Things are good. Life is moving along well. Events are happening as they should. The biggest political news is that our Toronto mayor may or may not have done some cocaine and they've been talking about it for about a month.

In other words, nothing is happening.

That's one of the hardest things I find about living in Canada again. Where are the stories?? Where is the craziness?? The daily adventure?? Mildly interesting adventure?

Bah. Everything is just normal and fine. Why is that a bad thing?? It's not at all. It's a great thing. What I pined after during our time in Brazil. Cursed Brazil's ridiculous bureaucracy! Why is everything so slow?? Strangers so inconsiderate and self-interested?? Why is this person walking incredibly slow on the street and this one running making it impossible to walk down the road in a straight line??

It's just that having learned to cope with so many challenges makes anything that doesn't infuriate me seem just boring in comparison. And on that note, I am just so much more patient about life in general anyway that I don't really let little things get to me. And so life comes across as boring.

Even teaching English isn't quite as dynamic as it once was, most likely because I am teaching at a school, in a classroom and I have the same students every day. Don't get me wrong. It's not at all boring and I still love love love teaching (God I love teaching) but instead of hitting the streets and moving around the city everyday, I am tied to a single classroom. Also, I'm not the different one. They are. I am just like everyone else they see.

On a super interesting note, however, teaching mixed nationality classes is so incredible and tests my full potential of pronunciation teaching abilities. In one class I have Japanese, Korean, Mexican, Brazilian and Russian students who all have different language interferences and pronunciation difficulties. It's a linguistic nerd's dream.

So my challenge is to open my eyes up to some interesting stories in my own country. They are there. Especially now that I'm teaching Asian students, who are lighting up my life. They are the sweetest people... so friendly and kind and respectful and, on top of it all, great students. To think, I was so nervous about teaching them because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to connect in the same way. Maybe they wouldn't understand my sense of humor? But they do. They all do. And they are hilarious too.

But the highlight of my day? After work, walking about 15 minutes to the daycare where I leave Stella and seeing the excitement and joy in her face when they bring her around the corner and she sees me there to get her. The minute she's back in my arms with her big gummy smile (well, 2 little teeth now!), bouncing up and down, practically bursting with happiness .... well it's incredibly cool and makes it worth it to leave her for those hours just to feel reunited with her.

Because really, Stella is my story. My craziness. My daily adventure.

For my friends who aren't living abroad... how do you find adventure in your regular daily lives? For my expat friends... even after you're used to things, do you still find your guest countries exciting and adventurous? 

The time has come to get a job. I seriously didn't reeeeeeally consider how I would make money coming back 6+ months pregnant ... Everyone keeps saying "employers can't discriminate..." but, let's face it. If an employer is interviewing two people for a job and one is guaranteed to leave in 2 months and the other one isn't, who would you hire? I wouldn't blame them either.  So for now, I decided to go the 'working online' route. That way I can also work from my sofa!

There was this HORRIBLE commercial for an English school in Brazil that used to play all the time. Probably the most irritating commercial I ever saw while living there (WAY more annoying that Giraffas, Danielle! But that being said... I like the Giraffas commercials, haha)


Cheeeecher.... UGH! HATE! I vowed never to work for this school because of this commercial!

But then I got to Canada... and I have a baby on the way... a course that I'm starting (more on that later)... and so, ladies and gentlemen, you are looking at the newest addition to the OE team!

Actually upon further inspection of this school, I really liked their methods and views on teaching and it seems to be pretty open in terms of various teaching styles. Plus, they're flexible with my schedule. So in fact, it's a pretty great option for me right now. The only downside is the really brutal salary.... especially after teaching in Brazil where you can expect anywhere from R$30 working for a legitimately good school (not a big-box school) to R$60-80+++ teaching privately.

This school pays NINE dollars. My American friends... is this even minimum wage?????? In my province minimum wage is $10.25 - not that it's much better, but it would help if I could start at min wage at least.... oh well beggers can't be choosers and I've emailed them to see if I can start a liiiittle higher.  We'll see what happens.

In other 'back to' news, I registered for school again! Now I'm going back to work AND school which will keep me busy until the baby is born... I decided on a TESL Diploma program so that once I'm back working full-force, I'll be able to teach in public schools and Universities if I so choose.  My crappy little 40 hours TESL certificate will take me nowhere here... it's really amazing how many more opportunities there are in Brazil, just by speaking English and having a degree. 

My biggest fear now is how it'll be managing a new baby and a college program... The words look crazy even as I type them.  I'll have a little break in the beginning but I have no idea what to expect REALLY. I know what people tell me... no sleep, no schedule, life all about the baby... but I will really have to see for myself how I'm going to deal with it all.

Why would I put myself through all of this right now? Because seriously, I love this shit.

P.S. I wouldn't leave you hanging and not show you my beloved Giraffas commercials... Bahaha both are equally amazing!