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Sunday, May 28, 2006

YEAH BABY!!



oh gosh....
whyte ave (the blue mile)
is amazing.

So thankful I am in Edmonton when the wonderful Oilers took the western conference finals. It was a delightful end to the game! *sigh* I love my team.

I can't begin to express my joy at being in Edmonton right now.
Oiler's fans everywhere!
Its so nice to be in "oil country".
I felt it the moment I arrived.

It will be very very hard to head back into the "Flaming flying 'C'" land.
i'll be back on whyte ave for the cup series,
for the Oilers when they are back in town.

Sunday, May 21, 2006

I LOVE MY TEAM



Well friends....game two in of the Western Conference Finals ended with my team pulling out ahead and winning.

Go

Oilers

Go

I feel the very definition of exhausted. The TESOL course that I have been taking this month finished today. I had to teach a mini lesson infront of half of my class. I find it amazing how more terrifying it is getting infront of people you have come to know. I was fine until I started speaking and then I was overwhelmed with the "nervous shakes". Apparently I came off incredably "cool and collected, clear and easy to understand, confident and relaxed"....... by the grace of God alone.

This last week leading up to this weekend I was feeling the weight of being tired. I thought that because this course was so different from what I had just left at FGBC, and because it was only three weekends, I thought that it would be ok. This last week I was so done. I was tired, and sick of being in a class setting. It made me very thankful that I am not planning on heading into more studies this fall....I need a break.

So it is great being on this side of things now....not having to head into more studies anytime soon. I can take a break, find a job, build a routine and try to wait on the LORD.

I am so horribly tired.....my eyes.....are heavy.......and....I.....go to ...... bed.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

All the way Oilers.....


GO OILERS!
Yup I am definately excited....
I am looking forward to the Western Conference series, it will be some good hockey.

Rolo played AMAZING tonight...*sigh*.

Back to the homework I go.
I am almost done this course (which is strange that it is almost over already) this weekend coming up is our exam weekend...I need to go find some more resources....

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Update

Weekend two of three has now past.
This - being the middle weekend - is more difficult of the three for a handful of reasons. First of all, the feeling of being swamped under the weight of all the information being thrown your way is enough to make ones head swim.

Secondly, its the grammar weekend. For us native speakers of English, unless we have an innate love for the inner workings of grammar, we are usually not aware of what the grammar types are called and how they are being used in a a sentence. Learning how to recognize the grammar we use in everyday life and learning how to be a good communicator of said things to those who have no framework for it - is a bit overwhelming.
All in all it is going good.

This week will find me solidifying my mini lesson that I need to teach to my class, gathering resources, trying to find sleep, finishing the first season of "Lost", and drinking lots of water. I cannot believe that this course is over next weekend. Very strange.
Ciao

Friday, May 12, 2006

Oh too blog...

To be honest, I am struggling with this blog.
Struggling with what I want it to be, why I am writing here, who is even reading it. To some degree, now that I am not so near to the ones who read these haphazardly thrown together words, I feel a sense of obligation in turning this into a "this is what's happening in the life of Raeh" sort of blog.
But I always stop short of that, always hesitant to let it become that type of a blog. I do not want it to be a day to day log of my life right now. I realize that sure some posting have been that, but that is not the reason why I started a blog.

So with all that said, I sign into blogger and stare at the blank box where I write my posts. Then I sign out - "another day" I mumble as I close the internet window.

Monday, May 08, 2006

prairie rain

It feels a bit strange to be back in Eston. Its only been a week since I left so in many ways it doesn't feel as though I left at all; except that I packed another vehicle with the rest of my stuff today before the rain.
Ahhhh the rain. It is covering windows and vehicles, steady in its falling, wonderful in its weight. I sat in my roomates car just so that I could hear the rain, it is one of my favorite sounds. The rythmn, the echo...
Almost better than that sound is getting out of the vehicle and breathing in the radiant smell of wet grass, mud, and prairie feilds all in one rush of air.
I love it when it rains.

Friday, May 05, 2006

Excellent movie

hola
excellent movie
I want to watch it again - right now.
I mean...its ....well....its just good.
very very good.

Its day four, about to switch into day five, of Raeh in cowtown.
I start this TESOL course this weekend.
I am excited and nervous all at once.
It feels like an enormous opportunity of such grand proportions, something that could set off chain reactions throughout the rest of my life. And yet it could also just be seasonal, its purpose completed faster than I can blink. Regardless, I feel God's hand in it, and being aware of his moving and working is such a blessing, but creates ripples of anticipation, expectation, and nervousness.

Its the unknown element to all of this that is making me nervous. Like the rest of mankind I have this incredible desire to be in control, to know what's coming, to know how to put the next foot infront of the other. Serving the Lord is was causes friction with this desire of mine, because it is a constant laying down of control, of admitting that I WON'T know what is going to happen next, but I rest in the knowledge that God does know and He is the one guiding my steps.
It is getting used to mystery, the unknown, the questions without answers.

I sit in this place, recognizing my nervousness, my excitement, my anticipation for what is coming....and I realize that there is a rest undergirding all of it. There is something that makes me just be still....and I am so thankful for that. I know I trust the Lord, his work, his timing that makes no sense to me but ends up being more perfect than I could have imagined, and that is why my anticipation is greater than my nervousness....because I know he is doing a great work, not only in me, but in those around me.
That is exciting.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Almost Edward Norton

Starting on Saturday I am taking a 60 hour TESOL teaching certification course to give me some credentials to teach English as a second language and as a forgien language in other countries. Tonight was the information night for this course.

After this information night, some of us were talking with the instructor for the course. This one guy who was at the information night was up talking with the instructor, and I wasn't looking at him because i was filling out a form. All of a sudden I hear his voice and my head shoots up and I am just staring at this guy.

One of my favorite actors of all time is Edward Norton - and this mans speech, manerisms, and even how he moved his mouth was IDENTICAL - nearly at least - to Edward Norton. I stood there transfixed....suddenly realizing I was staring at this guy who looked like a computer-live-in-the-basement-nerd type of guy...looked nothing like Edward at all.....boy oh boy did he sound like him.

It was pretty much exciting.

Monday, May 01, 2006

Here I am

Here I am - I am here.
I find myself in Calgary, a city that I never thought I would ever live in.
I find myself excited, looking forward to what is coming.
Something is in the works and I find myself very excited at the thought of it working out, of the doors that could potentially open because of it, the places, the people to be seen and met through it....
I am excited, anticipating what is coming, waiting with an expectant heart.

I am enormously exhausted, obviously I have not had much time to process let alone recover from school ending. Strange to think that I only just arrived today, seems like such a long day, so many things happened - It doesn't feel like it all happened in one day.

What does tomorrow hold?
Let me tell you.
  • Tea
  • Sleep
  • PS2
  • Tea
  • A walk
  • Phoning someone
  • Organizing my banking issues
  • Another walk
  • PS2
  • and ummm PS2