2006-05-06

Meine Gaestfamilie

Well, I've been in Germany ( for my German immesion course ) for 3 days now? 4? I'm not sure. My sense of time has been completely thrown off!

I'll upload my "make fun of the germans at the airport" pictures later, for now I'll just upload the pictures from my Gaestfamilie so that you can know who I'm staying with! Unfortunately, the whole i-don't-like-to-have-my-picture-taken thing is not just in Canada but Germany too. The following pictures may show people as less friendly looking than they usually look! Hah!
First off, Bessie! Sie ist eine Hundin. We get along fine. She's barky when I play with her though.
Sie ist eine sehr altere Hundin, I think 14 years or something. She'a bit deaf.
Also she doesn't like to drink water from the house. She prefers the backyard pond and puddles over the water in her bowl in the kitchen.
Sigi hat some cool water featureness going on in her backyard!
Your Photo GallerySigi is my Gaest Mutter. She is very nice. But she doesn't like pictures.
And her husband is Bernd. He's the one who picked us up from the bus in Kassel. And he seemed to be surprised that we had so much luggage! 2 young women for 6 weeks need lots of clothes!
Their son Arne ( not Arnie! :s ) was not there when I was taking picture. Maybe you will see him later. He taught Courtney and I that "heyh!?" (grunt) is indeed a german word. lol. it means the same thing as "huh" and it just as much a valid word.

And you haven't yet seen Courtney! She is my classmate who lives here also! It's pretty cool, not having to face these Germans without another Canadian wanna-be german around!
Here she is:

Oh, and in Germany there are lots of dandylions everywhere. We don't have many in Canada yet. AND they have just as many of these flowers as dandylions:
They are quite cute and small. I got my toe in there for scale. Basically these are everywhere!

Ok! Tchus! I'll have lots more up later.

2006-01-22

Capt. Red Beard

So I've always wanted a fish.

The other day Gavin and my friend Kristel and I all went to wal-mart. It was a very cold sort of day, but very dry. After we went to McDonald's for an early dinner, we crossed over the street to go to Wal-mart. They were closing the next day, to reopen in their new store, so we were hoping for some good deals!

At 5pm we went into Wal-mart. That's where I bought my fish tank! The plaza with Wal-mart also had a small pet store. Kris and I were both going to get fish!
That wasn't all we bought, we also bought some toys, toilet paper, paper towels and kleenex. All jumbo sized of course!

We lugged everything to the pet store and picked out our betta fish (siamese fighting fish!) because they are very pretty, and they can live in smaller tanks than most fish. However, siamese fighting fish come from Thailand, and as you might be aware - it is very warm there. The pet store lady said that I should keep the fish warm on the way home.

We through the plaze towards the busstop, and a man on a cell phone said, "a bus was in an accident? TWO busses?" This made us a little nervous.

We then took all of our purchases out to the bus stop. There was a lady waiting there with her two kids, "are you waiting for a bus?" she asked.

"Yeppers!"

"Well, there aren't any running. I've been waiting for over an hour, and not one bus has come. I called dial-a-cab and they aren't running either." Great. Stranded in the Walmart Plaza. Well - at least A&P is open 24hours!

We bought some carrot sticks, and settled in. Luckily, about an hour later a "recon bus" came and took us home. They knew alot of people were stranded all over the city, and were trying to get as many people home as they could, using only main roads, and avoiding hills and sharp curves.

The block from the bus stop to my house was so slippery, the 3 minute walk took 15 minutes! When I got close to the corner (where the sidewalk slopes down) I slid immediately into the road!

But, my fish and I got home safely, and alive, and neither of us frozen to death. Ta dah! Now being so dark red in complexion, and so hardy a fish, Red Beard was obviously the only name for him!

Now, apparently when you hold up a mirror to the side of the tank, my fish, Red Beard thinks that he has company. He is not very fish friendly, so he gets all riled up!

I've had a LOT of fun with this. I also bought him an underwater treasure chest, and like the pirate that he is, he's constantly guarding his booty.

Arr me matey! Ye best be avoiding the likes o' me Red Beard if you've any mind for pilfering, as he hasn't any fear o' putting the grip o' Davy Jones on ye!

2006-01-07

My Dress

So, I've bought my dress.
It's BEAUTifUL! and I'm VERY excited.

Guess I really am getting married ;)

Also, Gavin and I made some awesome save-the-date magnets. My mom took some pictures of us, and we put the nicest 2 on the magnet with the date. I did alot of the lay out (Gavin helped!) and they looked awesome! Maybe I should get into graphic design or something!

Oh wait...I am ; )

Anyway, so now we've just got to mail the magnets, and then all our out of town guests will obviously remember to book the time off work. :D

And then we've got to finish paying off the dress. Ouch.
But it is pretty!!

Originally I wanted a dress with straps, maybe off the shoulder or something - but it's really difficult to find dresses with straps! Strapless dresses are it!

I did *finally* find a nice dress with off the shoulder straps, but it didn't fit very well. and it had a zipper back instead of a lace back like this one. And I decided I like the lace back better. Voila!

If you click the picture you can go to the designers site, and there's another picture modelling the back of the dress.

That's all for now! Tchus!

2005-12-03

Homegrown Wedding Flowers

2005-11-12

Engaged

This year Gavin is living on-campus. So I knew something was up when he said I had to go to pick him up from rez before we went out for dinner. So, as per his request, I took the bus to campus, all dressed up, to pick him up. "Let's go for a walk!" he said.

"Go for a WALK!? But it's 5 below and I'm wearing nylons! Can we go for a walk inside!" (I know, I know - aren't I the romantic?). On our way we passed a whole group of his students, standing around waiting for something. They probably missed the meal in the Caf and had to get delivery. BOY am I glad I have a kitchen this year!

When we got to Gavin's room, I was horrified. Something dreadful must have happened to Big Bird. There was trail of yellow feather leading straight to...Gavin's ROOM! WHAT?!

"Actually - the feather's lead away from my room. Maybe you should- uh- well- let's find out what happened to Big Bird! Follow that trail!" Haha! You've gotta give him credit. He's playing it pretty cool - we're all dressed up, and now we're on a Big Bird hunt because I made a joke...

At the end of the hall, we followed the feathers of romance up the stairs, and into the next hallway. As soon as we step into the hall, someone started blasting some music. Barry White actually. Now I have a thing about Barry White - and Gavin knows it. Now he's teasing me.

"I can't go in there Gavin! They're playing Porno music!!!"

"You've gotta come in Zo. It'll be great." Gavin's starting to get really excited and really nervous. I'm just nervous. REALLY nervous.

Apparently his whole house is in on it. A couple girls were in the kitchenette, and they were stationed to snap our pictures on the way in. And blast Barry. But they decorated the commonroom too! It was fantastic! They decorated the door, and the room. They'd taken the TV and couches out and set up a little table "Japanese Style" with cushions on the floor. The table was set up for two. Not a candlelight dinner, that's against rez policy ;) But there was a little starshape lamp instead. As soon as we sat down on our cushions another student came in. Papertowel over her arm and "Champagne Bottle" in hand.

"Would you and the lady like some sparkling grape juice sir?" Of course. 2 days ago in the grocery store I pointed out the same bottle. I'd said it was the perfect champagne for kids like me, who don't like to drink ;) Besides, alcohol in the common room is against the rules. He'd gone back after I'd left and bought it for me!

"Yes, please." Jess pours him just a sample. Gavin looks at her with total confusion.
"To sample, sir," of course. Gavin smells, swirls and tastes it. He approves and she pours us both a glass.

Then, another student brought us salad. Oh my Goodness! I've never had sundried tomato dressing, but boy oh boy is it delicious. Gavin said I could have the bottle ;) But I'm getting distracted!

Remember the kids waiting for their delivery earlier? When we finished our salad, one of the girls came in with Chicken Primavera (or however you spell it).

"What? You were waiting for OUR food?! And I didn't even guess!?" Ok, he got me. Usually if I see something, I notice, but this time I was oblivious. But the food was delicious! The music con'd the whole time we were eating, but only the first song was Barry White. When we finished our noodles and chicken, the 'servers' brought us out a beautiful plate of wafer cookies. mmm-mmm, but at this point I've already eaten so much I think I'm going to explode.

I didn't even notice but a reggae song came on which, little did I know, was a queue for Gavin. After this song is when the next part of his plan starts. But I'm just enjoying my cookies! When "Stand by Me" comes on, Gavin tears me away from the cookies, "But I'm still eating..." and we dance. At the end of the song, Gavin proposed.

Before I had a chance to answer, Gavin thought he heard me say no. "Did you say no?"
"No!"
"Oh...Oh? No no? or just no?"
"YES!"
"OH! GOOD!"

The girls were peeking - Gavin whispered "She said yes!"
"Go go go!" said Ashley, and 25 kids ran in the room.
"AAh! What's going on here" I asked.
"I don't know!"

I guess they planned that part as a surprise for both of us. And then there was a giant group hug. Ow. I don't think they understand how much I ate! But it was all SO lovely. And now you know ;)

OH! And I couldn't fit all the pictures on here, so you've GOT to CHECK OUT MY PHOTO GALLERY!! DO IT!

2005-09-12

Speaking of Bugs

I got in a big disagreement with one of the girls I'm living with yesterday - about the colour of crickets!

Somehow one of the noisy fellows got into our kitchen, and even though I'd rather just ignore him, she talked me into pulling the oven out so she could crawl around behind it and ...well...shut him up, but good! After catching and squishing the poor little guy she says "wait - this is a cockroach!!" I assured her it wasn't. It didn't even look like a cockroach - it was a cricket. Then she proceeded to tell me, that in our climate black crickets could not survive!! We could only have GREEN crickets.

" WHAT? Are you kidding me?" I asked her, "ALL crickets are black. The only crickets I've ever seen that weren't black, were the ones you buy for your lizard in the pet store - the soft shell ones."

"No," she persisted, "I've done alot of work with crickets, and I know - only the green ones can exist in our climate!"

"There's no such thing as a green cricket! You are thinking of grass hoppers!"I countered, but she wasn't convinced. "Here," I wipped out my laptop, "I'll proove it to you."

"Well, if you have to look it up on the internet, then I obviously know more about crickets than you, and am right."

I looked up the page anyway, and I found the cricket she caught - the "Northern Field Cricket" and its habitat? British Columbia to Nova Scotia. Triumphantly I showed her.

But she won the argument with a final, uncontestable comment.

"That cricket can't survive in our climate - you have to look it up based on temperature." Oh. Silly me - - -

http://collections.ic.gc.ca/biodiversity/family/Gryllidae.html

2005-08-06

Smoking Kills

So, the bugs came back. Poor Killer, just sitting in the sun, minding his own business, then BAM! He's covered with teeny, tiny, crawly white flecks - wrapping their webs over all his
leaves!

Soap 'em:

Something had to be done! The first thing I did, was to run a cool sink of water with just a dab of dish soap. I dunked the whole plant in the sink, the after a few seconds, I rinsed the poor guy off. The next day - while better - still had some bugs, so I did it again. The third day I decided maybe it was time to try something different.

Smoke 'em:

We've all heard that "smoking kills." I don't know if you've heard it, but they used to tell me in school that there are more/the same chemicals in second hand smoke than some pesticides (I don't remember exactly, it's been years!). I thought - hey! it's worth a shot! So I asked my dad to help me out!

We put the rose in a plastic bag and dad puffed it full of smoke through a straw. We left the bag this way for a couple hours. The next day - NO BUGS! Great! Great for the rose, that is - after the eggs hatched, I figured we could be finished with those bugs once and for all with one more smoke treatment. But dad said . . .

NO WAY!!

"All the smoke that went in that bag came straight from MY LUNGS. You want to kill me too? I'm not doing THAT again!"

Guess it's back to the soap and water for me, until I get some spray! Does anyone know of an easy bug fix I can get around the house? :D

2005-08-03

Sham Rockin'

My only bulb, a shamrock just got a flower! I did not even know that this kind of shamrock COULD have flowers! It was a present to me from Gavin's mum.

I really like it, because (a little bit like the mimosa from before) it's sensitive. It doesn't change when you touch it, but if the sun isn't shining, then all the leaves close up. So instead of looking like 4 elephant ears sunning themselves, it turns into tiny green bats sleeping on the ends of the stem - don't you think?

The lovely flower sure was a nice surprise! I noticed it in the mid afternoon and made a mental note to take a picture or it - but by the time I had gotten back, the sun was on the other side of the house, and the petals had already 'tucked' themselves in! And they did a good job of it! I'd never have guessed it had even opened yet, if I hadn't seen it myself. I hope there are more flowers still coming :)

OH! I couldn't fit all the pictures I took on this post, so check out the other one in My Photo Album! Enjoy!

2005-07-08

Killer Rose

Killer, The Mini Rose

His name is killer. I named him this because - - well, if you've ever met a rose bush with an attitude problem you would understand! Attitude problem you ask? Let me tell you! Even though everything that I've ever read told me that you can't grow a mini-rose indoors, I had to give it a shot. Gavin, my boyfriend had given it to me as a gift, and it looked so nice on my shelf! Even though the little plant seemed to defy the odds for a long time, eventually the spider mites got to it and ALL the leaves fell off.

Toying with Death

Menacing sticks with needle sharp thorns were all that remained. I wish I had taken pictures! For some reason or another, I took the sad little plant over to Gavin's and put it on a shelf in his residence room.

The Ambush

Killer earned his name, and proved his distaste for Gavin one day when, as I am told by Gavin, the now small and twiggy plant camouflaged itself against his books, laying in wait. When Gavin unsuspectingly reached for a nearby text book, killer attacked! Grab! Slash! As blood gushed from his now open arm, the only thing that kept Gavin from throwing the whole plant in the garbage was his fear of a second attack.

Will to Live

This proved to me that, even though appearances indicated otherwise, there was a strong passion for life in this brave little plant! I continued to water him, and give him lots of sunlight, and as soon as spring came, I gave him the best spot on the whole porch. What a wonderful sight to see, when the first red leaves sprouted from the bare sticks! Soon the small red leaves matured and grew into green stems, and eventually buds! 1! 2! 3, 4, 5!

Crimson

Now the flowers are blooming, and Gavin has apologized to Killer for ever considering throwing him in the garbage. And he's apologized to me for making fun of my watering a 'dead plant' and taking him for walks.

I suspect he apologized in hopes of pacifying the wild monster within Killer.
Don't be fooled by the beautiful crimson roses.

2005-06-09

Living Stone

	I recently bought myself a "Living Stone" or lithop. It's a plant from the desert in South Africa. As far as I can tell, it is currently growing two new leaves (in the center) and I am not watering it right now, as these new leaves get all their water from the old leaves (framing the top and bottom). Based on what I've read online, this will be all the water this plant needs till this division is done. If I watered it the roots would rot away!! This plant should go through this cycle once a year. If everything goes as planned, there should also be one flower a year too! To give you an idea of the size of this plant - that's a 2inch pot! Basically, it's the same size as my thumb :)
Another one of my plants - a croton - is sporting some fetching new leaves. You've probably seen a croton before, usually with large waxy leaves that have alot of red or orange in them (actually some varieties are only green, some with white spots, and some with long skinny leaves, some with "oak" shaped leaves). I'm rather excited in particular about the leaf on the top left that has a rather interesting shape! Until next time!

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