Yosemite National Park

We went to Yosemite National Park last weekend with a few friends. It was the idea of our friends, I didn't do any research and didn't know what to expect. Yosemite National Park is a wilderness park in the California. It is best known for its waterfalls, but within its nearly 1,200 square miles, you can find deep valleys, grand meadows, ancient giant sequoias, a vast wilderness area, and much more. Despite that at this time of the year, there's not much water to see, we enjoyed the spectacular granite cliffs.

On Saturday, we hiked 2hr20mins to admire the granite cliffs. On Sunday, we did 3hrs20mins to see the sequoias. We also made a stop at Glacier Point for the breathtaking scenery.

http://www.ebuceci.com/pics/travel/Yosemite2007/index.php

Cock'n Bull Pub & Eatery in Ottawa, ON

As I have mentioned before, I grew up in a French environment and didn't learn much English until I was 17. I took a 6-week crash ESL summer program at York University in North York, ON before enrolling in an English CEGEP (Quebec's pre-university college). I then did 6 years of studies in English (2 years CEGEP + 4 years of University). English became my preferred language for technical speech, but I did not learn much English outside of school environment.

In 2001, I moved Ottawa for my first job after graduation. Ottawa is a beautiful small city, only 190 km away from Montreal. Being the capital of Canada, it was bilingual though it was located in an English dominant province.

One day, my colleagues and I went out to lunch. They chose a restaurant called "Cock'n Bull Pub & Eatery" not too far from work, on Richmond Road. From the outside, the sign shows a rooster on top of a cow. "Oh, that's right", I thought, "coq is a rooster in French, cock must be the English equivalent." We saw down and looked at the menu. I chose the burger called, "Pig and Bull Burger" - hamburger plus bacon. The waitress came and took our orders. My colleague Darrell ordered the "Cock'n Bull Burger". I opened the menu curious to know what it is... Is it chicken burger plus some beef? I read the description quickly scanning for some chicken, I didn't see... so I asked the waitress out loud, "Where's the cock?" Darrell covered his eyes and my other colleague Cindy kicked me. The waitress laughs and says "Don't worry, I've been asked that question many times."

Yes... I didn't know what cock was in English slang... and how was I supposed to know? They don't teach that in school ;)

My Blog

Dear sister complains that my blog is boring and that I'm just telling my life story in it. I'm not sure what she's expecting. I found out that I have two new readers... Yay! It appears that I still can attract readers interested in knowing about what I've to say! So, I'll keep on blogging :D

China here we come!

After one whole month of tremendous hunting, we finally found an apartment that we like: well lit, spacious, in a good neighbourhood, and cheap! Now we'll have to move on to the next big shopping item that we neglected: our trip to Asia.

Last weekend, DH and I started hunting for deals to go to Asia. It didn't take too long, we found a tour to China decently priced for $1209. It includes 11-day trip tour with flight on United Airlines. We drove to Burlingame, CA yesterday to get to the travel agency at their opening time of 9am to book the trip. Since it's near DH's workplace in San Bruno, CA and far from home, I spent the day at his office.

It is DH's first trip to Asia. He is so excited he even bought a new camera for the occasion!

Cleaning and Moving!

ah ha! It's Friday already. Sunday is the big day. We are going to sign the lease on Sunday at 11am and then spend the rest of the day cleaning up the place so that it'd be ready for moving in on Monday. :D