When in Wemindji...: Arriving and Unpacking

I will be happy if I never see another cardboard box again!! I have spent the last 4 days unpacking my home and classroom and lets say I am more than a little tired.

Let me start from the beginning though. After postponing my departure from Ontario by a day, Monika, Carmen and I started the long drive back to Wemindji to start the new school year on Sunday. The first day was uneventful and the drive was pretty nice! I was ASTOUNDED by my highway fuel economy and made it all the way to Amos on one tank! Pretty nice, especially since that trip would have seen me stopping every few hours to fuel up in the old Tercel. We got to Amos around 8, had a late dinner at - you guessed it - Mike's and then crashed. After spending a really lovely evening with my mom at a delish Thai restaurant the night before, I felt a little homesick and missed my mama so I spent a good hour on the phone with her which put me at ease and I had a decent sleep at the reliable ol' Amosphere.

The next day we took off early and made our last stop for gas before 381KM at Matagami. Once we hit the James Bay Highway, the weather alternated between sunny skies and lotsa rain which really helped wash all the disgusting bugs off the windshield (a dragonfly got stuck in my wipers and I swear made eye contact with me before being swiped off to its death...). I had some good ghostly podcasts playing and of course my favorite tunes to keep me company. The van was SO COMFY and felt like luxury driving over all those crazy bumps. I was born to drive a big vehicle. Love it.

I had forgotten that forest fires had ravaged the landscape during the summer until I saw parts of the wilderness completely leveled and crazy burned up trees on either side of the highway. I drove past a few burned down bush camps which was sad. Fire had gotten so close to the road that even the guardrails had burned down, leaving behind twisted and melted metal lying on the side of the road. Some of the damage was patchy and in other places it stretched for what seemed like miles. Some green was starting to grow on the blackened earth but for the most part, the charred remains of birch and fir trees dotted the landscape. It was beautiful and scary at the same time, but I could barely take my eyes off it! It was interesting to see the size and extent of land affected by the fires and I was immediately grateful it hadn't reached Wemindji!

Anyways, we arrived home at about 5:30pm after about 9 hours of driving. I was POOPED but somehow mustered up the energy to unpack my van (I have NO idea how I fit so much stuff in there honestly) AND unpack EVERYTHING! No, I don't know what is wrong with me either. I hit the sack and the next day headed into the school to assess the amount of work I was going to have to put into unpacking and setting up my classroom. I made a good dent on Tuesday and Wednesday and today in between a short meeting, I finished unpacking and setting up! Maintenance workers at the school have been fantastic and have worked really hard to help us get ready and settled and I was really happy to have a few odd jobs I needed done completed quickly! Tomorrow I will focus on organizing my resources, putting up my boards and decorating my door! This weekend I will spend a good deal of time preparing for the student's first week and get some "Back to School" activities planned! With no black ink in my printer this might prove a little difficult however...

It has been great to catch up with my friends and colleagues and I have spent much more time socializing than unpacking I am sure! Maquatua Eeyou School gained two brand new teachers this year who are great ladies and I can't wait to start working with them! They have definitely landed jobs in a fantastic school with a lot of positive changes happening and I am happy to welcome them. The school also saw a few returning teachers and educators who were previously taking time off or working other areas of the school board and it is nice to see them too! I am very excited for this school year, I have to say. I am teaching an adorable, awesome class of 12 (YES 12!) and have the most amazing staff to work with. I think this is going to be a great year and definitely different from last year. I am excited to try new things with this group and see how far we can go!

I will post pictures of my finished classroom as soon as I can, for now here are some shots from the drive and of my classroom in progress. And yes you are not imagining things, those are WINDOWS and I have a SINK!

I miss this little feller!

A bunny I saved from the wilderness of Pinegrove Road

Packing in progress..

Almost finished product! I fit: a chair, a bookshelf, a patio set, a TV, a side table, 3 Rubbermaid containers, 1 bag of charcoal, a lamp, 3 mirrors, 1 diploma, 5 plants, 1 bag of potting soil, 1 million chachkies, 1 giant copper daisy and about 300 boxes.