A Season for Everything - May 2009

At the end of April I returned to Ottawa for my first visit in nine months. The primary reason was to attend a friend's wedding, but it also gave me a chance to see people, and take care of practical matters like getting my teeth checked and renewing my driver's licence. I stayed there until the middle of May, and then flew back to Vancouver.

The wedding was something of a first for me. Previously, the only weddings I'd been to were for members of my extended family. This was the first time I actually knew both the bride and groom. That made it much more exciting and personally relevant. I only have a few friends, and each of them is (hopefully) only going to get married once. From that perspective the wedding was one of the most important events of my life, or at least the highlight of my year. The ceremony was simple but nice. I got a bit emotional, but didn't cry. The family asked me to take pictures at the reception, which was good, because it gave me something to do. I took lots of photos, got caught up with some Ottawa acquaintances, and danced with lots of people, including the bride and groom.

Even though my Ottawa visit was short, I'm glad I got to have it. It was nice to be back among familiar things, and to see friends and family again. Most of all, it made me realise something: Ottawa is home, at least for now. Travelling and seeing the world is nice, and of course working is good, but Ottawa's still the most important place in the world to me, and probably will be until things change dramatically.

Now that I'm in Vancouver again, I'm back to job-hunting. This is the season where a lot of schools hire new staff, and I'm hopeful that I can find a good job for the summer. Being unemployed, I'm once again too poor to do anything interesting with my time, so my days have mostly been filled with books and television. On the bright side, the weather these past few weeks has been gorgeous, warm and sunny, with blue skies every day. I've been taking advantage by going on a lot of long walks around the city. I walked all the way around Stanley Park one day, which I'd done last June when it was unseasonably cold and wet. This time was a lot better.

I began this post with some happy news, but I have to end it with something sad. My friend who got married at the beginning of the month lost her brother only a few weeks later. As when my uncle died, it isn't something that affects me personally, but it affects my friends, and friends can be just as important as family, if not more so. I went to Victoria for the funeral. I'd never attended a funeral before, so it was another first for me. Obviously it was a much less pleasant experience than the wedding, and I can't say I enjoyed it, but I'm glad I went.

In the news, the civil war in Sri Lanka has finally come to an end. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it's thrilling to think of any war ending, especially one that's as old as I am. On the other hand, it seems to have generated a massive humanitarian crisis, with both government and rebel forces partly to blame. I don't understand the situation very well, but I'm surprised the international community hasn't done more to address this crisis. If innocent civilians in a foreign country are suffering, isn't it our job to get involved? I certainly hope more is done to help the victims now that combat has ceased. I also hope a peace can be reached that respects the needs of everyone involved, so that the country can heal and move forward.

Movies I've seen this month:

Star Trek – Saying it was better than I expected may not be saying much, but the truth is, I actually liked this movie. Hard to say why. On the one hand, it lacked the philosophical depth that was supposedly the strength of the T.V. shows. On the other hand, as pure sci-fi action-adventure it was at best mediocre, with decent special effects, okay action sequences, and a pretty silly story. The interest really came from the characters. The movie managed to re-invent, send-up, and pay homage to the classic figures all at the same time, and it was remarkably fun to watch. I appreciated all the little tributes – surprising, given that I've never been more than a very casual TOS viewer. I especially liked NewMcCoy! This would make a very good opening to a new T.V. show, or – as is more likely – a movie trilogy. They'd have to come up with a better story next time, though. (Three stars)

T.V. shows I've seen this month:

New Doctor Who (Season 1) – Entertaining if generally dumb sci-fi show. Unlike Torchwood, it doesn't take itself too seriously, but seems content with being so-bad-it's-good. I like Christopher Eccleston.

Books I've read this month:

J. M. Barrie and the Lost Boys: The real story behind Peter Pan by Andrew Birkin – A biography of J. M. Barrie and his relationship with the Llewelyn Davies family. This is the same story told in the movie Finding Neverland, which I really ought to see, now. I haven't read many biographies lately, but I thought this one was very well done. I felt a real sympathy for the characters, who are all flawed people in complex relationships, and I also felt that I learned something about the time period they lived in. The story is touching, and consistently tragic; I wanted to cry on several occasions.

Orientalism by Edward Said – I think I liked the idea behind this book, but to be honest, most of it went straight over my head. Maybe I've been outside of university too long, and have lost the ability to decipher academic texts (which I was never that good at to begin with). Or maybe it was that virtually all the literary allusions were lost on me, which kind of detracted from the "support" portion of the argument. Somebody needs to give me a dumbed-down version of this book – maybe with less Flaubert and more David Lean.

April Flowers - April 2009

My first winter in Vancouver has finally come to an end! In truth, Vancouver doesn't really get much of a winter, at least not in the traditional sense of snow and sub-zero temperatures. Instead, the year began with three months of what you might think of as a long, early spring: no snow, no freezing, but still cold, dark, and wet enough to be unpleasant. But the end of March brought longer days, increased sunshine, and – the real herald of springtime – flowers! Maybe it's because I missed out on the experience in Hong Kong, but I'd forgotten what a thrill it is to see things growing again. Best of all were the cherry blossoms. At least, I assume they were cherry blossoms. They're pink, they grow on trees, and they were all over the place, making the air smell sweet and covering the ground like pink snowflakes! Do we have this many cherry trees in Ottawa? I don't remember them, but there are quite a few in Vancouver and Victoria.

In my fourth week of work, there was a party for the students. All the teachers were required to go, and to dress up according to the theme, which was "celebrities". I reprised my role from Hallowe'en, since I still had most of my costume, although I had to improvise the make-up a bit. (Here's a tip: unless you're really desperate, white-out is not a good substitute for hair paint!) As it turned out, I wasn't the only Johnny Depp there; someone else came as the character from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Now I know what it's like to come to a party wearing the same dress as someone else! Costume mishaps aside, I had a lot of fun. I danced a lot, hung out with the students, and got hit on by a drunk Saudi Arabian.

Unfortunately, that was also my last week of work. They'd originally hired me for four weeks, and decided not to keep me on for longer. So as of the middle of April I was once again unemployed.

Around that time I also got a letter from the JET Programme telling me that I'd been selected as one of their "alternates". That means that I didn't make it onto their list of people they decided to hire, but I might still be offered a position if someone else drops out of the programme. I have pretty mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I'm glad that I still have a chance of getting in. On the other hand, I doubt many people would turn down an opportunity to go to Japan, so I don't expect many spots to open up. Also, if I do get offered a position, it might not happen for several weeks, or even months, and in the mean time, my future is still uncertain. Compared to that, I'd almost prefer a straight "no" from them. But I'm still trying to be optimistic. In the mean time, I've decided to stay in Vancouver for the summer. If I do get into the programme, it will still be my point of departure, and I think my chances of getting a summer job are better here than in Ottawa.

On the bright side, I've discovered something neat: did you know that if you're unemployed you can actually get free money from the government? Okay, it's called Employment Insurance, and I'm sure you did know that, but prior to this year it's something I've never thought about, let alone applied for. Fortunately, someone suggested I apply, and I'm glad I did, because I have actually gotten a little money out of it. I don't know how long it will last, but it's certainly better than getting no money at all. This experience makes me feel much more grown up than I did before. Perhaps it's because in the past I always relied on my parents to support me, whereas applying for E.I. really makes me feel like part of the working population.

I went to Victoria for the Easter weekend. The weather was finicky, but there was enough sunshine to get out of the house and enjoy a nature walk or two. I found an Anglican church in the city and went there for Easter Sunday. Then I celebrated the end of Lent with chocolate and non-vegetarian sushi.

For the second half of April I was back to having free time, and since I'd earned a little bit of money, I decided it was time to treat myself by doing some of that sight-seeing I'd never gotten around to. First, I went to the Vancouver Aquarium to see the belugas and other attractions. The baby beluga was cute, and they also had a bird show, dolphins, frogs, sharks, and – my personal favourite – jellyfish!

The Vancouver Art Gallery was pretty much a waste of money. They didn't have any special exhibits on when I went, and the permanent exhibit consisted of modern art and Canadian landscapes. The former included attractions such as a large purple plank, a pile of earth, and three throw-cushions stuck to an orange background. As for the latter, I've never been a fan of Canadian landscape painting, which always strikes me as flat and joyless – in contrast to actual Canadian landscapes, which are often quite lovely!

Science World was a lot more fun. It's mostly geared towards children, but hey, put me near anything science-y, and I can become very child-like. There was an entire room full of interactive science activities. It reminded me a lot of the Children's Museum in London, Ontario, where I used to go as a child. They were also running a special exhibit on Lego, with Lego models of different things.

If my old job doesn't take me back, I will have to start looking for work again in May. In the mean time, I'm heading back to Ottawa for a couple of weeks. I'm glad to be going home again, even if it's only for a short time. I've missed Ottawa a lot, and I'm looking forward to seeing people again.

In the news, Obama's first hundred days are over, and he still seems to be relatively popular. Recently he's been doing things like overturning the ban on photographing war dead, relaxing the U.S. position on Cuba, and calling for nuclear disarmament – the last of which seems like an especially laudable, if idealistic, goal. I also heard that Vermont has legalised same-sex marriage. I'm especially pleased about this because it's the first state to do so through and act of legislation, rather than a court ruling. I've always felt that courts who asserted same-sex marriage rights were acting outside of their jurisdiction, so I see this as a positive step both for gay rights and for democracy!

Movies I've seen this month:

Slumdog Millionaire – Entertaining film, but definitely not what I would have expected from a Best Picture Oscar-winner. It sort of combines the romanticism of a Bollywood musical with the harsh realism of a movie like Salaam Bombay. That made it different from any other film I'd seen about India, but still wasn't enough to really engage me. (Three stars)

Goodfellas – Pretty good mob film. The story could be the precursor to The Sopranos, and you can see how the show was influenced by the movie. However, it has neither the character depth of The Sopranos nor the emotional resonance of The Godfather, and as a result I wasn't quite as keen on it as other mob films. (Three and a half stars)

Doubt – Quite a good little movie, though obviously small in scope and based on a play. I was really impressed by how ambiguous the story was. Unlike most films, this one never gives away the answers, leaving the audience to draw their own conclusions. We had quite a lively discussion about it – which, of course, is usually the best part of watching a movie! (Three and a half stars)

T.V. shows I've seen this month:

Torchwood (Season 2) – Once upon a time there were some T.V. fans who loved Buffy and really loved Angel. They loved it so much they wrote fan-fic about it – specifically, slash. One day they decided to take their Angel Slash and turn it into its own T.V. series. So they wouldn't get sued, they moved the setting from California to Wales, recast most of the characters (but not all), and renamed it Torchwood. Seriously. How else do you explain this show?

Anyway… Season 2 starts off a lot better than Season 1: better stories, sharper dialogue, and more well-rounded characters. It gets worse as it goes along, but thanks to a more cohesive cast it's still the better season over all. Highlights include James Marsters, who basically reprises his role as Spike from Buffy and Angel. It may be unoriginal, but hey, I like Spike! Rhys finally finds out Gwen's secret, and gets to prove he can be just as big a man as Jack Harkness. And then there's Owen, who was already the strongest character – even before he died! My biggest complaint is that Tosh doesn't get the development I thought she deserved. I'm also sad about the end of the season. I doubt that the next one will be as good, but I'm still looking forward to seeing it. Hope it airs soon!

Books I've read this month:

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende – One of those really fast-paced and engrossing novels that are hard to put down. I didn't care too much for the story at first, but I got really into it in the second half. Although I thought the book ended a bit suddenly, I still liked it over all.

Family Business - March 2009

At the beginning of the month one of my aunts came to Vancouver for a couple of days, and my sister and I met up with her for dinner. That was nice, since I don't often see members of my extended family. On a sadder note, one of my uncles died on the other side of the family. It was pretty unexpected, and I feel pretty bad for his family, although I wasn't very close to him personally.

Still on the subject of family, I was still unemployed at the beginning of March, but I did get a little bit of work when my sister asked me to do some copy-editing for her. It was pretty easy. All I had to do was to read her Master's Thesis (which I probably would have done anyway), and correct the grammar (which I probably would have done anyway). As my sister's got pretty good grammar, it was a lot easier than, say, trying to correct a student composition!

In the middle of the month I finally got a job at a language school. It's similar to the school I was working at in the fall. I'm teaching one low-level class of about twelve students, almost all of whom are Saudi Arabian men. I'm also doing private tutoring with a German student. I'm glad to be teaching again. I need the money, but I also enjoy the work. It's nice to feel useful, and it gives me a chance to practise the skills I learned in the TESL course in January. I'm also glad to be getting some practice with tutoring, which I've never done before.

I tried to attend the St. Patrick's Day celebrations, but the weather was lousy. Half-way through the afternoon, it actually started snowing! That's unusual for Vancouver; I don't think it snowed once in the month of February. And apparently this has been an unusually cold winter! The next week I went to see a presentation on homelessness at the library. They showed a documentary and tried to explain who the people on the street are and why they are there. I don't know a lot about the issue, but it's a major problem in Vancouver; there are homeless people everywhere.

I still don't have money to do much, but I've discovered one cheap form of entertainment. One of the churches here has started having movie nights on Fridays. They're working their way through some of the major Oscar contenders from last year, most of which I didn't get to see. They ask for a donation, but it's still cheaper than seeing a film in theatres, and they hold discussions afterward. I've also been getting T.V. shows free from the library.

In the news, actor Andy Hallett, who played Lorne on Angel, died this month. I didn't know much about him, but Lorne was my third favourite Angel character, so I'm sad. I'm also quite surprised, since he was one of the youngest actors on the series.

Movies I've seen this month:

Milk – A relatively well-made movie about a gay-rights activist in San Francisco. It was interesting, but I didn't get really into it. The characters could have been better developed (especially Dan White), and the style didn't grab me. (Three and a half stars)

T.V. shows I've seen this month:

Torchwood (Season 1) – I dig the heck out of the fact that the hero is a hot, manly bisexual, and the way all the characters defy sexual clichés. Unfortunately, that's about the only good thing I can say about this show. The premise, story, and atmosphere are all along the lines of Buffy, Angel, or The X-Files. The writing is mediocre and the character development leaves a lot to be desired. Like the shows of Joss Whedon, it tries to maintain a tension between cynicism and optimism, but its sappy moments feel trite and its attempts to be "dark" mostly come off as silly. Still, it does improve a bit in the last four episodes. Maybe Season 2 will be better.

Books I've read this month:

Heidi by Johanna Spyri – As an adult, this book didn't really grab me, but it's a good children's book, and I can see why I liked it as a child.

The Interview - February 2009

At the beginning of February I finished up the course I was taking, and then began job-hunting. So far, I haven't been successful. Language schools still don't seem to be doing much hiring, and although it's still early, some people think the industry - like other industries - can anticipate a slow year. Obviously being unemployed is a bit stressful and worrying. It's also boring! Not that I can't find ways to fill up the hours in my day, but I miss going to work. And although I have lots of free time, I don't have money to do anything, so I haven't gone sight-seeing or even been out dancing!

I have one big piece of news. I apparently made it through the first round of the JET application process, because I got called in for an interview in the middle of the month. The fact that I made it that far makes me feel pretty confident of my chances of being accepted, but the interview is still the deciding factor, and I'm really not sure how well I did. It was a half-hour process with three interviewers. I tried to prepare for it, but I couldn't anticipate all the questions they asked, and there were several I had difficulty answering. (ex. "How are you going to represent Canadian culture while you're in Japan?" Er, you mean besides being my lovable Canadian self?) I should find out by mid-April whether I've been accepted or not. I really don't know what to expect, but I'm trying not to worry about it. I did my best, and there's absolutely nothing I can do now that will affect the outcome. Except pray. Prayers are still appreciated!

I'm sufficiently optimistic still to be studying Japanese. I'm progressing very slowly but steadily. To help myself along, I've been borrowing DVDs of Azumanga Diaoh from the library. It's my favourite of the series we used to watch in the anime (Japanese animation) club. Although my Japanese skills are still very limited, it's fun to listen to the characters talk and try to pick out familiar words from their dialogue. A Japanese student was also nice enough to give me a copy of Tokyo Story, an old black and white Japanese movie, so I can practice my listening skills on that, too.

For St. Valentine's Day I went to an AVEN potluck. We ate cake and watched Doctor Who. For Mardi Gras there was a pancake dinner at church with bacon, maple syrup, strawberries, and even whipped cream! (Never had whipped cream on pancakes before.) The next day was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Last year I was in Hong Kong, where vegetarian eating is difficult, so I only gave up eating meat. This year I'm reverting to my usual practice of going completely vegan, meaning no meat, eggs, or milk. It hasn't been that difficult, except that I'm forced to cook pretty much all of my own food. That's cheaper than eating out, though, and healthier than some of the junk I've been eating this year.

Of course the most important day of the month was Sunday the 22nd: Oscar Day! As was the case last year, I hadn't seen any of the top contenders, and treated the ceremony as a preview of movies I should see. Top of the list is apparently Slumdog Millionaire, which I'd already heard good things about. Sean Penn won Best Actor for Milk, which got me thinking about the last time a lead actor got recognised for playing a gay character in a gay-themed movie: Tom Hanks in Philadelphia. That was fifteen years ago, and it feels like we've come a long way since then. Back then, the big issue was AIDS; this time it was same-sex marriage that everyone was talking about. Heath Ledger did indeed pick up the Best Supporting Actor trophy, as everyone'd been predicting for the last thirteen months. I haven't seen any of his competition, but having seen The Dark Knight I can say that he was good, and probably deserved it. Japan got the Best Foreign Language award for a film called Okuribito (Departures). I looked it up: this is the first time Japan's won an award in that category since its creation back in the 1950s. WALL-E, one of the only other films I saw last year, got the Best Animated Film award, which it richly deserves.

Best of the ceremony: I really liked how they handled the acting awards, where they had five previous winners in the category come up on stage and give individual shout-outs to each of the nominees. That was a welcome change for a ceremony that often doesn't give enough air-time to the winners, let alone the nominees! All the acceptance speeches were good; none ran on too long, and nobody got cut off (well, maybe one guy got cut off). Best acceptance speech goes to Dustin Lance Black, who won the Original Screenplay award for Milk. Best moment was Philippe Petit (the Man on Wire) balancing the Oscar on its head, on his chin.

Worst of the ceremony: Usually one of my favourite parts of the ceremony is the live performance of all five nominated songs in full, but this year there were only three nominated songs, so they worked them into a single medley. It wasn't nearly as much fun, although hearing "Down to Earth" mixed with "Jai Ho" was kind of cool. For some reason they didn't list the past achievements of the winners, which seemed like an odd decision to make. The film montages were pretty lame, although it wasn't as bad as three years ago when they practically took over the show! Oh, and someone needs to teach Jennifer Aniston and Jack Black how to say, "La Maison en petits cubes".

In Memoriam: Last year we lost Roy Scheider (actor), Paul Scofield (actor), Sydney Pollack (director, actor), Charlton Heston (actor, N.R.A. president), Paul Newman (actor, salad dressing maker), and Michael Crichton (writer). We also lost Majel Barrett (Mrs Gene Roddenberry), but she got left out of the montage. I was kind of surprised; I know she was mostly famous for her T.V. work, but she was in movies too, right?

Movies I've seen this month:

Tokyo Story - A painfully slow-moving art film of the kind we used to watch in university. I was mostly bored by it, but I did find it beautiful to look at, and I got the point in the end. I also appreciated that, as in old American movies, the characters speak slowly and clearly, making the dialogue easier to understand. (Three stars)

Soup Noodles and Kraft Dinner - January 2009

I don't have much to tell this month. It's the slow season for ESL, and I gather there isn't much work available. That being the case, I decided to take a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) course. Although I already had TESOL training and more than a year of experience, I didn't have an "officially recognised" certificate, which is apparently necessary for a lot of the jobs in this city. So I enrolled in a month-long programme, and thereafter my days were mostly taken up with classes, and my spare time with homework.

Even though my primary reason for taking the course was necessity, I ended up enjoying it quite a lot. I had a fun teacher and nice classmates (both of them; it was a small class!). Although I've had a lot of teaching practice recently, it's been a while since I actually got any teacher training. Being back in school gave me a chance to learn about different methodologies, collect some new lesson ideas, and get feedback on my teaching style. The most important thing I learned is that I still have a long way to go to become a really good teacher, but at least I have some good ideas of what to work on. Hopefully I can get back to work soon, so I can start putting those ideas into practice.

Obviously my other reason for wanting to be back at work is so I can earn money. As long as I'm unemployed, I can't afford to do much of anything interesting. Things were especially tight at the beginning of the month, when I was trying to make up for over-spending at Christmas time. There were a couple of weeks where I was basically living on soup noodles and Kraft Dinner. Nutritionally disgraceful, I know, but brilliant financially!

The big news event of the month was the presidential inauguration of Barak Obama. In the week that followed, he and his family must have appeared on the cover of every single magazine in the country. After one day I was already sick of seeing them smile at me. Doesn't he ever get tired of having his picture taken? He was also Time's Person of the Year, and appeared on the cover of the Economist seven times in the last twelve months - I counted. Of course, despite all the P.R., the really issue is what he does now that he's been sworn in. So far he's already signed an order to close the Guantánamo Bay prison within a year, but he seemed a bit slow off the mark on the war in Gaza. He also has some kind of "stimulus package" to help prop up the U.S. economy, but I'm no good at talking about financial matters.

In related news, we got our government back here in Canada. Michael Ignatieff is the new leader of the Liberal Party, and so far he's not so keen on his predecessor's coalition plan, so it looks like our current government is sticking around for the foreseeable future.

Chinese New Year came at the end of the month. Obviously it isn't as big an event here as it is in Hong Kong, and I didn't do much to celebrate, but I did go out and see the parade in old Chinatown. It was pretty good, and I had a much better view of it than I had of the Hong Kong parade, so I enjoyed it a lot. The only crummy thing was the weather, which was cold and rainy.

Okay, I haven't seen any movies, or read any books (well, I've been reading books, but I haven't finished any), or been out to any performances, so there really isn't anything else to say.