Back in Alberta

Here I am back in Alberta in the computer lab with my students. I arrived last night at about midnight, and I didn't go to bed until after 1 am, so you can imagine I was kind of tired when my alarm went off at 6 am this morning!

Anyway, I'm really glad to be back. I was happy to go back to Montreal to see my uncles, aunts, cousins, and Granny, but it felt good to sleep in my own bed last night. Also, it was kind of a hard trip too because my Granny is 92 years old, and she had trouble recognizing me. It also made me a bit sad to be walking around Montreal and seeing all the old places where I used to hang out. Probably one of the reasons I was so sad was because I have finally realised that I'm not going to be moving back to Montreal. I think for the past 18 years (holy cow - I've been living in Calgary a long time!) I have been thinking I could always move back to Montreal. However, this trip, I finally realised that it is highly unlikely I'll ever be going back to Montreal. It's time to let go, and that's a hard thing to do.

So here I am back. Actually, my poor students, I told them today that the EAP program has found a new teacher to take over the class starting on July 2nd. That means they will have had 4 different teachers by the end of the semester! The problem is that the university needs me to go back to my "real" job (academic coordinator). Because of that, there is a new guy starting next week. I met him before I went to Montreal, and I think he'll be okay. It's always going to be hard coming into a situation where you are taking over from another teacher, but I know that my students are SOOOOOOOOO great that they are going to be perfect model students for him :-) Plus, I'll still be around helping out in the background. I won't totally abandon EAP 1!!!!!

Also, I know they are going to blog and comment lots before the end of the semester . . . right???

Orange Julep, Smoked Meat, & Bagels!!!

Here I am in Montreal. I wonder if my students miss me. I hope they are all blogging lots! As for me, I am having a great time. I got to visit my 92 year old grandmother this afternoon. It was good to see her again. She is getting to be kind of forgetful. She asked me a couple of times who I was, and then she was amazed at how much I had grown. She also told me Uncle he was getting a big belly, so it was kind of funny.

Anyway, besides getting to see lots of cousins, uncles, and aunts, I'm also eating all the different kinds of food that I miss so much. Today I got to eat/drink the big three: Montreal Bagels and Cream Cheese, Smoked Meat, and an Orange Julep. The orange julep was so great. Orange julep is a kind of drink with some sort of secret ingredient that makes it so good. The restaurant itself is in the shape of a giant orange. You can't miss it. I have been going there since I was a little boy. The first sip of my orange julep brought back lots of memories!

Say tuned for more blogs about Montreal food . . . but now I have to go and check my students' blogs!

I'm Blogging Again!!

Hello EAP 1! I can't believe I'm teaching again this semester. I thought I was going to have a semester off teaching so that I could work on the curriculum for the EAP program at the University of Calgary. Unfortunately, the EAP 1 teacher who was supposed to teach this class is no longer teaching in our program, so I had to suddenly step in and start teaching EAP 1. However, I don't mind because this EAP 1 class is totally awesome! So far, I have only been teaching them for about a week, but I think we have already learned a lot together. Naturally, I had to get all of my students blogging!

Anyway, so far so good. It was a bit of a surprise for me when I found out that I had to teach this semester, but I guess it will be a good thing for me before I take my year off from teaching. Starting on August 2nd, 2008 I'm going to be taking a whole year off to finish my PhD. I hope I can get it done in just one year.

Anyway, I just wanted to welcome all of my new students to my blogging universe. I'm really happy that you are here!