I have one class left to teach this week, which is from 8:00 to 8:55 Friday morning, so this week is mostly finished. This means I have 3 weeks of work left, mulitiplied by the 12 hours per week that I work (plus that hour on Friday) equals 37 hours of work time left. Maybe the time would fly faster if I was working 40 hours per week, but it’s not bad.

I think I’m going to head into Paris this afternoon, enjoy the sun that we have here today.

Stay Awesome

Jordan

Today is March 14th, which means that it is Pi Day!  The students of Mount Pearl Senior High should be doing their annual Pi Day Scavenger Hunt for today.  I wonder what Mrs. Sparkes came up with this year

Vi Hart – Pi Is (still) Wrong

Originally posted on this day last year.

Today I went on a trip with the school to the landing site of the Americans in Normandy from World War II.  We also visited Pointe du Hoc, and the Normandy American Cemetery and War Memorial.  This cemetery has to be the neatest, most organised and well taken care of cemetery that I’ve seen in my entire life.  Every headstone Cross or Star of David were equally spaced from each other in a row or column; the headstones were a clean white and the grass was green well maintained; and the place just looked so beautiful and the work that has gone into it shows.  It shows that these war victims were not forgotten and are still well respected to this day.  The feeling I had in this field of graves wasn’t as deep as the feeling I had when walking in the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial (which I must say, is an indescribable feeling that can only be felt by going there), but to know that these men were fighting for the freedoms that we have today as Canadians or Americans or Brits or French, it puts a sobering chill through the body to know that these people were willing to risk their lives, and gave their lives in a battle for liberty. It’s because of these men, and their counterparts from the ally countries, that Europe, and much of the world isn’t under Nazi German rule today.

I visited Beaumont-Hamel on Saturday, November 5, this year past.  This was the Saturday before Remembrance Day in Canada.  On that day, I stood in the fields and trenches where the men of the Newfoundland Regiment had gone over on July 1st, 1945 and got gunned down and mostly killed.  On that day, I stood where 67 years before, the parents and grandparents of the people that I know, that I work with, that I see around the university and around St. John’s stood.  I stood there and listened to the last post be played, where it had been played back 67 years ago to remember the fellow soldiers and comrades that had fallen, that I, today, remember.

There’s a reason why we have these many memorial sites and war museums.  It is well known that if we forget, then history is bound to repeat itself.  As long as we always remember all the cruelty and unnecessary killing and death, then the chances of this happening again will be severely lessened.  Lest we forget.

Jordan

Today for North America is the start of Daylight Savings Time, so all you North Americans should be waking up this morning as if you flew to the neighbouring time zone to the east and have jet lag.

On another topic, it seems that I spent more money than I really should have in Italy. I’m not really surprised that I did, but it sucks when you’re not even to the middle of the month and after the rent and bills are paid and my transit pass is bought, I have only enough to feed myself. I know I don’t need more than that, but I have to keep my drinking and partying to a minimum, which is kind of a drag.

Speaking of drinking and partying, there will be a get-together at my place in Neuilly sur Marne next Saturday that all friends are invited to if they want to come. Just send me a message on Facebook if you’re interested in joining in.

As for Today, I’m walking right now to the RER station to head into Paris to meet up with Chelsea, and we’re going to the Cité des Sciences. I’ve been here in Paris for like five and a half months and still haven’t visited this place!

The Italy pictures (and any pictures that I should have put up before that) I will be posting on Facebook this week. It was such a good trip and there are so many pictures.

Today makes it 38 days until I go to London, 41 days until Melissa and my family come and meet me in London, 46 days until we come back to Paris, 52 days until I fly to Toronto, and 54 days until I fly back to Newfoundland. I’m excited to go home and see everybody and to start working again. I miss being busy! I’m thinking the evening of my first Monday back (May 7) will be wings and beer at Don Cherry’s.

Until next time, stay awesome.

Jordan

In the 4 days that we’ve been here we’ve pretty much seen everything that there is to see in Rome.  We’ve been to Vatican city, we’ve visited the Sistine Chapel.  There’s the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, etc.  Honestly I don’t know what to say about them. We climbed up the arch of the Basilica of the Vatican and seen a beautiful view of the city of Roma.  It’s been a fantastic 4 days.  First thing tomorrow morning, we travel to Florence for 3 nights.  Maybe I’ll actually post while I’m in Florence.  I will post the pictures on Facebook once I get back to Paris.

On another note, Melissa told me that today was the half point between the day I left Newfoundland after Christmas and the day I see her and the family again.  There are 56 days (8 weeks) left until then.  I miss you all and I can’t wait to get home either, but I will still enjoy the 8 weeks I have left.

Jordan.

Jordan

I checked the last RER B train times going to the Charles de Gaulle Airport before we left the apartment and realised that we had 40 minutes to get to Chatlet-Les Halles Station. So we walked from the apartment, caught the next RER A to Chatlet-Les Halles and missed the RER B train by minutes, probably seconds.  I’d say the train we wanted left just as our train was entering.  SO we’re waiting at Gare de l’Est waiting for the Noctilien (night bus) to the airport.  Our flight doesn’t leave until 7:15 AM anyway, but we wanted to try to get out there before the trains stopped.  We’ll be at the airport long before our flight.

Jordan

It’s been 2 weeks and a bit since I made the last blog post. I’m going to try and be a bit more frequent the week to come because then I’ll be in Italy and I’ll have stuff to post about. In February so far I’ve taught my 12 hours each week. Last weekend was the get-together at my place again. My French onion soup was well liked and this party was just as successful as the one in January, so I’d say that we’ll have another one on a weekend in March. I’m taking suggestions on what I could make for this coming potluck. This Wednesday past, I was at a recording studio to record some audio clips to go with a new English textbook that is coming out, so to any teacher that uses that text book, that American sounding guy in those couple clips is actually Canadian. Friday I pretty much just layed in bed for the whole day. Today (Saturday) I went out to Paris to attempt geocaching, but that was an epic failure. I met up with Ryan, Jimmy and two of Jimmy’s friends from Virginia who are studying in England. We walked around for a bit, then went to a bar, had some beer, and were later joined by Ryan’s wife Christina and a friend of her’s from Ottawa.

The plan for tomorrow is to meet Ryan and Christina to see the bottom of the Centre Pompidou. Maybe I’ll get some more pictures of that place to put up on facebook, who knows. Also in the coming days, I’m going to look at places I can visit in France because I’d like to take at least 2 more weekend trips before I head back home. One will probably be on Easter weekend where I get Easter Monday off. Another could be during Easter holidays before I meet up with my family in England on April 20th. Just need suggestions on where I can go. Staying in France is a litte cheaper, but anywhere in Europe will be considered.

Stay tuned for pictures and stories from Italy. I’m not exactly sure how often I will be able to post, but I’ll try to do a couple when I’m down there.

Jordan

The first weekend back, myself, Chelsea, and Eliza took a trip out to Fontainebleau to help Ryan and Christina move from one apartment to another, then we had a few drinks and we ended up staying in Fontainebleau for the night.

The next weekend was the pot luck here in Neuilly sur Marne where Rob and I had Ryan, Christina, Chelsea, Christoph, Eliza, Luke, and Jimmy over for some food and drinks and good times. Next thing we knew it was 4:30 in the morning so we hauled out the mattresses and everyone stayed here for the night. Chelsea and Eliza went home around 9:30, and the rest of us decided to go out for a meal of Quick Burger afterwards before the crowd of hungovers headed home.

The 3rd weekend was a trip to Cineaqua in Paris, near Trocadero and the Eiffel Tower. That was an interesting visit with all the fish and sharks and touch tanks. It was quite interesting. Afterwards we started searching for a few geocaches around Paris and found 3.

This past weekend Chelsea, Jimmy and I met up at Place d’Italie and watched the big Chinese New Year Parade go by. It was quite a long line of things, but it was interesting to watch. Afterwards we went for sandwiches and then visited the Musee d’Orsay for a couple hours.

There you go, a resume of the past month.

I’d also like to mention a happy 21^st anniversary to my parents

Stay awesome,

Jordan

So myself, Chelsea and Ryan (other Canadian English assistants), Christina (Ryan’s wife), and Christoph (German assistant at Ryan’s school) decided to check out the Louvre Museum.  We collectively arrived at the Louvre at around 9:30 AM and were relatively early, so we didn’t have to deal with any long lines or anything.  The Louvre Museum is huge and if you want to take it all in, you’d probably have to spend at least 3 full days going there, one for each section of the palace, or one for each floor.  I know in the 7 hours that I spent in there today, I didn’t see everything, but I did get to see such world recognized masterpieces as the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo.

On another note, in 12 days I’ll be coming home for Christmas.  It’s almost hard to believe that it’s so soon.  I left St. John’s on September 19 and I arrive home on December 17, meaning 89 days away from home.  Excitement!

Just to give you an idea, this is what it looks like when you come to the Louvre on the first Sunday of the month around 1 PM.  No dice bro.

Jordan

So after that we decided to walk around a bit, went to a Virgin “Megastore” and Fnac, but didn’t buy anything.  Paycheque comes in a couple days so I’ll start my Christmas shopping then.

Anyways, until next time.

Stay awesome.

Jordan.