a year ago...

Hannah and me
Dan, Dar & Coley in Tulameen (Okanagan Valley)
BBQ-Party in our backyard
Coley & Reagan
My flight back home...

Well I just read through my whole blog...and now where am I? yap, back home in Switzerland.. All these exciting moments, experiences have been over a year ago now... and nevertheless I still think about Canada everyday and miss it a lot. I love Switzerland too, but life in Canada was just something special and will always be an awesome memory. Oh my, my english is getting soo bad now..if I'm only even trying to write this text here.. well I'm honestly struggling :( makes me feel kind a mad, because I loved it soo much to just being able to speak and write fluently in an other language..oh well it might get better again if i go back to Canada soon!?

I'm still in touch with my canadian family. They already had 2 other students since I left. I know it's just what they do...but still it makes me feel awkward! Well I phoned once, on christmas, and I honestly just felt weird. They were talking soooo fast like a waterfall and I actually had a hard time following what they were saying. Answering was even worse :( It really disappointed me, but that was actually not their problem :) i know.

Well other than that I'm still in touch with a couple of friends. One from Pitt Meadows. She actually moved to Calgary, Alberta for University now. Furthermore, two Japanese. One of them is going to a Japanese University now and the other one is working :) And of course the german friends :) well I'm still in touch with 2 of them. I went to visit both of them already and they as well came to our cabin in the Alps over New Year's. We went skiing together and had a blast!

Well that's about it. I'm scrapbooking now and oh wonder: I'm almost done. I did everything till I went to Toronto with Hannah. So not too much is left :)

So there's not too much else to say at the moment.

I hope everybody else is doing alright?!

aaand..i hope to come back to Canada really soon :)

Take care and huge hugs from Switzerland!!

Toronto

sorry i just screwed up all the pictures..but i dont want to load them all up again...so here u go with what i have... :)












hmmm that was suuuch an awesome
opportunity! oh my gosh...i couldnt believe it, when my friend and me actually
sat in the airplane which was gonna take
us across canada to toronto, Ontario.
We stayed at a friends of her dads, which had a really nice appartment in downtown....yaah...with a balcony on the roof...which a view over lake ontario etc....just soo gorgeous! We walked thru downtown..saw the greek town, chinatown, yonge street and all that kind a famous stuff...and of course we had to go to the TOP OF THE WORLD!!! the CN tower of toronto! once up there, we watched the sunset...made pictures on the glassfloor...
Another day of course we had to see niagara falls...that was sooo beautiful! it was packed though, soo many tourists..not even funny! Dont know what else to tell u right now...
some friends already left to korea, mexico and japan...some germans will leave in a week...and i m gonna be left alone with canadians... :) hhhmmm! exciting! so i ll see you guys in less than amonth!

how cute is that eh?!

Grad 2006!

Theresa and me at Prom
after drygrad...funny eh?!
Class of 2006 at the Graduation ceremony

***
hmm...found some other pictures ;-)
I'll talk to you soon.... 42 days left guys....... :S

Grad 2006!

Some friends and me at Prom
Kaehlen and me ;-)
My hair from the back
hmmmmmm who is that?

***
and that was it about THE biiig day at the end of the schoolyear! It started on Saturday morning with the graduation ceremonies. Oh my gosh was that awfully long...The class of 2006 had about 250 Grads... every single one had walking across the stage, trying not to fall and smiling for pictures at the same time. While walking there in front of everybody, you get to know what awards, top hats, honour rolls and scholarships you won. ..oh my! there were people who won like 5 scholarships and 3 awards... :S ! hmmm...
everybody was wearing those funny coats and the grad hats....at the end of the ceremony they threw them into the air.....just like in movies... ;-)
After that everybody left to get ready for prom, which is the dance and the banquet at the same evening. It was insane...all those beautiful women with gorgeous hair, nails, flowers and dresses... some of them looked like a wedding dress...no kidding! After dinner everybody was dancing ...It was very special for me, since we don't have anything like that for Grad! ...and after the dance everybody went home to get changed (again!) and got ready for dry-grad. The party after ;-) Of course I had to experience that aswell... At 2 or 3 in the morning i was pretty sleepy...but somehow i made it till the end and as it was over at 6am we went for breakfast...yummy! Hmmmm yah and that was it!

final concert and pitt meadows day parade

MRSS Marching Band @ Pitt Meadows Day Parade
MRSS Colourguard
Me, in Marching Band Uniform (lol my hair is french-braided...don't worry)
MRSS Drumline
Me, in Concert Uniform

***

yah and that was it....the final concert is over and with that the whole senior concert band for me! I'll never ever play in this amazing band again....only the thought makes me feel sad...all those nice people i got to know in there...the trips and the concerts...even the annoying service hours ...yah I'll miss it! After we played our last song I went to clean my flute...some friends came to hug me...and all the sudden i had tears in my eyes...I just couldn't handle it. Since yesterday marching band is over too...we had our last performance at the Pitt Meadows Day Parade. It was a lot of fun....
OH MY...Grad is coming up! Already next saturday is THE day for all grade 12s....The graduation ceremonies start in the morning. The Grads of 06 get their Diploma. In the evening is the banquet and the dance and after that there is DryGrad till 6 am in the morning! Yah i guess I better sleep before ;-)
On thursday I'll go to Vancouver Island for the Day...I'm really looking forward to that ;-) So that's about it for right now.
Take care everybody!

54 days left..

This is the Street I live in. Our house is at the very end...lol nonsense..i dont know why i added that one :S .................



hmmm time goes by so fast...i have less than 2 months left! hmmm...feels just really awkward...
soo not too much happened in the last couple days...I went with the senior concert band to the Hyack parade and performed there. Although it rained we had lots of fun...i got to see so many other bands, lots of professional people, yah it was really good! A couple weeks ago i went with a friend to the States again. I saw the landscape around Mt. Baker, which is really beautiful!
I went to a friends house and i cooked cheese fondue for them...and they all loved it...yah that was kind a sweet!
In pretty much all classes we are done with what wer are supposed to learn this year..so we spent most of the lessons reviewing stuff... Unfortunately i have also a lot of tests and all the finals are coming up pretty soon....Then is Grad, Drygrad, and after that the schoolyear ends with the provincial exams.
Tomorrow is Cabaret Night at school. Everybody from school can sign up and perform however he or she likes...with a song...a dance or whatever...it is usually a lot of fun, so i m looking forward to that. On thursday will be my last band rehearsal and in the evening my final concert here in canada! I actually don't want to think about that, because during this year band became so important to me...yah..i m not gonna be very happy that day ;-( ...but oh well..
On saturday we are perfoming at the Pitt Meadows Day Parade a last time as marching band ....and that's about it!
Take care and I'll talk to you soon!

Galiano Island

a canadian house^^
kayaking in the ocean was soo much fun!
nelson and me, holding a starfish...
Hannah, nelson and me on Galiano Island

***
From thursday evening on I spent a couple wonderful days on Galiano Island. That is one of the gulf Islands between Vancouver Island and the mainland. There was not much to do...although i had soo much fun...i went kyaking in the canadian nature^^ yeeey! ..yah that was really neat...we had a cabin with its own beach! so you could just walk down to the water ;-) i saw thousands of starfishs, seacucumbers, jellyfishs...seals....and even whales, deers and hummingbirds (however you spell it...) yah....that was really a nice experience! On tuesday i ll go with my physics class to playland...(somethin' like europapark in vancouver) that will be a lot of fun too...mhhm some tests coming up and a lot of homework....track practise every day ...yah i m quite busy...so i hope everything over there is alright?!?take care and i ll talk to you soon!

some pictures ;-))

Grouse Mountain, North-vancouver
Dykes in Maple Ridge
Golden Ears in Maple Ridge
Grouse Mountain, North-vancouver
Alouette Lake at Golden Ears Provincial Park

in Maple Ridge

random words...

Ten months ago, she fighted against tears,a last view and Goodbye!She entered a plane with big fears..

A year has past,a year ago,it changed her life,when she decided to go..

She came to a different world,a world she did not know,a world she soon called “home”,the world she did not know

A year has past,a year ago,it changed her life,when she decided to go..

Now she’s fighting against tears again,like 10 months ago,a few weeks are left,and then it’s time to go…

A year has past,a year ago,it changed her life,when she decided to go..

She’s going to return ,to a now different home,something she does not know anymore,which is called her “home”…

A year has past,a year ago,it changed her life,when she decided to go..

8 months ago....

oh my..i had such a hard time writing this in proper german...oh well i made it!it s gonna be on the kanti homepage pretty soon too i guess...
------


Canadian eh?!

Nun habe ich in meinem kanadischen Alltag auch endlich einmal zeit gefunden um einen Bericht zu schreiben, damit ihr euch ein bisschen vorstellen könnt, wie es sich hier so lebt.
Ich habe in den letzen acht Monaten mehr neues erlebt, als in meinem ganzen Leben zuvor und weiss darum gar nicht wirklich wo ich anfangen soll…
Ich wohne hier in Maple Ridge, einer kleineren Stadt im Tal des Fraser River, im Westen Kanadas. Maple Ridge liegt in der Provinz British Columbia und ist mit dem Auto etwa vierzig Minuten von Vancouver entfernt, was für kanadische Verhältnisse gar nichts ist. Meine kanadische Familie meinte auch das Leisure Centre ist gleich um die Ecke, wobei ich erst mal mindestens eine halbe Stunde laufen muss, um zu irgendetwas anderem als Bäumen und Häusern zu kommen. Ja, die kanadischen Grössenverhältnisse waren anfangs ziemlich gewöhnungsbedürftig. Ansonsten gefällt mir die Gegend hier ziemlich gut! Ich bin froh, so nahe an Vancouver zu wohnen, denn ich liebe diese Stadt mit einem Strand am Meer und den Bergen im Hintergrund.

Nach meiner Ankunft im September hatte ich noch einige Tage frei bis das Schuljahr anfing. Mein erster Schultag war im Loon Lake Provincial Park, wo ich an einem Informationstreffen für Internationale Schüler teilnahm.
Der Schulalltag hat dann so seinen Lauf genommen. Die erste Klasse fängt morgens um 8.28 an, wobei ich zweimal pro Woche um sieben Uhr da sein muss, da ich in der Concert Band der Schule bin. Es gibt an meiner Schule keine Uniform, dafür aber einen gewissen Dresscode. Hier gelte ich als Grade 11 Student, obwohl ich jedoch fast nur Grade 12 Kurse habe. Insgesamt wählt man acht Fächer. An einem Tag habe ich vier und am nächsten Tag die anderen vier und so geht das dann weiter. In der Kanti schienen mir teilweise einige Stunden etwas lange, wenn ich hier aber in einer 76-minütigen Lektion sitze, dann sieht das nochmals etwas anders aus…
Nach Schulschluss um 2.29 finden dann die verschiedenen Trainings der Schoolteams statt.
Viele Kanadier lieben Sport und da ich selber auch Spass an Sport habe, war dies natürlich eine gute Möglichkeit neue Leute kenne zu lernen. So besuchte ich Volley, Fieldhockey, Cross Country und bis zum Ende des Schuljahres gehe ich noch zu Track and Field. Spätestens an Wettkämpfen bekommt man dann den echten Highschoolspirit zu spüren was für mich eine tolle Erfahrung war.

Ich wusste, dass Kanada ein Land ist, indem enorm viele verschieden Kulturen zusammen treffen. Dass dann aber an meiner Schule so viele Asiaten und andere Nationen sind, hätte ich wiederum auch nicht erwartet. Nicht dass das schlecht ist, im Gegenteil: Durch das habe ich auch Freunde aus Mexiko, Japan, China und Korea gefunden und lerne auch etwas aus deren Kultur kennen, während sie wiederum vom Schweizerdeutsch ganz fasziniert sind…

Im Herbst gab es eine Zeit, da hat es einfach Wochelang nur geregnet. Wir haben dieses Jahr sogar fast einen Rekord gebrochen mit 29 Tagen konstantem Regen. Meine kanadische Familie hat nicht mal einen Regenschirm, weil die mit diesem Wetter aufgewachsen sind und in der Schweiz regen wir uns schon auf, wenn es zwei Tage regnet…
Bald stand schon das erste kanadische Fest vor der Tür: Thanksgiving. Traditionsgemäss gab es ein riesengrosses Nachtessen mit Turkey.
Genau drei Wochen später gab es schon wieder was zu feiern, diesmal Halloween. Alle Geschäfte waren überfüllt mit Kostümen jeglicher Art, jeder kam verkleidet zur Schule und es gab sogar eine Modeschau während der Mittagspause.
Bald war schon Dezember und ich ging mit meiner Familie einen echten Tannenbaum in der Natur absägen. Am Abend des 25. Dezember gab es wiederum ein grosses Dinner mit Turkey, wobei die ganze Familie zusammenkam.

Die kalten und schneereichen Wintermonate nutze ich, um öfters mal mit Freunden Snowboarden zu gehen. Man kann sogar auf einigen Bergen in Nordvancouver Skifahren, was wirklich nicht weit entfernt ist.
Im Januar kamen eine Freundin und ich an den Wochenenden zu einem freiwilligen Job. Wir organisierten einige Aktivitäten für koreanische Primarschüler. Zeigten ihnen die Sehenswürdigkeiten von Vancouver, brachten ihnen etwas Skifahren bei und begleiteten sie nach Victoria, was auf Vancouver Island liegt.
Dies war auch eine wunderbare Gelegenheit für eine weitere gute Erfahrung.
Im Februar konnte ich eine Freundin auf Saltspring Island besuchen. Das ist eine kleine Insel zwischen dem Festland und Vancouver Island, auf der es sich so richtig kanadisch lebt. Um dort zur Schule zu gelangen muss man jeden Morgen erst mal eine Stunde laufen. Links und rechts sieht man nichts anderes als Tannenbäume und geradeaus liegt die Strasse, die einem endlos erscheint. Obwohl es hier normal ist, überall von den Eltern hingefahren zu werden, vermisse ich die SBB und das Postauto!

Hier ist es üblich öfters mal mit einer Klasse einen Fieldtrip zu machen. So hatte ich die Möglichkeit für Windsurfing (ja in Kanada hat’s sogar echten Sandstrand!), Bowling, Curling, Ice-Skating und mit meinem Spanischkurs kam ich sogar bis nach Mexiko! Dort verbrachte ich zweieinhalb Wochen in einer nochmals total anderen Kultur. Die herzliche Art und die Offenheit der Mexikaner werde ich nie vergessen!
Es ist mir aber auch aufgefallen, dass auch die Kanadier sehr offen und freundlich sind. Man wird hier in jedem Laden mit einem freundlichen ’’Hey, how are you?’’ oder ’’Hey, what’s up?’’ angesprochen.

In knapp zwei Monaten ist hier Grad und da wird nochmals richtig viel gefeiert. Kanadier überlegen sich dafür schon drei Monate im Voraus, welches Kleid sie tragen und wie sie sich die Haare machen…
Ende Juni ist dann das Schuljahr zu Ende. Anschliessend fahre ich dann mit meiner kanadischen Familie noch in die Ferien und komme dann Ende Juli zurück in die Schweiz.
Darauf freue ich mich sehr, obwohl ich viel von meinem kanadischen Leben hier vermissen werde.
Ich habe während den vergangenen acht Monaten nie bereut nach Kanada zu kommen und rate deshalb allen, die die Gelegenheit haben so etwas zu machen, sollten diese unbedingt nutzen!
Keep in mind that nothing is good or bad, it’s just different!

Viele liebe Grüsse aus Kanada!

Take care and I’ll talk to you soon,

Christina Knecht