morning...but it wasn't fun last night, walking around in the snow at 5am and almost getting locked out..luckily Shane was still up talking to his girlfriend, and after a few penny throws to his window, he let me in.

So, I'm off. Take care all and I hope you enjoy the pictures.
AT

Granada

2006-01-22T06:38:00.000-07:00

Hey all
This past Saturday was a great day. We went to Granada last minute as some teachers at one of the guys schools offered to take us down. It is about an hour south of Jaén and if we could get a free ride and talk to some locals on the way down, why not! So went to Granada for the day and it was fantastic. We visited the Alhambra which is a must if you do make it to South Spain. It was simply incredible. (Quickly: It is a Muslim settlement/castle purched ontop of the surrounding hills. Built by the Muslims during the occupation of Spain and then retaken by the Reconquista, it has a great mix of Arabian architecture and Christian architecture, as some rulers tried to leave their own Christian influence right in the middle of some awesome Arabian monuments...I hope that is correct..I had to have it explained to me yesterday by Conrad, one of the Canadians here, as he is a History major. So blame him for anything!)

But we toured that for 4 hours and saw some great things. Just an awesome place to see. Hopefully Eric will post some pictures of it as he took over a 100...crazy! Then we walked around old Granada for a few hours and watched the sunset..very nice.

Later, we made it back to Jaén and proceeded to a international students party. (there are many university students here in Jaen on an exchange program called Erasmus...) Very good program and great to meet so many Germans, Italians, Slovakians. Very interesting to talk to them over a glass of wine about life in their countries and their experiences. So great. Of course, it was a classic Spanish night as we did not head unti midnight, stayed at the house until 4am, and then proceeded to go the bars. And yes, there were many people still out and about in the streets. Incredible. The bars were typical of most nightclubs you can see...I´ll let you take that for what it is. But then point is that we stayed out until 7:30am...really tried to do the whole nightlife thing and I tell you, this old guy isn´t cut out for it. Really really really tired today and will hopefully sleep it all away. Definitely no plans for today. Maybe that is why Sunday is considered a write-off to all people here in Jaén as so many people go out at night.

So that is my update...a great cultural trek to Granada and will hopefully show whoever comes to Europe around that as a must see spot of Southern Spain. And I experienced the nightlife scene...how many times I participate again depends on how I hold up after this. And it doesn´t help that we were up late on Friday night and Thursday night (late in Western standards maybe - 3 am - but early over here.....)

Still so fantastic to be here and loving it all...And of course, the teaching is going well. My classes this week consist of french so I will hopefully be up to par on that!
Adam

oops

2006-01-17T08:34:00.000-07:00

I guess that one from last night did go through....guess you get twice the update on the schools!!

school

2006-01-17T08:15:00.000-07:00

Finally, the long awaited school update. Yes, I have finally begun teaching. I had my first day yesterday and tried to post a blog but to no avail, hopefully this actually works.

My first day was awesome. Was essentially just talking in English to kids about Canada and myself. I "taught" 3 classes today, and except for one, where their english was a little lower level, it was great. The lower level class just meant I had to talk that much more and hopefully they understood everything. But the other two, a grade twelve age-group, was full of questions and curiousity it seemed.

Essentially, I am teaching all over the school in many different classes. So this week is a lot of repetitiveness with me telling about Canada and myself and what I´m doing here. The lowest group, which is 1st year ESO (obligatory seconday education) is about grade 7 and 13-14. I teach 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year ESO and then they have older groups of 1st and 2nd BAC (equivalent to Baccalaureate..spelling??), so basically grade 11 and 12´s...or 17-18 year old people. I teach essentially this group of kids in English this week and then the same idea (in regards to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th year ESO and 1st and 2nd BAC) to French classes next week. And I will keep on alternating each week. Yes, I´m sure some teachers/future teachers are wondering if I´m essentially seeing every class once a week, every second week...and yes, that is correct. I hope this isn´t too confusing to understand but give it time, I´m just coming to terms with it today! and I´m sorry if I have confused you, I´m sure there is a better way to explain this!

Great to talk to kids as it is amazing to be seeing Canada through their eyes. They are blown away that we eat at the times we do. (breakfast around 7-8, lunch 12-1, and dinner around 6.) I have had to aclimatize myself to eating a light breakfast around 8 (two pieces of toast), followed by lunch around 2:30 and then supper at 9. A huge difference to some of the kids I talked to today! And then the other stuff...earlier driver license ages, kids actually having jobs during school and university in Canada (I have yet to meet a kid in the school that has a part-time job...very little chance of employment for high school and university students alike during school) and so many other things. And yes, I do inform them that we don´t live in igloos and that it is cold all the time...some of them really did think it was cold all the time. Funny stuff...

But great to talk to the kids and hearing the questions they ask. Interesting to explain some of our culture as it is and seeing their reaction. (funny when you tell them that there is a festival in the middle of the summer where loads of people dress up like Cowboys and attend games and rodeos...) But I do warn them that is all my view of Canadian culture and hopefully they do understand that. And I try not to embelish stuff too much...it is how it is.

Hopefully going to see Granada this weekend with some of the other Canadian students. And one of the following weekends, will go spend a weekend in Murcia with a friend. Other future weekend destinations include Sevilla, Cordoba and especially Malaga..maybe a venture down into Morocco...who knows though!

For those interested, Eric, the other Canadian student here in Jaén, has posted some pictures on his blog (look to the right of this window and you´ll see it..) He has a laptop so more time and better computer to download some pictures. I have yet to try on this computer here in the Residency but I have a feeling it might be a challenge..one day I´ll try. And thanks to those who keep on checking this...nice to hear about what´s going on.

Take care
Adam

teaching

2006-01-16T08:47:00.001-07:00

Today we went to the school and began our first days of teaching. I had a great time, presenting things about Canada - culture, lifestyle, other facts and then I usually ended up talking about my family. 3 classes at an hour each..definitely recylced my material but the kids had lots of questions and it was fun. Funny things...
I´m teaching all different ages from 1st year ESO (obligatory secondary education) which goes up to 4th ESO and then they have 1st and 2nd year BACC (equivalent to the baccalaureat program..sorry, don´t know the spelling). So the 1st years don´t talk to much so I talked a bunch in that one but I taught a 3rd ESO and 2nd BAC and it was good. Good quetions and they said they understood me...lisp and all hey pops? ha ha So essentially, it is ranging from 12-18 year olds...roughly grade 7 to grade 12 in our system.
It was interesting talking to the older kids (2nd year BAC) because they asked lots of questions about Canadian school, employment, university - as it is something they´ll be entering next year.
Another quick note before I sign off, if you check out Eric´s blog, he has some great pictures of Jaén and other stuff. Sorry about my lack of photos..have a digital camera but it is harder for me to download them all on since I don´t have a laptop like he does. One of these days I´ll try on this computer here in the residence.
Take care all
Adam

teaching

2006-01-16T08:47:00.000-07:00

Jaen

2006-01-12T15:44:00.000-07:00

Hello all
After touring around the university and actually participating in a Spanish university class, things might be looking up with the Spanish. Understanding more and more everyday. Very reassuring and after talking to a friend who teaches in Murcia, more and more will come. Just so hard with some people because they talk so fast and swallow many word endings or don't pronounce certain letters. The great part about the Spanish beginners level class was that the teacher would talk slower and pronounce every word which helped immensely. All the Canadian students noticed that.

It was good in the class because it is made up of mostly European students from Italy and Germany (and one U of L student on a Management exchange - she was very relieved to meet some Canadians, let alone two from U of L) and the prof was asking about things that we liked or disliked about Jaen and spanish culture. Very interesting hearing people's comparisons to their own culture and what not and the differences that are noted, and that sometimes turn into annoying nuances.

Also, the prof brought up three things about stuff specific to Andalusia - TV and how they are pretty much soap operas (also applies to the rest of Spain after further discussion), the smoking (which is interesting because there is always something to talk about since a new law just passed this year, prohibits smoking in public places..comparable to the changes that are going on in Canada and also the initial changes that happened a year or two ago..or maybe more..can't quite remember). Naturally, there are many malcontent people, especially a few in our residency, since smoking is very European it seems...and from other people's word of mouth, that seems to be the case. Finally, there was a discussion between the different dialects found in regions of Spain, or the autonomous communities (17 in all I believe). So depending on where you are, Andalusia, Madrid, Basque region, different Spaniards have different accents and manipulate the language according to their traditional way of speaking. Interesting but also challenging from a person learning the language since in some regions, certain rules apply and certain syllables are pronounced whereas if you travel a few 100 kms anywhere, completely different..

So very interesting stuff and awesome to be here... but, I was just told that this looks like a novel and yup, it is..so I'm signing off.

Adam

maybe not

2006-01-10T14:06:00.000-07:00

Actually,
on second thought and after actually reading the dude of the month, maybe it is a better idea not to check it out...
Sorry about that..
Nice one Bones..thanks for making me look so good!

Jaen

2006-01-10T13:56:00.000-07:00

Hello all,
First of all, thanks to those who have been responding. It is great to hear from you all (note to family...especially number 2...can we keep the posts about my big butt and girl life to a minimum..this is an educational blog and if necessary, I can delete your comments. Just a warning..) No keep the coming everyone, great to hear from you all. Good luck to the other students who have been arriving the last couple of days to their places (Magdeburg and Leeds)

Jaen is a gorgeous place. So Spain like Owen pointed out (he was here last year on this project and as I´ve heard over the last few days, a legend of a sort. Incredible scenery and old buildings that are just fantastic. So much history and culture.

I start my teaching next Monday and am looking forward to meeting the teachers and students and facing the challenge and excitement of teaching again. Great to meet the people who are here in Jaen from other schools (SFU and Univ of Regina).

I will hopefully be able to load up some pictures sometime next week so don´t worry P-rab. They´re definitely some incredible pictures..or at least I think! Have already begun planning some trips to surrounding places - Granada, Sevilla, Murcia, Malaga and hopefully Morocco..sorry about some of the spelling.

The spanish is coming along..everyday is a challenge and I look forward to the schools as the university liaisons all speak english which is comforting but definitely need to work on my spanish. We are staying in a residency affiliated with the Univeristy in the older part of time, about 2 blocks away from the incredible Cathedral here. Beginning to talk to more and more students which is needed...really good guys here. All attend the university so are pretty much similar in age. Even played some soccer with them today which was a hoot.

Well, I should get going but thanks again to all the peeps sending word back and I look forward to hearing more about stuff. (on a completely unrelated sidenote, I was voted Dude of the Month on my friends website which is the "stitchface" link on the page..check it out...)

Take care

one more thing about spain..

2006-01-06T09:08:00.000-07:00

I have been getting crazy stares from so many people with me wearing shorts. It is really only 3-6 degrees C so it is not that bad. But people here have face masks, huge parkas, and definitely aren´t wearing shorts...so the stares are there..I guess they can tell that I´m a foreigner....but I guess Canadian weather prepared me well..

And it finally rained today..so no shorts..will rain all weekend if I heard the news correctly...that could be completely off given my improficiencies in spanish but we´ll find out soon

finally in Spain

2006-01-06T08:56:00.000-07:00

Hello all
I hope life is treating you well wherever you are..some are back in school, others are starting practicums and such and some are going back to work..

I finally arrived in Madrid late Monday night, found my hostel no problem and stayed there for 2 nights. Toured around for 2 days seeing the big sights like the Prado museum, thyssen-Born..(spelling) museum, parque de Buen Retiro (A big park that is somewhat central park like but not nearly as big but with lots of great statues). The next day, I saw the royal palace which blew me away by its immensity and grandness. Each room was incredibly extravagant indicating how much money they spent back in the day on the royalty..crazy though.

Have been walking around lots and luckily my ankle and knee are holding up!!! Yesterday I went to Segovia (North of Madrid) and saw the Roman aqueducts..simply amazing. They stretch for almost a km and at a good 20 meters high. To think that the Romans build this all without modern tools that we would have blows your mind as you´re staring at the grandeur of it. Then there is an amazing cathedral and a castle which was awesome. Unfortunately, today (friday the 6) is Epiphany, which I am told is the equivalent of Spaniards Christmas. This is where presents are exchanged and holidays are. So, the castle and church closed down before I got around to them so I did come home early from there. But I did catch a parade through the streets of Madrid in honour of Epiphany..loads of people and great festive atmosphere. Bands playing in the streets, street entertainers..loads of fun. Have one more day in Madrid before Eric comes to town and then we´ll head down to Jaen to begin the practicum thing. Really glad I came a week early to see Madrid as it is an incredible city. I loved walking around all day, down narrow streets and seeing all the different plazas and churches, and then history of everything. Great to be here..

Well, should get going. Have almost adjusted to eating little meals all day instead of the typical 3-meal thing that I´ve been use to. So, I need to go catch something. One note, I´ve been incredibly fortunate to meet Palbo, a buddy of Tim´s who I play volleyball with in Lethbridge. Pablo has shown me around town the last two nights and is even letting me stay in his place until I leave on Sunday..saves a couple of euros with no hostels!! So very kind of him. Great to get his insight of Spanish lifestyle and he explains so much that I didnt´know about his culture and such..

take care all and hope this finds you all well,
Adam

It has begun...

2006-01-01T09:54:00.000-07:00

Well, I leave in a little under 3 hours...so exciting. Cannot wait to not being able to communicate...such a challenge and look forward to it! I spend a week in Madrid until heading down with Eric, the other U of L student who is participating in this program to Jaen, on Sunday...then the whole teaching thing begins.

Take care all and until the next time when I'm updating this in Spain...

update

2005-12-06T09:59:00.000-07:00

Hi all
Just dropping in a post since it has been a couple of weeks. My last week of school - 4 more days of official university classes. So crazy to look back on the 5 years of schooling here...a little apprehensive to get out there in the real world in the summer and look for jobs. University is a good life..so easy.

The European students leave this Saturday. The next time I'll see Tomas, Jose and Cristina will be in Jaén...it is so near! less than a month until I leave, less than 2 weeks until I'm done with Lethbridge for the time being...the countdown is oh so close. And yet so much to do!

My dreams of teaching overseas took a shot last week. I received word from Singapore that they don't have a position for me there (at least at the CIS). I'll keep on applying though...and I guess that leaves Europe open for opportunities...

Other than that, just enjoying my last 2 weeks here in Lethbridge..great times, great people... (Good ol' Earls heh...)

my boy Kaelan

2005-11-17T21:59:00.000-07:00

Here are some travel pictures...I was in Bali, Singapore, Australia during May 2005. That's the oldest brother, Luke, who got married to Dalia...nice couple. That's Yuko, who is Matt's fiancee (they're getting married during Christmas 05)....yeah, yeah, all you people getting ideas of me getting a gal overseas like the older brothers, get that idea out of here...none of that for me right now. Nice try though...

The second one isn't a travel picture, sorry that is a lie. That is my boy Kaelan..good guy. He's in South America with Kelly Jo right now traveling right now. Miss them lots - thought he would like the publicity as my BEST friend (that's right Scotty...)

the whole family picture

2005-11-17T21:54:00.000-07:00

sorry mom and dad...here you are in this one..no offence

the family

2005-11-10T16:41:00.000-07:00

picture??

2005-11-10T16:37:00.000-07:00

1st entry

2005-11-10T15:43:00.000-07:00

Here I am still in Lethbridge , just created my blog and figuring out all of the info I just entered...hopefuly I can access this again some time!
Until the next time
AT

I did it

2005-11-10T15:06:00.000-07:00

I got back in and it was all good....
no worries