Hot As

The temperature here in Southern Ontario has risen dramatically in the past couple of days. It is sizzlingly satisfying to finally be experiencing real summer temperatures. I was down in one of my favourite parts of Toronto for an interview this morning. When I emerged from the air conditioned office building onto Spadina Avenue, I was welcomed with a wave of tasty summer heat. I just love it. Even though it was close to 40 C with the humidex, I did not want to escape the sauna I found on the hot Toronto streets. I stopped at Springrolls on Queen St. for lunch and instead of joining the rest of the lunch-time diners in the dark, cool restaurant, I asked to be seated out on the patio under a shady red umbrella. I enjoyed a delicious chicken satay mango salad and a few glasses of very cold ice water— the perfect lunch for a spicy hot summer afternoon.

But seriously, it was hot as out there.

I am hoping this weather sticks around for a few weeks. I love it.

Born to Run

I missed the Emmys last night, but I caught the opening sketch inline this morning. Enjoy!

Trees

Yesterday was a pretty sweet day.

In the morning, we headed over to 'Tree-Top Trekking' at Horseshoe. We buckled ourselves into climbing harnesses and strapped some helmets on our heads. Our guide, Brandon aka. B.J. showed us how to clip ourselves to trees and cables and how to attach our pulleys to ziplines. Then, it was up into the trees! We balanced on slack-lines, tip-toed across swinging steps and slid through hanging hollow logs. I don't really know quite why I enjoyed this adventure so much, but I did. It was great! It was fun to see how fast I could complete a 'game' between two trees and to look down to see how far up I had climbed. In all, my family and I completed five courses. We also sped down a 1000 ft. zip line! I think I enjoyed tree-top trekking more than the aqua zorb! Do this.

After a much-needed afternoon nap, we headed out to a place I have never been… and will likely never go again: Casino Rama. I have never really had that much interest in gambling, so I wasn't very keen to go to the casino, but I was promised a buffet dinner, so I went along. The dinner was pretty decent, by the way. My Dad gave me $20.00 to gamble. I wasn't surprised when my money was completely gone in about fifteen minutes. What a waste of time. It wasn't even fun. My brother doubled his money and my Dad made enough to by each of us a drink at Rama's new hotel's expensive lobby bar. It was interesting to try something different, but next time I'd rather go to an arcade or something.

This morning, we slept in and had pancakes and maple syrup and bacon for breakfast. We piled into our mini-van and took a little drive over to Penetanguishene. There's not much there. So we drove to Midland. Midland is a pretty cool little harbour town. There was a ma-hoo-sive Canada Steam Liner ship in the harbour and many murals about the town's history in the shipping industry. We took a stroll on the dock and had a little lunch at a fish & chips grill. (I didn't have fish & chips, I split a Reuben sandwich with my Mom.)

After lunch, we visited 'Martyr's Shrine', a Catholic church and grounds dedicated to martyrs around the world and specifically to those Jesuit missionaries who died while spreading the Gospel among the native people of what they called 'Huronia'. The grounds is covered in statues and monuments. It was pretty interesting to learn about these guys and what they did for their faith. While we explored the outside of the church, there was an 'annointing' service going on inside. I think it was about healing, because when everyone left at the end, I saw many people who are confined to wheelchairs or otherwise injured. When I went inside the church, I saw a whole wall covered in crutches and canes of people who had been healed by the Holy Spirit at previous services. It was pretty cool to see that, actually.

I think we're all incredibly exhausted today (and I don't know about everyone else, but my whole body aches from that tree-top thing), so tonight we're staying in to watch a movie. Nice.

The Calm Before the Storm

On Monday, I have to face the real world (and get caught up in a frenzy of job applications and (hopefully) interviews). But for now, I am enjoying a full week of R&R with my parents and brother in the Horseshoe Valley.

So far, we've enjoyed a rainy day movie— actually, 'enjoyed' is totally not the right word for it. We rented 'The Invention of Lying' with Ricky Gervais. There were some funny bits, but it's mostly an attempt to discredit religion. I retract my previous statement. So far, we viewed a rainy day movie, an afternoon at Wasaga Beach, a couple of late-night soaks in the hot-tub and… a day at the brand spankin' new 'Horseshoe Adventure Park'.

Now, being new, the Adventure Park isn't exactly a hoppin' hub of adolescent activity like Canada's Wonderland… yet. I predict that the popularity of this particular place of adventure will grow and grow. This place is great! The first thing we did when we arrived at the park this morning was something that I have been itching to do! I went Zorbing. And not just any Zorbing. I went Aqua Zorbing. It was like an extreme water slide! I highly, highly suggest this experience.

It was very sunny today and for some reason, I neglected to cover my pasty ginger complexion with my customary layer of SPF 30. So, as my parents, brother and I had a highly competitive game of mini-golf, my skin tone changed from a soft, creamy white to a lovely bubblegum pink. Yes. I hope it fades before my interview on Monday!

Later on in the day, we did some more Zorbing before hopping on a chairlift (in the summertime— what a novelty!) up to the top of the ski hill. Wow, what a view! Canada has beautiful scenery, too. We climbed up a tall, tall tower (Tom, I have a picture for you). Then, we did a zipline! It was sweet. Enjoy the video!

We also tried some rock-climbing before heading back to the timeshare for some rigatoni. Mmm.

Homecoming

Toronto from the air (as we arrived in the city on Icelandair)

I have been home for less than three full days, but I've been so busy!

Wednesday night, my Mom and Dad and Jordan (little brother) picked me up from the airport and we all embraced with tears in our eyes. It is good to be home. On the way home, we drank Tim Horton's coffee— my first in months! I had my classic Tim's drink: a decaf 'double-double' with a shot of hazelnut, mmmmmm. When we got home, I showed off pictures from my recent UK road trip and tour of Ireland, but the photos from the rest of the year I spent in England will have to wait.

My body to the time difference almost instantly! I woke up Thursday morning at 7:30 (which is 12:30 pm in England). It was a bit weird to adjust so well. When I came home at Christmas, I was waking up between 4:00-5:00 am for about a week.

I spent Thursday emailing my portfolio to a variety of design studios and other creative places in search of a job. I actually have negative funds. Thank God my parents are so eager to have me living at home with them! I don't know how I would afford living on my own with no money and a pile of debt.

Thursday night, my friends surprised me with a little tea party. It was really great to see everyone— especially Andrew and Kayla, whom I haven't spent any time with since December. It was awesome to see Meg, Jay and Mel too (but I saw them a few weeks ago, so I'm kind of sick of them, haha). We chatted late into the night. I am glad that Kayla is living in Newmarket, too. It will be nice to get together for coffee!

Friday morning, I printed my portfolio at the local print shop before heading up to my room to try and clean it up a bit. I don't know how I have acquired so much crap in my life. Somehow, as I purged my room of old clothes, books and knickknacks, the mess got bigger!!! This will surely be an on-going project.

That evening, I headed up to Lindsay with Meg, Jay and Laura (happy reunion!) to see a production of 'Les Mis', put on by our friend Tom and his theatre company. It was spectacular. We were blown away by the talent in the show. Laura has seen about 5 professional productions of Les Mis and she was amazed by the cast. We were especially taken aback by the male leads! Valjean, Javert and Enjolras were incredible. Marius was okay, too, haha. However, the best part of the show was afterwards, when Tom and Alana joined us for drinks and chat. It's really nice to be back.

Today, I am headed up North for a week of R & R with my family. I am totes going to try Zorbing.

P.S. I got an interview for a sick internship!

For everything (turn turn turn) there is a season (turn turn turn)

The time has come to move on from Sarah the au pair… ah.

I have really enjoyed writing this blog, sharing with you about my daily activities, adventures and anxieties. And so… I've decided to keep writing! But I must remedy the problem of my blog's title. I had thought of gathering suggestions from my dedicated readers, creating a poll and leaving it to a vote. But then my dear Aussie suggested the perfect name that epitomizes my current feeling of instability and joblessness:

Sarah: Livin' on a Prayer-ah

I Need a Job! (Preferably not in Child Care)

Well, friends, I am home. I have begun to unpack my suitcases and catch-up with my family. Next on my to-do list: get a job! Let's see where this BDes gets me!

Home for a Rest

The Ireland Times

Friends, Romans, Countrymen! Lend me your ears… uuuh… eyes? I shall now recount my journey through Ireland!!

Only a few short days after returning to Brum from my Epic UK Road Trip, Aussie and I went to Ireland. We flew with Ryanair, a very successful airline that flies all over Europe. It is so successful because its' flights are incredibly inexpensive… on their own. If you want to check some baggage, you have to pay a fee. If you forget to check-in online, you have to pay a fee. If you forget to print your boarding pass, you have to pay a fee. If you want to go to the toilet on the flight, you have to pay a fee. If you want to eat on the flight, you have to pay a fee. So, to avoid all of these fees, Aussie and I crammed as much as we could into our carry-on luggage.

After a very short flight (less than an hour), we arrived in Dublin! We checked ourself into our hostel, where we were greeted by a very friendly Englishman, before heading out on the town. We ended up explaining 'Temple Bar', which is kind of like the Royal Mile in Edinburgh… full of bars, expensive restaurants and tourist shops. It was too expensive for us to eat in a restaurant, but we found an excellent burrito place.

The next morning, we woke up very early to trek down the street to 'Paddy's Palace', the hostel and head office of our tour company: 'Paddywagon Tours'. We boarded a small bus with 30 other travelers to begin our adventure. At first, we kept to ourselves, but we soon made some new friends. We arrived in Belfast and late in the afternoon, we hopped in a cab for a tour of some of Belfasts more segregated neighborhoods. We shared a cab with Racheal and Laura, two Australians living in London. The tour took us to a loyalist area, where the inhabitants are loyal to the English crown and want to be a part of the British Empire. This neighborhood was littered with Union Jack's and St. George's crosses. Many buildings were painted with murals dedicated to Oliver Cromwell and William of Orange and to loyalists who have died for their cause. We also visited a neighborhood that 'feels Irish', the people who live there want to separate from Britain and join the Republic of Ireland. This neighborhood had murals dedicated to fallen IRA members and critiquing Margaret Thatcher's treatment of IRA members during her term in office. We also visited the Peace Wall, a very, very high wall that divides the loyalist neighborhoods from the nationalist neighborhoods. The wall is painted is beautiful, colourful graffiti and messages written by visitors from all over the world. My favourite one was written by a Kiwi: 'Build a bridge over this [wall] and high five eachother on the way over.'

Note: The loyalist neighborhoods are 'Protestant', since the people there descend from British Protestants who emigrated to Ireland after William of Orange conquered the island and kicked out the Catholic Irish round about 1690. The nationalist neighborhoods are 'Catholic'. But really, I don't think it really has anything to do with religion or theology… if either side of the debate followed Jesus, I don't think there'd be violence like there is.

Anyway… the next day, we visited the Giant's Causeway— hundreds and hundreds of hexagonal rocks jutting out of the sea on the North coast of Ireland. The legend is that it was built by giants as a bridge between Ireland and Scotland. Apparently, it's just a load of molten rock that hardened in nature's favourite shape when it cooled. It's pretty cool though. God rocks at making stuff. After that, we headed to Derry (Londonderry officially, but noone who 'feels Irish' would ever call it that). In Derry, we visited the 'Bogside Artists', three mural painters who work with the local community to create peace between the loyalists and nationalists. It was really cool to talk to them about all the great work they've done. I bought a great book about it. We had a barbeque at the hostel before heading out to a local Irish pub. We chatted to some very friendly Irish people, enjoyed some pints and— since our tourguide had taught us some Irish songs— we sang along with the locals!

The next day, we boarded our bus to drive through Donegal. We visited the burial place of W.B. Yeats, at a beautiful church in the gorgeous countryside. We were running pretty late that day, so we didn't arrive in Galway until after all the shops had closed. This was pretty disappointing, since Galway is the birthplace of the Claddagh ring, and everyone wanted to get one. Aussie, Laura, Racheal and I joined up with some of the other people on our tour for some delicious dinner at a Spanish pub. A few of us really wanted to hear some live music, so we ventured up to the front of the pub, where we heard this great Irish-Spanish duo. We did some dancing and singing!

We got up early the next day to get some Claddagh rings before the bus left. I found a really unique one with a nice thick band. We hopped on the bus again with our new guide (the old one went back to Dublin) and about 20 new people. The further South we drove, the more beautiful the scenery became! The hills got bigger and more rolling. We did see some quite rocky land, though. This is where the Catholics had to go when they got kicked off their land in the North. We saw a little inukshuk, so we made one of our own. Next, we visited the Cliffs of Mohr, where some of 'The Princess Bride' was filmed. This is where we really got to know some of our great new friends! That night, we stayed at 'The Randy Leprechaun', a pub owned by the tour company. We did karaoke, my favourite thing. It was great! It was really fun to hang out with all the people from the tour.

The next day was a whole lot of driving. We did stop at some beautiful places. We stopped at a gorgeous little bay to take our shoes off and walk in the sand. The water was hella cold, but for some reason, two of our fellow tourists decided to go for a swim. Brrrr. We also stopped in a town called Dingle (baahahaha), where we saw the statue of the resident dolphin, Funghi. Next, we went to Killarney, where we took a little horse and buggy ride through Killarney National Park. The Park is beautiful! But the most memorable part of this ride was that our driver looked like my Uncle Pat.

The next day, we left early to go to Blarney Castle where, yes, I kissed the Blarney stone. Apparently, it is supposed to give you the gift of eloquence… it tasted a bit dirty, actually. We had a lovely lunch and saw some Irish dancing before hopping back on the bus for Dublin. When we (finally) arrived in Dublin, we went to the Guinness Storehouse. We learned about how the porter is made, packaged and advertised. We all met up for a free pint at the top of the factory, where we could see all of Dublin. It was a nice way to end the tour.

Actually, it was really sad to say goodbye to everyone! Aussie and I really had a great time with all the people we met! I haven't laughed that hard in months!!

Thanks to all our friends we met on the tour!!

The Epic UK Road Trip!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Children of All Ages… It's the post you've been waiting for!!! On behalf of the Posse I present to you: the UK Road Tour 2010!!!

Day 1: Meg, Jay and I arrived in London. After checking into our hostel, we met up with our dear friend, Stefania, for a lovely pub meal!

Day 2: After a crappy (but free) hostel breakfast, we checked out Westminster Abbey with Stef and took a walk down the Thames to the Globe Theatre, where we endured 3 hours of standing during a brilliant production of Henry IV Part 1. Falstaff and Hal were GREAT! Later, we met up with Mel (who somehow got into our hostel room without a key) and enjoyed another pub dinner, followed by some Pimm's and merriment.

Day 3: Mel and I wandered around Portabello Road while Meg and Jay checked out the Tate Modern. We spent the afternoon at the Tower of London, exploring it's gory past with our buddy the Beefeater. After a dinner of Moussaka at The Alexopoulos's abode, Meg, Jay, Mel and I carried on our evening at the local Persian restaurant! Mmmm shisha!

Day 4: Early in the morning, we hopped on a train to beautiful Bath. We explored the ancient bath houses, the fashion museum and the darling little streets. Later, Mel and I take tea at the Jane Austen Centre. We meet up with the Scott-Hoults for some delicious pizza before boarding train #2-- bound for Brum!

Day 5: We visited Cadbury World, Cannon Hill Park and the MAC in the afternoon. In the evening, we had a yummy curry at Piquant and joined Bill and Aussie for my favourite Tuesday activity: The Quiz! It was a bit of a late night for us.

Day 6: We left Brum in my car, 'Paul Simon', for the Cotswolds. We didn't quite make it to our desired destination, but we did stop on Chipping Norton to explore the market. We made our way up to Bangor, North Wales in the afternoon. North Wales is stunningly beautiful (and the sheep are all kinds of crazy).

Day 7: We woke up to the wonderful hospitality of Mel's Persian family! The morning was rainy, so we stayed in to watch 'Anastasia'. We went out for some Fish and Chips and shopping in the afternoon while Jason explored the countryside. After some Persian food for dinner, we went out to the local Karaoke Bar… it was slightly empty, but we still had fun. Jason and I belted out 'Don't Stop Believing' and 'Friends in Low Places'.

Day 8: We left Bangor to drive East to Yorkshire. We stopped for a stroll in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. We also visited the gorgeous ruin of Fountain's Abbey before making our way to the city of York. We stayed in that night to play Scrabble and drink wine.

Day 9: Mel and I ventured out to 'Eden Camp', a war museum on the site of a WW2 POW camp. Meg and Jay explored the city of York. Later, we wandered the winding streets and joined up with a ghost tour. After Jay and I beat Mel and Meg at euchre, we turned in.

Day 10: We drove up through Hadrian's Wall country the next day. We stopped to see the ancient wall and we even had a delicious traditional Sunday roast. Eventually, we arrived in Glasgow.

Day 11: We visited Charles Rennie MacIntosh's Glasgow School of Art and Willow Tea Rooms on Day 11— I just love Art Nouveau! But I found it weird that we couldn't take photos in the GSA! That night, we got all doodied up and ventured out on the town. We went to 'The Campus' for some drinks and dancing. This is when Mel discovered how attractive Scottish men can be!

Day 12: Mel and I visited 'St. Mungo's Museum of Religious Life and Art' in the morning and met up with Meggo and Jaysin at the National Piping Centre where we heard some very loud bagpipe playing. As it was rainy and we were tired, we stopped in at the local cinema to see 'Inception', which was very good. We had curry for dinner and watched 'Hot Fuzz' in our room.

Day 13: We stopped in Paisley (the home of Meghan's ancestors) before heading to Edinburgh. We had some trouble navigating on Day 13… we didn't arrive in Edinburgh until late in the afternoon. We explored Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile, where we saw a ridiculous street performer from Poland.

Day 14: Mel and I got up early to go exploring. We beheld the wonder of St. Gile's Cathedral before joining up with a walking tour (which was fantastic). Later, we met up with Meg, Jay and the newly-arrived-in-Edinburgh Stef for some Chinese food. We turned in after enjoying some birthday champagne.

Day 15: My 23rd birthday!We got up super early today to make our way over to the Haggis Adventures office. We hopped on a bus to spend 3 days in the Highlands! The first day of our tour, we saw some amazing scenery along with the William Wallace Monument, Hamish the Hairy Coo, and Glencoe (the stunning valley sight of a horrible massacre). In the afternoon, I was treated to a birthday pint of cider at an island pub before we saw a 'Highland Clan' show. I got to dress up in a traditional highland kilt! That night, we enjoyed some drinks and took part in a pub quiz… which we lost. So we had to dance around the duck-pond barefoot singing 'Like a Virgin'. This is when Mel cut her foot!

Day 16: Mel was crippled, so when we visited 'The Enchanted River' today, our attractive tour guide had to piggy-back her down to the riverbed. Today we were on the Isle of Skye— so beautiful! We took a walk up a mountain in the 'liquid sunshine'. The mountains are just indescribably magnificent. It's like nowhere I have ever been.

Day 17: The most memorable stop on our last day had to be Culloden Battle Field. This is where the final Jacobite uprising happened. The Jacobites (Scots who were loyal to the Scottish Bonnie Prince Charlie) were crushed and the Highland way of life ended. Tartan, Bagpipes and the Scots Gaelic language were banned by the English government. Our tour guide, Kay, told the story with such passion that I actually cried. We also tried Haggis on Day 17!

It was really sad to end our trip :( But we have some amazing memories!!!