Two weekends ago (Nov. 22) I actually got a group of people to go ice skating with me! Mikaela & Jim (dating), Pascale and Alejandro (dating), Joan and Jesse (married), and David and I all made it out for an evening on the ice. Since it isn't that cold yet, we went to an indoor rink, and the 8 of us had a really good time racing around the track! Ok, some of us weren't racing... think "pulling self along the wall via handrails" speed for a few people. Most of us did pretty well though, balancing somewhere between cruising pretty comfortably and/or leaping acrobatically through the air over the five year old who somehow bolted straight into your path... Pretty amazing. Here's us on the ice, and several more pics are on Picasa!
After skating we felt a lot like you do after swimming (STARVING), so we got some dinner, and then all saw Bond in the stadium theater together. We had a lot of fun, and I think we are going to try that skating thing again outside when things start really freezing over!
Last weekend was Thanksgiving, kind of strange for us since we didn't get off work or school at all, and not too many people noticed. Thanksgiving isn't as big a deal in Canada as it is in the U.S., for some reason. Still, our landlords invited us downstairs on Friday for a not-typical but yummy Thanksgiving meal (roast beef, string beans, and twice baked potatoes), followed by a very competitive game of Scrabble! It turns out they have moved to one of their other apartments and will now be renting the one downstairs to someone else, and at present it is suddenly unoccupied. Kind of good/bad, in various ways. Unfortunately for them, they weren't moved out yet when we had our party on Saturday night! The same group who ice skated came over for an evening of Guitar Hero, a DDR rip-off PC game, wine, beer, pizza, cookies, and this card game that I think was called "Jungle Fever"..! Yes, it was as fun as it sounds. (:
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Most everyone stayed so long they had to get a cab home because all the public transportation had shut down, which I took to be a good sign. It was nice to have people over for a change!
In other news, the weather is taking its sweet time getting cold - I think it is enjoying our fear and drawing out the inevitable. We got a pretty decent snow last week, with a couple of inches of accumulation. So far it only seems to snow at night.
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The ground is so cold that even though it has been well above freezing (near 40) in the day for the last week, there are still blobs of snow around town that have turned into tiny glaciers - a little jagged and completely solid. It makes me realize that once the snow really starts, it won't go ANYWHERE for a while....
Regarding our household appliances, there is an exciting development. Our poor old stove has been slowly dying for the last month, and finally finally our landlords brought us a 'new' one today! They installed it while David and I were both out of the house, so I came home to a shiny-ish surprise. Ceramic top, too - fancy! Here are pics of the "new" stove, and the tragic old one, where it was left to die:
Despondent appliance aside, we are doing well here. David has just about wrapped up his first semester, which will be a great relief for him! I know there are a few seminars and papers to go, but he's almost there and things are looking good. Meanwhile I have officially applied to the MA program in Gender & Women's Studies at McGill, so I will have to find a way to not think about it as much as possible until I get the verdict sometime next year!! I'm keeping my fingers crossed though; I am loving the idea of being in school - and NOT at a desk - for a change!!
We are just over two weeks away from coming home for Christmas, and we absolutely can't wait to see everyone!!! It will be a busy week (Dec. 19-28 if you're keeping track), and we are going to make the most of it. In the meantime we are counting the days!
Happy Thanksgiving to everybody! Hope everyone is warm!
love,
Shannon
1 comment:
Lovin' the hair. You look great!!
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