The Cold

It wasn't cold here last week. It really wasn't. On Thursday, it was actually 10 degrees warmer here than in Vancouver. Now, not so much. Tonight it's supposed to get down to -8 with a wind chill of -14. I know this isn't much compared to some of the places I have lived, but it's a different cold here. The only bonus is at least we see the sun. Apparently, there were 42 days of rain before I came so the sun is a welcome friend. I'd just like some snow to go with the cold.

The bread turned out pretty well. I only had to call Gramma once.

The Store

So my students are starting to test me more. This week, I had to deal with four of them leaving between classes and going to the store. The break between classes is only 5 minutes and in the spirit of the math class they were late for, lets just say they were three times longer than that on their trip. I had told them that if they caught up on their work for the week, I would allow them to watch a movie on Friday. I took away that priviledge and was told that I was no longer a cool teacher. I think they'll get over it.
Hmmm, what else has gone on..... I went on my first ever float plane ride on Friday. I went into Prince Rupert for some Harry Potter and groceries and to get away from the earwigs for a night. Plus, the school paid for it, so I was more than willing to go. The float plane was cool, if somewhat scary. It was a bit choppy during take off and we kind of bounced all over before actually getting in the air. Landing was smooth though, and I tend to worry about that a little more. The view was amazing and it just made me appreciate and understand the area I'm in that much more.
Today I'm going to do some marking, mixed in with some surprisingly domestic activities like vacuuming up dead bugs and making bread. Yes, I'm going to attempt to bake bread. In the oven. By myself. I need my Gramma!!

The Beginning

Let’s head back to my first day that I will now refer to as the Great Power Outage of 2005….
The principal took me over to the school to give me a basic tour. I met a few of the teachers who were trying to find generators to get some power at their homes. Its high drama here when everyone relies on their well stocked freezers to feed them between trips to Rupert as we locals like to call it. Really, the power was only out for a few hours, but it did make my first day here fairly unique. That and the fact that I couldn’t find half of my stuff that I had shipped up early. Mike, one of the high school teachers, was kind enough to invite me over to his place to have dinner with him and his wife Stacey. I tried not to drool too badly in front of him.
From that point, I took a nap. I was wiped from my lack of sleep the night before so I pulled out my sleeping bag and passed out on the couch for an hour or so. I was woken up when Katie, another teacher who lives in my building, knocked on my door to tell me she had my stuff. This was a bit of a relief because most of my computer was in there and I would’ve been lost with out it. Yes, I can admit my addiction.
I did some unpacking and enjoyed a fabulous dinner with Mike and Stacey and their gorgeous one-month-old daughter Sarrah. We got to know each other a bit and they taught me the ways of Star Choice satellite service. I went home with the plan to organize myself so that I could start off on the right foot, but I was quickly derailed when Mike came over with an invitation from some of the other teachers to play Cranium with them. You all know me and my reserved nature, so of course I debated for about 30 seconds about calling them and heading over to drink wine and show off my competitive nature.
Sunday was about the same; more unpacking, more procrastinating. I was gearing myself up for the week ahead of me and trying to find where I had put my shampoo for most of the day.

Monday came along quickly and I was thrown in the deep end right away. The school starts most days with drumming in the gym and the principal had the leader introduce me to everyone. A very sweet girl in Grade 2 came over and introduced herself, then gave me a hug that I desperately needed. From there it was off to meet my students.
I spent most of the day just following people around, watching what was done and trying to get stuff together. Leona is across the hall from me and teaches Socials and English for the most part. Mike is beside her and teaches Math, Science and PE. Brenda is beside me and she teaches just about everything, but most notably First Nations studies. I was quite surprised to find out that they had a full band program in the school, but I’m very pleased about it. Doug teaches that and Bill is the jack of all trades in the school teaching Woodwork, Math, PE, Socials, knitting and basket weaving. Okay, I made those last two up but I thought I needed to spice things up a bit to keep your attention.
I quickly got impressions of my students and I’m optimistic that it’s going to be a good year. They all have issues and problems that play apart in their education, but now at least they’ll have some consistency at school. There had been so many changes up until this point that they were spinning in circles. I was teaching most of Tuesday, just leaving Bill to do Socials with them first period. Wednesday I was on my own and I was feeling pretty good by then. I had an awesome Science class with them when we tested our reflexes using rulers and pennies. I don’t think they’d had a lot of opportunity to do hands on work before I came because they had been in the same class as the Grade 9’s. Thursday night was Parent-Teacher night for handing out report cards. Unfortunately, most parents didn’t make it. I did meet two of my students mom’s though. I couldn’t really say much about the students, but I’m hoping I at least made a good impression. I think the highlight of the week was having one of the moms say, “Oh good, a teacher my daughter’s age!”

The Arrival

I made it here all in one piece, and it was quite a trip. I left Vancouver on Friday afternoon, flew up the coast and landed at the Prince Rupert airport around 6pm. From there, I got on a bus that went to the ferry to take us to the mainland and Prince Rupert itself. I was dropped off a block from my hotel and made my way over. The hotel was basic, but the people were so friendly and helpful. Once I had all of my stuff stored away in my room, I went out to pickup my things from Greyhound that I had shipped up. I had the hotel manager call me a cab. The cab came. I got in, and asked to be taken to the greyhound station. He drove out of the parking lot, and stopped. Little did I know that the Greyhound station was directly across the street. I felt mildly foolish about it all, but I still piled my stuff in the cab and had it driven back to the hotel. I gave the driver $10 for driving less than a kilometre. After that, I walked across the street to the mall, did some mad grocery shopping so that I’d be able to eat and then pushed my shopping cart back to the hotel. I only received a few strange looks from the locals. I stashed all of that stuff and then headed out on my third trek of the evening. I went off to Zellers and picked up a TV, walking awkwardly back to the hotel with it in my arms. At least I was smart enough to only pick up at 13”-er.

The next morning was less rushed, but that was mainly because I barely slept and had a lot of time to get organized. I called another cab and piled my mound of belongings in to be taken to the ferry. Now, typically when taking a ferry, I like to get there about a half hour early so I can get myself on and settled comfortably for the ride. I didn’t really need to do that for this trip. The ferry pulled up about 45 minutes after I got there at 6:53am, took about 10 minutes to load the six walk-on passengers and three cars and was on its way to Lax Kw’alaams. What did I do for 45 minutes you ask? I watched the water, greeted the men who worked on the airport ferry as they came into work, watched some herons fighting over a fish and tried to keep warm. It was an experience. I’m not sure what type, but an experience nonetheless.

The ferry ride was about an hour and absolutely gorgeous. There was fresh snow on the peaks, seals fishing for food in the quiet waters of Tuck Inlet and massive tanker ships waiting to be loaded with Canadian grain, destined for the Asian markets. The crew was extremely friendly and helpful, getting a dolly to carry my stuff on board, inviting me to sit with them on the bridge and telling me a bit about where I was headed. I was picked up on the other side by a taxi van that threatened to overheat on the 20 kilometre and rather hilly road to town. The hill over town gave an amazing view of the ocean and Lax Kw’alaams. The sun was shining, the water was calm and the town had paved roads with sidewalks! I was dropped off at my apartment and met my principal for the first time in person. He gave me my keys, helped me get my stuff inside, informed me that the power was out, and welcomed me to my new home.

The Unknown

I'm heading into the unknown tomorrow. I have never been to Prince Rupert, nevermind Port Simpson/Lax Kw'alaams. I know very little about it. What I do know is intriguing and nerveracking but I'm going anyway. I've spent the past week rushing to put my life into storage or Rubbermaid containers to ship north. It's really quite amazing how you can pack away 95% of your belongings and still feel like you are taking too much stuff. I made friends with the guy at the Greyhound Courier counter, shocked a Telus employee when I explained exactly where I was going and even managed to get five minutes to myself. It's kind of ironic since I'm going to have eight months to myself.