Sports, rocks and cheesecake.

It's been a while since my last post so I thought I'd give an update to those of you that actually still read this! The 23rd of August saw the one year anniversary of me upping sticks and moving to Newfoundland to embark on my Master's. I'm a naturally reflective person, and this landmark made me ponder (dangerously) over what I've done over this last year. I've been to California. Twice. I've presented my work at two conferences. I've eaten cod tongues. All highlighted achievements in my eyes. I won't bore you with my sentimentality though, I'll just let you know what's happened since my last post.

The major event of August was the Royal St John's Regatta. The oldest sporting event in North America (which makes sense as this is the oldest bit of North America...) sees a whole day of rowing races on Quidi Vidi Lake and a general jamboree on its shores. An day not to be missed by a sports fanatic like myself. The day is a civic holiday meaning everyone gets the day off. Only, it's a weather dependant holiday meaning that if it's too rainy or windy for the rowing, you have to go to work. This is complicated by the fact that the night before is the least night of the George Street Festival, leading to many residents playing "Regatta Roulette".

The weather was good for the most part, making me a Regatta Roulette winner!

Not your typical rowing race, as boats are required to turn a buoy at one end of the lake and continue racing back towards the start.

August also saw one of my fellow St Andrews geology students coming over to Newfoundland to do her Honours dissertation fieldwork. Scheduling and general logistics prevented me from helping her with field work but instead I played tourist guide for the days in which she was in St John's. It was lovely being able to show someone around the fabulous place that I now call home, as well as catching up on everything that has been going on in the place I used to call home.

Glorious view of St John's from the Battery road walk.

A statutory visit up Signal Hill where on the way down we find a
British flag flying proudly in the dreary skies. 

After visiting Cape Spear we stop in at Fort Amherst, just across The Narrows.

September means the start of the school term, and my return to TA duties. Once again I am TAing 2nd year mineralogy, and now that I'm somewhat familiar with the syllabus I am much more useful to the kids than I was last year. Unfortunately for the kids though it also means I'm a harsher marker as I understand why stuff is right or wrong now!

As well as helping out in class I also had the opportunity to TA 2nd year field school, which I was super excited about, not only because I would get to see a bit more of Newfoundland, but also I'd get paid more cash! I've helped out in field courses before in St Andrews and found it really fun. I love being in the field, investigating new rocks I've never seen before and trying to pass on a few pearls of wisdom to younger geologists. One of my favourite techniques involves rather minimal teaching, going a little like this: 
"Is this a sandstone Stacy?" 
"I don't know you tell me!" 
"I think it's a sandstone..." 
"Okay why do you think it's a sandstone?"
"(Description blah blah blah)"
"Hmmm okay" *walks off cooly*
"JUST TELL ME THE ANSWER STACY!!!"

Bacon Cove. Our first stop of field school (minus the outcrop behind the grocery store).

The Bacon Cove unconformity; basal conglomerate marking the Pre Cambrian- Cambrian transition.

Local wildlife came to have a gander too.

The main mapping area was on the Northern tip of the Avalon at a place called Cripple Cove. With that name I approached the 40 minute hike into the area with cautiousness and trepidation, not wanting to return to my crippled past. Fortunately the patch was fine and I got to hang back towards the back of the pack, meaning I could gorge myself on the sweet wild blueberries that cover Newfoundland in the summer months.

Cripple Cove and the huge group of 2nd years eager to
make their first geological map.

Beautiful views out to the sea from my hidden
sheltered lunch spot away from the world.

A baby eagle glides over the field area majestically.

Major milestones have been reached in culinary terms over the last few weeks. Spurred on by the end of the blueberry season and my months of all-talk-no-action I made a blueberry lemon cheesecake which was well received by the grad students that were lucky enough to snag some. Then I was given a load of home-grown apples by one of the professors, and being too tart to eat they had to be baked, leading to my finest cheesecake masterpiece in my 9-year career; a caramel apple cheesecake topped with pecans.

 Elaborate, and including my first ever caramel it went down and absolute storm, despite me not being happy with its structural integrity.

I also had my first ever sushi experience. Being the opposite of a fussy eater I had no qualms about trying raw fish and as we were going to the best place in town I had high expectations. I was not disappointed. Surrounded by a group of sushi veterans I sat back and let them order everything whilst I developed my rudimentary chopstick skills, and elastic band helping greatly. Concentrating "harder than I have during my entire Master's" I managed to successfully guide the sushi into my mouth where the taste sensation occurred. More sushi will be eaten during my time here.

The coming weeks are set to be rather busy for me, so hopefully I'll have some exciting stuff to talk about and photos to make y'all jealous. Until next time...