Snow days and stuff

Hello everyone, time for a blog entry before christmas, wouldn't you say? Last week was quite strange! 

The night mare started out Sunday with a lot of heavy snow falling down to the ground. When I came home from skating we lost electricity for about 5 hours and then it went on again. I went to bed with a little hope for a snow day monday. 

Monday we actually got a snow day. And it was needed. A huge snow storm came over us, you couldn't really see anything because of the snow. But I still went out in the cold to deliver the last christmas post to the people in Denmark! (It took me quite some time to go to the post office that actually was open even though the post office is just across the road...) There was a very quick wind at the same time as the snow was falling, so nobody went outside and everyone was inside. (Except for the poor people travelling who all got stuck in the snow.) Then the hydro went off again, this time not only for 5 hours, but until next day, Tuesday. Tuesday the wind continued, but it was sunny without snow, so around 10 am Oil Springs got their electricity back. Our heat in the house was electric, so it got VERY cold in the night in the house. Good thing that we had many blankets! Now it was up to the army, helicopters, and police to help the people stuck on the highway just beside Oil Springs. Though Tuesday was quite amusing for me, I went sledding with my friends. The roads outside were still white and it was difficult to get around, which led to the fact that we had a snow day Wednesday, too. It made me a bit sad, because I was supposed to sing at the Music Night for our school. 

Here is the link for an article...

Wednesday and Tuesday were a pretty sight though, here I can show you some pictures. 

Like the danes would say: "I regn og slud, i sne og frost, skal postten ud, når man er post!"

Ah, it can be a pretty sight. This photo is taken by another exchange student who lives very close to me.

This is how our window looked like Tuesday morning.

It also led to a little bit of boredom since we couldn't go anywhere and were stuck inside. So we played a lot of Sequence, and I drew a lot of drawings. I can show you what 5 hours of drawings and boredom lead to.

Haha.. Psycho-Bella 

What is the only thing I've always wanted to draw? Only the hard-core fans know who this is! Try to guess. ( I'll just point out that I am not a fan, her acting is not my cup of tea... but she is pretty.)

Anyways, Thursday I went happily to school to socialize and stuff. It made me happy and we hardly did anything in the classes because of confusion about the snow. Friday was the day of the christmas assebly, where all the schools bands played. It was pretty and a lot of my friends performed. After this, we confirmed that we are in Canada. We did this by watching a game between the teachers and the students of ice hockey. Because, what is more canadian than ice hockey? - I have to say, there must be a reason why Canada are Olympic champions.   They care to much about hockey. It is like Europeans with their soccer, Danes about handball, or Americans about basketball. But it is an interesting sport, and it is definitely more interesting than American football, so I am glad I chose Canada :) Saturday I went to a friends place for a movie night and playing Harry Potter! It has been a strange, but good week. 

If you guys are lucky, I will post a little christmas treat for you later this week before christmas. It is going to be surprise, but you will like it. 

Bella

Here is a little reminder for all of you; remember to think about other people who are not able to celebrate the peace at this time of the year. It has actually always been my favourite English christmas songs. 

A Christmas Carol, Hamlet (Toronto), Semi Formal

Christmas night 
Another fight 

Tears we cried, a flood 

Got all kinds of poison in 

Of poison in my blood 

I took my feet to Oxford Street 

Tried to right a wrong 

Just walk away, those windows say 

But I can't believe she's gone 

When you're still waiting for the snow to fall 

It doesn't really feel like Christmas at all 

Those Christmas lights
Light up the street
Down where the sea and city meet
May all your troubles soon be gone
Oh, Christmas lights, keep shining on

-Coldplay, Christmas Lights

Hi my dear followers and bloggers!
As mentioned in my last blog entry I've been very, very busy last week and I had barely time to do anything creative as making a blog entry. But now I definitely have the time, so here we go. Last week I had my final performances of  A Christmas Carol. Some of my friends came to watch, which really made me happy. I had never imagined getting to know so many nice and good friends here. Even though I did not have a big part, I did a lot of paint work for the set props, and I am just going to show you what I did. 

Some of the set. Nice paint work, eh?

From the left: Me, Megan, girl (?), Amanda, Deker after a good show  at 'Meet the Cast'

Just added this as a picture because I worked a lot on it. It took me some time I would say.

This thursday I went to see Hamlet, which is a Shakespeare-play, in Toronto. Before the show we went shopping a bit in the Eaton Mall, though I did not buy much. The play was brilliant, the actors were amazing and it really caught me by surprise. The play takes place in Denmark, and whenever they pronounced a danish name in English, it made my giggle. But it was very good; it had a sad ending though. On the way home it was -12 degrees celsius, and probably under 0 degrees celsius in the school bus, which was VERY cold. So I was shaking all the way home, and then when we made a stop, I was hungry because we were delayed. Then I bought some ice cream and strangely; BAM! I got warm again!

Even though it is freezing in- and outside the school bus you have to keep being happy as an exchange student, in of course, a Canada-hat. 

CN-Tower in the christmas mood

Friday was the day of my school's second dance of the school year, it is called Semi Formal. And with that they mean that you are not allowed to enter in casual clothes, but that you don't have to be as crazily dressed up as at Prom. I went with some of my cool friends and it was a really cool dance. Afterwards I went home to a friend's place and watched one of my favourite movies: The french movie called Le Faboulex destin d'Amélie Poulain. 

From the left: Madison, Lindsay, Kira, and me before the dance.

It is us again with full dresses on.

When you ask yourself why I put the lyrics from Coldplay's new christmas song on, it is simply because it is a nice way to express how I miss Denmark during this time period. Christmas in Canada is simply not the same as in Denmark. That is one of the reasons why I in my ISU (Independent Study Unit) -presentation in Foods made Ris ala Mande (danish rice pudding/christmas dessert.) It tasted pretty good and the presentation about danes and how they eat food went well, too. Nobody found the almond though. Here is a little picture of my 'Ris ala Mande.'

...But what I really wanted to tell is that December is a busy time. I am constantly on-the-go and barely have time to be creative with my drawings, talk to people in Denmark and so on. And I miss watching Danish christmas TV-shows. I feel so bad when thinking I won't be celebrating anything at Christmas Eve as we do in Denmark. And I miss the people in Denmark.
It is not that i do not like it here. I absolutely love it. But at this time of the year it is hard for me. To think I wont be with my own family, not dancing around the christmas tree and singing songs, making christmas decorations and danish christmas hearts with my class, writing german christmas cards to the people in Germany, baking with my mother, and so much more. 

Busier than ever

You all know that december is a busy month! Well for me it is going to be very, very busy. I really shouldn't be writing this since I am supposed to be sleeping, but I just came back from a very hectic rehearsal of "The Christmas Carol." I think we are all set for tomorrow and it was nice to try on the costumes. Later on, hopefully sunday, I will put on some cool pics from the play that we perform wednesday, thursday, friday, saturday, sunday. All that I have to say is, that I have enjoyed it very much. 

The rest of december I have to think about buying christmas presents for all the Canadians and I have a Christmas Music Night where I will sing four songs with my Vocal Class. So that will be interesting!

So what do you think? And I still have tons of assignments and a foods ISU presentation to present December the 7th. Oh my gosh. It is going to be a very stressful month. So I am deeply sorry if I wont be able to write that much in December. Cheers!! :)

Drama is all around

Today is it a PA day (the teachers are having a meeting an students are out of school) and I am having a very relaxed day today, so I figured I could tell about the last drama performance I was in this wednesday. Since Drama is one of my favourite subjects in the Canadian school system I really enjoyed it. 
The play was a drug awareness play and it was shown to people in grade 7 and 8 to make them aware of drugs (of course.) After the play they could ask us questions about drugs, the show, entering high school, etc. I could not really answer that many questions since I've only been in High School for about three months now (I am actually having my anniversary with Canada today: THREE MONTHS!) and I was not entirely sure they caught what I was saying because of my accent... Oh well... But the main performance went really well. 

My character was a stupid cheerleader who pressures an innocent nerd into drinking and later on he dies because of alcohol-driving. So yep, I played one of the evil people. People with accents are generally really evil. :-D

Today I am going to watch Harry Potter 7 which will be good, and I will go shopping for some new clothes since I really badly need some new... I do not think I've bought anything else than shoes to sign for my self in the three months I have been here. So I think that would be a good thing! The rest of the weekend will be about more DRAMA since we are approaching the dates where I will perform "A Christmas Carol" in the VPP (Victoria Playhouse Petrolia) with an incredible nice cast. And I really want to see it come into action because of my long and hard paint work. And because I get that nice dress to dance in. I will of course make a blog entry about it. Hope you are enjoying the snow in Denmark! Here it is not snowing at the time, though I've heard that it will today and later on next week... Let's see about that. One thing is for sure: It is really cold here!

Allison and I played the evil cheerleaders 

People being strange...

Kesenia and I... nice to have a break during the two performances!

For my friends in Canada

When you people read this blog entry, you would probably say: "Wait a minute... something has changed." Yes, yes it has. I thought it would be time to give the blog 'a new look.' As time goes by, I realize that something had to change. First of all; the look of this blog was made in Denmark, and somehow it did not feel Canadian enough for me. So here it is! I hope you guys like it. If not; please leave a comment and tell me!


So today I realized something really strange... It is funny how you start thinking in a school bus... but, I realized that I haven't talked about the wonderful people I've met here. I don't want to mention any names, but people reading this blog of my friends here in Canada know who they are. I want to dedicate this blog entry to them... Wauw, that sounded impressive. (: YOU ARE ALL AMAZING! 


I am feeling great. Even though everything here is getting more and more like back home in Denmark where you are at school and the troubles are all about homework, it is still great. I am trying to make an experience out of every day, even though it may seem hard. Because; Everyday is a new day and there will be ups and downs no matter what through a year! But it is up to my self to figure the problems and to make the best out of the day!


If any, and I mean really any, out there, thinking about going on exchange and have any questions, just ask me! I am the master of answering questions!

10th and 11th of November (Toronto and Birthday!)

Hi fellow bloggers and readers! Today is a fog day and I figured it would be an awesome day to write yet another blog entry since lots has happened the past few days. Two days ago I went to Toronto with my Foods Class. I had so much fun with my kitchen family and my wonderful friends. We first went to Kensington Market, then we were shopping at Queen Street and the Eaton Mall and then, we went to the Royal Fair of Canada. 

Old and new. Beautiful. 

Cameron, Tyler, me... :) 

CN-Tower. (Which I had not seen before.)

Chocolate Addict shop at Kensington Market. A wonderful place. For the danes: It reminds me a little bit of Christiania. Just with a little bit more stores and a little less Marijuana.

Too many news...

Harry Potter, Harry Potter! 

Walking on a memorial....

What a wonderful mix of cultures, wouldn't you say?

To oue Glorious Dead. Thank you for everything

Cameron... being strange...

Yesterday was my birthday. I was really not planning anything big because I thought I had musical rehearsal, but then when my friend Trisha suddenly came off my school bus at the same place as me I was a bit surprised. And then two more of my friends came over, Sam and Kyla, and we had a mini-party. That is how I like them. I have some super nice friends! :-) It was a really nice day. 

Happy 16 th Birthday Bella! (Trisha, Bella, Kyla)

My hostmum made a wonderful cake (She knows how much I like Oreos)

I know I look pretty stupid, but, thought it was nice anyways.... :)

I don't know how much I keep repeating myself on this blog: Thank you all so much for reading. It means the world to me. I am having a wonderful experience, and it keeps getting better being over here. I can only say one thing: Go on exchange yourself too! It is wonderful. 

Getting used to a culture

Yes, I would say it was about time I can officially say I've got used to most canadian things, such as touching each other's hair because it looks 'soft,' or eating french fries with Putin in the caf, or the fact that it is getting really, really cold here. 

In case someone is reading this blog because they have in mind to become an exchange student; this is very important for you. 
I can recommend going on exchange right now, even though I'm still missing 8 months of my exchange. It is the most wonderful thing to do. When I'm just thinking how confused I was about all things before I got here; it seems like everything has got a more realistic picture, if you can follow me, eh? Going on exchange confirms things: Remember I wrote in a blog entry before I got here how nervous I was to be alone in the french airport? This does not scare me anymore. Or the fact travelling alone. Because, really, if you have a nice brain capacity, nothing will go wrong in an airport. And there will always be people around to help you. 
In two and a half months, I feel I have grown inside me. I've definitely become more open to other people here in the world and explored new sides of people. And it was the break I needed from the danish school. And I feel so lucky to actually have got this gigantic chance. It is not that I am learning that much more english, I can start feeling that my accent is disappearing, but my grammar is still horrible, haha!  Everything is getting more and more stabile for me; with friends, family and school. I'm not feeling home sick in the moment, everything is just fine. Let me tell you about the past few weeks...

Me standing outside my beautiful home here in Canada

My beautiful walk-in closet with pictures from friends, drawings (and no I'm not patriotic because there is a pic of the danish queen, this is simply a joke between my canadian friends and I...)

Everything here has british names... it is crazy: London, Chatham, Stratford, etc...

Ah well, a clear sign that fall is over and the start of winter: Bringing the leaves together ( it snowed the other days, this was the only day to do it..)

Here is a drawing I'm a bit proud of for you... Finally had a bit time left to draw again. It felt great.

This is the memorial of the dead soldiers of the world wars in Oil Springs. This Sunday there was a nice ceremony to honour soldiers fighting for their country and for a better world. A very nice tradition. You could learn somethings fellow Danes!!

This picture is from Halloween when I tried to carve a pumpkin. It ended up with the fact that I had to use a saw and a electronic drill, because the pumpkin was so HARD.

This is some wall painting random exchange students once made on our school. I'm planning to put a danish flag on the
bottom where the is missing one beside Japan!

Halloween Weekend / PARTYS :)

Hi fellow readers!

I don't think I've said enough how much I love the people reading this blog! You are all awesome!

This weekend has been craazy, and it all started out friday at school were I was in the school in my halloween costume. It is strange to sit in a munk costume and at the same time learn stuff... I went for the last time to work in the Haunted House, and we were so busy that night, argh!

I had a sleepover with my friends from Oil Springs, we watched "Nightmare on Elmstreet," it was probably the most scary movie I've ever seen. I -from now on - hate Freddie Krueger. 

Saturday was at a halloween party/goodbye party for Myriam, a swiss exchange student whom I'm really going to miss (but we have the deal...!) She was unfortunately only here for three months.It was really funny, and I was dressed as a jedi - haha! Here is some pics:

Lindsay, me, Aria and Andres as the creepy clown behind us

Amber, Aria, me, Kyla

Lindsay and Aria (the jedis) killing me (the sith)

Today I went for another goodbye party/halloween party, for Aria. It was so sad to say goodbye to them. But; I think I will survive. I also experienced my first snow in this area this year. I was so happy! We were also sitting in a hot tub, it was really nice and warm while everything else was cold! I'll put the pictures from this up later.
Hope you are all feeling well. It is kinda funny, I haven't been sick here at all! That is actually cool!
Thank you again for reading the blog, it is really special to me that I have people from all over the world reading it
Bella

Other stuff

I havent told you guys about all other stuff that I'm doing in my spare time here in October.
Well, first of all I am volunteering for a Haunted House in Petrolia where I help scare smaller children and also adults. It is really funny and you really get some acting going!

This is actually me playing a scary clown.

This is from another day where I'm not playing a clown. Just a random girl who get pulled down in a bed. This is a couple of my friends (sorry if it seems misleading by calling them their surnames, but that is what we call eachother.)
Trisha (Law), Me, Greer, Sam(antha), Burden.

Me (clown), Burden, Greer

Yes, I know, Scary pictures!


Other than that, I'm in a christmas musical production. Yes, of course it is "A Christmas Carol." A very british musical! I'm almost only a dancer and I only say like three lines, but it is definitely good enough for me. I've got a really nice costume and my fellow dancers are insanely nice.


I'm practising a lot of singing and piano in the moment, not only because of my midterm performance (which I will write about after I've done it,) but also because of my own progress. I wont say which song I will sing for the performance in case someone from the school is reading this blog, it is a surprise you know!


I'm joining the volleyball team soon, as it starts in november. I'm pretty excited!
And now it is off to bed, but; I will write again very soon!

Canada, eh?

I promised to make a blog entry about the cultural differences between Canada and USA, and I guess this was the right time to do it. So first of all I would start of with some stereotypes that some americans actually have about canadians:
- Canadians live in igloos
- When you cross the border from the states, there will be snow everywhere, even if it's July
- Everybody in Canada can speak french
- Canadians have bears in their backyard
- I could continue....


All this, of course, is not true. Yes, there is many people in Canada who can speak french because of french immersion or just the french classes in school. Yes, it will eventually snow in Canada, but only in the winter/spring. But no, canadians do not live in igloos with bears in their backyard. Then there is some stereotypes that are pretty much correct: 
- The Maple Leaf is seen everywhere
- Maple syrup is eaten all over Canada
- The fall is a-m-a-z-i-n-g


Canada is not the united states. Yes, there is a lot of american stuff here; Wal-mart, McDonalds, Sears, etc. But somehow even that is turned canadian; but how can you determine that a product is canadian and not imported from it's big brother 'the states'? Well, it is very simple: Every product is in english and french. 
Canadians actually have an accent. If it is in french or english, there is an accent. How can you imagine the accent; Well, think of a mix between british/scottish and american english. When words like House, about, around, is being spoken; I always start giggling because it is sounds so sweet. 
Then there is a difference between the hospitality here and in America and Europe; Canadians attend to open up for more people and are so nice to everyone. (There will, of course, always be strange people.) 
The currency here is a dollar just as in america. But on the dollar; there is the british queen. (Canada is in the commonwealth.) In fact; the dollar bill look far more like the european Euro, than an american dollar. 
Then there is the fact that canadians write in microsoft word in British english. This is because a lot of the words written are more similiar to british than american. As an example, the word colours in canadian are spelled with an OU. In american english it is spelled like: 'Color.'
Canada is divided into provinces and territories, not states as in America. I'm in the province of Ontario, the province with the biggest population. 
Here is some nice pictures from my trip to Stratford (to see Shakespeare's As you like it and for SHOPPING in the school time) last tuesday:

The lake in Stratford

Aria, Myriam, and me (hugging a tree.)

My gosh, it is just so beautiful

Arh! The leaves! (Me and Yvette)

Canada for me is:
TIM HORTONS! THE MAPLE LEAF! THE HOSPITALITY! THE FALL! THE SMALL-TOWN-COMMUNITY! TORONTO! PROVINCES! INDIANS! RACOONS AND SKUNKS! THE GREAT LAKES! THE ROCKIES! MAPLE SYRUP!
I'm not in the United States. I'm in Canada, EH?

Homecoming and Thanksgiving weekend

Time for a blog entry, eh? It has been a while I would say. So anyways,
This weekend was truly a very nice one. It all started out with homecoming this friday. In the morning I started dressing up in the school colours (red and white) and came on the school bus surrounded by people in red and white. 

A friend and I in the school bus. Yes, it is already dark in the morning outside.

So, when I came up in the school I met a couple of my friends who were all dressed up pretty crazy. We then had to have our classes, but only for half a period each. In drama we just made drama exercises, in foods we made pumpkin pies for the last time this week (we sold about 350 at homecoming), in World History we watched the Mummy (educational?) , and in Vocal Music I taught my class about danish music. I actually think a lot of people liked it. 

Our wonderful/beautiful pumpkin pies. I am so proud :)

Steven in Vocal Music class. See what I mean about dressing up crazy?

Crazy friends in the cafeteria

Anyways, after the classes we had lunch and the Pep Rally. I did not really get the idea of it, but it was so funny because of people cheering like monkeys in red and white. After the Pep Rally we had some spare time including the School Parade, which I was so lucky to be in. A bit time after the parade the football game began, I didn't understand the game, but it was funny to watch. 

Pep Rally in the school gym

Random guy in strange outfit on the parade

The school Parade

Kyla, Lilly and I watching the football game (which I'm pretty sure our team lost.)

After the game I went home to Kyla where she taught me how to ride a horse. I am very thankful! (But I'm not sure how good I was...) Afterwards we had dinner and prepared ourselves for the dance. The dance was crazy; It was absolutely one of the bigger culture shocks I've had here. I imagined people dancing like you see in the american movies; but the canadians caught me by surprise, it was a monkey party! But it was funny! 

It is me! On a horse! Unbelievable!

Kyla and I before we went in to the dance

Myriam, Andres, me, Kyla, Aria at the dance

Aria (french exchange student) and I trying to dance like the canadians. I don't think we succeeded.

Saturday I was at the Brigden fair, and I will just show you some pictures: 

Brigden Fair Parade. This is the flags of the different provinces in Canada.

Scare Crow on a horse?

Sheila's, Kyla's and my Raisin Pie achieved a first place in the Brigden Fair. Thank you Food Class.

Couldn't help taking a photo of the scottish bag pipes.

Sunday we had the thanksgiving dinner; it was a delicious turkey. Some family members and friends came over to eat. It was a very nice day and the weather was awesome compared to the fact that it was October and I'm in Canada. And I know what you people are thinking; Do they have thanksgiving in October? Yes, yes we do. Canada celebrates thanksgiving one month before the americans. I'm thinking a lot about you people back in Denmark. I hope everybody is doing great and enjoying their life! The next blog entry will probably be about the differences between american and canadian culture. I will write again soon!