Happy Rabbit Year 2011

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Hope you all have a relaxing year!

"According to Chinese tradition, the Rabbit brings a year in which you can catch your breath and calm your nerves. It is a time for negotiation. Don't try to force issues, because if you do you will ultimately fail. To gain the greatest benefits from this time, focus on home, family, security, diplomacy, and your relationships with women and children. Make it a goal to create a safe, peaceful lifestyle, so you will be able to calmly deal with any problem that may arise."

It is the year where you wishes will come true!

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Green Funerals

For the past 5-8 years or so, people have started to be obsess with being "Eco friendly".
Therefore a new trend as started in the Funeral business; it's called "Green Funerals".
Although it is not highly popular in North America (slowly catching on), it was first really made public in the U.K.
With memorial parks sacredly guarded for green funeral purposes only.
A green funeral is usually considered being the best way to go for the environment; but that classify itself as being : No embalmings, no caskets, no preservation of cemetaries.

All that is very good. The embalming fluids we use in order to preserve, desinfect and restaur a body can be quite harmful...not only for the Director inhaling those fumes while embalming, but also after death, once the body has been placed to rest in the ground and starts decomposing, thus releasing the chemicals in our soils.
Now, let's not get into details about those heavily varnish and metal studded coffins that takes just as long to decompose and all the pesticides and herbicides used in order to keep the grass green back at the top on the earth in the cemetaries....
With time, all this will take a tole on the earth and the people, the livings, who are still going about their every day lives.

So most people will opt for the inceneration option...it's cheaper and better for the environment....or is it?

When a body is being incinerated, it releases more gas then anything else. Most of it comes from the body itself but also from the fossid fuels used in order to create such a powerful heat source...and that doesn't include the embalming fluids if the body had been embalm too.
Urns don't take as much places and most of them are made of materials that wont ever disintegrate, but really, why? Aren't ashes a natural thing that should return to the earth? "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust" So why prevent such a natural process?.
Beside most urns are no longer burried in the ground, but places in mausaleums (little appartements for urns).

Yes, inceneration is friendly-er then embalming...but it's not all that.

So with a society obess about being Eco friendly, I say might as well be Eco friendly all the way, and that means 6 feet unders and beyond de graves.


But really, not that many people wants to be put in the ground wrapped up in a shrud...i understand that.

So that's when I came across a pamphlet about a company in Montreal that understands the terms of being Eco Friendly.

They make urns and (soon enough)  wooven caskets out of bamboo.
Bamboo is part of the grass family and it takes only 4 to 6 years to re-grow (faster then 50 to 150years).
It is renewable and must stable and harder then red oak or maple.
Also, it releases 35% more oxygene in the air and absorbe 8 times more CO2.

So you can be incinerated and placed in a Bamboo urn that will allow to return back into the earth safely with time. You can be burried in a wooven bamboo casket instead of just a shrud. 100% ecological.

How awesome is that? No more hard precious woods and metals or varnish and paints put in the ground.
I think it's pretty awesome!
And also the urns and casket are very pretty to look at . Helps save a few trees if you ask me!
Green Funerals has just gotten prettier. No more just puting the body in the ground. You can still have a casket, and one that wont harm the environment at that!

Now if we can find embalming fluids that wont harm the earth....

http://www.bamboocaskets.com/

Internship

Finding a place to do my internship has proven to be more difficult then I thought.
The problem I realized was that my school, still being fairly new, is not yet known in the industry.
So when people see "College Boréal - Funeral Directing" they go "wwwhhhhaaatttt"
In ontario there are only 2 school giving that program : my school and Humber in Toronto.
My school is in french, Humber is in English.
the french school for my program that people normally go for is the one in Montréal.

So with all that, most people don't even know or heard about my school.
So here I am trying to find an internship, fighting against all the students at Humber trying to find their internship.
Most funeral homes will think "hmm student from Boréal which i never heard about, or a student from the school I graduated from....Humber it is"

Over the past month, I had been sending my résumé to over 35 Funeral homes in the GTA region and beyond and half of them came back to me with either "we are not taking interns this year" or " we already have our interns for the year". or simply, no replies at all. (only three wished me good luck in finding a place, and 2 welcomed me to this business, and 1 said they were going to keep my résumé for the future).

I'm the only one in my class who is also from the Toronto region, everyone else, are from the Ottawa region or Québec. and out of 13 students, 9 secured their internship. So I was starting to worry.

With all that, on thursday, our teacher informed us that he received an email from a funeral home in the region of Ottawa looking for interns. Quickly I sent my résumé over and not even 30 miniutes later, I got a reply back saying they were interested on speaking with me and they would get back to me.
The next day, I received a phone call from them and we engaged into a phone interview.
45 minutes later, we made plans for a face-to-face interview over my march break.
They seemed to really like me :-)

So on march 1st (tuesday) I will be meeting with them, and hopefully securing the intern post with them.
The funeral home is only at 30 minutes away from my cousin's house, so if all goes well, I will be staying with her over the spend of my internship.

I'm very excited about this!
Sure I would have loved to stay closer to home, but Ottawa isn't so bad. I know people there.
I am a bit nervous because I have to wait another moth before I know for sure if i have the post.
I also know, that another guy in my program sent his résumé there, so technically he's my rival.
But between you and I.....I have better chances then him ahahah

but eventhough...i'm keeping my finger crossed...please keep yours crossed too!

Now I will leave you with some wicked Hursts (corbillard)

For those bikers

that's just a  really ugly pick-up truck

ok it's not a hurst, but the guy turned the coffin into a car ahahaha

fancy mercedes hurst

I'm afraid of no ghost...as a funeral director you can't be!

old school! that's what I want ahaha

another variation for the bikers

If you were stuck on a deserted island for the rest of your life....

What mix-CD would you bring (15 songs total).



It cannot all be from the same artist (hence the word "mix")


and why do you choose those songs (remember, these are the last 15 songs you will be listening to for the rest of your life!)





P.S this is a project i have to do for one of my class (music through the ages) and I only have 13 songs picked and i keep changing them lol

but i was wondering what you guys might pick.

2nd Semester!

Tomorrow will be the start to my second semester into my program.
Above you can see the marks I got for the first semester...not bad eh?
I have to admit that I am very proud of myself, then again, there is nothing else to do in Residence but to study (or party..but I don't party).
I'm actually very surprised by my 90% mark....I was very stressing out about the final exam in that class, mainly because I had realized (once i have turned my exam in) that I had made a  huge mistake in the question that was worth the most point. I guess I must have done well on the rest of the exam and throughout the year.
The last 3 classes on that list, were more like general classes, so I admit I didn't really focus all that much on them, but I didn't do too bad either.
I'm not surprised with my biology mark, the exam was extremly difficult. It was all multiple choices but 80% of the exam's questions were about things we hadn't learned (or told by the teacher to "not worry it wont be on the final exam") So i was expecting a lower mark.

Tomorrow is a half day.
We will all be meeting in our "homeroom" classes for registrations and to have a little talk about what's ahead of us.
Then Wednesday is the first day of class.

here's my schedule:

monday: 8:30am to 11:30 -Physiopatholigy \\ 11:30 to 1:30pm - Embalming Theory 2 // 1:30 to 4:30pm- Musics from the 1940's to present \\ 6pm to 8pm - Microbiology
Tuesday: 8:30am to 11:30am - Intro to Business \\ 11:30 to 1:30pm - Embalming theory2
Wednesday: 8:30am to 11:30am - English \\ 11:30am to 1:30pm - Orientation to Funeral Services 2
Thursday: 8:30 to 11:30 : The Art of Restauration
Friday- 8:30am to 11:30 - Orientation to Funeral Services 2 \\ 11:30 to 1:30pm: Psychology for Mourning

So i start my days at 8:30am and usually finish at 1:30pm. The reason for that, is we are "on call"  for practical embalmings (labs). The class is divided into 4 groups, so each day, a different group is on call to go in a funeral home and do an embalming.
Monday is my biggest day!!!
We have to pick an extra class of choice (the choices were : Sexuality, Being Franco-Ontarien or Music through the ages) I picked the music class since I have somewhat a background in music (Musical performing, which was a big part of the 1940-1950's) and I also thought that i needed a fun class for my Monday and the 2 other classes offered weren't gonna cut it lol.

I guess i\ll be making *Bento boxes on sunday night!!!!

I'm looking forward to the Art of Restauration class! That's where we will learn to apply make-up, do hair and to restaure any facial structures. Sooooo looking forward to that!! you know me and arts = <3

I'm looking forward to this semester. Only 4 months left of school work and then I can go back home and start my 1 year intership. **Ganbarimasu!!!

Side note: During the holiday, I received a letter from the Dean of Health and Science department, congradulating me on my high marks. It was a letter of "High recognitions for being in the top of my program"...i'm such a keener! ahaha

*Bento : Japanese lunch boxes
**Ganbarimasu : I'll do my best // I'll work hard  in Japanese.

Akemashite Omedetou (Happy New year)

2010-2011

Here's a little retrospective into my 2010 year.

I got to celebrate 2010 with my family in Canada but a few days after the new year had started, i was on a plane going back to Japan.
I came back to Japan on January 3rd, ready to go back to work teaching kids and adults on the 4th.
Unfortunetly, this is not how you want to start the new year, but I started it with food poisoning.
For 4-5 days, i was home alone in a foreign country feeling like dying ahahah.

Afer that fiasco, my year started to be better.
I failed to find a job that would be willing to sponsor me to stay another year in Japan, and the stress started to get to me, so i made the decision to return to Canada.

But before that, I had to creat the best memories of my time there.
In March, i taught my last classes (with a big smile in my heart) and at the end of that month, My sister joined me in Japan for a month of adventure.

We left my little town of Oizumi in Gunma and took off for Tokyo for a few days, where we said our goodbyes to some friends and visited our favorit places (ikebukuro, Shinjuku, harajuku, Johnny's family club and shops...ect)

We then hopped on a nightbus with a Friend to F.T.O (Funky Town Osaka) to go see Yokoyama Yu's Solo concert (he is a member of Kanjani8, our favorit Japanese group). It was an amazing concert!
We visited F.T.O like tourist on the first 2 days because our friend had to go back to Gunma for work.
But what we mostly did, was to take pictures with every Biliken we would see ( a famous statue of a god in Osaka) and eat at every Takoyaki shops along the way (famous food of little doughballs with octopus in the middle).
Then it was down to myself and Cath.
We had 1 last month in Japan, and we weren't going to stay put.
We visited Osaka like locals. No more tourist stuff. We also visited the neighbourhood where our Guesthouse was at. Beautiful little town on the outskirt of  downtown Osaka (Banana house guesthouse, I highly recommend it)

Then we had a 1 week unlimited train pass, so we took off every early morning and came back every late nighs. But we saw a lot.
We had one /half days visits to Kyoto, Himeji, Kobe, Nara, Nagoya, Fushimi Inari, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Kumamoto, Shimonoseki, ; and other places on the way, so we were able to go across Japan in one week.
It was truly amazing...and was I tired!!!
We visited tones of Castles, temples and onsens (public hot springs) Ate amazing foods (tried to eat the speciality of the region each time) Walked in the rain and under the hot sun for hours. It was great, we saw so much, we found new favorit places and realized some others we can just skip them next time ahah.

After spending nearly 2 and half weeks in the F.T.O region, we had just about 2 weeks left in Japan.
We we went back toward Tokyo, were we went to see Yokoyama Yu's solo concert once again, except this time it was better!!
We got front row seat. First first at the front, only inches from the stage. We did get noticed by Yoko and lots of jealous japanese fans lol During the MC, not only was this a first time having a special guest at his concert, but it was all of Kanjani8 standing on stage. We got noticed too mostly by Okura and Nishikido who were standing infront of us (stairing at the foreigners waving back at them). They sang all together, it was amazing and to top it all off, the concert ended with me catching one of the 3 autographed board that Yoko threw in the audience. What a good way to end my time in Japan, something I can hold on and recall all those great memories.

We met with Mamiko-san (an ex-student of mine) for dinner the next day with our friend Mayuko.
And a few days after that, we met up with Ayu-chan and left Tokio for good.
We went back toTakasaki (our favorit city, right after Osaka) visited the Daruma temple one last time and went to thank Oji-san for all the incredible hospitality he gave us everytime we went to visit his factory of Darumas.
Then we went on our way to Sosa, in chiba to spend out last few days with Ayu-chan's family. We visited Aizu, and learned about its history (the byakotai) and finally I said my goodbye a few days before my sister and returned to Canada at the beginning of May 2010.

On my return, I had a hard time finding work, so I spent most of my time doing nothing productive ahaha.
I got my driver's license (finally) a few weeks after my return.
On June 11, my sister and T-money got married. It was a quiet, secretive City hall wedding and the next day they had a surprise wedding BBQ reception at their house (where most people there had no idea they had just thought the knot)
At the end of June, I got my job back at the Learning center, teaching toddlers how to behave with other kids and use their motorskills. And I applied at two colleges in the Funeral Directing program.
In July, we had the pleasant visit of my favorit cousin and her twins. It made for a very busy summer. On August 1st, we celebrated my 26th birthday and the twins 6 birthday (their birthday is on the 3rd). We had a wonderful Pirate theme with a Piniata and lots of cakes.
I got accepted in both college in mid-August. But chose to go to College Boreal in Sudbury because the program was given in French (and classes were smaller)

In September, I started my first day as a College Student.  I started my classes for my funeral directing program and every day ended up loving it more and more.
At the end of September, I got the great news that I was going to be an Aunt for the first time.
Unfortunetly, at the around Thanksgiving (October) , we learned that my sister had a misscarriage.

I finished my first term with my lowest average being 81% in Biology and highest average of 90% in Embaulming, not bad for someone who hadn't been in school for over 8 years.

And I just spended the quietest Christmas holiday with my family while eating lots of food and doing a marathon of Criminal Minds.
Oh and just like I started the year, I ended it wih another food poisoning ahaha.

Today is December 31st 2010.
When I look back at this year, I have a hard time to imagine that I spend half of this year in Japan and the other half on school benches. It wasn't a wild Year, but it was filled with lots of Major events.
Sad and Good events, Surprises and Deceptions, in overall it was a good year.

I miss Japan terribly and wishes everyday to be there again, but at the same time, I know that I made the best choice to come back to Canada and specially go back to school.
I love my program, and I am looking forward to my future. So many possibilities ahead of me.
So I am looking forward to 2011.
Starting my second term on Janury 4th, and my intership in May. Hopfully, I will be back in Barrie for my intership where I will be able to save up money so that hopefully in 2 and half years I can put a down payment on a house. Oh the excitement...but let's start with 2011 and lets aim higher grades in my program.

Let's keep working toward a brighter future.
Let's stay heathy and happy.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011 everyone!!!

Pre-Christmas time

Mini Christmas tree and cheap (almost empty) bottle of wine.

Today is December 5th, meaning that Christmas is in 20 days (or 19 for those like me who celebrate on X-mas eve)

I'm ready for Christmas.

I bought a tree at the dollarama for 2$ and the mini ornaments for 2$, so my 4$ christmas tree is the center piece on my table in my residence.

Everytime I walk in my unit, i see it and it makes me smile. Because I do a countdown to how many days before the holdays. (10 days as of today!!)

I even made a Jpop X-mas/Winter playlist and it's on repeat every time I am sitting at my desk (like right now, I Wish by Kanjani8 is playing)

Today, I was an "elf" at the Teacher's kids x-mas party.

doing craft with the kids and handing out presents with Santa.

It was fun, got free food and a gift card for Subway restaurant.

But

I can't wait to go back home.

And it's not like we are doing anything special. I guess this year, I have learned to love and appreciate my family even more.

Last year, I was living in Japan, and I didn't miss them all that much (on the odd times i did) but this year, i'm only 3hrs away and I miss them everyday.

I guess with everything that has happened in the past few months....

So I am looking forward on finishing my 1st term in my program.

I have 5 exams and 1 projet to do before then.

I love my program...but at the same time I am looking forward on finishing it too.

I want to work!

(and make money to pay off my debts and credit card lol)

Now that I am finishing the 1st step toward my future, I am starting to see a little bit more ahead.

I'm already thinking about the house I want to buy in 2-3yrs.

Where to settle and the likes.

Now everything is possible and in 6 months it will be even more and in 18 months even more....

I'm looking forward to my future because I am doing something I enjoy.

It's a great feeling....but as of right now, I need to face those 5 exams ahaha

Biology, Embalming Theory, Embalming Lab, Orientation in Funeral Services and Law and Ethics.

One at the time!

But I'm ready for the Holidays now!

I need a break with my family.

Maybe even go skiing with them?

ahaha ok, let's not get carried away.

I'll sit in the cottage while they ski lol

10 more days!

What are your plans for Christmas?