I am currently just finishing up my Bachelor of Arts Degree in Canadian Studies at Simon Fraser University! I will be graduating in April 2000! It has been a long journey for me, as I started my post secondary studies waaaaay back in September 1990! Of course in the mean time I have had a child, and have taken time off from my studies.

My son has a hearing impairment and I just feel that I want to be close to the home for him while he is in school etc. Also in the future when we have more children, most definitely they will probably have hearing impairments as well, I hope they don't , but the genetics are so strong that they probably will. I also want Nesta to be able to choose a few different activities that he wants to participate in, such as soccer, martial arts, etc. and I want to have the time and energy to be able to take him!

I am a hearing impaired female, with a mild to moderate hearing loss in which I do wear hearing aids. My hearing loss is a hereditary condition, in which it was passed on to me from my mother, and my grandmother passed it on to her. As a result, two of my uncles have it, my mother, and my sister (my oldest sister who passed away in 1990 also had this hearing impairment) both have this, as well as my son too. It is a sensorineural loss (nerve deafness), in which nerve endings are missing in the cochlea (the spirally part of the inner ear). You would not know I am hearing impaired, as my disability is considered an "invisible" one, in which people normally cannot tell that I do not have normal hearing. I have had people tell me when I was younger "What is a pretty girl like you doing with a hearing loss and hearing aids?" and people in my life have apologized to me for my hearing loss!! Anyhow, below there are a few links regarding hearing loss and HOW YOU DO NOT NECESSARILY HAVE TO SHOUT AT SOMEONE WHO IS HEAING IMPAIRED! LOL..only kidding *S* but I do however, need to look at your face and watch your mouth when you are talking to me in person !

Links to Places of my Family Ancestry (Canadian, German, English, )

Come and take a look at the places I have visited in my life so far! These are some of the places...I am still working on this list!...Watch out for an updated list of links of places I have travelled to *S*

the places I have travelled

RUHPOLDING, BAVARIA, GERMANY

This is the place where my father was born and raised and where our family house is!

Adelaide, South Australia

I visited some good friends here in Summer 1991, would love to go back here soon!

Papeete, Tahiti-French Polynesia

Made a quick stopover on the way back from Australia in this Heaven on Earth Paradise...

Murray River, Australia

Travelled along this river, the longest river in Australia!

Oregon Coast

Went along this coast with my family summer of 1989 ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!

Tofino, Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada

This is just one of the gorgeous places I have been to on Vancouver Island...BEAUTIFUL

Information about BANFF NATIONAL PARK

Check this out! A Gorgeous place in the midst of the Rockies!

Lake Kalamalka (just outside of Vernon, BC)

When I was a child, we used to go camping on this beautiful lake! In the Okanagan Valley in BC

DISNEYLAND!! The Happiest Place on Earth!

I visited here in 1988, while on a trip with my high school! We stayed with a local high school billets! Needless to say, I had fun! :)

Meckenheim, Germany (in German)

This is where my Tante Cilly und Onkel Gerhard live (Aunt and Uncle), near Frankfurt