Day 10: Yay! The Weekend Is Here!

When you ask a person from Vancouver, "Is it raining outside?", they usually answer, "No". Then you go outside and get soaked, because it IS raining outside, but to Vancouverites that's not really raining. They have a totally different scale than the rest of the world.

Outside conditions are getting to me.

I wake up in the morning to the sounds of pelting rain. I leave the house for the bus stop while it's still dark outside and 9 days out of 10, it's been raining. I skip to avoid puddles and pools, wrapped up in my raincoat and clutching my umbrella to shield me from the sheets of precipitation. And I don't even think about stepping on grass, it's soggy and my shoes will get sucked down into the mud in a second.

The sun is never up by the time I leave in the morning, and even when it does come up, it's rays can't penetrate the thick rain clouds that live above the city.

The bus smells like wet socks and soggy newspapers. Dripping, multi-coloured umbrellas and rain boots line the aisles.

After school, I slip out into the same dark, drizzly, drippy situation I arrived in. I do my homework to the sound of pelting rain, eat my dinner to it, and then fall asleep to it.

I'm listening to it right now.

But yesterday afternoon, while we were making demi-glace, I glanced up. I looked over all the steaming pots, past the demo area and through the office into the street. The sun was shining, and it was so beautiful!

The sun is shining! I couldn't take my eyes off it! Oh how I've missed the light! I just wanted to go outside and stand in it, but a guest chef's demo on knife sharpening went way overtime, and I knew my chances of getting out there were slim to none.

By the time we were actually let out, just the last of the days rays were lingering.

Outside the back door of the school is this church, working quickly as the light was fading fast, I grabbed my little camera I'm carrying around for food pictures and captured a few rays of sunshine on the dome.

Ten minutes later it was dark again.

Week in Retrospect

This week was really good in some ways and bad in others.

I really liked my partner this week. I liked him more after I saw some other teams not getting on well. There's nothing wrong with saying to someone, "Hey maybe while I'm whisking this up, you could wash those dishes".

So I made sure to tell my partner before leaving the floor, "Thank you for saving my butt so many times this week. You're a really good partner!"

He replied, "What? You mean you saved ME!" I was happy about that as I am conscious about trying to be a good work partner. Monday brings me a new partner.

The Good.

- I'm finally figuring out where things are in the kitchen.

- My knife cuts are improving, and I'm slowly getting faster at them.

- I feel I've got a pretty well-organised routine down for the morning.

- I'm not feeling sick anymore.

The Bad.

- With more pressure in our cooking, people are starting to feel the pressure to perform, lots of nicks, cuts and burns this week.

- Recipes I need to memorize are piling up!

The excellent.

It's stopped raining! The sun is out! And it's Saturday! I'm out of here!