The Future

Apparently my blog is still active.  Huh.  I should probably do something with it.

Five years later, things are a little bit different.  I'm married, a home owner, not a teacher, and almost a mother.  I've thought about writing down what I've been going through lately, but I don't know how interesting other people will find it.  I may start doing it just so that I remember what I've been going through lately.  My brain is not what it used to be, but I'm blaming the bump.  It's a handy excuse.

The Reunion

It has started. The slow, steady buzz of the ten year high school reunion. Ours is coming up this summer. No one really has a clue what's going on, but that isn't really surprising. We've never been an overly organized bunch.
The general feeling is that we should have one, but no one really wants to take on the daunting task of creating one. Some people have out right said that they wouldn't go, others will be there with bells on. I'm planning to be in the bell arena.
I would organize, but I'm not organized. I'm also not in Cranbrook so it's a bit harder to do. Other names of qualified candidates have been floated around, but there doesn't seem to be any firm ideas or commitment or the ability to get in touch with said candidates. There are a few emails flying around, asking what's happening, but I'm still waiting for the one that actually has some thoughts on what should happen or is going to happen.
I'll send a call out to anyone that knows anything or has any ideas, but I don't know that anyone actually read this anymore. I'll take my chances and hope for the best.

I also know that it's been three months since I've posted anything on here and the last one was about my accident. Here's the long and short of it:
I was in the cast for eight weeks, but my wrist didn't heal, so I had surgery in early December to put a screw into the bone to hold it together. I had to wear a brace on my wrist for the next five weeks to let it set and it's looking great now, according to my surgeon. I'm working with a physiotherapist to get strength and movement back into my wrist as it now looks anorexic and doesn't move quite right. Definitely an improvement but it's been a frustrating time of it. I'll deal. I always do. It's not like I haven't hurt myself before.

The Accident

For those of you who don't know me very well, you may be surprised to hear that I'm a little bit accident prone. I know, it's a bit of a shock, but it is true. I have a tendency to injure myself. This time though, it wasn't my fault and I hope that ICBC agrees with me on that.
I was on my way home from work in Burnaby, cruising along on my scooter when a woman heading in the opposite direction decided to make a left turn in front of me. Right in front of me. I couldn't stop, so she stopped me, or at least the front-side of her car tried to. My scooter stopped there, I flew over her hood, landing on the road on the other side of her, on my left side. I don't really have a clear idea of how this all played out as my eyes were closed, but I know that I hit the road rather hard. I broke my left wrist (I'm left-handed), bruised up my legs quite fabulously and wrenched my right shoulder.
Currently, my legs are a kalidescope of colours from top to bottom. It's quite amazing actually how many colours there are. I have a cast on my wrist that I have to wear for the next eight weeks, so if you get anything from me that I have to write, forgive the pitiful penmanship please.

The Wait

I know, I know. It's been months since I've written. I'm a horrible blogger. I should be tied to my chair and forced to type out a daily journal until it is engrained in my psyche. Or I could just get off my lazy butt and type a few lines every now and then. That might be a little more humane.
Well, things have happened. The school year ended, and with it, my time up north. I've decided to return to reality and try and get a job with a school district. The plan for now is to give it a year in the Lower Mainland, and if that doesn't work, I'm heading out to where the work is. I had a lot of fun in Lax Kw'alaams and I will definitely miss it. Hopefully I'll make it back up there to visit at least once.
I'm living in Surrey now, with David, in a great apartment in Whalley. I know that Whalley doesn't have the best reputation, but the rent is very affordable and the building is like a little oasis. I should really be putting stuff away right now, but I figured I should at least let people know where I am these days.
Feel free to drop a line if you find yourself missing me too much!

The Visitors

I have had a number of visitors in the past few weeks, and it was wonderful. David (born April 25th, 1976)come up to visit for a weekend first, and that was great. Long distance relationships are challenging and I think it helped him out to see exactly what it is I've gotten myself into up here. We spent a night in Prince Rupert, and then came back the next morning so I could go to a staff meeting. We spent the rest of the weekend wandering around, checking places out, David getting checked out by my friends and students, and watching a bald eagle take a big poo off a rock. I have it on video if anyone would like to check it out. Classic moment.
My mom came up the next weekend, which was Easter. I met her in Rupert and we spent the afternoon there with Nav, Lillian and Joe before catching the ferry back to Lax Kw'alaams. I think the highlight of that was seeing orcas out the window of the pub we were having lunch in. I was so excited! I hadn't ever seen a whale in the wild! Lillian said I was like a kid on Christmas morning, but I think I was a little bit more restrained than that. I might have shoved my mom slightly to get a better view, but that's normal, right?
Mom and I managed to spot quite alot while she was here. We walked around the boardwalk on Saturday and a pod of porpoises were just off the shore! I have video of that aswell, but it's a bit jumpy because Elva (Mike and Stacy's dog) decided to pull on her leash right when one of them was jumping, but if you can handle the seasick feeling you get from watching it, it's pretty cool. After that we went up to the Rec Centre and watched the Easter activities they had going on. Well, Mom watched, I got roped into doing one with Lillian that involved her swinging a potatoe hung in pantyhose that were tied around her waist and me attempting to catch it between my knees. We looked quite ridiculous, but I got a pretty white 3rd place ribbon out of it.
Mom had to fly out on Monday, so we spent Sunday night in Rupert. We wandered around to galleries and shops for most of the afternoon and then had an awesome dinner on the harbour. She left first thing in the morning, so I had to kill a few hours in Rupert by aimless walking town trying to get a haircut. Of course, nothing was open, so I ended up making some impulse purchases at the local sporting goods store and having a hilarious conversation with the owner about pens.

The Feast

Last night we went to a feast at the Rec Centre. This is an annual event that they call the Baby Feast. It's an event to welcome all the babies born in the past year into the community and into their "houses". I'm not entirely sure how to define a house, but basically it's the line of the Tsimshian nation that they fall under and the crest that they are. There are four crests of the Tsimshian in Lax Kw'alaams, the killer whale, the wolf, the raven and the eagle. Those of us that live here but do not belong to any group get the crest of the butterfly.
The evening was amazing. There were so many amazing parts that I hope I can give a decent image of what it was.
When we arrived, all the families that had babies to be recognized were sitting at the head table with all the dancers and drummers standing behind them.


The head table and the dancers in behind them. 

Many of our students and friends are part of the dancers and we are lucky enough that the school has a tradition of having the school day start every morning with drumming in the gym. I was singing along, as I tend to do, when they were singing last night in of their regalia. I wasn't looking quite as nice in my T-shirt and puffy vest. Everyone was looking pretty casual.


The teacher table at the feast. 

The food wasn't exactly traditional, but very normal for this community. They ordered in a huge Chinese food dinner from Prince Rupert that was pretty good for being sent in by float plane early in the afternoon. I came home with a pocket full of fortune cookies.
I can't really describe how the evening was to do it justice. I had an amazing time and I loved to be able to see some of the traditions of the people that I am living with here.

The Snow (Part 2)

This place does not get much snow. According to locals, it's been many years since there has been any substantial snowfall in Lax Kw'alaams. That all changed in the past two days. Currently, there's over a foot of snow on the ground and I am in heaven! Sledding, snowball fights, face washes: I've done them all! And spring officially starts on Monday.
I'm going to take you all back a few days, to the first days of Spring Break 2006. Don't worry, there's snow all the way through this story.
I left town on Saturday and headed into Prince Rupert on the float plane for a nice quiet night. We had a few friends over on Friday night and that wasn't so quiet, so I was recovering a bit, regaining my strength.


A view of the nearby lake from the float plane.

I was headed east, to Shames Mountain, with Anna and Crystal for a day of snowboarding. It was so gorgeous! The drive, the snow, the mountains. It was all fabulous. Many parts of the drive reminded me of areas in the Kootenays. It was an amazing drive up to the hill with the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky.


The Skeena River Valley is amazingly beautiful.

We spent the day on the hill enjoying the sun and the snow. We were all over the place, avoiding trees and trying to stay on our boards. None of us had been up in a long time and our legs were screaming by the end of the day, but it was all worth it.


Fabulous snow at Shames!


Crystal and Anna

I'm going to leave this for now and keep you all on the edges of your seats, waiting to find out what we did next! Really, I'm just hungry and need to fill my belly.