When in Wemindji...: Christmas Break is ALMOST HERE!

The title says it all people. Tomorrow afternoon at 12 (20 minutes after the bell rings) I will be hitting the icy road and making my way back to Ontario to spend the holidays with my friends and family! I am so excited to see everyone, I definitely didn't get to see enough people in my short time back in November so it will be really nice to catch up.

It has been INSANELY busy lately with all the Christmas, travel and school preparations. I have been busy preparing for the academic new year by getting materials, lessons and homework packages ready. Now it is just teaching, marking and dealing with the long 4 month stretch between January and Goose Break that sends both students and teachers up the wall. My mom will be joining me in teaching Grade 2 in the new year so I wanted to get as much of the little things done so I could be as much of a help to her as possible when she takes on the class next door.

Last weekend was really nice, Cycle 1 (grade 1 and 2) had our Christmas dinner of Pad Thai at my house followed by an awesome gift exchange, I was totally spoiled by my friends with really generous and thoughtful gifts! The next night it was a Triplex Girls dinner with Monika and Carmen which was really nice. Earlier in the week we had the Staff Christmas dinner which was delicious and quite fun, I won a $100 gift card to the Community Store (which will buy me approximately 2 boxes of strawberries and a carton of milk!!). I got a hilarious and awesome Secret Santa gift which not many would understand but it was amazing and quite meaningful. Lots of laughs!

Otherwise I have been busy at school with lots of Christmas activities and practice for the concert which took place last night! Although Stacy had to leave the community early yesterday afternoon it went off without a hitch! Almost all of the 25 students showed up and the performance was AWESOME! I was sooo proud of my kids, they worked so hard, dressed to the nines and sung their hearts out! We sang "Rudolph" and a Cree culturally-infused version of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". A busy, stressful but very fun night. That being said I will probably never sign up for Christmas Concert Committee again given the amount of coordination and planning that is necessary along with all the regular craziness that accompanies the season!

Okay so here is the meat and potatoes of today's blog. Something very bad happened last week. So bad I considered not even writing about it and putting out on the Internet for fear of it finding it's way into a future employer's hands. However I have decided to throw caution to the wind for your entertainment! You may see me homeless on the streets of Ontario one day. Here goes..

Last Thursday Monika and I were preparing breakfast with some help from Carmen. We were doing everything we usually do, but the stars aligned and we managed to set the kitchen on fire. Okay well, what I think happened was that a box filled with breakfast was set on the stove that we use often as counter space (big mistake). Somehow the burner got turned on and the box set fire once we left. Another teacher discovered the fire not long after and took care of it with the expertise of a seasoned fire fighter, but the damage was done! The stove was a write-off and because of the smoke and fumes, the school was cancelled for the day! Monika and I wanted to DIE from shame and embarrassment. I was depressed, sure I had lost my job (right before the holidays too) but we were thanked profusely by most teachers for the unexpected day off, so it was alright I guess. We were forgiven for our silly mistake and were able to keep our jobs and Christmas was saved!

Anyways, as you can imagine I am exhausted from the past week's events and am really looking forward to some sleep, socializing and time with the family! Wish me a safe drive tomorrow as I put on my trucker hat and take on the role of an ice road trucker!

Happy Holidays!

Oh hi Carmonika.

I was greeted by this the other night. Instantly enraged and depressed. That snowpile is about 2 feet high, made of pure ice and there are 2 boulders the size of yoga balls made of similarly densely packed snow and ice. It took me an hour just to clear the bottom of my driveway in -36!!