wantstobeirish

09:56 pm: Tonight I had my last Irish dancing class, and it was a lot of fun. We learned the hard shoe :) I loved it, however, wasnt too great at it...but I plan on practicing! (haha, Mel, maybe you will have to put up with that this weekend!). Errr....ACM soon....must shower first though. I'm going to hurry this entry along.
Tomorrow Smiley Dan and I have a date at the blood donor clinic! It should be a good time I'm sure!
I have tons of funny work stories. I really love it there. I only have two real days of class next term so I plan on volunteering a lot. My schedule is really sweet. All the courses I wanted to take were on tues/thurs and they didnt overlap. I have one night course (boooo) on Monday nights. History of film....hmmm...I dont know about that one.
I went to a Ceilidh last Saturday, and it was awesome fun. I brought some friends from work, and, of course, Jon. We had a great time. The music is great.
I'm a bit of a hermit this term. I'm out a lot because of my weird shifts, and then I scrapbook. Yeah, I'm not too exciting. This weekend my project was decorating my dollhouse. It looks really cool. I put it "hardwood" flooring, and the parents room is painted blue and the kids room is purple and pink and white with butterflies. It's pretty lol. It took me a lot of time, and Jon helped me a bit. This weekend the Easter Bunny came to my house...lol. That was fun too. My brother got us up soooo early. What a nerd.
Anyway, must shower and go to ACM.

03:44 am: Sick :(
Gahh...I can't sleep at the moment. My sore throat is keeping me awake. I have nothing interesting to write. It's quite here at Spuc because it's reading week. I'm not allowed to go back to work until I get rid of this awful cold, which makes me sad, because I already miss the residents.
This weekend Jon and I went exploring downtown Kitchener. Wow, it's so ghetto lol. We went to this place called Galaxie Diner, which is way cooler than Mel's, because it has a jukebox at every table (whether they work or not is another story). And the decorations there are really cool, definitely a cool place to check out.
Hmm...anything else interesting with me? Not much. Oh I'm doing a four year olds birthday party. We're going to have a Dora theme, which will be a lot of fun. I like kids birtday parties.
I'm getting really excited about St. Patrick's Day. It has to be the greatest day of the year...!!! I'm getting my room decorations when I go home this weekend. My house at the nursing home is already decked out. I put all my residents name's on shamrocks. It's awesome. And the dining room is all green. I love it. It's funny that St. Patrick's Day and Easter are close together. On the 19th we're doing a huge decoration switch. I'm having an easter egg hunt with my residents. I think it might be difficult for them though, being in wheelchairs and all. I thought I might hige eggs and take two residents around at a time, then hide some more and keep going. It'll be fun I'm sure. We're also going to decorate an Easter tree.
Anyway, I think the medication I just took is starting to work, so I'm going back to bed.

12:29 pm: Sorry about the lack of updates!
Hey everyone,
oooooh, LJ's changed a bit since the last time I used it (which was like, July lol). Sorry I never update. I got really lazy with it. First of all Happy Valentine's day. I'm at home sick from work today. I was kept up by my floormates until 1:30 this morning and I was NOT impressed. With the five cankers in my mouth, a sore throat and little sleep I decided to call in, which is why I'm home today.
My job has been so awesome. I love it a lot. I get to do so much there, and I feel like I'm constantly learning. It's a very interesting and rewarding job. I do recreation on one of the "houses." It's called Walnut Grove (I was excited because it's the name of the town in Little House on the Prairie...yes I'm a huge nerd). On the same floor (opposite house) is the dementia/alzheimers ward, and a lot of the time they escape to our house and we have to bring them back.
I work weird hours, which is why I'm a rare sight at SPUC. Sorry if I'm not being social enough. I like to get eight hours of sleep every night and if I am in, I'm usually working on my scrapbook of England. That scrapbook is a piece of work, but it's tons of fun. I'm also doing Irish dancing this term, which I LOVE. So great.
Well that's all for now. Time to clean my messing room!

09:37 pm: A summary of events
Today: I went to Oxford. I had a very, very scary encounter with a guy, who was taken by security when I got to the train station. I'm never walking alone in broad daylight again! He followed me and wouldn't leave me alone, so I ran to the station. A little bit rattling. On to better things: I saw Christ Church college, where parts of Harry Potter was filmed. I saw the Great Hall and the moving (yet not-moving) staircase!! It was so cool. And when I first arrived the Great Hall was closed, due to filming! But I didn't manage to see anything good (ie Ron). But it was awesome.

Yesterday: I went to Warwick castle, a mediaeval castle, and we saw jousting and the like. It was really cool. It's been sooooooo hot here! lol, only a few rainy days, maybe three.

Friday: the library, not too exciting. I got a lot of books to research Scotland, yes I'm a geek. The kids got loads of movies.

Thursday: London Zoo, a bit of a let down. The kids were upset that there were no elephants. And ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, a guy was holding a tarantula and talking about the rainforest *shiver*. We saw the Reptile House and saw the snake from Harry Potter. YAY.

Last weekend:
Saturday: Lacock Village, part of the exterior of Hogwarts (yes, I'm obsessed). It was a really pretty little village. Next we went to a town called Bath, which was really neat. It had the huge Roman baths. The town was really pretty. Then we went to stonehenge, and there was a fresh crop circle nearby! very very cool.
Sunday: stonhenge...again, they messed up my tour, oh well, it didn't change over a day though. Next we went to Glastonbury, VERY COOL. We climbed a hill called the Tor, and drank from a magical spring and saw where King Arthur was supposedly burried. But the town was the coolest. They were having a witching festival, and there were loads of people walking around like hippies. All the shops had crystals, magic stuff and spellbooks. It was awesome and so neat to see. And at the garden I got blessed by a Druid. Lastly we stopped off at Avebury stone circle, which is the biggest stone circle in the world. It was also cool, and I found a leyline. I feel energised...only, not really.

Next weekend: I'm going to Pax Lodge, which is the world headquarters for Girl Guides (I'm super excited about this!), Greenwich (to adjust my watch, of course), and Shakespeare's Globe. The rest of the weekend will be spent in Edinburgh. YAY! I have a day off so there's a possibility of going to Stratford as well. Fingers crossed.

I love England, I'm trying to see as much as I can on weekends. The kids are amazing. We're going to go to Lego Land, the museums and Harry Potter together! I hope everyone is well and enjoying summer and school, and I can't wait to see everyone again!

11:23 pm: News from England
Hi everyone! England is amazing. I'm not sure what I said in my last update, but here's some stuff I'd like to share:

The Family: they're so awesome. The kids are really well mannered and nice, although, they do have their 'cheeky' days. We spend most of our days playing cards, a bit of tellie, going to the park and picnicing under Windsor Castle (only fun if the Queen's in) and playing in the yard. The parents are really nice and funny. Yesterday morning, Jasbir, the mum, and I went shopping at 4 am!!!!!! yeah, it was tiring, lol, but good sales. The family is East Indian, and I have a really hard time eating the food, because the main spice they use I just don't like at all. But I am trying, really really hard. They eat a lot of 'English' food too. And they're accents are the greatest of all English accents. It sounds so nice. Everything is 'brilliant' or 'smashing' lol. I'm having a hard time with the English slang, lol. Like hoover the floor, honestly, couldn't they just say vacuum? lol. And every morning I asked the four year old what pants she wants to put on and she gets mad and shouts 'trousers', because pants means underwear lol.

England itself: the roads are nuts. Everything is so small (roads and houses). Roundabouts confuse me, although I'm not driving, only walking, I dont know which way to look. Also, the whole driving on the wrong side is a bit confusing too. gah. lol I almost got hit by a double decker bus. Not my proudest moment.

Travel: I am a lonely traveller :( although I'm very proud of my ability to navigate in the tube. I haven't gone wrong yet!! I've spent three glorious days in London. So far I've gone to/seen: Westminster abbey, Tower of London, London Bridge, Big Ben, London wheel, Mme. Tussauds, Buckingham palace, St. Pauls (!!! and yeah I wore my tshirt...I'm a geek!), Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Circus, Leicester square, Trafalgar Square, King's Cross station, Baden-Powell House (best part of my trip so far, being a Girl Guide!) and the Peter Pan statue. London is amazing, I love it. So much to do and see. I've seen lots of randon things too, ie, a man singing CCR with a fake guitar in the tube and lots of strange street vendors.

I've also gone to Windsor Castle and Windsor, and Eton College, where Prince Harry and William went to school. I'm planning my trip to Scotland, and stonehenge and Bath. I'm very excited. I'm knackered now, soooooo sleepy, it was a crazy long, busy and fun weekend. Hope everyone's ok and enjoying the warm weather. I'm sending out postcards to everyone in groups. SPUC is the next group, which I'd better do tomorrow, seems as exams start soon...

Love Nicole

PS Dan, I forgot your last name again...I need your address, Rodney.

10:29 pm: From England
Here I am. The family rocks! They're so nice and funny and cool. The children are awesome! So well behaved. I already have millions of funny stories to share, but I'll share them later. I need to get to bed. Tomorrow I'm going exploring in London! Miss everyone lots
Love Nicole

09:21 pm: So long!
I'm off to England tomorrow. I'll see everyone in a few months!
<3 Nicole

07:57 pm: My week
Sorry, it's been quite a while since I've updated.
My week with Jon was amazingly fun! His flight arrived early Tuesday morning, so we spent the day touring Georgetown. Georgetown's not that big, lol, but we did some crafts with two girls I babysit and took them out for lunch. And that evening I had a baseball game and I wore the cowgirl hat that he brought me. However, it was banned from the field :(
Wednesday...VISITED SPUC! Lots of fun! I drove on the 401! Yay! (and lived to tell the tale).
Thursday was the greatest day EVER! We went to Downsview with fellow SPUCers, hung out and had so much fun.
Friday we went to see Harry Potter and we went to the Mandarin, mmmm. Caitlin came in on Friday night.
Saturday we went to Wonderland. I loved it. I went on the Dragon Fire! It was a lot of fun. I went on most of the rides. It was a good day. I still have rock candy which I plan on eating, sometime.
Today we went to Toronto, met up with Mel and Danielle and went shopping. I got another new skirt, I'm such a shopaholic. Melanie pretty much picked the entire ensemble out. I also found the awesomest carebear shirt ever!
I saw Jon off at the airport tonight :( Very sad. But it was such an amazing week. I'm dead tired and sick (booo) but in a week I'll be leaving for London, England!

06:02 pm: Great weekend
This weekend was soooo great! I went with Melanie's family to Niagara-on-the-lake. We stayed at this cute bed and breakfast place and they made us pretty food. I went to Mel's Friday evening and got to experience the watching of Jeopardy with her family. Her family is smart! Her dad knows the answers before they finish the question. Mel and I stayed up late catching up on stuff, and then we had to get up early, blah...lol. It was a great ride to Niagara. We got to listen to a CD I brought, entitled: Nicole's Summerific Songs. Lots of oldies, and S Club for Mel, she really likes them. Ok, stratch that, I lie like a rug. She hates S Club. Anyway, we arrived and looked around in all the shops. I LOVED THE SHOPS! There was an Irish one and a Scottish one. Terrific! In the afternoon we went to see a play called "Three Men on a Horse" and to my dismay, three men never all got on a horse, in fact, there were no horses on stage, a bit of a let down...but a very amusing and funny play. Then we had dinner. I got fish and chips, copying Mel, of course. It was pretty good but way too much fish for one meal. Anyway, the best part was the dessert. Mel and her sister were sharing apple crumble, and her sister was saving a piece of the crumbly stuff for last, and Mel took it, and made her sister's boyfriend eat it, and he did, and her sister was very upset, but it was kind of a joke for the rest of the evening. Poor girl, didn't get her crumble. Moving on, that evening we went and saw Pygmalion, which was very good but long-winded. Melanie made a friend sitting next to her, but the lady moved away. It was sad. Anyway, after the play we went to the bed and breakfast. Mel and I had the coolest room that was called "Moulin Rouge" and it was decorated all pretty. Mel had to sleep in the closet though. Poor little one! And this morning I got up extra early, showered, and then we went to a peanut place and ate samples. Ahhh, such a fun weekend!

01:20 pm: Going to England!
I got a job as a nanny in England for 7 weeks. I leave July 10th. I'm soooo excited! The family lives 20 minutes out of London in a town called Slough. I've talked to them over the phone and they seem really nice. The kids are 7 and 4, both are girls.
I'm turning into a girly-girl. I bought some skirts and a dress yesterday! I don't know what's come over me. Skirts are fun, though.

10:48 am: Wonderland!
I had a lot of fun at Wonderland yesterday. I went on a lot of scary rides, like Tombraider. It went upside down! That was the second upside-down ride I've ever been on. It was ok, but really shaky. My friend, Lindsay, and I got hair wraps, which are like friendship bracelets in your hair. We're having a competition to see who can keep it in the longest. I'm going to win...lol. The hair wrap is very pretty, can anyone guess the colours??? There are four.

Anyway...I haven't been up to a whole lot. It was Lindsay's birthday on Friday and we went to see Harry Potter, which was amazing, but they really chopped out a lot of the book. I don't think I would have understood it if I hadn't read the book first. I really liked it though. I think it was very well done, but not so well explained.

The hard drive on our computer got replaced...:( and we've lost all our pictures and other fun stuff. I hate computers, but we should have been more careful and kept things on a disk! At least we have our Greece pictures, whew.

I have a job interview on Wednesday, so nervous. I hate interviews; I'm going to die in co-op!

01:02 am: Coincidence??
Tonight my friends and I went to see Harry Potter (amazing, by the way) and while I'm waiting in line, who should pass me? a_chatterbox!!!! It was so weird to run into a SPUCer in Brampton. And nice to see her twice in one week!

05:36 pm: No more business shows for me. I'm not a good salesperson. I hate going up to people. I remember that in Brownies when we had to sell cookies door to door and I wanted to cry. I tried to get an Elvis look-a-like to buy a website...he wasn't interested. Well, that job is done. I love odd-jobs. And this highlighter bright t-shirt I'm wearing. It's gorgeous. The people I had to work with this weekend sure were interesting. This one guy was soooooooo bitter. But he made me laugh. I also spent most of my time trying free samples from M & M Meat. I don't even like meat very much. But the meatballs were yummy.
The crazy outhouse race was yesterday morning, and it was GREAT! You would not believe that people actually watch it. People create outhouses, put wheels on them, then race them down the street. It's was very amusing. I love Georgetown! I'll be sure to share the pictures when they're developed. You'll die of laughter. We also have some on digital camera, and I'll send those when our computer gets fixed.
I saw Shrek 2, and it was very good. I highly recommend it. Part of my fall schedule is up, I'm not pleased. I hate mantatory courses, they look somewhat uninteresting.
I think I should go and eat now, those meatballs weren't very filling.

09:10 pm: My weekend
My weekend wasn't too exciting really. The best part was that I got to go to Fiddlefest at pioneer village! Kate and I went and had a great time. It poured rain so we spent a lot of time talking to the people inside the little houses and stuff. I love pioneer village, it's like my own personal Disney land. The happiest place on earth...
I also went to see fireworks this weekend, but it was really cloudy and we couldn't really see them. We went to Mohawk racetrack to see these fireworks, and my Grandma went to play slots instead. She's a really funny little person; I love her dearly. She was bugging the guy who takes IDs.
Tonight I'm supposed to have a baseball game, but it looks like it might get rained out.
I currently have two cankers in my mouth and they are making me really cranky. I also just got home from work so I'm a bit tired and whiny.

11:20 pm: What an Honour!
My mom emailed me this weekend and told me that a family I babysit for just had a baby, and I was very excited. When I was talking to her on the phone, I made my mom tell me the new baby's name...and it is Nicole. I was very happy that the baby got such a great name! Then I went to visit the baby and family tonight, and Jacqueline (their mom) told me that they named the baby after me!! :) I couldn't believe it. I am very honoured and proud. She was born on Friday, and is soooooo cute! I went over to visit her tonight, and of course, had to play a game of house with her older sisters who are 6 and 3 (Sarah and Alison). I'm so excited and happy about this!

02:26 pm: Back at SPUC
Wow, it's sooo quiet here during the summer. A little too quiet...
Donella, thank you soooo much for letting us use your room! You have it so nicely set up for us...THANKS!
So far I haven't seen any people I've come to visit. In time, in time. I'm quite enjoying the view from this room. It's pretty.
Well, I'm kinda bored right now. Nothing too interesting has happened to me today. My dogs are a little upset that I left them.

11:22 pm: First Entry
Well, nothing too eventful to share. Hmmm, summer has been pretty boring. So far I've only seen a few SPUCers. My dogs have gone on countless walks. Tonight was fun. I went to Boston Pizza with the Brownies and we made friendship bracelets and book marks. My bracelet was UGLY! It's ok because I got to exchange it with a kid for a prettier one. And we got to go for a tour of the kitchen and got to see the giant freezer. The kids really enjoyed that (as did I...). Well, that's been the excitement of my life.
Just so everyone understands my user name: wants to be irish. Because, I want to be Irish. I only have one eighth Irish in me. I dance and fiddle, but I don't know if this helps make me any more Irish. I'm slightly obsessed with Irish people.