Yesterday, we had a Professional Development (PD) at our school to incorporate a PYP program, which is the Elementary school version of an IB program or International Baccalaureate program, that most of us think of at a high school level. I originally saw this video in Saint John, New Brunwick a year ago.  I've seen a few up-to-date versions of it, exactly twice, while I'm working here in Beijing, China at the Canadian International School of Beijing.  My class alone has 18 students from 11 countries!  A very international group of students, whose parents are looking for the best education possible. Seeing a few versions, makes me feel like the U.S., Canada & Europe are sleeping right through and not really making the changes we needed ... 11/12/2010

It’s National Day here in China today!  This is the anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.  This morning I was up early, still 11 hrs difference ahead from New Brunswick, Canada and got dressed to try to find the Starbucks’ the VP & ESL Teacher took me to before.  As I was approaching the Solano Mall, I realized I was still in a different country.  The western style Solano Mall gates to the mall area were closed. I came back to my original route and passed it to find a bakery.  I found this wonderful German bakery and got a “latte”.  Drinking it, I realized it didn’t have espresso, but plain morning coffee with lots of milk.  “Too funny!”  Going back to my school’s gates I met a few teachers waiting outside the gates for a bus that would take them to the ... 09/30/2010

Augh!  My electrical plugs don’t work here?  I’ve got a headache this morning.  I couldn’t dry my hair or straighten it either.  Worse yet, I couldn’t grind any of my dark roasted coffee beans and I’m meeting my new students today????     I woke up early, this sunny Friday, Sept 24th, since my body didn’t know what time it was and my clock radio didn’t work here either.  I was ready for the long productive day!  I met the ESOL/ESL teacher who had taken over for me, until my Chinese VISA permitted me to come to Beijing.   Gayle Trembley is AWESOME!!!  She really cares for the kids’ literacy and reminded me of my 1st grade teacher Mrs. Levy at Bethpage Elementary in Long Island, NY who also helped me overcome my fear of English.  I was a former ESOL/ESL student, only knowing Italian, even... 09/26/2010

Who am I and what time is it?   Air Canada fed us 3 times, had dinner 1st, Cup of Noodles 2nd with chopsticks and with breakfast as the last meal, even though we landed at 3:55 p.m.  Thursday, Beijing time or 4:55 a.m. in Saint John’s Atlantic time zone.   Two FULL planes later, It’s been 17 hours and I’m finally in Beijing, China!  I think this was a longer trip than Hawaii, even though we took the North Pole route from Toronto to Beijing. I was greeted by the owner’s chauffer with my 3 huge suitcases, my Macbook  Pro case (that has all of my tech devices; camera, video camera, ipod, and all chargers) & my messenger’s bag (my girl bag) after Chinese customs at the Dragon Wall with a sign saying CISB and my name below.  He drove me to my new residence & school and was greeted by the VP... 09/25/2010

I accepted an international job early last month and I’m currently waiting for the “GREEN” light for my Chinese “Working” Visa, coming from the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa, ON. I began this morning, with 2 high school kids coming to my backyard, 2 hrs late, to take all of my construction items to their ½ ton dump truck.  This included: 1970’s plywood cabinets, old gyprock from sides of kitchen, laundry room & roof, 2 floorings, Laminate Pergo & vinyl underneath it. I currently have a skeleton of a kitchen, since I’m in the middle of remodeling my kitchen, where the only thing left is a small island bar sink & dishwasher.  Everything else is in my living room in boxes, hallways and my stairways.  All my important stuff I can find; my microwave is on a box, my toaster is on the floor & my c... 09/03/2010

      Having a Math/Science background, I used to play with my daughter's toys, especially her mechanical toys.  I definitely want to meet this guy, while I'm in Beijing!  I wonder if I can transform this transformer into a giant Jet Flying Ferrari that flys through their week long traffic jams in no time?  It would definitely help me during my year in Beijing and I'll bring him back home to New Brunswick in July 2011...  LOL What would you transform this guy or gal into?                                    ;>))     08/27/2010

      Today is a beautiful sunny & warm provincial holiday in New Brunswick, it’s New Brunswick Day!  It’s celebrated every year on the 1st Monday of August, since 1976.  Each year, the province picks a city for the official provincial ceremonies.  This year the NB celebrations are in the Town of Richibucto.   Many new residents are coming in from various parts of the world and immigrating into New Brunswick for a new life. People here today, will be going to live entertainment with music, family activities, face painting, listening to storytellers and eating & drinking with their friends & neighbors. First Nations communities originally occupied the land for over 6,000 years.  In the 1600’s & 1700’s the area was colonized by the French and than later the British.  In 1867, New Brunswic... 08/02/2010

Sitting here today, I was thinking of creating better questions for my potential seller and I remembered from my education years about "Open-Ended" questions.  What are "Open-Ended" questions?  They are questions designed to elicit a full response from your potential seller.  They are the opposite of "closed-ended" questions that can be answered with a brief answer, usually a "yes" or "no". "Pickup Artists" are great at picking up people usually using "open-ended" questions... This involves in more conversation, which get them to share things about themselves and get what they want!   So, I guess this is where I begin the process of relearning how to ask open-ended questions.  Nope!!!  I just went back to my math/science years and re-analyzed how I had taught my students and how I could... 07/15/2010

Two years ago we had a problem, we had a small 4'X4'  2nd Floor Side Deck with a gigantic hole in it that needed to be torn down before one of us fell through it!  We brought it down before we repainted our home. We had a red pine deck on the back yard of our home, that needed serious cleaning, since it had darked over the years before we bought the property.  It probably had enough mold that most other people would have torn the deck apart.  We rented a power sprayer for a weekend and successfully found out that not only did we have a pine deck, but it was Red Pine, which is relatively rare these days.  Here's a photo of the back deck.     Then we figured out how much we would need to build a cedar deck, with hemlock posts for a huge side deck to look at our Grand Bay-Westfield view.  ... 07/06/2010

Have you ever gone into a home that looks like a "tornado" went through it, with clothes everywhere, food wraps on the floors, and floors that look like they haven't been cleaned in the last 6 months? Well, these are 12 tips that Vendors (aka: Sellers) need to know before they put their homes on the market or even worse, attempt to have an "Open House"... 1)  Start by getting rid of all the clutter!  Get it OUT of the house!  You can rent a small or large storage room somewhere locally and put all of the things you aren't going to be using in the next 4-6 months.  All the rooms in your home need to "SHOUT TO THE POTENTIAL BUYER".                                       2)  Get rid of your personal possessions!  Nobody wants to see other families photos or family members at the Open House.... 06/14/2010

In the past 3 years as a REALTOR in the Saint John area, I've seen many Realtors that speak before they think!  They usually let their ego do the talking and lose their client or opponent Realtor at the other end.  Being a former Math & Science teacher, I learned this early, but make it a point to reinforce it daily! I'm the quiet type and have an advantage, since I listen for fluctuations in their speaking (when on the phone)  and read body language (when in person).  I never let them realize this, I just let them talk, so I get even more information from them. This blog is for many of the Realtors who have never really got their "Listening Skills" down.  I will be discussing the very basics on listening skills to help them negotiate the next deal and come back with their clients needs... 06/07/2010

             Meeting enthusiastic Elizabeth Rowe, Owner of Urban Deli, gives you the feeling that she loves the daily challenges of her new business in Uptown Saint John.  Opening July 13, 2009, she has watched her business evolve, just like a child from infancy, from  opening the doors and running it day-to-day.  She loves the daily interactions with people; clients, suppliers & staff! Elizabeth and her business partner, Gord Hewitt, purchased their building on 68 King Street East, across from the Brunswick Square area in April 2008.  The building is designated Heritage, which means there are guidelines to follow on the exterior; therefore the Urban Deli canopy needed to comply and reflect heritage by including sculpted edging and the new front door had to reflect heritage. Although cl... 06/03/2010

My home was built in the late 1970's by an eccentric woman who designed it.  When my family and I moved to Canada 6 years ago, from the U.S. we looked at many homes for over 9 months and found this one that had 28 feet ceilings, with a very steep hip roof and a 52" square diameter skylight in the middle of the home, above the stairway of our home. I live in the middle of Granite City, in fact my home is on Granite/Slate Rock in the middle of Grand Bay-Westfield, a bedroom neighborhood of Saint John, New Brunswick (NB), Canada!  I could literally take it from my old land, but then my house would probably be unstable! As you can probably tell, I'm getting ready to redo my kitchen, with Natural Cherry Cabinets in a shaker style to go with my relatively modern open-concept home! This week, ... 05/28/2010

We finally have a COSTCO that will open next month in May!           I love IKEA stores!!!  I think IKEA home furnishing stores are innovative, keep you organized within your home or office and have items I've never seen in any other store!  These popular European stores are all over the world, but the only ones I've seen are in Canada and the U.S.  Their kitchens are to "die for". In fact, the closest eastern stores are either Montreal, Quebec or Boston, Massachusetts, where both of them are at least 8 hours away! So I went to http://www.ipetitions.com website and created a petition to get as many local Saint Johner's signatures as possible! By using an assortment of websites, I hope to create enough traffic to create the desire to have an IKEA here in Saint John, NB.  I'm trying for 1... 04/04/2010

            I worked two long productive hours this afternoon at our the Saint John Home Show, our local home show to bring out people from their long winter ordeal.  It was very busy to say the least! I came home and my spouse had taped our 3 bedroom walls to repaint them in a light brown, color is similar to the photo above, from the original pucky yellowish tan.   I painted the majority of the walls and my spouse did most of the trim work.  We finished around 8:00 p.m. and since my spouse had to catch a flight to Raleigh, NC tomorrow early morning ~ 5:00 a.m. in Fredericton, NB (which is about 45 mins away) he got ready to get come rest.                                                                                                               Since, most people forget the time cha... 03/13/2010

Ever start your day planning something and find out that interesting things can develop that make your day very different.  This day pulled a few things together, that will help me in the next few months.  I’m beginning my paperwork for Canadian Citizenship and I learned something today about Beavers & their significance in Canada.  Researched a little deeper about Beaver Dams & Beaver Lodges only after I took these photos just east of Saint John, New Brunswick (CANADA) on the town lines between Norton & Bloomfield on Old Hampton Rd. after taking a ride to one of my listings in Sussex.  Please enjoy these next fascinating photos of the beauty of Atlantic Canada...   Beavers in North America, are native to Canada, much of the United States and parts of northern Mexico.   Beaver's preferr... 02/27/2010

     I’ve become a very savvy computer whiz through my former education in Math & Science, being a former educator and having all of those SEO’s on ActiveRain teaching me and all of the other co-computer savy REALTORS®.  The Information Era is here to stay!!! Today, salespeople who accept & embrace the internet ultimately make their businesses more profitable, while the Realtor who chooses to ignore the internet usually pay the price by going “Out of Business” very quickly.   The Realtors who recognize this & make it easy for their consumers to access their information and see what makes them superior also succeed in generating many more sales.    We have on our fingertips, the ability to analyze our customer’s behaviors by the way they navigate on our particular websites.  That can tel... 01/31/2010

I need you guys and gals to use your imagination to the best of your ability... in fact, please brainstorm these photos, they are funny!!! Normally, I usually see a beautiful sunny, colorful sunrise, like the photos on the sides of my blog.  Today, I woke up to a quiet, sunny, beautiful morning and found an unknown, interesting and very artistic creature on my observation deck.   Came up the stairway and looked through one window to find this!       Looked at it unsure what to make of it, so I did a double-take and observed it again!     Living in Atlantic Canada, it wouldn't surprise me if it's some kind of friendly or frightening creature that climbed up my deck?  How did it get here?  There's nothing between the deck and the 2nd floor from the outside, except the very extreme hip roo... 01/21/2010

           Why Should You Hire Me?   Real estate has gone from paper & pencil days, to high-tech knowledge! Today, there are many other local REALTORS® that you can hire in the Saint John community.   Some of those REALTORS® have never had additional training other than the formal training they received from the Province/State they got their original training from, with some many years ago.  Others say they are certified but never show their credentials on additional training.  Now the question should be:  Why do some REALTORS® keep training, while others just look for the next listing or client?   Don’t get me wrong, the training I received from New Brunswick Real Estate Association was wonderful and I learned plenty, but it was just the “Tip of the Iceberg”.  The extra training I obta... 01/10/2010

Despite the recent economic trouble Saint John's economy has been growing. Over the past couple of years Saint John has had some major energy projects on the go, although most of these projects are completed the economic spin offs are under way. Whether or not you're local you don't have to look far to see how well we're doing here. All throughout the city ground is being broken on all kinds of developments. Now that most of the industrial development has been completed, Saint John is seeing a BIG boom in retail development. Here's a list of some of the latest developments: Complete renovation and over haul of the McAllister Place Shopping Center Ongoing building of the East Point Shopping Distric, now underway is the new Costco Store and TD Canada Trust building. Lancaster Mall on the ... 11/20/2009