Lord, Bless this Easter Basket

So besides falling off the writing bandwagon for what I suppose is a week and a half now, I've up and moved to St. Catharines finally. Piotr and I spent our first night in the apartment last night (which is only partially furnished until my parents come on the 17th to move my crap out of the Huron St. apt in London).

So much has happened even in the couple days that I have lived down here now.
1. I got a full time job as a reservations agent in Niagara Falls. I should be excited about it because I love the hospitality industry, but it's in a cubicle in a basement with no windows.
2. I fell down the stairs, or rather slid down them yesterday at Piotr's parent's house. They were only 7 or 8 steps, but I hit my spine and tailbone on every step with the back of my head following after. I wasn't allowed to sleep for two hours because of the possibility of a concussion. No concussion, but one hell of a headache followed. I did wake up today, obviously.
3. Piotr and I took an Easter basket filled with kielbasa, babka, and other goodies to be blessed by the priest today. It's Polish tradition. Tomorrow we eat it and lots of other yummy goodness. I should really be a cook.4. I've mixed up the breakfast casserole my parents make every Easter ready to be cooked for breakfast tomorrow. Think 9 eggs, 3 cups of milk, 3 cups of cheese, 1lb of breakfast sausage sliced small all mixed together and poured over six slices of bread in a 9x13 casserole dish. Sits overnight. Cook in the morning for 45 min at 350F covered with tin foil, then another 10 with the foil off. Serve and Smacznego!
5. I feel like even though Piotr and I live together we're not really spending 'quality time' together so far. He took an extra shift at work during the Easter holiday weekend when he doesn't even have another day off. His buddy is in town for the weekend from Ottawa and is leaving tomorrow, and went to go hang out with him today even though we were supposed to dye some Easter eggs already and whatnot. I don't really care about him taking the time to hang out with his buddy at all, but this could have been planned out better so that he didn't have to break plans with me to do it. Because let me tell you, there's nothing I like better than dying eggs at 11:30pm when I have to get up early the next day. *sigh* So is life. I guess the reality of it is I'm just lonely. I'm here in a new city and don't know anyone. Hell, I'm not even in my own country yet again. I don't understand why every time he goes to hang out with his friends he can't invite me along once. "It's like a boys only kinda thing" doesn't really cut it with me. Every time I went out with my girlfriends in London or Burlington, he was always invited. I find this annoying. So that's it about my personal rants and what's been happening. Even though my bloggin class is done and I don't have to write in this anymore, I will continue to do so because it is really great to get stuff off of my chest.

BTW...my new neighbors smoke weed and try to cover it up with some nasty-smelling perfume, which makes it smell even worse. Disgusting.

April Fool's Jokes: the good and the bad

It's April Fools Day, and it's great to play tricks and practical jokes on people, but what is appropriate and what isn't?

The good: involve cute little gags such as tying someone's shoes together or placing saran wrap over the toilet. All the small gags create an "I got you" feeling and all is forgiven, but some things go too far. Things like putting fake bugs in a salad or switching names on some cans is all good clean fun.

Even companies play tricks on their employees on occasion, like my boss did once by convincing us that the store would close early.

The bad: serious gags are not appropriate when stress is involved. Some people can't handle stress very well, have a medical condidtion, or may even hurt you. These types of incitements should be avoided.

Examples of this would be: telling someone you have cancer or another serious disease, telling your boyfriend you're pregnant, spraying things on people's cars, throwing eggs at people, etc.

Company's who have gone a little too far but creating a panic include: a Cincinnati radio station called Q102, broadcast a modern version of Orson Well's War of the Worlds radio play when they reported that aliens had landed at the local Lunken Airport.

One of those days...

Ever have one of those days where all you want to do is sleep? Working the night audit does that to me. I have no quams about working overnight, but when you're in school it can take a lot out of you. Granted I had ALL DAY Sunday to recover if you count I didn't get off work til 7am Sunday morning. But when you have to go to early morning classes on Monday, it doesn't do the trick. I had to stop myself from falling asleep in Blackmore's class this morning. grr to night audit

Hotel Tantrum

I love my job, but working in a hotel can sometimes be a pain, especially when there are little kids hockey teams staying with us. They run around screaming and playing hockey in the hallways, and when I talk to their dad's about the problem they say they'll do something but they really don't seem to care.

And then there are times when the bands stay with us that play at a club down on Huron and Highbury. Usually, they're pretty decent guys, but you do get the occasional bad nights. For example, my co-worker was working one morning when they were supposed to be checking out, and a naked girl appeared out of nowhere; naked except for her bra. She apparently was a groupie with the band and was drunk out of her mind. She didn't even know where she lived. Anyways, the police had to come and get her and take her away. The funny thing was she tried walking home naked and she didn't even know where she was.

*sigh* So it goes in the life of a hotel worker. Tonight's issue: screaming hockey kids. Grrrr.

And then there was one......

So I guess I should introduce myself properly based on the terms of my blog title.

My name is Magda, short for Magdalena. This is not my legal name. It is however, my Polish name and more times out of not I prefer it to Meghan.

I do not hold a Canadan passport, driver's lisence, or birth certificiate. Some would call me an expatriate or expat, and that is entirely true. I am, in fact, one of those dreaded "American creatures!" I know, eh, the horror!! I hail from Newark, New Jersey originally, but moved when I was four to a small town in Northern Kentucky called Burlington. If you want to picture it on a map, look for Cincinnati, Ohio and go about fifteen miles south to Florence, Kentucky, then hang a left, go west on Route 18 for about 4.5 miles, and you'll hit Burlington (a town of roughly 12,000 souls).

I started this blog because I have a different experience of Canada than the average Canadian. I wasn't born here, so I'm not personally connected to Canada unless you count my relationship. I don't have relatives here, but I am starting to put down my own roots. The fact of the matter is, although I'm an outsider, I've felt more at home here than I have in my entire life, even while living in Kentucky. I just never felt I belonged. Basically, I never allowed myself to feel like I belong in Kentucky because the values that I have are not compatible with the majority of people from the Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati area. I'm a hardcore liberal, non-compliant, agnostic, diversity-loving, half-Pollock, cold loving, weirdo. Somehow I don't think that fits well into a place that has more churches in a town of 12,000 that I can count on two hands. Canada seems to fit perfectly. For one, I started connecting to fellow Polish people in Canada. Finding a Polish person in Cincinnati is next to impossible. And if a person is Polish, they've been so far removed form their culture that it almost doesn't count. I love connecting with my roots because I've never felt "American." I feel that I have a more European attitude. So I connect more with being Polish than American. That may seem werid to people, but I think I can partially blame that on Canada. =)

So this is my blog: A Polish/American/Wannabe Canuk's view of Canada while living as an expat. I'll offer my view of American politics from an American living in Canada, diversity, human rights, news events, and anything that I find interesting.



Hope people enjoy my point of view as Magda living in the Great White North.





P.S. It's sooooooooo cold!!!!!!