Thursday, June 29, 2006

Project #1

We did our first group project today. What was it? A framed display of knives. So we went over to Megamall to buy a set of knives. OMG! Ang mahal pala ng mga knives?! You'd have to spend a thousand bucks just to buy ONE really good knife! Grabe! But anyway we were able to get cheap knives costing between a hundred to two hundred bucks. So okay na din. Then we had to find a place to frame them. Naku! Isa pang problema! Having the knives framed would set us back two thousand bucks. Ano ba yan?! After many group discussions we then decided to take our chances in Recto where we would definitely find a cheaper price. So siympre to get there MRT-LRT kami. And you know what? Not one guard saw the knives! Hello?! Bakit pa sila ng-check ng mga gamit namin, if they don't do it properly naman?! We were even worried na baka mahirapan kaming sumakay.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

elle president

Ive been so lazy to write lately....

Monday

Scence: Classroom at Most Institute

Chef Marianna: Who do you guys want to nominate for class president?

Donald: Ma'am, si Chester po. Kasi meron daw siyang experience sa kitchen.

Chef Marianna: Okay. (Writes Chester's name on the board) Anybody else?

Joel: Ma'am, siya po! Yung nan dun sa dulo.

Me: (I turn around to find that he is pointing at me!) Bakit ako?!

Chef Marianna: Why do you want to nominate her?

Joel: Eh kasi po muka siyang responsable.

Me: What?! (how'd he come up with that? i've never spoken to him before)

..... next time I'm coming in dressed like a punk rocker

Friday, June 09, 2006

Back to reality

We’re leaving today. Be back in the Phils by Sunday. Of course there was no way I would be able to stay. I don’t have enough work experience to get a job. It was just wishful thinking. But our plans have changed now. I need to go back to school full time. I don’t want to pursue a Master’s degree. I learned that after the one class I took last summer. An MA is for the really serious students. Me, not at all a serious student. Okay, must find a culinary school. I think I’d like that better than taking MA classes. I’d definitely enjoy it. Can anyone recommend a school, besides CCA?

After our month long stay here, I’ll miss:

-The interesting weather. We experienced really great weather, when the sun was shining, no clouds and it wasn’t too hot or cold. Then there were days when you’d need to wear a couple of layers of clothing

-The tree lined streets, actually seeing greenery everywhere. And the fresh air, I’m definitely going to miss breathing in good clean air

-As lame as it sounds, I’m going to miss the bus system they have. It’s so convenient

-Wearing shades at 9PM. They have longer days; it’s so weird to see the sun still up at 9PM.

-Perfect strangers greeting you with a “hi” or “hello” as you walk bye

-Tim Horton’s hot chocolate. It’s so creamy and rich and delicious and perfect to warm up freezing hands

-The Millenium Library where I would probably enjoying living in, if they let me(hehe). I’d be perfectly happy reading book after book after book...

-Seeing people asleep on the grass

-The fact that pedestrians have the right of way. Every car stops and waits for you to cross the street as soon as you activate the crossing signal thingy

-Not hearing car horns honking. Seriously, no body honks their horns!

-Strawberries! We’ve had strawberries everyday during this trip. And they’re huge! Awww….I’m really gonna miss the strawberries

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Awwww! Do I gotta leave?!


OMG! I so love it here! We've been kind of touring the city on our own. We’ve even totally conquered the bus routes. Which is not easy, because they have 100 different buses going 100 different ways. We’ve gotten on our share of wrong buses already. But we’re perfectly alright on our own. It’s actually better. Because we can go where we want, when we want to. The other day, we spent the day at the library. Weird, huh? It’s because we’re all into books and they have a HUGE library here. So of course we had to check it out. We’ve also been to the University of Manitoba, ooh I would really love the chance to study there!

Being left on our own has given us a different view of the city and its people. As I’ve written before, Canadians are really nice people, never afraid to help another. Even the bums are okay. There was this one girl asking me for some change for coffee, she was kind of dirty and her hoodie was torn, but she was really polite, so it kind of threw me off a little. She came up to me with a “Excuse me miss, do you have some extra change for a cup of coffee?” When I told her no, she just said “Okay, thanks” and went away. But then there was another bum who was a bit more weird. We came across him in China town (Why does every place have a china town?), he was talking really fast and really low, also asking for change and if we understood English. Kind of freaked us out so we ignored him and walked really fast out of there. But then several minutes later he was behind us still talking at this rapid speed. Ahhhhh!!!!! When I looked back he was gone, he must’ve entered an alley or something.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of people here are really obese! And I mean A LOT! It makes me not want to eat fast food anymore. I can’t imagine what it feels like to be that big. How can you let yourself reach that size anyway?! Some of them are so big they even need a cane to help them walk.

We’re leaving next week. None of us want to leave and go back to real life. We just like it so much here. I’ve actually been toying with the idea of staying here. My parents are fine with it. Atleast I think so, because they haven't really said anything to the contrary. How great would that be?! Me, all alone in another country. Hmmm… Thing is it’s going to be a little tricky. I’m on a tourist visa, which I have to convert into a working visa. For that to happen I’ve got to get a job. But of course here, they’ll hire a Canadian before a foreigner. And they’d prefer someone with Canadian credentials right? But I gotta at least try.

Could I do it? Can I leave everything that’s familiar, plus all my friends and family to start a life here?