Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Copy Cat

So megs did it, I thought I would too..... not too too imressed with the results, maybe I'll try again with a new photo



new photo - different celebrities.... what gives?
I think I like #2 better.......

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

And yet some more....

Me, Virginia, Anjum (and if you look just to the left you can see the nose of My Tunisian Father in Law - very very long story......stay tuned for the shortened version....)


Walking to lunch under the palms - Martin, Audre, Patrice, Shainul, Me, Serge, Julian


Sylvain, Melanie, Sylvie, Claude

Luc, France, Lucie


Shainul, Nameera, Anjum, Sylvain, Melanie




Pierre, Hector



Julian, Annie, Audre


BFF club - Patrice, Me, Julie - after being kidnapped and decorated with "traditional / beautiful" henna.....ahem - don't I seem happy!

Much nicer, and cooler, black henna (aka ink) done poolside on my wedding day (hahaha)


Spot the "tunisian" copy
Another Happy Customer! (Ps - I look exhausted, I think this was our last clinic day - patient #3000)




More Pics

My tent in the desert (it was -3 degrees that night!)

In Chebika

Our Patient's at the hospital

Our Glasses - still packed


Searching for glasses in the clinic (15000 pairs)





Visual Acuities - Julie and Luc




Me adjusting a pair for my patient





Julie


Lunch under the Palms
A group photo after a great dinner

Our last dinner in Tunis


Virginia, Maryse, Patrice, Me, Carlos and Shainul at dinner



Coliseum in El Jem

Our names written in the salt desert








Julie, Me, Patrice and Shainul on our Calèche (#29)
Patrice's Camel



Monday, March 26, 2007

I'm baaaack

Well Heeeeelllllooooooo, la la la!!!!!!!


I'm back, it seems like just yesterday I left, but it also seems that I haven't been home in ages... weird, but I guess if you come back from vacation and are barely able to remember the stresses of everyday life - it was good.


So many patients, so many glasses, I'm telling you, I have never worked so hard, or so fast in my life - but I am so happy I went. It was honestly the best experience I have ever had - I highly recommend it to everyone, and I do think I am going a return trip to Morroco in 2009!


In any case, I stopped taking pictures because my new hubby (long story) takes such lovely pictures I thought to get copies of his......sooooo, my pics suck - the ones I do have, and for the time being until I get some more these will have to do!

Nameera, Shainul & Martin



In Chebika



Serge & I in El Jem

Patrice & Shainul - El Jem




Anjum & Nameera - El Jem





Martin & Julie - El Jem






Amir - my camel (on the right)




Julie & I - El Jem





Carlos - Driving in a Calèche through the desert in Nefta





In front of the Bourgiba Mausoleum - Monastir



Friday, March 9, 2007

Hot Damn, a day off - or 16!

AHHHHHH, I am gone.

Brutal, I am being picked up in 30 minutes to jet off to the airport, I am sitting in my bathrobe, updating my iPod (or iPizzle as Heather would say)...... curling my hair....packing a few things last minute.....ahhhhhhhhhhh, I have no clue what else I have left to do - maybe get dressed perhaps......

Okay gotta run, sorry dudes, love ya all - see ya on the flip side!

PS - all the phone calls and emails are great, I'll try to bring some sand back for everyone!

PPS - I'l make sure to check all my clothes and shoes before I put them on - I don't want any scorpions....hahahahha Rachel!!!!!

K, this makes no sense whatsoever....check back on the 26th for an update.

Where in the World

Alrighty, here we go, last time for 3 weeks... sorry dudes..... but this one is easy peezy.....trust me.....


Wednesday, March 7, 2007

You're Freakin' kidding me!

AHHHHH, KQ and I studied for a whole of 15 minutes aaaaaand I was bad and studied during our CIBC spring focus meeting...and we studied in the car.....aaaand what happened when I went to write the freakin' thing? It was postponed until next week - KQ got to write her damn test, but noooo, I have to wait. And the kicker is....apparently our old prof (who they brought back because our new prof couldn't pronounce the word - no word of a lie here - "negligible") was brought back in to hold a review class. UN-FREAKIN'-BELIEVABLE........

Funny thing is, I am not here next week, or the next, and thus have to write the test after I fly fom Tunis to Casablanca to Montreal to Calgary in one day.....hmmmmm, I should rethink that one.

One good thing about this is, I received an email today wishing me luck on the aforementioned test and included was the funniest example of a test that I have ever seen... well it made me laugh.......

I'm guessing the first three questions will be as follows:
1. Fill in the blank:
The Land __________ Office
2. Match the person to their claim to fame:

a. Robert Torrens a. Invented the Torrens system of land registration
b. Stephen Tyler b. Freakishly big mouth
3. Multiple Choice:
This class:
a. sucks
b. is a waste of my time
c. hasn't taught me a thing
d. all of the above.


PS - I got 100% on that one!

15 minutes

Ughh, KQ and I just finished our ridiculous 15 minute session of studying for our joke of a midterm tomorrow night - honestly, we couldn't care less about this damn test, everything associated with this program is so pointless, but nevertheless, we do have to quickly skim the pages......

Anyhoo, what is with Fergie and all her "spelling" - has any one else noticed? She seems to have some kind of affinity for singing songs with all sorts of spelling in them, well at least we know she's literate, right?

What else to tell you all..... Almost missed my doctors appointment today - I even had it in my outlook calendar and honestly, if you know me, you know that I am NEVER late - ever! However, my appointment was for 11:50, at 12:10 I finally looked up and realized what time it was and promptly ran out of the office. Luckily I have the nicest doctor ever and he was happy to see me, after a few jokes about him missing lunch and thus starving all afternoon due to my lateness... funny stuf I tell you....

Oh, went to have my taxes done before I left, everything went well except for the part where I didn't get all my money back..... damn government - el scamo mucho el gobierno..... no me gusta nada de estas cosas, mierda! But I did get most of it back - meh, I suppose I have to be an adult at some point in time..... Also, I had a super long and fun coffee with my little sis Amy tonight, and I really did forget how much I do like to hang out with her, she's really quite hilarious.......more coffee dates to come!

K, I gotta finish my 15 minutes of studying and go to bed, I am beat - yuck!

I'll write tomorrow to tell you how the test went, cross our fingers for us!

Monday, March 5, 2007

4 days and counting

Quite the entertaining weekend, Friday was really nice. I went for dinnet at the cutest little bistro in kensington - Niko's, on the same black as the Kensington Wine Market - sooo yummy, and soooo cute, Niko himself even came out and gave us each a shot of Sambuca, gratis! I highly recomend it.... Then it was home to watch "A good year" with Russel Crowe. Now normally I really like Russel, I do, but this movie was kinda off, I think it was because it is an adaptation of Peter Mayle's book " A Year in Provence" which freakin' rules if you ever need a great read..... everything in it is true - I swear! Anyhoo, yes it was an okay movie, but I like the book a billion times more, and the miniseries also made by A & E was better as well.... Nonetheless the evening was a success...

Saturday was work, went in to see cute coffee guy at second cup, but alas he was not there..... yummy coffee though! And of course of to SHEC I went, not to exciting, had a ridiculous conversation with a patient who lost her contacts, but didn't really loose them, you had to be there, it was unbelievable... moronic patients......

Saturday evening was a different story though, I raced to the store to pick up some ingredients for dinner, saw Yoo-Ree in the produce department, had a great chat, rushed home started preparing dinner, getting dressed, cleaning the house etc etc.... then I waited and waited - everyone was quite late showing up - but in the end they all arrived and dinner was awesome, yummy and fun! Bravo to KQ for her mad culinary skills!

Sunday morning was a race to clean up the housesitting house, yuck, and then it was a race to get brunch ready as Rachel and Robbie were coming over for Nigella's famous cheesecakelets.... anything Nigella makes turns out sooo delicious - what a success....

Sunday afternoon I loaded my car up, trudged into my apartment, decided that it was a huge mess and that it desperately needed to be cleaned, so I cleaned, and cleaned (I LOATHE cleaning kitchens) and ironed my clothes and tried to start packing, and generally put my life back in order, and had coffee with some lovely folks, chatted about my trip and then back to the cleaning, and then had a shower, watched desperate housewives - poor Danielle! - and went to bed.

Phew...... now it is back to work for the last drive until I go to Montreal..... and I still have so much more to clean, ughhhhh.....

PS - latest temperature update - 29 degrees today in Tozeur...... nice!

Cheesecakelets Recipe courtesy Nigella Lawson
Show: Nigella Feasts
Episode: Breakfast All Hours

Serving suggestion:
Topping
2 cups strawberries, chopped into quarters
1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 to 1 teaspoon sugar

Crepes
3 eggs, yolks and whites separated
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon best-quality vanilla extract
1 cup cottage cheese
1/3 cup all-purpose flour


Put the strawberries into a bowl and sprinkle with balsamic vinegar and sugar. Stir before covering with plastic wrap and leaving to steep while you make the cheesecakelets.

Mix the egg yolks with the sugar, beating well. Add the vanilla, cottage cheese, and flour. Then, in another bowl, whisk the whites until frothy with a hand whisk and fold into the cottage cheese mixture.
Heat a smooth griddle or nonstick skillet and dollop the batter onto it make cakelets of about 3 to 4 inches in diameter. Each cheesecakelet will take a minute or so to firm up underneath, then you should flip it and cook the other side, and remove to a warmed plate when ready.

Turn the strawberries in the ruby syrup they've made and squish some pieces with a fork at the same time. Serve with the hot cheesecakelets

Friday, March 2, 2007

Where in the World

So here we go, clues:


  1. I have never been there..... I should go though.....

  2. It is not in Europe

  3. It is muy old

Buena Suerte!

Thursday, March 1, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

So technically it isn't her Birthday, but hey, it only comes 'round every 4 years, thus I have to split it over two days!!!!!





HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MISS DENISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Boringness....

WOW, traffic sucks! Seriously though, driving down glenmore from the springbank area is brutal and I am not enjoying it one bit.

As for my lack of posting (I think I already wrote about this one), I am truly sorry. Latley I've been very blah and therefore have little to write about, even though I have been out and about.

Last week for instance I had coffee with a lovely friend Matt where we chatted about europe among others things, lunch with Ronnalie and KQ, and a surprise lunch with my aunt and gradmother on saturday -so much fun.

This week I had a great dinner with a great friend and then I got my hair done on monday - and not too many people noticed which could bee either good or bad, not sure which. This time it features 3 different colours of red, very very fun I say!

Tuesday was also quite nice, I was treated to a yummy Spiro's dinner, mmmmmm, and then of course yesterday was the most ridiculous class ever. I am capable of reading for myself, but all my profs seem to think that reading directly from the text is an acceptable form of teaching! IT IS NOT! Thank god though Heather kindly offered to make dinner for KQ, her " gentleman caller" and I.... the turkey burgers were so yummy, and it was such a nice treat.

Tonight promises more boredom and I sit and wait for class to let out - I cannot wait until I am finished these classes, I cannot even express the waste of time it has been for KQ and I, but really we need the certificate so I suppose we will have to suffer through it.

Maybe I'll have something interesting to talk about later....