A long weekend...

My long weekend started earlier. I went to see a movie to Ontario place with my teachers and classmates Friday morning and we had lunch together, afterwards.



After reading some books at the Reference Library, I headed to Fee's house to see my friends. It is always good to chat with friends there. I stuck around there till 5 pm and went back home and grabbed one more jacket. I met Emily, who is one of my ISM(International Student Ministry) friends, at Finch passenger pick up place nearby home. We had dinner together and I helped her write Korean on the card which she will send to her Korean boyfriend's Mom in Korea. After dinner, we went to a school where Emily's friends play basketball and badminton once a month. I played basketball a bit and spent most of the time teaching Emily Korean and got back home at around 11 pm.

The second day of the long weekend, Saturday, I went for a skate to Port Credit with Ed. It was fun and pretty tough because there were some rough parts of the course and it was about 45k. We ended up having the best popsicle I have ever had, kk. Thanks Ed. After skating, I picked up some Korean food at Korea town near Christie and went back home.

On Sunday, I took the first subway at 9 am to go to Dufferin mall where Jacky was supposed to pick me up. I hadn't had breakfast yet, so I got a hamburger and fries at Macdonalds in Walmart. We headed to Harriston where the Provincial and the Pan Am trial was taking place. It was a two hour drive. We got there at around 12 pm. It was fun to watch races. After all the races and podium, Candy, Eric, Jacky and I went to a Korean restaurant near North York Center and had a nice meal.

The last day of the long weekend, Monday, I went for a skate to Hamilton. We usually skate there on Sunday but due to the race on Sunday, we decided to skate there on Monday. A bunch of skaters showed up and enjoyed skating and nice weather.
Because I got blisters from Saturday skating, I felt some pain on my foot and found some blood came out after two laps of skating, so I didn't go for the third lap while some did. I just sat on a bench and enjoyed the scenery and watched Holly, who is Stephen's daughter, playing with Candy.



while enjoying something not related to skating, Mike came back and told us that Jacky went down. He clicked skates with Ed and went down. When I got there, he was still lying there. Paramedics came and took him to the hospital nearby. I got an email from him later that day. He said he is okay. Inline skating is an exciting sport but sometimes it reminds us that we are doing a risky sport.

It was quite a long weekend considering what I did and I am so happy I wasn't a mouse potato at all for such a long weekend.

The skating day trip to Rondeau Provincial Park.

Candy picked me up at around 8 am (May 13th) and we headed to Rondeau Provincial Park. It was a three hour drive from my place. When we got there, Eric and Jacky looked like they were in the middle of break after some skating. Candy and I put our skates on and we started skating all together. The trail, which goes around the park, is so smooth, and it was perfect weather to skate. As I skated, I enjoyed fresh air and the sight. The trail was 15k long. We ended up all together for the first lap.


Eric told us we took a turn for pulling after 50 left leg stride right after we started skating for the second lap. When it was my turn, I just paid all attention to counting strides and focus on basic techniques, but I didn't notice that the pace was not good enough to skate all together. Thus, Candy dropped out and skated back to the starting point, where our camping site was. I pulled the pack again and I kept the same pace as before. However, I didn't think about the fact that Jacky had skated a lot since last Thursday. The pace could be tough for him. Thus, Jacky dropped out as well. Eric and I waited for him for a while but he didn't seem to join us again. We just kept skating, just two of us. We pulled the pack longer than before. Skating behind Eric was quite good. His cadence and mine were almost the same. So we ended up with quite a fast lap. Technically, I didn't focus on DP because I recently noticed that I lose some power when I push with my left leg because I transfer my weight to the right side before I finish my push. Basically, it is brutal. The last moment of push is very important; it makes most of the speed when we skate. Moreover, my left leg is stronger than my right one. As I skated with Eric, I just focused on fixing that problem and I felt really good. In general, I really enjoyed skating there. After 2 laps of skating, we had lunch. I brought Bulgogi and Kimchi, so we had Korean cuisine, kk. After the long lunch, we took a long walk and hit two beaches. Rondeau Provincial Park looks like a small peninsula surrounded by Erie lake, which is one of the Great Lakes. The first one we went to faces to the land, so it has a quite calm atmosphere.

The other side of Rondeau looks quite different because it faces to the main lake. It appears to be the ocean. There are wind and waves and a long wide beach. The lake is so huge, so I couldn't see anything from the other side but horizon. Since I came to Canada, I have realized that I love nature. Whenever I spend time in nature, I feel so calm and comfortable.

After the long walk, we just sat down and talked, and Jacky started packing. When he finished packing, we talked about skating techniques for a while, and then Jacky and I took off at almost 7 pm and we got back to Toronto at around 10 pm.
It was quite a long and memorable day. I really enjoyed skating and everything there. I hope I can go there again this season.

The photos:click here

an ordinary day...

I got back home earlier today. It was an ordinary day for me. There was a class in the morning, and then I worked at school afterwards. I stayed at school till 5 pm and went grocery shopping at the Food basics nearby home. Oh, it reminds me I bought an ice cream. I'll go get some right now, kk. It's so sweet~. Back to the story, bascially, I was supposed to busy today because I have another class in the afternoon which starts at 3:30 and ends 6:00 pm. However, I've been skipping that class and staying at the school for the morning class instead of going to the afternoon class. I wanted to be busy, so I registered for two class a day, but I found I can not handle two classes a day because I also have to work. I was trying to work in the evening but after finishing two classes, I was exhausted and didn't have any energy left to work at home. This is my excuse. I chose a little of relax rather than being busy, I paid $120 for the afternoon class, though. There is another reason I've been skipping the afternoon class. It is just boring and there are many students who want to get their a piece of writing corrected, so I should wait for my turn. I don't want to say this but the teacher is just soso and she isn't a native speaker. Moreover, her pronunciation is a little bit weird to me. Such as, she pronounce "all right" like "all light" which she says hundred times every class. As an English teacher, that is brutal. If she weren't an English teacher, it wouldn't be a problem and I wouldn't mind at all. Thus, I chose staying at school for the morning class and review what I've studied and work and then do something else in the evening like a skating practice or other Free ESL class which I really enjoy ( because of less pressure and no homework).
Anyway, tomorrow, it is going to be a little bit busier than today. The class in the morning, work, the skating practice, and ISM. I like my Thursday schedule. hehe.

the nice and easy practice...and ISM

It has been a nice weather. It's a good news for skaters like us. I went to the WT track yesterday for the Thursday regular practice of TISC. As I approached that track, I saw one skater skating on the track. I noticed who it was. It is actually a funny thing. I couldn't even see his face but I noticed him by how he skates. Anyway, weather was so nice and track condition wasn't too bad except many twigs all over the track.
While I warmed up, I saw Travis on skates. It was so nice to see him again. He said he rolled skates for two laps last Sunday. I hope he sooner joins us for practice.
I was told to skate with Morgan. We did a five laps drill. for the first 2 laps, we speeded up and sprinted for one lap and cooled down for the last two laps. I couldn't keep up with Morgan for the interval lap, but I just kept skating and did my own drills focusing on DP for the most of time and skated with others occasionally. From the last practice I don't tie my laces on my skates because I feel pain on my ankle and I also feel comfortable skating with loose skates except sprinting.
I saw a couple of new skaters yesterday. It is always fun to skate with more skaters. However, we can not skate on WT any more, which is located downtown, that is only track accesible by public transportaion to get more skaters from Toronto. The other track where we practice is not accessable by TTC. Every time we practice, I have to get a ride from someone. I always appreciate them who give me a ride. However, I found sometimes uncomfortable because I lose my time to do other things. I wish we find another track downtown so that skaters in Toronto can show up and skate with us and I also don't need to get a ride from someone. I will see what it is going to happen. It is just out of my hands
After practice, I headed to the church where ISM meeting takes place every Thurday, It ends at 8:30 PM. I hurried so that I can see my friends before they leave. I made it and went to the Second cup near the church with some of them and had a fun chatting. I met one girl who lives close to my place. I found she is so funny and always smiles. I like that kind of person. Hopefully, I get along with her.

TOEFL test, one month to go~

International students whose first language is not English have to prove their English efficiency to enter university here. There are a couple of tests which they can write for that. I chose TOEFL(Test Of English as a Foreign Language) and have been taking TOEFL class for a month. There is one month left for that class because I am going to write the TOEFL test on June, 2nd. I have just one classmate from Colombia (Our school is quite small). Recently, she finds the class very difficult and seems to give up, yeah, new TOEFL test (IBT) is quite tough to get a good score. The score I need is 106 out of 120. It is very high score and I think I am not that level yet but someday I will be. This time, I will do my best and see where I am. I have been studying English for one and half years. I didn't take any English class in a private school and a tutoring session in Korea and over ten years of studying English in school isn't helping because when I first got here, I was not able to speak English at all, just greeting people was all I could do at that time.
I am kind of in slump these days. Preparation of TOEFL is tough and I realized I am not ready yet. It makes my goal vague. However, I am not giving up. When the time is right, I will be on the rail. If I dream it, I will get it.