When in Wemindji...: Get Comfy.

What a crazy couple of weeks it has been since I last poured my heart and soul out onto this page!

First of all: allow me to update you on the hamsters (since I know that is the main reason why anyone reads this anyways, correct??).

I still have 6 in my possession.
- Carmonika, the original (who looks permanently shell shocked whenever I open her cage),
- 2 blind hamsters (I will elaborate),
- and 3 "normal "(putting that incredibly loosely) babies.

Carmonika I will keep forever. I have found a home for a blind one and one of the other male hamsters with eyes. I will keep the second blind hamster and two "regular" ones for my classroom pets.

OKAY so let me explain the situation with the blind ones. I THOUGHT I had 2 albino hamster babies because they were pure white and never opened their eyes! So cute! Well upon further investigation I realized that they in fact HAD NO EYES. I did some quick internet research which revealed a genetic abnormality that occurs in these kinds of hamsters due to bad breeding. Well, "bad breeding" should be the middle names of all of these babies due to how often they like to practice jumping to their deaths from human heights but I will leave that one alone for now. So basically I couldn't give the blind ones to a pet store knowing they would likely become snake food so they had to stay. I tried unloading the two regular hamsters I had left in pet stores in Oakville and on friends but no luck! So I decided to bite the bullet and keep 3 babies (one blind one at home and 2 in the classroom) and give 2 others away to a gentleman in a nearby community. So now I have DEFINITELY paid for a lifetime membership in the Singles Club and have accepted my fate as the crazy hamster lady. Thanks guys.

Okay, second thing. I was going to separate the kids before I left but found out 2 weeks old was too early. I was able to clean the cage and let the babies out in their playground for a stretch of the legs which was super cute! It was too early to tell who were boys and girls so I had to leave that until before I left last week (more on that in a second). Now I THINK I have identified their genders but I definitely had a boy and a girl in the same cage for a period of time and chances are they have mated and I will have 3 billion blind hamsters running around my house. Honestly, when will my life become easy like the movies?

Okay SO moving on from hamsters. Last week Monika and I were offered the last-minute opportunity to go on some Nelson math and literacy training in Val D'Or. This training took place at the end of last week. Since last Monday was a holiday and Tuesday was a travel day for the training, we were taking, we decided to make a little "vacation" out of it. SO Monika and I left on Friday right after work and drive to Oakville and squeeze in a quicky visit with family before heading to Val D'Or which is equal distance from Wemindj (so no extra driving other than down to Oakville). We made it pretty much intact as the roads have now been affected by the northern winter and were able to spend some quality time with family. It was a short but sweet visit, I managed to get some wonderful shopping in for Christmas in the classroom and some quality time with BOBO! Then on Tuesday morning we booted it to Val D'Or to check in at our gorgeous hotel The Forestel and explore all that Val D'Or had to offer!

The training was very useful and I learned A TON about guided reading, guided writing and took home some great ideas about using a particular math program in the classroom. It was a small group comprised mostly of department heads and consultants with a few teachers thrown into the mix. We shared some great ideas and overall it was a very useful training. Hearing stories from other schools made me realize (again) how lucky I am to be working at MES in Wemindji. We have such a dynamic and creative staff and the students are working at full capacity to be successful. I am so proud of the hard work we as teachers do every day and even more proud of our students for rising to the occasion and trying their hardest to meet the high expectations of the GVC and those which we set for them. We met a bunch of AMAZING people and friends for life and heard some incredibly hilarious stories about other communities.

Anyways, thanks to my amazing supply teachers, I am looking forward to going back to an intact classroom and good reports. There are only 6 weeks until Christmas break and it is going to be INCREDIBLY busy with introducing a new guided reading program into my classroom, digging deep into new, fun writing tasks, organizing and participating in the Christmas concert and taking over the school's Breakfast Program officially with Monika. Oh and raising my grandbabies and possibly my great-grand babies. Stay tuned.