friends

Hey gang!

Thanks for waiting ever so patiently for my next blog update! I've been a very busy kid! So to pick up where I left off, here are a few pictures from when I had guests come to visit! While Pilar and Kristian were here, we went to a tea place in old port called "salon de thé" which had a traditional japanese tea drinking style. We each order different teas (as seen in the picture). We also got to go to an IMAX 3D movie about the ocean. It gave me a little bit of a headache, but it was worth it! We also went to the Basilica Notre Dame. It was beautiful inside! I don't have pictures of Paul and Lauren visiting right now, but I will upload those very soon!

Right now, Navid is visiting me. This past weekend, we got a chance to go up to Québec City to Winter Carnivale. We had a blast! Jenna came with us as well. There were so many things to do. I never thought I would be outside as often as I have been during this cold winter, but it has been so amazing. At the festival they had snow sculpture competitions, lumberjack acrobats, sledding, dogsled racing, an outdoor danceparty, ice slides, and everthing winter related that you could imagine. It was a perfect weekend get away. Québec City was GORGEOUS and I really hope to go there once more before my return (hopefully with Mom and Grandma!) I don't have enough room to post the Québec pictures today, but I will put them up in my next posting! homework awaits!

until next time,
courtney

Getting back into the Swing

Hello all!

School has started back up again and I am well overdue for an update.

I had pretty much all of December for holiday. Pilar and Kristian came and visited for 9 days and Lauren and Paul came to visit for 5 days. It was definitely nice to see them. I took them to all of the awesome places in Montréal. Hopefully they had a good time! Most of the things that we did involved food, but I don't think anyone complained! We got to go to Basilica Notre Dame. It was absolutely gorgeous inside. They had an organ with the biggest pipes ever seen in my life. It has been very white and snowy lately. Lots of wind and cold temperatures come with it.

I was definitely enjoying my time off. Hopefully I can get back into the school flow. I'm used to going back to school at the end of january so it feels weird starting so early in the year. Hopefully I can really focus this semester on school. I felt like I didn't do as well as I should have last semester.

Navid is coming at the end of this month. I am very very excited. We plan to go to Québec city for Winter Carnivale. It's a festival that celebrates winter. Dogs sled races, Ice sculpture competitions, Outdoor dance parties, and more! I think it will be a lot of fun.

Anyway, I've got to clean up the house before Ali gets home!! Pictures to come soon!

winter is a creeeeeepin'

The snow is here and so is the holiday cheer!....well, sort of. So it's been snowing quite a bit lately. There was about 1 1/2ft of snow a few days ago. Montréal is looking quite beautiful, christmas deco everywhere, but I can feel people's irritability from the cold. I've been staying inside a lot more lately, drinking tea and watching movies. I'm so happy to be done with this semester. Now, I am preparing for my visitors! I'm still trying to brainstorm on what we will do when they are here, but i'm sure I will come up with something.

Because It is getting into winter and it's holiday season, I am a bit homesick. I feel like it will be a good experience for me, regardless, but I get a bit sad when I think about everyone getting together and watching A Claymation Christmas with the California Raisons. I also miss sitting in front of the fireplace and watching movies with everyone. I'm sure I'll get to webcam with everyone on christmas day, which would be cool. At least I get to see their faces!

Ali is leaving in a few days and won't be back until the 6th of january. I'm gonna have the place to myself! I'm sure it will be a very quiet apartment while she is gone. maybe i'll host a movie night!

I've been making a LOT of winter soups lately. There's just something really awesome about hot soup in the winter. mmm. My friends and I plan on having a winter picnic soon. We are going to go over to mount royal, go sledding and then have a picnic at the bottom with some hot soup and perhaps some hot cocoa/cider/coffee. It's mind boggling how when it first started getting cold here, I was freezing my butt off (I think it was about freezing (32 degrees) ) but now it's a lot colder and when we get those special days when the temp gets back up to 32 its awesome. So if any of you are visiting during the winter, you're gonna need to bundle up!

Hopefully In my next update I can add some more pictures (perhaps from sledding?)

more to come!

Thanksgibbins

Today has been crazy intense! I got four hours of sleep last night. Je suis TRÈS fatiguée! Woke up bright and early to go to Français to review for the final exam, then I ran straight to the library and spent countless hours (4 or 5?) writing a paper that ws due at 6pm! (okay, okay...i took a little study break and ran over to this place next to campus called Burritoville, not only is it delicious, they are very vegan-friendly!) Theeeen, I went to the Multi-Faith Chaplaincy across from campus for thursday nights "Mother Hubbard's Cupboard" which is a by-donation dinner. It's actually pretty similar to People's Potato (but i think P.P. is better! shhhh.) Then I rushed over to class to turn in my paper/take notes. Luckily he let us out early because I am now cramming for a test in my Education class in about 15 minutes. Let's just say it's been a pretty long day. After, I get to go home and Webcam it up with the fam! woooo. I'm glad they were understanding and let me re-schedule. I didn't have ANY time to start making the cranberry relish for tomorrow's feast (all the american kids AND canadian kids are all getting together!) so hopefully i can wake up early enough to get everything done! Wish me Luck!

p.s. thanks for the thanksgiving card grandma!

Aujourd'hui, Je parlerai de ma régime. Je suis végétalienne. Je ne mange pas rien qui vient des animaux. Je ne mange pas la viande, les œufs, ou les produits laitiers. J'ai été végétalienne pendant sept mois. c'est facile pour moi parce que je suis allergiques aux lactose. Je mange beaucou des légumes, des fruits, des noix, des haricots, et riz. je suis pas comme certain végétaliens. Certain végétaliens taquinent d'autres parce qu'ils mangent les produits animaux. Je ne pense pas qui est gentil. Je suis incertain de combien de temps je serai un végétalienne, mais j'aime mange comme ça. Je suis végétalienne pour raisons personelles. Il y a beaucoup d'options et restaraunts agréables pour des végétaliens à Montréal. J'aime faire du benevolant chez "People's Potato" une service qui cuisine des repas végétalienne pendant la semaine. Manger chez "People's Potato" mes sauve d'argent et les repas sont delicieux. Surtout, être végétalienne est super!

Okay, So I had an oral exam today. I think I did pretty decently. I had to memorize what I wrote above. I don't think I did too bad. Sorry for the terrible grammar (for those who actually know French). I didn't actually have to write it, I just had to say it. Basically, I talked about my "dietary habits". Obviously, the sentences start to get a bit repetitive, but it's because I'm probably at the level of a 3rd grader. Which is frustrating, but it's all I know.

Today, at people's potato, I made the croutons and the dressing. It was awesome and everyone seemed to like it. I made a garlic-y oil to put on the croutons for the oven and I made a balsamic strawberry basil dressing. I served some of the food afterward, and then I ate. It's amazing how willing you are to volunteer, when it's something you are passionate about. I don't really even think of it as work. It feels more like a place to unwind, listen to some jams, prepare food, and talk to friends. It's even more awesome/intimate because we get to share a meal together. It makes me feel like I have a family away from home. Even though there are still a lot of people whom i can't remember the names of, but for some reason it doesn't really matter. I like to learn everyone's name (and i'm almost there!) but it's not totally necessary in order to enjoy one another's company.

*side note*-for those just chiming into my blog, the "people's potato" is a free service provided by the university where people provide free meals (with donations accepted) every school day. The meal is vegan so that everyone can enjoy (no matter their religious background or food restrictions). **

I'm really sad because I can't go see No Age this weekend because I already made plans. BUT I am excited because I get to go to Nico's house for a potluck (AGAIN!) and after that, I am going to a "my little pony 25th anniversary" party! I think I'm going to dress up, I'm not sure how, but I will. I have a few REALLY big papers I have to write before the semester is over and 2 big finals, French, and History(?). But I should be finished by early/mid December. I am REALLY excited for my friends and my sister coming to visit at the end of the year.

I'm really sad because I looked out my window and I saw a dead Siamese cat. I've seen it before (when it was still alive) and I think it might be the neighbors. I'm thinking about going and putting a note on people's doors about it. I don't want the squirrels to get to it (because the definitely will).

Anyhow,
That's all for today. Tune in next time for some pictures (of food probably) and anything else that is radical.

cheer up charlie.

I finally got to see my family for the first time in 3 months. I finally set up my webcam stuff. It's always a little weird doing webcamming, but whatev. I have two tests this week and I am officially stressing out hardcore. I have a written french test tomorrow with so many vocabulary words I could spit. My oral exam is on thursday and I don't even know what I'm going to talk about yet! I went to Java u (the coffee shop on campus) today and sat and worked on making flash cards/ doing my feminist homework all day. It felt good to get out of the house, but it's not getting any warmer. I swear I talk about how cold it is every single entry, but seriously...I'm so jealous of the California weather right now. Here I am in longjohns and there's my mom going on walks in shorts! how can we even be on the same planet! I am so ready for this semester to be over!!!

Hey Friends,

Please forgive me for the lack of updates lately! I've been a busy kid! This Halloween, I got to go to see one of my all time favorite bands, Broken Social Scene. It was fantastic, as usual. After the concert, I got to go to a Loft Party. There were lots of people there dancing and having fun. For Halloween, I was a Teabag! I got some sheer material from salvation army and Ali sewed it for me. I put some leaves inside of the "bag" and then I made a string and attached a card for the tag. The second night, I met up with my other friends and we went to another little party/house show. Some bands from Vancouver played and I dressed up as a lumberjack. The picture at the bottom shows what I look like. I am also standing next to my friend Thea. She was Boba Fett from Star Wars. A little before Halloween, I invited some people over to my house. We made burritos, carved, pumpkins and watched a terrible 80s movie on vhs called "Fright Night". Jenna and I carved the pumpkin (in the picture) together. The second picture of the pumpkin was after I left it outside for a single day. It got mauled by the CRAZY squirrels! I california, I'm worried to put things outside because of the raccoons, but here....it's the squirrels.

The week of halloween, I also got to go see a band from houston, texas called the octopus project. They play in California a lot, but the put on such a great show! The had giant ghosts that the put on stage for halloween. Jenna agreed to go with me, and I was very grateful!

Last week, I went to an Election party. We had a potluck and I made pumpkin curry soup! It was a big hit. We watched the elections on the big screen and the Canadians were just as excited to see the results as we were! I love them.

This week, I don't have too much planned. It's getting a lot colder lately. It snowed a little bit today. I didn't have school today, so I made some lentil soup and ali made biscuits. So yummy! I got invited to go see a concert tonight, but I decided to say no because I have french in the morning and it would probably be pretty hard to catch the metro back. Cabs are so expensive. I've been watching a lot of vhs lately. Right now, I'm watching "Fletch" a movie with chevy chase. It's quite ridiculous. Well, I must do some history homework now, But I promise to update soon!

love,
court