The Harvest Carnival is held every year around Hallowe'en and offers our students the chance to set up, organize and play various carnival games for an afternoon. I spent much of my time filling up water balloons, much to my dismay, but there were also several baked goods which made an appearance, brightening my day. So much mess! I would be lying if I said I hadn't hosed off a kid or two (legs down only, of course). Thank you to Dalton for this lovely devil picture (complete with label) from our Hallowe'en drawings. I just had to take a picture - his arm comes out of his head! Hell has a weird sense of humor... :P
Next was my personal favourite so far, a weekend trip to gorgeous Miami Beach, Florida. Our midterm break was 4 days long, so a few friends and I decided to spend our time in South Beach, getting a hostel for next to nothing and a cheap flight, we wandered town and shopped and saw Little Havana, even got to experience the craziness of a Saturday Hallowe'en night in South Beach - oh the costumes! Or lack thereof, if you can imagine... we saw a couple dressed as Adam and Eve - leaves only! Beautiful weather, amazing architecture and fun shopping and eating; not to mention it was a pleasure to be back in the urban jungle and experiencing the perks of efficient and friendly service, something notoriously lacking in the Bahamas.
What is next, what is next... oh that's right - my birthday! The big 2-6 crept up on me but my new friends here helped make it memorable! Special thanks goes out to my roommate Liz who was particularly loving and - among other things - made me pink sparkle s
ugar cookies! My birthday is only a couple days before Crystal, the Spanish teacher at our 
school and a fellow Miami traveler, so her parents threw her a surprise party on the Saturday with delicious Mexican food and even gave us a special birthday tequila shot! After the festivities, we went to Senior Frogs for some more drinks and dancing, where we met a few guys who are sailing the Caribbean on their own sailboat! They stayed in Nassau for a week, even took us out sailing on their last night here, which was fun because I got to be helpful while some of the other less marine familiar girls were terribly seasick. Got to love being able to pull your own weight - so thanks Dad!Lots of excitement is up and coming, and though I have spent much of the last couple weeks marking and doing report cards and planning for parent teacher conferences, I anticipate endless fun ahead: Jen (friend from UTSC for whom I was Maid of Honour) will be visiting in 9 days, while Caitlin (friend from residence at Ryerson) is coming down in 12 days! They will be here at the same time for a while, so I foresee some debauchery and other forms of celebration at having a couple of my best friends around to see how life is for me down here! Then a short 11 days after Jen's departure, I will be home for Christmas!!
I'm off to volunteer at our school's soccer tournament this morning, and I made cocoa quickies last night hahah, just to update you all a bit further. Mmm!
Love Ori
