I know...I'm a loser. It's taken me forever to actually update my blog. I figured that today was the 8th, so I should probably update my blog before the 11th because if I didn't, it would mean that I hadn't updated it for an entire month. Anyways, I'm back from my short 8 day practicum at PGSS and it was a riot! I had a really good time teaching and my sponsor teacher was great. I still don't know how I did (marks wise) on the practicum, but I'm pretty sure I did well. I should find out this Thursday. I was lucky enough to get to teach combinatorics which is one of my favourite subjects in math, so I had a fun time. This week, I'm back to UNBC classes and my teachers are making us feel the pain by loading on a hundred assignments for us to do before the end of the semester. Speaking of that, it was pointed out that I've only got 7 weeks of university classes left and 10 weeks of practicum. How sweet is that? Another Bachelor degree!
Tomorrow is going to be a good time. I don't have any classes, so I'm off to Camp Morice with Jane, Andy, and Berta for most of the day. I hope it's nice weather. It will be good to be out there and to bring Jackie some calendars. That's right! The Camp Morice calendars are done! If you want one send me an email or go to the website and order one. We'll even ship it to you if you're too lazy.
Anyways, that's enough for now (start slow and taper off...and all that stuff).
Andrew
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Thanksgiving...and thanks to be safe
So I went caving yesterday. It was a really good time.
But, the excitement comes at the end of the day. We came to the exit of the cave and looked to see that it was snowing like crazy. We were thinking…it 3:30…we’ve got lots of time. We’ll start to get out (a 30 foot climb), and then start down the mountain right away. But, once we started down the mountain we realized that it was going to take a lot longer. Let me tell you…snow covered, wet, and cold rocks are not that easy to climb down on. We got to the car at about 5:30 and headed to town thinking that we’d be back by 7:30 (only about 1.5 hrs late). So we were driving down the 39km road (going about 60km/hr). After about 19km I started to feel my car really pulling to the right. I knew what it was right away…a flat tire. 20km from a highway or paved road. So, luckily, I had the little donut tire for a spare….but there is a problem with that…you can only go 80km/hr at maximum. After the slooooowwww driving on the dirt road we got to the paved road and started home. Most of the paved road was free of traffic until we got to the highway. On the highway, there were a bunch of vehicles flying past us the whole way…probably a little annoyed that we were going 80 when they were all wanting to go 110 or faster. At one point a black Jimmy pulled up behind me and was flashing his highbeams, swerving back and forth on the road, and honking his horn. I was thinking, “Who is this A$$hole? And why doesn’t he just pass me?” After a few seconds he passes me and there are people waving their arms and making gestures in the window as they pass. He pulls right in front of me and starts slamming on the brakes, putting on his signal (to pull over right), and waiving his arm out the window. By now, just about anyone would be thinking “what is going on and what is this guys problem?”, but I knew better. I told Rachael to roll down the window so I could give them an earful as we drove by…I knew there was something familiar about that black Jimmy, and now looking into the window I could see that it’s my new cousin Marcio, his friend Chris, and my dad in the vehicle. They’d been looking for us for a while…they were worried because we were more than 3 hours late from when we said we might be home. I learned later that one of the vehicles that had passed us earlier had my brother, Tim, Jonathan, and Nolan in it…they were also looking for us. Anyways, I pulled over and talked to my dad for a minute and told him things were fine but we were just late. So we continued on home and had a nice warm shower to clean off the excessive amounts of dirt that had accumulated on our bodies.
Not a bad story hey?
It was cool to see that so many people cared about us and were worried about us. Thanks everyone.
But, the excitement comes at the end of the day. We came to the exit of the cave and looked to see that it was snowing like crazy. We were thinking…it 3:30…we’ve got lots of time. We’ll start to get out (a 30 foot climb), and then start down the mountain right away. But, once we started down the mountain we realized that it was going to take a lot longer. Let me tell you…snow covered, wet, and cold rocks are not that easy to climb down on. We got to the car at about 5:30 and headed to town thinking that we’d be back by 7:30 (only about 1.5 hrs late). So we were driving down the 39km road (going about 60km/hr). After about 19km I started to feel my car really pulling to the right. I knew what it was right away…a flat tire. 20km from a highway or paved road. So, luckily, I had the little donut tire for a spare….but there is a problem with that…you can only go 80km/hr at maximum. After the slooooowwww driving on the dirt road we got to the paved road and started home. Most of the paved road was free of traffic until we got to the highway. On the highway, there were a bunch of vehicles flying past us the whole way…probably a little annoyed that we were going 80 when they were all wanting to go 110 or faster. At one point a black Jimmy pulled up behind me and was flashing his highbeams, swerving back and forth on the road, and honking his horn. I was thinking, “Who is this A$$hole? And why doesn’t he just pass me?” After a few seconds he passes me and there are people waving their arms and making gestures in the window as they pass. He pulls right in front of me and starts slamming on the brakes, putting on his signal (to pull over right), and waiving his arm out the window. By now, just about anyone would be thinking “what is going on and what is this guys problem?”, but I knew better. I told Rachael to roll down the window so I could give them an earful as we drove by…I knew there was something familiar about that black Jimmy, and now looking into the window I could see that it’s my new cousin Marcio, his friend Chris, and my dad in the vehicle. They’d been looking for us for a while…they were worried because we were more than 3 hours late from when we said we might be home. I learned later that one of the vehicles that had passed us earlier had my brother, Tim, Jonathan, and Nolan in it…they were also looking for us. Anyways, I pulled over and talked to my dad for a minute and told him things were fine but we were just late. So we continued on home and had a nice warm shower to clean off the excessive amounts of dirt that had accumulated on our bodies.
Not a bad story hey?
It was cool to see that so many people cared about us and were worried about us. Thanks everyone.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
I'm a Professional
Well, I have been avoiding the question and giving vague answers all week...the question was "when is your drivers test for your bus license?"
I didn't say because I wasn't sure if I was going to pass and I didn't want a bunch of people calling me asking how I did and then I would have to tell them that I failed. After all, I did only take 4 hours worth of lessons when the driving school thought I should take 11. But, who cares now!
That's right...if you haven't already guessed...I got my license! That's right...my class 2...umhuh! I'm so happy to have it over with. It was a big stress for me and I'm so happy that I passed. I feel like patting myself on the back and saying "Andrew, you have what it takes!...Well done!" It's a great feeling to be able to follow through on something when you decide that it's important.
Anyways, that is my big triumph for today. I'm excited about the new Lost episode which is playing on TV as we speak (or as I type), but I'm not watching it because I am at work right now. I'll have to watch it later in the week.
Au revoir,
Andrew
I didn't say because I wasn't sure if I was going to pass and I didn't want a bunch of people calling me asking how I did and then I would have to tell them that I failed. After all, I did only take 4 hours worth of lessons when the driving school thought I should take 11. But, who cares now!
That's right...if you haven't already guessed...I got my license! That's right...my class 2...umhuh! I'm so happy to have it over with. It was a big stress for me and I'm so happy that I passed. I feel like patting myself on the back and saying "Andrew, you have what it takes!...Well done!" It's a great feeling to be able to follow through on something when you decide that it's important.
Anyways, that is my big triumph for today. I'm excited about the new Lost episode which is playing on TV as we speak (or as I type), but I'm not watching it because I am at work right now. I'll have to watch it later in the week.
Au revoir,
Andrew
Friday, September 30, 2005
What a long week…
Well, just when you think you’ve got things under control…the whole world falls apart in front of your eyes. I’ve put my head down and been running hard all week and I just can‘t seem to get ahead. Even when I finish assignments in record time, I still can’t get it all done. It’s been pretty frustrating. And now, here I am sitting at a desk at the end of a long week, and what am I doing?…I’m working. I’d like to think that soon it will be over, that soon I will have some free time and soon I will have a regular job with regular hours….but I don’t think it will happen. I have the uncanny ability to fill every moment of free time up with something. Why do I keep doing this to myself?
Anyways, I can at least look at things on a brighter side for right now. I’m sitting at work getting paid $10/hr to do nothing but wait for people to return equipment. This weekend will be a lot of fun…my cousin Saveria is getting married and a whole bunch of family is in town…it’s going to be one big party.
I’m going to go now because I’ve nothing interesting to say…maybe I’ll think of something later and add another post.
AJ
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Busy...busy...busy
OK, so I haven't updated enought lately...I know. I've been pretty busy and I just haven't got around to typing.
For now, I have a good animation to post....I love it.
For now, I have a good animation to post....I love it.
I'll try and post some more tomorrow.
Andrew
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Back in the Game
Well, I’ve been thinking for a while about what I should write for a post, but nothing substantial has come to mind. At first I wanted to post a big message complaining about how busy I am and how crappy my school schedule is, but it seems like a waist of time to be thinking and typing about that. I think the problem is that I’ve been thinking about posting too much instead of just typing. Anyways, here is what’s happened lately.
School has started and I’ve already handed in an 8 page report on my observations at PGSS during the first week of high school. Don’t let the number of pages make you think that I put a lot of work in…my only real strength is that I can type really fast and I got good at writing my thoughts from my trip to Europe. My observation report was just a whole lot of things I noticed and then a quick story or reflection on what it meant to me. It’s was exactly what they wanted though.
It seems like I always take on too much. I’m getting my bus license, making a video for the hospital, going to school, working three nights a week, going to youth group, going to young adults group, and trying to stay in touch with friends who do not live in PG. Last week was crazy for me…I felt like everything was out of control and that I was just stuck on the ride. It’s kinda like those stupid ‘virtual adventure’ rides that you can go on…I hate those things mostly because I get so sick on them. You get inside, sit down, strap yourself in, and the attendant closes the door and you hear a big thud as the door is locked. And then you’re trapped for the duration of the ride. Some weeks feel like that for me. But, this week was a bit different. On Thursday I stayed home for most of the day and just sat at my computer or in a chair and read some books, replied to some emails and printed off some homework. It was a very relaxing day. Jane came over to borrow my internet connection for a while (so that she could download some Stargate episodes). It was interesting…we sat across the table from one another while working on various things and we didn’t say more than a few words to each other, but looking back I enjoyed having her company even though we didn’t really say anything….I don’t know…maybe it’s a guy thing. At any rate, I’m going to have to try and fit one of those ‘catch-up’ days into my schedule every week…it was very therapeutic.
The coming weeks should be pretty fun. I have some assignments for class that might be a bit interesting, but mostly I’m excited about making up a series of lessons for a unit in math 12 called Combinatorics. I’m hoping that I can find some good examples and real world applications of Combinatorics so that I can make my classes a little bit more interesting. I was thinking about why I want to work so hard at making it interesting…it’s not because I want to outdo the teacher that I’m taking over for…it’s because I want to outdo myself. Last February when I was teaching at Kelly Road I had a bunch of cool stories and real world applications that seemed to really help me to get the students to buy into what I was teaching…they actually though what I was teaching them might be useful. Anyways, I hope to give it my all for this unit and see what happens.
Well, that’s about enough for this post…I have turned over a new leaf and I plan to post a bit more often. My motto ‘Start slow and taper off ‘ is taking a back seat to my new motto ‘ Go BIG or go home ‘
Adios for now,
Andrew
PS: Here is the answer to a math question...keep in mind that the answer does not nessesarily reflect my views.
School has started and I’ve already handed in an 8 page report on my observations at PGSS during the first week of high school. Don’t let the number of pages make you think that I put a lot of work in…my only real strength is that I can type really fast and I got good at writing my thoughts from my trip to Europe. My observation report was just a whole lot of things I noticed and then a quick story or reflection on what it meant to me. It’s was exactly what they wanted though.
It seems like I always take on too much. I’m getting my bus license, making a video for the hospital, going to school, working three nights a week, going to youth group, going to young adults group, and trying to stay in touch with friends who do not live in PG. Last week was crazy for me…I felt like everything was out of control and that I was just stuck on the ride. It’s kinda like those stupid ‘virtual adventure’ rides that you can go on…I hate those things mostly because I get so sick on them. You get inside, sit down, strap yourself in, and the attendant closes the door and you hear a big thud as the door is locked. And then you’re trapped for the duration of the ride. Some weeks feel like that for me. But, this week was a bit different. On Thursday I stayed home for most of the day and just sat at my computer or in a chair and read some books, replied to some emails and printed off some homework. It was a very relaxing day. Jane came over to borrow my internet connection for a while (so that she could download some Stargate episodes). It was interesting…we sat across the table from one another while working on various things and we didn’t say more than a few words to each other, but looking back I enjoyed having her company even though we didn’t really say anything….I don’t know…maybe it’s a guy thing. At any rate, I’m going to have to try and fit one of those ‘catch-up’ days into my schedule every week…it was very therapeutic.
The coming weeks should be pretty fun. I have some assignments for class that might be a bit interesting, but mostly I’m excited about making up a series of lessons for a unit in math 12 called Combinatorics. I’m hoping that I can find some good examples and real world applications of Combinatorics so that I can make my classes a little bit more interesting. I was thinking about why I want to work so hard at making it interesting…it’s not because I want to outdo the teacher that I’m taking over for…it’s because I want to outdo myself. Last February when I was teaching at Kelly Road I had a bunch of cool stories and real world applications that seemed to really help me to get the students to buy into what I was teaching…they actually though what I was teaching them might be useful. Anyways, I hope to give it my all for this unit and see what happens.
Well, that’s about enough for this post…I have turned over a new leaf and I plan to post a bit more often. My motto ‘Start slow and taper off ‘ is taking a back seat to my new motto ‘ Go BIG or go home ‘
Adios for now,
Andrew
PS: Here is the answer to a math question...keep in mind that the answer does not nessesarily reflect my views.
Thursday, September 08, 2005
TA DA!
Hey everyone!
I just finished the WYD video, so I thought I'd post it for everyone to see. Pete got a preview of it the other day and he gave it the thumbs up. Speaking of Pete, man that guy is awesome at making flash animations. His photoweb is super cool!
Anyways, here is the link to the WYD Video
(I recommend that you right click and choose ‘Save Target As…’ and save it to your computer before playing it – it’s over 90MB so it might take a little while to download)
Adios!
Andrew
I just finished the WYD video, so I thought I'd post it for everyone to see. Pete got a preview of it the other day and he gave it the thumbs up. Speaking of Pete, man that guy is awesome at making flash animations. His photoweb is super cool!
Anyways, here is the link to the WYD Video
(I recommend that you right click and choose ‘Save Target As…’ and save it to your computer before playing it – it’s over 90MB so it might take a little while to download)
Adios!
Andrew
Monday, September 05, 2005
Grizly Den Video
Here is the link to the Grizly Den video. I think it's pretty good...
The quality isn't very high because I wanted to keep the file size small, but I have a high quality version on my laptop.
http://web.unbc.ca/~johnsona/LOTR_video.wmv
Enjoy and crank up the sound!
The quality isn't very high because I wanted to keep the file size small, but I have a high quality version on my laptop.
http://web.unbc.ca/~johnsona/LOTR_video.wmv
Enjoy and crank up the sound!
Sunday, September 04, 2005
Hiking at Grizly Den
Well...I had a really good time Friday and Saturday. Rachael, Erin, Jane, and I went to the Grizly Den cabin for one night. It was a ton of fun! I have some pictures and video that I will post later. AND, we managed to miss the huge storm that hit Prince George as well. We would have been very miserable if that storm had hit us while we were hiking.
Anyways, just thought I'd post a short comment on my last adventure before school starts. The video that I'm making should be pretty funny...I'll be sure to post a link to it as soon as I get it done.
Bye for now,
Andrew
Anyways, just thought I'd post a short comment on my last adventure before school starts. The video that I'm making should be pretty funny...I'll be sure to post a link to it as soon as I get it done.
Bye for now,
Andrew
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
It's good to be home...sort of
It’s good to be home…sort of
Well, naturlich (of course) I’m home now and well rested. It’s nice to be home and sleeping in my own bed, but it’s also very sad that the adventure is over. I am having a hard time motivating myself to get ready to go back to school next week. I’m not looking forward to it. But, I guess I should just enjoy the remaining few days that I still have and be happy that I made so many friends and had so many good experiences. I have absolutely no regrets about the entire trip (except for the fact that I got on the plane to come home). I realized on the plane ride home that I could have stayed in Europe until about Christmas if I decided to take a year off before finishing getting my education degree. But, there is a part of me that wants to get it done. I hate having loose ends, and not finishing my degree on time would be a huge loose end. Anyways, I’m here now and will be ready to put in one more year of classes until I can finally get the piece of paper that I will have paid over $10,000 for.
I weighed myself when I came back and sadly I lost 2 pounds. To most people that would be a great thing…to lose weight, but I honestly wanted to gain a bit of weight while I was gone. I was hoping that all the trekking with my 80 pounds of luggage would have helped my bulk up a bit…and I definitely ate as much as I could. Oh, well…I guess there’s always next time.
That’s right! There will be a next time…and by then who knows…maybe I’ll have some new gadget that will let me post pictures and text without a laptop. I can see myself having a cool gadget like that around this time next year.
Anyways, I’ll leave it at that for now. There is talk of one more adventure before the school year starts…We’ll see how things shape up.
Andrew
Well, naturlich (of course) I’m home now and well rested. It’s nice to be home and sleeping in my own bed, but it’s also very sad that the adventure is over. I am having a hard time motivating myself to get ready to go back to school next week. I’m not looking forward to it. But, I guess I should just enjoy the remaining few days that I still have and be happy that I made so many friends and had so many good experiences. I have absolutely no regrets about the entire trip (except for the fact that I got on the plane to come home). I realized on the plane ride home that I could have stayed in Europe until about Christmas if I decided to take a year off before finishing getting my education degree. But, there is a part of me that wants to get it done. I hate having loose ends, and not finishing my degree on time would be a huge loose end. Anyways, I’m here now and will be ready to put in one more year of classes until I can finally get the piece of paper that I will have paid over $10,000 for.
I weighed myself when I came back and sadly I lost 2 pounds. To most people that would be a great thing…to lose weight, but I honestly wanted to gain a bit of weight while I was gone. I was hoping that all the trekking with my 80 pounds of luggage would have helped my bulk up a bit…and I definitely ate as much as I could. Oh, well…I guess there’s always next time.
That’s right! There will be a next time…and by then who knows…maybe I’ll have some new gadget that will let me post pictures and text without a laptop. I can see myself having a cool gadget like that around this time next year.
Anyways, I’ll leave it at that for now. There is talk of one more adventure before the school year starts…We’ll see how things shape up.
Andrew
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Friday, August 26, 2005
4:30 AM
Well, you never know what will happen at 4:30 in the morning...
I was just sitting here typing emails and looking for songs on the net when a Turkish family came and sat near me. After a few minutes of them discussing amongst themselves, they asked me where I was from. After a few minutes the were offering me food and telling me a bit about Turkey (the Turkish pizza that they had was really good). I remembered that I still had a postcard of the Canadian Rockies, so I pulled it out and gave it to them. I also showed them a few picture from world youth day because I told them I was here for it. The next thing I know we are exchanging emails and they leave for their flight. The seemed like really nice people. It was pretty cool.
When they left, they each grabbed a push cart with a bunch of bags on it, and the dad accidently took mine (without looking at which cart he was pushing). They all laughed pretty hard when I said "Hey....that's mine..."
I was just sitting here typing emails and looking for songs on the net when a Turkish family came and sat near me. After a few minutes of them discussing amongst themselves, they asked me where I was from. After a few minutes the were offering me food and telling me a bit about Turkey (the Turkish pizza that they had was really good). I remembered that I still had a postcard of the Canadian Rockies, so I pulled it out and gave it to them. I also showed them a few picture from world youth day because I told them I was here for it. The next thing I know we are exchanging emails and they leave for their flight. The seemed like really nice people. It was pretty cool.
When they left, they each grabbed a push cart with a bunch of bags on it, and the dad accidently took mine (without looking at which cart he was pushing). They all laughed pretty hard when I said "Hey....that's mine..."
The hottest day yet
Without question, today was the hottest day yet for Spain. Today was the day...the day that I would test my resilience...the day that I would finally know if I could go a whole day without sunscreen....(except for on my face...I heard that too much sun on your face makes you look old sooner). After I got up I went up on the terrace to check my email and sweat in the sun a little. I decided to get ready for a relaxing day before I start my long journey home. My flight is to leave Malaga at 9:50pm and arrive at 12:35am in Cologne. Then I wait until 9:35am when my flight leaves for Canada. There isn't enought time to find a hotel and get a good nights sleep, so I'm just going to stay in the airport. I've decided that I'm not going to sleep so that I can start getting my body back into the BC sleep cycle. If I have a snooze on my flight to Canada (at about 10am...which is 1am BC time) then it should start me off on getting used to Pacific time. Then I can stay up for the rest of my flight until I get to Prince George where I can sleep at the normal time (9 or 10pm).
Anyways, in the afternoon I got a chance to go shopping for a bit and look (yet again) for the Spanish patch. I still didn't find one. At 2:15 we went down to the outdoor pool to go for a swim. Wow was that ever refreshing...they must have had that pool at the perfect temperature for a 34 C day. I dove in head first swam for a bit and then dried off in the sun in about 5 minutes. It was great. After that we went out for supper to a nice little restaurant. There was a meal for two which had a huge selection of things to share. Paella, Chorizo, Blood sussage, stuffed peppers, eggs potatoes and peppers, and a whole bunch of other things that I can't remember. The bad thing was that Peter is alergic to potatoes and about half of the stuff had potatoes in it...he got stuck eating a bunch of bread. And on top of that, the Paella must have been cooked next to some potatoes because Peter didn't feel very well after eating it.
After that we jumped in the car and started on the winedy road to Malaga. The road to get there is actually pretty good. The highway has 3 or 4 lanes and the speed limit is 100-120km/hr...the only problem is that there are toll booths every 25km or so; some cost more than others, but I guess it's the price you pay for being able to get somewhere fast. When we arrived at the airport I quickly found the line where I could check my bags and then said my goodbyes to Pete and Bob. I won't be seeing Pete until Christmas because he is going to Toronto to do his Masters degree. He decided it would be easier if he went from Spain straight to Toronto and then just had the rest of his stuff shipped on the bus.
My plane to leave Spain was a bit delayed, but it didn't matter that much to me since I don't have anywhere to go once I get to Cologne. When we drove into Malaga it was 37'C and when I landed in Cologne it was 10'C. It took me a few seconds to adjust.Now I'm just waiting in the airport...I might make a phone call or two, check my email, post this message, and try to download some of the music from World Youth Day.
God Bless,
Andrew
Anyways, in the afternoon I got a chance to go shopping for a bit and look (yet again) for the Spanish patch. I still didn't find one. At 2:15 we went down to the outdoor pool to go for a swim. Wow was that ever refreshing...they must have had that pool at the perfect temperature for a 34 C day. I dove in head first swam for a bit and then dried off in the sun in about 5 minutes. It was great. After that we went out for supper to a nice little restaurant. There was a meal for two which had a huge selection of things to share. Paella, Chorizo, Blood sussage, stuffed peppers, eggs potatoes and peppers, and a whole bunch of other things that I can't remember. The bad thing was that Peter is alergic to potatoes and about half of the stuff had potatoes in it...he got stuck eating a bunch of bread. And on top of that, the Paella must have been cooked next to some potatoes because Peter didn't feel very well after eating it.
After that we jumped in the car and started on the winedy road to Malaga. The road to get there is actually pretty good. The highway has 3 or 4 lanes and the speed limit is 100-120km/hr...the only problem is that there are toll booths every 25km or so; some cost more than others, but I guess it's the price you pay for being able to get somewhere fast. When we arrived at the airport I quickly found the line where I could check my bags and then said my goodbyes to Pete and Bob. I won't be seeing Pete until Christmas because he is going to Toronto to do his Masters degree. He decided it would be easier if he went from Spain straight to Toronto and then just had the rest of his stuff shipped on the bus.
My plane to leave Spain was a bit delayed, but it didn't matter that much to me since I don't have anywhere to go once I get to Cologne. When we drove into Malaga it was 37'C and when I landed in Cologne it was 10'C. It took me a few seconds to adjust.Now I'm just waiting in the airport...I might make a phone call or two, check my email, post this message, and try to download some of the music from World Youth Day.
God Bless,
Andrew
My Quest for a patch
I slept in today (again) and then enjoyed two very strong cups of coffee from my friend the French Press. I think I'm going to start using the cappuccino machine when I get home. These europeans have things figured out. I decided I wanted to go out in the sun for the morning, but I didn't really feel like just lying there...after all I just woke up, so I decided to mop the terrace. I just about burned the soles of my feet it was so hot. Later that morning Bob and I went for a walk around town to see some of the sights. There are Ronda was an inpenitrable fortrace. It is set on a cliff with two walls around the perimiter of the base of the cliffs. The only way that anyone would have a chance at getting into Ronda would be to attack it with siege weapons and almost completely destroy it. Anyways, the remains of the walls were pretty cool and we got to scope out a public outdoor pool that looked really nice. When we got back to the appartment we told everybody else about it and it was decided that we'd head over there tomorrow.Pete, Bob, and I had lunch and the girls went to Seville for the day. After lunch my quest to find a patch from Spain began. I think I must have gone into every souvenir shop in the area (at least 20 of them) and I didn't find anything. I even went to the tourist information center and asked if they would know where one would be; they sent me to a store but alas there was none. I even looked up the word for patch so that I could ask in Spanish instead of looking around in each store. No luck. I did manage to find a few other things that will be good, but not the patch that I wanted. In the evening, we had a late supper and then yet another episode of Lost on the TV. A couple of nights ago I figured out how to hook my laptop up to the TV. Normally this would be easy, but since we are in Europe, the video system is slightly different. When I hooked it up at first, we got a good picture but there was no color. Anyways, watching Lost on a nice TV with no commercials is a nice experience. Tonight is my night to sleep on the couch instead of the floor so I'm pretty excited about another good sleep.
The Quest continues....
Andrew
The Quest continues....
Andrew
Thursday, August 25, 2005
More Pics
Here is an archway in Ronda with the city in the background. It was quite a nice day.
This is the last group photo that we took before the 4 of us left Marienfield leaving the rest of the crew behind.
This is a shot of one of the streets near where we are staying. I took the picture from the terrace that is on the roof.Some more pictures
We found this sign in Dusseldorf and had to take a picture. I thought it was hilarious!
Here is a picture of the train station platform where all the Italians did the Shamo...Shamo thing. You can't afford to be clostrophobic in this situation.The Rock of Gerbraltar
We slept in a bit today, but again I was up making myself a couple strong cups of coffee. I love those French press things...they are awesome. We relaxed for the morning and talked about what we would do today. After a little while it was decided that we'd go to the Rock of Gerbraltar and then to the beach. The Rock of Gerbraltar is an island very close to Spain. The island is owned by the British, so you can't go to it unless you pass through border control and show your passport. Most of us forgot ours, so we ended up lookin at the Rock of Gerbraltar and then going to a beach a few hundred meters away to swim. The water was much cooler, but still very refreshing in the heat. I had a short nap and then went for a swim with Rachael out to the boyes and back. Later, Peter, Elizabeth, and I went for a walk and stopped by McD's for a quick burger because we were so hungary and there were only restaurants nearby (yes I know....you can all say it together now...."Shamo...Shamo...Shamo"). I've been eating plenty of Spanish food, so I had no problem having a burger for a snack. It took us 2 hours to get there and a little more to get back (you don't go as fast when driving up hill). When we got back we had something to eat and then watched another episode of Lost. And now I am caught up. I have finished writing this post and there are no more to write until another day passes. I really enjoy writting these posts, but today I am a bit tired, so this post isn't very long. But oh well...I'm on vacation right?
Adios,Andrew
Adios,Andrew
Coffee and A day at the beach
When I woke up this morning I was excited to see that the kitchen was stocked with a French press, and Bev had brought some Starbucks coffee grounds. I made my self a strong coffee, went up to the terrace, and relaxed in the morning sun while reading "Wild at Heart". After breakfast we decided that a day at the beach would be a good choice. I thought it was a great idea and a good opportunity to go swimming in the Mediterranian again. So we left for a beach that is located between San Pedro and Malaga called Las Chapas (a lady at the tourist booth recommended it to us). It was quite the drive to get there...Ronda is high in the mountains and the road to the beach is a 50km long winedy road. Its a good thing that I volunteered to be the navigator because if I was sitting in the back seat I would have gotten sick for sure. Anyways, we found the beach no problem (of course...I am the navigator), and set up to go swimming. The beach was pretty nice and the water was really warm...but still refreshing. After a few minutes swimming we broke out the frisby and started tossing it around. Diving after a frisby when you can land in water is pretty fun. Later I layed down and finished reading my book and then fell asleep for about 30 minutes or so (yes...I know you are a bit jealous). Bob wasn't feeling quite so good, so we packed up around 5pm and headed back to Ronda (it takes about 1.5 hours to get back up that terribly winedy road).When we got back we each had a quick shower and Bob had a short nap. Then we went out for diner. I decided to have tripe and chickpeas for the first course and fries and beef in sauce for the second course. The tripe was actually really good...I put some Tabasco in it to kick it up a knotch. Aunty Marie still makes the best tripe in the world though. Now, I have to tell you about my desert. It was quite a surprise to me when I actually got it. I looked on the menu and read through the list of deserts. They had the Spanish name on one side and then the English translation on the other. I looked at one of the Spanish deserts and the translation was banana. I thought to myself, "Look at all these other deserts...they all cost the same as this one...it must be more than just a banana...the translation must be a bit off or something...I think I'll try this one." Well I was wrong! The waiter brought me out a banana on a plate with a fork and knife. The banana was still in its skin! They didn't even try to make it look a bit better than just a banana. You would think that they'd at least peel it and cut it up for you...but they didn't. I just got a banana and a whole lot of laughs.After diner we watched another episode of Lost, and then I stayed up late writting the post about the World Youth Day and our marathon of travelling. It was a good day and I got a good tan.
Our first day in Ronda
When we arrived in Ronda at about 7:45am we were pretty tired and a little grumpy. The sleep on the train was pretty squished, and the room was scorching hot. I was under the impression that Ronda was a pretty small town, but in reality it is pretty big. At least as big as Quesnel anyways. When we arrived at the train station, all we had was an address of the place where we were staying. Peter's parents hadn't arrived yet since they had to drive from Barcelona. So we were on our own trying to find the appartment we were staying in. As we walked out of the train station there was a taxi nearby, and I imediately waved him down, showed him the address, and asked how much. At this point I was willing to pay almost anything if I didn't have to carry my heavy pack any further, but in the end it was only going to cost us 4.50 euro to get to the appartment. I was so happy that we made it there so quickly that I gave him 6 euro. The doors have push button locks, so we used the code to open them and we were in. The appartment is really nice; a guy from Wales owns it, I think, and comes here for a vacation. Since Peter's parents weren't here, we all had a bed to sleep in, and we dropped our packs and fell asleep right away.We had an extra couple hours sleep and woke up at 11am. There is a small store right across the street, so we ran over there and bought a bunch of things to eat and drink, and then returned to the appartment to eat and relax. After we had a bite to eat we decided to go out and walk around the town. The area is actually quite breathtaking. The city is on the side of a steep hill and there are a lot of old bridges and walkways that must be really old, but still in use. I have a few pictures for later. After we had finished exploring for the day, we returned to the appartment just in time for Peter's parents (Bob and Bev) to arrive. They were excited to see us. Bob was especially happy to see Rachael because he had not seen her since she left Canada last August for a university exchange in Germany. We unpacked our stuff had something to eat and relaxed in the sun for the rest of the afternoon and night. When the sun went down we watched an episode of Lost before going to bed.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Videos
Some videos for you...
http://web.unbc.ca/~johnsona/frank.wmv
http://web.unbc.ca/~johnsona/repunsel.wmv
Enjoy!
http://web.unbc.ca/~johnsona/frank.wmv
http://web.unbc.ca/~johnsona/repunsel.wmv
Enjoy!
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