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London Heathrow, Breakfast at the Gorgeous Kitchen. A cup of tea, a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and a plate with brioche & Nutella French toast with seasalt caramel & banana. 

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Back to the Future

I said farewell to my friends, my students, and Antigonish. The only thing left for me was to say goodbye to Brent and get on my first plane to Montréal in order to start my journey to Neverland. We had to catch the bus early so our phone rang at 7 in the morning. After a bus trip of a few hours, we arrived at Halifax Airport and found out that I was already able to check in my suitcases but Brent wasn’t. The check in for his flight would start around the same hour as I would have to board the plane. Which meant that we wouldn’t be able to say goodbye in the terminal. We instead had to spend the final hours together in one of the restaurants near the queue for going through security. We took a seat at the Maritime Ale House and got some food.

I got myself some calamari and Brent has fried chicken with fries, neither of us liked the taste as my dish was quite bland and his dish had an odd after taste. Which is why we didn’t fully finish our plates. We decided to spend our last minutes on a few seats looking out over the runway. It was in that moment that I started to care less and less about my surroundings as it dawned on me that I had to let go of him at some point and I wouldn’t know when I would get to hold him in my arms again. I would most likely never see the other people around me ever again so I gave myself permission to for once be an emotional clingy girlfriend. 

Little less than an hour before my flight would take off I had to go stand in the queue. It was very close to the place where we were sitting. So Brent could stand on an elevated floor behind a glass railing right next to the line coming by in a zigzag motion. Which meant that every time the line would make a turn it would have to do so at the point where Brent was standing so I could give him a few kisses before returning back to the ever moving queue. Liquid was leaking from my eyes, a lady in the line noticed and tried to give me words of encouragement as she was walking my way on the other side of the tape. I gave him a last kiss right before I walked into the adjoining room and lost him out of my sight. 

When I got to my gate I took a seat near the window and waited for the boarding to begin. In between, I had contact with Brent on my phone. When boarding began a flight attendant used the intercom system to ask whether someone was willing to take a later flight to Montréal as this one was overbooked. They needed volunteers to not get on the plane and I asked at the desk if I could do so. As it would mean that I could wait on Brent to get through security and have some more time together. She told me that it was kind of me that I was willing to help but because I already had a seat nr. assigned to me and as I had a connection flight I wouldn’t be able to catch it in time if I stayed in Halifax. So instead I sat back down and waited to board the plane instead. 

It was a short flight to the other Canadian city. When I walked out of the plane I was already in the right terminal for my next flight to London. I had to wait around 3 1/2 hours for my next flight and knew that more than anything I had to charge my phone. Which resulted in me walking around to find a socket and it was such a challenge. I finally spotted one in a restaurant and asked the waiter if I could be seated at one of the tables with a place to charge my devices. He gave me my own booth which was quite luxurious. I got a baked mac & cheese and a couple of drinks while I was Facetiming with Brent who was still in Halifax. 

My second flight was the long one, I left Canada at 19:45 and arrived in London at 07:25. There were some tiny problems while I was in the air. The online entertainment system crashed several times which meant I had to restart the movies I was watching. It wasn’t a huge deal for me as I thankfully had charged my music player and the movie I was watching was Moana which I had seen so many times that I know the script by heart. Besides I had a window seat which never fails to entertain me. The only thing I personally didn’t care for was the food as my taste buds never really agree with the vegetarian option and this time around my stomach wasn’t too happy either. Oh well. The view made up for it. Especially when I flew over London.

At London Heathrow, I couldn’t find any benches with a socket so I went to a restaurant to see if they had one. This time around I went to the Gorgeous Kitchen and even though they didn’t have sockets I still decided to stay and have some breakfast. I had five hours to kill and I was happy to talk with Brent who had arrived in Toronto and was also waiting for his next flight home. The food I had was absolutely divine as I got myself Brioche Nutella French toast with sea salt caramel and banana. 

Once I was done eating I got myself some goodies at Boots and then made my way over to my gate. My final flight was a brief one as I only needed to go to Düsseldorf. However, I still managed to fall asleep as I hadn’t ever since I woke up to catch my bus. I woke up from my power nap somewhere above Germany and got a tiny box from a flight attendant. I was a bit confused at that point as I was looking around and from my perspective, I seemed to be the only one in the plane to receive one. Opening it up it revealed some snacks, I could really use the refreshing water and the sandwich was rather tasty. 

I finally arrived in Düsseldorf at 14:30 and could get my two suitcases without any trouble as they were one of the first ones to come on out. With them, in hand, I walked into the arrival hall where I had my old companion, Wouter, and my younger sister waiting on me. I was too tired to have a drink with them right there and then but when they drove me to their home in the Netherlands I was happy to eat my first meal with them and my mother. It was also great to see my dogs again and really hold onto the tiny old grandpa of the two. After dinner, I went to bed to sleep off my jetlag, but right before I closed my eyes I called with Brent to make sure he was getting on his last flight. During the entire conversation, I had trouble keeping my phone upright and my eyes open. When I knew he was okay I ended the call and fell asleep, not to be disturbed by anyone until the next morning. 

It was a long trip back but it is nice to be back in the Netherlands. I am kinda overwhelmed by all the green around me and the fact that I don’t need to wear multiple layers to go outside. I am truly enjoying how flavourful the food is and I really missed Dutch licorice. I like being here, even though I feel like I left something or rather someone behind. I am just going to look at the future for now and make sure that this someone will be in it. Holding onto all the positive experiences from the past four months. Can´t wait to use them as fuel for the rest of 2017 and everything that may come my way. No matter what happens I can always say that I went to Antigonowhere and lived to tell the tale.

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How I walk to SAJS, that Hill still took a toll on me even though tomorrow will be the last day for me to conquer it. Because I need to suffer a bit to get over it, I believe it also makes it feel that much better when I get to the top. I won’t miss the little bit of exercise once I leave, but I will definitely miss the gorgeous view.

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The Random Acts of Kindness Campaign at Saint Andrew Junior School in Antigonish. It lets pupils write down a random act of kindness they witnessed in and around school by either a peer or a staff member. For everyone in the school to read and to spread good vibes.

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Pannizza in Antigonish, Canada - Create your own poutine, the cheese curds nicely melted, the crunchy fries swimming in the hot flavourful gravy. If you ever visit this remote little place be sure to take a side of Cheese Stix or if you have a sweet tooth the Sweet Stix are perfect for you. They taste like cinnamon and are coated in icing, a real treat for if you have any room left.

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It’s The Final Countdown

All good things come to an end and so is my time in Antigonish. I’m quite sad about it, for several reasons but two main ones. The first one being that my placement at SAJS has been a blessing. It really hit home why I should become a teacher and that I am actually pretty damn good at my job. I’ve had such an awesome experience thanks to my colleagues, the attitude of the school and especially my students. I have been able to connect with each and every one of my pupils and I see great things ahead for all of them. They might have learned some small things from me but they can now use that as stepping stones to be better at communicating with their environment. Most importantly they are able to continue learning when I’m gone. Not because of a substitute teacher, as they won’t have any when I leave, but because I gave them some tools that make them autonomous learners. They are such eager students and I wish I could give them a lot more guidance but regardless I still believe they can accomplish anything they put their mind to. Whether or not I am present. 

As you might have guessed I am very passionate about my practicum. Which is why my last day was a very emotional one, not only for myself but also for my pupils. During one of my final classes, I had to do what I can only describe as phonetics with two students who have a learning disability, which makes it difficult for them to read words and connect the right sound to the written letters. While I was busy with one of the activities other pupils started walking into the room. This is not that weird as I was using Jody’s resource room and students with learning disabilities can always walk in if they need any assistance, a resource or a quiet place to do their work. However, while these pupils walked in I mentioned to the students in front of me that I was getting nervous. They asked if it's because there were a lot of pupils all at once. I replied that it's because I know and teach all those pupils. They were throwing me a surprise party and I got overwhelmed when I saw the cake they got me as the gesture of everybody being there to say goodbye really got to me. As well as the fact that one of my pupils was ill and I wouldn’t have the chance to say farewell to her. 

I realized how badly I wanted to stay. As some of my pupils started crying and asked me when I would come back and I had the hardest time saying that I wouldn’t be there no more but I believed in their own ability to continue their progress. I thankfully could use the last hour of my internship alone with two of my students who were quite emotional and I let them practice with some of the fun online programs I taught them to use for when I was gone. While they were busy we had some more uplifting conversations. During the final goodbye, I hugged both of them as tight as I could and gave them my last words of wisdom. I then myself went to thank all my colleagues one more time before I turned the lights off in my office, walked outside of the school and over the hill.

The other reason that makes me dread the end of the semester is that I fell pretty hard for someone. I don’t think I’m ready to let that person go. The past month I have not really been on my blog because I felt that I should fully experience and enjoy every single moment I have left here instead of spending time documenting it. Don’t get me wrong I like making posts but I’m a perfectionist and it just takes time for me to be half satisfied with something before I use it, let alone publish it to the world. The reason we say that we are ‘spending time’ comes from the Ancient Greek as they saw time as a currency and you should spend it wisely, as you can only use it once and you have a limited amount. I wanted to spend that time on making lasting memories with someone I love.

Memories of going to an empty Kenny’s as everybody has already left campus and getting more food than two people need while watching Samurai Jack.

Or buying a crazy amount of candy at a convenience store and taking the bags full of snacks to the nearest playground so we can sit on the swings while we try the sweets out. Or going to the poutine place called Pannizza which has a great owner who has no problem explaining how it all works, as you can create your own poutine and they will bake it for you. The cool thing for me was that they had vegetarian gravy so I could also eat it. It is so nice like the fries get warm and a certain type of soggy which is pure flavor when you taste it. I wish I would have tried it way earlier. We have been back a couple of times now and only once were able to finish our individual portion but we always tried because even though our stomachs started to hurt it was just too good to throw it away. 

No, if I had the chance to go back and do anything different then I wouldn’t change a thing and would do it all over again. I wouldn’t want to miss any of the moments we created, they are priceless to me and I’m glad I took so many pictures since the moment I got here. Cause now I can look back which is what always puts a smile on my face and I will need that when I get back to my own apartment, cause it's going to be lonely without him there.

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Dairy Queen’s Salted Caramel Truffle Blizzard, as the waitress brought me my food she grabbed the ice cream cup of her tray and held it upside down before she served it to me. I was left stunned as I totally didn’t understand why she did it and was also amazed that nothing fell out. It was only when I read the cup that I understood that she was trying to prove that it was indeed thick enough to be held upside down. It was so yummy but I had to share it with my boyfriend. Even though this was the “mini” size on the menu i couldn’t eat more than half. Still very tasty and will buy again.

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Inside Forever 21 at the Mic Mac Mall in Halifax- I never before walked into a clothing store and saw an As Seen On Instagram sign, but great marketing I guess and gotta admit that it's cute as hell  🐱

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2000+km

It’s already April and everything is coming to an end so it is time to give some insight into the fun things I’ve been up to in the past couple of weeks. As I have done more than teaching. One big contribution to having a good time was that Brent had a rental car for a while thanks to his mother. Which meant we could leave Antigonish whenever we had some time off which resulted in us traveling over 2000 km in just a few days. Which isn’t that weird as Canada is huge and if you want to go anywhere from a place nicknamed Antigonowhere then it will take you at least an hour or two. I have to admit that more often than not we would drive those hours just to get to a different kind of drive through restaurant than Mc Donalds. Which is how I could try the Oreo Shake from Burger King which was nice and creamy, I did have trouble finishing it due to its sheer size but sizing is different here than back home so a Canadian small is more like a Dutch large to me. The shake was just one of the many things I got to try out. One day Brent and I decided to go to the cinema, or cinemas as we first planned on going to the one in New Glasgow and then after that movie continue to drive to Truro for a second movie. We asked Ciske and Michael to come join us and they did. Before we would admire the big screen we went to the shopping mall in New Glasgow. Where I bought a Disney Funko mystery mini vinyl figure, I always see people on Youtube unpacking them and this time I wanted to take a shot. Especially cause this one was the villain edition, and I’ve always been more of a misunderstood bad guy supporter when it comes to Disney (and basically all my fav tv shows, movies and books).

I didn’t mind getting any of the characters but I was really happy with Ursula, she looks so smug and up to no good. While we were in the mall I made eye contact with a very cool machine. I think it is at the same level of awesomeness as the pancake machine. 

We did some small shopping and then went on our way to get the tickets for the movie. We still had some time to kill before it would start so we used the mini arcade and got ourselves some snacks. I had fun using the toppings station as I had seen it on so many of my tv shows so to get my hands on one of those butter dispensers was entertaining to me. 

After driving over an hour we got to Truro for the other movie. During this one, Brent got some snacks before it began. Consisting of soft drinks, cheese fries, and churros. The latter was new to me, I heard about them before but I never actually ate churros until now, they were so crunchy and sweet, just define.

I almost forgot to mention that we saw Logan as Brent and I are big Marvel fans and we both really liked this movie. We also watched Chips, a new comedy which was indeed quite funny and worth a watch.

The day after Brent asked if I wanted to go to the Landing. I never went there before and I know many of the internationals would go there on occasion but I never went along. So I was more than ready to see what this place looked like and wasn’t disappointed when the car came to a halt and walked a few feet down the road.

But being honest when we drove a bit further away from Antigonish we in my eyes found an even prettier sight. 

I just love the ice on the water, I feel the pictures don’t do it justice. Oh well, This post is getting pretty long so I’ll start rounding it up. The rest of the days we had the car we spend on driving around for food, views and to visit malls. It was great to have that freedom and it was too bad that we had it for a brief period of time. Although I guess it makes the memories that much sweeter.

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These are exactly what they look like: Chocolate bars in a bottle. These milkshakes literally taste like their solid counterparts and are just as bad for your health. Taste delicious though. My favourite is ohHenry! with its hint of nuts, followed by Hershey’s Cookies’n’Creme I even like it better than the chocolate bar itself, in third is Mr. Big to me it's like a cousin of OhHenry!, in last is Caramilk I just didn’t care for its consistency that much. Still, a lot of fun to try out and I wouldn’t mind if my country would carry them. I’m sure there is a large enough clientele 😉

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Flexibility is key

I feel like that is how I can best describe my internship. See normally a student would be paired with one teacher, a CT, and they would be there during every class and start to gradually take over classes to teach. I have done the same in the Netherlands for two out of the three internships for the HAN (my University). However, over here I am an exchange student and I was asked if I wanted to do my placement at a middle school called St. Andrew’s Junior School in Antigonish. 

It would be a bit different in the sense that I would get three Resource teachers instead of one subject teacher. The idea was for me to help wherever I can. Which was fine with me. On a Friday I wanted to go to the school myself to meet these teachers as I didn’t have any contact information so that morning I walked over the hill and in the distance, I could make out the building. The closer I came the more I noticed how empty everything looked. Looking inside the windows I could see the pupils’ chairs on the desks. I tried to open the door but it was closed and ringing the bell didn’t seem to do anything. So I took a picture as proof that I’d been there, walked back to Govs and fell asleep again. The following week I went there again on Monday. It freezing cold outside but I put on my best smile and took on the hill which at this point felt like a mountain to me. The parking lot had a couple of cars but that was it, the rest was as empty looking as it had been on the first day. Instead of going back up the hill I went further down so I could ring the doorbell again in case anyone was there, as I really wanted contact details. Right before I gave up and wanted to turn around, a man came to open the door. He asked me kindly why I was there and I explained, he told me that it was a snow day and that it was more likely they would be open tomorrow. Third times the charm. On Tuesday I finally met Tanya, Phil, and Jody and found out that their March break was the previous week as well.

Ever since I have been busy working five days a week, there are per week 22 hours in which I teach and 3 hours for prep. I mainly teach students English as a second language, these pupils originally come from places like Syria and the Philippines but now resign in Canada. Often they have only been at this school for a couple of months and they haven’t had much time to work on their English. They are of course immersed in the language but they don’t have many tools to make it their own. This is because there just isn’t anyone available nor qualified to do TEFL with them. This is where I came in and I was very happy that my latest internship was doing the Early English Programme at Such Fun! Back then I taught every age group at several different primary schools, it truly prepared me when it comes to designing materials and creating creative lesson plans. I used activities I learned there, to get to know my students at SAJS. Like having them draw and/or write (whichever they prefer) what they like to do, what they don’t like to do, what they like to eat and what they would like to learn. 

As well as using an origami booklet as a way to explain and remember the form of to be. I always have these things on hand as I never know if my timetable will change and therefore I need to be prepared for any pupil I might have to teach. My schedule changes almost every week and that's why I take a picture of it instead of having the paper copy, this way Phil can change it whenever its necessary without me needing to give it back. Talking about the weekly timetable it was a bit strange when I first saw it. As I am used to a Monday to Friday schedule and not an A to F one. There are six days instead of five and that means that at the end of the week there is always one lesson day that won’t be taught until the next week.

I personally think this is a nice system the only commentary I have is that when the snowstorms hit the town, and the roads become too dangerous for the bus drivers to drive on, it happens that the school gets closed. In Antigonish, this happens almost every week in March and even now in April. This has the following result that if on day E you have classes, and on day F you have a snowstorm, then the next day of classes you will teach A and not F. So you kinda miss those lessons. Then again you would lose those lessons nonetheless due to the weather. 

I’m having a great time teaching though. My pupils are awesome and I love building a connection with each of them. Finding out what they want to learn, like how they can voice their opinion in a classroom debate, or just expressing themselves in a daily conversation with peers. I get very excited when I see how they are improving each and every day and it makes me wish that I could stay longer so I could give them more attention. All I can do now is make them more autonomous learners with all the tools I have. But that is a wonderful job to have and I personally have never felt so appreciated for teaching as I do now. It is so rewarding to see my students grow. I’ll leave it at that because thinking of it makes me happy and I don’t want my mind to wander off elsewhere. Besides the sun is finally out today and I plan on enjoying it while it's there. 

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A French chef and his students came to Meal Hall for one evening and I couldn’t be more excited. The mayonnaise actually tasted like back home in the Netherlands and the fries were not thin but thick with a crispy outside and fluffy goodness on the inside. The desserts were a molten lava cake and a mini crème brûlée, one gooey and the other caramelized so nicely that it breaks when you hit it with a teaspoon. Needless to say, I ate way too much and sneaked a couple of desserts out of the building. I got sick later that night and it all came back up but it was so worth it.

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Poems for The Perks of Being a Wallflower, made by my fellow students and I, at STFX -2017 C&I Secondary English II

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Our Unicorndog, AKA the Mascotte of my Inclusion Learning Centre.

Beaufort would like to thank everyone for participating today! #unicorndogsociety

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Sink or swim

The past two weeks can only be described as stressful. I truly understood why people called it deadlines as to me it felt as if I was dying and my sanity was hanging on by a thread. Mentally I haven’t been doing too well. Every time I need to perform I do the opposite and freeze. Stuck in a downward spiral that only I can break. I was both relieved and mortified when my teachers noticed it. I missed two classes and didn’t even have the courage to send them an email why as in my opinion I didn’t have a valid reason. I went to school one day to discuss an additional assignment that I had to do for my Phys Ed course when I walked into the teacher’ office I saw another one of my teachers. They both thought it would be good to have a conversation about how I was doing and it made me feel terrible knowing that I had to admit that I just couldn’t see myself finishing the large assignments that were still waiting on me in the given time. In the end, it was a good talk and I had the opportunity to make a step by step plan so I could still succeed but at a different pace. From that point on I was honest with all of my teachers about my condition and that helped me to make promises with every teacher which I could actually keep. I can’t even begin to explain how much this meant to me. I had one of my teachers tell me that as long as my work would be as good as he has come to expect of me then I could hand it in at a newly set date. For his subject, I receive the highest marks so I wasn’t off the hook nor would I want to be as I don’t want to hand in poor work but it felt like at last, I could breathe again. 

I haven’t missed a class since. Which I’m glad I didn’t as they were the last ones of the semester and they were a blast. In P&P we had to all present a chapter of our textbook which stands for aspects a teacher should acquire. I myself had flexibility. The hit home the importance of being flexible inside the classroom Olivia, Mike and me decided to give a small bit of information about how it could be beneficial first and then we gave them a task. They would receive an original scenario and would have to create a fitting storyboard with vivid illustrations. To accomplish this task they received markers and chart paper. They had some time to work on it before out of nowhere a fire alarm would go off. Mike and I would ask our fellow students to follow procedures, we made them walk outside and then counted them prior to returning them to the classroom. Where they would have three minutes to prepare themselves to present their scenario. However, once they are back at their tables they would notice that all their materials are gone. This would force them to be flexible and find a different way to present their scenario. It was so entertaining to see students acting it out and see their creativity seeping through once they get outside of their comfort zone. 

Other groups had great ideas to convey their topics as well. One activity that stuck with me was getting a closed envelope which said Top Secret: Do Not Open! It peaked my interest right away. Which is why I wanted to be the person who looked inside. My partner had to then ask short questions and try to guess what was inside based on my answers. To me, it showed how we can collaborate to get to the answer together.

I really love the transfer of information amongst my fellow students. Another wonderful example of that was during Inclusion with the Learning Centres. Every group had to come up with an activity which would be doable for every pupil, whether or not they have a learning disability, mental or physical condition. My group consisted of Aynsley, Allena, Meaghan, Adam, myself and our mascotte called Beauford the ELA Unicorndog. Even though every group should be between 2-3 people max. but we were inclusive to anyone who might wanted to join us. (and isn't that what it's all about) We focused on English Language Arts as a subject and took inspiration from old myths. Our pupils would have the option to choose from three different myths and they would change this into a new more modern version. They could read and/or listen to the instructions, and could also choose between reading, listening or watching the myth. They could create their new version by speaking, writing it down or drawing. I thought it would be nice if we could gather everyone’s work and share it. So I created a blog where everyone could post their creations  https://elaalltheway.tumblr.com/ Many students who came over to check our station out discussed their thoughts about our concept and gave feedback which was nice to read afterward. I think it was a great success. 

The final Inclusion class was dedicated to looking back at the semester. We got the opportunity to write down what we think Inclusion means and when we were done we got a letter to ourselves back. During the first lesson we were asked to do the same and now we could see for ourselves the difference in what we learned. Which I thought was a nice way of seeing your personal growth as a student. I’m a bit sad that these were my last lessons at X as I think they really opened my mind and I don’t believe I have ever performed so well academically as I did at this university. But to all things come an end. The only thing I won’t miss is the number of assignments as it is a heavy workload. I’m happy that I could communicate with my teachers and have been able to finish everything in the March break. Which means I can shift my focus to my practicum and also have some time for fun while I am still in Canada. Sounds pretty good to me.

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Easter is right around the corner, or actually, it is quite some weeks away but that won’t stop the stores from stocking up. I got my mom a Finding Dory Easter egg basket as she loves that movie and I think you can use it as a funny bag. I personally wanted to try the party cake Peeps which are flavoured marshmallows and taste very sweet. I also got a bunch of filled Easter eggs like the Oreo one which is creamy and delicious.  10/10 would recommend eating again.

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Le Songe Lysté

As promised, the short song list my Canadian friends came up with as typical Canadian songs:

Classified - Oh...Canada

Dean Brody - Canadian Girls 

BUD - OUT FOR A RIP

Everything from the Rankin family like the Mull River Shuffle

& lastly The Hockey Night in Canada theme song