lurning

i feel like i have finally learned how to learn. i don't really have a better way to explain it. i feel like in high school and university i never really learned anything. that's not the best thing to say but really, i learned enough to pass an exam or do a project or write an essay and then it was gone. but something happened during my practicum and into this french program. all of a sudden i can just be like "hmm, i better learn that" or "hmm, i'd like to learn that" and there it is. i taught romeo and juliet like i'd been studying it all my life. i just taught myself conditionnel passe because i missed that day in class and had to puzzle it out. no big deal. anyway. it feels good.

and french is awesome, ps.
writing in english is a super weird experience. none of this makes sense to me.

run run

as we speak jenna and i are in our hotel room in halifax. jenna is texting and watching miss congeniality 2. i am eating a mcflurry (i had my one bite so i am pretty satisfied) and catching up on baseball news. yeah blue jays.

this morning we ran the blue nose marathon. well, jenna ran the blue nose marathon and i ran/walked the half marathon. i actually finished this time so that's an accomplishment in itself. and my knee feels great! but i have this cold and i was coughing so hard i kept puking in my mouth. yum yum. the first ten km were awesome. the last eleven were the death of me. not literally. figuratively.

today we ventured a bit around nova scotia. to peggy's cove, lunenberg, mahone bay, and some other random places. everything is like you'd except, or maybe nice. the houses are oldish and lovely, painted a huge assortment of lovely colours. we trekked around, ate lobster dinner, discussed our post race emotions (jenna = relief, happiness at having a wicked time / taryn = indifference), and ate a few random treats that we felt okay about since we did a pretty good amount of exercise. read: mcdonald's. nova scotia is an absolutely gorgeous place. if i ever do a master's program or anything like that i would really think about heading this way. it might just be the place for me. and i might say that about every place i've ever traveled.

and the french! oh man. i got a weekend pass out of the program but it took a good two days before i could understand what people were saying because i kept listening for french and i could not understand english. imagine what i'll be like in 4 more weeks. but yes, it's going really well. it's super hardcore but i'm in intermediate 3, which is pretty good, and it's all french all the time. except maybe in my room with my roommate or the odd english word you just can't find a way to explain through 15 minutes of charades. i really love it though. extra love. everyone is sooo nice and i love french and i'm learning poi and it's just a great time. i'm gonna be a french pro, maybe. and then i'll go to china.

okay that's all for now.
i have a feeling that tomorrow i will not even be able to walk. that's a very real possibility.

also. at this hotel they have cucumber water. just water with a bunch of cucumbers in it. it is my new beverage of choice. oh yes.

okay that's really all.

immersion

i'm leaving tomorrow, in the wee hours of the morning, for nova scotia. apparently i won't be able to speak a word of english for the five weeks i'm there - minus the time i sneak away to halifax to adventure with jenna and "run" a half marathon. i'm in it for the t-shirt. i have no idea what to expect. i'm sure there are people out there who could enlighten me but i kinda like it this way. my basement floor is totally covered with the "bare essentials". i always liked the idea of being a light packer but i've never been able to master it. and i always envy the people who can travel with what looks like a really small bag but seem to have an endless supply of outfits. i'm just doomed to be an overpacker. or, occasionally, an extreme underpacker - something that has led to disappointments in the past. long story short, i am turning this packing into a much bigger deal than it probably needs to be BUT i am going for five weeks which is quite a while. or it at least seems to be when i'm on this end of it.

i've spent the last week poolside and my whole body has a case of prickly heat. i hate the prickly heat. even the pool can't cure it. but it was a cooker here today. i do love that about kelowna. a lot. i have also begun to use it as an excuse to not go for runs! that is so bad. but it is so hot i can't even handle it. i went for a run the other day and came back all red faced and wrongly assumed that it was just from exertion (i get red when i exercise like no one you've ever seen) but nope, it was a sunburn. but i got a nike plus thing. one of those little things that goes in your shoe and records all sorts of info about your runs. and i really like it. it's neat to see how it's going. i haven't logged too many miles on it yet (like i said, poolside) but i'm excited to put it through the paces in nova scotia. and i am excited for the ocean!

oh god am i excited for the ocean!

before moving to kelowna i spent 6 years living on island, many of those years living a few short blocks from the water, and i'm really missing it. i didn't realize it until i was in vancouver and the sight of the sea just got me. it has a power. i don't know what it is, but there is something about it. i've seen the atlantic before, but it was in florida and something about that just doesn't count for me. i want to see the north atlantic. the titanic atlantic. i cannot wait.

i'll keep you posted on my adventures.
maybe in french, maybe not.

tmax

i'm facing this dilemma between starting a new blog as i start a new chapter of my life or keeping this blog as a way to document all the growth that has occurred since i set out at 18. it is a tough call. i think i'll mix it up. i feel that this blog, as great as it has been in the past, has come to limit me. it's purely psychological, of course, but the idea of a refresh is appealing. the blog posts here won't disappear, i have them all and looking back at them is continually enlightening. i'll let you know if there is ever a new link to add to your favorites. it will probably still be called taryntothemax, i don't think i can part with that.

in other news, i went for a run today (less than 3 weeks until i am scheduled to run a half marathon in halifax, i'd really hate to go 0 for 2). it felt really good, despite a weird attack of asthma breathing. my knee feels good, i just need to log some miles and get my head in the game. seriously, my head is not in the game at all and i am realizing that this is 90% to blame for my running failure (the other 10% i am attributing to my knee). that's exciting. i leave for nova scotia in less that two weeks. for five whole glorious weeks. i can't wait. there was a time in my life when five weeks would have felt like an ETERNITY but now it just feels like a weekend. it would probably feel more substantial except i am going to china for TWO WHOLE YEARS. now that is an ETERNITY. and i can't wait!

b.ed.

as i drove out of the parking lot of the school on friday i had this intense feeling of disbelief and exhilaration. it just seems so unreal that everything i've worked towards for the last 6 years was over, and it ended in the exact same way that every other school day has ended since january. i cleaned up my desk, packed up my bag, hopped in my car, and cruised up the hill home. but that was it. it was done. i still can't quite believe it. i feel like there will never be the words i need to fully express this feeling. it's part relief, part disbelief, part mind-boggle, part sadness, part jubilation, part this and part that. it's done. i just can't believe that it's done. i'm done.