Vacations

I haven't been good at all at writing this semester, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, it was just too busy. But now, all the funding requests are done and submitted, and I'm off for a month. I'm actually writting this from Kuala Lumpur, where my man and I arrived in the middle of the night, after spending 3 days in Shanghai.
This has been a looong trip. We left Monday morning around 9am to take a bus to Montreal, followed by another bus to the airport, then a first plane to Toronto, a second one to Vancouver, and a third one (over 13 hour-long) to Shanghai. Once there, we realised our luggages had not followed, so we just took the high-speed (300km\h) train to town, where we bought a 3-day metro pass, and went to our hotel. We didn't stay in long, because we wanted to get over jetlag quickly. So the first day was spent disovering the Bund and the old town. Here are a few pictures.

Quite the choice of food! 

Tea house

Tea with eggs...

Fish...

Shanghai metro

Our luggages showed up at the hotel as we were about to go to bed, how lucky are we? 

The second day we visited the zoo, and the people's square and around. The zoo was a lot of fun, although I spent the day freezing. 

Wearing the new blouse I finished the day before we left! 

And we still had a little time, so on day 3, we went to the free national museum, and walked around a bit more before we headed back to the airport for our flight to KL. 

About to taste the stinky tofu I got from a street vendor. It tastes better than it smells! 

So, my impression of Shanghai after less than 72 hours spent there? It's cleaner, better organised than I expected of a country with so many people. It's very easy to get around, EVERYTHING is in English. And the food is to die for! On the other hand, people kind of don't talk unless they're trying to get you into the famous tea-scam, they push or almost hit you non-stop in the metro and on the street. Nobody seems to be following any circulation rule, and the weirdest thing is that nobody ever says a word about it, as if it's just normal that you almost get hit by a bike/car/bus/scooter, etc. at every single corner. Also, Shanghai is really, really rich, and I just kept thinking about what happens in order regions of the country, and did not feel comfortable about this opulence. Lastly, Facebook and Bloger did not work while we were there. It was a good reminder that despite all the Starbucks, Gap and other North American ways of living, it's still China. So, I'm happy I saw it, but I would not go back. Next post: Kuala Lumpur!!!

End of summer

The last few weeks have been all about enjoying the end of the summer. I know summer only ends in a 2 weeks, but there is a frost warning tonight in 3R, and I have been sleeping with my fleece nightgown and socks for the past few nights (that's the price to pay to sleep with open windows as late as possible!)

So, first, Santa Fe. 

Wow. 

It was awesome, and weird, because so...exotic. I travel quite regularly, but this was not a place I expected to go one day. That's probably why I just said yes enthusiastically when my friend invited me to join her and a few other ladies to spend a week there; my past experience taught me that I always enjoy going to places that were not on my bucket list, since I have no expectation whatsoever. 

And I was not disappointed. I spent week in the desert, staying in a charming adobe, visiting Navajo pueblos, drinking margaritas, enjoying the most wonderful food and shopping for silver and turquoise jewelries. I felt very far from my dear Transylvania and all its trees! The colours, the smells, the landscape, everything was so different, while being so North American. 

Oh the food...

Chilis and jewelry, that's quite representative...

Picture for my man, who would really like to decorate our house with this

Indian museum

Our adobe

Taos pueblo (http://www.taospueblo.com/)

The annual Indian market (http://www.swaia.org/)

Bandelier national monument

http://www.nps.gov/band/index.htm

at the Indian market

Since I came back, we got to go a nice baptism, and then this weekend was the moment I wait for all year long: camping at Lac Clair. 

Lac Clair holds a very special place in my heart. Five years ago, I was invited to spend a weekend there by one of my good friends, the same guy who, a few months later, became my man. We have been going back every year since, and each single time, the magic of that place calms me down as soon as we get there. This is one of the only place on earth where my billion lists don't follow me...as much. 

This year we rented a freshly renovated tiny cabin. We went to bed at around 8:30 pm, and I slept like a baby until my man woke up at 4am to restart the fire. I decided to go out and spent about 15 minutes just staring at the moon and the stars, before I went back to bed. 

Somehow, I haven't had insomnia for the first time since Christmas since. I'm crossing my fingers it will last, and I'm hoping we can go back before the end of the season...

Emergency camping blocking

making jam with the plums from our trees! 

final yummy result

Young ducks resting next to our place

yes, we got that close to them...

In other news, I have 5 inches left on the woven blanket, the greylina you see being blocked on the picture is only missing its button band, and awesome news, a few students from one of my research lab decided they needed something to do during their break at the hospital (they're nurses), so they decided to learn how to knit. We got together last Monday in a coffee shop, with a few other friends, and spent a few very pleasant hours together. We are doing it again this Saturday morning, I can't wait! 

Talk to you soon! 

Going to Paris in 5-4-3-2...

1 day before I'm off to Paris!
I have so much to do before I leave that I won't write much, except to say that:

• Last weekend was spent in Montreal eating and partying with friends and at the airport picking up a famous epidemiologist. I spent the week driving her around the city, taking her to restaurants at night, explaining her how things worked in the department and research group, even having her here for our first BBQ of the year. It was awesome, she was so interesting, an intellectual like I like them, who can have a discussion about anything, because she can find something interesting in anything. I'm very happy I got to spend so much time with her, it was a very intense intellectual stimulation, even if it meant not to be home one single evening. 
• I have 10 inches left on 1st woven baby blanket, hoping to start blanket #2 today. Now I have to learn how to crochet the edges. 

36 inches done, 4 more to go! 

I really like the pattern, I can't wait to see what it will look like when I wash it.

•  I still didn't find the knitting I lost 2 weeks ago. That included a set of Denise interchangeable needles, yarn, and other stuff (I can't remember what else was in the bag). It is very frustrating, because it was almost, almost finished. 
• My blouse is also starting to look more and more like a blouse. I'm really hoping to finish it before the end of the sewing semester (early June). 

Can't believe I know how to make collars! 

I will totally wear that, one day! I can picture it with my jeans skirt.

Still can believe I can make collars!!!:-) 

• I went to a weaving class last weekend. The highlight of the day was to meet 2 new expats from Montreal in 3R. The other highlight was that I was feeling comfortable around all the looms. I think I'm slowly becoming a weaver. 
• Other highlight of the past few weeks: I started to take the bus with a girl I met in the farmers' circle, and discovered that we have a lot of common interests. Well, that shouldn't come as a surprise, since we both belong to the same craft circle. But we also share the fact that we follow sewing and knitting patterns in English (oh, being able to talk to someone without having to check/translate every single word I say...), we both want to learn the complete way (no short cut that our fellow farmers like so much), we like to make our own clothes, and we like vintage sewing patterns. We discussed the possibility to have a sew-along this summer, because we both want to make Gertie's shirtwaist dress. I think that after having sewn 2 skirt and 1 blouse, I can tackle this project, especially with the help of someone with much more experience than me :-).  
• My man decided to organize our housewarming party (a year after we got the house) on May 18. Those who know me and are not on Facebook, consider yourself invited. We will try to get the house ready on time...and have enough alcohol so you can't see what is not finished. 
• Oh my, I'm leaving for Paris tomorrow, and I have nothing ready, except for my passport, plane ticket, a few euros from previous trips and list of stores to visit. I don't even have my aunt's address. I didn't even talked to her about the trip yet, her sister (who I am travelling with) organized everything. I hope she knows I'm coming. Those who know me know that this is not normal. However, I'm hoping that this will mean real vacations. I have a friend who went to Paris last week, and on his Facebook status, he mentioned that he had to wait several hours on a Tuesday morning to visit the catacombes. This is now the only thing that is on my list as NOT to visit. 
• I have 24 hours to find my camera battery charger. It is probably somewhere with my knitting :-( 
• Ok, there is one other thing that is almost organized for that trip, and it is what knitting I'll bring. I decided on Graylina, except in a red that will match my blouse. I just need to find needles to do the ribbing, since the ones I need are on the lost knitting. 
• I might have forgotten to tell you that a few weeks ago, my man invited out to lunch, and asked me if I really, really wanted to go to Malaysia for my big 4-0 this year. He was not too warm to the idea, but had to give his vacations dates at work, so a decision had to be made. Final verdict: we are going to Malaysia for 4 weeks over the Christmas holidays! I can't wait, I am so excited. 
• Meanwhile I also bought tickets to Santa Fe in August, where I will spend a week with my friend from Lilloet and a few of her friends. 
• Life is good, very good. 

Talk to you soon about Paris! Have a good week!

Back to winter wonderland

I spoke too quickly, of course; we got an extra 20 cm of snow this week, bringing us back to winter. But of course, we, being used to Canadian winters, know all about this annual mid-March storm, which bring big heavy flakes of wet snow: it's the last storm that brings an eventual spring...I'm happy to have a little bit of white covering the ugly grey of our early spring.

I managed to go ski before the end of the winter! 

The only thing is that this year, I had already experienced a little bit of real spring, by spending a few days in Washington last week, where I presented at the ACC-RAC.

Random cute house with cherry blossoms in Washington

The presentation went very well, and my team wan 2 prizes out of 9. I was very proud of our postdoctoral and PhD students who wan. It was also fun to meet authors I heard about over and over in the past 2 years I've been working with this research team.I managed to wear something I made (and to take a picture of it...)

My skirt! 

Being there for work, there was not too much time to visit, so we carefully prepared our itinerary for the one day off we had.

We ended up spending half a day visiting all the main monuments

Michelle's garden!

And then spent the second half of that day visiting the Smithsonian museums. I was there with my man and 3 male students, a chiropractor, a kinesiologist, and an engineer. The guys decided to visit the museum of Natural History to see the dinosaurs, and I decided to visit the Museum of American History.

It was awesome. I had time to see everything, from the different wars that USA participated in to Michelle Obama's inaugural gown. There was a lot about American pop culture, with Kermit the frog, Dorothy's ruby slippers and Julia Child's kitchen.

Washington was also great for its wonderful food: we had awesome Mexican, Ethiopian and Turkish food! Nothing that can be found in 3R!

And I had a little time to knit..waiting for the plane on the way back. I also managed to go to a yarn store near our hotel, but I didn't have much time to shop, because my boss was with me. I ended up buying the cutest buttons ever. I'll take a picture for the next entry.

Then I came back to work. I was supposed to go back working full time as a research clerk (not sure at all of the translation...), but somehow, because of a few misunderstandings, I still worked 4 jobs this week. But Monday morning, my replacement is supposed to show up at the clinic, and April 1 should be when I go back to a quiet. life of only 2 jobs. Just in time to start preparing for my next trip: a week in Paris with my 2 aunts, who are both 80 and over, but incredibly active, curious and interested in everything (just the way I hope to be at their age).  I think it's going to be a lot of fun!!!
More details in the next entry. Have a great week!