Resident Adviser

Shortly after I arrived in Canada, I met my fellow Resident Advisers (RA). They are a delightful bunch. In my residence of about 350 students, there are 4 full-time RA's and 2 part-time RA's. The part-time RA's are in the animation program. They keep them very busy in that program (the school is ranked #1 in the world for animation). The others are from film and advertising.

We were sent to a different campus for about 1.5 weeks of RA training. It was 'conference style', and there were about 15 or so schools and over 150 RA's in attendance. We covered many topics such as SAFE talk, customer service, hazardous materials, drugs, alcohol, sexual assault, and suicide. 

There were a lot of social events, too. One of the highlights of the event was the Lip Sync Competition, literally. Each school had to choreograph a dance, rehearse it, and perform it while Lip Syncing to a song of our choice. It's really competitive. One of the schools held the title for two years running, and they took it very seriously.

My team did The Rocky Horror Picture Show song "Time Warp". Luckily we had two very talented girls (one of whom was a dancer and cheerleader for years and years) in our team to choreograph it.  We spent hours practicing and were all pretty rockin' in the end. 

The competition was pretty tough - there were some really good entries this year. Also, the winners were voted upon by all the RA's (each person votes on his top 3 teams, not including his own school). Amazingly, we took home First Place at this year's competition, making our school and our management team super proud.

I was so happy at how well we worked together as a team and how much fun we had!

Let's do the Time Warp again!!

When we got back, it was time for Early Move-In at residence for people who signed up to move into school a week earlier and get involved in different orientation activities. Stay tuned!

9 Boxes to Canada

I apologize for the lapse in writing! It's been quite a whirlwind of a month! I'm going to update frequently after this post to catch up to the present.

Today, I will talk about my departure for Canada! During my painting trip in NH (link), I applied for a position as a Resident Adviser (RA) at the dormitory (Residence) where I will be staying. The Residence had originally hired someone who had to subsequently drop out, so they were looking to fill the position. I had a couple of interviews over Skype with the Residence Life Coordinator.

 I received the offer on Friday, August 3, and booked the flight for Wednesday, August 8, which gave me 5 days to pack up or discard most of what I owned, hang out with friends and say my farewells, and wrap up a few painting projects.

Needless to say, it was quite a hectic time, so the help I got from my friends was greatly appreciated! I bought some boxes from USPS (United States Postal Service). They have these great boxes the size of carry-ons, 20"x14"x10" and a couple from Staples. At the end of the day, I was able to get most of my stuff into 9 boxes, which isn't really that bad considering these were my life-long possessions and I didn't have a lot of time to think carefully about it all!

My life-long possessions in 9 boxes

UPS picked up my boxes on the 7th for delivery to the dorm on the 9th (very convenient!!!), so I received my stuff the day after I arrived at the Residence.

 My flight was pretty smooth. It was an hour to La Guardia in NY and another hour to Toronto, followed by a 40-minute cab ride (flat rate) to the Residence.

La Guardia had Ipad stations! Cool!

Finalizing my immigration in the airport in Toronto took only 10 minutes, and another 10 minutes in customs. With the waiting time in between flight transfers and the actual travel time, my trip took a total of 6 hours. I left at 6pm and arrived around midnight at the Residence.

Empty dorm room

The next few days were spent finalizing my employment paper work. I obtained a bank account with TD Canada Trust, visited Service Ontario to get my SIN (the Canadian version of an SSN), and settled a few administrative items with the College.

Then, that Sunday, I met my fellow RA's at the Residence, and it was off to Mohawk College for RA Training!

Painting in the Tradition of the Hudson River School

I'm back from Jackson, NH! 10 days of painting landscapes outdoors in the tradition of the Hudson River School (link). I learned so much, made new wonderful friends, and had a blast!

I believe the best way to blog about this workshop is through pictures, so I went ahead and chose a representative sample of the many adventures I had on the workshop and included commentaries. Here goes!

Day 0 - Arrival

Entry to the town of Jackson, NH, is through a one-way covered bridge.
Cars take turns going through it. 

Day 1 - Jackson Falls

Both fellowship and workshop participants paint and sketch on the famous Jackson Falls.

Pizza dinner party at the home of Warren and Leslie Schomaker of the Jackson Historical Society. 

Ridiculously amazing view from the balcony.

Day 2 - Saco River Part I

Learning to paint our first landscape in the Grisaille method (using only two pigments - burnt umber and white).

Day 3 - Ellis River 

Learning to paint using a limited palette of 8 oil colors.

Day 4 - Crawford Notch Part I

Checking out a spot for a painting.

My painting in process

Day 5 - Saco River Part II

Learning to glaze. Turning the Grisaille painting into a colored painting using a glazing method.

My painting instructor's beautiful painting in process.

Day 6 - Lost Pond Part I and the Studio

Sitting on a large flat rock and looking out into a grand view of Mt. Washington

Show-and-tell at my teachers' studio

Day 7 - Free Day

Rode the Cog Rail to the summit of Mt. Washington and lived to tell about it.

View of the Tuckerman Ravine from the top of Mt. Washington

Day 8 - Scenic Pavilion

It was supposed to rain so we stayed under a pavilion with a view of Mt. Chocorua, the Three Sisters, Carter Ledge, etc. It didn't actually rain.

One of my housemates loves to cook. He is vegetarian and makes amazing dinners, including this scrumptious salad. Yes, those are pickled hard-boiled eggs and pickled fiddle-head ferns.

Day 9 - Lost Pond Part II

We got rained out and had to leave the site mid-day.

Day 10 - Crawford Notch Part II

The morning was so chilly I could barely paint. The sun came out in the afternoon and the conditions were much better.

Day 11 - Critique at the Studio

We talked about how to improve our paintings and things we can work on going forward.

My paintings in process:

(I did not include the Lost Pond painting because it's very unfinished and looks terrible.)

Saco River

Ellis River

Crawford Notch

Mt. Chocorua