Guest Writer Needs your Feedback!

My name is Joõa Paulo. I’m from Brasil and I’ll be studying at Vec from July 5th to July 30th. I’m very happy and I’d like some help from you.

How can you help me?

It will be easy for you to tell me all the good places to visit but remember I have only 25 days here in Vancouver.

I would also like to go to all these places with you! It is a good idea, isn’t it?

Please don’t forget to leave your comments below.

Thanks, Joao!

Hello friends from Vec!

Atenciosamente,
João Paulo da Costa Wolff

Education Fair

Happy Persian New Year!!

Well its that time of the year again! We have Persian New Year. Okay to be honest this is the first time I have researched  Persian New Year, but its still exciting. Food? Good. Family? Good. Rebirth? Great!

Before I get in to it, let me put things in universal terms we can all understand. The season cycle:

No, not America's Next Top Model "Season Cycle 14". That's what I got when I Google Imaged "Season Cycles Images".

I mean the season cycle:

The seasons are the result of Earths tilt on her axis and how that interacts with the orbit of Earth around Sol (who? the sun, oh that guy). The season cycle is a primal fact of human life, of all life on earth. Winter Solstice is the death of most things, the Spring is the rebirth of everything. It represents the return of Earths fertility, growth, and hope. Best of all? Its mating season!! Then we are fulfilled by summer, and summer means parties and bikinis! No I'm just kidding it means joy, and the preparation for harvest. Fall is the turning toward the cold and dark and we prepare for death again. oooooooooooooooo spooooooooky.

Now, back to the "New Day" of Spring AKA Nowruz. I am going to spell it a bunch of different ways, because I dont know the correct spelling, NOR can I find it, NOR do I have time for controversy.

No-Rooz/ Nowruz means something a long the lines of "New Day". It starts the year at the exact time Spring Starts. So that means tomorrow, March 20th.

Much like Chinese New Year, Iranians consider Nowruz the biggest day of the year. Like every body else's Spring it means new beginnings, clean yor house, buy new clothes, eat traditional food with your family.

"A major part of New Year rituals is setting the "Haft Seen" with seven specific items. In ancient times each of the items corresponded to one of the seven creations and the seven holy immortals protecting them. Today they are changed and modified but some have kept their symbolism. All the seven items start with the letter "S"; this was not the order in ancient times. These seven things usually are: Seeb (apple), Sabze (green grass), Serke (vinager), Samanoo (a meal made out of wheat), Senjed (a special kind of berry), Sekke (coin), and Seer (garlic). "

-Iran Chamber


Source:IranChamber.com.
morning earth

A Week in Review: Alice in Wonderland 3D

This week's Vacation Study Program Activity was Alice in Wonderland 3D. I took my 18 Thai students to Scotiabank Theatre. Everybody had a great time and found it very entertaining. Activity Success!

What did I think of the movie? A student asked me whether or not I liked the film. I showed her a yellow card for No, not really.

So why did I give this film a Yellow Ticket and not a Green Ticket?

First lets talk about what's good in the film: The Red Queen.

Played by this lady:

Helena Bonham Carter

In fact, its probably what saved the film. Very believable as a jealous heartless wench. I spent most of the film waiting for her to pop up on the screen. She reminds me of the devilish child I wish I could let myself be, if I didn't have extremely strict Chinese parents who forbade me from wearing tank tops and coming home past 9pm.


So whats "meh" about the film

Alice herself:

She was supposed to seem like an "out of the box thinker" different from everyone else in her society. Creative, free spirited, not out of the cookie cutter image of the girls in her time. This was shown by juxtaposing her and other girls at a party. Prim and proper, looking like ladies.

To me, Alice just seemed like a spoiled brat with attention deficit disorder. A hideous " lord" wanted to marry her and she ran away to chase a rabbit in a tuxedo. Oh honey no, how rude. Alice, this is a LORD, (No not THE Lord, but a Lord as in some sort of Royalty) get over it! He's hideous but in the times you're living, you have to wash diapers in a well.

It appears Alice is about 13 years old,  A 13 year old who hasn't slept in 3 nights and ate nothing but raw baby carrots. But in the film she's 19. NINETEEN!?? She doesn't act a day over 14.

Ok now on to the wonky weird parts.

Johnny Depp: Green Card.

His wiry ginger eyebrows sold me to the fact he was mad. The man can do no wrong.  Review not needed. NEXT!

My favorite part is when the talking dog explains why hes working for the enemy:

"I have to, they've got my wife and pups".

Too funny.

The story line was much like the classic storybook. The graphics were lovely. There were some nice parts, but as a whole it was pretty blah. Too much riff raff. Too much beating around the bush before you get to the point.

The supporting protagonists of the film were introduced by a filthy unhygienic tea party hosted by  Mad Hatter, the field mouse, and a dirty rabbit .Yes I know it was supposed to be a fantasy.

Ok since I have an entirely different job to do, and I can't spend all day on this, lets get near the end. Throughout the story the characters basically tell you how its going to end. The scroll thing that predicts the future says that Alice is going to slay the dragon. This is repeated 3 times in the film. " Alice you dont have to do anything, the swords pretty much gonna kill it". Surprise surprise the little girl grown woman slays the dragon. The world is back to "normal." But they showed no more than a 20 second clip of how the world used to be, before the red queen took over.

What was with the ending? She goes back to reality, denies the hideous Lord, tells everyone there's something wrong with them/she loves them.

Then decides to do some trading in China.

WHAT?!

Review Result: Yellow Card

bs

Going to give it a lukewarm review. In the words of Hatter, it wasn't " much enough, it didn't have enough muchness" as expected.

How to prepare for March 17th: St. Patricks Day

Before we start today, please review last weeks Canadian how-to lesson: 

Jane's Unofficial Flawed Definition of St.Patricks Day

 Today is Tuesday March 16th. That's 1 day before doomsday.

Why worry about it now? It's not till tomorrow March 17th.

Because St. Patrick's Day takes a lot of preparation. 

More than your average day out. Especially for me.

I am the Edward Cullen of Beer. In the same way vampires crave blood when it appears in front of them, a small drop of brew on my mouth results in an uncontrollable waterfall of  beer a la Barney from the Simpsons/Will Ferrell in Old School. See Jane broke and gaining weight as a result of this

What do people do on St. Patrick's Day?
Drink a lot of Beer in an Irish Bar.

Pedro asks, "Jane, how does that differ from any other day? You practically pay the rent at Doolins weekly." Good point Pedro, I never thought of that. Well the difference is that 1) Everybody in the city is cramming into the bars 2) Everyone is a complete wreck 3) Line ups start at 3pm 4) Everything is green: clothing, beer, decorations etc.

This brings me to:

JANE'S BRIEF LIST OF THINGS TO DO TO PREPARE FOR SAINT PATRICK'S DAY


(yī). Find something green to wear. ANYTHING. There's no copping out. It is to be festive, you must play a long. If you don't wear green, it means you don't want part of the festivities. Why green? because its the color of the clover. Why wear the clover colors? Because its something to do with representing, "the luck of the Irish." Again some European mumbo jumbo no one really understands.

(èr) .Go Early. Very Early. For the past five years, Blarney Stone's line ups have started at 3pm. That's a pretty big deal, so if you're waiting until 6 to get out there, think again. You'll be spending your entire day in the line up. Just like when you're waiting in line during a hockey match- no one leaves till the festivities are over = you won't get in until people are coming out of there puking.

(sān). Pick an Irish themed location, and if possible hang out with Irish people. I have one or two if you want to borrow them. It will make you feel like you're celebrating in Ireland....Minus the fact that everyone around you is Asian or Brown and the beer tastes like water compared to European Brew. Some places include: The Blarney Stone in Gastown, Doolins, Ceilis, Lennox, the Irish Heather. Fortunately for you there are about a billion Irish places in Vancouver.

 (sì). Eat a good greasy meal before you go out. I once knew a young Chinese girl who would drink beer out of the pitcher on St. Patrick's day having only eaten a salad. Her and her stupid friends decided the bar line was too long to wait for a second round, so why not just get a pitcher each. This resulting in getting too loaded on too much beer too fast. Well that young girl is now complaining about her weight on a world wide blog called days at vec with ____.

So eat before to pace yourself by eating a good solid meal before you go.Its an old wives tale that greasy food prepares your stomach for alcohol so you don't get sick when you drink. I'm going to go ahead and turn that into a fact.

Word up.