A couple weekends ago, the whole school went away on a music tour, so that gave me 4 1/2 days off from school. Wanting to desperately get away and get some R&R, two of my friends and I decided to go over to Vancouver Island. The only way to get there is to take a ferry out of Vancouver. Once on the island, we spent two days in Victoria, the capital of BC. It is a very quiant, nice town that sits along a harbor. There are so many cool places to see and lots to do. Here is just a few memories from the trip.

This is the ferry ride over. These ferries are nice! They have lounging areas, eating areas, gift shops, etc. The ride over was about an hour and a half.


The first place we went was to Chinatown. The first Chinese Immigrants came to Victoria in 1858. By 1880, it was the largest Chinese community in all of Canada. When you first walk into China town, you go through this enormous 38-ft ornamental gate which was modeled from similar gateways in China. It was erected by both Chinese and non-Chinese people and is called the Gate of Harmonious Interest. Two inscriptions elude to the joint effort of its erection. They say: "To work together with one heart" and "To help each other achieve harmony."


This is a school building in Chinatown.


The Chinese community wanted Chinatown to be their own little shelter away from the rest of Victoria, so they build a network of streets, allies, and courtyards that connected all of Chinatown. One of these allies is the narrowest street in all of Canada. It is called Fan Tan Alley and is only 3 feet across at its narrowest point. There are three-story-tall brick walls lining both sides of the alley and there are numerous little shops and restaurants whose doors open into the little alley. They say that this alley remains virtually unchanged since Chinatown's earliest times (with the exception that it is no longer an illegal gambling alley!)



We also saw the huge parliament building in downtown Victoria. We didn't get a chance to tour it, but I will just have to go again so I can see inside.

We went to the British Royal Wax Museum which was cool since I have never been to a wax museum before. We saw the royal family, numerous US presidents, King Henry VIII and his entourage of wives, and other famous people like Shakespeare, Dickens, Edison, Einstein, etc. The coolest I thought was Napoleon Bonaparte. Sources say he was somewhere around 5'2" to 5'6". I didn't realize he was that short! I guess he was trying to make up for his size!




While in downtown, we saw this cool bicycle rack.


We also found this huge mirror attached to a side of a building. It was fun to take pictures of ourselves there!


I think the best part of the trip was Buchart Gardens. Having once been a limestone quarry, the owners' wife decided to convert it to a botanical gardens after the quarry closed down. It is incredibly beautiful! Here are just a few shots...















It was a very relaxing and fun get-away trip. I so want to go back! So if any of you want to come visit BC, I'll try to arrange a trip to the Island!

This weekend...

This weekend, the school went on a camping trip to Seaton Lake. I wasn't able to go for the whole time since I was swamped with lesson planning, but I was able to join them on Sabbath. It was the first time I have been to this lake, but it is amazing! I have never seen a fresh water lake with water that is that color. It is like a light emerald green/aqua color. Pictures don't even do it justice. The camp is about a 20 minute ride from the dock by speed boat and about 1 1/2 hours on the pontoon boat. It it such a beautiful place! Here are just two pictures.

I also this weekend found a pleasant surprise on my desk. I have been complaining in class that my markers are always going dry. My students delighted me with a new set--and neon colors too!


And I just had to also show some of the other things that have graced my office for the past two weeks. Every Friday, two senior students always stop by my office and chat for about an hour before they go up to the dorm. I had a package of balloons sitting on my desk that I was using for a chemistry project. They decided to blow them up and place them all around my office. Every time they came back in, they would add a few more balloons or write and draw on them. One of the guys decided it would be fun to write "Happy Birthday" on them. For two whole weeks, people kept trying to wish me a happy birthday. I always had to tell them thanks but it was really just a severe case of boredom from one of my students... So here is the result... but you don't have to wish me a happy birthday. I've already had enough of them this year!