Saint John, NB

Yesterday, we had a Professional Development (PD) at our school to incorporate a PYP program, which is the Elementary school version of an IB program or International Baccalaureate program, that most of us think of at a high school level.

I originally saw this video in Saint John, New Brunwick a year ago. I've seen a few up-to-date versions of it, exactly twice, while I'm working here in Beijing, China at the Canadian International School of Beijing. My class alone has 18 students from 11 countries! A very international group of students, whose parents are looking for the best education possible.

Seeing a few versions, makes me feel like the U.S., Canada & Europe are sleeping right through and not really making the changes we needed to get done the last 30 years for our kids, adults, future jobs, education, local industries, etc, etc, etc......

Check this video out, it's shocking world statistics:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBwT_09boxE

I think fighting over who's got the Senate or House of Reps or Parliament should be put aside and realistically, analyze our future if we don't educate, feed, clothe or take care of our own countries and their offsprings. Apparently, India & China are doing something right! And we are left holding the empty bag without any goodies inside.

We need to seriously re-evaluate our education system, our government's priorities and our future within our own countries. If your schools, states, provinces, etc. are not doing their job well, FIRE THEM!!! Start with a new perspective and really take care of our own future.

Financial manipulation will always exist and I think one world currency is inevitable, but it's just getting all the countries together on this.

What's your thoughts on this? Let me know, since I love to hear other people's opinions on this....

Who am I and what time is it? Air Canada fed us 3 times, had dinner 1^st, Cup of Noodles 2^nd with chopsticks and with breakfast as the last meal, even though we landed at 3:55 p.m. Thursday, Beijing time or 4:55 a.m. in Saint John’s Atlantic time zone. Two FULL planes later, It’s been 17 hours and I’m finally in Beijing, China! I think this was a longer trip than Hawaii, even though we took the North Pole route from Toronto to Beijing.

I was greeted by the owner’s chauffer with my 3 huge suitcases, my Macbook Pro case (that has all of my tech devices; camera, video camera, ipod, and all chargers) & my messenger’s bag (my girl bag) after Chinese customs at the Dragon Wall with a sign saying CISB and my name below. He drove me to my new residence & school and was greeted by the VP & ESL teacher of the Canadian International School of Beijing. Asked me how I was doing and then took me for a walk to a Western Mall around the corner behind the school. After all the meals I had eaten, they took me to a Saudi Arabian restaurant, with a great environment and colorful Middle Eastern décor. I had a delicious dish of lamb with mushroom and curried rice and my 1^st Arabian dark roasted coffee, which had Sage so strong in it that the other people in my table could smell it. New experience for sure!

After dinner, I was taken to the Western style grocery store, where I picked up some groceries to survive the next few days. Since I brought enough dark roasted coffee (from Canada) for 6 months and a grinder, the only appliance I bought at the grocery store, was a small coffee pot (the display, since there weren’t any others left) to be able to get up the next day. The VP expected me to attend the next day, so I could be programmed into their system and also meet the children.

BTW: After leaving the grocery store, they showed me a Starbucks and I knew it would be okay to live in Beijing, China for 9 months!

I accepted an international job early last month and I’m currently waiting for the “GREEN” light for my Chinese “Working” Visa, coming from the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa, ON.

I began this morning, with 2 high school kids coming to my backyard, 2 hrs late, to take all of my construction items to their ½ ton dump truck. This included: 1970’s plywood cabinets, old gyprock from sides of kitchen, laundry room & roof, 2 floorings, Laminate Pergo & vinyl underneath it. I currently have a skeleton of a kitchen, since I’m in the middle of remodeling my kitchen, where the only thing left is a small island bar sink & dishwasher. Everything else is in my living room in boxes, hallways and my stairways. All my important stuff I can find; my microwave is on a box, my toaster is on the floor & my coffee pot is on the stairway!

I've seen many blogs lately that still aren't "branded" yet! Today, I'd like to teach the ActiveRain members who would like to learn to create a FREE header and make it their own! I'll also be giving you info on creating your own branded background for your ActiveRain blog. This should only take a few minutes to master!!!

I love to create, so today, I’ve updated my blog header. I used a program called: Header Spot, which has 682 free header images in various photo sizes. To make it your own for your ActiveRain blog you must have your header photo, preferably at or no larger than 960X130, or your image won’t show correctly:

http://www.headerspot.com/

Here's the header I chose, which is shorter than 960 wide, but is 130 high:

You can make it your own by uploading your header to Picnik, which is a free photo editing program and adding the text of your choice or special effects to it.

http://www.picnik.com

Here's my header with my new title that I added:

I’ve added another photo of Beijing for my background. This can be done after your login to your ActiveRain. Look to your upper right side for:

“My Home”

Then, look at your upper left side of the page (below your name & location) for & click “Customize”:

“ActiveRain (Customize)”

You can download your photo at “New Background Image” for your background by clicking “Browse”. Your photo will look it’s best if it’s 300X300, but many other agents use other sizes.

Now, if you want to add a new background image (sides of your blog). Here is where you can download your new background photo by going to:

New Background Image (Browse)

Here's the background photo of Beijing I chose:

Also, here is where you can download your new new Header image, that you created up above by going to:

New Header Image (Browse)

Here's the new Header photo I chose:

** If you want to change your menu, page, or menu text or header background, these are the areas where you can change them. I highly recommend playing with these until you feel comfortable with your results. Many agents have the menu text and menu background the same color, so you can’t see their text, it all becomes one, so be careful here. Also your header background should probably match your header somehow so it transitions better!

VERY IMPORTANT:

When you are done adjusting all of your Customized ActiveRain Blog, then click once to see if your photos downloaded correctly:

“Save Changes”

If you view your header and all of it shows up clearly & you like your results, then click again:

“Save Changes”

You will get an acknowledgement at the top of your page that says:

"Your blog has been customized"

***** (If you don’t click it twice it won’t show up as a change).

Finally, go view your blog to see the results of your work and enjoy it!

Today is a beautiful sunny & warm provincial holiday in New Brunswick, it’s New Brunswick Day! It’s celebrated every year on the 1^st Monday of August, since 1976. Each year, the province picks a city for the official provincial ceremonies. This year the NB celebrations are in the Town of Richibucto.

Many new residents are coming in from various parts of the world and immigrating into New Brunswick for a new life.

People here today, will be going to live entertainment with music, family activities, face painting, listening to storytellers and eating & drinking with their friends & neighbors.

First Nations communities originally occupied the land for over 6,000 years. In the 1600’s & 1700’s the area was colonized by the French and than later the British. In 1867, New Brunswick was one of the 4 provinces, which formed the Canadian Confederation.

New Brunswick Day awards were introduced in 1991.

The New Brunswick flag has 2 parts, with has some interesting symbols that, as an American living in Canada, I wasn’t aware of until today.

1) The gold lion on the red upper part, represents the province’s links with Braunschweig (Brunswick) region in central Germany and the monarch of the British.

2) The blue & yellow parts of the flag, has a Spanish galley and represents shipbuilding, which was an important industry in the province.

Some of the symbols that you can see on New Brunswick Day are: a purple violet, black-capped chickadee, a balsam fir, the New Brunswick tartan and finally the coat of arms, which contains elements to the New Brunswick flag above.

Some provincial symbols that may be seen on New Brunswick Day include:

• The coat of arms, which contains similar elements to the New Brunswick flag.
• The purple violet (a flower).
• The black-capped chickadee (a small bird).
• The balsam fir (a tree).
• The New Brunswick tartan.

The New Brunswick flag is raised in some communities on the day. This flag is rectangular and consists of two parts. The top third of the flag is a gold lion on a red field, which represents the province's links with the Braunschweig (Brunswick) region in central Germany and the monarch of the United Kingdom. The lower part of the flag consists of a Spanish galley and represents shipbuilding, which was an important industry in the province.

Finally, New Brunswick has a list of very famous people who originated from this area. Here’s a link of famous New Brunswickers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_from_New_Brunswick

My Realtor colleague in Moncton, Larry Estabrooks just posted the link to what's going on in Richibucto:

http://activerain.com/blogsview/1774745/new-brunswick-day-2010-in-richibucto

P.S. Still working on my Canadian history for becoming a Citizen of Canada!

New Brunswickers enjoy the day!!!

;>))

Two years ago we had a problem, we had a small 4'X4' 2nd Floor Side Deck with a gigantic hole in it that needed to be torn down before one of us fell through it! We brought it down before we repainted our home.

We had a red pine deck on the back yard of our home, that needed serious cleaning, since it had darked over the years before we bought the property. It probably had enough mold that most other people would have torn the deck apart. We rented a power sprayer for a weekend and successfully found out that not only did we have a pine deck, but it was Red Pine, which is relatively rare these days. Here's a photo of the back deck.

Then we figured out how much we would need to build a cedar deck, with hemlock posts for a huge side deck to look at our Grand Bay-Westfield view. We tried to transition both the Cedar deck with the older Red Pine deck. Here's the photo of the transitional of both decks.

We did add Aluminum railing to the new Cedar deck back and side rails, and the front we added glass panels to keep the view from being distorted. Here's more photos of them.

When we were done with installing the new Cedar deck with the Red Pine deck, since it was close to the end of the Fall season last year, we waited til this Spring 2010 to stain both decks to enhance our home. We chose Smoky Blue to transition our Facia by the roof, even though the colors don't totally match, we like the esthetic look it created with our unusual west coast home we have in Atlantic Canada (New Brunswick). We also had to paint the back railing of the Red Pine Railings, which was a pukey brown or as my older daughter, Jenny would say, purple, a bright white to match the white aluminum railing on the cedar side deck. Here's the photos of the completed project.

We also installed a new side door with an opaque glass to match the new windows through out our home....

*** If you look up at the front balcony, by the front of the roof, you will see, we also installed the glass panels up above to match the side deck glass panels.

Here are photos of the front, before and after photos...

Finally, this was the reason for building a larger deck to begin with... We can see Grand Bay and the City of Saint John in the horizon... Here's the view during a hazy day like today!!!

I think staining the deck to transition both new and older deck into one continuous space was a great way to creatively workout a solution and save some $$$!

;>))