The Journey Continues...

Funniest Harry Potter list, EVER!

2008-08-24T12:15:00.003-04:00

Things I Am Not Allowed To Do At Hogwarts

1. I will not wear my DEATH EATER AND PROUD OF IT! shirt to school.

2. I am allowed a rat, cat, toad or owl. I am not allowed a python, snow leopard, tasmanian devil, or pirahna.

3. 42 is not the answer to every question on the O.W.Ls

4. I am not to Owl copies of the Evil Overlord List to suspected Death Eaters.

5. I will not put books of muggle fairy tales in the history section of the library.

6. I will not claim that my 'X-Files' tapes are "Auror Training Videos"

7. I am not authorized to negotiate peace treaties with Lord Voldemort.

8. I will not follow potions instructions backwards just to see what would happen.

9. I will not tell first-years that they should build a tree house in the Whomping Willow.

10. My name is not "The Dark Lord Happy-Pants" and I am not allowed to sign papers as such.

11. It is not necessary for me to yell, "BAMF!" everytime I Apparate.

12. I will not steal Gryffindor's sword from Dumbledore's office and use it to patrol the hallways.

13. I am not allowed to sing my own personal spy music while wandering the halls.

14. Asking, "How to you keep a Gryffindor in suspense?" and walking away is only funny the first time.

15. It is generally accepted that cats and dragons cannot be interbreed and I should not attempt to disprove this theory, no matter how wicked the result would be.

16. I will not say the phrase, "Dude, get a life." to Voldemort.

17. If the thought of a spell makes me giggle for longer than 15 seconds, I am to assume that I am not allowed to do it.

18. I will not yell, "Believe it.....or not!" after any of Dumbledore's speeches.

19. I am not allowed to declare an official 'Hug A Slytherin Day."

20. If a classmate falls asleep, I will not take advantage of that fact and draw a Dark Mark on their arm.

21. Starting a betting pool on the fate of this year's Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher is tastless and tacky; not a clever money-making concept.

22. Seamus Finnegan is not "after me Lucky Charms"

23. Calling the Ghostbusters is a cruel joke to play on the resident ghosts and poltergeists.

24. I will not lock Slytherin's and Gryffindor's in a room together and take bets on which house will come out alive.

25. I will not give Hagrid pokemon cards and convince him they are real animals.

26. I will not teach the house elves to impersonate Jar Jar Binks.

27. Bringing fortune cookies to Divination Class does not count as extra credit.

28. I will not charm the the suits of armor to do a rendition of "Knights Of The Round Table" for the Christmas Feast.

29. I will not dress up as Voldemort for Halloween.

30. I will not sing, "We're Off To See The Wizard." when sent to the headmasters house.

31. I will not tell Sir Cadogan that the Knights Who Say Ni have challenged him to a duel and then have students yell, "Ni!" from various directions.

32. No matter how good a fake Australian accent I can do, I will not imitate Steve Irwin during Care of Magical Creatures class.

33. When McGonagall asks me a question I will not answer in complete seriousness, "I think Albus is good looking too Professor."

34. I will not hold my wand in the air befor casting spells and shout, "I have the power!"

35. I will not start every potions class asking Professor Snape if today's project can be used as a sexual lubricant.

36. I will stop referring to showering as "Giving Moaning Myrtle an eyeful."

37. I will not use Umbridge's quill to write, "I told you I was hardcore."

38. The Giant Squid is not an appropriate date for the Yule Ball.

39. "I've heard every possible joke about Oliver Wood's name." is not a challange.

40. I will not change the password to the prefect's bathroom to, "Makes getting clean as much fun as getting dirty."

41. Remus Lupin does not want a flea collar.

42. I do not weigh the same as a duck.

43. I will not refer tot he Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher, "Kenny", even if he is wearing an Orange parka.

44. I will not scare the Arithmancy class with my Calculus book.

45. I will not tell first years that Professor Snape is the Voice of God.

46. I am not allowed to make lightsaber noises with my wand.

47. I will not try to magically animate my marshmallow Peeps.

48. I am not allowed to give the Gryffindor's Pixie Stix.

49. I am not allowed out of my dorm when Ministry officials are here.

50. I will not tell Professor Trelawney that I prophesized her death.

51. I will not refer to the Accio charm as "The Force"

52. A wand is for magic only. It is not for picking my nose or banging on my desk, no matter how bored I become.

53. First years are not to be fed to Fluffy.

54. Professor Flitwicks first name is not Yoda.

55. I will not take out a life insurance policy on Harry Potter.

56. I will not bring a Magic Eight Ball to Divination Class.

57. I will not call Dumbledore Santa during the holidays.

58. I am not allowed to introduced Peeves to paintball guns.

59. I will not ask Harry if his Scar Senses are tingling.

60. I will not sing *bibbity bobbity boo* when McGonagall is trying to teach.

61. I will not put a *Kick Me* sign on Draco's back.

62. I will not ask Harry who died and made him the boss.

63. When Death Eaters are attacking Hogwarts I am not allowed to point at the Dark Mark and yel, "Off to the batmobile Robin!"

64. If asked in class what Avada Kedavra does, yelling, "It does DEATH!!!" may be correct but it's not the manner in which one should answer.

65. I will not make jokes about Lupin and his 'time of the month'

66. Gryffindor courage does not come in bottles labeled "Firewhisky"

67. Using the Enrogio charm on certain parts of the human anatomy is not permitted on school grounds, even for entertainment purposes.

68. It is inappropriate to slip sample bottles of Selsum Blue into Professor Snape's personal mailbox.

69. I will not impersonate the Swedish Chef in potions class.

70. First-years should not be encouraged to befriends the Whomping Willow.

71. There is no, nor has there, ever been a fifth house and I am not the founder of it.

72. Albus Dumbledore's proper title is 'Headmaster' not 'My Liege'

73. I will not use Slyterin and Gryffindor first-years as Xmas decorations.

74. A time turner is not a 'Flux Capacitor' and I should therefore not install one in any muggle cars.

75. I am not allowed to use silencing charms on my professor.

76. I am not a member of the Spanish Inquisition.

77. I will not claim there is a prequel to Hogwarts, A History that explains all about Bilbo Baggins.

78. I will not sing the Badger song during Hufflepuff-Slytherin matches.

79. "Draco Malfoy Takes It Up The Arse" is not an acceptable Quidditch chant.

80. I am not Xena: Warrior Princess and I will not use war cries to signal my entrance into class rooms.

81. I am not allowed to paint the house elves blue.

82. It is a bad idea to tell Professor Snape he takes himself to seriously.

83. I will not start food fights in the Great Hall.

84. It is not necessary to yell, "BURN!" every time Professor Snape takes away points from Gryffindor.

85. I am not allowed to to begin each Herbology class by singing the theme song to, "Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes."

86. "Y'all check this-here shit out!" is not an appropriate way to announce that you are about to perform an experimental spell.

87. House Elves are not acceptable replacements for Bludgers.

88. I will not ask Dumbledore to show me the pointy hat trick.

89. "To conquer the earth with an army of flying monkeys" is not an appropriate career choice.

90. I am not a sloth animagus.

91. "Springtime for Voldemort" is not an acceptable suggestion for the class play.

92. I will not tell Ron and Hermione to "Get a room" whenever they start to fight.

93. The Forbidden Forest is forbidden for a reason.

94. I will not greet Professor McGonagall with "What's new, pussycat?"

95. I will not introduce the Jackass movies as inspirational ideas to Fred and George.

96. I will refrain from calling the Weasley twins 'Merry and Pippin'. I will also refrain from calling Harry and Ron 'Frodo and Sam'. It probably isn't smart to call Draco 'Legolas', either

97. I will not perform Potter Puppet Pals in front of all of the Great Hall, no matter how enjoyable 'The Mysterious Ticking Noise' is.

98. I will not sing the entire Multiplication Rock series during the Arithmancy exams.

99. I will stop asking the Arithmancy teacher what the square root of -1 is.

100. I will not convince Ron Weasley to follow the butterflies.

101. I will not poke Hufflepuffs with spoons, nor will I insist that their House colors indicate that they are 'covered in bees'.

102. I will not add 'according to the prophecy' to the end of every sentence in Divintation class, just to raise my grade.

103. Providing Peeves with a case of Dungbombs was a socially irresponsible action and I will not do it again.

104. I will not sing 'Defying Gravity' during Quidditch practice.

105. I am not to tell Nearly Headless Nick that he would lose his head if it wasn't attached, that is just cruel.

106. The four Houses are not the Morons, the Borons, the Smartarses, and the Junior Death Eaters.

107. Yelling 'To infinity and BEYOND' was only funny the first time I took off on my broom.

108. Telling Draco Malfoy to 'Make like a ferret and bounce' is always a bad idea.

109. I am not allowed to tell the first years that there is a fifth house called 'Sparkleypoo' an I am in it.

110. Putting fake spiders all around Ron Weasley's bed is not funny, especially not when he tries to jump out the window.

111. Spiking the school's supply of pumpkin juice is not funny, no matter how much fun we had that night.

112. Potter 7 Voldemort 0, is not an appropriate T-shirt slogan.

113. 'Accidentally' dropping Polyjuice potion with Luna Lovegood's hair in Snape's drink is a very unhealthy hobby

114. I am not allowed to steal Professor Flitwick's wand, hold it over my head and laugh as he tries to reach it.

115. I am not allowed to draw a smiley face on my arm and tell everyone it's the new Dark Mark.

116. Should I chance to see a Death Eater wearing a white mask, I should not start singing anything from 'Phantom of the Opera'

117. I am not to stare at the Great Hall ceiling during dinner in the winter and cry 'My god, it's full of stars!'

118. Seamus Finnegan does not have a pot of gold under his bed.

119. I will not ask if Professor Lupin has had all his shots, such as rabies. Nor will I ask it of Professor McGonagall.

120. Professor Snape's proper given name is not Princess Silvermoon Fairywing Glimmer McSparkles.

121. Breaking into song during Potions class is not acceptable, especially if the song is 'I feel pretty'

122. There is no house made of candy in the forbidden Forest and it's wrong to say so to first years.

123. I will not tell Professor Trelawney that my teacup says she's lying.

124. I will not tell Snape he needs to go to his "Happy place".

125. However tempting it may be, I will not send Voldemort a Christmas card telling him how much we all love him, even through these difficult times.

126. I will not tell Umbridge "Voldemort says, 'Hi,'" every time I see her.

127. A hug is not all Snape needs.

128. I must not spread rumours that Lucius Malfoy is, was, or ever will be known in Death Eater circles as "Dobby's bitch."

129. I am not allowed to attempt to breed a liger.

130. I am not to tell Professor Snape to "turn that frown upside down, and you get a beautiful smile".

131. I am not to refer to Draco Malfoy as "a little boy who just needs a hug".

132. I am not to tell Moaning Myrtle, or any of the other ghosts for that matter, to "Get a life".

133. I am not to start a "Who can blow up their cauldron first" contest in Potions class.

134. When the stairs change, it is unnecessary for me to sink to my knees, wailing in agony, and/or scream, "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!"

135. I am not to use the Floo System to play a game of "Ultimate Tag".

136. I am not to ask Draco Malfoy if I may borrow his hair straightener.

Youtube clips of the day:

The Mysterious Ticking Noise from Potter Puppet Pals. This vid won a Youtube award for "most views" or something like that (can't remember exactly). Anyway, it's hilarious!

Wizard Swears, also from Potter Puppet Pals. Cauldron bum! Son of a banshee! Voldemort's nipple! Hagrid's buttcrack! Expecto Patronads! Floppy-wanded dementor boggerer! And of course, the incomparable Elder Swear...

Professor Snape bring Sexyback. I always laugh in the parts where Hagrid goes "yeah!":

Feeling lonely and unloved...

2008-08-02T21:19:00.003-04:00

Well, the Broadway Bound summer dance camp starts tomorrow, and I'm hoping it will lift up my mood. Most of my summer was boring and this week was especially horrible. I'm not going to go into details, but I feel abandoned by most of my friends, and even by God.

And why was this week so horrible? Well, they got married yesterday. I almost cried at work a few times, and I still have marks in my hands from my fingernails digging into them (I was clenching my fists for most of the day). Nobody seems to understand how painful this situation has been for me. I was an emotional wreck all day today, and I feel that God has officially slammed the door in my face. Well, He's been leading me to doors and then slamming them in my face for quite some time now, and I'm beginning to think that maybe He enjoys taunting me. And even if some will try to tell me that He might be trying to lead me to another door, well so far He's locked me out of the palace and sent me to the poorhouse door. Finding another door is not worth it if I have to leave the palace and go to the poorhouse. God was too busy having fun at their wedding to even care that I was practically living out the mad scene from Giselle. I've had setbacks in my religious faith many times, but never a faith crisis till now. I guess it started last year with the robbery - I felt that maybe God protects his favorites and leaves the rest of us to fend for ourselves, and I just don't happen to be one of the favorites. Even over a year later, I still have some symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, yet some people seem to think it's fun to mention the robbery as if it were a joke. But now after more setbacks and slammed doors, I'm beginning to think that God enjoys slapping me just to see how much I'll cry.

I feel like Giselle from the ballet story - she went mad and died after finding out that the man she loved was betrothed to someone else. Or maybe the little mermaid from the original story - in the real story, the prince marries someone else and the mermaid dies. Or Professor Snape from Harry Potter - he never stopped loving Lily even after she married someone else, and after she died. And he died while trying to protect Lily's son Harry. I found hope last year when I met someone else in Seville, but that didn't last. Whenever I fall in love, I always fall short in some way. I might have to settle for a lonely single life, or a mediocre relationship with some dud. Maybe I'm just not worth anyone's heart.

I don't know when or if things will get better. The dance camp might lift up my mood, I hope. And after I move to Montreal this fall at least I'll have a fresh start. Right now I just need some caring, and prayers (though at this point I don't know if prayers will even help me). I just can't take it anymore...

Youtube clips of the day:

The mad scene from Giselle (Carla Fracci as Giselle and Erik Bruhn as Albrecht). It shows exactly how I feel. Even at 4:53 Giselle looks at Countess Bathilde as though saying "I thought you were my friend...":

But even in death, Giselle still loved him, and saved him from being danced to death by the wilis (ghosts of broken-hearted girls). Here Giselle (Svetlana Zakharova) expresses her love for Albrecht (Roberto Bolle). I've noticed she has a similar physique to mine (she's 5'9" with super-long legs) so it makes me think of myself as Giselle in this vid. As for Roberto Bolle - most beautiful man on planet Earth, world's most perfect legs, body of a Greek god... I could go on and on:

This song really describes my loneliness this summer:

So You Think You Can Dance? I know I can, baby!

2008-05-29T22:46:00.008-04:00

Well, I spent one FABULOUS weekend doing Broadway Bound, and what a weekend it was! From Thursday to Monday, we were dancing pretty much non-stop, and learned so much choreography in such a short time. In my group, we did a Latin jazz number to JLo's "Let's get loud", some of us also learned some step dancing (and I had never step danced in my life!), and the whole group also learned some original Broadway choreography from Hairspray. We also did a yoga/pilates dance workout with someone from the Charlottetown Festival, and some gymnastics (tumbling, aerial silks, etc).

But the absolute most exciting part of the whole weekend was having the celebrity teachers here. Lisa Stevens - the choreographer of High School Musical - taught us some stuff from HSM. And of course, there was Travis Wall! Actually, on the day that Travis was supposed to come in, Heidi got us all together at the start of the day and said "Travis isn't coming". We were all like "whaaaa....?!?!" but noticed that Heidi was smiling so it was obvious she was kidding. Anyway, the airline lost his luggage (boo Air Canada) so he couldn't come in till later that day (his luggage did come in later, but Heidi said "we can't have him without his hair products!"). But when he did arrive, it caused quite a stir! Some of the kids were by the third-floor window of the studio waiting for him to show up, and when I heard them all screaming, I rushed over and saw a dude with a blond mohawk walking out of a car and crossing the road. It was him! I screamed like Mary Murphy as soon as I recognized him! Later, when he came in, everyone was excited.

Anyway, he taught my group some contemporary choreography, and I was soooo starstruck at the beginning! At the start of the class, he was facing the wall and getting stuff ready, I was standing right behind him and couldn't stop gawking at the back of his head. Tessa and Michelle were giggling hysterically because I had an obvious starstruck look on my face! Anyway, at first I had some trouble with the choreography and kept thinking "he must think I'm such a spaz..." but after a while, I was thinking less about "the incomparable Travis Wall" and getting more into the dancing, and I really enjoyed the dance. He taught my group two short dances (we performed one of them in the showcase), and also did a turning workshop with the whole group (he does the most amazing turns ever). Holy frig, I can't believe I got to learn from Travis Wall!!!!

Anyway, the showcase went great, and Travis performed an AMAZING solo! Holy frig, he is one of the best dancers I've ever seen! He was definitely the star of the show. After the show, he also signed autographs and we took pics with him. Here are mine:

Jealous much? Hehehe...

I also auditioned for That Dance Show. I didn't get in, and at first I was really upset about it. I figured this was my last chance - I'm getting old (yes, in the dance world, mid-20s is considered "getting old") and I thought that if I didn't get this gig, I'd have to resign myself to a life of only ever dancing as a hobby whenever I can afford it, and never improving much more than this because many teachers, choreographers, etc often don't take older dancers seriously. I thought "I'm done, this is it. It's over for me - I'm worth jack shit as a dancer and I'll never get my heyday." But after Broadway Bound was over, I found the silver lining on the cloud...

Heidi said "I wanna talk to you..." and at first I was thinking "oh no, she's gonna tell me I'm no good and don't have what it takes!" but she told me that she loves me to pieces, that she can see that I have a true passion for dance, and that I basically have the head (she had told me several times before that I'm a smart dancer with a good body/mind connection) and heart for it. So she wants to put me on scholarship for the 2-week dance camp she's running this summer (connected to That Dance Show) and also train me personally to work on technique (according to her, technique is my only weakness). I was amazed at that. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! I NEVER thought that anyone would be willing to take me under their wing as their protegee like that. I didn't even ask - she was the one who offered it! And after that, I felt much better about the whole thing. Technique can be learned and improved, but when it comes to smarts and passion - you either got it or you don't (and though smarts/passion can grow, they can't really be taught/trained). I figure if she offered to let me take the camp for free, and take some of her own time to train me (hehehe... she says she wants to drill me and make me sweat my hiney off - just like Felipe!), she must really believe in me! Plus, I also remembered Travis saying he got rejected the first time he auditioned for SYTYCD, and look at him now! Plus, even when he was on the show, he got critisized a lot by the judges when he had to do dance styles he'd never done before. Also, Donyelle from SYTYCD started dancing at 18 (and does not have the ideal dance body), and she's amazing too.

In a way, I kinda feel like Sayuri in Memoirs of a Geisha when Mameha offers to train her even though Sayuri is older than most apprentice geisha at that point in the story. I'm not doomed as a dancer after all, and I'm going to keep going as long as I can...

So yes, even though I didn't get into the show, I still got a happy ending. Well, I shouldn't say "ending" - you haven't seen the last of me!

Youtube clips of the day:

The incomparable Travis Wall (hehehe... love the Bart Simpson hairdoo!)

Travis and Donyelle dance contemporary:

Travis and Donyelle get torn to pieces for their quickstep:

Travis and Benji (aka Tranji) dance a dorktastic hip-hop routine, Mary and Brian both scream!

Guess who's coming to PEI to teach dance at Broadway Bound...

2008-05-16T19:54:00.004-04:00

TRAVIS WALL!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I'm serious. Travis Wall from So You Think You Can Dance. Yes, THE Travis Wall is going to be in town next weekend to teach in the Broadway Bound workshop. And I'm going to be there! Holy frig, I can't believe I'm going to learn from Travis himself, he was one of my favorites in SYTYCD. When I got Heidi Ford's message about it, I was like "Travis Wall?!?!?!" and freaked out. Of all places for him to come - little ol' PEI! I ran into Heidi today and she said that her sister worked with him on Broadway so that's how she got the connection. He was supposed to do some other gig that weekend but it got cancelled so Heidi booked him for BB. He's going to teach a workshop AND perform a solo in the showcase. Oh my gosh, I'm still practically bouncing around in excitement... I'M GOING TO MEET TRAVIS WALL!!!!!!!

For those of you who don't understand how huge this is - if you're a jock, it's like going to a hockey camp or training session led by Sidney Crosby.

And of course, I'm going to audition for That Dance Show during BB. I ran into Ben at the music festival (he sang after me), and he thinks I have a good chance of getting in. I didn't get into Anne and Gilbert, but I think they were mostly looking for teenagers. That Dance Show is supposed to be more grown-up.

Speaking of the music festival, I sang in 3 categories this year. Folk song (She's like the swallow), sacred solo (Ave Maria), and musical theatre (The Sound of Music). And I did great in all 3! The adjudicator loved me and gave me a lot of great feedback. The only one she critiqued was the folk song, but it was the first one I sang, then I used the criticism to improve my next two and nailed them (she had no critiques to give me those times). My teacher thinks I've improved a lot since I first started taking lessons with her, and I think I've come a long way. Canadian Idol can kiss my ass - it was a long time ago anyway and I have risen above all that old crap.

Actually, something that also helped in my performances at the music festival were thinking of things from Seville! I thought of La Macarena and La Virgen del Rocio while singing Ave Maria, and thought of the city when singing The Sound of Music - the flamenco music, white doves flying all over the Maria Luisa park (my heart wants to beat like the wings of the birds...), ringing church bells (my heart wants to sigh like a chime that flies from a church on a breeze), the river flowing through the city (to laugh like a brook when it trips and falls...), etc. Holy frig, it was all so long ago, but I still remember it so well...

All my dance teachers think I've improved in dance too. They loved my choreography in The Works (the student choreography show), and my performances in the end-of-year show. Actually, the dance I choreographed was inspired by someone I met in Seville. When I first heard the song (Mio Bello Bello Amore), the lyrics described exactly how I felt about Mauro when I first fell for him, so this dance was to thank him for giving me the strength and the will to love again. So it's not just for him, it's also for whoever I'll love and will love me back someday (if there is someone out there who'll love me in return). Apparently, he's still in Seville and was hired at La Carboneria (that was on his MySpace), but I know nothing else about his life. It was about a year ago that I met him (I remember it was around the time that Jason and Steph's daughter was born, and she's now a year old today). Well, even if he never loved me back, whether or not we'll see each other again, and whether or not he'll ever want to see me again, I'm still thankful he came into my life when he did - someone like him was just what I needed to convince me that I can love strongly again, and to inspire me to think more of what I want and don't want in a man and of things I want to do in life.

My latest dance obsession - the Argentine tango. Someday I want to go to Buenos Aires to learn/study it. Like I did for flamenco in Seville (now that I have a passion for flamenco, I definitely want to continue that when I go to Montreal). Also, apparently Montreal has a good tango scene so I might start there...

Aaaahhhh... can't wait till next week - Travis Wall is gonna be here!!!!!!!!

Youtube clips of the day:

Travis Wall performs a solo on So You Think You Can Dance:

Travis and Heidi (the SYTYCD contestant, not the one organizing BB!) and their bench dance (this one made me cry when I first saw it - it's the story of my love life):

Mio Bello Bello Amore from Cirque Du Soleil

My latest inspiration. I have long legs - they would look hot in a dance style like the tango:

NO8DO - A year ago tonight...

2008-03-31T19:42:00.003-04:00

...was when I first set foot in that magical city called Sevilla. I've been so nostalgic lately... I miss Sevilla every day, and long to be there again. My time away was full of magic and awakenings, and it changed me. I did have a few bouts of bad luck but I'm still glad I went. I learned and gained from every trip I've had, but Sevilla was definitely one of the best.

I'm performing my choreography next week at the Mack in Dance Umbrella's student choreography showcase. It's a ballet/contemporary piece done to "Mio Bello Bello Amore" from the Cirque Du Soleil Zumanity soundtrack. I don't know if I'll perform it in the big recital at the end of this month though. We'll see...

I'm home sick today with laryngitis. I couldn't go to work because I can barely talk. Hopefully this won't last too long...

Apparently, the auditions for That Dance Show are coming soon (though Heidi didn't give details yet). I figure if I get cast, I'll stick around for the summer till the show ends, then go to Montreal. If I don't get cast, I'll probably stay for Nancy's wedding in July, then leave. And in Montreal, I'm seriously thinking of taking a CELTA certification course (CELTA is one of the highest certifications for TESL - teaching english as a second language) and then teaching English for a while. Getting certified as an ESL teacher means I can go abroad to teach, but I don't think I'll do that yet (besides, unless the EU loosens their anal-retentive limits on allowing non-EU citizens to work there, there's no way I'd be able to teach in Spain or anywhere else in the Schengen zone without having to sort through a huge can of worms - way more trouble than it's worth). But I don't want to be a school teacher - I DO NOT have the patience to handle a class full of rowdy kids or bratty teenyboppers. Teaching isn't my dream job, but it will do at least for a while. The ideal teaching arrangement that I'm hoping for would be at a language school like the one I went to in Seville - small school with small classes (my class had less than 10 students), adult students who are paying for the course and want their money's worth (which means they're taking it seriously and not using it as an excuse for a vacation), and students who already have some knowledge of the language (in my class, we could all hold a decent conversation in Spanish) and are mostly looking to refine their skills.

Youtube clip of the day:

Watching this vid made me so nostalgic that I started getting teary. All those images of Sevilla, and I remember on the night the feria opened, there was a group of young guys singing this song in the fairgrounds and I danced to it. Oh the memories...

More nostalgia - the song in this vid is the one we warmed up to in Carmen's flamenco class. I also remember a gitano with long curly hair and brown skin playing it on the piano at La Carboneria late one night (and I remember him kissing my hand once when I was standing by the piano)...

This one is just too beautiful to leave out...

Foul weather, dance improvements, parades, and La Macarena

2008-03-21T19:03:00.003-04:00

Heh, long time no blog... Anyway, winter was foul this year and the groundhog was wrong when he predicted an early spring. The weather is still nasty and I'm getting really sick of it. Last month, we had that ice storm that blacked out the Island for a long time - in town the power was out only a few hours, but out in the country, some people never got electricity back for a week. Yikes... at least the days are getting longer with Daylight Savings Time, but I'm hoping the weather will improve soon.

Broadway Bound was fun, and there's another one coming in May that I want to get involved with too. Plus, I also auditioned for Anne and Gilbert, and Heidi (choreographer for A&G, and BB) wants me to audition for That Dance Show so I'll go for that too. I also did a student choreography for Dance Umbrella and auditioned for that too (3 pieces are getting picked for the end-of-year show). I wasn't sure about it at first because I figured I'd get told that I have bad technique and/or expressiveness, but in the end, the teachers liked my piece. Right before the audition, I was thinking stuff like "Whatever you feel, just dance it" (that's from Center Stage) and "Dance it like you mean it! Think - Felipe!" to get myself to dance more expressively (some of my teachers thought I wasn't expressive enough), and it worked! I'll know soon if it got picked. Actually, lots of people liked it, and I'm glad I auditioned - it let me know I improved a lot over the past few years.

So Holy Week is this week, but it's so boring here compared to Seville. I remember the daily parades with all the nazarenos in pointed hoods, guys carrying huge floats with religious statues (apparently, these floats weigh over a ton) all over town, the marching bands playing music, etc. I really miss it... When I woke up the morning after I arrived in Seville, I could hear the drums pounding outside the hostel and I figured it must be a Holy Week parade (I had read about them on the internet before going).

Youtube clips of the day:

Rocio Jurado sings sevillanas about 4 of the most important Holy Week processions in Seville - La Esperanza Triana (the hope of Triana - the first Mary statue), Jesus del Gran Poder (Jesus carrying the cross), La Macarena (do I even need to explain this one?), and El Cachorro (Jesus dying on the cross, and yes I know that "cachorro" means puppy/kitten, but there is a story behind the nickname!):

I found this one just now. Wow... The parades are so beautiful, and the end part of the vid really touched my heart. Those little kids in costume are soooo cute! And I remember the rain at last year's Holy Week - Antonio told me that his brotherhood couldn't even do their parade because it was pouring on the day they were supposed to go. And I remember seeing several nazarenos walking barefoot (on cobblestone streets - ouch! And Neal, cool it with the kkk jokes, alright? There is a huge difference between a nazareno and a klansman) and the wax on the streets marking the paths where the parades had passed:

La Macarena leaving the basilica during her procession. Notice all the people - Sevillanos think of her as the queen of Seville, and everyone wants to see her. That basilica is where I went for Sunday Mass for 2 months, so I got to see her in the church every week:

Pictures of La Macarena. Isn't she beautiful? Looking at pics and vids really doesn't compare to seeing her in person. I know some people will think "it's just a statue!", but looking at her directly made me feel as though I were looking at the Blessed Mother herself, and that she was trying to speak to me:

Yes, my love for the Blessed Mother has been much stronger since my stint in Seville last year (I can't believe it's been almost a year since I first set foot there...), and though I don't consider myself to have a true devotion yet (to me, it takes a lot more than just a strong love for a saint to have a real devotion), it's getting there!

Happy New Year? I'll just have to wait and see...

2008-01-01T19:07:00.000-05:00

Well, 2007 is over and the new year is starting. I don't really know how to describe the past year - I've had some of the best times in my life, but also one of the worst. And aside from 3 standout months while I was travelling, the rest of the year was just average. That's why I've decided to definitely move off the Island this year - if I stayed, I'd only get to enjoy life during the few times I get to escape, and the rest of my life would be boring. At least in Montreal, I can start with a clean slate. Many of my friends have moved on and started a new phase in their lives, and it's time for me to do the same. It seems like some of us are drifting away from each other and meeting new friends, and some of us have just changed so much over the years that it would be good to make changes like that. Of course I do have friends whose friendship I value, but those aren't the only friends I'll have in my life. I met lots of new friends while in Seville, and I'll continue to make new friends after I move to Montreal. You win some, you lose some, I guess...

Nothing lasts forever. People change, times change, things change. And if the changes are so big that you can't adjust, why bother sticking to something you just don't like anymore? I just found out they're engaged, which brought back the old heartache again. I forgot it for a time last spring, when I was in a place far away and crazy over someone else, but that one didn't work out so when I found out that they were back together again, old feelings of depression that I thought were long gone started coming back, and though it wasn't as bad during the fall since I never saw either of them, I knew I couldn't be friends with her again. I don't care if my friends think I'm being reckless for breaking off a friendship with someone who I once considered to be my best friend, I knew that if I wanted to keep my sanity, I had to break ties with those who have hurt me. Keeping that friendship would only hurt me in the long run, so I have to do what I have to do. I'm not running away from my problems, I'm weeding out the things that have given me problems, and preparing to find happiness elsewhere. My friends advised me to find a good church-going Catholic guy, but every time people say that, all it does is make me think "I once loved one. I wasn't worth his heart."

Maybe I'll find love in Montreal, or elsewhere. Or maybe if I do, either I won't be worth his heart to begin with, or someone else will butt in and ruin any chance I might have had. I don't know, it seems like everyone I know is either getting married or having babies. Well, I'm not ready to have children, but years ago I figured I'd be either married or engaged by now. Though I remember what Antonio told me about the Spanish perspective on marriage - in Spain, most people want to be able to buy their own place before getting married, but since housing is expensive in Spain, most people can't afford it till their late 20s at the very least. So most Spaniards don't get married till their 30s, and they also have fewer children. He said that when he was in the US, he thought it was strange that some people he met there (and friends of friends) were getting married in their early-mid 20s. Actually, I remember he and his friends were mostly around 30 or so, and most were still single (both the men and the women). Actually, he said that people in general have the same viewpoint in many parts of Europe. I like that approach - no rush to get hitched and no need to pop out brat after brat for the next 15 years.

In other news, I'm doing Broadway Bound this week (and during the weekend too). I won't be able to go to the UPEI retreat because of that - Neal told me there were spots open for non-students, but in the end I had to decline because BB is something I'd been wanting to do for a long time and I might not have another chance. Anyway, BB is basically an intense dance workshop mostly on musical theatre dance, and at the end, everyone involved is in a showcase. This is apparently the fourth one, and since I wasn't able to do the last 3 (found out too late and couldn't get the time off work, and the third one happened while I was still in Seville), I jumped at the chance this time. I handed in a form for vacation time at work weeks ago as soon as I found out when it was going to be, and I got it! Yay!

In dance classes last month, I've been improving on some things. A year ago, I couldn't do multiple turns (I could land a clean single pirouette and double jazz turns but not much else) but last month, I was doing multiple fouettes! I've been doing well with singing too - I sang at my music studio's Christmas recital last month and got lots of compliments. In Montreal, I'll continue with song and dance, and I also want to get into more acting and learn to play the flute.

I was browsing around on YouTube a while ago, and found some clips filmed by tourists at La Carboneria during the time I was in Seville, I checked them out, and thought maybe I'd spot myself walking in the background or sitting in the audience. But I found two of me dancing! I remember that night - it was about a week after the robbery and I was finally starting to enjoy life again. After the show was over, I was dancing with some locals - in both clips, I'm the girl in the black pants and black/white top, with a silver flower in my hair:

Clapping out the compas and getting into rumbas -

Bailando por Sevillanas (dancing Sevillanas) -

Another flamenco gem I found - the bailaor (male flamenco dancer) in the white outfit is none other than Felipe the firecracker himself!

Yeah, I'm still alive...

2007-11-21T23:01:00.000-05:00

Well, Neal was pleading for an update, so here it is! Hehehe... last time I wrote a post here, I was about to return home. In a way, even though it's been almost 5 months since I was in Europe, sometimes I feel as though I've just returned yesterday. I miss Seville, and Rome...

Besides, I haven't had much to write about since my return. I spent time with friends during the summer, went to the beach and the park a few times to keep up my Spain tan, and now I'm back in dance classes and stuff. But now the days are getting shorter and the weather is getting colder, which is making me long to escape to someplace warmer. PEI is so boring, I can't wait to move to Montreal next year. I figure I'll probably move in the summer of 2008.

I hope I can return to Seville someday. I just don't know if I'll be able to escape for 3 months again. Or if that time will come while I'm still young and able to enjoy the things I did the first time I went. I guess if I return, I'll be able to avoid some of the problems I had the first time (and make up for what I lost because of the thief), but some of the things that made my first trip there special won't be there anymore. Then again, I'll probably find new special things. I was worried about the same thing when I returned to Salamanca for the second time, but I found new special things in Salamanca and the second trip ended up being even better than the first. Then again, I was still young and beautiful (I turned 21 in Salamanca). I want to return to Seville while I'm still young and beautiful. I want to experience another feria, another Rocio pilgrimage, more flamenco, more late nights at La Carboneria, and maybe if I fall in love again in Sevilla I won't fail at romance this time around.

Youtube is a friggin' gold mine. I found so many videos that remind me of the special things I found in Seville, including Felipe's dancing, the feria, and even La Carboneria. Hehehe... notice the flute player in that vid? He's also in

this one.  Can you guess who it is?  Frig, I remember when I heard him play that flute at La Carboneria and the little cafe on San Jose street, it was like he put a spell on it so that the music would enchant everyone who hears it.  Aaaah... the angel of music...

Speaking of Mauro, even though we didn't have a real romance after all, he still inspired me in other ways.  I'm actually thinking of taking up the flute because of him and his passion for it.  Also, before I met him, I wasn't sure if I would ever fall hard for someone again after that depression I went through last year.  I thought that no matter what guy I would meet, I would always be thinking "you're great, but I wish I were with..." (don't need to say his name, everyone who knows me well knows who I'm talking about) but when I met Mauro I forgot all about him and the old heartache didn't matter.  Then again, the two guys were such polar opposites that it was pretty much impossible to compare them.  One was conservative, straight-laced, very religious, and his goal in life is to get married and have a family.  The other was wild, impulsive, very artistic, and he lives for the moment.  One appealed to the straight-laced side of my personality, the other appealed to the wild side of my personality.  I guess my real dream guy will have qualities of both.  But even though I haven't met my dream guy yet, Mauro gave me hope that someday I can fall in love (even if I wasn't truly in love with Mauro, it was definitely a strong romantic feeling that I hadn't felt in a long time) without being negatively affected by scars from previous romantic failures.

I watched Center Stage recently and in the scenes where Cooper was being slick and picking up Jody, then being cold towards her, I kept thinking "he is soooo Mauro!"  Actually, even while I was in Seville, he and I were like Cooper and Jody from Center Stage (except we didn't hook up).  Heck, I was totally Jody - the young dance student who was always getting criticized by my teachers, and falls for the gorgeous guy who turns out to be a player.  Even the times when I saw him at the cafe, I would sometimes start thinking of that Mandy Moore song from Center Stage (I wanna be with you).  Hehehe... I love the scene at the end where Jody says "Cooper, you're an amazing dancer and brilliant choreographer.  But as a boyfriend?  You kinda suck."

Anyway, enough about that.  I'm in several dance classes again this year, and apparently I improved since last year.  Anna (one of my teachers) told me my posture is better (gracias Felipe!).  Actually, I noticed that whenever I mess up a move, sometimes thinking of Felipe helps me get it.  Felipe worked us so hard, yelled at us so much, and I put so much effort into his class that whenever I'm like "think - Felipe!" I start to get the moves right in my classes here even when they have nothing to do with flamenco!  Unfortunately, there's no flamenco on PEI so I can't continue with it right now, but when I'm in Montreal, I'm definitely getting back into it!

As for other dance styles I want to try, I've been growing a love for the Argentine tango for the last few months, and I thought "what if I went to Buenos Aires to learn it?"  Well, it's just a thought for now, but wanting to learn flamenco in Seville was once "just a thought".  Someday...

I got back into voice lessons too, and definitely want to continue.  Music and dance will always be a big part of my life, and hopefully theatre and other things can become bigger for me too.

Anyway, that's it for now, hasta luego!

*edit*  I don't know what's wrong with the text in this, but no matter what I do to fix it, I can't get the whole thing to be one size.  I don't know why it changes halfway through the post.

From tortilla to pizza, guapa to bella, Triana to Trastevere...

2007-06-24T16:08:00.002-04:00

Well, my week and a half in Rome was AMAZING and I wish I could have stayed longer in this beautiful city. Here's what's been happening day by day:

Sunday:

Before leaving Seville, I went to the Basilica de la Macarena for Sunday Mass for one last time. I took some pictures of the beautiful church, and as I've said before, La Virgen Macarena is a statue of Mary crying and when I looked at her I'd feel as though she were speaking to me. Well, when I looked at her one last time, I thought "don't cry, I'll return someday..." I took some more pictures around town as an attempt to make up for my losses, then I finished my packing that night and took my flight out to Rome on Monday morning.

Monday:

I arrived in Rome that afternoon. I took the airport train to the Termini station (the main bus/train/subway station in Rome) and walked to the hostel (it's across the street from Termini). I got settled in and called Carlo to tell him I arrived. He and I decided to meet up on Thursday of that week.

Later that evening I decided to explore the city. I had a map and took the subway from Termini to Piazza di Spagna - the Spanish steps. Of course I had to see the Spanish steps, after spending 2.5 months in Spain! Then, I walked to the Trevi fountain and threw three coins in. According to some superstition, if you throw a coin in, you'll return to Rome. Two coins - fall in love in Rome. Three - get married in Rome. Well, it's only superstition but it's still nice to think about! Then, I continued to explore the city. So I walked all the way from the Spanish steps, to the Trevi fountain, to the Piazza del Popolo, to the river, along the river, and across a bridge to St. Peter's Square (which is sooooo beautiful at dusk!). And can you believe I was wearing strappy high heel sandals for the whole walk?! Hehehe, we dancers have tough feet... Actually, there were a few times when I thought of the last time I was in Rome - for World Youth Day in 2000. It was my first big overseas trip and since it was with a group, the chaperones would always bark at us to drop everything and follow, don't wander off, be in bed by midnight, dress properly, wear comfortable shoes, etc. Even then I knew I was too free-spirited for all those rules (which drove my chaperone crazy!). But on Monday night, I actually laughed out loud a few times because there I was, traipsing all over Rome by myself in a cute sundress and strappy high heels, doing whatever the frig I wanted. That's one of the things I love about travelling alone - I can go where I want, explore at my own pace, take my sweet time, and don't have to follow someone else's rules (heh, at WYD, the rules were mostly made for the tweens who have never wandered outside their hometown - too restrictive for free spirits and experienced travellers). Anyway, after dark I decided to go back to the hostel but the subway had already closed, so I took a cab. I was lucky actually, someone else who also wanted a cab to Termini happened to be there when I hailed it so we shared it and paid only about 4 euros each. Then, I went to bed.

Tuesday:

I decided to explore historic Rome that day. But since the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica is close to Termini, I went to see that first. It was soooo beautiful! At World Youth Day, my group went to see it, but it was supercrowded and so stuffy that I felt I was gonna pass out, so I didn't really get to enjoy it. But holy frig, that is one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen! Then, I took the metro to the colosseum and spent some time exploring that. I also checked out the ruins close by and Santi Giovanni e Paolo church. Later that evening I went to the Trevi fountain again, it's so beautiful in the evening! Unfortunately, it's also supercrowded with tourists... Anyway, while I was sitting on the big rocks beside the fountain, some guy kept checking me out and taking pictures of me! He never talked to me, but he seemed interested... Also, some young street vendor close by asked me out, but I turned him down. Heh, back home no one wants me, but in Europe I actually have a chance to turn down guys (or say yes, depending on whether or not I'm interested!). Actually, several times during the week, I'd encounter men saying "ciao bella!" and things like that. One guy asked for my phone number but I wasn't interested so I said I have a boyfriend. He left me alone after that.

Wednesday:

I decided to explore St. Peter's Basilica that day. So I took the subway to the Vatican and went to the basilica. Definitely high on my list of "most beautiful churches". I'm glad I got to explore it at my own pace and really let it all soak in. I saw the Pieta close to one of the entrances, and for some reason, I was also thinking of La Virgen del Rocio when I looked at it. Well, La Virgen del Rocio is a fancily decorated statue of Mary holding Baby Jesus, and they've both got golden crowns and fancy clothes and jewelry. La Pieta is a simple stone statue of Mary holding her "baby" Jesus after His death... When I see these statues, I often think of that song "Mary did you know?" - I don't know if La Virgen knew that the little baby she was holding would grow up to save the world and die for us, but Mary in La Pieta saw her "baby" die on the Cross after all the good he did for the world. I also saw the treasury and the tombs of the popes. JPII's tomb was there and there were so many people standing by and kneeling to pray. Rest in peace John Paul II... I also bought some stuff at the Vatican bookstore and sent some postcards.

Later that afternoon, I walked down the river to Trastevere. That part of town reminds me of Triana in Seville - very old and "local", not a big tourist attraction. I stumbled upon a little store that sold religious items for really cheap and bought a few things. There were a few nuns shopping there too. I ended up paying 12 euros total for a nice rosary, prayer card, sparkly cross necklace, and little leather wallet. I continued exploring the neighbourhood - narrow winding cobblestone streets, little restaurants and shops, barely any tourists, and piazzas with beautiful statues and fountains. I also saw the Santa Maria in Trastevere church and it's also on my list of "most beautiful churches". It's quite fancy and the images and paintings remind me of Byzantine or Eastern Orthodox icons. I walked back to the hostel and on the way over, I saw the Pantheon. Rome can be a little confusing to navigate at times, but not near as much a maze as Seville.

Thursday:

I didn't do too much that morning and early afternoon, just mailed some stuff home and did some laundry. But later at 5, I met up with Carlo. For those of you who don't know, he and I met when I was in Rome for WYD - at one of the parties at Castelfusano. We exchanged addresses, wrote to each other for a year, lost touch, but then found each other again on the internet last year and when I said I might return to Rome he said he'd love to see me again so we decided to meet up. Anyway, we met up at Termini station and went for a drink at a cafe near the Piazza de Republicca. He gave me a cute journal with a picture of a kitten on it. Later, we went for a walk and he showed me some of the theatres where he's performed (he's a professional actor) and told me he's met some major ballet stars when he worked as an extra in the opera. I freaked out when he told me he met Roberto Bolle! One of my favorite dancers - if I could dance with anyone in the world, it would be him. And apparently, his physique is as impressive in person as in pictures/videos (frig, he has the body of a Greek god!) He also met Carla Fracci and that even though she's in her 70s now, she still has legs like a young person. I guess since I'm a dancer I'll still have a young body when I'm old, hehehe... I told him I walked all over Rome in high heels, and he couldn't understand how my feet could take it. He was also impressed that I could travel to foreign cities by myself without any fear (he said I must be a true traveller if I can do that). Anyway, he also said that if he has time while I'm still here, he'd like to take me out to dinner but in the end he was really busy and never had time. :( Oh well, maybe the next time I'm in Rome, or if he comes to Canada!

Carlo had to leave a while later to go to a rehearsal, so after our meeting I went back to Trastevere for the evening. Trastevere is so beautiful in the evening - it's filled with people but most are locals, not tourists. Close to the river at the bottom of the bridges, there were lots of street vendors selling their stuff and a few restaurants. And in the actual neighbourbood itself, I went to a bar that had a little buffet, actually lots of local bars do this - you order a drink (though drinks at those places are more expensive), and take as much food as you want (mostly hors d'oeuvres), I guess like a variation of going for tapas in Spain (except with tapas, you pay for them instead of taking from a buffet). Later, I went to the Piazza Navona and Campo dei fiori. Those places have lots of restaurants and bars filled with tourists and locals. There are also street performers and vendors. Later, I went back to the hostel on the bus.

Friday:

I moved to a different hostel that day so I packed up my stuff and went to Hostel Alessandro Palace, which is also close to Termini. I was in a 4 person coed dorm, and turns out I was the only girl! But I didn't worry - the guys there were friendly and didn't try to hit on me (2 Americans, one Brazilian). I got settled in, and did a little shopping later. I bought a cute pair of shoes - platform wedges with Italian leather straps - and only paid 30 Euros! These were easier to walk in than the strappy high heels, though the only problem I had with the high heels is that sometimes the heel would sink into the space between cobblestones and get stuck, so I'd have to yank my foot out. I think it was also that day that I bought another cute sundress - it's a bright pink colour (kinda like the inside of a watermelon, but a little brighter), I already have lots of little black dresses so I got this one in a bright colour instead. Only 24 Euros - also really cheap!

Later that evening, I went to the hostel bar and talked to a few people. A group of us (including 2 of my dorm mates) decided to go out on the town later so we went to a lounge called the "Ice Club". It literally is an ice club - they use hard-core air conditioning to lower the temperature to minus 5, and so everyone there has to wear a thermal cape and gloves when going in. The walls are ice and the drinks are served in an ice glass. It was quite interesting, but I would have preferred a place where I could dance and party instead of just sit around freezing my ass off. Later, the others also wanted to go out and dance so one of them asked some teen guy where the discos are. The guy said that they're in Testaccio (another district in Rome) so we took taxis to go there. The street with all the discos in Testaccio is awesome - there are all sorts of bars/discos and lots of people. The only downside is that there are also a lot of sleazy guys in that area. My roommates went home early because one of them drank too much (it was his birthday and he did too many shots) and got sick, but I found the rest of the group (we took separate taxis) in a bar called Coyote. We didn't stay too long though, because the girls got tired. I didn't have to worry when I was with that group - the lone guy there was very protective and refused to leave me to fend for myself. They stayed with me till I could get a taxi (they were at a different hostel so they took another cab later).

Saturday:

I decided to take a little trip to Tivoli that day. It's a small town outside of Rome and so pretty! Lots of hills, narrow winding cobblestone streets, an old stone castle, and the Villa d'Este. That villa is sooooo beautiful! It belonged to an archbishop in the olden days and has all sorts of gardens, fountains, etc. Definitely worth seeing. I also saw some pretty churches and piazzas. After I got back to Rome that evening, I talked to some more people in the hostel bar and a group of guys from New Jersey wanted to go out. I told them about Testaccio and so a big group of us decided to go - the 5 NJ guys, an Irish couple, and me. The Irish ended up not going after all so I went with the guys. We went to Coyote and had fun. The guys didn't want to dance but I still had fun, and I had a little flirtation with a guy named Marco. Actually, he was like an Italian version of Terence! Hehehe... Anyway, around 3 or 4am, the guys and I took a taxi back to the hostel.

Sunday:

I wanted to go to Mass at Santa Maria Maggiore since it's close to the hostel but I couldn't find the Mass times. But I did find the Mass times for St. Peter's Basilica on the internet so I decided to go there. I checked out St. Paul's basilica early in the afternoon (another beautiful church), and went to the evening Mass at St Peter's. It was in Italian and I actually felt privileged to attend Mass at St. Peter's. It's such a beautiful place and the headquarters of the Church... I didn't do much later that evening but I decided that on Monday I would take a little trip to Assisi.

Monday:

I went to Assisi that afternoon. My WYD group had gone in 2000, but I didn't know anything about St. Francis and St. Clare back then, and since it was so crowded because of WYD, I was ready to pass out when I was in the basilica. But this time I got to explore on my own pace and it was worth it. Actually, one of the reasons I decided to return to Assisi is because a little while before coming to Europe, I was in the St. Theresa's Parish bookstore back home and there was a basket with saint names in it. If I wanted, I could pick a name and, according to tradition, it's actually the saint that picks me and wants to spend time with me. I was totally expecting to get some obscure saint that I've never heard off, but I got St. Clare of Assisi! My first thought was "I guess I'm going to Assisi then!" - picking her name was what sealed my commitment.

Anyway, the first thing I did when I arrived in the village was check out the St. Francis basilica. I remembered it, but this time I really got to see it without huge crowds. It is sooooo beautiful! I also saw the tomb of St. Francis, and since I know that Neal has a great love for St. Francis, I asked him to pray for Neal. Later, I walked around town and like Tivoli, it's an old village straight out of the olden days. I went to the St. Clare basilica and prayed at her tomb. Also, the San Damiano crucifix that spoke to St. Francis is in the St. Clare basilica. I continued walking around and bought a book on the life of St. Clare. Then, when it was time for me to return to Rome, I started talking to two guys from Chile who were also heading back to Rome on the same train. Then, we talked to two Brazilians who were also going back to Rome. The train was late but when it came we all continued chatting together. We had to switch trains later and our next one was late too (ugh, Italian trains...) but that didn't ruin our day. When we got back to Rome, we all exchanged emails and I went back to the hostel to sleep.

Tuesday:

I went to visit the Vatican museum. It was sooooo worth the 13 Euro entry price! All the paintings, statues, objects, etc were so impressive and of course there was the Sistine chapel! Except so many people were taking pictures with flash even though it's not allowed, and I kept thinking "stop destroying the frescoes!" (apparently, flash fades the paint). Aside from the Sistine chapel, I also loved the "Rafael rooms" with all the frescoes by Rafael. I love old paintings... I also bought some nice fancy bookmarks in the museum gift shop. I took the subway back to Termini and walked around for a bit, and later that evening I met some Canadian guys from Manitoba in the hostel and they were talking to two Italian girls they had met earlier. We all went for pizza/supper at a restaurant near the hostel and the girls said they were going to the Spanish steps later. Their friends called and they said they'll go meet up with their friends and come back, but they never did. So the guys and I ended up having to pay for their food. Thankfully, it was only about 8 euros more for each of us, so no biggie. Now I'm just going to go to sleep because I'm flying out in the morning. Arrivederci Roma...

Late nights at La Carbonería, flamenco party at Taller, and preparations for Rome...

2007-06-17T11:56:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm leaving Seville tomorrow morning and heading off to Rome. I'll miss this place but with all the crap that happened to me in the past few weeks, I think I'm ready to leave. At least when I go to Rome, I can start with a clean slate and have a better recovery from what happened earlier this month.

I still had fun in the past week or so. I still went to La Carbonería many times and the thing I love most about that place is that there is something different every night. After the flamenco show is over, the locals jam and you never really know what to expect. On Tuesday, it was a boring night so I went home early, but on Wednesday I got to dance Sevillanas on the stage in front of the whole crowd (the flamenco show people asked for two volunteers to dance Sevillanas and of course I went for it!) and lots of people gave me compliments. Another time, a few locals were jamming and one of them, who is obviously classically trained in singing, started singing latin jazz standards as some other guy was playing the piano. I think the singer might have been a tuno (traditional musicians who dress like medieval/renaissance minstrels and sing classic Spanish songs for the public - I saw a few of these groups in Salamanca years ago) because of the way he sang and carried himself. He was AMAZING!

During the week, I met up with Antonio and his girlfriend for tapas and a drink. We went to the same little cafe where I usually went. Juan was there, and told me that he saw a guy on a motorcycle grab some Japanese woman's purse recently. The Barrio Santa Cruz is always filled with tourists so all the thieves try their luck there. And apparently, Asian tourists are a common target - I'm guessing the thieves assume they have more money and carry expensive electronics. Anyway, while we were waiting for our food, who should show up but Mauro! He was still friendly with me as always - two-cheek kiss and some chit-chat, and I introduced him to my friends. I told him about the robbery and this was probably the first time I didn't fight back tears when talking about it. Mauro told me he's going to La Carbonería later, if I want to go too. When he left, I told Antonio that he's the guy I like (I had told him about the Flute Cutie saga) and Antonio said that I seemed really happy when talking to him. It's true - there's just something about Mauro that lifts up my mood. Every time I see him, even if I know I can't have him...

So I went to La Carbonería later that evening. He was there and when I saw him sitting alone on the terrace, I went to chat with him. I wasn't flirty anymore - I just treated him in the same way I treat any guy I'm friends with. He said he quit his job at the cafe a while ago and is now unemployed but is happy to chill out for a while. He also went to Morocco recently. Later in the conversation, he left and from the way he excused himself, I figured he probably just went to get another drink or chat with someone else, and would come back. But he never did and I didn't see him again that evening. How rude is that?! Frig, if he was planning on leaving for the night, I would normally assume he would say goodbye with a two-cheek kiss like he always did. Anyway, I still stuck around and enjoyed the music, then I took a cab home.

On Friday, I didn't go to La Carbonería because Taller Flamenco (the flamenco school) had a party on the terrace of the school building. I went and had a great time. I chatted with Phil from Quebec (one of the guitar students) and he said he's moving to Montreal next year so we exchanged emails and we'll probably see each other at flamenco events when we're both living there. Actually, there were a lot of Quebeckers at the flamenco school - flamenco is quite popular in Quebec. Aside from Phil, there was a woman from Rimouski and a girl around my age from Quebec City at the school a few weeks ago. I danced a lot and Pulga (guitar teacher - his real name is Francisco but his nickname is El Pulga) said "olé Canada!¨ I had also brought my pointe shoes and attempted some pointe/flamenco fusion and some people were quite impressed! One of the Spanish guys playing guitar and singing was totally flirting with me - calling me guapa (gorgeous) and kissing my hand. His name is José Luis and he claims he taught himself to play flamenco guitar (no lessons - and flamenco guitar is hard!). He kinda looked like a Spanish Noah Wyle. One time when I took my pointe shoe off, he said I have nice feet - holy frig, I NEVER get compliments on my feet! They're always either too big, too narrow, not arched enough, etc (ugh, can you tell I hate my feet?). Anyway, even though he was a little too short for me (in heels I was taller than him) I thought he was kinda cute (though not the most gorgeous guy I've ever seen) so I played along with the flirtation. He offered to walk me home (the flamenco school is about 10-15 minutes away from my place) and since he's friends with people from the school, I trusted him. We walked home, and he kept giving me kisses on the way over! What I like about Spanish men - they flirt if they're interested and if you show interest back, they don't pull away. Unlike heartbreakers like Mauro who just seem to enjoy tugging on girls' heartstrings and pull away from anyone who's worth more than just a one-night stand.

Last night, I met up with Kristeen (turns out it's spelled "Kristeen" and not Christine) and Matilda and we went for tapas. After, she had to go put Matilda to bed but I went to La Carbonería again and had lots of fun. The crowd that evening was younger and more lively. I talked to some Turkish guys that are here for some cultural project. I also enjoyed some more flamenco music and danced. Sevillanas, rumbas, tangos (fyi, tango flamenco is NOTHING like Argentine tango), alegrías, bulerías, I love it all! I brought my pointes that evening too and again, people were impressed and some girl was taking pictures of my feet! Hehehe...

Today, I'm just spending my time packing and getting my stuff ready to go to Italy. Adios Sevilla (I'll return someday...), ciao Roma!

Picking up the pieces...

2007-06-12T08:13:00.000-04:00

Well, things are a little better now. I finally got my new bank card and was able to make changes in my travel plans. If this robbery hadn't happened, I'd be in Barcelona right now, probably exploring the Temple de la Sagrada Familia or hiking out to Montserrat to see the shrine to la Moreneta (the Black Madonna). But no, I'm still in Seville. I bought a new digital camera (also bought insurance for it too) but it's not the same. For about a week after the robbery, I'd have random crying fits and panic attacks over petty things. It's not as bad now, but this is definitely the worst thing that has ever happened on my travels.

I saw Juan at the cafe but I don't think Mauro works there anymore. There is a new waiter and for some reason, the cafe seems to have lost its magic. Without Mauro and his smiles and chit-chat, it's just a cafe like all the others, it's not the same anymore. Juan confessed that he likes me, but I told him "to me, you're a friend" and he said "friend with a right to love?" I said "no, just a friend, nothing more". He understood. And he tried to comfort me after the robbery - gave me a flower, called me me beautiful and said "what Mauro won't say to you, I'll say". But he didn't try to hit on me anymore. I later told Christine about Juan confessing his feelings, and she told me "Juan is married and has children!" :-0 Frig, it seems like in Sevilla, marriage doesn't stop men from hitting on other women... She told me she always gets hit on by married men and she also thinks it's disgusting. Actually, remember when I mentionned those guys at the feria who picked me up and took me around to different casetas? One of those guys was wearing a wedding ring (but he wasn't near as flirty as the others, thank goodness! He mostly just chatted and danced Sevillanas with me, the other guys were flirting). And a few weeks ago, I saw him (well, I think it was him... looked a lot like him anyway) at the Basilica de la Macarena after Mass with his wife and kids.

I met up with Antonio and we went to the cafe together. He also tried to comfort me and when I said "I should have put my pictures on cd..." he told me not to have regrets - it already happened and it's no use regretting something that can't be changed. He also told me that his roommate's friend got the same type of attack on the same street on the night before it happened to me (probably the same thief) and she lost her camera too. He also said that he accidentally left his camera in a taxi in Madrid a while ago when he was there to take his big exam (and never got the camera back even after calling all 36 cab companies in Madrid so it was probably stolen by the next person who took the cab).

Bruno (one of the guitar students at the flamenco school - from California) told me not to live life in fear because of this, so instead of staying home and crying all the time, I decided to keep going to La Carbonería. I went on Wednesday after dinner with Antonio, and Christine was there with Matilda and a few other friends. One time, I heard some random flamenco singing and knuckles hitting the wooden tables in a flamenco beat and saw that it was a group of young guys (late teens, early 20s). I started dancing and they all complimented me. They described me as "Una Canadiense con compás" - a Canadian with rhythm. Matilda also danced, she's such a little cutie! Two Mexican men came later and chatted with us too. I kept on dancing as these guys were singing and knocking out the beat on the table. Later, they got me to dance a Sevillana with some guy who looked just like a gypsy version of Andrew Chaisson! Anyway, I had fun with them and for the first time in a week, I actually smiled a real smile. Later, there was more music and jamming, and I kept on dancing for the crowds. Then, Mauro came in with his flute (unfortunately, he didn't play). Even though I know I can't have him, seeing his face with that cute smile and those eyes full of passion lifted my mood a little more, and while he watched me dance he said "olé Amélie!" (hehehe... it's so cute how he pronounces it "emilee"!). That was a fun night, and there were a few times that I actually laughed for the first time in a long time. When I decided to go home, I didn't want to take any chances anymore, so I went to a bigger avenue nearby and hailed a cab. I don't think I'll ever have the confidence to walk home at night even though the robbery was an exception rather than the rule, and most of the city is supposed to be safe.

I went again on Thursday and though I didn't dance as much, I still enjoyed the music. And again on Friday too. Had a nice little chat with a local guy named José who has been to Canada (Niagara Falls). He tried to guess how old I was and said 28 - he was shocked to find out I was 24! He said I seem more like a woman than like a girl, and that most of the foreigners he knows who are studying flamenco dance are in their late 20s and older. I guessed he was around 28, but turns out he's 38! He said people always think he's younger than his age. I returned to La Carbonería again on Saturday and danced Sevillanas and rumbas with some local women. Then, a group of men started playing music and singing. A gypsy guy was playing guitar and some other guys were taking turns singing. Flamenco singing is so passionate, and I always enjoy hearing a good cantaor (flamenco singer). These guys were amazing! Later, the bar was closing so they took the party outside to the street. They kept on singing and playing guitar, and I danced. There were a few other tourists there too and one of them took lots of pictures. He gave me his email and said if I send him a message he can send me the pics (I told him what happened with my camera). Then last night (Monday) I ran into him again at the Alameda de Hercules. It was great to see him again, he's a nice guy.

There is a new student living in a room in the same apartment as me now - a Mexican girl named Fernanda. She's also studying flamenco dance. The landlady lives there and has 2 spare rooms that she rents out to foreign students - I have one and Fernanda has the other room now.

I've lost weight since taking the flamenco classes. My stomach is actually flat now! And I've improved a lot in my dancing too. On my last day of flamenco classes, I was able to do a move in Felipe's class that isn't that complicated, but still a challenge. And I was able to do it fast! I remember seeing something similar in a YouTube clip of Joaquin Cortés, and thinking "WHOA!" - his feet made a sound like a drumroll. And I did it too! Even Felipe seemed a little impressed! (and I thought it was impossible to impress Felipe...). And at the ballet studio, I've improved a lot on pointe. Before coming to Seville, turns on pointe were pretty much impossible for me, but a few weeks ago, I did half a pique turn, and last week I actually did a pirouette on pointe! I can also do one-footed releves on pointe in the center too.

I'm flying to Rome on Monday. I booked hostels and Carlo and I are going to meet up sometime while I'm there. I haven't fully recovered from this incident yet, but things are finally starting to get better.

Still sad and paranoid, don't know when or if things will be better

2007-06-05T15:13:00.000-04:00

I'm still paranoid and sad because of what happened last week. This was supposed to be my dream trip and now this happened... I thought nothing could bring me down. Not being stranded at the airport when I arrived, not getting scammed out of a few euros by a pushy "fortune teller" and some teen girl at the feria, not the hellish taxi wait at the feria, not minor injuries and illness (even the time I was in bed for 2 days with food poisoning because of something I ate in El Rocio - probably the raw shrimp - don't worry I have recovered), not even a failed attempt at romance (and everyone who knows me knows I don't handle rejection very well). But the robbery killed my confidence and my happiness and even though I'm thankful it wasn't worse, it still hurts.

I talked to Antonio and he told me the exact same thing happened to his French roommate the night before it happened to me. Apparently she was coming out of La Carboneria and got mugged by some guy with a gun. Probably the same guy. Antonio thinks that if 2 girls reported it within the same week, there will probably be more police protection there from now on. He also thinks the thief was probably a foreigner - apparently Spanish thieves use knives to threaten people (oh gee - remind me not to encounter a Spanish thief while I'm here) rather than guns. He also told me that a while ago while he was in Madrid, he accidentally left his digital camera in a taxi (well, shit happens but in my case I got the scare of my life).

I haven't seen Mauro since last week but Christine had told me something about him that I didn't like hearing - she said she saw him at La Carboneria late at night (a few days after I gave him my number), jamming with some other musicians, and he had some drunk Australian tourist hanging all over him. Apparently he seemed into it. Christine said "girls seem to like you" and he said "I like girls!" and since the tourist was obviously drunk out of her mind Christine said "uh, are you going to take advantage?" and he said yes. She also told me that this girl looked like a Barbie - long straight blond hair, tight jeans, silver belt, slutty top (Christine said that those types of girls are all over Australia and she's disgusted by that look), and that she was only in Seville for 2 days (Christine talked to her sister). Well, maybe that's why he didn't want me - I wasn't an easy lay. Though he doesn't know about my morals and commitment to save sex for marriage (we never actually talked about religion or anything like that), he and I had actual conversations and I didn't act like some drunken bimbo around him. I'm not into the Paris Hilton look/act - I'm better than that. But I keep thinking - why would someone so gorgeous, talented, charming, etc want nothing more than an easy lay? I thought he'd be into classy girls like me... Maybe Nathan was right when he said "forget about him, the last thing you need is a case of syphilis".

El Rocío was amazing. I took the bus there on Saturday evening and stayed till about midnight or so - I didn't camp out. As soon as I saw the statue of La Virgen del Rocío in the church, I thought "I've wanted to see you for so long..." And I prayed directly in front of her. There were so many people there, and I saw a woman crying and another one singing a devotion song to La Virgen del Rocío. Most of us were wearing flamenco costumes. And I'm glad I bought the leather boots, there is so much sand in that village, it's like a friggin' beach! I also bought some medallions and a rosary (the rosary was also stolen by the thief). All the different hermandades (brotherhoods - groups of people from each region of Spain) presented themselves to La Virgen, so all evening I would hear someone announcing "viva la virgen del rocío!" and the crowd would shout "viva!" "viva la blanca paloma!" (long live the white dove - another nickname for la Virgen del Rocío) "viva!" "viva la hermandad de... " (long live the brotherhood of... wherever they were from) "viva!" "viva la madre de dios" "viva!" There was music everywhere (Sevillanas, of course!) and everyone was enjoying themselves. That's the type of pilgrimage I like - when people celebrate like that. When it was getting dark I knew I had to catch the bus back to Seville but I was soooo tempted to call Mauro! I kept thinking "But El Rocío is so beautiful and romantic at night, and I look sooooo tempting in my flamenco dress!" but in the end I fought the temptation and returned to town. I figured if it turned out he didn't like me back, he'd make an excuse not to meet me anyway.

The next day, I took the bus back to El Rocío. I walked around for a while and one time I walked past a house where people were having a party, and someone in the house invited me in. She was quite insistent that I come in so I joined them. I danced Sevillanas with them and had a good time. One woman was playing castanets while dancing Sevillanas and I wish I had that kind of coordination! They also chatted with me and invited me to stay for supper. They passed around different plates of hors d'oeuvres and kept piling food onto my plate. They saw I look Asian and one man there said that his daughter is from China (I'm guessing he adopted a girl from a Chinese orphanage). Actually, apparently a lot of Spanish families are adopting Chinese girls from orphanages - I've seen several Spanish families in Seville with a Chinese baby or toddler, and even at the feria I saw a Spanish mother with her Chinese daughter in full flamenco costume! They also invited me to stay to pray the rosary. It's traditional for the Rocío pilgrimage to pray the rosary at midnight on Monday. Outside, people were walking past with candles and other things and others were playing music and dancing.

Then, when it was time for rosary, the family gave each of us in the house a candle and shut out the lights, then we prayed in front of an image of La Virgen del Rocío. They made petitions/requests after every decade, and when a tiny little boy made a petition, my first thought was "bless him!" I didn't say anything out loud but I prayed that Mauro forgive me for being too eager and that we be on good terms (whether good terms be friendship or romance). Later during the rosary I kept thinking of how the Blessed Mother loves us all and has the power to intercede on our behalf, and though I already knew that, it really made sense that night and the feeling was so beautiful that I started crying. At the end when they turned the lights back on the family saw me wiping my nose and they agreed with me that the rosary is such a beautiful prayer. Then, one of the women took me to the house where the brotherhood of Algeciras (where she is from) was staying and introduced me to a few people. I also got to walk with them in front of the church.

Later, we went close to the church for the big event - when a group of young guys from Almonte jump the fence surrounding the statue, lift up the statue and parade it around the village. We waited for a long time but at 3am, the Church bell started ringing and out came the statue! My eyes lit up when I saw la Virgen and the woman standing with me was obviously touched by what she saw in me. The statue must have been heavy because it kept tilting sideways but just seeing it was such a wonderful experience. When they took the statue elsewhere, I decided to return to Seville so I took the bus back. But the family that took me in exchanged emails and addresses with me and said they'd send their pictures. I had taken so many pictures myself with my own camera (including a pic of the statue that I was really proud of - postcard quality), but now those are lost :(

Then on Monday I woke up horribly sick. I figured it was food poisoning and I guess it was probably the raw shellfish the family fed me. I stayed in bed all day. On Tuesday I felt better and was able to walk around but I still felt sick. Wednesday I was probably 80% recovered and life could get back to normal. Thursday I felt fine. Then Thursday night/early Friday morning that f--king thief ruined everything for me.

Hands down, the scariest and most devastating thing that's ever happened to me

2007-06-02T08:18:00.000-04:00

So on Thursday night, I was leaving La Carboneria after a fun night with Christine, her daughter, and her Aussie friend Alex, and I took the path I always take - it's well-lit and there's usually people coming and going. Anyway, I walked past some random dude who was sitting around doing nothing, and then turned the corner into the next street. Then, random dude runs up behind me, grabs my purse and tries to steal it. I screamed "AYUDA AYUDA!" (help!) and then freaked out even more when I saw he was holding a gun. Since he didn't seem to know how to use it and it looked fake and was making plastic sounds I guess that's what prompted me to keep screaming and struggling instead of just drop the bag. Anyway, I fell down and he yanked my bag away and ran off.

I kept screaming for help and people arrived and asked what happened. One of the good samaritans who showed up had a bike and went off in the direction the thief went. A few minutes later he came back with my purse and a piece of the toy gun the thief had tried to scare me with. But things were missing - my wallet (with money, cards, and driver's license), my cell phone, and (this is the most devastating part for me - I still cry about it) my digital camera with all my pictures. The good samaritans tried to calm me down and called the police for me.

The cops showed up and we gave a description of the thief so that the police could send a message to the other officers in the area to search for this jerk. Then, they took me to the station to file a report. They also took me to the emergency room in case I was injured (all I had were a few scrapes on one arm and a bruise on the other so the doctor just wiped some antiseptic on the scrapes). We went back to the station to finish off the reports and stuff and then they drove me home.

I couldn't sleep for the rest of the night and spent most of it praying for a miracle to get my stuff back. I prayed to St. Anthony (patron of miracles and lost items), St. Jude (patron of hopeless causes) and a few others, and prayed the rosary. I have a stronger love for the Blessed Mother now (especially after being in El Rocio - I had an amazing spiritual experience there) and begged her to pray for me. But no miracles - chances are, I'll never get my stuff back. Cards can be cancelled and replaced and it's easy to get a cheap phone here, but I can never get my pictures back. So what if I can take new ones of the Cathedral and other places around town? The photos that meant the most to me were the ones I can never replace - the feria, El Rocio, my friends, etc. All I've got are the ones I posted here a while ago.

I thank God for the good samaritans who helped me (especially the guy with the bike who got my purse back) and for the police who showed up and helped me after (even if it probably won't do anything to get my stuff back). And I definitely thank God that all the thief wanted was the bag (don't even want to think of what else he could have done to me) and that the only physical harm I got were scrapes and bruises. But that doesn't erase the pain of losing my camera and photos.

The next morning I went to class and told people what happened. Lourdes said that she's had her digital camera stolen twice in Seville (she also agreed with me that it's devastating to lose pictures) and someone else said that when he was in London, he got mugged and his camera got stolen too. Since I was so sleep-deprived, I was struggling through Lourdes' class so I knew I wouldn't be able to handle Felipe's class. I told Felipe what happened and said I can't participate that day and he understood. Actually, this is the first time he was actually nice to me - he was concerned about me and was glad that I wasn't physically hurt, and told me to calm down and get some rest. My landlady (God bless her) lent me some money and said I can borrow more if I want till I get my new bank card and also said that if I want to stay longer I can if I want to. I went to visit Christine yesterday and she told me she had her camera stolen once too. It's common, but still devastating. My dream trip to Spain where I finally got to experience things that I've wanted to do for years (feria, El Rocio, etc) - and now I've lost my pictures of those.

Normally, I'd leave Seville on the 10th, but I think I'll just cancel Barcelona and stay a while longer. I might just head straight to Rome after that. This whole incident has thrown a monkey wrench into my plans and since I don't want to have to hurry to clean up the mess, get stuff ready, and be stressed out on my last week, I think I need to have an extra week here at least till things calm down for me. I should receive my cards next week, and I'll buy a new digital camera (and take pictures around Seville even if I can't replace the ones I loved most). I'll spend some time with friends and try to enjoy the extra time here. I sent a message to Carlo telling him I'll be in Rome in a few weeks and he definitely wants to see me again.

Friends, please pray for me, even after a full night's sleep and a big healthy breakfast my mind is still numb and I still cry at random times. What I wouldn't give for things to be the way they were on Thursday afternoon - when my biggest gripes were Mauro not being interested and Felipe yelling at me for sticking my ass out and using too much turnout (I'm a ballet dancer, what the frig did you expect?!). I need a hug...

Dance and romance - ugh, I wish both were easier!

2007-05-25T06:52:00.000-04:00

Classes are going good, even though 2 days ago I had to hold back the urge to tell Felipe to shove his cane where the sun don't shine. You see, he had us try an exercise to work on our posture, and when I tried it, I had a little trouble with it and he said "eres difícil" - you're difficult. Never in my life has any dance teacher ever described me as "difficult". It made me feel as if I were a slow learner or that I was like those people who audition for So You Think You Can Dance and think they're good but suck (and don't realize it till the judges tell them they're terrible). Didn't he see the look on my face that made it obvious I was trying to get it right? Geez, sorry I'm not a prodigy like you, Mr. Perfect. Ugh... And if he makes one more comment about me sticking my ass out too much (I'm trying to correct that too, but I think he could be a little more tactful when telling me), I will have to fight back the urge to say "well then, kiss my ass, why don't ya?!"

Anyway, at my next class with Lourdes, I asked her if my dancing was ok, and she said yes and I said "Felipe said I'm difficult..." and she gave me some constructive criticism, which I appreciate. She told me to remember to keep my back and shoulders in the right position. That's what I prefer - constructive criticism helps me to see what I'm doing wrong and do something to correct it. Comments like "you're difficult" make me feel like I can't do anything right. But things are going better in class now. I make more effort to get things right and I don't think Felipe hates me anymore!

I went to the flamenco dance museum a few days ago, and liked it. The admission price was a little too much for such a small museum (10 Euros, yikes! I paid less than that to get into bigger museums!) but it was cool. I also bought a book at the gift shop there called "Flamenco - an Englishman's Passion" and it was written by a British man who loves flamenco. I'll probably start reading it soon.

Tomorrow, I'm going to El Rocío. I'll take the bus there. I figure I can either camp out like most of the people, or if I can't handle it, I can take the bus back to town, sleep in my apartment, then head back on Sunday. I'm definitely staying overnight on Sunday night/Monday morning because it's at sunrise that they'll take the statue out of the shrine and parade it around. I bought a pair of boots to wear, and they were much cheaper than I expected. I normally would expect a pair of quality leather boots to be a lot more than 55 Euros! Frig, my flamenco shoes cost twice more than that...

I'm really confused by Mauro's behaviour. I figured that if he really liked me, he would have called within the first 2 days after I gave him my number, but he never did. I went back to the cafe on Wednesday and asked for his number and he gave it immediately (I figure if he didn't want me to contact him, he would have said something like "you don't need it, I'll call you"). But later while he was cleaning up when they were closing, I would sneak glances at him and Juan said something like "you have a lot of passion when you look" and I said "I really like him...". Turns out Juan didn't know I liked Mauro till then (I thought giving him my number made it obvious?) and he seemed disappointed. Juan often flirted with me but Christine had told me that he's just naturally flirty so I took it with a grain of salt. But turns out Juan was interested and seemed disappointed when it turned out that Mauro was the one I wanted. I'm not interested in Juan - he's too old (36) and honestly, I think he's kinda ugly (looks like he doesn't know much about proper dental hygiene, yuck!). When it was time for Mauro to leave, he gave me the usual two-cheek kiss (I figured if he really liked me, he would have given me a real kiss by now?) and left. Juan kept trying to flirt with me, but I think I made it clear that it's Mauro I want. Then, I went home.

Yesterday, I sent Mauro a text message asking him if he wants to go for coffee that afternoon and he never responded. I actually worried that maybe he had given me a fake number, but then I decided to just bite the bullet once again and phone him myself. It wasn't a fake number and he seemed happy to talk to me. He's been busy lately (long work days, plus preparing to go to El Rocío) but said we can go for coffee next week. He's playing music at a private party in El Rocío so I can't go see him play, but we talked about meeting up some other time during the pilgrimage when he has a break or whatever. I also said I might drop by at the cafe that evening. But when I went (wearing that cute new dress he likes), they were closed and he was already gone. Juan was still there but I still kept my distance to avoid encouraging him. I figured if Mauro liked me, he would have made an effort to stick around till I arrived.

Ugh, I'm so stupid when it comes to trying to figure out men... This is why I don't understand why people think I should be glad I didn't date in school (supposedly, high school dating really sucks) - all the lessons I should have learned a long time ago, I have to learn now. And all the mistakes I should have made a long time ago, I end up making now. Mauro seemed to like me at first (which is why I was so hopeful after I gave him my number), but he's not making much of an effort to spend time with me and he hasn't even tried to kiss me yet. Yes, I know he's busy, but if I were in that situation, I would still make at least some effort to spend some time with someone I really like (I'm not expecting him to drop everything and sweep me off my feet, but still!). I don't know, maybe he's just playing games, or maybe Juan said or did something to make him lose interest... If anyone (especially my guyfriends) has any insight on this situation, please share it with me (fyi - the old "forget him, he's not worth it" stuff won't help - I want to know what's going on with his behaviour).

I asked a few classmates for advice. Neeru from England said to play it cool and ignore him for a bit. He'll miss me and come chasing after me after that. Evelyn from Holland said to be direct and ask if he likes me or not. I think I'll take the British approach for now. I've been direct all week and I think he needs a chance to miss me. Plus, I don't want to seem desperate. My British classmate said that being too eager to spend time with a guy might end up being a turn-off. So I won't contact him while I'm in El Rocío. If he calls me, great. If not, then I'll wait till next week. Maybe even show up at the cafe with a guyfriend like Nathan, Alex, or Antonio - if he thinks he's got competition maybe he'll be a little more eager! Well, we'll see...

I also found out today that one of my other classmates (from Switzerland) had a little fling with one of the male teachers in the flamenco school. She's 22 and he's 34 - he teaches the rhythm/clapping classes and I think he also teaches flamenco singing. He's a really good singer - when I took his course, I would clap out the beat and he'd sing along when I was doing it right.

Anyway, that's it for now!

Holy frig, I can't believe I did that...

2007-05-22T07:13:00.000-04:00

Well, it had been more than a week and Mauro hadn't really made a move even though he was quite friendly and kinda flirty with me. I was tired of waiting around for him to make the first move, so last weekend, I figured that since I only have 3 more weeks in Seville, I should just grit my teeth and make the first move myself. If I don't go for it now, I'll lose my chance. And I wasn't going to allow myself to chicken out.

So last night, I put on my cute new dress (black with white dots and a white ribbon around the waist, a little above knee-length, modest but still flatters my figure) and went to the cafe where he and Juan work, and once again, he was friendly with me and happy to see me. I ordered a tinto de verano (red wine mixed with sprite) and a tapa. He chatted with me when the cafe wasn't too busy, but when he wasn't looking, I wrote my cell phone number on a piece of paper. Then, I ordered a glass of wine, and later when it was time for me to pay, he gave me the little plate thingy with the bill, and along with the money, I also slipped in the little paper with my phone number.

Later, when the cafe was closing, he gave me a flirty smile as he was cleaning up. Juan kept giving me a smile as if thinking "so you like Mauro, eh?" And then when they were almost done cleaning up, I said to Mauro "I hope you didn't throw away the little paper I gave you" and he said no and pointed to his pocket. I said "call me sometime" and he said "I will, we'll go for coffee" and later in the conversation, he told me he doesn't really have much to do after work in the evenings, so I said "do you want to go for a walk?" He said yes, and when they had finished closing the cafe, we went to La Carbonería.

Apparently, on the night that he and Juan played music at La Carbonería, the owner threw them out because they weren't officially booked to play there (they just showed up after the real show was over and jammed) but since he didn't have his flute with him this time (he and Juan didn't play music at their cafe last night because apparently the owner's mother is dying so they want to keep things quiet for now), we could go in. He got a beer for himself and a glass of wine for me, then we found a table in the terrace (the outdoor part of the place). We chatted mostly about music, but other things too. I told him I was in town during the feria and showed him the picture of myself in my flamenco dress (the one where Nathan and I are in the tango pose) he said I look good in it. I also said that it took me a while to find a dress that fit properly because I don't have the same body shape as most Spanish women, and he said "yes, you're quite tall" (but he's still taller than me even when I wear heels). He asked me how tall I am and I said around 5'8", or 174-175 cm, and he said "I like tall women". Also, he told me that he's going to play music in El Rocio next weekend during the pilgrimage for 3 days, and I said I might go to El Rocio too. Hopefully, I'll see him there, and hear his magic flute again... Later, he got a phone call from his buddy, and then when he hung up he said that a few of his friends are at his place and invited me to come along.

So we went to his place - he lives close to the cafe. On the way over, I said that I just bought this new dress a few days ago and love it so much that I've been wearing it often, and he said "you should" (I look quite hot in it, actually!). When we got to his place, he had two buddies there watching a flamenco program on tv. We didn't talk much but they commented on the singing and dancing. Later, Mauro was tired so he decided to go to sleep, and said I can hang out with them if I want, but I decided to go home and sleep too (got class in the morning, after all). We said goodbye and gave each other the two-cheek kiss like always, and then I walked home.

Holy frig, I am so surprised that I actually had the confidence to make a move! Normally I'm so shy when it comes to guys I like and I'm always worried that I'd be too forward if I made the first move. But when Christine said she thinks Mauro likes me, it gave me a little more confidence. Plus, I've also been begging St. Valentine (patron saint of romantic love) to pray for me! Hehehe...

And if anyone tries to tell me that it's wrong for girls to make the first move, I'm not going to listen to you. I was sick of waiting for him, so why should I have to settle for just smiling and making eyes at him when it didn't lead to anything? I figure any real man will like a strong woman who has confidence - I may not be a radical feminist, but I still think that it's good to be strong and have control over your own love life (and on the flip side, I still like chivalry and romance even if I'm not super-old-fashioned). I think that any man who is turned off by confidence is a man I wouldn't want to date anyway.

Anyway, that's the saga of flute cutie for now... but hopefully there is more to come! ;)

I got pictures!

2007-05-20T12:48:00.000-04:00

Yes, I will show you a few of my many pictures from the start of my stay in Seville till now. If they're too small or not clear enough, just click on them to see the big version:

Holy Week - a barefoot nazareno walks through the streets in Seville in one of the many "pasos".

Holy Week - one of the many floats showing Jesus' Passion.

A flamenco show at Casa de la Memoria

No, they're not Klansmen, they're nazarenos! They give candy to children, for frig's sake!

Plaza de España

Baby nazareno and his mommy.

La Macarena - most beautiful statue of Mary ever.

Spanish teacher (the guy) surrounded by foreign gals (and another teacher in front).

My host family - the guys are Roberto (left - another student who stayed there) and Ricardo (aka Richa - Pepi's son). The women are Pepi (right - house mother) and her mother.

One of the treasures of the Cathedral.

The Feria de Abril - people dancing Sevillanas in flamenco costumes.

Nathan and I lookin' Spanish.

Me and Nathan being silly (In Spain, I've got a "cuerpo guitarra" - guitar body sounds much nicer than "fat ass", hahaha)

Antonio (back row, far right - red tie), Manolo (beside him, with the glasses) and their friends in Manolo's caseta.

Teacher Carmen (front) and the flamenco class.

Mauro *swoon* and Juan jam at La Carboneria.

Night time in the Barrio Santa Cruz.

Little horse rider at the Jerez feria

Felipe and Luna dance at Casa de la Memoria

Well, there you have it! A sample of my photos. Viva Sevilla!

Hot weather, Felipe's mind-blowing dance, romería del Rocío, and longings for Mauro...

2007-05-19T11:43:00.000-04:00

Flamenco classes are going well. Actually, I think Felipe worked us harder in a week than Carmen (my teacher for the first 4 weeks) did! I hardly ever broke a sweat in Carmen's class, but in Felipe's class I'm always drenched in sweat at the end! And since he makes us repeat everything all the time without a break, sometimes even outside of class I find myself trying to practice his choreography! And sometime during the week, everyone messed up on something new he had taught us the previous day, so he said in Spanish "the one who does it perfectly is invited to a romantic dinner with me". Hehehe... he's one of those people who's sexy and knows it - actually many times in class I noticed his reflection in the mirror and he was always giving intense "yeah you're hot!" looks, but not to anyone in the class - he was checking out his own reflection! Hehehe...

I went to another flamenco show at Casa de la Memoria and he was dancing there, and he is AMAZING!!!!!!!!! He's only like 5 feet tall (the female dancer there was taller than him!), but he is a friggin' firecracker! I had my jaw hanging open as I was watching him dance. Plus it's not just the dancing that amazed me - he had this look of passion on his face that makes his love for dance so obvious. He wasn't looking at the audience or trying to show off, he was dancing for the love of it - a mark of a true dancer. He has long-ish hair and always ties it back in class, but in the show his hair was down and drenched in sweat. As he was doing zapateados (the foot-stomping in flamenco), I half-expected to see smoke rising from his feet. When he finished and everyone was clapping, I had an urge to scream out "REAL MEN DANCE!" but I didn't - people would think I'm weird. But holy frig, Felipe Mato is one of the most amazing dancers I've ever seen!

I saw Mauro again a few times, but since the cafe was busy we didn't really get a chance to talk much. But I did see him and Juan play some music and Mauro plays the flute with the same passion as Felipe when he dances. I could see it in his face. Christine thinks he likes me - when we were at the cafe together she noticed he was more flirty with me than anyone else. Another time at the cafe I overheard him telling some other tourist that he's 30 - frig, he does NOT look 30! I thought he was around 25 or so. Oh well, 30 isn't too old for me! Christine and I, and her daughter (she has a 6-year-old named Matilda) went there for lunch today so that I could check him out again, but he wasn't there. Juan said he was sick, but I remember Mauro telling me he got hired to play in El Rocio so I figure he probably called in sick to go to El Rocio. I hope I can see him again. I'm so smitten with him that I can't even check out other guys anymore!

Christine celebrated her birthday last night, and invited me and her other friends to a cafe at the Alameda de Hercules. They're mostly Australian and British, and teach English in Seville. I enjoyed my evening with them. Today, Christine told me that one of the men there (originally from Columbia) wanted my phone number, but I declined. He's twice my age, for frig's sake! I think he probably thought I was older than 24 - he has a 6-year-old son and in the conversation he asked me if I have any children. Christine told me that she thought I was around 28 or so (because of my demeanor, not my looks). She also said he pursued her for a long time but they ended up being just friends.

Yesterday, the weather was way too hot. It was way above 30 and the landlady said that even at this time of year, it's not normal. She lent me an electric fan for my room and I was soooo thankful! She said a current brought the heat from the desert in Africa. Today it was still hot, but not near as bad as yesterday.

The big romería (pilgrimage) in El Rocio is supposed to be next weekend, and I think I'll go. But I don't think I'll walk all the way. Originally, I wanted to go hard-core and walk from Seville to the village, camp out like the pilgrims, and walk back. But I don't think I'll be able to do that if the weather is very hot, and I don't want to miss my classes. Some people start the trek during the week, but doing that would mean I would miss several classes. Apparently, there are special bus services specifically for the pilgrimage that take pilgrims directly from Seville to El Rocio every hour (same for coming back) so I'll probably do that. Even though it's more like "El Rocio lite", I still want to experience it. I'll probably go on Saturday (traditionally, people arrive on Saturday) and come back on Monday afternoon. Monday morning is when the take out the statue of La Virgen del Rocio and parade it around, and it's the highlight of the pilgrimage so I don't want to miss it. And of course, for this traditional pilgrimage, I would also wear my flamenco dress and dance Sevillanas. All I need are a pair of pilgrim boots (for the romería, people wear leather boots) but I can get those in a store in town.

My last day in Seville will be June 10, then I'm going to Barcelona for 4 days (booked a flight with a cheap airline) and then going to Italy. I'll mostly be in Rome during that time but I also want to go to Assisi, and maybe see other cities too.

I read the big news on facebook - big felicitaciones to Jason and Steph for the birth of their little niña! I can't wait to see little Madelyn when I return!

Anyway, talk to you all later!

Ballet and flamenco dance, and a possibility for romance...

2007-05-15T07:36:00.000-04:00

Well, I went to the Feria del Caballo (horse fair) in Jerez and it was nice. I took the train over (Jerez is about an hour or so from Seville) and brought my traje gitana with me (changed into it when I arrived). Horses are basically the pride of Jerez so there were lots of horse-drawn carriages and people in traditional costume riding horses. I even saw a few people make their horse do fancy walks and stuff. At one point, I saw a little boy who couldn't have been older than 5 or so, wearing the full traditional Andalusian horse-riding outfit (tight pants, boots, white shirt, short jacket, broad-brimmed hat) sitting on a big horse (not a pony, he was on an actual horse) and he was such a little cutie! I thought "Maria would SCREAM!" The feria in Jerez was smaller and less exclusive - more casetas were open to the public and simply had a section roped off for members, instead of at the Seville feria where most casetas won't let non-members in unless a member invites them. I spent the afternoon and early evening there and I liked it, though I had more fun at the Seville feria.

Had my first classes with the new teachers yesterday. Lourdes teaches the technique class and there are only 3 students in that one so we get more individual attention. Felipe teaches the dance/choreography class and the rumours about him being hard-core are partly true. He really did make us stand on demi-pointe for several minutes in a row, but he didn't whip anyone who moved. And he really does tap out the beat with a cane. He rarely gives us breaks and just keeps us going and going and going (he seems to think we're the friggin' energizer bunny). And one time when he told me my arm and back were in the wrong position, I moved so that I could get the right pose, but it made my rear stick out too much, so in Spanish he said "your ass is out too far!" Argh, it's a tough class, but I still like it!

I've been taking ballet classes at a local dance studio and I like those too. I usually go 2-3 times a week, and the first time I went, it was pointe day. Back home, my class only did pointe maybe 10 minutes at the end of class, or we'd do barre on pointe and everything else in slippers, but this class did everything on pointe! I had been out of ballet for a month since arriving in Seville, and I'm only a beginner at pointe, so to be thrown into an hour-long pointe class - holy frig. But my feet still survived! The monday class is only in slippers, wednesday is on pointe, and friday is mostly in slippers but the last 10-15 minutes or so are on pointe. I think my pointe shoes are going to be dead when it's time for me to leave...

Remember when I mentionned the cute flute player whose music I danced to at La Carboneria? Well, he and the guitar player who played with him work at a cafe-bar close to La Carboneria, and as soon as I saw him there, I knew I had to come back again! Well, on Friday, I went there and the flute cutie and I officially introduced ourselves. His name is Mauro and he's Italian. Since most of the tables were full, an Australian woman who arrived at the cafe a few minutes after me sat at my table and later we started talking to a group of men nearby who later offered to take us to another cafe. When we left, I told Mauro I'll probably be back ;) but later when I returned his cafe was closed for the night.

But all was not lost. Last night, I went back and he was there. He's quite friendly and when he saw me again he gave me a kiss on each cheek (common greeting in Spain and Italy, but I still find it special) and said it's nice to see me again. We chatted a bit and later his guitar buddy came out and introduced himself as Juan. They played a few flamenco songs. Someone had left a hand-made paper flower (made from the cafe's napkins) on the table, and Mauro gave it to me. Later, when the cafe was closing, he invited me in for another drink and we continued chatting. He's from Genoa and has been in Seville since September. He didn't go to university because the only universities with the music programs he wanted were in the US and that was too expensive and far from home. He loves jazz and now studies flamenco while he's in Spain. He just found out that he got hired to play in El Rocio for a few days, but I figure I'll see him again - I'm going back to that cafe tonight ;) *swoon*

Aside from all that, I've also been going to museums in Seville, doing a little shopping, etc. Christine (the Australian woman I met at the cafe where Mauro works) is celebrating her birthday this Friday and invited me to a restaurant. I haven't talked much to the foreign students I know, but I think most of them have returned home (Nathan and Alex are the only ones that I know of who are still in Seville).

Anyway, hope everything is well back home!

Missing the feria, but still having fun!

2007-05-11T08:20:00.000-04:00

Life is good, even though I still miss the magic of the Feria. There is another feria in Jerez so I might go to that tomorrow, but what really made the feria in Seville amazing for me was spending time with the people I met/knew. On the days that I was on my own, it was still great but it wasn't as fun as when I was with a group (the guys who picked me up, the foreign students, Antonio and Manolo and their friends). At the end of the month, there is also a feria in Cordoba but I'm not sure if I'm going to go to that one - I'm trying to decide whether to go to Cordoba for the feria that weekend or to El Rocio for the pilgrimage.

One of the guys I met at the feria called me to ask me out. On the Saturday of the feria, he called but I was planning on meeting with friends so he said he'd call later. A few days later, he called again and we agreed to meet, but later in the conversation he asked if I live alone. I said no, and he asked if the other person is often in the apartment. I said yes, so he said "then we'll go to a hotel". I said "No! I'm not that type of person!", he said "but I like you..." and I said "we can go out, but I'm not spending the night". Anyway, later in the conversation, he said he'd call me later that evening, but he never did. Guess the jerk didn't think I was worth a date since I refused to sleep with him.

A week before the feria, Tomatito did a concert in Seville. For those of you who don't know, Tomatito is an AMAZING flamenco guitarist. Basically, Paco de Lucia is the king of flamenco guitar, and Tomatito (Paco's protege) is the crown prince. I have 2 of his cds at home (and bought another one here) and I wanted to go to the concert. But when I tried to buy tickets on the internet, it was sold out. I was told that the lineup to buy tickets at the theatre was huge. I remember a few years ago when a few of my friends tried to get tickets for the U2 concert in Ottawa but it sold out in like 20 minutes - apparently it was like that for the Tomatito concert too. The flamenco school I'm with managed to get 6 tickets but the guitar students got first priority so us dancers got nothing. Grrr... One thing's for sure, if Joaquin Cortes (insanely talented flamenco dancer) ever does a show in Seville while I'm here, I'll be first in line to buy tickets!

Speaking of flamenco dancers, I went to see another show at Casa de la Memoria and this time there was a male dancer who was absolutely amazing. Such passion! Within 5 minutes of seeing him dance, I was thinking "REAL MEN DANCE!" He was a gitano (gypsy) with dark skin and long black hair, and holy frig, my eyes were on him the whole time! At the end of the show, he stepped off the wooden platform and started dancing on the floor, and there were literally sparks coming from his feet! Well, flamenco shoes have nails in them so I guess the nails hitting the tiles on the floor made the sparks, but it was still amazing!

My flamenco classes are going great, and now I'm getting moved up to a higher level. This one will be 2 classes - one for technique and another for choreography. One of the teachers I'm getting is a guy (but before you all start yelling at me not to hit on my teacher, don't worry, I'm not going to! I've seen him, he's like half my height!) and I heard he's really tough. People who took his class said he's totally old-school so he works everyone for the whole time without a break, uses a cane to slam out the beat in the music, and someone even said that he'd make everyone stand on demi-pointe for a half hour (to strengthen ankles and core muscles) without moving (she said that if you move, he whips you). Well, someone else said it's more like 5 minutes rather than 30, but still!

The other students at the flamenco school are nice, and taking class with them is fun. They're mostly foreign students too. One of the guitar students was a guy from Malaysia, and if you've heard the stereotypes about Asian men being conservative and straight-laced, well, throw those stereotypes out the window because this guy's sense of humour reminded me of my old friend Bindert! (and you've heard my stories about Bindert, you know what that means...) Example - a group of people from the school were planning on going to a bullfight, and he kept making jokes about "slapping the bull's balls". Well, he left a while ago, but he always made everyone laugh while he was there!

The foreign students and I went to a flamenco bar called La Carboneria last weekend. We were late so we missed the dancing but we did get to see a group of random locals playing music there. There was a man with a guitar and a cute guy with a flute (saw the same people playing music at a nearby restaurant a few days ago, they both work there), and while they were playing, I started clapping out the beat (those rhythm/clapping classes I took at the school helped a lot!) and practicing my moves. As I was dancing, a few people started taking pictures and when the musicians saw me, they were like "baila baila!" (dance dance!) and I totally got into it. I danced a few more times that night and the locals were complimenting me on my dancing! I'll have to go there more often...

Anyway, I have to go now, hasta luego!

Feria de Abril - Best. Festival. Ever.

2007-05-01T08:29:00.000-04:00

Well, as you know, last week was the April Fair, and what a week it was! It was my favorite week of the time I've been here so far. I already wrote about the opening night, now I'll break down the rest of the week day by day:

Tuesday - "La Más Guapa de la Feria" - It's Great to be Young and Beautiful!

I had my flamenco class that morning but in the afternoon I decided to go to the Feria. I put on my flamenco dress and the accessories to go with it (fringed shawl, peineta, flower, big earings) and walked over. Since most people were at the Feria, there weren't many people downtown (the fairgrounds are across the bridge). But there were a few tourists in town and when they saw me in my full-length "traje gitana", most of them tried to take pictures of me! Anyway, I found a taxi in town and used that to get to the feria instead of walking all the way.

When I got there, it was just as I imagined - casetas full of people, sevillana music playing, horse-drawn carriages going back and forth, people in traditiona riding attire on horseback, women in flamenco dresses, etc. I walked around for a while and found a public caseta where I could have a drink and some food. As I sat down, a random group of guys came up to me, one of them gave me a flower, and they started flirting with me. They left, but a few minutes later I saw them again and they continued flirting. They danced sevillanas with me, and even got me to dance with some teen boy who didn't look older than 15 or so! Later, that boy pointed to another one in the group and said "he is a spectacular dancing man!" and "he is a matador!" It was so funny! The guys who were hitting on me bought me drinks and later decided to take me to other casetas. The ones they took me to were private ones where you have to be invited in by a member, so I felt priviledged to be there. The first one we went to was very classy - the waiters were in tuxes. We went to a few other ones after that. So I spent my day caseta-hopping with a group of Spanish guys and enjoying free food, drinks, and compliments such as "eres la más guapa de la feria!" (you are the most beautiful girl in the feria). Nice to know that 4 years after my last trip to Spain, I still got it... ;)

At night, I wanted to meet up with the other foreign students so I sent Najet (French girl who works at Instituto Alhambra) a text message on my phone to ask if they were coming. She said yes and I met up with them at the opening gate. We went to a public caseta and later Nathan showed up! I was like "Nathan! I thought you were in Madrid!" Well, it turns out he didn't like Madrid and the language school he had planned on going to was crap so he came back to Sevilla and is staying till June! Alex from Denmark (another foreign student) was very happy to have Nathan back in the group because they're the only guys and he missed having a guy around to talk about guy stuff. I was happy too because I always enjoy my time with Nathan and the group just wasn't the same without him! Anyway, we all stayed in a caseta for the evening and those of us who can dance Sevillanas had fun dancing. Alex was chattin' it up with some Spanish girls in full traje gitana, and I talked to them later too (and they said my outfit was perfect for the feria). Nathan was making jokes about stealing my flower (I had a flower on the top of my head, but I laughed because it reminded me of Monica on "Friends" referring to her virginity as her "flower"), and I tried (unsuccessfully) to teach him Sevillanas. Anyway, we all stayed out late and had a blast.

Wednesday - "That is One Big Bull..." - Bullfight in the Rain.

On Wednesday, I went to the feria in my flamenco dress again (though with different coloured accessories) but I didn't spend much time there because I had a ticket for a bullfight. It took me a while to walk to the bullring (and on the way over, a tourist stopped me to take a picture of me in my dress) so I missed the matadors' grand entrance but I did get to watch the rest of the bullfight. I came in right after the first bull entered the ring, and it was huge! My first thought was "that is one big bull..." Anyway, it was crowded so I couldn't find my seat after that bull was dead, but when I finally found my seat, the person sitting next to me turned out to be a Canadian too! He's from Vancouver and is visiting for a few weeks. He and his wife enjoy bullfights, and he explained all the rules and what was going on. He also said he thought I was Spanish when he first saw me because of my outfit!

The second matador who fought was El Juli - the cutie! He's a huge celebrity and I told the Canadian man that I saw Juli in a bullfight in Salamanca a few years ago and fell in love with him. Anyway, his bull turned out too weak and at the point when they realized that, it was too late to replace it with a stronger one (they were at the point where the matador has to kill the bull) so Juli just killed it to get it over with. The third matador who fought did something wrong while killing his bull so the bull didn't die right away. Someone blew a trumpet to give him a warning - if the bull isn't dead by a certain point, the matador gets booed out of the ring. The bull died in time. Later when it was time for each matador to fight their second bull, it started to rain while El Juli was fighting. I was glad to have gotten a cheap ticket because the cheap seats are under a shelter so we didn't get rained on. But even when it was pouring, it didn't seem to affect the matadors at all! Juli just kept on going but then he slipped in the mud and fell down as the bull ran past him, so he took off his shoes and finished the fight in his tights. The third guy did the same. And as the third guy was fighting, he was doing so well that people started shouting for music, so the band played a pasodoble (traditional bullfight music) as this guy was fighting.

When the corrida was over, the matadors were leaving the ring and as Juli was leaving, the Canadian man said "there's your guy!" I laughed and later when the crowds were leaving I looked outside the ring and saw the matadors' vans driving away. I knew it was them because each van had the matador's name written on it! Traffic was slow so I was able to go outside before they drove away, and as Juli's Mercedes van drove past, I saw him in the window (still wearing his bullfighter costume) and blew him a kiss! Unfortunately, he didn't see me (didn't seem to be paying attention to anything outside the van). It was still a little rainy so after phoning Nathan and finding out that none of our friends were going to the feria that evening, I decided not to go either. I ended up glad I didn't go because it started raining again in the evening, but I still planned on going the next day!

Thursday - "Queremos taxi!" - A Long Day and Even Longer Night.

I returned to the Feria that day, and just walked around for most of the day, enjoying the sights. At one point, two teen girls came up to me with a clipboard asking for donations for a "centre for poor children" since I didn't have much money I said no. But then the one with the clipboard started looking at me as if begging for money and made me feel like I was the most evil person ever for saying no, and said I can only give 5 euros if I want, and though I wasn't sure about it, I ended up giving her 4 euros. After they left, the bouncer of the caseta I was standing in front of said it was a scam and that they're "mala gente" (bad people). Fortunately, it was only 4 euros so it wasn't much. It didn't ruin my day though.

Later that evening, my friends came and though they were very late, I still met up with them and we had fun. I had planned on going home a little early because of class the next day but Nathan was like "Donde está to alma española!?" (where is your Spanish soul!?) so I stayed out. A guy from Barcelona who is friends with one of the other foreign students said I looked beautiful in my traje gitana. Anthony from Australia came along too (we don't see him that often aside from classes because he works in another town) and we all had a blast dancing, drinking, and walking around the fairgrounds. But when it came time to take a taxi home, the taxi lineup was huge. I had taken a taxi home a few nights before and waited in line about an hour, but this time it was even worse. It was slow and after two hours, everyone started getting restless. The people in front of me started chanting "Queremos taxi! Queremos taxi!" (we want a taxi!) and someone even complained to the police about it! But still, nothing was done and the taxi service was still slow as heck. I got in line at about 4am, and didn't get a cab till 8am! Can you believe that?! The sun had risen and everyone in line was angry. If I had known it would have taken that long, I might have walked home instead (walking would have taken an hour or so, but I didn't want to walk alone at night). I knew I wouldn't be able to function well in class that day since I had been up all night, so I phoned the school to say I couldn't come in, and slept for most of the day.

Friday - "Screw Sleep, I'm Going to the Feria!" - All Feria'd Out? Not Tonight, Baby!

When I woke up that afternoon I had a sore throat and runny nose so I took it easy for the evening. I put my flamenco dress in the laundry and drank some hot tea. I figured I should go to bed early so that night even though I felt better, I shut the lights soon after 10pm. But then at around 10:45pm, my cell phone rang - it was Manolo, inviting me to his caseta. So of course I thought "screw sleep, I'm going to the feria!" and jumped at the chance! Since my dress was still hanging on a clothesline and I figured it wasn't dry yet, I put on another flamenco outfit I had bought a week earlier that was actually much cheaper than the first dress I had (but still very pretty). I then realized that this one was better for the evenings because it was heavier and had sleeves, so it kept me warm (the other dress was light and good for the hot day weather). I thought "I'll be fine, I'll just go easy on the drinks and dances..." as I went to the feria.

I sent Manolo a text message to tell him I arrived, but he didn't respond so after waiting a while and watching a group of teens play music and dance close to the portada (entrance) I called him and he told me the address of the caseta. When I got there, he waved at the bouncer to let me in (it was a private caseta so I had to be invited by a member). Antonio was there too, and they introduced me to their other friends. There was live music (guy singing playing Sevillanas on the guitar) and a small platform for those who want to dance, so Manolo and I danced a Sevillana, and I also danced with a woman from their group of friends who said I dance well. I enjoyed talking to them, and then we decided to go to the carnival on Calle Infierno (Hell Street, hehehe...). We rode the ferris wheel and it was huge! From the top, the portada of the fairgrounds looked tiny! Manolo has vertigo so he took off his glasses and refused to look down, but I was fine (I don't like heights either but we were in an closed space so it wasn't that scary).

Then, we went around to other casetas. One of them required a ticket to get in, but since the guys had many spare tickets, I got one too. I had fun with the group. One of the guys says he has been to Toronto and loved it. He loved the CN Tower, but he also went to a baseball game and thought it was sooooo boring (I agree, sorry Jason!). He also said that even though he speaks French and understands French from France perfectly well, he had met someone in Canada who spoke Quebec French and he couldn't understand a word of it! Hehehe... Anyway, I danced with another guy in the group who said it was a pleasure to dance with me. Later when the night was almost over, a few of us (me, Antonio, Manolo, and the other guy I danced with) went for chocolate con churros and after this I didn't need to worry about the taxi lineups that can rival Marienfeld Mass Exodus - Antonio drove me home. I'm glad I went to the feria instead of staying home and sleeping!

Saturday - "I Just Had to Get Up and Shake It" - Another Great Night.

I slept all morning and woke up some time in the afternoon, and decided to go to the feria again that evening. So I put on my flamenco outfit again and headed out. I met up with Antonio, Manolo, and friends at their caseta and had fun chatting with them again. Some old guy walked by and someone said that he's a celebrity in Spain so a few people took pictures with him. I also got a picture. Alex came to the feria too, and he met up with me at Manolo's caseta. Later, a group of us went around to other casetas and spent our time drinking and dancing all night. Alex had to leave early because he had friends from Madrid visiting and was meeting up with them, so I spent the rest of the evening/night with Antonio, Manolo, and friends.

One of the casetas also had a band that played salsa music, which I LOVE, so as soon as I heard "Vivir Lo Nuestro" (one of my fave salsa songs) of course I had to get up and shake it (we were sitting at a table at the time). I have 2 versions of that song on my computer back home - one by Marc Anthony and La India, the other one by David Bisbal and Rosa. Except it's a lot harder to dance salsa in a heavy flamenco skirt... When Sevillana music started playing, Manolo and I danced together again and since I knew that the Dance Umbrella (my dance studio back home) show was that night, I silently dedicated that Sevillana to them. Anyway, we had a blast at that caseta and later on a few of us continued dancing at a disco near the fairgrounds. After that, we had chocolate con churros for breakfast and took the bus home. Holy frig, if only I had known a few nights before that one of the busses stops right at the Basilica de la Macarena (a 10-minute walk from my place)... then again, I probably would have had to wait forever for that one too. Anyway, I slept in again that morning.

Sunday - "It's Dead" - All Good Things Must Come to an End...

I went to Mass at the Basilica de la Macarena at 8pm (considering I was up till 8am before this, I am thankful for evening masses), then got ready to head out to the Feria again. But when I got there, there was only a fraction of the crowds and many of the casetas were closed (including Manolo's caseta). I was thinking "It's dead..." and sent Antonio a text message asking if he was at the feria and he said he never goes on Sundays. None of the other foreign students came out either - Nathan was trying to phone his family, Alex and Sille (also from Denmark) were sick, a few others had returned home because their course at the school was over... So I stayed around to watch the closing fireworks at midnight, then went back home.

I took a bus that brought me to the park near the Plaza de España and then walked the rest of the way home. I was able to orient myself using the maps at the bus stops and the buildings and streets that I recognized so I didn't have any problems. I went to bed and then to class the next morning. Feria week was over, and life had to get back to normal after this. But I miss the magic of the feria...

The April Fair - biggest party of the year

2007-04-24T05:11:00.000-04:00

I haven't updated in a while but I've been busy. Since I don't live with a host family anymore, I have to do my own cooking and all that, plus I've been busy with classes and all that. But I'm still having fun. This week is the Feria and I'll be really busy during this time too.

Last weekend, a group of us went out to a disco because it was Nathan's last night in Sevilla and we all wanted to party. We had a blast and stayed out so late (I went to bed at 7am and slept in till1pm). Like I've said before, staying out that late is normal! Nathan is going to Madrid for a month and if I end up going there for a weekend trip or whatever, I'll probably call him and we can get together while I'm there.

My flamenco classes are going well. I like my classmates and teacher, and we're learning a lot for only a short time. I'm also taking a rhythm/clapping class, and I know you're probably thinking "what the frig?" but believe it or not, flamenco clapping has a technique to it! I'm only taking the rhythm/clapping class for about a month, then I'm just taking dance (but the dance class I'll be in is more advanced).

The Feria started last night and the official start is when the gateway and lights in the feria grounds light up all at once at midnight (it will end on Sunday with a fireworks display). Then, the party starts! There are casetas (tents) everywhere and most of them are private and you need to be invited in (there is even a bouncer at the entrance of each caseta to make sure no one crashes the party) but there are a few that are accessible to the public. There are also people dancing in the fair grounds outside the tents. We went to a public tent and a few of us danced Sevillanas. Then, an older woman danced with us and said that she taught Sevillanas at an academy. She said I did well. Later, a few of us decided to walk around and then we started dancing outside a caseta that had good music. A man in the tent invited us in and so we got to party in a private caseta. We had a blast! Another time, I ran into Antonio and he said that he's busy so he won't have much time to spend at the feria, but he's giving my phone number to Manolo. That way, if Manolo and I get together during the week, he can get me invited into another private caseta.

Anyway, I got class soon so I can't write too much, but don't worry, I'm still alive!

And now for the week's news, live from Sevilla!

2007-04-15T12:43:00.000-04:00

Ok so I was typing up a huge entry on this blog but the computer suddenly shut down unexpectedly and I lost the whole thing (grrrrr). So I'll give a short version because I can't be bothered with re-typing the whole thing:

I went to see the Cathedral today and it was amazing. I spent like 2 hours there and it was totally worth the 7.5 Euro entrance price. It wasn't like the "oh what a pretty church" type of beauty, it was more like "stop dead in your tracks, jaw-dropping, holy frig it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!" type of beauty. It's the biggest gothic cathedral in the world and has so many beautiful statues, carvings, paintings, chapels, etc. One time, I looked up and saw something beautiful, and nearly dropped my purse in amazement! I took so many pictures... And I also climbed up the Giralda (bell tower). The only stairway in the Giralda was the last little part near the top, the rest of it was flat like a wheelchair ramp. And I got some good pictures of the views of the city from up there. If any of you are ever in Seville, the Cathedral and Giralda are an absolute must-see! Definitely one of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen.

The foreign students and I had a party on Friday at someone's apartment, and later went out. I wanted to go to a disco where I could dance to David Bisbal all night but we ended up in some bar where they were playing rock music. It was ok, but next time I go out I want to go to a disco where I can dance to some real music! We were out till 5am, which is normal for Spain. Normally, people eat supper at 10-11pm and the nightlife doesn't truly start till past midnight.

On Wednesday, I tried going to a disco close to the street where I lived but since it was the middle of the week, there weren't many people there. So I went to the bar next door, which was completely different. It was very traditional - the music playing was Sevillanas, the locals (mostly middle-aged) were dancing sevillanas, there were black-and-white pictures of flamenco artists, horses, etc on the walls, and a small replica of La Virgen del Rocio (statue of Our Lady of the Dew) in a corner. The locals saw that I was a foreigner, and chatted with me, then they got me to dance a Sevillana! They got me to dance with one of the men in the bar and I was somewhat able to keep up (I learned this dance when I was in Salamanca but haven't really danced it since then). At the end, the locals were like "muy bien, muy bien!" (very good) and the man I was dancing with kissed my hand. Well, since my flamenco course starts this week, I'll get to improve my Sevillanas and during the feria I'll be dancing them all week!

Since my Spanish course with Instituto Alhambra is over and my dance course at the flamenco school starts this week, I had to move from the host family's house to a student apartment. The "apartment" is basically nothing more than a hole in the wall (well, the rent is cheap so...), but I'm only staying for 2 months so I can deal with it. Besides, the person in the bigger bedroom is leaving soon and the landlady said I can take that room after that.

I met up with Antonio (my VT buddy) again yesterday, and this time he also brought his girlfriend Maria José and a friend named Manolo. We all went for coffee and then since they had an extra ticket for a concert, they asked me if I wanted to come along so I went to the concert with them. It was a pop/rock band that's really popular in Spain and though I'm not a big fan of rock, it was cool. Turns out the tickets were VIP tickets, so we got a big balcony with a good view of the stage, access to free booze, and a bathroom that didn't have a huge lineup. Aside from the 4 of us, Manolo's brother was there too, also Antonio's sister and her boyfriend. It was so nice and warm during the day (25-30 celcius) that I didn't bother to bring a jacket, but when it was dark it got cooler and winder so Manolo lent me his jacket. After the concert, the 4 of us went for pizza (at 3am, hehehe...) and then Manolo drove me home in his "supercar" (that is one sweet car he's got...). I know you're probably freaking out and thinking "you let some local guy you just met drive you home in his supercar at night?!" but don't worry, he's just a friend and didn't try anything inappropriate, ever. The most he did was lend me his jacket when I was cold and even Antonio had offered to lend me his sweater, so no biggie.

I bought a ticket for a bullfight, on the 25th. The matadors fighting that day will be Miguel Abellán, Julian Lopez (aka "El Juli") and Manuel Jesús (aka "El Cid"). Hehehe... I remember on my first trip to Salamanca, we went to see a bullfight and El Juli was one of the matadors there too. Since he's my age and very cute, I fell crazy in love and couldn't stop swooning over him! For the next few days, I always referred to him as "el cutie" or just "cutie". Hehehe... I'll probably be freaking out again!

I saw a guy last week who looked just like Mr. Cranky! He was tall, had the same build, a similar face, and was talking on his cell phone with the same bored-yet-cranky look on his face as Ryan. When I went out with the foreign students, I saw a guy at the bar who looked like Neal (hehehe... Neal has long-lost twins all over the world!) except a little fatter and with a rounder face. But he was even wearing preppy clothes just like Neal!

I have a cell phone now (bought it for really cheap - 59 Euros for the phone and SIM card together) so if anyone wants to call me, send me a message and I'll email you my number.

Anyway, hasta luego, and I hope PEI, Ontario, or wherever you're living is treating you well! And if you want a postcard, send me a message with your address.

flamenco, tapas, dress shopping for the feria, la Macarena, and my hot date...

2007-04-10T14:54:00.000-04:00

Ok, so it wasn't really a hot date, but all the other foreign students kept teasing me about it! I met up with an internet friend today who lives in Seville (we're both members of VirtualTourist), but since I told my classmates that he had often commented on how sexy I look in a short skirt (hehehe... the first message he ever sent me on VirtualTourist was something like "I like what you wrote about Salamanca, it was informative. And you look sexy in that short skirt!") they kept making jokes about me having a hot date. I did wear a short dress so that he'd recognize me! Hehehe... Nathan (American guy in my class) jokingly said "tomorrow we'll find your body in the river" but don't worry, there was no danger! Antonio and I met up in the afternoon near the Cathedral (major tourist site in broad daylight - very safe) and went for coffee. We had a nice little chat and want to meet up again sometime in the weekend.

In other news, my classmates and I went to see an awesome flamenco show last week, I can't wait to be able to dance like that! And another time when I was walking around in town, I saw some people singing and dancing flamenco outside some random bodega (wine cellar/bar) in the Plaza del Salvador. The man who was singing was awesome! Flamenco singing involves so much passion, I love it. The men who sang on the balconies when the processions came out of the churches during Holy Week also had that same passion when they sang.

A few of us went to visit the Basilica de la Macarena yesterday. No, la Macarena is not that cheesy dance that is now a big joke, it's actually one of the titles of the Virgin Mary. The churches here are so beautiful and so are the statues of Mary in them (Catholics in Seville have a huge devotion to Mary) but the statue of La Virgen Macarena is probably the most beautiful I've ever seen. I don't know what it is about that statue - maybe the look and tears on her face - but for some reason while I was looking at her directly face to face I felt as though she were speaking to me. I couldn't help myself, I just had to say a Hail Mary! (actually, two). I didn't want to look away and could have spent hours there just looking at her. I had seen pictures and thought she was beautiful, but seriously, pictures are nothing compared to seeing her in person. To me, Macarena will never be the cheesy dance again.

I finally found a flamenco dress for the Feria (April Fair) that actually fits well and looks good! I tried on so many but most of them were too tight for my cuerpo de guitarra (guitar body) and in the end there were two that I liked that fit well and wouldn't need to be altered. I ended up buying the cheaper one. It's blue and white and flatters my figure without being too snug, and I also bought some accessories to go with it - peineta, flower, and shawl. I showed my new flamenco outfit to my house mother and she was like "aaaaaahhhh, te queda precioso!" (it looks precious on you!). I can't wait to wear it in the feria!

I enjoy spending time with the other foreign students. We often go for tapas and drinks in the evenings in different parts of town. One time we went to Triana (the working-class district across the river), and at night, that area along the river is so beautiful! LOVE IT! And the food is great, I love Spanish food - tortilla de patatas (potato omelette), gazpacho (cold tomato soup), jamon Iberico (Iberian ham), croquetas (croquettes), etc. Yum! And my house mother cooks well and lunch is always great. Sometimes the dog will look at us as though saying "will you pleeeeeaaaase give me some food off the table?", it's so cute!

Anyway, hasta luego, and comments are welcome!

First few days in Sevilla

2007-04-05T13:02:00.000-04:00

Things are going good. The language school is small and most of the other foreign students are German and Dutch (reminds me of my German and Dutch buddies when I was in Sweden, hehehe...) but there is also an American guy from California, an Australian guy, a Slovenian girl, and a Korean girl. On the first day of class, the class I was placed in was too easy for me - I was thinking "Frig, I learned this in first year... challenge me, will ya?!" but then I got switched to a class that's more challenging but not difficult. Class starts at 8:30am and ends at 12:30 but we have 2 breaks in between. During the longer break, we usually go to a breakfast bar and get some coffee (cafe con leche) and toast. Today, the place we usually go to is closed because many places are closed during the last few days of Holy Week, but we found another one that was open and I had chocolate con churros instead of toast. For those of you who don't know, churros are sticks of deep-fried dough that you dip in a mug of chocolate syrup. It's the fattest thing in the world, but since I always walk everywhere I can allow myself to eat it! There are usually a lot of activities planned for the foreign students, such as tours, shows, etc and so far we're all having fun.

Since it's Holy Week, there are processions in town several times a day. Those involve huge floats with statues of Jesus' Passion, Mary, etc carried all over town. The floats aren't pulled by trucks like in most parades, they're carried by people! Yes, there are people under the floats and they hold them up and carry them all over town. And those floats are quite heavy! There are also people known as ¨nazarenos" walking in front of and behind the floats and if I hadn't known in advance what the traditional costumes look like, I would probably have freaked out and though "Whaaaat?! The KKK are in Spain?! I'm outta here!" because the costumes they wear are exactly like the KKK (long robe, pointy hat and hood with cutouts for eyes). Well, those costumes existed for a long time before the Klan existed so if anything, the Klan stole it from them. The nazarenos often carry candles in the parade (and now there is candle wax in every street where the processions passed) and baskets of candy for children. Every time the kids see them, they always ask for candy! Some of them even walk barefoot (on cobblestone streets - yikes!) . I even saw little kids in those costumes, even some toddlers in strollers wearing the full costume! Actually, one time yesterday, I saw a toddler in a stroller wearing the costume and his mother (pushing the stroller) was telling him to give candy to the people nearby. I was standing close so the kid gave me a candy!

Anyway, what usually happens in those processions is the nazarenos walk out of the church, then the floats come out and everything stops. A man on a balcony starts singing a worship song and when he finishes, the parade continues. The first float shows a scene from Jesus' Passion (one that I saw showed Jesus on the cross, another one showed Judas betraying Jesus with a kiss, etc), then more nazarenos come out and the second float has a statue of Mary wearing a golden crown and a velvet cloak with all sorts of beads and sparkles on it. At the back of the parade, there is a marching band playing music. It's all very beautiful, but so crowded! So many people go to watch it so sometimes the crowds are like Marienfeld Mass Exodus minus the turnip field.

Today was Holy Thursday, and many women (mostly middle-aged and old ladies) were wearing a peineta (tall Spanish comb) with a mantilla over it (lace shawl). Apparently, it's a cultural thing here. In two weeks, there will be the feria (April fair) so all the women will be wearing flamenco dresses. I want to wear one for the feria too, so I went to a shop to try some on, but since I'm not built like most Spanish women, most of the dresses were too tight around the hips/thighs (in some, I couldn't even sit down because my thighs were too fat for it!) so I'd have to have it altered to fit properly (the store I went to has seamstresses who can alter the dresses). The one dress that I liked and was able to sit down in was too short so I'd have to have it lengthened. Well, I'll check out some other dress shops sometime this weekend or early next week...

When I was at the Plaza de España yesterday, a gypsy ¨fortune teller" came up to me and held up a bunch of rosemary leaves, and since I remembered reading about this scam, I simply said ¨no thanks" and tried to walk away but then she shoved it in my hand, then took my hand to give me a palm reading (generic crap like "great love, phone call from your family" and stuff like that, she was barely even looking at my hand!) and wouldn't leave me alone unless I paid 5 euros. I had a few coins but she insisted on paper money but I pretended I had none, so eventually she just took the coins and left. I kept my hand on my bag after than in case there were others hiding around there waiting to pounce on my bag.

Anyway, I'll write more later, adios for now!

Arrival in Sevilla

2007-04-01T11:13:00.000-04:00

Well, after spending a few days in Montreal and half a day in London, I have arrived in Sevilla! What an adventure that was...

Montreal was fun and now I know I want to live there next year. I spent the week at my aunt's place and had a great time. I went to Old Montreal to see the Notre Dame basilica and I LOVED it! It is seriously one of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen! I remember seeing it when I was a kid but that was a long time ago. That place is Heaven on earth. I wanna get married there! I also found a store selling religious items in Old Montreal and bought a St. Christopher medal (patron saint of travellers).

I also went shopping and of course I went to check out some dancewear boutiques since I figured there was more there than at Demipointe back home. I got a cute pair of legwarmers at Rossetti, and two pairs of dance shoes at Danz. Actually, I found a basket of pointe shoes at Danz that were 50% off, so yes, I got a pair of Sanshas (original price - $80) at half-price! I also got jazz shoes and ribbons for the pointes. I also found a store that sold stuff similar to what they have at How Bazaar and bought a cute frilly wrap skirt for $25.

I met up with Mary MacGillivray and we went to the Musee des Beaux-Arts. What an awesome museum. I especially loved the religious artwork there - paintings of Biblical scenes and saints. I also saw the Disney exhibit - it showed early Disney art and stuff (Mickey Mouse and friends, no little mermaid or Aladdin). Maria, I thought of you when I saw the Disney stuff even if it didn't include The Little Mermaid! But there was one display that well, I'm not sure what to make of it. It showed a bunch of Mickey Mouse dolls arranged around a tv screen as if they're watching tv (the tv showed Mickey Mouse cartoons) and above the tv, there was a crucifix. But not just a regular crucifix - is it a sin to nail a Mickey Mouse doll to a cross? With a sign on top that says Disney instead of ¨king of the Jews¨?

My aunt and uncle also took me out for Greek food at a nice restaurant and the food was sooooo good! I love Greek food to begin with, but this was just too good! Especially the squid rings and all those dips. Yum...

Anyway, my flight to London wasn't too bad and at first I figured it would take at least two hours before I was ready to leave Heathrow airport, but in the end it only took one hour! So I bought a subway ticket (you can take the subway from Heathrow to the city) and went into London that way. I left my suitcase at the Left Luggage area at Liverpool Street train station, bought a ticket for the Stansted Express (train that goes straight to Stansted airport) and spend the rest of the morning and early afternoon walking around the area. I bought a sandwich at a coffeeshop, then I walked all the way to the Thames and checked out the bridges. You know that bridge with the fancy towers that everyone thinks is London Bridge? Well, it's not - that one is Tower Bridge! London Bridge is actually quite normal-looking and boring. I also walked up The Monument (tower dedicated to the London fire). 311 stairs on a spiral staircase! I'm surprised my legs aren't sore after that... But I got a great view of the city from up there!

Then, I took the Stansted Express to the airport to take my Ryanair flight to Seville. It was hell trying to get through that airport - crowds, long lines, a very long walk to the gate... and consider the fact that I was tired, jet-lagged, and very low on sleep (I wasn't able to sleep on my flight to London). Then, my flight was late. After arriving at the Seville airport an hour late because of that, I couldn't find the person who was supposed to pick me up, so after panicking and actually crying when I realized I was stranded, I took a cab to the hostel where I was supposed to stay the night (it was only the next day that I would go to my host family, I had to book at a hostel for March 31). Then, when I got there and unpacked, I realized that my hair conditioner bottle cracked and had spilled. Thank goodness I had put it in a plastic pouch so that it didn't get all over my clothes, but I still had to put what I could in smaller bottles and throw away what was left over. I was also very worried about what would happen if I couldn't reach the family. I got to the hostel late at night so it was too late to call, but I tried calling the next morning and no one was home. Yes, I was panicking! But later I was finally able to reach them and walked to the house later in the morning (walking on cobblestone streets with a suitcase - ugh). But everything is fine now.

My house mother is nice and when I came in, there was a cute little dog barking loudly at the entrance. She explained that the guy who was supposed to pick me up at the airport thought I wasn't coming - he didn't know the flight was late so he left before I showed up. I have my own room and got settled in pretty quickly. The house mother also has a son who's my age, and VERY cute...

I was able to go to Mass for Palm Sunday at a nearby church. Holy Week is huge here and the priest even told us that we should be looking at the meaning of Holy Week instead of the cultural festivities. I loved the way he talked when he said that Holy Week is to remember that Jesus died for us - in Seville the celebrations are a huge spectacle and I can't wait to see it all, but I'm not going to forget the meaning of it.

Anyway, that's all for now, hasta luego everyone!

Leaving town tomorrow...

2007-03-25T23:21:00.000-04:00

I'm leaving town tomorrow, off to Montreal for a few days, then Europe! Whoo take yer shirt off!

Yum, Roberto Bolle. Gorgeous Italian ballet dancer. Proof that REAL MEN DANCE!

Speaking of dance, I found a website for a ballet studio in Seville. I sent them an e-mail and they said they can take me so I might get to take classes there.

Friends, if you want me to send you a postcard, send me an email with your full name, address, and if you have a country preference (Spain or Italy. Don't know if I'll go to Portugal...).

I'll keep updating my blog so keep checking if you want to know about my travel adventures. Don't know how often I'll get to update, but anyway...

Adios/arrivederci and see you all in 3 months!

The countdown is on - 5 more days till I leave town!

2007-03-21T23:35:00.000-04:00

Well, I haven't written in a while but I've been superbusy with work, dance, and of course, planning my big Euro trip. I'm leaving town on Monday the 26th, staying in Montreal till the 30th, then flying to London and then to Seville. I'm staying in Seville till mid-June (though I'll also visit other cities, towns, etc in southern Spain), then I'm going to Italy for 2 weeks. In Italy, I'll be mostly in Rome, but I also want to visit Assisi and a few other places. Actually, Ryanair (cheap European airline) has a direct route from Seville to Milan so during my time in Spain, I might go to Milan for a weekend. I can't wait, whooo take yer shirt off!

This one's for YOU, Gillis! No more Dmitry (though I've got several more pics of him taking his shirt off!), it's time to post pics of cute Spaniards!

Speaking of Gillis - is it just me, or does JK Rowling's husband look EXACTLY like Neal? And is it mere coincidence that his name is Neil? Hehehe... I've seen at least 2 guys who look just like Neal (one of them actually looked identical) and now this one actually has an almost-identical first name too!

Way of the Cross is going again this year, and for the shows I'm in, I'm a weeping woman. We had one at St. Pius last Sunday, and I'll probably go to the one in Summerside this Sunday. And the next morning, I'm outta here!

It's nutcracker season!

2006-11-25T22:25:00.000-05:00

Well, Christmas is a month away and road traffic from Christmas shoppers was friggin' crazy already today. And since the festive season is upon us, it's time to bring out the old nutcracker! I've got two now - the one I bought from Ballet Jorgen and the one I bought in Germany. The German one is my fave. Well, last Christmas I felt more like Giselle than like Clara (from the Nutcracker ballet) but hopefully this year my holiday season will be happier.

My weekend in the T-Dot was great. It was nice to see my cousins again (I hadn't seen Edeline in 9 friggin' years!) and I even met some other relatives for the first time that I had never met before. We spent the weekend stuffing ourselves with dim sum (the Chinese version of brunch), shopping, and of course there was the wedding. Actually, technically Martin and Shun Ping were married last year (had a traditional Chinese ceremony in China) and this year they were renewing their vows in a Presbyterian ceremony. The wedding was very nice and the chapel was beautiful. Then later that evening there was the big-ass Chinese banquet where I ate some exotic foods that I'd never thought of eating before. It was a huge meal (I think it was 6 or 7 courses with an open bar) and it started off with roast pork. Normal enough, except the pig's head was on the plate, snout and all! There were noodles and other normal things, and also shark fin soup (didn't really like it) and road dove. Yes, you read that right - roast dove! In western culture, the dove is a symbol of peace and purity, and it is released when the pope is around. In China, it's dinner. I actually liked the taste of it, I'd eat it again if I had the chance.

When it came time to toss the bouquet, they made an announcement for all the single girls to come to the front. Edeline and I went up and turns out we were the oldest single girls there (all the other single girls in the crowd for the toss were little girls and teenagers). How depressing... Then again, neither of us are unattractive, we're just picky when it comes to men (better single than stuck in a crappy relationship with some loser).

The next day, Edeline and I, and her friend, went shopping on Queen Street in downtown Toronto. I bought lots of stuff, and also met a celebrity! We were at HMV and turns out Ryan Star (from Rockstar Supernova) was about to play some music there. We got some pictures, here's one:

Also, while at HMV, I saw a cd with a picture of a smooth-looking guy in a tux and thought "ooh, he's cute!" I checked out the song list and, based on the pictures and song titles, figured that he was probably an Italian Michael Buble type of singer so I bought the cd, totally on a whim. I had never heard of Patrizio Buanne, ever. Now, he's one of my favorite singers! I LOVE that cd!

Well, enough about Toronto. I saw the Royal Winnipeg Ballet at the Confed Centre recently and LOVED it! They performed "The Messiah" and I liked that the costumes were simple (white shirt and pants) and they didn't do pointe (that made it earthier yet still heavenly). And of course, while the men were dancing (especially the drop-dead gorgeous Jaime Vargas), I was thinking "REAL MEN DANCE!" I also loved the parts when the men were partnering each other. It wasn't "gay" or girlie, the partner work they were doing was very strong and masculine. Yosuke Mino was amazing, and even though he plays the goblin on "The Toy Castle" (children's tv show that uses ballet to tell stories), in "The Messiah" he was more "angel" than "goblin"!

We started pointe in ballet and I love it! Actually, on the first day, I was grimacing in pain because my toes were digging into my shoes but now it's not too bad. Thank God for toe pads and lamb's wool...

The Harry Potter trailer for movie 5 is on Mugglenet - WHOO TAKE YER SHIRT OFF!!!

Teehee, had to! Anyway, I also saw some pictures on Mugglenet of the 5th movie. Bellatrix (Helena Carter) is perfect, but Umbridge isn't ugly enough (in the book she's described as looking like a fat toad!). Luna looks like she could be Draco's little sister, but I haven't seen her act yet.

Pointe discoveries, dancing Phantom, Halloween fun, and off to Toronto I go...

2006-11-01T22:39:00.000-05:00

Well, tomorrow I'm off to Toronto till Monday, because my distant cousin is getting married there, and my parents decided to pay for my plane ticket (yay!). It's also going to be a bit of a family reunion since we (my mom and I) are staying with relatives and I haven't seen them in several years.

I'm taping all the episodes of SYTYCD now that they're re-runs on MuchMusic. I LOVE that show... I never get sick of watching it (especially Dmitry's dancing *swoon*).

I'm starting pointe in ballet this month, whoo take yer shirt off!

Teehee, just had to add another pic of my favorite white-hot Russian man! (found the pic on his myspace).

I bought my shoes (Bloch Suprima) and started breaking them in. I accidentally discovered an awesome way to soften the demi-pointe part of the shank - dance salsa in them! I usually dance salsa on a slight demi-pointe, and one day while listening to the awesome song on Alex Da Silva's myspace (one of the choreographers on SYTYCD) I was wearing my pointe shoes and I got up and started shakin' it. Then I was like "frig, this is awesome for breaking in the demi-pointe part!" The dancing itself warms up my feet so that the shoes can mold to them more easily, and dancing on demi softens the shank.

The Atlantic Ballet Theatre of Canada were in town recently and performed a ballet version of Phantom of the Opera. Like all their shows, it was awesome. Amadeus is still my favorite, but Phantom was still amazing and totally worth seeing. Sergiy Diyanov was the perfect phantom, Kostyantyn Voynov was the perfect Raoul, and Evelina Sushko was the perfect prima donna. Anya Nesvitaylo was great as Christine, but Sushko was more of a show-stopper. The dancing in general was awesome as usual (Diyanov's long legs are MADE for grand jetes!) During the parts where Raoul, the phantom, and the persian were dancing together, they were so amazing that I was thinking "Real men dance!" The story was slightly different than the musical and the music itself was wwwaaaayyyy different than Andrew Lloyd Weber's score for the musical, but that didn't make it any less worth watching.

I dressed as a death eater again for Halloween, except this time I drew a better dark mark on my arm and had a wand (that rosewood wand I got from Alivan's). I gave candy to trick-or-treaters, but for some reason, barely any of them actually said "trick or treat"... Mikey from my dance class (the kid who looks like Luke) came trick-or-treating dressed as a viking. After the trick-or-treating was over, I went to Baba's and it was fun. Ian Toms' band was playing and they rocked. I saw a guy dressed as Harry Potter and got some pictures with him. He and some other people actually thought my dark mark was a real tattoo! They were quite surprised when I told them I just drew it with a marker! Mr. Cranky and his sidekick Coady were there too. As for costumes, there was a guy dressed as Ali G who looked EXACTLY like Ali G, a shirtless superman, a flyswatter and fly, a deer in headlights (carrying a flashlight), some clowns, cavepeople, fairies, devils, pimps, etc.

Anyway, that's it for now...

I'm baaaaaaaack!

2006-09-27T22:12:00.002-04:00

Yeah yeah, I took a break off blogging for a while. I update when I want to update, and I just didn't feel like it for the past 2 months.

So You Think You Can Dance is shown as re-runs on MuchMusic, WHOOOO TAKE YER SHIRT OFF!!!!!!!!

Teehee, just HAD to put in a pic of Dmitry shirtless!

Apparently, Benji turned down the big offer to dance in Celine Dion's show because it's not his style of dance (he's a swing dancer and the show is contemporary). Frig, this is just another reason why Travis should have won. As much as I love Benji, Travis was a better dancer, plus he would have jumped at the chance for this big prize!

And in other news, I'm going on pointe in ballet! I have an appointment this weekend to get fitted for pointe shoes. I've been anticipating this for so long and now it's finally happening! We're starting in November. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, pointe is "toe shoe dancing". And though it looks pretty and graceful, it's definitely not for pansies...

You think this is easy and painless, huh huh?! Well, most guys don't do pointe, but ballet in general isn't as easy as it looks...

I'm still preparing for my big trip to Spain next spring. I'm planning on going from April to June, and maybe doing a week or two in Italy.

My very recent bike injury...

2006-07-31T23:08:00.000-04:00

So I was riding my bike in the neighbourhood earlier this evening and there was no traffic, so everything seemed fine. But I stupidly rode too close to the sidewalk, which was raised a few inches above the road. Then, my front wheel hit the sidewalk and I fell off. The minor scrapes and bruises are the least of my worries. You see, I fell in a way that I ended up face-planting on the sidewalk, at an angle that spared everything from the nose up from injury (thank God for that), but my lip and teeth are in bad shape. A nice man in the house I fell in front of got me some kleenex because my mouth was bleeding pretty badly and called my mother for me, but since one of my teeth had fallen out completely (which caused the bleeding), all I kept thinking was "Astrid has a fake tooth and you can't even tell, the only reason I knew is because she told me..."

Anyway, my mother came to pick me up and called the dentist. I cleaned off what I could, but I also got a small gash above my lip. When I saw it, I kept thinking "Sectumsempra, a spell can fix that... Snape healed Draco's wounds completely..." (yes, I'm a Harry Potter nut. If only the HP world existed... the spell to heal sectumsempra would have fixed that) We went to the clinic and the dentist was able to put the tooth back in and give me a stitch to fix the gash (Dear Lord, don't let it scar...). Now I have a 50/50 chance that the tooth will stay in place (if it doesn't, I might need a bridge or implant) and the 3 other teeth that got chipped can probably get caps or whatever. Thank God I have a good dentist... So since I can't talk properly, my upper front teeth/gums are sore (bottom teeth and top molars were not affected at all) and I can't use my right arm much either (probably sprained, I'm going to the doctor's tomorrow to have it checked out), I'll have to call in sick at work tomorrow. I'm able to type (though my elbow hurts if I make any sudden movements) but I can't straighten my arm or push/pull anything because it's sore.

Anyone else have any injuries like that? I feel like the biggest idiot for having biked too close to the sidewalk/curb. Feel free to share your stories...

On a happier note, happy birthday Harry Potter!

My weekly SYTYCD review

2006-07-28T13:48:00.000-04:00

Another one of my weekly SYTYCD reviews! Let me just say that the show is not the same without Dmitry. Whether he was swivelling around and ripping his shirt off, or gliding across the stage elegantly, he was the contestant with the most magnetism, and definitely the most masculine of all the guys. None of them could compare. But now that he's gone, I'll be rooting for either Travis or Benji. Anyway, on to my review on the dances:

Donyelle/Travis (hip-hop and quickstep) - I wasn't really into the hip-hop. Though it looked fun, it was a little spasmatic at times and I agree that the masks took away from the performance. The quickstep was better, but dragged at times. Normally, they're amazing dancers, but this week they got stuck with dances that don't really showcase their talents.

Natalie/Ryan (disco and contemporary) - The disco dance was better than the one she did with Musa in that it relied more on dancing than on tricks. But I preferred the contemporary. Ryan is an amazing contemporary dancer and even if Natalie fell out of her turn, I don't really blame her since she still has that knee injury.

Allison/Ivan (Argentine tango and hip-hop) - I LOVED the Argentine tango. It was even better than the first one they did (real tango music instead of just some fusion stuff) and once again, little Ivan became a man. Those two have great chemistry and are awesome when dancing together. The hip-hop was good too - Ivan danced this one better than his own solos! Both Ivan and Allison are versatile and these performances showed it.

Heidi/Benji (Broadway and Mambo) - The Broadway routine was fun - Heidi got to be fun and perky and Benji was his dorky self. As for the mambo - PERFORMANCE OF THE NIGHT! It was amazing, they danced great together, and it was the perfect piece to close the show. They have years' experience dancing together outside the show, and it was great to see them dance together on the show. And the comment Nigel made about him wearing Dmitry's old shirts was hilarious!

Then last night, Allison and Natalie were the bottom 2 girls, while Ryan and Travis were the bottom guys. Allison and Ryan got voted out. I wasn't surprised about Ryan - though his technique is amazing, he doesn't have as much stage presence as Travis. As for Allison, I was surprised considering how popular she is, but I like Natalie better as a dancer. Natalie is more mature and is doing great even with that injury.

Anyway tune in next week for the review on another Dmitry-less week (argh... why oh WHY did people vote for Ryan over him?!) and the last 3 couples.

Happy birthday to me!

2006-07-20T22:07:00.000-04:00

It's my birthday today! I'm 24 and feel old... even if Carlo says my life is just starting! Frig, when I turned 21, I felt that I was in my prime, and after my 22th birthday, I've felt that it was all downhill from there. Well, at least I still look young - no wrinkles or gray hair yet! Hehehe...

Another So You Think You Can Dance review! Last night, the couples were broken up and re-arranged, and each new one had to do 2 dances, plus each person had to do a solo. Here are my thoughts:

Ivan/Martha - LOVED the hip-hop. The spy theme was awesome and they both played their parts well. I loved the waltz too, but I found that Ivan was better than Martha in that one. Once again, this dance showed that little Ivan has grown up, and he was quite mature-looking despite the baby face. Martha looked great, but didn't dance as well as I expected - I especially noticed that her developpe was a little off.

Travis/Heidi - The pasodoble was cool, though this is the third time we've heard that song (Dmitry and Jaymz both did solos to it) so it was a little old. Quite dramatic, but I found that the solos to it were more intense. I much prefered the contemporary dance - the music was awesome, and the dancing was amazing. Travis is a showstopper when he dances this style (love the leaps and turns) and it was great to see Heidi soften up her image and dancing for this piece. The whole thing was very moving. I actually started to cry at the end because they portrayed the theme so well - it was about unrequited love and it reminded me of my own passion, only to be turned away. Heidi was like me, longing for... him, and Travis was him turning away and attempting to comfort me about it, but still breaking my heart and leaving me to cry alone.

Ryan/Allison - I loved the contemporary dance - the choreography was intense and I hope my body can move like that after I get back into dance class this fall! They totally nailed it. I wasn't really into the broadway one though - cute, but the costumes were tacky and I didn't really feel it.

Dmitry/Donyelle - The lindy hop was fun, though a bit messy at times. For the samba, I would have prefered real samba music, but I LOVED the dance. Though I can't comment too much on Donyelle because my eyes were on Dmitry the whole time! Frig, he's hot. Plus, this was his element and it showed - totally amazing and he has such stage presence and magnetism! Though the times when I did look at Donyelle, it was obvious that she was having fun and enjoying the dance.

Benji/Natalie - The jazz dance was good. Both had good technique and I enjoyed it. The hip-hop was ok, but not my favorite. It was kinda weird to see "the Greek and the geek" doing something out of their element and though they managed to pull it off, it wasn't really outstanding.

As for the solos, I'll start with the ones that didn't stand out. Martha's was kinda cheesy and not as good as her last one. Allison wasn't that impressive either and I agree with the judges on the fake smile she had. Ryan was good, but didn't stand out. Donyelle did great, but I find her more impressive out of her element. Same for Ivan, though he wasn't that great - I agree with the judges when they said it was like a gimmick. When he's doing hip-hop, he's like a little boy but he's more impressive and manly in ballroom. Heidi was good, much better that when she did that Tina Turner dance, but not really a showstopper.

Now for the ones I liked - Travis is awesome in his element and has great technique. It was good to see Natalie doing something more emotional and stop relying on sex appeal. That solo and the contemporary dance with Musa weeks ago were the best performances she's given. Benji has great technique and personality, and really enjoys dance - all that was obvious in his solo. As for Dmitry, I have one phrase to describe him - WHOOO TAKE YER SHIRT OFF!!!! Frig, when he ripped his shirt open at the end, RAWR!!!!!!! *cat claws* But even aside from that, he was a showstopper once again - the fancy footwork was amazing, and he had great stage presence.

As for tonight's show, I wasn't surprised when Martha was voted out from the girls. I figured she'd be in the danger zone because of the judges' comments. As for the guys, when the incomparable Dmitry was voted out, I was like NOOOOOOOO!!!!! Ryan or Ivan should have gone! Dmitry is the best!

And I've gotta comment on his dancing tonight - when he re-did his solo, he didn't tear his shirt open like last night, and I was like "ARGH!" But it was cute how he was wagging his finger and had that grin on his face, like he was thinking "Naughty naughty!" But when he danced again after getting voted out, he did tear it open (and take it off!). Whoo yeah! Of all the guys this season, he is the best-looking, most manly (hehehe... the other guys had to go to him to learn to dance masculine!), and most elegant. When he danced the waltz, he was just gorgeous and so graceful yet strong at the same time - a real man. And the latin dances and solos? Hot hot hot! I've gotta say it again - REAL MEN DANCE!

Anyway, enough about the show...

The going-away party for Andrew was fun - lots of good food and good times. Beach volleyball, swimming, music, campfire, and another attempt to educate Andrew about the manliness of male dancers, hehehe... The ghost stories were freaky, and Kurtiss was actually afraid to sleep outside in the tent after he heard Malcolm's stories! Well, there's another party going on this weekend - my birthday party! Whoo! Hopefully, lots of my friends will be able to come.

I got my registration forms for dance classes this fall. In ballet, I'm moving up from Teen Ballet Technique to Intermediate II (which is 2 classes a week). In Modern, I'm going from Intermediate II to Senior I. And in Jazz, I'm in Intermediate 4 (one level away from senior jazz). I'm also taking tap and musical theatre. I'm also hoping to take classes with Island Dance Academy too, since I hear that studio focuses more on technique (which I feel I need). Plus, the more ballet classes I take, the closer I get to starting pointe (which is one of my biggest dance goals).

Plus, when I go to Spain next year, the program I want to take is an intensive Flamenco dance course. Two hours of flamenco per day, 5 days a week, plus private classes if I choose. I fell in love with Flamenco when I took a Sevillanas class on my last trip to Spain, and I just have to keep on with it.

Anyway, it's getting late... I should go to bed.

Another So You Think You Can Dance review...

2006-07-13T16:56:00.000-04:00

Another So You Think You Can Dance review for this week!

Natalie/Musa (hip-hop) - Nice to see Musa in his element and he did well. Natalie was good too, and they played their parts well as the pursuer and the tease. They obviously have good chemistry and if it weren't for the fact that Musa is married, I would have thought there was something goin' on between them.

Heidi/Ryan (cha-cha) - Aside from the fact that the music was bad (frig, get some real cha-cha music!), they did well too. Heidi was awesome and was obviously having fun, and Ryan pulled it off quite well considering he's never done this style. They also have great stage presence.

Allison/Ivan (contemporary) - This one was awesome. Ivan has never done contemporary, but you couldn't tell because he totally NAILED it! Both had good technique and were very expressive, and Ivan has grown a lot over the show.

Ashlee/Dmitry (pop) - I liked it, but didn't love it. Ashlee had great stage presence, but Dmitry didn't really seem into this dance. It's not his element, and I prefer him when he's dancing with elegant masculinity. Plus, he looked kinda weird with the eyeliner. But I still thought the dance was cool and they work well together as partners.

Martha/Travis (foxtrot) - Loved it! Seems that this week, Travis was the one channeling his inner Dmitry! The dance was elegant and flowy, and I loved the music. They danced well together and this is probably the best I've seen from them so far.

Donyelle/Benji (broadway) - This was fun and energetic. Benji was just being himself - dorky, but in a good way. They were obviously having fun with this dance and letting their geeky selves come out. They have always danced well together, and though I prefered last week's viennese waltz, this broadway number definitely rocked.

In last week's result show, I loved Jessica's pointe solo - reminds me of Jody from Center Stage. Jaymz did great in his pasodoble solo, though it was obvious to everyone that he was trying to pull a Dmitry (he even used the same song that Dmitry used for his paso solo weeks ago!). Heidi's solo wasn't that great - too frantic and she was trying too hard, and Allison's wasn't that impressive either. Ryan's was forgettable too, though he's talented, and I find that Ivan is actually more impressive when he's OUT of his element.

This week's result show is tonight. If Dmitry ends up in the bottom 3, I hope he does another hot solo like last time, whoooo! The judges love him, so he has a good chance of staying. If Musa ends up in the bottom 3, he has a good chance of getting booted, since the judges always comment on his lack of technique. As for the girls, I don't know, but I'd say Donyelle and Allison will probably stay since the judges love them.

Another dance post...

2006-07-05T22:21:00.000-04:00

Time for another So You Think You Can Dance review! This week, they showed some audition footage, which meant that the actual show didn't start till a half hour later. Grrr... show the auditions on the audition episodes! This is a dance show, and if they're that desperate for filler, get more guest dancers! The krumping group was cool, but not my cup of tea. On another episode, they got Ryan from last year's dance crew to perform, maybe they should get more of last year's contestants to do stuff on the show. Maybe get Snow and Artem to do a ballroom dance since so many people wanted to see them dance together last year. But enough with audition footage already! Anyway, on to the dances:

Ryan and Heidi (hip-hop) - They rocked! Heidi is the perfect "funky little white girl" and the dance was awesome. They got so into it, and did way better than I ever expected. Love it, love it, LOVE IT!

Travis and Martha (salsa) - Good, but not the best. The partnering tricks looked a little awkward and Martha looks like a younger skinny Oprah. But I think they pulled it off well enough.

Dmitry and Ashlee (contemporary) - They're so mismatched (he's THE definition of elegant masculinity, and she's funky and unconventional) but it worked great for the dance. They both pulled off a dance style that neither had ever done, and it turned out to be entertaining and fun. Ashlee the doll was like a funkified Coppelia and Dmitry the magician was like a younger sexier Dr. Coppelius. The whole thing was THE definition of "thinking outside the box" - the mismatched couple, the choreography, the music, and it rocked.

Musa and Natalie (disco) - They definitely have good chemistry going, and it's so obvious she has a thing for him (unfortunately for her, he's already married...). I loved the start of the dance, and the tricks were amazing, but I found the choreography relied too much on tricks and not enough on dancing. Plus, it seems they were off-beat a few times, but it was better than last week's quickstep.

Benji and Donyelle (Viennese waltz) - One part of the rehearsal footage was priceless. The part where Benji is described as too boyish and told to channel Dmitry. Then, a clip of Dmitry teaching Benji (with his shirt unbuttoned, trying to look manly like Dmitry) how to shake his bon-bon! I laughed my head off! Benji is a fun guy with a great personality, but there is no way that he can compare to Dmitry when it comes to elegant masculinity. Except when he dances! The dance was awesome and again, Benji and Donyelle worked great together. He was manly enough to pull it off during the dance, and the choreography was beautiful. It worked great with the song, but I would have preferred a real Viennese waltz. During the rehearsal footage, "Voices of Spring" was playing in the background and I was thinking "they're gonna dance to a Strauss waltz?! Yay!" (I LOVE Strauss Jr.'s waltzes - there's a reason why they call him the king of waltzes!) and I was disappointed at first when I heard a pop ballad instead. But in the end I was very impressed.

Ivan and Allison (west coast swing) - I wasn't really into this one. When I think "swing", I think "big band", "jazz standards", "jive kings"... and this didn't come close. The dancing was good but I wasn't into the costumes (I wanted to see some 1940s style clothes) or the music (frig, get some real swing music like something from the Jive Kings repertoire?). It was fun, but didn't impress me much.

Jaymz and Jessica (hip-hop) - Loved it. They were in sync, did great despite not having experience in this style (Jessica is a ballerina - ballet is pretty much the opposite of hip-hop), and their dance was fun and funky. The costumes were cute and they totally looked the part of two kids playing around.

Hard to say who's going to be in the bottom 3 this week. I don't want Dmitry to get booted, but when he's in the bottom 3, he always does a hot solo so at least that's one upside of him ending up in the bottom 3! Last week, his solo was so friggin' hot and sexy - shirt open, swivelling his hips and doing that fancy footwork, RAWR! Again I've gotta say: REAL MEN DANCE!

I watched "Shall we Dance" (the movie with Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez) and I loved it. The dancing was great, Stanley Tucci was hilarious, and the ending was perfect.

I found a funny dance video! Rudolf Nureyev and Miss Piggy star in Swine Lake Gotta love the Muppets!

Anyway, in other news, Sara-Sour's Canada Day party rocked. We had a barbecue at her place and a soccer game. I didn't play, I'm not a jock and I usually get injured even if I just play for fun. Then, we all went to the bridge for the fireworks and it seemed like perfect timing that the rain didn't start till the fireworks were over! The next night, I went to the Festival of Lights, but I didn't enjoy it that much. The weather was bad, I'm not really a rock fan so I wasn't really into the bands, and even though I enjoyed talking to people I know that I saw at the show, I got really tired and went home soon after the third band went onstage. Then, I found that I had more fun in my basement, watching Shall We Dance and swivelling around to Latin music. The right music can lift my mood up wonderfully, and dancing is the perfect way to beat boredom and fatigue (yes, dancing can make me tired, but it's a good kind of tired).

One of the study programs that I'm seriously considering for when I go to Spain next year would be an intensive flamenco dance course - 2 hours of flamenco dance daily, plus private lessons if I choose. That would be so perfect for me...

Congrats Jason and Steph!

2006-06-28T22:04:00.000-04:00

Jason and Steph are now married! Whoo! The wedding was lovely, even if it rained, and it was obvious to everyone that those two belong together. Mary got teary when Steph was walking down the aisle, and someone said that even Terence got emotional too! Mindy in a dress and fancy hairdoo is quite rare (she was a bridesmaid, so she had to dress like that), but she's still the crazy Mindy we know and love! And the dance in the evening rocked! Lisa caught the bouquet and Kurtiss caught the garter, and started doing a little stripper dance right before putting it on her leg! I ended up dancing with 3 guys that night - Terence, Luke, and Dan. I hadn't seen Dan in forever, he lives in Ottawa now. At the end of the party, I freaked out because my wallet wasn't in my purse, but then I remembered I took it out at home before going to the dance because it was taking up too much space (the sparkly purse I had is smaller than the one I usually use). Stupid me... But aside from that, everything was fun and everyone had a great time. Congrats, Jason and Steph!

I got my Harry Potter patches and sewed them onto my purse. I bought it at the flea market for $3 and got the patches from an internet store. People who saw it said it looks like an authentic Hogwarts purse with the patches on - a Griffindor one on the front, and a Hogwarts one on the back.

I bought a second-hand bike recently for $70. Now that dance season is over and I'm taking a break from Pilates till September, that's becoming one of my main forms of exercise. It's fun, except I still have leg cramps from riding it yesterday.

I rented Billy Eliott recently, and loved it. People who think male dancers are gay need to see this movie. Billy is a boy who loves ballet with a passion, and he's not gay, or a sissy. His father is cruel to him at first because of the "gay male dancer" stereotype, but eventually he accepts this and encourages Billy to pursue what he loves. I also rented The Company, and that one was good too. The dancers were amazing, and though I preferred the dancing in Center Stage, I totally recommend it to anyone who likes dance movies. I have a few "rent 2 movies for the price of 1" coupons for That's Entertaiment, so that's why I've been renting so many movies lately. This week, I got Mambo Italiano (that one is so friggin' funny!) and Shall We Dance (haven't watched it yet).

So You Think You Can Dance is back! Well, it's been back for a few weeks now, but I haven't updated in a while and missed a few episodes, so I couldn't do a proper review. Well, the show is awesome and the new host is better than plastic lady who hosted last year's show (frig, why do some people think we don't notice when they've had that much plastic surgery?). The dancers are good, and I am totally in love with Dmitry. When I saw him with his shirt open on tonight's episode, I was like "WHOOO TAKE YER SHIRT OFF!!!!!!!!" Again like last year, it's mostly the same dances with a few new ones once in a while, but I liked them. Here's what I thought of each couple on tonight's show:

Ashlee and Ben (Hip-Hop) - She is an awesome hip-hopper and while he isn't as good as she is, he pulled it off. It was obvious she was in her element, and they both did great. As for last week's show, I loved that swing dance they did, and even though neither were in their element and had never done swing, their dance was fun and they rocked the dance floor.

Heidi and Ryan (Cuban Rumba) - They were so friggin' amazing! The choreography rocked, and their dancing was awesome. The part where he was "beating her bongos" was so funny, but it went perfectly well with that type of dance. Basically, the guy tries to get the girl's attention, she turns away but then she wants him too, and they portrayed that perfectly.

Aleksandra and Dmitry (Waltz) - Dmitry is a show-stopper no matter what he dances. But he always ends up with a partner who lets him down. Joy wasn't that great, and while Aleksandra was better, she couldn't measure up to him. I loved the waltz tonight, but he was definitely a better dancer than she was.

Allison and Ivan (Argentine Tango) - When they got that dance I was thinking "Frig, I can't see that little pipsqueak doing the Argentine tango!" (I was referring to Ivan) and I would have preferred real tango music rather than that watered-down version, but the dancing was great. Ivan seemed a lot more mature than I expected, and Allison was good too. The dance was intense, and passionate, and they worked really well with each other.

Natalie and Musa (Quickstep) - Last week, they totally impressed me with the contemporary dance - they totally nailed it and I found that Musa was really good for someone with no formal training. They had great chemistry, and their dance was so passionate. But this week, they weren't as impressive. Ballroom isn't really their thing, and while they weren't horrible, they didn't do near as well as many of the other couples. But also, from what the judges were saying, Musa seems really gung-ho about learning these new dances, and what he lacks in technique, he makes up for in determination, which is an awesome attitude.

Donyelle and Benji (Pop Jazz) - Those two have great chemistry together and work great as partners. Donyelle was the perfect diva, and Benji did great as the guy who wants her. I enjoyed this dance more than the cha-cha they did last week. It wasn't as cheesy as some other pop numbers, and they both had passion for what they were doing.

Jessica and Jaymz (Contemporary) - They're both talented dancers, and even though the choreographyer said that Jaymz is a "competition kid" with bad hands and flimsy arms, I didn't think he was like that at all in this dance. He actually seemed quite powerful and both he and Jessica had good stage presence. They weren't the best of the night, but I liked their number.

Martha and Travis (Hip-Hop) - Not horrible, but not that great either. Their styles of hip-hop didn't really match and Travis' dancing sometimes looked like spasms. Martha was better than he was, and even if he managed to pull it off, I think they'll end up in the bottom 3. But it was hilarious when the judges were commenting and Travis said in a stereotypical-gay-guy voice "America forgets, I do a fan kick!" Priceless!

Anyway, that's all for now!

Movies galore!

2006-06-07T20:48:00.000-04:00

I finally got my Harry Potter wand in the mail! I should be getting my Hogwarts and Griffindor patches (to sew onto my purse) any day now... Oooh, and I thought of another HP theory having to do with the destruction of Voldemort's horcruxes - remember the veil in the death room of the Department of Mysteries that took Sirius away? Well, what if one of the horcruxes happened to fall beyond that veil...

So You Think You Can Dance is back! Whoo! Can't wait to see the dancers this year! Though Nick Lazzarini (last year's winner) is a tough act to beat... we'll see if anyone can match up!

Jason and Steph are gettin' hitched in a few weeks, yay! Out of all the couples in my group of friends, I knew they'd be the first to tie the knot!

I rented Maria Full of Grace recently, and it's now officially on my list of favorite movies. Mo-Peep recommended it. Frig, that movie was intense... I don't understand why some people don't like independent film or movies in foreign languages with subtitles. They don't know what they're missing! Some of the best movies ever made are foreign films with subtitles - aside from Maria Llena de Gracia (Spanish, from Columbia) there's also Life is Beautiful (Italian) and Le Fabuleux Destin D'Amélie Poulain (French). A few years ago, I took a class at UPEI in French Literature and Film - we read French classics and watched the movie versions. That's partly how I learned to be so picky when it comes to books being made into movies - in that class we had to pick out all the differences and stuff, while also analyzing the themes and concepts presented in both the books and the films. In that class, my faves were Madame Bovary and Cyrano de Bergerac. And in my Spanish class, we watched Camila (movie from Argentina) - though one scene was a little too graphic, the rest of the movie was brilliant. Foreign-language films rock!

Does Harry Potter count as foreign film? After all, it's from another country (UK). Strictly Ballroom is Australian, so I think that one counts too. I'm dying to rent Billy Eliott - the British movie about the little boy who loves ballet.

I've decided not to see The Davinci Code at the movie theatre. I'll rent it when it comes out on video/DVD. Apparently it's getting a lot of bad reviews and since movie tickets are so friggin' expensive, I'd rather wait and pay the cheaper price to rent it.

Singing, dancing, parties, and Harry Potter stuff...

2006-05-23T20:34:00.000-04:00

Just had my last dance classes till September. Frig, I'm tired... In modern we did some improv and it was fun. We also did some floor work. In ballet, we had a regular class. Megan (my current teacher) thinks most of us are ready to do pointe work next year but Peggy (the head ballet teacher at the studio) is doubtful. I might take class at the Island Dance Academy next year too, and I'll do whatever it takes to be ready for pointe - it's what I've wanted for years now. Jazz was fun and Julia loved our class, since we all blended well together despite the different ages and levels of experience.

The music festival went well, and I got a good mark - 85%! My voice teacher said that the vocal adjudicator hasn't given any marks higher than 85 this year, so I think I did quite well! And when the adjudicator talked to me after my performance, she said I have a lovely voice and was disappointed to find out that I wouldn't be singing in other festival categories this year.

Neal had a rockin' party at his place last weekend. The food was good and the company was great. Ultimate frisbee isn't really my thing, but it was fun. And the dance party rocked!

Since I managed to go 3 months (well, almost 3 but there's only about a week left of this one!) without using my credit card at all (saving up for Spain next year...), I rewarded myself by buying a wand from an online Harry Potter merchandise store. I wanted a Griffindor sweater, but apparently there are none left in my size so I got a wand. I didn't wait till the end of the month to buy it because of a discount they offered to people who ordered before the 22th. So yes, I'm going to have my very own Harry Potter wand! Rosewood, 14.5 inches, essence of hair from the mane of a unicorn.

Speaking of Harry Potter, I've got more speculations and theories to present about Book 7! I've been reading some stuff on other websites and some of the speculations are quite interesting:

-Remember the dementors and how they destroy your soul when they give you the kiss? And how they don't distinguish between the one they're hunting for and the one who merely gets in their way? Well, what if one of Voldemort's horcruxes "accidentally" got in their way...

-What if Dumbledore isn't truly dead? I think he is, but there are some arguments for the "Dumbledore is not dead" theory that actually make sense. First of all, when Harry and Hagrid found his body, he is described as looking as though he were asleep (draught of the living death anyone? Perhaps Snape was in on the idea to fake Dumbledore's death). Plus, at his funeral, smoke rose from the coffin and took the shape of a phoenix - Dumbledore's patronus is a phoenix.

-Stan Shunpike (the guy from the Knight Bus) might be a squib. That may be why he wasn't a student at Hogwarts.

-In book 6, Narcissa was freaking out about Draco's mission (to kill Dumbledore). Since she is obviously very protective of her only son, perhaps if Voldemort tried to kill Draco, she might sacrifice herself for him in the same way that Lily did for Harry? Which means that Draco would also be marked by his mother's love, which could establish a bond between him and Harry, and they might end up fighting against the Dark Lord together. I don't think Draco is truly evil, since he kept chickening out when he had a chance to kill Dumbledore. He is simply misguided from his upbringing by a Death Eater father (Lucius) and a mother from a pure-blood-fanatic family (Narcissa).

Well, that's all for now...

Yay for books, movies, and music!

2006-05-08T23:20:00.000-04:00

Well, I read the entire DaVinci Code within 3-4 days. It wasn't busy at work so I brought the book and read most of it there. The heresies in it were blatantly obvious, but as a murder mystery, the story was brilliant. So many plot twists and action! Actually, some of it reminded me of Harry Potter - anagrams (TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE - I AM LORD VOLDEMORT, anyone? Hehehe...), riddles and codes, never knowing which characters are evil and which are good (Snape, Quirrell, Pettigrew/Wormtail, "Moody"/Barty Jr), etc. You know you're a Harry Potter nut when you notice similaries to HP in other books you read... Anyway, I wanna see the movie when it comes out!

I also finished reading The Nymph and the Lamp recently, and that one was brilliant too. In many ways, it's a lot like Jane Eyre. Actually, in the Writing by Women class I took a few years ago, I realized that many of these romance stories are similar to Jane Eyre. Even those cheesy Harlequin romance novels! We had to pick one of those trashy romances, read it, and write a term paper about it! And can you believe that the one I picked was set on PEI?! Yes, a Harlequin paperback romance novel set in the Montague area (with some parts in Charlottetown and a few other places on the Island).

I rented the Phantom of the Opera movie last week, and I enjoyed it. Except the singing wasn't as good as I expected. Then again, I have the soundtrack with the original cast, and I don't think anyone can compare to Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman as the phantom and Christine. Emmy Rossum was way too young for the part (frig, it's dangerous to sing opera when the voice isn't mature enough - for women it's not fully mature till the late 20s or early 30s), and the guy who played the phantom in the movie wasn't ugly enough. Also, some of the scenes where cut out of the movie.

Harry Potter movie 5 (Order of the Phoenix) is being filmed and will apparently be in theatres next year, I can't wait to see it! I especially want to see the scene where the Weasley twins make their grand exit on their brooms after leaving a portable swamp in the hall to annoy Umbridge! And the Department of Mysteries... except I hope I don't cry in the part where Sirius dies. Even though I've watched Goblet of Fire many times since buying it, I still cry every time during the part when everyone realizes that Cedric is dead.

Rehearsal with my accompanist went great, and my voice teacher said that all the problems we were working on earlier are gone. Whoo!

Hooray for Centred!

2006-05-04T21:31:00.000-04:00

The dance show rocked! All the dances went great and the audience loved them. Of the ones I was in, the one that went best was the jazz one - Made Ya laugh! We totally NAILED it! That was, hands down, the best we've ever done for that one, and we were so happy and excited after we finished. And Julia loved my funky clown costume. The Musical Theatre one (The Cool Dance) went awesome - we nailed that one too. Kim and Sara came to see the show and Kim said that The Cool Dance was her fave - the one with the claw action! Whoo take yer shirt off! ;) Actually, in the part where the two teams are clawing/hissing at each other, I pretended that my ex-best-friend was in front of me, and that helped to really get into it... Ballet went great - the only flub was that we ended slightly ahead of the song, but that didn't really matter because we were all in unison anyway. I almost lost my balance after the promenade in arabesque (frig, you try turning slowly on one leg while keeping the rest of you body stiff but graceful!) but I didn't fall and it wasn't noticeable. In modern, I guess nerves made me sweat, which made my feet sticky so I couldn't turn as well as usual - I was thinking "frig, I shoulda worn dance paws or foot undeez..." but wearing those would probably cause Martha Graham and Isadora Duncan to roll in their graves... (for anyone who doesn't know, they are two of the pioneers of modern dance, and most modern is supposed to be done barefoot) but the dance still went good. Tap was fun too, and the audience cheered for us! A lot of people said that Aaron stole the show, he is an amazing dancer! And far from being a pansy. Frig, even in class he's always doing triple/quadruple turns while everyone else is doing singles/doubles, and his jumps are amazing! My mother was like "who's that boy with the curls who jumps really well?" I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he ends up becoming a professional dancer.

I borrowed the DaVinci code from Sara-Sour and will start reading it tonight. In Theology On Tap, we'll be discussing heresy and the DaVinci Code, so I want to read the book to be ready to discuss it.

I'll be singing in the Queens County Music Festival in a few weeks, and tomorrow I have to rehearse with my accompanist. At my last lesson, my voice teacher said I'm doing great and she thinks I'll end up getting a good assessment from the judge. Yay!

Dance, dance, wherever you may be...

2006-04-27T20:47:00.000-04:00

Well, the show is in 2 days, and rehearsals are going ok. Tomorrow is dress rehearsal, then it's showtime! For the ones I'm in, the tap one is called "Swingtime", the ballet one is "Noblesse Oblige", the modern one is "Recognition", the jazz one is "Made Ya Laugh!", and the musical theatre one is "The Cool Dance". I really like some of the other ones in the show. One of the ballet classes is doing one where they're playing balloons, and I've got that song stuck in my head right now... The kid who looks like Luke is in two of my classes - tap and musical theatre. The senior modern piece is awesome - the music they're using is from "A Childhood Remembered", a dance show the studio did over a decade ago (I was 10 at the time, it was the last dance show I was in for a long time) so it brought back some good memories. But at the same time, there are some moments in the dance that brought back some more recent painful memories. Like the part where Diana is sitting on the ground looking sad while the others dance - that reminded me of the retreat when I found out... well anyone I know who hasn't been sleeping under a rock knows about that... I almost cried when I saw that part of the dance because it brought back the pain of unrequited love, a friendship betrayed, etc. Well, enough about that...

I got picked for a live audition for a short film! Whoo!

I've been looking around the internet for some language schools in Spain, for when I go to Seville next year. I won't let anything stop me from going, and I've already started penny-pinching to save up for it. I haven't used my credit card in 2 months, and if I can make it for 3 months without using it, I'll reward myself. I'll either get professional headshots done, or buy something online. If I buy something online, I'm thinking either the God or the Girl DVD, a Harry Potter Griffindor sweater, a David Bisbal CD/DVD, or something else I wouldn't be able to buy otherwise.

Anyway, that's all for now...

My review for Amadeus

2006-04-25T14:37:00.000-04:00

I went to see Amadeus by the Atlantic Ballet Theatre recently at the Confed Centre, and it was awesome! Love it love it love it LOVE IT!

The dancing was absolutely amazing, and Kostyantyn Voynov (Mozart) and Sergiy Diyanov (Salieri) are now officially on my list of favorite ballet dancers. Voynov was perfect as Mozart - he gave off an air of innocence, yet was absolutely brilliant as the musical genius manipulated by his rival. Diyanov was the perfect Salieri - powerful and sinister yet sneaky about it, the perfect slinky Slytherin (there I go being a Harry Potter nut again! hehehe...) getting ready to pounce on his prey. Evelina Sushko was the perfect muse - very graceful, yet flirtatious during the part where Mozart and Salieri are trying to out-dance each other for her affection. Also, she was physically different than the ballerinas who played the court ladies - they were very short and somewhat stockier, while she was tall (taller than Mozart even) and slim. The difference in physicality between the court ladies and the muse emphasized the earthly qualities of the ladies who come and go in his life and the ethereal qualities of the muse who has his complete devotion. I remember in Revolving Doors last year, Sushko played Celeste and my friends who saw the show thought that she was exactly like me! The dancing bishop was good too - doing those leaps across the stage wearing that black robe.

I LOVED the opening part that showed Mozart born out of a harpsichord and the muse sanctifying his birth. When Voynov was dancing after the "birth" wearing only tights and ballet slippers, he was so beautiful and pure, and when Salieri and his crew came in to take him under their wing, it was as if they simply wanted to take advantage of his innocence, look down upon him, and use him as their puppet, before they realized that he was a true musical genius. And the end where Salieri leads the dying Mozart to the harpsichord so that he dies in it, was just brilliant. Mozart dedicated his life to music - it was his destiny, as if he was born from it, lived for it, and died in it. And when the sand falls on the harpsichord like in an hourglass, it shows his musical immortality. He may be physically dead, but what he lived for will always live on.

The parts in between were awesome too. I loved the duel between Mozart and Salieri where they're fighting for the muse. It was funny when she made Salieri hold her cigarette while she danced with Mozart. Laura D'Onofrio was good and expressive as Mozart's wife Costanza, though not nearly as captivating as Sushko. Diyanov as Salieri stole the show in most of the middle parts, and his evilness was apparent in both his dancing and expression. I loved the costumes, though it must have been hell for the men to dance in those suits! And the music was awesome.

This show proved me right one more time when I say - REAL MEN DANCE! These guys were not "pansies in tights". First of all, only one was wearing tights and only in the first part of the show (after that, he was wearing a suit, as were all the other men), and they were not girly flitting around the stage. They were physically strong (the scene with Voynov in tights showed off his muscular dancer's body perfectly), powerful, and totally secure in their masculinity.

On a scale of 1-10, I give this show an 11! I noticed that the audience was so small, the Centre was not even half full (grrr... more people need to get into the arts). Anyone who missed Amadeus missed a friggin' amazing show. I loved it even more than Revolving Doors last year! The Atlantic Ballet Theatre of Canada is now officially my favorite ballet company, and my fave dancers are Kostyantyn Voynov, Sergiy Diyanov, and Evelina Sushko (the rest of my list includes Roberto Bolle, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Jennifer Welsman). Amadeus was awesome!

Dance show info, Amadeus, and review for God or the Girl.

2006-04-18T20:49:00.000-04:00

To all who want to come to my dance show - it's on Saturday the 29th, and tickets are $10 if you're just coming to the evening show (the one I'm in). If you're coming to both the matinee (the one with the little kids' classes) and evening shows, there's a package deal - $14 for both. I'm in 5 dances, and it is going to friggin' rock. Get your tickets at the Confed Centre, and as soon as possible because they're selling out fast. Don't wait till the day of the show or even a few days before, because it will likely be sold out by then (I wouldn't be surprised if it were sold out by the end of the week...). Anyway, for more info, check this out.

I can't wait to see Amadeus this weekend! Dance shows don't come here often, so I want to take every opportunity, and since I really like Atlantic Ballet Theatre, I have to see this one! Plus, I love Mozart's music and this really looks like it's going to be an awesome show.

I've been watching God or the Girl lately, and it's an awesome show. Finally, a positive portrayal of the priesthood from the secular media! Here's what I thought of it:

I love the theme song (yay Jars of Clay!) and I LOVE the choral music and the shots of statues and priest praying. The scenes from World Youth Day in Germany brought back great memories (the Dom surrounded by pilgrims, Marienfeld, the blue Italian hats, etc), and the scenes in Guatemala reminded me of Dominican Republic. The guys in the show are perfect examples of good Catholic men who want God's will, and though each is at a different point in the discernment process, I can see that they all have great qualities that would help them if they do become priests. Though they all have a different life story and different interests, they all have their faith in common, and it will lead them to great things.

The only thing I didn't like is that the show makes it seem like going to the seminary is like a binding contract - that if you go you have to become a priest. While in reality, many men go simply to discern a possible vocation, and don't decide right away to become priests (I've known several guys who left the seminary after 1-4 years because they weren't called to the priesthood after all). That might scare some Catholic guys out of going to the seminary.

My thoughts on the guys during episodes 1 and 2:

Dan - he is my favorite. If he doesn't become a priest (I hope he does though!), I wanna marry him! He is totally dedicated to his faith and is not afraid of telling it like it is when it comes to issues that have to do with religion (so brave to be openly pro-life in such a hopelessly anti-life world).

Steve - he is my other favorite. I totally admire how he gave up all the riches and opportunities he had in the past to pursue his faith goals. It reminds me of a saint who did the same, I think it was St. Francis of Assisi - he was rich, powerful, and had everything the secular world values, and when God called him he gave it all up to become a monk and live a life of everything the secular world sees as inferior.

Mike - he may be called, but it's hard to say. I do think he would make a good priest, but I can see that he is really struggling with this decision. He obviously loves his girlfriend and is looking forward to the married life, but then again many men who were in his position were called to the priesthood after all. I've known several priests who broke up with serious girlfriends before going to the seminary and it was a real struggle for them, but in the end they didn't regret their decision and are happy with the choices they've made in life. Actually, I remember when Bishop Vernon jokingly said that he gave his then-girlfriend two-weeks notice before going to the seminary!

Joe - he really needs to make some changes in his life. It's obvious he's not sure about the priesthood, but perhaps the seminary would give him a better opportunity to discern his vocation? If he's not getting anywhere with what he's been doing for the past 10 years, maybe he needs to be immersed in an environment where he can seriously think about it without worldly distractions.

My thoughts on them in episodes 3 and 4:

Joe - he is working through his confusion and seems to be going the right way now. I think he needed to get away from his home for a little while since his family is trying to pressure him into the priesthood. He needs to make that decision on his own, and going to the retreat house is a good way to get away from the pressures and influences coming from home. Also, perhaps God wanted to him to go through some confusion along the way. Sometimes, it's through suffering that we find what we need, and maybe that's the way God wanted him to discern.

Dan - he is still my favorite (not just because of the fact that he looks like David Bisbal, teehee!). I think he's called to the priesthood and he would be an awesome priest. I loved how he was presenting the pictures of the women in his life - the Virgin Mary, Mother Theresa, etc. And it's great that he's living in a great faith community with the other guys. Also, he really understands the concept of suffering (carrying that cross for 20 friggin' miles!), and I can see he truly wants to do God's will.

Steve - he made me cry at the end! I think that if he's not called to be a diocesan priest, he may be called to be a missionary. He has a good heart and has learned a lot from his experience in Guatemala, which will help him if he becomes a priest.

Mike - he's not going to the seminary now, and though he may be called to the married life, there's still a possiblity for a priestly vocation - he might end up going to the seminary in the future instead. It might even happen decades from now - I know a few priests who got their calling late (Father Paul and Father Tom who were ordained last year are in their 60s, they're both widowers and are retired from their former careers), and their life experience with marriage, careers, etc help them a lot as priests.

Anyone have any thoughts? Who's your fave?

Mid Spring is dance season...

2006-04-05T16:27:00.000-04:00

Well, the days are getting longer (yay daylight savings time!) and the weather is warmer. Which means summer is approaching, which is a relief. Between January and March, things are boring around here, but soon the trees will be green, the seasonal restaurants and stores will be open, and the Island will be filled with people. It's only in summer that the Island comes alive. At other times of the year, it's usually blah.

There's another ballet show coming to town soon! I'm going to see Amadeus, about the life of Mozart. The Atlantic Ballet Company is performing it - the same company that did Les Portes Tournantes (Revolving Doors) last year. I got my ticket yesterday, whoo!

My recital is at the end of the month, and so far, rehearsals are going good. In all my classes, we finished the dances, we just have to keep running them till the show. And I got new ballet slippers - Bloch Pump. They're made of canvas so they don't stick to the floor as much as my leather ones, and they're split sole so they're more flattering for my feet.

I see some people don't understand the concept of SARCASM... Anyway, the April Fools post is gone. Happy now?

Apparently, Mr. Squirrel is using the outdoor portion of the air conditionner as a storehouse for the seeds he steals from the birdfeeder. Thank goodness the cats aren't allowed outside, they hiss every time they look out the window and see him in the tree!

Smell the buttery goodness...

2006-03-29T20:27:00.000-05:00

Well, Neal flushed his cell phone down the toilet, and I have a funny story too:

Two nights ago, I wanted to make some popcorn to eat while watching Harry Potter movie 4 (I got the DVD, yay!). I put the popcorn bag in the microwave for 4 minutes like I usually do, but since we got a new microwave, it's a little different than the one I used before. See, this one seems to be a lot more powerful than the old one, so instead of getting a bag full of yummy buttery popcorn, I ended up with a bag full of horribly burnt popcorn and smoke. Well, most of the popcorn was grey, but there was also a mass of horribly burnt black popcorn, and it stunk up the whole kitchen. Even the next morning, there was still a smell of burnt popcorn in the air. Frig, it's 2 days later and the microwave still smells like burnt popcorn...

I've watched Harry Potter 4 twice since I got the DVD, and I've noticed a little subtlety that you can only notice if you watch the movie several times. The scene after the Second Task (where they have to save the hostages in the lake) when Barty Crouch seems to recognize "Moody" who is really his son Barty Jr in disguise - notice in every scene involving Barty Jr as himself, he's always doing this tongue-flicking thing. Well, when Barty Sr sees "Moody", "Moody" does the tongue-flick, and that's why Barty Sr gets suspicious. A few not-so-subtle things that can be noticed the first time watching - Barty Sr looks like Hitler, Viktor Krum looks like Dreamboat (though I'm sure that one was not intentional...), Ron and Hermione totally have a thing for each other, the Patil twins are not identical (they're played by actresses who aren't even related to each other), and Harry's glasses often don't have lenses in them.

Other movies I've watched recently - My Big Fat Greek Wedding (funniest movie ever!), Amelie (my movie!), and Strictly Ballroom (yay for dance movies!).

I might even be in a movie myself! I might audition for a local movie, whooo!

And friends, remember to come to my dance recital next month - Saturday April 29, get your tickets at the Confed Centre box office!

I feel for poor Giselle...

2006-03-13T18:54:00.000-05:00

Not much going on in my life lately. Life is boring at this time of year. Though the weather is getting better and the days are getting longer. Mr. Squirrel was in the tree again. It's getting warm enough not to need to wear a winter coat.

We had a Way of the Cross show at St. Anne's last night and it went well. I drove up myself and almost got lost on the way, but I got there in time. I play a weeping woman this year. I don't think I'll be able to make it to every show because of work and crap, but I'll be in as many as I can.

I've never seen the ballet Giselle, but I know the story and can strongly identify with it. Giselle is a peasant girl and falls head over heels in love with Albrecht. In Act I, they dance joyously and Giselle totally falls for him, though her mother warns her by telling her about the Wilis - spirits of maidens who died before their weddings as a result of faithless lovers. Then, a group of nobles arrives, including Countess Bathilde, who becomes very friendly with Giselle and even gives her a necklace as a sign of friendship. Later, it is revealed that Albrecht is a nobleman in disguise and betrothed to Bathilde. Giselle is heartbroken. She goes mad with grief and dies of heartache.

In Act II, Albrecht feels remorse, so he goes to Giselle's grave. He is surrounded by Wilis. They come out at night and haunt men, forcing them to dance themselves to death. Giselle is one of them. They attempt to force him to dance himself to death, but she warns him, and sustains him. When the sun rises, Albrecht is saved, and the Wilis go back to their graves.

I'm such a Giselle - the only difference is that I didn't die of heartache. But if I did, and if I became a Wili, I would save him from death too. Giselle loved Albrecht so much that she was willing to save his life rather than get revenge on him for breaking her heart...

Giselle and Albrecht dance and everyone is happy:

Alessandra Ferri as Giselle during the mad scene:

Ballet Minnesota's Giselle, during the death scene:

Giselle (Agnes Letestu) sustains Albrecht (Jose Martinez) to save him from death

If there's a ballet character I can identify with, it's Giselle.

Girls rule, boys drool - at least in Canadian Olympic hockey...

2006-02-27T21:08:00.000-05:00

Canada got 24 medals, whooo take yer shirt off! Only Germany and the US got more than us (and frig, they didn't get much more than us). I watched some of the events. Ice dancing was awesome, as was figure skating. I watched Clara Hughes and Cindy Klassen win medals in one of the speed skating races. Also, I saw some of the curling match where the Newfie team won. I didn't watch most of the hockey games, but whooo our girls kicked some Swedish ass! Reminds me of that time when I was in Sweden, when Canada played against Sweden in some big hockey final, and won. I was the only person in Sundsvall who was happy! Frig, the boys hockey team should have asked the girls for some tips, maybe they would have won a medal! Well, the boys team was made up mostly of old fogeys who are past their prime. Frig, if Sidney Crosby had been on the team, they would have won gold! On the Canadian Olympic team this year, more medals were won by women than by men. Which will be awesome for girls who want to play sports. Yay for the Canadian medalists!

Last week while eating supper, my mom turned the tv on, and on the screen there was a tanned guy in a bullfighter jacket looking really nervous. I was like "is he a bullfighter?" and my mom said "looks like it..." but then we realized that he was actually an olympic figure skater who had just finished his routine and was waiting for his marks. Quite the cutie too...

Male figure skaters are hot. Like dancers, they're strong yet graceful, and man enough not to let our society's standards prevent them from strutting their stuff.

And I noticed that a lot of the figure skating and ice dancing routines had a Spanish theme to them. Aside from Evan Lysacek in a suit of lights, there was an ice dancing couple who skated to the music from Carmen, and a few others that wore Spanish-style costumes and/or skated to Spanish music. Gah, I can't wait to go back to Spain next year!

The ECMAs were on, but I didn't go to any of the events. Tim and Elmer played at Rum Runner's but I couldn't go because it was at 2am and I had to work the next morning. Aside from that, I'm just not into the music. Most of it doesn't appeal to me. Last time the ECMAs were in Charlottetown, the only reason I wanted to go to the awards show was because the Jive Kings were performing, and I was so angry that I couldn't go (too much school stuff, didn't have time).

I went bowling with some people from the faith society on Friday and it was fun. Neal and Ryan were dressed identical, they even had matching bowling shoes! Thomas Price, who also got dissed on tv in the Canadian Idol auditions was there with his buddies. I chatted with him and he wants to audition again.

Meh, that's all for now...

Grrr Valentine's Day... I need me a love potion.

2006-02-14T13:00:00.000-05:00

The Olympics have started and Canada's got a few medals. We'll likely win gold in hockey though, so far we're winning over other teams by a landslide! Go team Canada! I watched the opening ceremonies on tv, and they rocked. I especially loved the dancing and aerial acrobatics. Roberto Bolle was great as the futuristic hero guy, though I prefer him as Romeo or other classic ballet characters. As soon as I heard the name "Roberto Bolle", I ran to the tv to watch! Though I expected to see him dance more, he was awesome! And just for fun:

When watching the Olympics opening ceremonies, you know you're a Harry Potter nut when:

-As soon as the Bulgarian delegation comes in during the Parade of Nations, you think "Hmmm... I wonder if Viktor Krum is among them?"
-You wonder if Quidditch is among the sports that will be played, until you realize it's not a winter sport!
-When the Olympic torch is lit, you think "ooh, the Goblet of Fire!"

(for the record, I know Quidditch only exists in the HP books!)

Cupid can kiss my ass. I need a love potion - Professor Slughorn, brew me some amortentia... I could do for some felix felicis too...

I entered a contest on this site to win a handmade Harry Potter wand. Except if I win, the one I pick has to be less than $45 and the one I want is more than that...

The weather's been nuts lately. Last week, it was like spring, but last weekend we got a blizzard. Can't wait for it all to melt!

Nothing else exciting going on in my life... bleh.

Life is blah right now...

2006-02-06T20:18:00.000-05:00

Alrighty, since Rachel checks my blog daily and begged for an update, here it is! :) Well, not much of an update, since life has been boring lately. Same 'ol, same 'ol. This town is dead at this time of year.

Finished re-reading Harry Potter Book 6. Book 7 is gonna be intense...

Mr. Squirrel was around a few days ago. At this time of year, I thought he'd be hibernating...

The weather has been nuts. We had a blizzard, then rain, and today it was like springtime, then it started snowing tonight.

I saw Dreamboat recently. As usual, we just ignored each other. Grrr, men...

Julia couldn't take the Harry Potter theme idea for the "Cool" dance because it would be a costuming nightmare. Argh, this dance totally should have an HP theme! Especially now that Mikey has a solo, since he's the one who looks most like Harry, it would work out perfect! Yes, I'll accept Julia's costuming ideas and I understand why this would be a costuming nightmare (funkified Hogwarts uniforms) but every time I dance it, it's impossible for me not to picture the class as Griffindor vs Slytherin!

I'm going to be competing in the music festival this year! I'm entering in the musical theatre category, and singing "My favorite things" from The Sound of Music. I just hope I don't end up accidentally singing "The Gilderoy Things" from the hilarious HP parody I found a while ago...

Canadian Idol auditions aren't coming to Charlottetown this year, so if I decide to go, I'll have to go either to Halifax or Montreal. Don't know if I'll end up going, since it's at one of the busiest times of the year and travel takes too long...

Speaking of Montreal, I've been thinking of moving there. PEI is boring and there is no way I'll live here permanently without going crazy. Montreal is my favorite city in Canada, so that's my first choice. A while ago, I considered Calgary (good job market and high salaries, among uh, other things...), but for obvious reasons, that one got blasted off my list. Toronto is cool, but not my favorite. Halifax is good, but I don't really feel a love for it like I do for Montreal. I want a cosmopolitan city full of arts and culture, and Montreal is just that. Many times when I've gone there, I felt that it's where I belong.

What I'm thinking, is that I'll probably stay on PEI for a little while to be sure of this idea. Then I'll go to Spain next spring because I've been thinking of returning for a long time and the idea still appeals to me. Then, I'll go to Montreal.

Heartache still won't leave me, even if I try not to think of it, it always creeps back into my thoughts somehow. But I prayed that God would take my pain and convert it to grace for my future husband. Considering my emotional state for the past month, my future hubby is probably getting enough grace to fill up the Cologne Dom and then some... Frig, the graces he's getting could probably fill up St. Peter's in the Vatican, while using the Sistine Chapel as a storage room for the excess!

My friends and I are doing our Way of the Cross play again this year. Whooo!

Anyway, that's all for now...

Yes, I am a Harry Potter nut...

2006-01-21T23:12:00.000-05:00

Just finished re-reading Harry Potter and the OotP today, and started re-reading HBP. These books are gonna be classics...

This is way too funny. Now you know where I got the "bother bother bother" thing I use to pick on my friends! Fortunately, my muggle friends can't do Avada Kedavra... hehehe...

Finally got my computer updated to Windows XP. It was about time! I'm not much of a techie person, but I find the update makes my computer go much faster.

I got a subscription for Dance Spirit magazine and got my first issues today. The January one has an interview with Nick Lazzarini from SYTYCD, and he's on the cover. He is amazing. I knew from the start that he'd go far on the show and after a while, it was obvious he deserved to win. He was the best dancer by far! Well, Anthony Bryant would have been fierce competition for him, but he was rejected in the New York auditions because they thought he wasn't masculine enough. Yes, his dancing and the way he carried himself can be described as androgynous, but this guy was so talented that he was the only one who would have had a chance of beating Nick.

I got moved up to a more advanced ballet class, yay! And in all my dance classes we started working on the end-of-year recital. I suggested an idea for the musical theatre one - we're using "Cool" from West Side Story and are split up in two teams that are suspicious of each other. I got the idea of it being a Griffindor vs Slytherin thing, and the two guys who battle can be Harry and Draco. Then when we jump out two by two and do the shaking moves, we could be carrying wands and cursing each other. In tap, we're using a fast swing song and it's awesome. In modern, we're using something by Afro-Celt and it's beautiful. In Jazz, we're using that song by the Gorillaz with the maniacal laughing (and even after weeks of Christmas break, I can still land double jazz turns, whooo!). In ballet, we're using music I don't know, and it's kinda weird but mellow at the same time... And I started taking hip-hop and belly dancing too, yay!

Well, those are the bits of happy news lately. But aside from all that, I've been plagued by heartache lately. I won't name names or give details, all I'm going to say for now is that those who know about that know what I'm referring to, and those who don't, don't need to know. I still cry about it sometimes, and I still feel that I can't trust anyone anymore... I'm not recovered, and won't be for a long time.

Emotions - Destiny's Child.

It's over and done
But the heartache lives on inside
And who's the one you're clinging to
Instead of me tonight?

And where are you now, now that I need you?
Tears on my pillow wherever you go
I'll cry me a river that leads to your ocean
You'll never see me fall apart

In the words of a broken heart
It's just emotion taking me over
Caught up in sorrow
Lost in the song
But if you don't come back
Come home to me, darling
Don't you know there's nobody left in this world to hold me tight?
Don't you know there's nobody left in this world to kiss goodnight
Goodnight, goodnight

I'm there at your side,
I'm part of all the things you are
But you've got a part of someone else
You've got to find your shining star

And where are you now, now that I need you?
Tears on my pillow wherever you go
I'll cry me a river that leads to your ocean
You'll never see me fall apart

In the words of a broken heart
It's just emotion taking me over
Caught up in sorrow
Lost in the song
But if you don't come back
Come home to me, darling
Don't you know there's nobody left in this world to hold me tight?
Don't you know there's nobody left in this world to kiss goodnight
Goodnight, goodnight

And where are you now, now that I need you?
Tears on my pillow wherever you go
I'll cry me a river that leads to your ocean
You'll never see me fall apart

In the words of a broken heart
It's just emotion taking me over
Caught up in sorrow
Lost in the song
But if you don't come back
Come home to me, darling
Don't you know there's nobody left in this world to hold me tight?
Don't you know there's nobody left in this world to kiss goodnight
Goodnight, goodnight

I need a hug... :(

Memoirs of a Geisha movie review

2006-01-15T22:35:00.000-05:00

Turns out Memoirs of a Geisha did come to this town after all! I went to see it with some of my friends last night. Here's what I thought:

I loved most of it. The scenery shots of Japan were amazing, especially the sunsets, mountains, and gardens. Most of the actors were good, even if they weren't all Japanese. Pumpkin was funny in the later part of the movie, and Hatsumomo was the perfect arrogant bitch. I LOVED the dance scenes and the soundtrack.

However, I am a purist when it comes to books being made into movies, and I noticed a lot of things that were either changed or removed:

-Chiyo/Sayuri's childhood in Yoroido wasn't shown, and in the movie it looked like she thought she was being kidnapped. In the book, she thinks Mr. Tanaka is adopting her and her sister so she's happy until she gets to the geisha house.

-The story is supposed to take place in the Gion district of Kyoto (the most famous geisha district in Japan). In the movie, it was another city.

-In the movie, the other little girl in the geisha house is already nicknamed Pumpkin when Chiyo arrives. In the book, Chiyo gives her the nickname when they first meet, because Pumpkin has a round face and is sticking out her tongue in concentration while dragging a heavy bucket (she says her tongue looked like a pumpkin stem).

-Mother wasn't old or ugly enough. In the book, she was described as having red-rimmed eyes and yellow teeth.

-Doctor Crab wasn't crab-like enough. He's supposed to always walk sideways with his elbows sticking out. Also, not much was told about his reputation for always chasing after mizuage.

-When Chiyo/Sayuri becomes an apprentice geisha, Mameha takes her to a party where another geisha is telling a funny story about the wig-maker who liked Mameha. That wasn't shown in the movie. I was hoping that part would be in the movie since the story is hilarious.

-Nobu had two arms. In the book, he only had one arm (his other arm got blown off in battle when he was in the military). Also, in the book, his scars make him somewhat of a tragic figure. It wasn't really emphasized in the movie.

-In the book, Doctor Crab become re-interested in becoming Sayuri's mizuage patron because she is tested and is found to be intact after all (contrary to the rumour Hatsumomo spread). In the movie, he becomes re-interested because of her dance performance.

-In the movie, Sayuri was discreet yet flirty when presenting the rice cakes to the men who would bid for her mizuage. In the book, she presented them formally.

-In the book, the part where Sayuri is trying to pour tea but the teapot is empty happens with the Chairman. In the movie, I think it was with Doctor Crab.

-The scene where the artist paints a picture of Sayuri is not shown in the movie. There were a few other minor scenes that were not shown.

-In the movie, nothing was said about the abortions Mameha had at the Baron's request. I think it should have been in the movie, since it shows how oppressive he was.

-In the movie, everyone freaks out because they thought Sayuri slept with the Baron, and only know for sure that it didn't happen because he bid high for her mizuage (no man would bid that much for something he had already taken). In the book, they know that he tried to assault her, but didn't succeed.

-In the movie, Hatsumomo gets kicked out of the geisha house because she set fire to it after threatening to burn the Chairman's handkerchief. In the book, she doesn't find the hankie (and never knows about Sayuri's feelings for the Chairman), she finds Sayuri's journal, and doesn't start a fire. She doesn't get kicked out till later.

-I had been hoping to see the scene where Hatsumomo cracks and gets thrown out of the geisha house as a result. In the book, Sayuri and Mameha follow her to a party hosted by a gay Kabuki actor who is so feminine he could actually pass for a woman (he plays women's roles in theatre). He makes everyone laugh by imitating the women around him, and fawns over a British actor he liked who, unfortunately for him, was not interested in men. Eventually, he makes Mameha become the life of the party and Hatsumomo is so pissed off that she starts beating him up. A few days later, everyone in town knows about it, and she gets thrown out. None of that was shown in the movie.

-Sayuri's danna General Tottori is barely shown, and nothing is said about him being her danna. In the book, Nobu freaks out because he wanted Sayuri for himself.

-In the book, Sayuri sleeps with another man to secretly get revenge on Mother after Mother sells a kimono that this man had given Sayuri. Later when she's working with the family after the geisha districts close during the war, she has a fling with someone else. That wasn't in the movie.

-The man Sayuri seduces to get rid of Nobu is a cranky Japanese minister in the book. In the movie, he was an American colonel who thought geisha were prostitutes.

-At the end of the book, the Chairman takes Sayuri to New York after they become a couple, and she spends the rest of her life there. The movie ends with Sayuri and the Chairman becoming a couple.

-Not much was shown about Pumpkin being a slow learner and not really being suitable to become a geisha. Also, the back story on Hatsumomo that Mameha told Chiyo isn't shown in the movie either.

-Before the movie came out, I was expecting an all-Japanese cast, in the Japanese language with subtitles. The movie was in English (albeit with strong accents) and not all the actors were Japanese.

-The geisha didn't really look authentic. I have a book with pictures of real geisha, and the ones in the movie just look like Asian women in kimono rather than real geisha. The hairstyles and makeup seemed to have been altered to appeal to a Western audience, and in some scenes they had their hair down (in the book, Sayuri says that she never saw Hatsumomo with her hair down till she got thrown out). Also, the main actresses were Chinese rather than Japanese. Yes, they are talented and played the parts well, but I could tell they weren't really Japanese.

Anyway, even with these changes and inconsistencies, I still think the movie was worth seeing. On a scale of 1-10, I give it an 8.

It's Harry Potter time again!

2006-01-03T18:18:00.000-05:00

I'm re-reading the Harry Potter books and I'm on book 5 now. I can't wait for book 7. There have been a lot of rumours about book 7, and I will now present some of my theories and speculations about what may happen (SPOILER WARNING, in case anyone hasn't read books 5 and 6 yet...):

-Sirius might be simply trapped behind the veil rather than dead. If that's the case, Harry might rescue him.

-Peter Pettigrew owes his life to Harry Potter because of what happened in book 3. Dumbledore had told Harry that Voldemort will not like having a servant indebted to Harry Potter. It's possible that Pettigrew might save Harry in book 7.

-Harry's scar might be a horcrux. After all, Harry can speak parseltongue (which Voldemort could do) and can see into Voldemort's thoughts. Harry's scar also hurts whenever Voldy is near or feeling particularly murderous. This may be because a piece of Voldemort's soul is trapped in Harry, and the scar is the "object" used for the horcrux. Which means that Harry might have to die in order to vanquish Voldemort. But he won't necessarily die. It's entirely possible that Voldy will do Avada Kedavra, but the spell will hit Harry and destroy the scar (therefore destroying that piece of the Dark Lord's soul), and then rebound and hit Voldemort (just like what happened when Harry was a baby and survived that curse), killing the Dark Lord once and for all.

-Snape killed Dumbledore, but might not be evil after all. Perhaps it was necessary for Dumbledore to die. Also, maybe Snape told Dumbledore about the unbreakable vow he had made (Snape is a double agent, after all), and when Dumbledore was like "Severus, please..." when Draco was chickening out of killing him, he might have been actually begging Snape to kill him. Dumbledore isn't afraid of death, and maybe the consequences of Snape not killing him could have been worse. Also, he might have known he was dying because he was weakened by the green potion where the fake horcrux was hidden.

-In book 5, when they're cleaning up Sirius' house, they find a heavy locket that none of them could open. HORCRUX ALERT! If it's not in the house anymore, Mundungus probably stole it and sold it, but it will turn up again somehow. Actually, in book 6, Lavender gives Ron a "Sweetheart" locket with a big S on it. No one says anyone opened it. Perhaps that's the one?

-Harry's eyes are green, and so are his mother's. JK Rowling had said that this detail is important. The Avada Kedavra curse light is green, and so was the potion that hid the fake horcrux and weakened Dumbledore. Any connection?

-RAB who stole the locket horcrux and replaced it with a fake was probably Sirius' brother Regulus. Sirius said his brother was a death eater, then quit, and got killed by Voldemort. Perhaps he stole the horcrux after leaving the death eaters, took it to the house, then got tracked down and killed before he had a chance to destroy it.

-Hagrid may have to be a double agent with the giants. Voldemort wants to gain their support, and if he succeeds, Hagrid might have to be a spy for them. Grawp and Madame Maxime might have a role in this too.

-More people are going to die. Before book 5 came out, JK Rowling had confirmed that someone important dies, and I thought it would be Hagrid or Mrs. Weasley (turns out it was Sirius). If anyone from the Weasley family dies, I think it will likely be Mrs. Weasley.

-Percy Weasley the prodigal son might come back to the family.

-Draco could die. Or maybe he and Harry will join forces to beat the death eaters. Draco is a bully, but he chickened out when he had the chance to kill Dumbledore. Maybe that means he's not truly evil after all?

-One of Harry's friends might become a animagus either for protection or to spy on the death eaters.

-Priori incantatem will probably happen again. Fawkes the phoenix might show up again too.

Anyway, that's all I can think of for now... Any other HP fans got any ideas on what might happen in book 7?

Kitties on crack, yummy cookies, the art of dance, funky knives, and other holiday fun stuff...

2006-01-01T23:40:00.000-05:00

Christmas was good. I had to work that day but that means I get pay and a half so I'm not complaining. The duck we ate for Christmas supper was yummy, and I like my presents. Funny story - in the present I gave to my sister, I had included a catnip thingy for her cat, but my cats smelled it through the wrapping paper, tore the gift apart, and tripped out on the catnip (apparently, catnip is like crack for cats and makes them hallucinate). Since I had included another catnip thingy in my mother's present for our cats, I gave her that one instead (the cats didn't attack it because I had used plastic wrapper instead of paper so they didn't smell it). I also sent a Christmas card to my host family in Germany and they sent me an e-mail to thank me. I also sent one to my host family in Dominican Republic and to Alejandra (the Mexican I partied with in Spain). Midnight mass was awesome, I always love going to midnight mass at the basilica. Father Danny celebrated it, and Chris was an altar server. I noticed Doran there, he now has a ponytail and a goatee (actually, "the goté" in the words of Neal and Ryan. Apparently, that one is popular with serial killers, hehehe). One of my favorite parts of midnight mass is when they turn off the lights and the choir sings "Silent Night". I remember 5 years ago, I was in the basilica choir and it was my first time going to midnight mass in years (I didn't start going to church regularly till I was 17, long story...). All the Christmas talk of the Magi reminds me of World Youth Day.

I had quite a busy social schedule this year for the few days before New Year's. Quite different than 5 years ago when I barely had any friends, wasn't invited anywhere, was a year too young to go to bars, and spent New Year's Eve bored at home.

Neal had another WYD get-together on Wednesday to watch the now-edited video. It rocks. And now he's making copies for all of us! Whoo take yer shirt off! I remember while watching the video, as soon as I heard the start of that German Taize song that played at Marienfeld, it really touched my heart because I heard that song several times at WYD, and recognize it immediately. After watching the WYD video, we watched Home Alone.

The next night, Tasha had a potluck at her place. I made some chocolate chip cookies and everyone loved them. Jason and Steph announced their engagement. CONGRATS, JASON AND STEPH! I brought my ballet book but the guys still won't admit that ballet is manly. Check this out guys - male dancers get to hang out with girls in tight clothes, touch girls on stage, and when they get on stage, girls scream and cheer for them. Male athletes tackle guys, shower with guys, and snap wet towels on each others' butts. Who sounds gay now? Teehee!

My friend think I'm weird because I do dance poses whenever I feel like it. Non-dancers just don't understand...

I was told he's not attracted to me. It made me sad, but then he pulled me aside to explain his case. I did my best not to cry, though it was obvious I was on the verge of tears. He thinks I'll find my "one", but right now I feel it's hopeless. He's going to be a tough act to follow, after all... All my friends agree that he's a great guy, unlike the last one who turned me down. I did cry my eyes out a few minutes later. Now I know he'll never love me like that, and that thought makes my heart ache. After I finished crying, I went back to the party and played Cranium with the gang (actually, only about half the gang, everyone else was in the kitchen playing poker). But because of what had happened earlier, I'd get cranky and snap every time I messed up. But later I tried not to let heartache bother me. The DR video that Tasha's roommate played brought back memories of my own experience in the DR, which were happy ones.

Then last night was New Year's Eve. The gang and I went out for dinner at Piazza Joe's and it was yummy. Some middle-aged woman came up to our table and asked Ryan to dance. Later, she admitted that it was only a dare! Hehehe... Then, we went to Mindy's place. The place she's subletting has all sorts of knives and swords and stuff on the walls, which is kinda freaky, but cool too since they were fancy knives. Neal nearly decapitated Kurtis with the sword. The guys watched Ultimate Fighting on tv, and Andrew claims it's an art. What the frig?! You call barbarians beating each other an art, but dance is sissy?! Do you have any idea how much strength and stamina it takes to make tough dance moves look easy?! Frig, Roberto Bolle (who is practically a work of art himself) has a better body than any of those "ultimate fighters". Anyway, there was also a kitty in the room, but he was antisocial. Part of the gang played poker, but some of them really need to work on their poker faces, hehe... We couldn't yell when we rang in the new year because the people downstairs were sleeping, but it was still cool. Fun times...

Anyway, even with a few cases of the blues, I still had a good holiday season. Dance starts again next week. This coming weekend, there's the UPEI retreat. I'm not a student anymore, but I still signed up. There have been several times when non-students came on the retreat so I can still go as long as they have room. I've been needing a retreat lately anyway, it can't cure heartache but it might help...

Anyway, Happy New Year!

Pansies in tights?! I think not...

2005-12-19T23:23:00.000-05:00

Girls night was fun. We played Mad Gab and then watched a movie. Not just any movie, I finally got them to watch Center Stage! Now if I could only get the guys to watch it too...

Turns out Memoirs of a Geisha isn't going to be shown in theatres here. Grrr...

I went to the gym today, and got myself measured. I lost inches, and my fat percentage went down, whooo take yer shirt off!

Cadence had a Christmas concert at St. Pius, and I went. Many of my friends went too, including Mary, who I've been running into a lot lately! He was there too. As soon as I saw him, my heart both leaped for joy, and strained in anxiety. I had no idea what would happen if I talked to him... But after calming myself down, I went up to him and said hello. It was as though the October phone call had never happened, because neither of us was awkward. That was a relief for me. Later, after the concert, I was chatting with some friends and Andrew mentionned that he's not into ballet. Then he referred to male dancers as "pansies in tights"! Well, I gave him hell for the rest of the evening over that comment! Most of the guys I know think the same as he does. Pansies in tights... You call this a pansy?! I call it a man! And a gorgeous one at that... Check out the picture gallery, and try to tell me that Roberto Bolle is a pansy! I've already said it before - REAL MEN DANCE!

Anyway, after leaving St. Pius, Sara, Maureen, and I went for pizza, then went to the Olde Dublin to hang out. A bunch of others came along, including him. By that point, I wasn't feeling any more anxiety about the situation. Though I did long to get closer. Some things about him haven't changed at all - his beautiful eyes, so vibrant and filled with the Holy Spirit... And when he gives that cute smile with those adorable dimples, I can't help but smile too. We did have a few fun flirty moments - I was still roaring "REAL MEN DANCE" and Andrew said "not in tights!" He agreed. Then Tasha and I burned them big-time by saying things like "Men who are confident about their masculinity won't have a problem wearing tights and dancing" and I said "You're just jealous because you don't have the legs for it!" Then, he said "you've never seen these legs, baby!" while making suggestive gestures. I was extremely surprised, because I didn't think he was the type to make such bold comments... Later, a few of us were demonstrating our winks, and since I apparently have a good one, everyone wanted me to demonstrate. So I gave him a wink or two... I don't know, I guess flirting is easier after a glass of beer... Well, that was a fun night! Good times...

Last night, there was the Christmas pageant at St. Dunstan's. The little kids were so cute! Especially the pre-school kids doing their little warm-up and singing "I've got Jesus in my soul!" The guy singing the Hail Mary song was awesome. Later, my friends and I went to East Side's for supper, and Chris Sherren came along. He's in town for the holidays too. I think the waiter at East Side's was trying to flirt with me...

Anyway, the holiday blues are leaving me, and I finally feel happier...

Holiday blues...

2005-12-11T21:54:00.000-05:00

The staff Christmas party was last night and it was ok. A few of us went to Angie's for a pre-party, and Angie got so drunk that it must have been one heck of a hangover she had today. Thank goodness today was her day off... Carissa mooned a car full of guys from work. Jerome won several prizes in the draws. The food was good, especially the cheesecake we had for dessert. I love the chocolate syrup we used on the cake...

Tonight, I sang at Mass at the Chaplaincy centre and it went well. Tim Chaisson was there too and played a slow fiddle song for mediatation. He's an amazing musician, I don't know what the Canadian Idol people were thinking when they rejected him... After Mass, Kim and Jason had another Dr. Mario tournament, then a bunch of us went for nachos at East Side's. Maureen is home for the holidays and it was great to see her. Next weekend, Sara-Sour is having a girls night at her place and it's going to rock.

And I've already said before that he's coming home for the holidays. Tasha told me he's arriving on Wednesday. I don't know how I feel - I can't wait to see him again, yet I'm also nervous about things possibly being awkward. Mix of happiness and anxiety, I guess kinda like stage fright... Except I don't get stage fright that often. Plus, I'd love to talk to him and hang out like we did before, but I don't know if I should contact him because I'm afraid he might think I'm trying to stalk him since he knows about my feelings. Argh... Friends, please pray for me, I've been having a hard time with this whole situation lately...

I don't know what's wrong with me, lately I tend to get snippy at the oddest things, and sometimes get anxious about nothing in particular, and other times I get so bored that nothing makes me happy. The love dilemma might contribute to it, but I think maybe it's also in part because I feel I need to make changes in my life. My job is ok, but I get sick of it sometimes. I long to travel again, but at this moment I have neither the time nor the money for it. I'm bored of the scene on PEI, but I don't feel ready to move away yet. I have no luck in romance, and it makes me feel I'm not worth my high standards. I miss UPEI, but I know I must move on - it's like an old shoe, it has sentimental value and tells all sorts of great stories, but it doesn't fit anymore and I need to get used to something new. I want a career in the performing arts, but I'm not getting luck with that lately either. Grrr... why can't the world just end now so we can all go to Heaven and be happy?

Christmas is supposed to be a happy time, but I've been getting the blues lately...

Dance progress, Culturama follies, love songs, and showbiz...

2005-12-07T19:17:00.000-05:00

Holy frig, that was an intense tap dance class I had tonight... And the new tap shoes are way better than the old ones. Last Saturday I also took another Latin jazz class, and that was intense too. I love my thigh-high legwarmers - I wore them in ballet class and they show off my long legs very nicely. I nailed a few double turns in jazz this week, and can hold my arabesque up longer in modern. Julia once again said that in her next life she wants to be tall like me with long arms and legs like mine. She's like "In my next life, I want to be tall like Amelie with long legs like hers. I already put my order in for my next life" and "I want to be 5'10", and I don't understand why she would want to be 5'10". I'm 5'8" and I wish I were shorter. Anyway, next week, it's open house week - we're allowed to bring in friends/family to watch the classes. If anyone wants to come see my dance classes, talk to me and I'll give you more info.

I went to Culturama on Friday night and it was fun. The performances were great, the food was yummy (LOVE those perogies!), and the dance was fun. There was a group from Cuba who are here with Canada World Youth and they were latin-dancing all night. I danced with one of them, and I LOVE salsa. Most of the music was latin and reggae, and they played David Bisbal! Yay! Except it was some reggae version of Como Olvidar, and I much prefer the original. George Marshall was there, and so was Dreamboat. Turns out Dreamboat is one of George's good friends. I told George about the fling I had with Dreamboat and how he rejected me horribly after his ex took him back (apparently they aren't together anymore) and George offered to kick his ass. He also offered to make fun of him. God luv ya George... Mary MacGillivray was also there, I haven't seen her since summer! I saw a bunch of other people I know too.

He's going to be in town for the holidays, but I don't know when he's coming. I do want to see him. Maybe we can talk. I just hope it won't be awkward... I still do have feelings for him, I don't think it's something I can get over quickly.

*sings*

Think of me
Think of me fondly when we've said goodbye
Remember me once in a while, please promise me you'll try.

When you find that once again you long to take your heart back and be free
If you ever find a moment spare a thought for me...

We never said our love was evergreen
Or as unchanging as the sea.
But if you can still remember
Stop and think of me.
Think of August when the trees were green,
Don't think about the way things might have been.

Think of me,
Think of me waking, silent and resigned.
Imagine me
Trying too hard to put you from my mind.
Recall those days, look back on all those times,
Think of the things we'll never do.
There will never be a day when I won't think of you!

Flowers fade, The fruits of summer fade,
They have their seasons so do we.
But please promise me that sometimes
You will think...
*Opera singing*
Of me!

Yes, I'm a Phantom of the Opera nut. I love that musical... It's been my dream since I was a kid to play Christine...

I have an audition coming up! I'm auditioning for The Tempest - a Shakespeare play. Shakespeare rocks.

Anyway, that's all for now...

Finishing my WYD adventures...

2005-11-26T00:10:00.000-05:00

I bought Harry Potter movies 2 and 3 recently, and they rock. I've had movie 1 since 2 years ago when I bought it from Lenore before she moved. I remember when I saw movie 2 for the first time, I was on the train home after my 5-month Sweden adventure. I saw movie 3 in theatres when it came out. As for movie 4, I'm buying it when it comes out. Filming for movie 5 starts soon, yay!

It's already the end of November, time flew by so fast this month for some reason... Soon it will be Christmas. My friends who are still at UPEI have exams coming up. Then in the middle of December, other friends are going to be home for the holidays. He's coming to visit, and I hope I can hold back the tears...

Dance is going well. Julia said I'm a lot quicker on my feet than I was last year, and she loved the little choreography I did with Jackie in musical theatre class. I'm the only person in my tap class who has mastered softshoe variation number 2 (which is a tough one) and while I was practicing it before class in my brand-new tap shoes, Kelly kept saying "don't look at your feet, you already know it, everyone wants to see your face!" I've been working on my extensions in ballet, and can lift my leg almost as high as Melody from "So you think you can dance". In jazz class, we started working on the end-of-year piece for the recital and it's going to friggin' rock.

Anyway, I keep procrastinating on finishing my tales of World Youth Day. Here's what happened on Sunday:

I had barely slept all night. I went back to where my friends were and people were waking up. Amy was walking around wearing emergency blankets in a way that looked like a tin foil kimono. Later, a few of us went to get coffee in one of the tents, and we walked a long way for that. Emmanuel was playing and I was singing along, I love that song... We chatted about JPII while in the crowd waiting at the tent, and I remember Tim saying that JPII was like Pope supermodel since he was so good-looking. After getting coffee, we returned to our area for the Mass. I remember another time, I don't remember if it was before or after getting coffee, but I saw crowds of people lining a little road, and some people were saying that the popemobile was going to drive this way. I jumped at the chance of seeing Pope Benny, so I stayed there for a long time waiting. While there, I chatted with a girl from BC who was also excited about seeing Benny, and we talked about Catholic teachings in general. She is hard-core, and it's so great to meet people like her, she is totally against artificial birth control and other things like that and it felt great to talk to someone who agrees with me on the Church's teachings. The volunteers holding the crowd back kept telling us that the pope was going to come this way, and we all waited in excitement, but all that passed were a few ambulances. Later, the volunteers told us we could leave, and we were extremely pissed that Benny wasn't going to drive this way. Was it their idea of a joke to lead a huge group of Catholics to believe that we were going to see our pope drive by, and then suddenly tell us that he wasn't coming? Grrr...

Anyway, during the Mass, I had my portable radio on the English translation, and the whole Mass was beautiful. It was long, but I didn't care. Funny moment - while everyone was attentive during the service, Ryan was sleeping. Our group started to leave Marienfeld right after the Mass. We gathered up our stuff, took a group picture, made one last bathroom run, and then walked away. We passed a group of Franciscan monks as we were walking. What we didn't know was that the next few hours (actually, more than just a FEW hours) would be total chaos... I like to call this chaos the Marienfeld Mass Exodus.

We arrived at the bus stop and there were huge crowds of people waiting. Apparently, every bus in Cologne was being used as transportation for people leaving Marienfeld, but it still wasn't enough. I, along with Tina, Norman, Chris, and a bunch of others got stuffed in a huge crowd of people, and it was not pleasant. People were being extremely rude - pushing each other, butting in line, someone was even stuffing empty candy wrappers in Norman's backpack. Later, some of us left the crowd because it was too stuffy, and that was a big relief. I think I would have passed out if I had stayed there longer... We decided to go to the next bus stop, which was a long ways away. The volunteers wouldn't let us climb over the fence, so we had to walk all the way around a huge building just to get to the right way. Then, we walked a long long time on every type of terrain imaginable - grass, dirt, mud, asphalt, wood chips, ditches, uneven ground, you name it, we walked it! I even remember one time, we tried to climb a little steep hill with a huge puddle at the bottom, and I nearly fell in - I was climbing it and I started sliding towards the water, but luckily I was able to get to the top. During that entire walk, I was grateful that I had worn my big sandals rather than my flip-flops. We were at a food station at one point, and later some of the guys decided to walk to the hostel rather than take the bus. I didn't even want to think of the long distance that it must have been... I was already worn out, and I knew we still had a long way to walk before getting to the bus stop.

When we finally arrived, the scene was like an action movie. People waiting by the road, others crossing a huge turnip field to get to the busses on the other side, crowds blocking the busses, helicopters circling overhead, and paramedics carrying people on stretchers to ambulances. It was nuts. I remember a bunch of times, I had actually considered faking illness so that I'd get back to town in an ambulance rather than stay in the chaos. But this crowd was a lot better than the one at the other bus stop. They were calm, sitting around chatting and playing music. Since I was so worn out, Tina let me sit on the little chair she had bought. There was a nun in full habit standing in front of me, and soon after I sat down, she saw I was worn out, then she gave me a cookie! I chatted with a girl from Germany and exchange my WYD cross for a little wooden decoration she had. I remember another time, before going to the port-o-potty, I took out the roll of toilet paper I had taken out of our bathroom at the hostel (and was extremely grateful to have brought with me) and some girl saw it and desperately pleaded for some! After a while, we knew the bus wouldn't be coming to the stop, so we decided to walk up the little road next to the turnip field to get to where the crowds were. Some groups actually walked through the field, and I remember a bunch of us were like "that is going to make for one pissed-off farmer..." because the turnips were being destroyed. When we got to the other side of the field, I even saw some children kicking turnips that were half-way out of the ground.

Then, we had to wait for the right bus to come. A few came, but we didn't get on yet. Later, as we were near the front of the crowd, the right bus finally came and when it stopped, the entrance was right close to where we were standing! Since I was at the front of my little group (me, Tina, Chris Sherren, and Bethany), I went straight to the bus entrance and plowed through a group of Germans who had set up camp conveniently right where the door was. They weren't even getting on the bus, all they were doing was sitting on their little chairs and blocking our way. They got mad at me and started yelling "Achtung! Achtung!" I just gave them a look of confusion, then continued. I led my group onto the bus, and when we got on, we cheered along with everyone else who had made it onto the bus! It was a huge relief, because we knew we were on our way to Cologne and wouldn't have to worry about anything else. The bus was crowded, but I got to sit down with a group of Italians from Milan. The guy sitting across from me looked so much like Elmer Deagle that I was thinking "If Elmer were Italian, this would be him!" One of the other guys traded his camera strap (it had "archdiocesi di Milano" on it) for mine (it had Canada flags on it). A long while (which seemed like hours) later, we finally arrived in Cologne. We took the subway back to the hostel and when we entered the place, everyone was telling the stories on how they got back! Being tired didn't bother me anymore, I joined in on the fun! My feet and ankles were very sore from all the walking we did, so I was relieved to put on my flip-flops. We finished our packing, then went to bed.

about 3 or 4 hours later, we had to wake up again to take the bus to Frankfurt. I slept on most of the bus ride but it was only a few hours. At the airport while waiting to get our passports checked, we sat around and chatted with each other. On the flight from Frankfurt to London, I ended up sitting beside a German businessman who was talking in very loud German to someone else, but I still slept (albeit erratically). In London, as we were waiting in the lineup at security, there was a big group of Orthodox Jews in front of us. And they were the hard-core Orthodox Jews - the old men had on the suits, big hats, long beards, curl hanging down the side of their head, the younger men had on the skullcaps, and there was a woman with a scarf wrapped around her hair. I immediately thought of the Hava Nagila that the Jewish band at Marienfeld played. But after coming back from WYD, I thought of another cool thing - Christianity is an offshoot of Judaism, and it was an interesting coincidence that the Jewish group was in front of us. Just as in real life, the Jews were first, and we came right after. I think it was in the London airport that I had my first real meal in days - a yummy burger platter thing in a restaurant. It was either Frankfurt or London, I can't remember (lack of sleep)... Anyway, the flight across the Atlantic wasn't too bad, but Norman got a migraine because of having had a concussion 2 weeks earlier. But I remember as we were flying over Greenland, people were looking outside the plane windows. I looked too, and saw the snow-covered mountains and glaciers of the untouched nature of Greenland. We were all amazed at this beautiful creation, and we took pictures. Arriving in Toronto, we were all worn out from the flight, and Charlotte was in extreme pain because of a broken rib (someone fell on her at Marienfeld and broke her rib). Originally, we were supposed to sleep in the airport overnight, but we found out that the Diocese of Charlottetown would pay for us to stay at the Econo-Lodge instead, so we jumped at the chance. But again, we only had a few hours of sleep before having to get up and catch our flight to Charlottetown. We ate breakfast in a restaraunt in the airport, and saw a trippy aquarium with floating cubes in it. As we were going through security in the Toronto airport, one of the guards who knew we were coming back from WYD asked to see the bracelets I was wearing, so I showed them - the yellow/white Pope bracelet and the blue "Generation JP@" one. I figured she was Catholic since she was so interested in seeing our bracelets. She wasn't checking them like when guards check stuff at airport security, she seemed genuinely interested in what we had. At our gate waiting for our flight, we had a group prayer and I passed my Benny book around for the group to sign it. I also remember earlier I saw another WYD group in prayer in another part of the airport. On the flight home, I sat next to Luke but we didn't talk much since we were so sleepy. Everyone's family and friends greeted us at the Charlottetown airport. A few priests were there too. Later that day, I had my pictures developped and bought a photo album. I was so tired because of only having slept a few hours at a time for the past few days that I crashed early and didn't even bother watching Canadian Idol. World Youth Day was quite the experience, I'm sure I probably missed a few anecdotes in my posts here, but the whole adventure was totally worth it.

It's Harry Potter movie review time!

2005-11-19T16:26:00.000-05:00

I went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last night with Sara-Sour. It rocked! The special effects were awesome and the acting was good. It's obvious that Ron and Hermione like each other, but it was obvious in the previous movies too (especially in movie 3, when they suddenly hold hands, then get embarassed and immediately let go). Cedric Diggory was perfect as the pretty-boy the book described him to be, and Fleur was good too. Voldemort looked almost exactly as I imagined him to be. Moody was awesome too. Seeing all the flags and excitement at the Quidditch World Cup campground reminded me of Marienfeld at WYD. I was gripping the bottom of my seat when Harry was battling the dragon and during the Priori Incantatem part. I nearly cried when everyone realized that Cedric was dead. There were funny moments too - when Moaning Myrtle tried to get a peek at Harry in the tub, and when Moody turns Draco into a ferret. Also, when MacGonnagall tries to teach Ron how to dance, and when Neville attempts to practice his dancing. Also, when Hagrid and Madame Maxime were dancing at the Yule ball. The Weasley twins were hilarious too.

But even in a movie I enjoyed, I have some critiques. Mainly that many parts of the book were cut out or altered to fit in the movie. I understand that book 4 is huge and they couldn't include everything, but because of all the cuts and alterations, I'd say that you have to have read the book to fully understand the movie. Among some of the things that I must critique:

-In the start of the book, Harry is living at the Dursleys. The Weasleys are supposed to come pick him up for the Quidditch World Cup. In the movie, Harry is already at the Weasley house when he wakes up from the dream.

-In the book, Harry's vision involved the old man seeing just Voldemort and Wormtail. In the movie, Barty Crouch Jr. was also there. At first, I was thinking "Who the heck is that?" It was only later I figured it was Barty Jr.

-Most of the Quidditch World Cup got cut out. I was expecting to see the match, along with the mascots and celebrations. The movie only showed the Irish leprechaun and not the veela, and didn't even show the match. Also, Viktor Krum was barely shown in that part of the movie and he's supposed to be a big superstar. The only reason I knew he was a huge star is because of how he was described in the book.

-Winky was completely cut out of the movie. Dobby was out too, as was the whole SPEW thing Hermione started. Peeves the Poltergeist was cut too. And Ron's oldest brothers - Bill, Charlie, and Percy. Also, Ludo Bagman was cut too, as were the goblins.

-Rita Skeeter didn't look as tacky as I expected. She looked eccentric, but I expected much tackier. Also, the whole thing on her being an animagus sneaking around to collect gossip on Harry wasn't shown either.

-I understand that they can't use the original actor who played Dumbledore because he's dead, but the actor who played Dumbledore in the last two movies just can't compare to the original. The new one is not the grandfatherly figure that the original one was, and at times he was even scary. When Harry's name came out of the Goblet, there were scenes where it looked like Dumbledore was threatening Harry and about to hit him.

-Voldemort wasn't scary enough. He looked scary, but I expected him to have the high scary voice that the book describes. In the movie, he didn't act very threatening.

-The death eaters looked like KKK klansmen in skull masks. I made a scarier death eater on Halloween than they did.

-In the book, Dobby gives Harry the gillyweed, and freaks out because the mermaids "kidnapped" Ron. In the movie, Neville gives the gillyweed, and not much is shown about what the mermaids took into the lake until Harry gets there and sees them in the water.

-Barely anything is shown in the movie about Hagrid being half-giant except when he talks to Madame Maxime.

-In the end of the movie, nothing is shown about the Dementor getting Barty Jr. In the book everyone freaks out because that incident would prevent Barty Jr. from testifying in court, and in the movie he is simply sent back to Azkaban. Also, he doesn't tell the story of how he got smuggled out of Azkaban and attacked the real Moody.

-Priori Incantatem wasn't as intense as I expected. I had pictured golden arcs forming a dome like a cage around Harry and Voldemort, and Harry taking in the sight of the ghosts that appear. In the movie, it wasn't that intense, there was no phoenix song, and the part with the ghosts is only fully understood if you have read it in the book.

-Because the book describes him as having a hook-nose, I pictured Krum as a young Snape. In the movie, he wasn't dark/brooding as I expected.

-Nothing was shown about the Weasley twins wanting to open a joke shop. Also, nothing was shown about the leprechaun gold or Harry giving them his winnings.

-The maze. What the frig was that? In the book, they're supposed to encounter all sorts of dangerous creatures and spells - blast-ended skrewt (also completely cut from the movie), sphynx, mist that flips Harry upside-down, boggart in the form of a dementor, giant spider... In the movie, it was just moving branches. May as well have battled the whomping willow rather than that piece of crap.

-In the book, neither Harry nor Cedric know that Krum is bewitched while they're in the maze. Krum is under the Imperius curse, uses the cruciatus curse on Cedric and Harry saves him by stupefying Krum. In the movie, Krum and Cedric duel, Cedric beats him, and Harry tells him not to hurt Krum because he's bewitched.

-In the book, the Patil twins are in different houses (Parvati is a Griffindor, Padma is a Ravenclaw). In the movie, they're both Griffindors.

-Sirius was barely shown at all, and in the end of the book, he's supposed to show up and several people realize he's not a mad killer after all. In the movie, he is only shown once - in the fireplace when he talks to Harry.

-The Dark Mark in the sky was perfect, but the one on the death eaters' arms didn't look enough like it. It looked more like a skull on a fancy stick, rather than a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth.

Yes, I'm picky when it comes to books being made into movies. But this one was still worth seeing. Hooray for Harry Potter!

I am such a Harry Potter geek...

2005-11-14T14:24:00.000-05:00

I went to the Charlottetown mall after my Pilates class this morning and at the calendar stand I bought the best thing ever - a Harry Potter calendar! Actually, it's a calendar-book thing, more like a day-planner. It has lots of pictures from HP and the Goblet of Fire, I can't wait to see the movie! Hehehe... I remember one time Lenore and I were discussing HP and she said that if she were the movie director, she'd cast me as Cho Chang. I've noticed in the movie pictures that most of the characters have grown up pretty fast - in Philosopher's Stone, Draco was a puny little runt who actually made Daryl Brunt (the pipsqueak from Canadian Idol) look mature, but now he's tall and quite dashing (though still too young for me). Though I've also noticed that Viktor Krum looks like Dreamboat, except Dreamboat's nose is a lot bigger (and to those of you who don't know me very well - no, Dreamboat is not the guy who turned me down recently, the Dreamboat saga is long over).

More Harry Potter funny stuff! Check out this site then this one.

This one makes me laugh my head off every time I see it.

I got new tap shoes last week. My old ones were the cheap kind with ribbon ties and were falling apart so I bought a good pair - Bloch jazztap.

Last night I sang at Mass at the Chaplaincy Centre with Tasha and Carla. After Mass, Jason and Neal had a Dr. Mario speedround tournament, then Jason played against Kim. When Jason and Kim played, they kept dropping $hitbombs on each other (when random pills fall down after the other player did some cool trick to set off a virus-eliminating chain reaction) and I kept using a word that my WYD buddies and I learned in Germany - scheisser. I was like "hehehe, you're dropping scheisser-bombs!" Later, a bunch of us went to East Side's for supper.

The movie version of Memoirs of a Geisha is in theatres next month and I want to see it. I LOVE the book, and am re-reading it. The trailer is awesome, and so are the pictures I've seen so far, except I have a few gripes. First of all, in the book, Hatsumomo is older than Mameha, and in the movie it's the other way around. Hatsumomo looks in her 20s, and Mameha looks at least in her 30s. Also, Hatsumomo is supposed to be very short. This picture shows Sayuri, Mameha, and Hatsumomo. I pictured Nobu's scars to be worse than they look in the pictures, and I pictured him as fat. Also, Granny and Mother look totally different than I imagined. Granny doesn't look old or cranky enough, and Mother isn't ugly enough. Also, since it's a Hollywood movie, it might not end up looking authentic. When I found out the book was going to be a movie, I figured they'd get Japanese actors, film it in Japan, and make it a Japanese-language film with English subtitles. But it's Hollywood-produced, with mostly Chinese actors speaking English. But I still want to see the movie, I think it's going to be awesome anyway.

Anyway, that's all for now!

Continuing with my WYD adventures...

2005-11-07T20:35:00.000-05:00

I'm so friggin' tired right now, I had two dance classes in a row. Ballet and musical theatre. And tomorrow I have jazz and modern, but at least I have a break in between. I love dance... I just wish I were better at it.

Frig, I haven't even finished writing about all my WYD adventures! I still have to write about Saturday, Sunday, and the journey home. Here's Saturday:

That day, we went to Marienfeld for the vigil and overnight campout. I hadn't had much sleep because those of us who went to the Taize service came back late to the hostel, but Taize was so worth it... On the subway on the way to where we would start walking to Marienfeld, a group of Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa's order) boarded the train. One of them sat close to us and she was such a sweetie! Anyway, when we arrived at our dropoff spot, we ended up taking a bus instead of walking so we ended up not walking the 10km I was expecting (that's what we got in Rome and Toronto, plus in Rome it was above 40 Celsius). I felt we were lucky and blessed to not have to walk all that way, we only ended up walking a short distance before arriving at Marienfeld. I remember talking to a few people from Thailand when we took a pit stop. The weather was cool, unlike at previous WYDs, when it was so hot that people were walking around in swimsuits.

Then, Father Gerard led us to our section - B20. We got settled, then I walked around and talked to people, and traded more nick-nacks. Close to where we were, I met a young monk from Ontario. I can't remember the name of his order, but it's a missionary order based in the states. They wear the long grey robes and everything. He was friendly and I enjoyed talking to him. We both agreed that in a world like this, WYD gives us hope for the world. He said he wouldn't be staying for the Mass the next morning though, because he had to fly to Rome to study theology there. God bless that monk, people like him give me hope for the world... I also met a woman from Spain (from Andalucia) and we started talking in Spanish. I told her I've been to Spain and she started talking about Spanish food. She mentionned "tortilla de patatas" and I said I love tortilla (in Spain, tortilla isn't corn chips, it's a potato omelette - yum!) and Spanish food, and she said "tu eres muy inteligente!" (you're very intelligent!). I met lots of other people walking around, and everyone was friendly. I do remember though, that so many people wanted my blue Italian hat! I don't know how many people offered to trade stuff for it, and they did that to everyone who was wearing one of those blue hats! Those Italian hats were quite a hot commodity... I was glad I had managed to get one early. I remember some Spanish guys tried to trade a white baseball cap and scarf with the name of their town on it, and some Spanish girls tried to trade an orange baseball cap from their town too.

There was music playing on stage and every time the bands took a break, they played a cd with a song that I love - Manha do Carnaval. I have it on my computer and recognized that particular version immediately. Later, I went back to where my group was in our section, and everyone was getting their food. I and a few others in my group went to get our food boxes and I went back to my friends and we played cards. During our game, a band of Jewish musicians started playing Hava Nagila and I said to my friends "I think that's a Jewish tune" but Neal thought it was polka! Anyway, as we were all playing @$$hole, a mouse ran onto our tarp! We jumped and screamed, and panicked as Martina tried to catch it. Finally she did catch it and an American guy from a nearby group used two of the vigil candleholders to make a mousetrap for it. He went off to release the mouse somewhere else. Actually, it's wasn't a mouse, someone said it was a shrew, but we always call it "the mouse" anyway. Rachel freaked out at the thought of sleeping in the field because of the mice. But as I later saw on the WYD video, Cheryl didn't seem to be freaked because she dropped her food on the tarp that the mouse ran on, then picked it up and ate it anyway! My friends and I also had other fun times - we made a human pyramid, and took pictures for Father Charlie.

I remembered that in Toronto, I ended up missing the vigil because of the horrible bathroom lines, so I made sure that no obstacles would prevent me from missing this one. In the end, I didn't miss it, and the vigil was awesome. I was a little worried about the weather because we saw a few dark clouds, but by the grace of God, we didn't get rained on after all (in Toronto we got rained on during the night and in the morning). I had my little portable radio to listen to the English translation, and the vigil itself was beautiful. At one point, they started singing Taize hymns, some of the ones I had fallen in love with at the Taize service the previous night. I recognized them immediately and that made the vigil so much more special to me. After the vigil, I ate some stuff from my food box and my friends went to sleep. Neal looked like a turtle with his hood covering nearly his entire head! I only slept about an hour or two, I wasn't sleepy and the weather was too cold. I discovered that I was much warmer walking around and talking to people so that is what I did most of the night.

I ended up walking all the way up to the hill with all the candles where the stage was, but the security guards wouldn't let anyone get too close. I met a group from Korea close to the hill. I also saw a huge sheet with "Joseph come Karol amico dei giovani". I'm not sure what it means, but I do know that Joseph (Ratzinger) is Benedict XVI and Karol (Wojtyla) is John Paul II. WYD in general was full of references to JPII, and how Benny is doing a great job following in his footsteps. Later, I saw a group of people (I think from Spain) playing music and doing a little dance in a circle. Amy was there too and we danced with them for a while. I had left my blue hat in my backpack on our campsite because I was sick of people trying to trade stuff for it. Later, I went back to where my stuff was, and took a picture of Amy, Sara, Tim (Sara's "boyfriend") and Cheryl sharing a blanket. Tim and Sara were always together at WYD and even if he "married" Tina she still called him "my boyfriend". Tim is hilarious, he always made me laugh with all his crazy antics. I tried to sleep some more, but couldn't. I tried to find that monk again to give him my WYD cross (everyone in my group got one but since I already have one from Toronto, I didn't feel the need to keep this one) but he was nowhere to be found. I figured he left already to go to Rome. Well, if we don't meet again in this life, we'll meet again in Heaven! The sun rose soon after, and people started waking up and getting ready for Mass with the pope.

Anyway, I'll write on Sunday and the Marienfeld Mass Exodus chaos later. Till next time...

Halloween happenings, latin jazz dance, Harry Potter, and gripes on Christmas commercialism...

2005-11-06T15:30:00.000-05:00

For Halloween, I ended up going as Bellatrix Lestrange after all. I wore a long black skirt, high-heel boots, the sparkly top I got in Sweden, and a black velour cape. I ended up buying the cape at Walmart for much cheaper than the one I saw at Repeats, and then bought some stuff at Fabricville to sew onto it. I ended up sewing the trim onto the cape at work, and I must say, time goes by a lot faster when I'm doing hands-on stuff. Reading passes time but with all the interruptions it can get annoying. I also sewed on some ribbon ties in a colour that I like to call "Slytherin green". I also drew the dark mark on my arm.

I went to the Halloween pub at the Wave and Ryan was there, dressed as Shaun Coady (afro wig, sweater like Shaun would wear, and name tag with "my name is Shaun Coady" written on it). Shaun was dressed as a ski instructor in a neon pink ski suit. I saw Willy Wonka and an Oompa-loompa (though it was just coincidence that they ended up dressed in coordinating costumes, Willy Wonka was like "I even found an oompa-loompa!" and pointed him out). George Yammine and his friend were Hal Johnson and Joanne MacLeod (the Bodybreak people - Keep fit and have fun!). There were also two guys dressed as Jesus, a few priests, monks, and nuns. But every time I see someone dressed as a "pedophile priest" (black shirt with priest collar and doll hanging at his crotch), I want to kick his ass. I saw one at the Wave and it pissed me off so much because I'm sick of those stereotypes. I also saw a guy I knew in high school dressed as Harry Potter and I got a picture with him. We also discussed a few Harry Potter theories. Near the end of the night, I saw a few other people I knew in school, including Colin - the @$$hole who called me ugly every day. As soon as we recognized each other, I simply gave him a "I'm too good to talk to you so piss off" look and turned away. There are many people I've forgiven for being mean to me in school, but he is not one of them. I even remember some people thought it was funny that he was always mean to me. Even though it's been a long time, seeing some of these people again brings back bad memories.

The next night, I went to Myron's for the Halloween party there, but I didn't really enjoy it. It was overcrowded and though the band was ok, I didn't really enjoy the show. Mark Cameron was there in a santa suit. I saw a few other people I know. Someone thought I was dressed as a Jedi because of the glowstick I had (all the stores were sold out of Harry Potter wands so I used a glowstick instead, the guy thought it was a lightsaber). But I find that in general, the bar scene here sucks. I don't like the music, or the atmosphere very much. I prefer the scene in Salamanca, Spain. There, they have good music (wooo David Bisbal!), lots of dancing, cheap drinks, no cover charge, and cuter guys. After leaving Myron's I went to Jack's Pizza and some creep tried to pick me up. Luckily, the police officer there made him leave.

On Halloween night, I went to Tasha's to help her give candy to trick-or-treaters but no kids came. Probably because she's on one of the main roads and there's lots of traffic, and most parents don't want their kids to go on busy roads. But we still had fun. Later, I went to Baba's and it was ok. The bands were cool, and one of the musicians was dressed as the Pope! I saw a few people I know and talked to them. I tried a drink called "beetle geuse" or something like that and I ended up hating it. There was a black twizzler in it, and black licorice makes me gag. After the licorice started melting into the drink, it tasted so bad that I had to force myself to finish it.

Anyway, enough about Halloween, I took a Latin Jazz dance workshop class yesterday at the Pilates studio. When I heard that the teacher was going to be a Puerto Rican man with an accent who teaches class in flamenco shoes (the girl from the Pilates studio had said "he even wear shoes with the little high heels!"), I was thinking "wooo yeah!" and expected some hot David Bisbal look-a-like. But he wasn't. He was actually at least in his 30s and balding. Though his dancing is a different story... He's an awesome dancer, and I think he used to dance professionally (I heard him telling someone about going to New York with other Puerto Ricans every year to dance). More men need to get into dance!

Harry Potter movie 4 is coming out soon! I'm re-reading book 4 to refresh my memory of all the stuff that happens in it. In the past few days, I've read about half of it, and will probably finish it tonight or tomorrow. HP rocks!

It's early November and stores are already bringing out Christmas decorations. Grrr... I hate commercialism. Jesus is the reason for the season! Though I enjoy the Christmas hoopla in December, now is way too early to start getting into it. I hate it when the secular media takes our holidays and tries to make them something they're not. Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus, not about tacky decorations and getting presents. Frig, no one makes a huge commercialist deal about Hannukah, Yule, or other religions' December celebrations, so why Christmas? People get snippy at me if I say that Christmas is a religious holiday, and the seem to refuse to acknowledge the true meaning of Christmas. One of my favorite parts of Christmas is midnight mass, because it's truly a celebration of the reason for this holiday.

Anway, that's all for now. Have a nice day!

Yay for Harry Potter!

2005-10-24T20:52:00.000-04:00

Halloween is coming up, and I don't think I'll wear the same costume as last year (Spanish dancer). Wearing the same costume gets old after two years in a row, so I'll do something else. I might wear that peasant dress I wore on Halloween a few years ago and go as Giselle. Giselle is a ballet character - a peasant girl who goes mad and dies of grief after being betrayed in love. Well, I definitely feel like Giselle after what happened in my own love life recently... But lately I've been on a Harry Potter kick because of the fourth movie coming out next month, so within the last few days I thought of going as a death eater instead. I could go as Bellatrix Lestrange. I found the perfect cape in a thrift store that I could wear for that, but it's so friggin' expensive. I would expect thrift store clothes to not be $47, even if it's a billowing cape made of velour. And I would need to find a picture of the real Dark Mark to draw on my arm. Too many different versions of it on Google Images, I need a pic of what it's really supposed to look like. And to all my friends - anyone know of any Halloween parties going on this weekend? I'm thinking of throwing one on Halloween night (Monday - mark your calendars!) but I want to go to events on the weekend too. Is the Halloween Pub at the Wave sold out? I remember last year it was crazy...

Attention Harry Potter fans! Funniest Harry Potter Parody ever!

And now for another hilarious HP parody... For all fans of The Sound of Music! My favorite songs in that parody - The Sound of Magic, Se-ve-rus, Do You Want to Duel, and So Long Farewell.

There's this kid in my dance class who looks exactly like Luke, except 5 years younger. Every time I see him, he always reminds me of Luke! Another difference between the two - the other kid doesn't have the same voice, or the thick Tignish accent.

I went to an awesome theatre workshop on the weekend. It was about auditioning. And I have an audition coming up this weekend! Yay!

As for the love dilemma, I'm still sad about it. Though I don't cry anymore, my feelings of heartache will probably return the next time I see him. But Rachel suggested I offer up my sadness and I decided to do that - I offered it up for my future husband, whoever he is. That God protect him and keep him safe, and lead us to find each other when the time is right. Perhaps the man I'm praying for is someone I have yet to meet, or maybe I'm already friends with him. Either way, my heart is still hoping that he will turn out to be the one. Maybe he's just not ready for me yet. Or maybe God will lead me to a better man. I don't know...

Another Sad Love Song...

2005-10-09T12:44:00.000-04:00

Nick Lazzarini won So You Think You Can Dance, yay!

Anyway...

I can't listen to happy love songs anymore, they make me depressed because they make me think of the happiness I can't have. The only ones I can listen to without feeling sad are the jazz standards on my Ella Fitzgerald cd. But then again, those ones don't make me think of heartache and failed potential romance, I think of myself singing them on Canadian Idol for a huge audience with a big band backing me up and that distracts me from my sadness. I suppose I'll get over it eventually, but I know it won't happen any time soon. He had all the qualities that are essential to me in a man, and I don't understand how anyone could expect me to get over him quickly.

"No One Like You" by Sarah Brightman was such a happy song for me. I remember once when we were driving to Summerside, we were playing a Sarah Brightman cd on his car stereo and when that song played, he mentionned that he loved it. I had never cared for it much before, but I then started to notice the beauty in it. From then on, that song reminded me of him and I always associated it with him and the way I feel about him. But now, it's a sad song. Every time I hear it now, my heart starts to ache and I can't help but cry...

I haven't had much to write about lately. Nothing exciting has happened this week. But to all my friends who are married, engaged, or going steady - please remember how lucky you are. Thank God every day for what you have. I can only wish to have your luck in love. But don't assume I'm trying to attract pity or that I'm jealous - I am truly happy for you and the happiness you've found. I just wish I could be fortunate enough to find it too...

They're writing songs of love, but not for me...

2005-10-02T21:25:00.000-04:00

A lucky star's above, but not for me.
With love to lead the way, I've found more clouds of grey
Than any Russian play could guarantee...

Well, as of tonight, I'm heartbroken. Everyone probably saw it coming. They all figured he knew about my feelings. Turns out he did hear it through the grapevine. When I see him again at Christmas, I hope I'll be strong enough to prevent myself from crying a river...

As for the rest of my week, it was the usual thing. Work, dance, gym, chatting with friends, etc. Neal's WYD reunion party was cool - we watched the videos and showed our pictures. Last weekend, Sara, Cheryl and I went to the drive-in to see Star Wars III and The Fantastic Four. I couldn't go to the Life Chain thing today because of work, but I said a prayer for it.

I don't feel like writing much tonight. I'm too sad and I need a hug.

Nick Lazzarini is amazing. Simply amazing...

2005-09-28T23:37:00.000-04:00

I just finished watching So You Think You Can Dance, and I was absolutely AMAZED at Nick's dancing. My jaw literally dropped when he did those fouettes and pirouettes (for the non-dancers out there, those are turns). And those leaps! Oh. My. Gosh. If this guy does not win the competition, the show is a failure.

I'm always amazed at talented male dancers. Especially ballet, jazz, flamenco, latin, or ballroom dancers. Male hip-hop dancers are common, but it's so rare to see a talented male dancer in other forms of dance. I'm used to seeing girls dance so it's nothing big to me, but when I see a guy dancing extremely well, I'm in awe. Dance is considered a girlie thing in our culture so a lot of guys won't get into it and go for sports instead. Well, I personally think that a real man will not be embarassed to get into dance - it takes a lot of guts to do it in our culture and if a guy is secure enough in his manhood to go for it despite the criticism from close-minded people who think dance is a girlie thing, in my eyes he's a lot more man than any jock. Listen up guys - REAL MEN DANCE!

Anyway, enough about dance... When I was at work today eating lunch, an old friend showed up - George Marshall! He's back from McGill and is working at the same place as me now (though in a different program). I haven't seen him in 3 and a half years! The last time I saw him was when we met up in Montreal before I went off to Sweden in January 2003. And at Mass last Sunday at the Chaplaincy Centre, I saw Natalie Gallant for the first time in 3 and a half years! Now she has a little boy who's a toddler, and he reminds me of Albert - the toddler from my host family in Germany. Such a little cutie - blond hair and blue eyes, and very energetic. Noah (Natalie's son) was wandering around while Father Charlie was saying his homily, but it was so cute that no one was bothered by it. I sang with the music ministry again and hope to continue. I don't think I'll be able to this weekend because my shift at work ends at 8, but any other time that I can, I want to sing at Mass.

Anyway, I should finish telling my WYD adventures... Here's what we did on Friday:

At first we thought we'd have to pick between shopping and going to the chocolate factory, but in the end we got to do both! We started off by shopping, and I bought a funky WYD shirt, a long white gauzy skirt with beads and embroidery on it, and some funky accessories - an ankle bracelet with bells on it, and a beaded purse (Sara-Sour commented on it "That is so Amelie!" and she's right! I love sparkly beaded stuff). I also got souvenirs and a nutcracker. I already have one, but since the nutcracker story originated in Germany, I just had to buy one there! I couldn't find a real one that can crack nuts, so I got a decorative one. When I asked the cashier if I could crack nuts with it, I'm guessing she couldn't understand much English because she shook the box and in broken English said that it wasn't broken. A few of us also went for ice cream and walked around in the WYD excitement.

Later, we went to the chocolate factory. Our tour was scheduled to be in the afternoon but we couldn't do it because that was when we had our Way of the Cross planned, so we went in the morning. The whole place smelled like chocolate so that gave me cravings (hey I'm a girl, what did you expect?!). There were displays on the history of chocolate - it originated with the Aztecs in Central America, and later became popular in Europe. One thing in particular that I remember reading in one of the displays made me laugh - it was about chocolate being an aphrodisiac. A French king (I think it was one of the Louis, but I can't remember which one) had 2 mistresses - one was "cold as a dead duck" and ate chocolate to get herself in the mood. The other one was "insatiable" and fed chocolate to her lovers to get them in the mood... Later, we saw actual chocolate-making machines - one of them was a huge complicated machine and its only purpose was to shape chocolate balls! We also saw some workers pouring chocolate into a mold shaped like the Dom, and I was like "Oompa-loompas!" But we never saw Willy Wonka... I ate a few raw cocoa beans and some samples from the chocolate tree. That tree had a chocolate fountain - the oompa-loompas dipped wafers in them and handed them out to everyone. I loved them so much that I ate 3! I am now convinced that the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden was the cocoa bean... Later, we went to the gift shop and splurged on chocolates. I bought 2 bags of small chocolates, and a little box of gummi bears (I think gummi candies originated in Germany). Then, while we were waiting outside, I started talking to a little old nun from the USA and she asked me if I ever thought of becoming a sister. I myself have thought about it in the past but I don't think it's my vocation. But I told her to pray for a friend of mine who is thinking about it. Later, my group went back to the hostel to drop off our stuff before going for the Way of the Cross.

In case it rained, Naomi lent me a poncho she had and in the end I was very grateful. All morning, the weather was nice and sunny, but soon after we started our WotC, it would start raining off and on, and it would even pour sometimes. It didn't get me down at first though. The readings were great - Father Gerard did an awesome job! And when we sang "Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom" it reminded me of the WotC that my friends and I did as a fundraiser to get there. I'm sure they felt the same too. We walked along the Rhine as we did our pilgrimage, and sometimes the locals would stop and watch us. But not with disdain, they seemed interested in what we were doing. When we arrived in town, the area around the Dom was overcrowded. That, along with the rain, started to wear me down. We had to stand in huge crowds in the rain waiting to get into the Dom and eventually I was so worn out that I just wanted to go in, walk out, and then go back to the hostel to rest. My store of strength and energy was depleted, and the chaperones noticed too. When we walked into the Dom, I felt a little better but still worn out and wanted to leave. The cathedral itself is beautiful with all its carvings, statues, stained glass windows, etc, and we got to see the golden box with the relics. When we approached the adoration chapel, I was still worn out and was expecting to just walk in, walk out, and still be tired. I wondered if the Blessed Sacrament would be exposed, and someone said probably not since there were so many people. But when I went into the chapel, something amazing happened...

The Blessed Sacrament was exposed, and seeing it made me feel calmer. People were kneeling on the floor, worshipping, and I was fortunate enough to get to the kneeler directly in front of the Blessed Sacrament. I was puzzled to not see anyone on it since it was a prime spot, but I don't know, maybe Jesus wanted me to take that spot? I kneeled down and said a prayer. Something I noticed is that every other time before that, kneeling on hard wood made my knees ache and I always had to sit down after a short time because the pain would distract me from my prayers. But this time, I wasn't in pain at all. I could have stayed kneeling there for hours and never feel any soreness. When I finished my prayer, I sat back on my heels, and felt that my strength and energy was being restored. When I had entered the chapel, it was depleted and I thought I couldn't go on any longer, and now I was getting a refill. Some skeptics would probably say "it's just because you got to sit and relax after a long time" but I think that even simple biological reactions like this contain the presence of God. I left the chapel energized and felt I could go on with the rest of the pilgrimage.

When we left the Dom, we saw some people buying and selling the Pope bracelets - the yellow/white ones with John Paul II, Be Not Afraid, and Benedict XVI on them. Then, the rain started again and this time it was pouring hard. We found refuge under a bypass and stayed until the rain stopped. Then, my friends and I, along with Father G and Phyllis decided to go to a nearby restaurant for supper. Funny moment - the waiter, who didn't speak much English, was trying to translate the menu for us, and described something as "garbage salad". We laughed our heads off, and figured he meant GARDEN salad. I ordered ribs and they were delicious. The fries were great too. The waiter tried to push us into getting beer, but because of the no-alcohol rule, we had to decline. But then the waiter brought 2 glasses of "the best beer in Germany" - one for himself and another for Father G. Father G wouldn't drink it, so in the end we made Neal drink it (Don't deny it Neal, I have a picture to prove it!). It was his first time drinking a glass of beer! He didn't finish it though, he only drank 3 quarters, and I finished the last quarter. But I was sipping it like how I normally drink wine, so everyone was like "don't drink it like that, chug it!" and Amy tipped the glass to make me chug it. We had a lot of laughs at that dinner...

Then, we went to a mini-mall where Martina and I bought umbrellas. We didn't know if it would rain the next day for our big pilgrimage to Marienfield, so we wanted to be prepared. I just bought a small cheap umbrella, but Martina got a fancy one with a cool picture of a painting on it. When we went back to the hostel, Father G and Ryan started singing Irish songs and made us all laugh. When we got back to the hostel we got cleaned up and had a group meeting and Joe asked us about times today when we saw God. I talked about my experience in the chapel at the Dom and after the meeting was over, Terry commented that he had noticed that I was exhausted before going it and thought that what I said was beautiful. Joe also said that if anyone wants to go to a Taize prayer service, he can take us there. At first, my head was saying "no don't go, you need to sleep, you have a long day tomorrow" but my heart was saying "go, you'll love it and you won't regret it." In the end, I decided to go, and I'm glad I went.

Joe, a bunch of the chaperones, along with me, Amy, and a few others, went to Taize. We took the subway to get there and it wasn't near as crowded as usual since it was night. We had a lot of laughs on the way over, those chaperones can be the funniest people when they're not trying to keep huge groups together! When we arrived at the little church, there were people outside with candles, singing Taize hymns and our mood got quieter. But quiet in a good way. The service was absolutely breathtaking. I had never heard these hymns in particular before, and I fell in love with them right away. Many of them were in French, and the words were so beautiful that I couldn't help but totally feel them. I am so glad that I went to that service, and the others in my group who went, felt the same way. So, I missed out on a few hours of sleep, that didn't matter to me at all. It was totally worth it.

So You Think You Can Dance - great eye candy for the girls, and great dancing for all

2005-09-22T12:28:00.000-04:00

Grrr... Artem got voted off on So You Think You Can Dance. Which is very unfortunate because he's one of my faves. So now we won't be seeing any of his hot dancing anymore. But I did find a video that shows a clip of his solo. He's at the end - the guy with his shirt open doing the fancy footwork, right after the black guy doing the moonwalk. In the partner dances, he's the one doing the chacha with the girl in blue and the foxtrot with the same girl (except she's in a long black dress). But do remember that, to get the full effect of his swoon-enducing solo, you have to watch the whole thing, with the music he used. Plus you have to be female too (sorry guys!). The video clip does not show the whole thing, nor does it use the right music, but that's all I could find!

I find on that show, in general the guys have been more impressive than the girls. Melody's leg thing is getting old, and Kamilah isn't that great. Ashle is good, but sometimes reminds me too much of Britney Spears. Now I'm rooting for Nick. He is amazing, he reminds me of Charlie (Sascha Radetsky) from Center Stage. Jamile is cool, but he's only impressive in hip-hop. He got stuck with ballroom pretty much every week, and while he was a good sport about it and was able to pull it off, he can't compare to the other guys still in the competition. Blake is an awesome dancer too, and when he danced his solo, I was like "Whoo! Take yer shirt off!" when he literally tore his shirt off in the middle of his flip. That was hot, but I was more impressed with his actual dancing - awesome technique.

Anyway, enough about the dance show, most of my week has been a normal regular week. I bought a pair of dance sneakers and they're awesome. I went to Mass at the Chaplaincy Centre and sang with the music ministry. After Mass, Terence and I started playfighting again after I made him jealous by talking about the Italian boys at WYD, and when I tried to choke him from behind, he grabbed my wrists and pulled me onto his shoulder, turned me around to do the fireman's carry, then lifted me up pas-de-deux-style. Terence, you gotta get into dance!

Anyway, that's all for now, I need to go to sleep...

Grrr... Rexy shoulda won...

2005-09-14T00:42:00.000-04:00

Well, Melissa O'Neil won Idol. Rex should have won, Melissa is a bore. But some people think the show is fixed - apparently last night during the voting, the phone lines for Rex went down in a lot of places where he has a big fanbase. I was able to vote for him just fine but in the CI forums on their website, a lot of Newfies spoke out about the phone problem and some think that the producers did it on purpose. Well, either way, Rex will always be better than Melissa and will go far in music. Ryan Malcolm was the first Idol and he ended up being nothing more than a one-hit wonder. Sure technique is important, but passion and character are also important to me in a performer and Rex has a lot more passion and character than Melissa.

I also watched So You Think You Can Dance, and the one thing that stands out in my mind about tonight's episode was Artem's solo. He ended up in the bottom 2 (what were the judges thinking? He's amazing!) but when he did his solo to convince voters to keep him in the show, he sizzled on the dance floor like no one else I've ever seen on the show. He better not get voted out because his dance was the performance of the night. Only 45 seconds long, but what a hot 45 seconds it was! When I wasn't practically drooling over him, I was like "Whooo! Take yer shirt off!" He did a sexy number to "Don't phunk with my heart" and I stared at amazement at his amazing footwork and the passion he obviously felt for dance. When he was smooth, he was SMOOOOOOOOTH. And when he was hot, he was HOT HOT HOT! Not only that, but there's just something about a gorgeous guy with a dancer's body in black jazz pants, nice shoes and with his shirt open David Bisbal style... Hoooboy *faints*

Anyway, enough about reality tv. Tap dance class was fun and tomorrow I have my voice lesson. Other than that, I've mostly been working and doing regular stuff. I still have sore legs from dance during the past 2 days. Still trying to figure out what to do after January - stay home with family, friends, Church, dance, music, theatre, and other things I love here, or leave it all behind for a few months to go off to Spain for another big adventure. Anyway, I should go now, I need to sleep.

Sexy Rexy for Idol! And more on WYD...

2005-09-13T23:35:00.000-04:00

Just watched Canadian Idol. Here are my thoughts on their final performances and who I thought was best:

Melissa O'Neil - Same ol', same ol'. Good technique and emoting, but she didn't really impress me much. She doesn't really have enough personality, she's like the regular pop girlies we always see. I think personality and natural charisma are important for a performer, and she seems too "manufactured" for me. I love the outfits she wore though, especially that blue corset top.

Rex Goudie - He's my choice for Idol. He nailed every song he sang tonight, and his version of the Idol song was my favorite. I'm not into rock, but I'm into the rock he sings. Good voice and he's got charisma. He's such a stereotypical Canadian guy - wears a ball cap, loves hockey, sings rock music, etc. But he plays that image so well because it's who he is. He's not manufactured, he's being himself and showing us how he sings best. Not to mention there's also a reason why his nickname is Sexy Rexy! But even if he weren't a cutie, I'd still be rooting for him.

Rex Goudie for Idol!

Something else I noticed is that at some camera angles, Rex kinda looks like Dreamboat. Except he's a lot cuter than Dreamboat... I haven't seen DB since July, I saw him at the Festival of Lights but we just looked at each other and kept on walking. That DB was a real charmer. When he attempted to seduce me, he was such a typical dreamboat - held my hand as we were walking, talked about philosophy (he was a philosphy major) and he even carried me over a mud puddle. Swept me off my feet he did, literally! Though he was a good kisser, his little seduction plan didn't work out because I'm not that kind of person, but he still seemed to want to see me again. All my friends warned me about him but I was too crazy about him to take their warnings seriously. In the end, his ex took him back (she had dumped him earlier because he had cheated on her), he broke my heart and it took me a long while to get over it. But I've heard from Neal that for a few months, DB was homeless by his own will and lived in a tent on the Confederation Trail. If I were still crazy about him, I'd be thinking "Wow, such a mysterious guy... I want to be a part of his little mystery world..." But now I'm like "Heh, what a lunatic".

I went to dance class today. Jazz was cool, but the class is very small this year. However, Julia said that some of the people from other classes might join ours so there might be more people coming in the next few weeks. But I also like having a small class - more individual attention to students, and more time dancing since we don't have to wait our turn as long when doing stuff across the floor. I might buy jazz sneakers too since some of the stuff we're learning is very hip-hop-ish. Modern was nice too, though we had class in the crappy studio at the Mack. The rehearsal hall at the Confed Centre is booked for the Anne show for the next few weeks so we're stuck at the one at the Mack - neon lighting, sticky dirty floor, and not much space to move. But we'll be back at the Confed Centre later.

I ran into Father Jim in town, in between my dance classes. He says he went to Holland for a week after WYD. Which makes me think of my Dutch friends and all the good times we had in Sweden. I do want to go to Holland too someday and see them again. I didn't get the chance during WYD because we were so busy all the time and never had time for visiting other people. I didn't even have time to check my e-mail or make phone calls! I wanted to call Tomato and maybe meet up since she lives close to Cologne but I ended up never having the time. There were always huge line-ups for the phone, and I had no time for that. Especially since the only time we had a chance to use the phone was at the hostel in the evenings, and I was busy getting stuff ready for the next day, and then after I was done I was so tired from all the day's excitement that all I could do was crash.

More on WYD!

On Thursday, we woke up earlier because we didn't want to deal with the subway crowds on the way to catechesis. Our strategy worked because we got the first train that arrived after we got to the station, and it wasn't crowded at all. The speaker at catechesis that day was the Archbishop of Halifax. It was cool to have someone close to home. Maria got sick, so Maureen had to take her back to the hostel. Renee was also sick that day. Actually, every single day in our group, at least one person got sick and at least one of those had to go to the hospital. We heard there was a flu going around so we all started to worry and think "who's next?". But luckily, I never got sick (though I did get mild cold symptoms later that evening, it wasn't enough to be considered illness). After catechesis, we went to the RhineEnergie Stadium to view the arrival of the Pope. We were supposed to go see it at the Rhine, because the Pope was arriving on a cruise there, but the chaperones decided we'd go to the stadium to watch it on tv instead. It was disappointing because I wanted to see it at the Rhine but we weren't allowed to leave the group so I went along because I had to. On the way over, the groups got separated because of all the crowds. Me, Tina, and a few others got to the stadium and got our tickets to get in, but we couldn't find anyone. There were lots of people there, but it wasn't totally packed. There were a lot of people in the middle of the stadium running around with their flags, and I wanted to be there running too, but we weren't allowed to leave our section. But later, we saw the rest of our group up in a higher section so we tried to get their attention. When it finally worked, we left, got tickets for that section (tickets were free), then went up to join them. We watched Pope Benny come in on the cruise and it was cool. Another cool thing I noticed was the arc of light on the windows over the stadium. I think it was designed to do that, but I thought it was beautiful. It reminded me of the rainbow we saw at the Mass in the Diocese of Fulda. Ryan was laying across several seats and sleeping. We ended up having to leave early because some people complained that they were tired.

So we went back to the hostel, ate supper, then later I heard there was a dance party going on in the hostel so I decided to check it out. There weren't that many people and I wasn't into the music, but it was cool. There were some guys breakdancing and they were awesome. But I was tired from the long day we had, so I didn't stay too long. Later, I found out that some people in my group had gotten kicked out of the dance by our chaperones because they were the ones who had complained of being tired during the Pope's arrival. The chaperones figured "If you were too tired for the Pope's arrival, you're definitely too tired for the party." In a way, I agree. I myself like partying and dancing, but I'm not going to skip the religious aspect for the parties. We had come for World Youth Day, and the rest is just icing on the cake. At WYD in Rome, I went to dance with the locals out by the pool in the evenings, but I had never skipped the pilgrimage activities during the day. I took the pilgrimage seriously, and allowed myself to enjoy the parties after the day was done. Anyway, I chatted with my roommates and went to bed after leaving the party.

That's it for now, I'll write more later...

More on my World Youth Day adventures...

2005-09-12T22:51:00.000-04:00

God bless this guy. People like him give me hope for the world.

Just started Pilates and dance classes today. Pilates was ok, it wasn't really hard-core yet but it should get more challenging later as we learn the techniques and poses. As for dance classes, I had ballet and musical theatre today. The ballet class is huge now, lots of new people, including 2 guys. One of them is Aaron, who was in my jazz class last year, I think he's in high school. The other one is older (at least my age, probably older). Yay for guys in ballet! If only I could get my guyfriends to get into it... (hint hint, guys). The musical theatre class was cool, but really easy. But Julia says it's going to get more challenging. She had to make it easy today because some of the people in it have little or no dance experience. Tomorrow I have jazz and modern, and Wednesday I have tap. Also in October I'm thinking of taking belly dance from Dance Sport Dynamics. The lady from the Book Emporium teaches a few classes and I've wanted to learn belly dance for some time now...

I downloaded Neal's WYD podcast, it's awesome. It's from Wednesday night when a bunch of us went to the Dom after supper and walked around town. Here is what happened on Wednesday at WYD:

We had catechesis in the BayArena in the morning. That day, our group wore our blue t-shirts. After we finally boarded a subway car (many were full), we got to the BayArena and sat in the spectator stands. His Eminence Cardinal Theodore McCarrick from Washington D.C. was doing catechesis and he was awesome. I also learned from a Catholic newspaper that Brother Roger Schutz, the founder of the ecumenical Taize community in France, had been killed the previous night. I hadn't experienced much Taize prayer before World Youth Day, but during my time there I eventually developped a love for it, but that only came later in the week... I met other pilgrims and exchanged more cool stuff with them. Most were from the USA and Canada, but a few also from Britain and even the Middle East (United Arab Emirates). We also had Mass after catechesis, and I noticed that when the priests were coming to our section to give us communion, the bowls they had, had a clear cover on it that kinda reminded me of tupperware containers. I thought it was a little amusing, but quite practical, because we wouldn't want the wind to blow the hosts away... I also checked into the Events guidebook in our pilgrim packs, and there were a few that I wanted to see - dance shows, musicals, etc. My friends decided they wanted to go see Jesus Christ Superstar in Bonn so after leaving the BayArena I decided to go with them.

We walked to some place close to the BayArena and ate lunch at Subway there. Brenda also wanted to bring a few people to Jesus Christ Superstar but my friends and I ended up going on our own. The only problem was, the right bus never came. We waited for a long time, then decided to take the subway instead but it was too late, the show started at 5:00pm and it was almost that time. So we decided to go to the Dom (the Cologne Cathedral) and explore the area instead. Ryan took an awesome picture of my flag flying in the wind with the sun shining through it. I also met other pilgrims and continued exchanging stuff. I was known in my group as someone who loved trading nick-nacks and I remember once a few days earlier, Neal had said "by the end of this week, you are going to get the chalice that the Pope drinks from!". Anyway, we met up an hour later to got back to the hostel for supper, but I didn't feel ready to leave. Being in town among so many other pilgrims was exhilerating for me and I didn't want that to end yet. But my friends wouldn't let me stay in town alone (even if they knew I could handle it) so I ended up having to go back to the hostel for supper. At the hostel, I took a much-needed shower, changed into nicer clothes, and ate supper with my friends. I think we either ate pasta or schnitzel that night, I can't remember... Either way, one night at the hostel we had schnitzel and boiled potatoes, and it was delicious. I loved it so much that I went for seconds on both the schnitzel and potatoes! Anyway, after supper, after I walked out of the cafeteria, I ran into Neal and Rachel and they told me they were going back to town and were waiting for me to come too. So I was happy and jumped at the chance.

I had eaten and taken a shower so I felt much better than I did earlier in the afternoon, so it was great. While we were waiting for the subway, I started tossing my hair around as a joke and making my friends laugh. When we got on the subway, we were surrounded by Spaniard and Latin-Americans from El Salvador who were singing songs and chanting. I chatted with some of them in Spanish. They sang "Sing Alleluia to the Lord" in Spanish (Canta Alleluia al Señor), which I loved because it's one of my favorite religious songs. They also did the famous "Be-nedetto!" chant with the clapping. In previous WYDs, it had been "Giovanni Paolo" (John Paul) instead, now it's Benedetto (Benedict). But they also chanted "Giovanni Paolo", and added "See You in Heaven!" That was beautiful and it made me feel even more energetic. When we left the subway, Neal was podcasting and talked to some random Italian girl who ended up on his podcast.

When we got to the Dom, it was still surrounded by huge crowds, but they didn't bother me. They actually made me feel even more lively and energized, to see so many people there for the same reason - Jesus. We came to worship, just as the Magi did two millenia ago. Martina and I and someone else decided to go shopping, while Neal, Rachel, and Sara-Sour went to an Internet cafe and continued podcasting. While walking around, I chatted with a French guy that Martina found attractive. Later in a souvenir shop I met a guy from Genoa (Italy) who was winking at me while talking. Martina was like "I have to take you out sometime, you're attracting all the guys!" and I said someting like "Hey, we can double-date! You can take the French guy and I'll take the Italian!" We bought a bunch of souvenirs, got ice cream, and walked around town but many shops were closed. We still had a great time though. Later when it was dark and the crowds were thinning out, we went back to the hostel and I felt great because I felt like I didn't miss out on anything that day.

I'll continue on WYD next time...

Rex for Idol!

2005-09-08T23:10:00.000-04:00

Grrr... Aaron Walpole got voted out. I wanted Rex and Aaron to be the final 2. Melissa is boring. Next week, I'm rooting for Rex.

I just googled my name for fun and came up with someone's blog that said "Amelie Wong. ew. Don't ruin Sarah McLachlan." From the way this person wrote, I'm guessing it's some teenybopper who kisses her Kalan Porter poster every night. Something I've noticed about the show - sometimes even the best ones mess up on their song. If Rex's second song on the Barenaked Ladies episode had been his audition, they would have shown that in the bloopers and torn it to pieces like they did mine. And Rex turned out to be one of the best on the show. So to anyone who thinks I'm a screw-up because of the one 10-second clip they showed from my entire audition (3 songs) - kiss my ass.

"So You Think You Can Dance" was on after CI, and it was quite interesting. Some of the dancers are amazing - Nick, Artem, Blake. Snow and Ryan are the ones with the most personality and uniqueness. A few weeks ago, Ryan danced salsa and did quite well for someone who has no formal dance training. He's an amazing breakdancer though. Nick reminds me of Charlie from Centre Stage. Jamile ended up stuck with ballroom dance every single time until this week but he managed to pull it off. He's awesome at hip-hop though. One of the pairs did a samba routine that was amazing, but the music sucked. That wasn't samba, that was a rock-samba fusion. I was expecting real samba, not the watered-down crap. I'm not really into the latin-rock fusion music, Shakira is the only one who can pull it off. I prefer real latin music. Though latin-pop fusion can be really good - David Bisbal being the best singer of this music. He only got second place in Spain's Pop Idol show, he should have been the big winner! Well, he's the most successful of all the contestants he competed with, he's famous all over Latin America and won at least one Latin Grammy...

I'm going to be taking voice lessons again this fall! Yay! I've been wanting to get back into it for a while now, and now that I'm out of university I finally have the time for it.

More on WYD:

I think it was on Tuesday night after coming back from the RheinEnergie Stadium that a few of us ended up lost at night in Cologne. Well, we weren't really lost, but it took us forever to get back to the hostel and we had to phone Joe to tell him where we were. It's because first we were hungry but all the restaurants were packed, and second, people were being picky about what to eat. I wanted to eat real food and pointed out a Spanish restaurant right nearby but everyone else wanted fast food so we ended up walking all the way to McDonald's, waiting in a huge lineup, and when we left the place with our take-out bags it was dark out. We took the subway but ended up on the one going in the opposite direction of what we were supposed to take, so we got off at the next station. We met some French guy who had lost his group, and he let us use his cell phone to call Joe. Later, the right subway finally came and sometime during the ride, a few others from our group boarded the train! We were so happy and relieved to see them, but I still felt worried that we might get locked out of the hostel. I can handle being lost in a big city. It's happened to me before and I know what to do. It's getting locked out of the hostel that was worrying me because I didn't want to sleep outside for the night. Later, when we arrived at the hostel, Joe, Father Gerard, and some of the other chaperones were waiting for us and were happy to see us. I mentionned that I had been afraid that we'd get locked out, but Father G said he'd never let that happen to us. What a sweetie, God bless you Father G. We were tired, so we all went right to bed. The next day, we had catechesis, but I'll write more later...

Random tidbits...

2005-09-06T23:10:00.000-04:00

Time for my Canadian Idol review! This week, they sang the Barenaked Ladies' songs. Here are my thoughts:

Rex Goudie - He nailed the first song. It was perfect and I totally agree that he would be the perfect Canadian rockstar. Even the ugly shirt and the hat hiding his face didn't put a damper on his performance. In the second one, he looked a lot better (Sexy Rexy needs to get rid of the hat and wear nice clothes more often!) but the singing wasn't as good, and he needs to work on his lower register.

Aaron Walpole - The first song was awesome, as usual. He should definitely be in the top 2. The second performance was a little goofy, but fun. Again, the theatre thing worked well for him.

Melissa O'Neil - The first one didn't impress me much, it was a little boring. But good job on the second one. It was a lot better, but still not enough to win my vote.

Performance of the night - Aaron.
Who should leave - anyone but Aaron.

Anyway, on to my own life...

I registered for dance classes today. I'll be taking 5 - ballet, jazz, modern, tap, and musical theatre dance. In jazz, I skipped a level - instead of going from 4B to 5, I went up to 5B instead, which is cool. NSO is on at UPEI, and I ran into some frosh doing Shinerama. It makes me miss UPEI and NSO but after coming back from Germany I realized it was time to move on. So I won't be taking courses or doing NSO. I have other things in my life that I need to focus on and clinging on to UPEI would prevent me from doing them.

Gas prices are insane now because of the hurricane so we'll have to use the car less often. Last month, a fill-up was around $40 or so, now it's $65. Grrr... But at least it could help in getting people to stop wasting gas and use the car only when necessary.

I went to Indigo recently and found an awesome magazine in their newstand - Catholic Insight. I found it in the reference section, where they have all the lesser-known magazines. Amid all the trash they often have in that section (such as Bitch magazine - a favorite for anti-life femi-nazis), Catholic Insight is a diamond in the rough. That one issue was enough to convince me to subscribe.

Oh, and I ran into Yoga Cutie at Indigo. He works there. At least I think it's him... Curly dark brown hair, nice eyes, cute smile. He said hello, and when I went to the cash to pay for the treasure I found in the newstand, he was standing there talking to the girl at the cash and when he saw I was buying something, he moved aside and jokingly said "I was saving your spot!" with that cute smile of his. Hehehe... so sweet.

Last night I watched my movie on the French tv channel - Le Fabuleux Destin D'Amelie Poulain. Fabulous movie. It should have won the Academy Awards it was nominated for.

I bought crocs a few days ago. They're so comfy that I'm wearing them every day. I also went to the park, and saw some ducks in the pond by the government buildings. It reminded me of the lake full of ducks in Sweden. I also saw some kind of rodent swimming around. Couldn't be a beaver because it was too small and didn't have the big flat tail, so I think it was probably a muskrat.

Ryan's MSN nickname - "NSO 2K5...It's official: Shinerama 2005 - $16,012 and counting!" Yay for NSO and Shinerama!

Anyway, I have to go to sleep now...

Canadian Idol review, ExTASHAganza, and more WYD stuff

2005-08-30T23:03:00.000-04:00

Alrighty, time for my weekly Canadian Idol review!

I didn't review the past two weeks because I was in Germany for one of them, and for the other one, I had just returned from Germany that morning and after a few days of erratic sleep patterns (an hour or two in Marienfield, and no more than a few hours each for the next two nights), I ended up crashing early and didn't bother watching. Anyway, when I found out who they voted out, I was glad to see Daryl go, but when I found out Josh was out, I was like "What were they thinking?!" Seriously, he was one of the best ones on the show! Honestly, I think that made the show dangerously close to jumping the shark. But when Casey got booted, I felt it was about time. She was never really impressive, except in Big Band week, but even that week she wasn't among my faves. As for this week, they did Elvis songs. Here's the lowdown:

Aaron Walpole - Fabulous, dahling, fabulous! He always impresses me and has become one of my favorite competitors. The theatrical thing worked perfectly for him again, and I could tell he was totally feeling the songs. The teddy bear song was the perfect choice for him, because he is a big cuddly teddy! I hope he ends up in the top 2.

Suzi Rawn - Not horrible, but not impressive either. In the first song, I agree with Zack when he said she looked like she hadn't had a good night's sleep. She looked like she was straining in the performance. The second one was nice, but shaky on the vocals. I think she should be the one to go this week.

Melissa O'Neil - The first one wasn't that great, I felt she didn't really get into the song and the vocals didn't impress me. The second song was much better, she's usually better at doing ballads than fast songs.

Rex Goudie - Sexy Rexy! *wink* The suit looked hot, though the blue suede shoes were a little tacky. In the first song he was playful and sexy in a naughty way, which was great. My only complaint? He can't dance. I was hoping to see "Elvis the pelvis" but he was too stiff. Perhaps he'd benefit from a few private dance lessons from me? ;) But the second song was great. Good vocals and stage presence, and he was feeling it.

Performance of the night - Aaron
Who should get voted out - Suzi

Anyway, enough of CI...

ExTASHAganza was last weekend and it was fun. Tasha's cottage is cool and everyone was there. It was great to see Faber again, I haven't seen him in a year! Since it was also a goodbye party for Maureen, we surprised her and then made her smash the piñata. I also showed my WYD pics and told some of my WYD stories. We had a campfire where people told ghost stories that actually happened to themselves or people they know, involving everything from a white rabbit to a hangman corpse... A few of us stayed the night, and played @$$hole. I agree with Tasha that it shows how the world works - the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. Though Jason made one heck of a comeback - he had been the a-hole for the past few rounds, then he jumped up to president without anyone else laying down any cards (he had a few sets of triples that no one could beat). When we stopped playing, I "retired" as a neutral (or neutch, as we call it). We went to bed and the next morning, we went to the beach. Then Tasha and I ate leftover burgers and other barbecue food for breakfast/lunch. The whole party was great and everyone had fun.

Anyway, more on WYD!

Before taking the bus to Cologne, we were waiting for it in Fulda and I talked to a few people from Uganda (Africa). We also had a mock-wedding with a real priest. Father Gerard performed a "ceremony" for Tina and Tim. Tim was quite the ladies man - he "married" Tina but still kept "dating" Sara-Sour and other girls in the group. He's funny, he always made us laugh. After we arrived in Cologne, we got settled in the hostel and since we were tired we didn't do much for the rest of the evening.

The next day, we had our Rhine cruise. The boat was crammed with people from other parts of Canada, also Scotland, England, etc. I exchanged pins and nick-nacks with lots of people there. Though it wasn't sunny out, I thought it was cool. I remember talking to a Scottish guy in a kilt, and telling him about my Scottish friend Bindert. After the cruise, we had lunch and met more people from around the world. We walked around town, got ice cream, did a bit of shopping, and I took a picture of a guy who was playing a dijeridoo (or whatever it's called - that Australian Aboriginal instrument that makes a weird buzzing sound) on the street. Then, we went to the RheinEnergie Stadium for the opening Mass.

Since the public transit system wasn't built to handle as many people as there were, there was chaos. While waiting for the train, the crowd pushed us onto the tracks and wouldn't let us back on the platform even when the train was approaching. We were crammed like sardines during the whole time, and the group had to separate. When we arrived at the right station, we had to wait for the group, and were relieved to finally sit down. Tina took out a little tripod chair thingy she had bought and when she sat on it, one of the other chaperones said "There's Miss Prissy on her chair!" The group never showed up so the chaperones figured their train probably went to the other station in the area. So we walked to that one (which was closer to the stadium) and they showed up at that station after all. The opening Mass was great and my friends and I were shown on the big screen a few times! The stadium was packed, and I loved singing along to all the songs during the Mass. People everywhere were waving their flags, and I did too. I also loved the Jesus sign - 5 people each had a big poster, each with a letter, and together they spelled J E S U S. I have a picture of that.

After Mass, we found a spot on the grass outside the stadium and while many stayed there, some of us mingled with other pilgrims. We met a group of Irish people who were wearing Leprechaun hats. I told them that I'm part Irish and that my great-grandfather was Irish, and they said I'm probably the millionth person who has told them that so far! I guess lots of people have an Irish great-grandpa! I met people from Italy, Dominican Republic, Lithuania, USA, and other places and exchanged more cool stuff with people.

Anyway, I'll add more later...

Back from Germany - Info on our Days in the Diocese of Fulda

2005-08-24T21:11:00.000-04:00

I just arrived back from Germany yesterday morning, and what an adventure it was! We flew out of Charlottetown, stopped in Toronto to take a connecting flight, then flew to Frankfurt. In Toronto, Matt Zambonin lost his passport and since we couldn't find it, he and Terry (one of the chaperones) had to stay behind in Toronto till they could get a new one for him. We were all worried that it might take a long time to get a replacement passport because the whole passport application thing is extremely picky, but by the grace of God, they were able to get it done fast, get the next flight out, and meet up with us the next day in Germany.

Day One

We arrived in Frankfurt, met Sara-Sour and Maureen there, and took the bus to Margretenhaun, a small village in the diocese of Fulda. We ate sausage for lunch, met German youth from the area, and got settled in with our host families. I was with a family in Steinhaus (a small village in the same area). Charlotte Steele and Maria Gaudin were my roomies. Actually, they had a double room and I had my own room - a sweet suite! The parents in the family had two young children - a girl who is about 9 or so, and a 2-year-old boy who is extremely hyper. He kept throwing hacky sacks around the kitchen and while we were playing Lotti Karotti (the funnest board game ever) with the little girl, he kept grabbing at the board and playing pieces till his mother put him to bed. The parents understand English and the father can speak it a little, so language barriers weren't much of an issue. Originally, I had been hoping to get a family with youth my age, but I liked this family.

Margretenhaun and Steinhaus are both small villages in the German countryside and the area is beautiful. They were like storybook villages - tiled roofs on white houses, winding roads, lots of farmland and open spaces, etc. The little Catholic churches in each town are so pretty and old-fashioned, and the chapel on the hill close to Steinhaus is beautiful.

Fun story - On our first day in Steinhaus, we saw some stray kittens in the middle of the road one time, and when a car was approaching, one of them stayed in the road, seemingly oblivious. The car noticed and stopped, and since no one wanted to pick up the kitten (it didn't look healthy and we didn't want diseases) Neal used his foot to gently nudge it out of the road. It looked like he was kicking the kitty, but he wasn't hurting it.

Day Two

In the morning on our second day in the Diocese of Fulda, we visited a home for elderly people who are blind and/or deaf. Matt and Terry arrived that day and met up with us at that home. We met an old lady who has been deaf since she was two, and lost her sight later. The people in the home communicate through a "hand alphabet" because since they can't see, they can't use regular sign language. Joe, Troy, and a few others introduced themselves to her with that alphabet, and she was so happy to meet us and was enthusiastic about showing us her life. Since she can't see or hear, we couldn't knock on her door or ring a doorbell - the "doorbell" was actually a fan that blew air in the room whenever someone wanted to come in so that she'd know someone was entering. She showed us the sweaters she knitted - though she can't see anything she is a better knitter than I am! We all found that inspiring, especially when the director of the home told us that though she lost two of her senses, she is still thankful that she still has her senses of touch and smell. She is also luckier than some of the people in the home since she is able to communicate and even speak a little (though she can't articulate very much) - there was a man from Kazakstan in that home who can't speak German, so even the hand alphabet is useless for him. In our group, we were all glad to have visited this home, since it helped us to appreciate the simple things and think of what truly matters in life. Losing our sight or hearing would be devastating for us, but it's not the end of the world. I know that if it happened to me, I might think that life is not worth living, but this old woman is still thankful for the things she still has and can live in happiness.

We saw an organic farm in the area, with cows, chickens, and a little calf that sucked on the thumb of a girl in the group. We also rode on a tractor (one of which was driven by a very cute farmhand with dimples to die for!).

We were supposed to do a walking pilgrimage to the different parishes in the area, it rained so we stayed in the village we were in. Later, we went to another village by bus where there was a "meeting place" with locals and WYD pilgrims from around the world who also stayed in the Diocese of Fulda. We met a few people, and exchanged pins and nick-nacks. Someone from Michigan gave me an item that eventually became a hot commodity at WYD - a bracelet similar to those Livestrong bands, but it was yellow and white, and had a different inscription on it. "John Paul II" was on one side, along with his motto "Be not afraid". When you flip the band inside out, on that side there are 3 crosses and the name "Benedict XVI".

I also met people from Poland and Italy. During Mass, it started to rain again, and the Italian guy standing next to me shared his umbrella with me. Then it really started to pour, so we ran to the food tent for shelter. The rain stopped just in time for communion, and people outside the food tent were looking and pointing at something in the sky. At first I had no idea what was happening, but then I saw the most beautiful rainbow! It arcked all the way and it made me think of the old "If you want to see a rainbow you have to put up with the rain". Suddenly, the rain didn't seem so bad after all (as long as it didn't come back!). After Mass, there were a few presentations and acts involving music and dance. The Italians were so enthusiastic about the event and got everyone dancing. I met two Italian guys named Stefano and chatted with one of them for a long while. He introduced me to his friends, and they started teasing us - pointing to him and saying "he's a good guy!" and trying to get us to kiss for a picture. I also introduced him to my friends. One time, one of the guys in his group was holding what I recognized to be Chris' hat, and said that he found it on the ground and is trying to find the guy who owns it. He described Chris and I said "I know who that is, he's in my group" so he gave me the hat to give back to him. Later, when I finally found Chris I saw him panicking over the lost hat and I gave it back right away. Later, the other Italian guys told me that the last name of the guy who found the hat was Ferinelli - just like the 18th Century castrato! They had also told my roommates that his grandfather was a famous singer. Uh, if Ferinelli was castrated before puberty, I highly doubt that he'd be capable of having children (let alone grandkids). Hehehe... During the rest of the evening there was more music, dancing, socializing, merry-making, and we all had fun.

Leanne was lost during that time and we all started to worry because no one had seen her since the morning or afternoon, and we heard no word from her. In the end, she was found late at night at the train station in Fulda, and the reason we didn't hear from her is because when she tried to call Joe's cell phone, the call would never go through. We were incredibly relieved when she was found, because we had started to think that she might have been kidnapped!

Day Three

The next morning, those of us who lived in Steinhaus went to the park. The Germans taught us a fun dance to a catchy Spanish pop song, and we all played a variation of ultimate frisbee. I wasn't keen on playing simply because I don't like sports and suck at them, but in the end I left the game early because the frisbee hit me in the face, right under my nose. I put ice on it so it wouldn't bruise, and just watched the game after that. That day we also saw the farm where we drank fresh milk. Also, the fire department brought in a fire truck with equipment, and people in the group had fun trying to put out a fire with a fire extinguisher, but since the fire was kept lit with a highly flammable substance, it would suddenly light up again if the person didn't use the extinguisher enough. Some also tried a hose that would give a sudden blow of water, and was so strong that it could have easily knocked them off their feet if they weren't careful.

We also played a fun game where each person puts a nail in the top of a log, and each player has to hammer the nail in, and the first person to finish wins. Sounds easy, but it's not. Each person only gets one hit per round, and if you miss, you have to wait for the next round. It's kinda like caps (the game where you use a beer cap to knock the cap off a beer bottle) - using a small surface to hit a small surface. One time, when it was Ryan's turn, whenever he was about to bring down the hammer, one of the German kids would distract him by yelling "scheiser!" (which means "shit" in German). When Matt lost the game (he was last to hammer his nail in), we made him stand on the log and dance. Later, he won and Ryan lost, so Ryan had to give him a back massage.

We visited another dairy farm that afternoon. We also saw some cute fluffy bunnies there, drank fresh unprocessed cow's milk, and rode around town in the back of a tractor. Since there were a lot of trees, we had to be careful about getting hit by low branches. The tractor ride was fun, it reminded me of riding in Miguel's pickup truck in the Dominican Republic. Later, there was a little ceremony in town with the mayor and other important people planting a tree to commemorate World Youth Day, and then we walked up the the chapel on the hill for Mass.

Then, my host mother picked us up (me, Charlotte, and Maria) and took us back to the house to change our clothes since it would be cold that evening, then everyone went to a sports field for more fun stuff. We had bonfires, a man there taught a few of us how to do diabolo spinning (Chinese yo-yo, I remember attempting it at Chinese camp when I was 12), and some people played a Canada vs Germany soccer game. I still don't know how Ryan managed to play barefoot... Then during the game, Norman got a concussion and had to be taken to the hospital after he blacked out. Thankfully, he was able to join us again later the next day. While eating supper, my friends started teasing me about chattin' it up with the Italian boys the previous night, because they saw me talking to Stefano "for hours" (slight exageration...). Father Jim heard us, and said "the only guy you should be picking up here is Jesus!" At the end of the evening, we had evening prayer and went back to our host families' houses.

Day Four

The next day, we went to the city of Fulda for the day. It was raining but it didn't dampen my spirits in the morning. Even if it was raining, I still felt happy because the area was filling up with other WYD pilgrims and it was great to see so many people from so many places, there to celebrate the same thing. We had a big outdoor Mass at the cathedral of St. Boniface and that was the first time I took communion on the tounge instead of in the hand. I was holding a lot of things at the time so it was more practical that way. But later in World Youth Day, I kept taking it on the tounge at most of the Masses. That way I didn't have to worry about dropping the host, the wind blowing it away, or getting crumbs on my hands. There were a few concerts and events in town during the day, and the sun came out in the afternoon. We ate ice cream, walked around town, and each got a freebie that was given out to every WYD pilgrim - a pack with a guidebook, scarf, and cross. I traded my PEI hat for something that, like the pope bracelet, became a hot commodity at WYD - a blue hat that pretty much every Italian pilgrim had. I loved that hat, it looked cute and kept my head dry in the rain. Later, the rain started again and people started getting cranky so we decided to go back to our host families. I ran into Stefano again while in the lunch tent. Later, my host mother arrived to bring me, Charlotte, and Maria back to the house for supper.

While eating our last supper with the family, they offered us wine but since the chaperones had all expected us to make a commitment not to drink any, we had to refuse. Later, we found out that the two-year-old boy in the family had a crush on Maria. He sat on her lap during our last game of Lotti Karotti, but this time we kept the board far enough so that he couldn't reach and disrupt the game. Then when it was time to go to sleep, Maria gave him a kiss on the cheek and he went crazy! He started screaming in happiness and running all over the place! His mother put her hand on his forehad and said said "hot, hot!" It was hilarious! We also gave the family the gifts we had brought from home - PEI picture books, and one of the teddy bears that some people in our group had sold as a fundraiser. The family gave us each a cd of pictures they had taken of us during the week. There were also chocolates on the table in my suite, and we divided them up. We also ended up eating an entire box in one sitting. Mmmm... chocolate...

Day Five

The next day, we said goodbye to our family, and the group went back to Fulda for the morning before going to Cologne. We went shopping, and I bought a cute pair of pink dress shoes for 12-13 Euros. What a bargain! Then we took the bus to Cologne, which took a few hours, and at a pit stop, we met other WYD pilgrims. A few hours later, we arrived at Youth Hostel Riehl, which was our accomodations for the rest of our WYD journey.

Well, that's it for Fulda. It was a great experience and we all really enjoyed it. Next time, I will talk about the actual World Youth Day events and stuff we did in Cologne. As I'm typing this, I'm eating some of the sweets I bought at the chocolate factory. Again I say - mmmm... chocolate...

Last post before heading off to Germany

2005-08-10T01:58:00.000-04:00

Alrighty, I don't know if I'll have internet access during World Youth Day, so don't count on seeing anything new till I get back on the 23rd. I have to be at the airport in 8 hours so I'll just write a CI commentary and a few other random tidbits, then go to sleep.

This week, on Canadian Idol, they sang big band. I LOVE that music and it's totally my genre. I still remember the happiness I felt while singing at Acadia Jazz camp in 1999 and 2000. The jazz choir, the jazz combo (the first time I sang in Spanish, and I couldn't even speak the language at the time!) as well as the huge-ass standing ovation I got when I sang "But not for me" acapella in the camp variety show (so put that in your pipe and smoke it, "anonymous"). This week, all the contestants were fabulous, and I must say, Rex and Josh looked hot in those suits! Anyway, here's what I have to say this week:

Suzi Rawn - This is the best I've heard from her so far. It's nice that she stepped out of the rock genre and did something completely different. The only thing I didn't like is when she sang the "heidi-ho" part really fast, it sounded like she was yodelling. But maybe it's supposed to be like that... Either way, good job.

Aaron Walpole - The theatrical thing the judges always complained about worked perfectly for him in this performance. This type of music is perfect for him, and as I've said before, I hope he goes far in this competition.

Melissa O'Neil - Good job. When I sing jazz, my voice sounds similar to hers. It wasn't as "risky" as last week, but I liked it.

Josh Palmer - This week, his look reminded me of Rufus Wainwright, especially since he got rid of the beard (good move, he looks better without it!) and pushed his hair back. He didn't sing as loud as I expected, but I enjoyed the performance. I LOVE that song and he sang it with his Josh-quirkiness, but still "classic" enough to pull off big band.

Rex Goudie - Lookin' good! *wink* I'm actually surprised that Sass didn't say "sexy Rexy" this week! He looked slick, and though he's a rocker, he totally pulled off this style and music. The rocker voice added some uniqueness to his performance. He always impresses me and so far he and Josh are by far, my favorites.

Casey Leblanc - This is the best I've seen from her so far. I think the judges were wrong in saying it's not "her genre" because she actually did well this time. She wasn't super-impressive, but much better than the past few weeks.

Daryl Brunt - Also the best I've seen from him. Though it was bizarre to see a young kid sing Louis Armstrong... He reminds me of a star search or talent show kid, and always looks scared before and after his performances, but his singing was good. If I were 8-10 years younger, he might have been one of my favorites.

The SURGE retreat rocked! It was great to have that weekend right before going off to WYD. The talks were awesome, especially Steph's talk for the girls. I love girl talk, we gotta have more girls' nights! Adoration was amazing. While they were playing that song about Jesus and Mary on the stereo, I kept thinking of our Way of the Cross and I actually cried. Though I didn't play Mary in our play, during the part of the song where Jesus falls down, I suddenly saw myself as Mary going to Jesus and comforting him like in the movie "The Passion" right after the flashback showing little Jesus falling down, and the tears started to stream down my face. And when Steph and Mindy started singing The Wonderful Cross, that reminded me of our play too. I sang along, as I always do at retreats. Right before going to confession, the sun was setting so I went outside and danced in the grass. It wasn't my best since I haven't been in dance class since April, but the colours of the sky were beautiful. As for the fun retreat memories, Malcolm's judo demonstration was awesome! It was hilarious when he was using Jody as a guinea pig for his judo moves. We also had a few rounds of Mafia like in every retreat, and the "What If?" game.

That's all for now, see you in Germany! Or when I return...