When in Wemindji...: GVC

AY AY AY! So much has happened in the past week, and to think - I thought I would bring along my laptop, do some blogging, do some work while in Montreal in the lonesome evenings. Well let me tell you this: that did not happen. Once.

Day One in Montreal (Monday):
Arrive in the outskirts of Montreal - drop some serious cash at Dollarama. 3 trips inside x3 people in that place and we were already worrying about the lack of space in the truck. Drive into downtown Montreal (just so happened there was a bike race which closed off the exact streets we needed to access to get to the hotel, convenient! I can still hear the freaky underwater voice of the GPS lady "Recalculating" *shudder*.) We found an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant where we promptly gorged on delicious sushi as well as extras that arrived on a CONVEYOR BELT beside our table. Obscene. Then we walked home and crashed. (However, not before a "chicken sushi" influenced photoshoot with Marsha ensued along Sherbrooke Ouest)

Day Two in Montreal (Tuesday):
Wake up early, eat at a little cheapie breakfast place and attend our first day of GVC training. We got our massive curriculum binders which were filled with directions on how and when things should be taught. Also a nice little package of lesson plan templates for us to use for each subject each day. Hello teacher's college, I missed you!!!! After that, an interesting night took place and I will only say that a nice meal was had with great company.

Day Three in Montreal (Wednesday):
Repeat Day Two for GVC training. Started to feel overwhelmed with the amount of content expected to teach the students (according to the GVC schedule we are already 5 weeks behind... funny since we only got the GVC that week.. WHATEVER) as well as the degree of complexity of the content. See, the Cree School Board discovered that most of their students were approximately 2-5 grade levels behind what they should be, so the Guaranteed Viable Curriculum was designed to give a clear and detailed plan to teachers who previously had little direction and curricular support. This "living, breathing document" better be able to cook me dinner and massage my feet after a day's work because it is INTENSE the amount of stuff expected to cover. The stakes are high, the expectations higher and the stress immeasurable. But, I am very happy to have such a well-laid out curriculum map. The Mathematics document is very well done, the weekly expectations linked to resources and assessments will soon follow. Neither documents are complete but hopefully the rest of the plans will be given to us soon! Anyways, after our fun-filled conference day we went to TROIS AMIGOS! Delicious food and fantastic margaritas, terrible service, but they had guacamole so I was happy.

Day Four in Montreal (Thursday):
Last day of GVC conferences, spent mostly planning with my BEAUTIFUL AND GORGEOUS AND WONDERFUL PARTNER STACY!!!! I love her. And Marsha. And I guess Carmen too.. LOL. Anyways, yep pretty good day, topped off with a delicious "Goodbye Montreal!" dinner at - you guessed it! - ALL YOU CAN EAT SUSHI! To leave a civilization without going for sushi at least one more time would be blasphemous, so we hit up the ole' conveyor belt once more!

Day Five in Montreal (Friday):
We woke early so we could check out of the hotel and hit up the shops before arriving at our destination Matagami about 12 hours later!! A LONG day finished by a weirdo photoshoot in our "suite" and texting to each other while in the same room... We left Matagami the next morning and made it home in record speed!! I was (and still am) pooped but very glad to be home in my little bed. I also managed to score quite a great deal of toilet paper and toiletries which just tickles me, although Marsha does think I am a klepto. HEY until my half-million dollar debt is paid off, I will take every roll of toilet paper and every complimentary shampoo to feed my stock!!

In all, it was a fantastic trip where I really got to learn about what is expected of me as a teacher this year and became really close with my fellow teachers. We ate great food, had great conversations and enjoyed a beautiful city together.

Timmies!!!

McDonalds!!

Dollarama! Carmen's first trip.

Our haul after the FIRST trip inside!

Little story behind this one. I was walking up behind the truck after using the facilities at McD's and I saw that at the drive-through beside the car there was a plethora of dropped change!! So I bent down to retrieve said change! Marsha, already disturbed by my cheapness called me "CHEAP ASS!" took a picture and proceeded to "accidentally" hit me in the head with her car door. "Accidentally"...