99 Reasons I should be doing something else...

1: Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed?

One thing that drives me mad is having our ‘wardrobe’ (as the British call ‘em) opened!!! I don’t know why, it just drives me!  Especially when Ryan hangs his wet towels on the doors and keeps them open! GEEZ!


2: Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotel?

I still have plenty left from London and our cruise to Amsterdam in my make-up bag.  Also I have a sewing kit and coasters stashed from recent hotels.

3: Do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out?

With our duvet, we only have fitted sheets.  I have been missing the extra sheets though.  I cannot wait to curl up in my bed at Diddos, because Nancy always makes the best beds!  Although I heard there is only one bed left at Didds so let’s hope that rascal known as Alex isn’t around!

4: Have you ever stolen a street sign before?

No, but the ‘No fly-tipping’ sign may be gone when we leave this country!  Only because I need a prize for my Uncle Ken.

5: Do you like to use post-it notes?

Every day I teach I use them for my opening introduction act!  I am currently running low and need to buy new ones, thanks for the reminder procrastinating activity!

6: Do you cut out coupons but then never use them?

Nope, but I have a Tesco card and I am adamant about using it, yet I never redeem the cash or use the rewards, and I believe this drives Ryan a bit squirrely. 

7:Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of a bees?

Ummmm.. a bear only because Ms. Amy Aschaber has trained me on how to defend myself using a flashlight and a small axe if a bear was to enter our tent.

8: Do you have freckles?

Moles, but no freckles.

9: Do you always smile for pictures?

As of recently I do not, because Mr. Alecks has explained to Ryan and I that smiling is tacky!

10: What is your biggest pet peeve?

I cannot stand smoking, or people who smell like cigarettes.

11: Do you ever count your steps when you walk?

Once in a while, then I realize my OCD is kicking in and I stop immediately..... 212 steps to South Gosforth Metro many more when wearing heels....oppssss

12: Have you ever peed in the woods?

Well of course, and in Green park right next to Buckingham Palace with my co-pilot Kristina tagging along.

13: What about pooped in the woods?

Believe it or not, no.  I get really bad tummy aches while in Algonquin because I will not doo-doo in the woods.

14: Do you ever dance even if theres no music playing?

Yes, for my students and they think I’m a maniac.

15: Do you chew your pens and pencils?

Nope can’t say I do.

16: How many people have you slept with this week?

Ummm...

17: What size is your bed?

An awkward British double.

18: What is your favourite song of the week?

Lana Del Ray- Videogames

19: Is it okay for guys to wear pink?

Absolutely yes. Purple, too.

20: Do you still watch cartoons?

I watch brain-pop cartoons with my students.

21: What’s your least favourite movie?

That troll movie Daniel made us all watch... it was horrific!


22: Where would you bury hidden treasure if you had some?

In the Jesmond Dene.

23: What do you drink with dinner?

Water, or milk because, ‘it does a body good!’

24: What do you dip a chicken nugget in?

Honey or sweet and sour sauce

25: What is your favourite food?

Fish and chips from the Priory.

26: What movies could you watch over and over and still love?

Bridesmaids, Sex and the City (only the first one), Now and Again.

 
27: Last person you kissed/kissed you?

Ryan Aschaber

28: Were you ever a boy/girl scout?

I was a brownie.

29: Would you ever strip or pose nude in a magazine?

Depends on what magazine and for how much.

30: When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper?

I wrote a letter this morning to npower, but that was typed and printed, so it may not count.  I wrote with pen some post cards for Mad, Grandma W, Nanny, and Grandma A last week.

31: Can you change the oil on a car?

Ummm sorry diddo I can change a tire though!

32: Ever gotten a speeding ticket?

Nope, who can believe that my mother hasn’t either!  I know me either!

33: Ever ran out of gas?

Yes, thank goodness for Monica! Xx

34: Favourite kind of sandwich?

Chicken Pesto...from the Tall and Small in Antigonowhere...

35: Favourite thing to eat for breakfast?

Yogurt, berries, and oats.  With a vanilla spice latte made with skim milk.

36: What is your usual bedtime?

Usually between 11 and midnight.

37: Are you lazy?

On Sundays, yes! 

38: When you were a kid, what did you dress up as for Halloween?

Why of course!  I was a Pepsi can one year and a dye another. 

39: What is your Chinese astrological sign?

I think I am a rat.

40: How many languages can you speak?

Hahaha well I can speak English.  But my resume says German and my Agencies think that I know more French then I really know.  They assume this on their own because I am Canadian.  Teaching 7 year olds animals in French is fine when I made up a few!

41: Do you have any magazine subscriptions?

No I do not.

42:Which are better legos or lincoln logs?

WTF?

43: Are you stubborn?

Absolutely yes.

44: Who is better - Leno or Letterman?

I prefer that red-headed late-night guy!?

45: Ever watch soap operas?

Beverley Hills 90210, the old one not the new rubbish one.

46: Are you afraid of heights?

No, I don’t think I am.

47: Do you sing in the car?

Yes, I am Beyonce when those windows are up!

48: Do you sing in the shower?

Nope.

49: Do you dance in the car?

The ‘shoulder dance’

50: Ever used a gun?

Nope, not even a glue gun!

51: Last time you got a portrait taken by a photographer?

Ahhhh!!!! Mr. Alecks on Friday!

52: Do you think musicals are cheesy?

Ummm only when Pierce Brosnan is belting out SOS.

53: Is Christmas stressful?

No they are fantastic!

54: Ever eat a pierogi?

I used to when I lived with Mum and Jerry.

55: Favourite type of fruit pie?

Cherry!!!!!!!!!!! Ryan and I had this discussion a few weeks ago.  He believes it is apple.

56: Occupations you wanted to be when you were a kid?

I was obsessed with becoming a dental Hygienist! I loved her! I wanted to be her.

57: Do you believe in ghosts?

Sometimes...

58: Ever have a deja vu feeling?

Yes!!! I love them!

59: Take a vitamin daily?

Nope.

60: Wear slippers?

Socks everywhere, the big fluffy kind with grippers on the bottom from Amy.  It is soooo cold in our flat, and the carpets are gross.

61: Wear a bath robe?

I wish I would have taken mine here! It is sooo damp and cold.

62: What do you wear to bed?

Pajama shorts and a t-shirt or tank top.

63: First concert?

Aerosmith....

64: Wal-Mart, Target or Kmart?

Wal-mart make me want to puke, Kmart faint memories of that store, Target is probably the best bet in this one.

65: Nike or Adidas?

As of right now.... ADIDAS only because I like the way the British say, ADEEDAS... hahahaheehee

66: Cheetos Or Fritos?

YUM Barbeque Fritos!

67: Peanuts or sunflower seeds?

Sunflower seends, but they have to be dill-pickle flavoured.

68: Ever hear of the group Tres Bien?

Very good.

69: Ever take dance lessons?

Far too many!

70: Is there a profession you picture your future spouse doing?

A professional Footballer (British football).

71: Can you curl your tongue?

I think so.

72: Ever won a spelling bee?

Yes!!! I even have the plaque to prove it!  I also won a speech competition sooo talented I am!

73: Have you ever cried because you were so happy?

Yes I remember crying when I watched the beautiful slide show Aunt Rita put together for my shower, and crying the first time I saw Nash. 

74: Own any record albums?

Nopers.

75: Own a record player?

Does the eight-track count that dido set up in my room on Momouth?  What a funny man he is! haha

76: Regularly burn incense?

No, but if I did I would do it regularly...

77: Ever been in love?

Been as in past tense?  Ummmmm...

78: Who would you like to see in concert?

NKOTBSB, and Adel

79: What was the last concert you saw?

GBS

80: Hot tea or cold tea?

“Go on then, and get yourself a hot drink!”

81: Tea or coffee?

It’s not my cup of tea...

82: Sugar cookies or snickerdoodles?

Yum... Ms. Ilceski’s sugar cookies

83: Can you swim well?

After our stint in Cuba! I DON’T THINK SO!

84: Can you hold your breath without holding your nose?

...........HAMMER TIME!

85: Are you patient?

With some things.

86: DJ or band at a wedding?

DJ say whhhhhhhaaaaaaattt???

87: Ever won a contest?

Ummmm.... something from the bridal shows but never picked it up...

88: Ever have plastic surgery?

I hope not... we will have to see what Ryan thinks..

89: Which are better black or green olives?

Oh my mouth just watered! GREEEEEEENNNN!!!!

90: Can you knit or crochet?

Nope but Ryan can!

91: Best room for a fireplace?

Master suite. 

92: Do you want to get married?

Yes, but I am over planning this wedding..

93: If married, how long have you been married?

Already feels like eons!

94: Who was your high school crush?

NOoooooo way.....

95: Do you cry and throw a fit until you get your own way?

I don’t think I throw fits, but I hold grudges.

96: Do you have kids?

Yes, a love child with Tiger Woods

97: Do you want kids?

If Tiger is okay with it. 

98: What’s your favourite colour?

Green....

99: Do you miss anyone right now?

Nash, KP, Rebecca, Dido, Naner, Mum, Jer, Nanny, Canada

I Cannot Believe This!!!!!!!!!!

I have been blogging a lot lately about the great things England has to offer, and this is great, because of course I want to remember all the wonderful things we did while we were here. 

On another note I did promise to document pitfalls of this journey, and today seems like a great day to start.  Today was my cracking day, meaning there is only a certain amount of British things I can take until I crack.  Now I have been trying to think, okay this is another country, so I should take it in strides but GEEEEZZZ what is wrong with this city.

Firstly, I am going to organize a seminar for dog owners.  My seminar will be very cheap and will last 5 minutes, because it will only entail a lesson on how to PICK UP DOG SHIT!

Sorry for the language, but how nasty is it that people can leave their own dog shit laying there?  I mean this must be a cultural thing, because seriously I cannot think of any person in Windsor who would let their dog leave a load on their own neighbourhood streets it’s just plain weird, sick, and rude. Ahhhhh... feel better now that I got that out.

Okay next thing, council taxes.  Okay so it’s not normal for a city to charge renters (letters) taxes.  I am soooo sorry it is just wrong.  Charge it to the landlord, but I do not own this building, therefore I shall not have to pay £135.00/monthly (that’s $212.00 Canadian) on top of our rent, which if I told you how much we are paying in Canadian dollars you would cry.  

‘Oh but the council does so much for our neighbourhood’.... BULLOCKS!!!!!! (Do you like the British wording I used there?!).  We have had freezing rain and ice storms and not once have I seen salt or sand or even this ridiculous stuff you refer to as GRIT be distributed.  I have fallen on public walkways in my neighbourhood far too many times this year due to the lack of GRIT being distributed properly by council.

This is England's idea of ice control.  I am being serious.

This is their system for ice removal, there are boxes at the end of each street and in them is sand.  Supposedly council is supposed to come around and shovel the grit around the walkways.  Good riddance all I have seen in these boxes is rubbish (garbage) and DOG SHIT hahah go figure!

Yes so there is the council tax, but on top of that there is ‘entertainment tax’.   Ohhhh lordy! Yes imagine!!! We do not watch the telly (television) because in order to watch 4 channels, four BBC channels that is (hahaha) you have to pay £145.00.   This is not cable.  This is on-top of cable.  Trucks with satellites go around inspecting whether or not you are watching illegal telly.  If you are caught watching telly with no entertainment taxes you are fined £1000.00.  

So now the taxes are talked about, but what is wrong with this city and bills.  When we arrived I sorted all the electricity and water and gas bills out.  I have been paying these religiously like a good little girl, because frankly I am scared of the British law.  In September I spoke with a person from our water company and set up all our payments, great thanks British man!  Today after making 5 payments on time I received a nasty letter, (please refer to photo)

Previous correspondence?  The one where I called you and set up all my payments?  Oh and this was addressed to 'the occupier' As if they don't even know my name anymore?  When I receive the bills it is labelled 'Ms. Washbrook'?????

To complete this fantastic week I received a £400.00 electricity bill.  Our last electricity bill was £70.00.  I called to inquire and this was their response, “Oh that is just an estimate”.  Hahahaahhahaah I am still laughing... so what am I suppose to do? I’m supposed to do your job? Go and look at my meter myself and send myself a new bill? LUDICRIS!!! Errrrrrrrrr........

One last one for y’all.  Last week our carbon monoxide and fire alarm stopped working.  We took them down and went to a hardware store to buy batteries for them.  At the hardware store we were told that these were not battery operated alarms, and that we needed to buy new alarms outright.  The alarms were each around £60.00.  We decided to let our landlord know about this, mind you this was 2 weeks ago now.  Our landlord is currently in Dubai, because that is what you do when you own property in England, you live in Dubai.  Anyway, it just so happens that instead of contacting our landlord we were supposed to contact our letting agent (I have talked about letting agents before and you can find out what they are here).  I finally get an e-mail from the letting agents asking if I tried to change the batteries.  Ummmmmm... NOPE! Thanks SOHPIE! Never thought about doing that...

Anyway, after a polite exchange of words with our brilliant letting agent she sent someone over to collect the alarms last week.  We were all working that day so I left the alarms in a bright orange bag, on our table, with a note that said ‘This is our alarms’.  When I got home the alarms were still there.  I received and e-mail saying that someone was there to collect the alarms, but could not find them anywhere, he looked for half an hour even!  HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!

I am able to sit here now and a have a nice drink of wine with Anne!  Oh wait... I just spilled my wine all over my electricity bill!!!

Problem Solving

There was a study done in the late nineties that revealed how central Canadians lacked problem solving skills.  More specifically, it was found that central Ontarians have difficulty moving on to the next step.  I remember hearing this is on my mom’s car radio.  It was one of those extremely fresh memories, so fresh that you could re-play it in your memory and feel as if you were in that moment once again.

 It was in her Tempo.  It wasn’t raining but it was grey outside.  We were driving on Tecumseh Rd. near Catholic Central High School.  I remember this women’s calm voice over the radio explaining how not only had Ontarians scored the lowest in academics but had the issue of not knowing what to do next?  We stumble with this, and frankly it was big enough news to hit the radio waves.  There it is, for some reason I remember this, and for some reason it continues to circulate within my brain and make its way out every once in a while.  I remember thinking, well than I shall show these statistics!  I will always think of the next step I will work harder at my problem solving skills!

It brought light again the other day, when Ryan struggled with this exact issue.  Now some background information to enlighten you all.  I usually make dinner, which is okay and I am not complaining.  I have actually started to enjoy being domestic, and have thought of sharing some of my dinner ideas here on this blog, but that is for another day.  Right now we are back to problem solving issue.

Fridays are Ryan’s early days he works 10-4pm instead of the regular 12-8pm shift.  On these random Fridays, when I’m working, we end up coming home around the same time.  This Friday I decided to ask the daunting question to my lovely fiancee, “Would you like to make me dinner tonight?”  Which knowing Ryan, you would know he loves to cook! So this was not such a bad thing to ask him, I thought he would be delighted to be creative in the kitchen and whip up something that we haven’t had in a while.  Like I thought, he took the task with gratitude!  “Ya, sure I can do that!”  Ryan said with excitement, ahhhh..... I know how to pick ‘em! Even though I knew what was to come I started on some house chores and left him in the kitchen to organize his thoughts.

I heard some clanging, and some sighs and some ‘self talking’ before watching the kitchen door swing open and their stand my 6’2’’ fiancée looking confused.  I didn’t say anything I waited until he started the conversation, that I knew was going to happen.  Soon enough Ryan said, “Babe, we don’t have anything to eat”.  I smirked and looked his way and said, “Well my love, we have ourselves a PROBLEM, now how can we SOLVE this problem?”  He didn’t say anything in return, because he can’t stand it when I talk to him like a teacher.  He turned right back around and shut the door.  I started to hear more clanging and then I heard the microwave.  Out of pure curiosity I got up and made my way to the kitchen.

“What have you decided on?”  I asked, as my eyes looked into the microwave to see 2 oversized potatoes spinning in a circular motion heating as we spoke.  Ummmm.... Even before I looked over at him I could hear his silent giggles, the giggles I love about him, the ones that make me giggle!  The next thing I know we are both laughing out loud, both of us close to tears!  “I was thinking of making jacked potatoes for us!” Ryan finally explained.  Ya, no ... here is the Ontario problem solving skills at its finest!

Ryan knew that it was grocery shopping time, but decided to try and weasel his way out of it.  Now do remember fellow Canadians we are not talking about jumping in our SUV’s heading to the Real Canadian Super Store, stuffing our trunks packed full of oversized bags of rice, potatoes and toilet paper!  In order for us to go shopping, we must put on a pair of ‘Hunter Wellies’ (rubber rain boots) bundle up and brace the icy North East England weather walk 15 minutes to the smallest grocery store you have ever seen, with a limited selection, try and fit enough food into 2 or 3 bags walk back and try to fit that food into a beer sized fridge.  

Anywho... I then told Ryan that I was having flash forwards of me coming home from work and our children saying, “We haven’t had dinner yet, because Daddy couldn’t problem solve”.  I told Ryan about my concerns and we both laughed.  At least we find it humorous now!!! So Ryan gave me his best puppy dog eyes and pout and we BOTH made our way to the market.  He did still end up making dinner, and it was amazing.  He made a homemade curry sauce over chicken and veggies.  It was very yummy!  He also did the dishes, like I said, ‘I know how to pick ‘em!’

On another note, we had the pleasure to start our engagement session with our very good friend Daniel Alecks.  We are doing more at the end of this week and I am soooo excited about it!  He has done an absolutely stunning job so far and has allowed me the pleasure of one photo which is on my FB page.  You can see some of Mr. Alecks other works here.

Therapy

Today, a student acknowledged me as ‘babe’.  Not in a flattering way, not that this could be flattering in any way, but a creepy sarcastic way.  Like anything in life, teaching, comes with a few objections that sting.  The stings, unfortunately, stick longer with you, than any great shining moment can. 

“Nick, let me help you with this sentence”.  “Ya, sure babe”.....

It is still ringing in my ears.  I can still feel my ears burn with anger and my body stiffen with furry.

When I booked this job my agent warned me that this school was not like any of the other wonderful schools I have worked at.  She referred to this school as, ‘a challenge’.

Although I am still annoyed with the disrespect I was faced with today, something else stood out, something far more important.  These students live a different life than me.  The area that this school is in is one of the less desirable in Newcastle.  I felt as if I was bringing a, self-fullfilling prophecy with me to this job, I couldn’t help it.  

My agent explicitly told me about it is a ‘challenging school’ and knowing what type of area the school was in only tainted my vision of how the day was going to go.  To make this even worse, I found that the school had a low Ofsted Rating.  Ofsted, is a private independent company that inspects schools, rates them and sends this information to parliament.  I have never worked at a school with such a low rating before, so on top of everything else I am heading to work this morning with a spoiled view of what was to come.

To summarize my day I can tell you, ‘yes it was challenging’, but still my ears are stinging with the lack of respect from ‘Nick’.  I am writing this blog today partly because I need therapy, and this blog has become my release and also to remember this ‘aha’ teaching moment I had.

Like I stated before, something else stood out, something far more important; behaviour.  I have dealt with ‘difficult students’ or ‘managed poor behaviour’ before, but today it was different.  Within the first 15 minutes I recognized a disconnect with the majority of the students.  Not the regular disconnect, this was not the disconnect that you see when your students can’t figure out the polygon formula you just taught them, this was a social disconnect.  These students come from homes that I have never seen before, homes that show more hate than love and have in some cases not enough attention.  

I have heard of this ‘disconnect’ before.  Whether it was in one of Gotshall’s social theory classes, or something I overheard other teachers refer to.  Whatever it was it was like a bell ringing, and me realizing, ‘ahhh.... so here it is’.  I am foreign to any kind of poverty, ‘other than school debt poverty’ so this is why I witnessed this disconnect today.  The type of poverty I am referring to is not simply funds or money, but more so love.  It was extremely sad to see these students yearn for attention or yearn for love or for anything that made them feel like an eleven year old should feel.  

If the students did not have the control of the class today, they would act unreasonable and disrespectful.  They would burst out in crazy laughs to interrupt my lessons, because they were left with their classmates not paying attention to them.  At first I was annoyed, having to re-teach things, do to interruptions, but late in the morning after their first break, I realized that the students were reacting to the lack of attention that they receive.  

After break, ‘Kourtney’ a student who, laid on the floor, sat on her desk top, snuck up behind me during a lesson while I was at the board to make her classmates laugh, came up to me and apologized.  At the same time she hugged me.  It was a hard embrace that I think was genuine.  I asked her what she was apologizing for, hoping she would refer to her disrespectful manor of the morning, but she simply had no answer for me.  I gave her a long drawn out ‘teacher look’ before I asked her to show me she is sorry by behaving properly for the rest of the day.   Of course she did not, in fact it got worse and she quite enjoyed entertaining her classmates.

I have to explain first how, during the last 2 months almost all of the supply work that I had has been for teachers to write report cards.  Yes, Canadian teachers who read this (I mean you REBECCA) teachers here in England get prep time for their report cards, an entire 3 days usually!! Anywho I had to explain this because the teacher was at the school today, just not in the classroom.  

It wasn’t until after the day had finished, typical of teachers, that the regular teacher informed me of the ‘social issues’ that are in his class.  Today there were 23 students in my class, 9 of which are foster children, 1 who is being sent to, what he referred to as, ‘a unit’ (I think this is some sort of boot camp) and another who was suspended for beating another student in the yard then running a mad goose chase around the school with teachers chasing him (literally) until he climbed up a tree and stayed there until night time.  On top of these social issues, there were also the regular learning difficulties, and a student with ‘high functioning autism’.  

I ache physically, mentally, and emotionally.  I cannot believe the stress that these students have.  It is so bazaar how far I am from their worlds.  Can I teach students that I have no relation with?  Why does this happen?  It shouldn’t, but of course we do not live in a perfect world.  I feel as if I robbed them today.  I could have done so much more, because these are the students that need that extra attention, they need the extra love to make them understand that they are able to do anything and can accomplish their dreams.  Instead I lost it, and heard my voice scream for the first time as a teacher.

I was absolutely appalled after the swear words, the disrespect towards me and their classmates I snapped.  “THESE ARE THE PEOPLE THAT YOU WILL PROBABLY SHARE THE NEXT 10 YEARS WITH!  HOW DISCUSTING IS IT THAT YOU ARE INTERRUPTING YOUR CLASSMATES WITH RUDE COMMENTS AND SWEAR WORDS”.  I was close to a tremble while saying this, I was through I was done, than Nick inserted his lovely two cents.

 *All names have been changed to respect the privacy of students*

30

So it is true, Ryan is old! And I am soooo happy that I am still in my twenties!  I am such a cruel creature, because every year around January 29^th I get uber excited about being YOUNG, well YOUNGER than Mr. Aschaber that is!

Ryan always plays the, ‘I am cool with being old’ card, but I know that he, like many people, probably looks back and thinks, ‘at 30 I was supposed to be so much more?!’

Well my love, you have done soo much in your life already and you are still, okay I will say it, YOUNG!  

Ryan moved away from home to pursue hockey at such a young age.  He was only 16 years old when he left the Aschaber house hold leaving Mumma Aschaber in tears (a regular scene at the Aschaber house, but we would never change it for the world!) to move to Bancroft.  There he lived with a wonderful family who taught him about hunting, snowmobiling, spirituality and friendship. He, ‘minded the net’ for the Bancroft Hawks in the OPJHL for the 1998-99 year before making an even bigger move South, down the 401 to Windsor, ON where he entered his first year of OHL action.

Windsor contained much fun, which I am sure Ryan can only remember, but a few things that I can recall about his OHL career include, the Paulins, Selfer, John and Judy, the Bu (Club Malibu), Johnny Shots, Rush, Curfew call-ins, Chicken Delights, Spy’s sub shop, The barn, 1990 Dodge Shadow, St. Joe’s, Rookie parties, Rye n’ cokes, Skol... to name a few.  There are names and other things that come to mind, that make even me become a bit misty eyed.  Ryan’s OHL career remained in Windsor for his entire 4 years.  Ryan charmed the Windsor crowds with his patience in net, and continued to make tending look easy.

Ryan never flashed the leather, and always left the Windsor fans on the edge!  On more than one occasion I have witnessed Ryan calm the Barn to a complete silence.  Fans would be puzzled with Ryan’s unique saves, you could hear the speculation, did he catch it?  Because Ryan resembled the most humble goal minder style ever, the crowd would never know whether the puck crossed that ever so holy goal line.  The fans would be left in suspense until Ryan would toss the puck to the linesman.  Indicating that yes once again Ryan had what it takes to be a solid tender.  During his OHL stint, Ryan had the once in a life time opportunity to shine his skills on Bruin territory.

Ryan shared his unique saving skills at the Boston Bruin camp in 2000, and received feedback stating that his style was ‘unorthodox’.  This was only because they were not used to seeing a goaltender be so patience and not overconfident in net.  To think at this time, he was only a baby, at the age of 17 he was granted an opportunity that only goes to a select few.  After the camp he continued his OHL career ranking in many records, such as, most assist by a goalie in a single season, and continued to shine bright with receiving numerous first star game titles.  After the OHL, he continued on with his hockey career and entered into the UHL.

He shared his first year between the Columbus Stars and the Muskegon Fury.  Ryan was introduced to a new world while playing in this league, no billet families, just roommates, where many parties went down and new faces and friendships were made.  Ryan spent the rest of his UHL career in the Southern state of Richmond Virginia.  After sharing his talents with the Uhal.. Ryan moved back to Canada and began college.  

Ryan attended Sir Sanford Fleming, where he tackled the ‘career work counselling’ course with flying colours.  Ryan took his studying skills to the next level by applying to St. Francis Xavier University, Dalhousie, and Brock.  It was Danny Flinn from St. FX that welcomed him to Nova Scotia, where Ryan continued on with his hockey skills while beginning his finance undergraduate degree. 

St. FX offered living with a girlfriend for the first time, meeting many new amazing lifelong friends and practicing and learning real life skills.  Such things that will forever be remembered from X, bleeding blue and white, Ohio, homecoming games, Pipers pub, Sean Riley, X ring, Lupo, Flyner, Peck, Case, Big Bruce, Reeder, snow, Julia(the aveo), airports, Statistics, Economics, corporate finance, German, Fras Lade, I wanna win Bobby, The wheel, Lavallee, Peddle, Dr. Phil, M&M’s, this list could go on for days... so I shall stop here.

Ryan successfully earned his undergraduate degree in finance and landed a cosy job with Toronto Dominion Canada Trust bank as a financial planner.  For a year he delved into the women dominated ‘bank branch world’ where he wore green on Fridays and learned so much about customer financial needs.  After his short couple of years back in Ontario, he headed across the pond and landed in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.

England has offered so much surprise and shock to life that only your memory, I am sure, can provide for us.  Ryan has travelled to Scotland and Holland while being here and shares in the wonder of Geordie life.  He has entered into a ‘bro-mance’ with Mr. Alecks and continues to enjoy the lifestyle of never ending football games and pint drinking!

He is currently working with Barclays, England bank learning more about the financial world and moulding what he wants to do next year.  Ryan has already begun the hunt to travel back to the wonderful homeland, Canada where he will prepare to write his CFA and continue to be loving brother, son, grandson and fiancée.

I have to say Mr. Aschaber... you have done soooo much in your short time that I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with you xoxo.