This year I'm really proud of my music students: the ones who were doing a Royal Conservatory Examination (RCM exam) all had more than 80%!!

Even the young Grade 1 Piano student, who was doing her first exam, had an 81%! (which is considered "high honours" by their standards).

I am still waiting for the result of my Grade 3 Voice student who was so nervous that she (apparently) started crying when she was unsure how to answer a question... I hope that this happened at the end of the examination and that the jury was nice!

It makes me proud to see good result after such hard work. The parents tell me, "it's because they have a good teacher", but the good job is 80% the responsability of the students who must practice and study regularly (every day when possible).

Teaching is so much fun. Not only I get the chance to give by teaching, but I also learn (receive) from the students who all understand different things in a different way. It forces me to clarify my mind, and often to understand better my own knowledge: many times I know something without thinking, but to explain it I also need to understand.

Parfois je me demande si je vais vraiment m'installer quelque part dans ma vie.

J'ai réalisé récemment que cette année est ma 10eme au Canada, et cela veut dire aussi que c'est dans ce pays que j'ai vécu le plus longtemps d'à filé... Oui, je dis toujours que j'ai "grandit en France", mais dans le fond je n'ai vécu que 9 ans dans la jolie petite maison de Castres!

Je ne sais pas si c'est vraiment important d'avoir un sentiment d'appartenance, si ça fait vraiment partie de la personalité, mais dans mon cas je me suis souvent sentie soit fière de mon histoire de polyglotte-globbetrotter, soit déstabilisée. Je pense que j'ai besoin de prendre racines quelque part, je ne sais où. J'espère que Strasbourg sera cette place, mais j'en ai aucune idée. Ce qui est sûr pour l'instant est que je ne me sent pas à l'aise ici, à moins d'être dans une métropole au Canada, les autres villes sont considérées "petites", même si à St. Catharines vivent 120 000 habitants! On s'y sent comme dans un trop grand village, les seules activités sont le cinéma, louer des films, ou aller dépenser son argent au centre d'achat :-(

Pourtant, ce qui me dérange le plus n'est pas que je m'ennuie (en fait, si, un peu) parce-que je m'occupe (à travailler beaucoup, jouer du piano, aller me promener au bord du lac ou à Niagara-Falls, ou passer une journée pour me ressourcer à Toronto), mais c'est parce que je suis continuellement frustrée du non respect pour les cyclistes ou les piétons. Les routes et les rues ne sont pas amménagées pour autre chose que les voitures! Souvent, en allant jusqu'à l'école de musique, je marche sur le trottoir qui disparaît tout à coup (c'est pas de la magie, c'est juste qu'ils l'ont pas contruit jusqu'à la fin)... dans une rue résidentielle! Et ça c'est dans les cas où il y a effectivement un trottoir, pour aller au bureau (j'y vais à vélo) là il n'y en a quarément pas du tout: ni de trottoir, ni assez d'espace pour le vélo. Alors je roule en plein milieu de la chaussé, voilà! Gniarc, gniarc!

The time had come, once more, to go visit the Consulate of France in Toronto. They had sent me an email to inform that I had 3 months to go pick up my National Identity card (carte nationale d'identité), otherwise it would be distroyed (they don't want to send it via snail mail: not trusworthy!). Since I had to ask for a day off anyway, D and I figured we might as well visit the Consulate of Italy for him: he needs to renew his Italian passport in case we go to Europe one day soon...

D and I browsed through internet to see which documents he needed to present at the consulate. Unfortunatly, the website we found was out of service, down, not working. So, D tried to phone them to ask his questions. After 3 tries ringing in the empty space, he finally got someone to answer.
"I need to renew my passport, what do I need to bring? Do I have to take an appointment?"
"No need to take an appointment, just show up during our public hours with your old italian passport and a proof of your canadian citizenship" (uh?). Ok.

Early Tuesday morning we woke up, the bus we took, and a little before 10 o'clock in the morning we were walking in the street of the big city. Not much to tell about my visit in French soil (aka the Consulate of France, at the 22nd floor of a nice modern building), the french bureaucracy is complicated, but at least the job gets done.

Now we had to take the subway, we hurried a little because we were approaching 11 o'clock and the only information we had from the Italian Consulate is that they are open from 9 to 12 mornings only. The consulate is an old building in Chinatown. Nothing against the Asians or Italians, but let's only say that it's contrasting. Or maybe not, if we get to talk about chaos...

First, when we arrive at the front door, there was a line... (reminded me of Argentina)
"Sono chiusi?" (is it closed?) we asked.
"No, si entra solo uno a la volta" (no, we only enter one at a time).
There was a security man searching every each person as we entered, like in airports. I understand that Italy is part of the European Union, that a consulate is a official building, etc. , but why was there no checking before entering the Consulat de France? Anyway, after about 10 minutes (or 20?) of waiting in line, we finally get speak to the lady at the front desk (in Italian since she doesn't speak English), who after asking D why he was here, said "did you bring your pictures?"...

There were at least two dozen people waiting like us. We were all sitting in a large room with no air conditioning, nobody knew for how long. After at least two hours a voice started calling names... I could see many confused faces that seemed to be wondering where to go (there were many doors to choose from).

At least, the World Cup was on a big screen TV (how could italians not watch soccer, il calcio!?) and I got the chance to watch the match Costa-Rica vs. Poland. :)

After much waiting, at least seeing someone, but having almost nothing done... We finally got time for acting like tourists!!

The weather was fabulous, in fact just ideal to go up the CN Tower (D had never been there before).

I got it!! First try! YEAY!

Je l'ai eu! Du premier coup! YOUPIE!

When I first moved out of my parents' house, I lived for a year in a quite old apartment in Montreal with two colocs (= "roomates" sounds wierd to me because we were sharing more than a room (!)... We had a bedroom each, then sharing the living room / kitchen / bathroom).

Happy anniversary to us.

Le mercredi j'enseigne à la maison. Ma première élève est une mulâtre (mélange noir & blanc) d'origine africaine-américaine/irlandaise/espagnole dont j'ai déjà rencontré la grand-mère qui vient de Galicia, la deuxième est d'origine chinoise, la troisième est blonde d'origine dutch... N'est-ce-pas fantastique?

Tout ça pour dire que c'est très normal au Canada (non, non je suis pas blasée)... ou alors c'est parce que j'ai un don pour attirer les différences ethniques!

There is something I couldn't understand. Many sources say that Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé sang this duet for the opening of the Olympic Games in Barcelona. Yet the Olympic Games in Barcelona were in 1992, and Mercury died of aids the year before. I remember watching it on TV from France as the hymn for the olympic games... and I remember wondering why we were not there! --After all, we use to go spend weeks in the Pyrénées during the summer, it wasn't thaaat far from where we use to live... hum, just a couple of hours driving? :)-- The sad answer to my questioning I found it there.

I had this perfect dream
Un sueño me envolvió
This dream was me and you
Tal vez estás aquí
I want all the world to see
Un instinto me guiaba
A miracle sensation
My guide and inspiration
Now my dream is slowly coming true

The wind is a gentle breeze
El me habló de ti
The bells are ringing out
El canto vuela
They're calling us together
Guiding us forever
Wish my dream would never go away

¡Barcelona!
It was the first time that we met
¡Barcelona!
How can I forget the moment
That you stepped into the room
You took my breath away

¡Barcelona! La musica vibró
¡Barcelona! Y ella nos unió
And if God is willing, we will meet again someday

Let the songs begin
Déjalo nacer
Let the music play

Ahhhhhhh...

Make the voices sing
Nace un gran amor
Start the celebration
Ven a mi
And cry!
¡Grita!
Come alive
¡Viva!
And shake the foundations from the skies
Shaking all our lives

¡Barcelona! Such a beautiful horizon
¡Barcelona! Like a jewel in the sun
Por ti seré gaviota de tu bella mar

¡Barcelona! Sueñan las campanas
¡Barcelona! Abre tus puertas al mundo
If God is willing, if God is willing, if God is willing
Friends until the end

¡Viva!
¡Barcelona!