My super cool July 2012 opportunity

This past fall, I Google searched a youth camp that I went to for one week in the summer after grade 9. I was thinking that it'd be fun to work there as a camp counsellor if they needed extra help. Fast forward about 3 months, and I've applied for the job and then been hired as the camp facilitator, in charge of organizing and programming the activities for the 2 weeks of camp. Very cool! Then, right before Christmas, I receive an e-mail saying, "What are you doing on (insert dates here)? The international conference is in Washington, DC and I think it would be good if you could go." Umm, YES PLEASE! So cool. Here's a snapshot of what my summer might look like, a la USA capital city:

Capitol Hill - the Capitol building and Washington Monument

The Washington Monument

The Capitol Building

The White House

The Lincoln Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial (check out Honest Abe in the middle!)

Thomas Jefferson Memorial

The countdown is SO on!

Today is June 16th. June 16th is exactly 2 weeks until the end of the month. After June comes July. On July 5th, I jump on a plane to New Zealand. So, if I can do the math correctly, in exactly 19 days, I will be on my way to kiwi land FOR REAL! After 2+ years of planning it and talking about it, it is finally almost here! This is actually crazy. I still have lots to do before I can say I'm "ready" to go (practice packing my backpack and make sure I have enough room for clothes, i.e. cutting out half of what I think I need to bring, fill prescriptions, hopefully find my favourite pair of glasses which I somehow misplaced in the last few weeks, etc.), but otherwise I'm very excited and ready to see everyone again after nearly 3 years!

In other exciting travel news, Jeff and I booked our Mexico vacation a couple weeks ago! We are spending 10 days in and around Cancun at Easter, and we booked a bunch of fantastic day trips and other excursions. We got a great deal on it too, and I ended up paying for the whole thing with money I made selling bags! It only took me a couple hundred hours of sewing too! Haha. What a deal!

It's now 7:15am and I am about to start getting ready for work. I can hardly believe we're almost at the end of the year! I teach today, then tomorrow I'm out on a field trip with our Grade 7s, then I teach Friday morning, then done! Friday afternoon is our final assembly/classroom clean up, then we have all next week to write finals. Next (next) Saturday (June 26th) I'm heading off to music camp with 3 of my students as well, so the time is flying by at warp speeds, as it tends to do in June. This year in general has gone really fast, in fact. I have been counting down to IMC/New Zealand for ages, and I almost can't believe how close they are!

LOVE!

PS - Nice new template, hey? Much better than that old green one! ;o)

Travel plans = addictive!

41 days until New Zealand! How exciting! Travel planning is always so much fun. In fact, it's *almost* as fun as the trip itself! Well.... close enough. :o) I love imagining the possibilities of what each travel experience could entail, and then actually budgeting, saving, and making it happen.

The next travel plan after New Zealand is Easter break in Mexico 2011! Jeff and I have been building vacation packages online for the past few hours and now I'm in total travel mode! On our list:

- swimming in underground cenotes on the Coba Mayan Encounter

- parasailing

- partying in Cancun at Senor Frogs, Daddy'O's, Coco Bongo, The City, etc.

- snorkelling at Xel-Ha

- day excursions to Tulum and Chichen Itza

- lounging around in our hotel pool(s) with swim up bars and all-inclusive food/drinks.... ahhh!

- cruising the strip in Cancun for neat shopping, markets, souvenirs, etc.

No real updates otherwise... just felt like sharing the excitement of travel planning!

Tomorrow... tomorrow... I'll travel, tomorrow....

.... it's only a day away!

I'm going to Saskatoon tomorrow right after work to celebrate with my best girlfriends from university (Jana, Sarah, Allison, Jasmine, Shelly, and Anna).  We're going for dinner at the Barking Fish, then to Jana's to watch our DVD from our 2007 choir tour to Austria and the Czech Republic.  We're going to take a bunch of pictures of the group so we can frame one for our friend Brianna who can't make it tomorrow night.  Bri lives in Victoria, where she goes to CCPA (Canadian College of Performing Arts)... 

..... and I am going to Vic on Saturday so I will hand deliver it to her!!!!  YAY!!!!  I've never been there before but I've heard nothing but amazing things about the city.  I'm going there to visit my friend Liam, whom I've been friends with since we were 3 or 4 but haven't seen in about 5 years, and I'm CRAZY excited to see him again.  Also, my former voice teacher Cheryl lives out there, and I haven't seen her in a couple years... aaaaaand my friend Tim, a former Greystone Singer, moved back to his hometown of Victoria after a year (or two?) in the choir, and I haven't seen him in about 3 years.  So all in all it's going to be a wonderful 4 1/2 days spent out on the beautiful west coast of Canada.  Liam apparently lives only 5 minutes from downtown Victoria and 10 minutes from the ocean.  I haven't seen the ocean since I was in New Zealand, so I'm really excited about that.

AAHHH I'm just excited in general!  WOOP WOOP!

Updates to come. <3

Geographical look-alikes?

I didn't realize the similarity until watching the weather on the news last night.  Of course, we all know what my favourite country of New Zealand looks like:

But did anyone ever stop to realize how similar our own Canadian maritime province of Nova Scotia looks?  I can't believe I didn't notice it before now.  But here it is.... New Zealand on an angle (aka Nova Scotia, Canada):

Speaking of New Zealand, I'm planning my next trip there.  I don't know when it will be, but it will be sometime during summer (aka NZ winter), and will likely involve one or more friends (Jana, Grace, etc.).  Jana and I are meeting for coffee in about 3 hours, and we're already planning cool things to do in NZ like skydiving, the Nevis bungee jump, glacier hiking, the Auckland Sky Tower jump, etc. - all of those things that I wanted to do while I was there the first time but never got around to doing.  Well, I did the glacier hike... but I'd sure do it again.  I miss that place.  I can't wait for NZ Round #2!!!!