Back to Canada

長い夏休みが終わり、カナダに戻ってきました。

日本はまだまだ暑い日が続いてると思いますが、カナダでは夜になるとジャケットが必要なほど冷え込む日もあります。昼間も、Tシャツだと寒いです。

生徒たちも元気に戻ってきました。これからまた９か月間、教えに奮闘する日々が続きます。

大学院の方は、今学期はリーダシップについての研究です。まだ始まったばかりなので何とも言えませんが、去年よりも内容が実用的なので勉強し甲斐がありそうです。

そして！今シーズンは踊る方にも復活しようと決め、母校であるロイヤルウィニペグバレエ、ティーチャーズプログラムのディレクターに連絡を取り、週に２回とはいえクラスを受講することに！次の教師資格に向けての準備をするためには必要不可欠な選択だったと思いますが、しばらくは筋肉痛に悩まされることになりそうです。


石けん作りも続いています。(石けん用のフォトブースをつくってみました。）

ローズマリーの香り

パイン・ココナッツ

そして、安かったので試しに買ってみたら思った以上に便利で気に入っているKindleのケースも手作りしました。

ちゃんと中綿もはいっています。

今シーズンの今までに増して忙しくなりそうですが、楽しみながら頑張ります！

Getting Ready for Season 2015/16

I received the emails from RAD about tuition fee payment and a list of the books to buy for the next semester.

I also had a skype session with the program manager to discuss my next target.

The next semester will start on September 1st, but I have to slowly start getting ready now (that means I should start reading the books on the list).


This coming season will be very exciting.

The modules I will take are Leading Learning for the first semester, and Assessment Issues for the second semester. I think these are the most important and useful things to learn as an educator.

I am also planing to go back to RWB and take some classes in order to prepare for my licentiate exam. Between the full-time work and part-time study, I don't know how much time I can put into my licentiate preparation. But I would like to take at least 2 classes per week, and possibly take my licentiate exam in April.

I want to go back more toward ballet (I have been slightly away from it mentally), so I purchased a season ticket for the ballet movies, called Front Row Centre Events' Dance Series. This should bring me back to where I just loved ballet blindly.

And... Soap making! It's been too long to not make soap!! Soap, soap, soap...


During the break, I got two gizmos.

One is a Kindle. I got it for about $40. It was on sale for the prime people. I joined prime for free as a trial just to buy a Kindle cheap :)

The other is a Dyson vacuum DC45 animal! Apparently, 'animal' means that it is for a house with pets. I don't have a pet even though I really want one (maybe a goat). But since the vacuum I bought was $75 off, it no longer matters.

I never owned a dyson vacuum but I liked dyson so much because I hear so many good things about it. (I talk about how good dyson is like I work for dyson.) Bye-bye to dusty rooms and hopefully my allergies :)

Activities in Japan!

It's really hot and humid here, in Japan.

So far, I took a bus tour with my mom, changed my hair style, saw my old friends (from both jr. high and sr. high), successfully finished the first year of Master's program, and most importantly, I went to Tokyo to take workshops.

One of the workshops I took was the Benesh Movement Notation (BMN) workshop run by Royal Academy of Dance Japan.

I have already learned the basic stuff about BMN through the distance learning course from RAD, so this time I took the course that was slightly advanced.

It was very challenging and also very interesting.

I have been wanting to learn BMN further but there is only distance learning courses available; I just really wish that they had more learning options...

This is just a hint of what BMN score looks like

 (The photo is not focused on purpose; I wasn't sure about the copy rights.)



And the other workshop I took was a soap making class!!

It was going to be a group lesson but apparently people moved to a different day, so it turned to my private lesson!

I was very lucky because the teacher was one of the pioneers of the Japanese handmade soap society!

I learned a lot about oils, essential oils and colours.
I can barely wait to make more soap when I'm back in Canada!

I learned how to swirl

This trip to Tokyo was really good for me because I was also able to see one of my best friends. She lives in Tokyo so we cannot see each other very often.

Even though we only see each other once in a few years, we never feel distant because of ballet.



I have one month left in Japan. I still have lots to do!

The last week of 2014/15

今シーズンの最終週です。

この土曜日にリサイタルがあり、日曜に日本に向けて出発、時差があるので日本には月曜に到着します。

今回は久しぶりに復活したAir Canadaのバンクーバー/関空の直行便がとれたので、かなり楽な旅になりそうで嬉しいです。

今までで一番しんどかったのは、ウィニペグからバンクーバー、バンクーバーから成田、成田からバスで羽田へ、羽田から伊丹、という旅程。

他にもアメリカ経由の時はビザの申請がいちいち面倒だったし、Wifiへの接続がうまくいかずに諦め、時間を持て余した上海経由など、いろいろありました。

部屋もおおかた片付いたし、オーダーが入っていたカバン作りも終えたし、大学院の課題も提出したし、後は夏休みを迎えるだけです！

新しい趣味の石鹸作りをきちんと習いたくて、石鹸教室を予約済みです。7月には東京に行きたいし、8月には保育園の同窓会（！） もあるらしいので、あっという間に時間が過ぎてしまいそうですが、しっかり満喫したいと思います。

作ったカバンの写真を撮り忘れたので、今回は手づくり石鹸の写真を。

チョコレート石鹸

ココナッツミルクとバナナピュレの石鹸

ヤギミルク、オートミール、ハチミツの石鹸

人参ピュレとパプリカパウダーの石鹸

コーヒー石鹸

コーヒー石鹸をカタツムリに型抜き

Absinthe石鹸　(アニスとグリーンクレイ入り）

ローズヒップ石鹸

ヤギミルクの三色石鹸、ローズの香り

Handmade soap

バレエの試験、コンペティション、リサイタルの振り付け、等々がやっと一段落し、今は石鹸作りに夢中です。
Things have been finally slowing down after the ballet exams, competitions, choreographing, etc. Now, I'm obsessed with soap making. 

とは言っても、石鹸を流し込む型が見つからず空の牛乳パックを代用しているので、牛乳を飲み終えるまでは次の石鹸作りはおあずけです。
However, I'm using milk cartons as soap molds, so I am only allowed to make new soap as fast as I drink milk.

石鹸は固まった後もすぐには使えず、１ヶ月から６週間の間寝かせます。写真の左は犬用石鹸（レモングラスの香り）、そして右はパンプキン石鹸（２回目のチャレンジでやっと成功）です。
Soap cannot be used right away; I have to wait 4 - 6 weeks until they are ready. The photo below is my handmade soap resting. 

Left: Lemongrass, Right: Pumpkin

大学院の方も順調です。今学期の最終課題提出期限も目の前に迫っています。
I think I'm doing well with the assignment for my Master's program. The deadline of the final assessment is in 10 days!

それが終われば、次はコーヒー石鹸！