here we go...another chapter in my life is about to close.
as most people know, i have been teaching piano for as long as i can remember. i think i started in gr. oac in highschool. from a teeny bopper with no idea what i was doing, to a full-fledged, confident and fun teacher, i've come quite a way. ideally, i'd love to continue teaching part time in the future. but as of now, there is no way to foresee what is to come, so in order for my students (who i love love LOVE) to get the best of piano, i have decided to stop teaching.
*gasp*
i have absolutely no idea how i will be able to handle the void of teaching!!!! i mean, yes, i've had days when i was frustrated and disappointed, but then there are always the many other days when i am overcome with proudness for what they have accomplished. it's every teacher's desire for their kids to succeed, and i am no different.
last night i almost started crying when two sisters gave me a homemade card that said:
To Christina =)
You have been a wonderful, understanding, kind and considerate piano teacher. The list just goes on and on.
Whenever there was something we were not sure of, or something that was new, you explained in ways that we would understand 100%!
We will miss you soooooooo much!! We will never find a teacher like you!
We wish you the best in the future.
Sincerely,
N & M
*tear* I'm going to miss my tiny tykes!
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
each week brings something new and different, you just don't know what to expect.
after a relatively sombre weekend before, this weekend was social weekend. we kick started by celebrating amelia's birthday at a CHINESE RESTAURANT (anyone who knows my sister would know that she isn't the biggest fan of chinese food) but we actually had really delicious steamed fish and other dishes.
after we had sufficiently gorged ourselves on good food, i went home and went straight to sleep. ha! i know i'm older now, but not THAT old! actually, i was supposed to go to christian's birthday party (where, incidentally i heard he got super piss ass drunk...) but due to an ear infection (that came out of no where) i decided to see if i put rubbing alcohol on it and went to sleep it might get better. tanaka's plane came in from acapulco at 11:45pm that evening and matt and i went to make sure she got home alive. we decided that it would be fun to randomly go to the airport and wave at people, pretending to wait for someone! :S
so in the end, i didn't end up getting home until 2:30am AND i had work at 9am that morning. see? taking a nap was a good idea afterall!
other highlights of this fun-filled weekend included:
- really surprising jordan for his surprise welcome home party. HE thought jake and i were just taking him out for the evening to catch up and hang out. but WE knew better. we spent a good hour at second cup talking about his trip, and then as a sneaky side, i got them to take me to walmart where harry potter did a good job wasting time, as did looking at cosmetics and checking our blood pressures! then we went to dave and busters to "pick up jake's car keys from chad." i have no idea if the car keys were picked up, but what ensued was a beautiful catered dinner on 3 pool tables with 40 of jordan's friends and family. quite a successful operation if i say so myself.
sunday was quite the smcsu reunion. in the evening, liz and i went to meet up with rita at future's bakery at bloor and brunswick. manny dropped by for a bit, as did billy dunn, and lily wong also accidently came upon on our merry group when she walked in with some friends. it was really nice to see rita again (who was the main reason we met up.) liz i had met up on thursday when we went to see don giovanni with jacob.
so there's a little fun at the end of august. more to come!
after a relatively sombre weekend before, this weekend was social weekend. we kick started by celebrating amelia's birthday at a CHINESE RESTAURANT (anyone who knows my sister would know that she isn't the biggest fan of chinese food) but we actually had really delicious steamed fish and other dishes.
after we had sufficiently gorged ourselves on good food, i went home and went straight to sleep. ha! i know i'm older now, but not THAT old! actually, i was supposed to go to christian's birthday party (where, incidentally i heard he got super piss ass drunk...) but due to an ear infection (that came out of no where) i decided to see if i put rubbing alcohol on it and went to sleep it might get better. tanaka's plane came in from acapulco at 11:45pm that evening and matt and i went to make sure she got home alive. we decided that it would be fun to randomly go to the airport and wave at people, pretending to wait for someone! :S
so in the end, i didn't end up getting home until 2:30am AND i had work at 9am that morning. see? taking a nap was a good idea afterall!
other highlights of this fun-filled weekend included:
- really surprising jordan for his surprise welcome home party. HE thought jake and i were just taking him out for the evening to catch up and hang out. but WE knew better. we spent a good hour at second cup talking about his trip, and then as a sneaky side, i got them to take me to walmart where harry potter did a good job wasting time, as did looking at cosmetics and checking our blood pressures! then we went to dave and busters to "pick up jake's car keys from chad." i have no idea if the car keys were picked up, but what ensued was a beautiful catered dinner on 3 pool tables with 40 of jordan's friends and family. quite a successful operation if i say so myself.
sunday was quite the smcsu reunion. in the evening, liz and i went to meet up with rita at future's bakery at bloor and brunswick. manny dropped by for a bit, as did billy dunn, and lily wong also accidently came upon on our merry group when she walked in with some friends. it was really nice to see rita again (who was the main reason we met up.) liz i had met up on thursday when we went to see don giovanni with jacob.
so there's a little fun at the end of august. more to come!
Friday, August 11, 2006
Sunday, August 06, 2006
good morning fellow readers.
i am currently sitting in our pretty posh Wyndham Chicago hotel room that is literally 30 seconds away from the famous michigan avenue (magnificant mile.) i spent the last two days a lollapalooza watching all these bands from grant park, an awesome experience, but alas, this has also resulted in a VERY crispy girl! mom and dad toured the city on a double decker bus and checked out the water tower while ames and i suntanned at the festival.
friday night after watching stars, we all met up together for dinner at the hotel luxe cafe. afterwards, ames went to watch sleater-kinney and some of death cab for cutie while i went with mom and dad to the art institute of chicago for some FREE impressionist viewings. the museum is humongous (like going to the louvre in paris) but all i really cared about (and had the time for) were the paintings of renoir, degas, picasso, and joan miro. i was pretty disappointed with the musuem's collection of salvador dali. but it was still pretty fun. also saturday between feist and kill hannah, ames and i caught a free trolley ride around the city and went to see the adler planetarium and the shedd aquarium. it's a good thing we weren't planning on going in, the line were ginormous! we just took in the beautiful city.
i have to comment on the architecture of this city. as soon as we drove in thursday afternoon, i had this feeling like i'd seen this place before. i wonder if batman's gotham city was based on the city of chicago. the transit runs above ground like in the movie. the buildings run between modern architecture (such as the corn on the cob condo buildings) and older gothic buildings like the tribune tower. there's also a lot of other buildings that i don't know the names to but from grant park you get an awesome view.
so far, the most fun i've had are the free stuff. the streets of chicago are teaming with really neat sounds and sights especially when walking past millenium park (the cloudgate.) ames' is particularly impressed with the walkby chess games that are set up on the side of the street. anyone can just stop by and play a game with the next person, and you see all types of people, from business men to little children who are just standing on the street playing chess. also on the side of the grass, there's a guy who has a couple of muppet-like puppets that are attached like marionnettes. he plays jazz music and then with his puppets have them dance around. also, when dad and i were waiting for ames after the art institute, two guys set up several pails on the sidewalk in front of the museum at closing time and starting banging on them with their drum sticks. it was quite a phenomenal experience just to sit infront of the museum steps and listen to these guys bop away.
we're heading onto a lunch cruise off of navy pier in an hour so we'll check out the scenery there as well. it's supposed to rain today and this makes me nervous because we're getting a boat. i'm debating whether i should take a gravol or not before. i'm leaning towards taking the gravol...
i am currently sitting in our pretty posh Wyndham Chicago hotel room that is literally 30 seconds away from the famous michigan avenue (magnificant mile.) i spent the last two days a lollapalooza watching all these bands from grant park, an awesome experience, but alas, this has also resulted in a VERY crispy girl! mom and dad toured the city on a double decker bus and checked out the water tower while ames and i suntanned at the festival.
friday night after watching stars, we all met up together for dinner at the hotel luxe cafe. afterwards, ames went to watch sleater-kinney and some of death cab for cutie while i went with mom and dad to the art institute of chicago for some FREE impressionist viewings. the museum is humongous (like going to the louvre in paris) but all i really cared about (and had the time for) were the paintings of renoir, degas, picasso, and joan miro. i was pretty disappointed with the musuem's collection of salvador dali. but it was still pretty fun. also saturday between feist and kill hannah, ames and i caught a free trolley ride around the city and went to see the adler planetarium and the shedd aquarium. it's a good thing we weren't planning on going in, the line were ginormous! we just took in the beautiful city.
i have to comment on the architecture of this city. as soon as we drove in thursday afternoon, i had this feeling like i'd seen this place before. i wonder if batman's gotham city was based on the city of chicago. the transit runs above ground like in the movie. the buildings run between modern architecture (such as the corn on the cob condo buildings) and older gothic buildings like the tribune tower. there's also a lot of other buildings that i don't know the names to but from grant park you get an awesome view.
so far, the most fun i've had are the free stuff. the streets of chicago are teaming with really neat sounds and sights especially when walking past millenium park (the cloudgate.) ames' is particularly impressed with the walkby chess games that are set up on the side of the street. anyone can just stop by and play a game with the next person, and you see all types of people, from business men to little children who are just standing on the street playing chess. also on the side of the grass, there's a guy who has a couple of muppet-like puppets that are attached like marionnettes. he plays jazz music and then with his puppets have them dance around. also, when dad and i were waiting for ames after the art institute, two guys set up several pails on the sidewalk in front of the museum at closing time and starting banging on them with their drum sticks. it was quite a phenomenal experience just to sit infront of the museum steps and listen to these guys bop away.
we're heading onto a lunch cruise off of navy pier in an hour so we'll check out the scenery there as well. it's supposed to rain today and this makes me nervous because we're getting a boat. i'm debating whether i should take a gravol or not before. i'm leaning towards taking the gravol...
