Sunday, April 22, 2012

I'm still alive!

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted. Ever since we got back from our trip things have been very busy. But in a good way! Here's a quick run down of what's been happening in my life:

Work: The last 2 weeks of work have been insane. I've been doing some important experiments for my paper and a grant for the lab. Some days have been long hours (8 am - 8 pm) but mostly it's just that the days have been intense. Even if I'm only there for 8 hours, there are days I can't find time for a lunch break! But next week is looking much more reasonable, with only a couple experiment heavy days.

Family: Evan's Mom flew out from Toronto to celebrate Passover with us this year. We had a really good time but after 6 days of eating out (in a row) and visiting family I was ready for a break! Evan's family is great but very intense and high-energy. I need a bit of quiet time to relax and reflect to feel like myself, so sometimes being around people all the time (especially intense people) makes me feel a bit stressed. (It's funny, I consider myself an extrovert but this makes me sound like an introvert...) But I did escape to the gym a couple times to get in a good workout so that helped. No matter what, family is very important and it was very special that we got to spend the holidays with them!

Here is our table set for our Passover Seder.

And Evan and his Mom: 

 Knitting: I've recently rediscovered my knitting hobby. I am a very basic knitter - I have made scarves, snoods (i.e. infinity scarves), dishcloths, and hats - but I enjoy it! It gives me something "productive" to do when I watch TV in the evenings. I am currently making a few more dishcloths (I can always use more - they are really nice!!) and I'm going to start tonight on a baby hat for my boss's new baby boy.

Instructional Skills Workshop: Another reason I have been so busy lately - I am taking a workshop at UBC to gain teaching experience and learn new teaching skills. It's 3 full Saturdays in April; yesterday was the second day. It's an excellent workshop, very worthwhile. There are 2 facilitators and only 12 participants so its a really intimate group. Each day we have some large group sessions where we learn about different teaching techniques and small group sessions where we each present a 10 min mini-lesson. Then we get written, verbal, and video feedback from our lessons. It's very interesting to watch myself teach on camera. Overall it's an excellent experience and I'm really glad I'm doing it, especially since...

Job Interview: I had a job interview for a Biology Instructor position at Langara College this past Friday! The whole thing happened rather fast - last Wednesday I went for an "information interview" with the Assistant Head of the Biology department and he encouraged me to apply for this position (which had closed the day before). So I went home that night and put together my resume and cover letter for a teaching position (before I just had a CV, appropriate for academic research - I haven't applied for a "real job" since high school!!) and sent it to him the next day. Then Wednesday they asked me to come in for an interview on Friday! I gave a 10 min mini-lecture and then they asked me questions for about 45 min. There were 6 people on the hiring committee so it felt like a real interview. So now I'm just waiting to see if I get the job! I would be teaching one section of Pathophysiology to nursing students from May to August. It would be just part time - I would still work full time at my current job, so it would mean a lot more work for me, but would be a great step forward for my future career.

Walking: Evan and I have started a new tradition of going for a walk on Sunday mornings. Last Sunday we walked to Queen Elizabeth Park and today we walked to Granville Island. It's great to spend some time together, get some exercise, and enjoy the nice weather we've been having!!

The view from Seasons in the Park at Queen E.


The Cherry Blossoms are in bloom right now. So gorgeous!!

 
 Me in the tree!

Down by Granville Island

I am going to try not to have such a blog hiatus from now on. I hate the idea that weeks of my life go by without a quick update. I think part of the problem is I when I think about doing a post, I feel it needs to be long, detailed, and complete. Well for the next little bit I'm just going to try to make sure I post a couple times a week, even if it's just short and sweet.

2 comments:

  1. YAY!!! Glad you're back. FANTASTIC pics!!!! And lets get those "sushi tour 2012" made!!! :)

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