"Snow" Much Spring!

What a crazy couple of weeks it has been.  As you may know, my Grandfather passed away on the 12th and I immediately returned home.  I was just wrapping up Report Card Night and parent interviews when I got the call from my mother at 8pm.  I dropped everything, got my plans organized for the time I would be gone and took off the next morning just before 7am.  I drove 17 hours and got to Oakville just after midnight.  Surprisingly, it was a nice clear drive.  Great weather, no traffic and good company (Bobo).  I wasn't tired and it helped leaving so early/arriving so late as I missed all the typical traffic in the usual spots.

I got home, spent a little time with my mom and Auntie Melanie, who was staying at the house in Oakville for a few nights and promptly crashed.  The next few days were busy with arrangements and spending time with family.  It was a bittersweet visit, I got to see my family and some friends and enjoy some gorgeous weather, but for a reason I wish I didn't need to return for!  Either way I feel like the whole experience really drew our family together even closer and it was really lovely to see everyone and support each other through that hard time.

I was definitely put at ease knowing I had an excellent substitute in my classroom.  Katrina, a local lifeguard took over my class and I know it was a success because *everything was how I left it*.  Any teacher can attest to the attitude that it is easier to come in sick than have to make plans and return to chaos just for a day of rest.  Not being able to turn off the teacher brain is another thing.  "What are they doing right now? Oh god it's period 5 and I forgot this and that.  My whiteboard markers are probably being smushed as we speak!!!"  That sort of thing.  I was so relieved to know they would have the same substitute for the 5 days I was gone.  The kids would have consistency, plans would likely be followed and I could always hunt down the sub if my whiteboard markers were indeed smushed (haha just kidding). 

Coming back was exhausting.  I split the drive into two days because I wanted to avoid driving the no-mans-land of the James Bay Highway and Wemindji Access Road in the dark by myself.  So I stayed in the good old Amosphere (bed devoid of hairballs this time, joy!) and arrived the next day in Wemindji, welcomed by A COMPLETELY CLEARED DRIVEWAY!!!!!! Honestly, nothing could have made me happier than seeing what was quickly becoming a halfpipe of ice and snow GONE.  You see, since my house is on the end of the street, it is either where all the snow from the snowplow gets dumped when it goes by or where all the snow is dumped when the street gets widened. When the street gets widened I am in luck!  This is because in order to dump all the snow cleared to re-widen the street, they need to use my side yard.  To access this sideyard, they need use my driveway.  To use my driveway, they need to clear it.  Bingo Bango and my driveway is cleared!! This has happened a number of times this year and each time I am eternally grateful.  Seeing a little pavement on my driveway made me think that perhaps spring was on its way, there was hope!  Of course the cold weather has returned and there is snow everywhere again but that little taste of spring recharged the batteries!

I returned to work on Friday just in time for the afternoon Winter Carnival organized by the School Spirit Committee (of which I am a member).  I felt horrible taking off right before the event, leaving a lot of the work to be done by my fellow committee members but it went off without a hitch!  It was a great success and all who participated really enjoyed it.  It was a great way to reward the kids who have a long stretch of school without breaks  (like their teachers) and who just finished a heavy round of testing.  The kids had a BLAST and we did too.  SNOW much fun!

Friday night was Nicaragua Bingo night with proceeds going to fundraising for the trip this summer! It was really fun and equally stressful, high stakes and even higher emotions as we ALMOST won.

Last night I hosted my friend Carmen's 26th birthday.  A small gathering of a few girls, some games, good food and of course birthday cake made for a fantastic evening with a lot of laughs.  Today I spent a few hours in the classroom planning for the upcoming week and getting reorganized.

This weekend I also prepared for my mother's return to Wemindji.  She is going to come back on Wednesday and help out where needed at the school until Goosebreak, like planned until my Grandad got sick.  Hopefully the weather will continue to improve so I can show her what Wemindji is like when it isn't blowing winds from the cold depths of hell at 90km/hr in -40.  I LOVE WINTER!

A beautiful sunny day in Oakville

My classroom during testing!

St. Jude's Church in Downtown Oakville

A bouquet of handmade paper flowers from my students!

Bobo making new friends at 381km

Carmen might recognize this house...

The most gorgeous dog ever.

ALMOST won $2500

My first bingo card!

STRESS

Yikes!

Beautiful flowers from my Wemindji friends!

 

Bobo's new toy from Nellie!!! He loved it!

The position of the ride.  Very comfortable.

Triplex girls!

Oakville joy!

Happy Birthday Carmen!

Birthday night!

So now I see why we had no eggs on Friday!

So much barking I drugged him.

It didn't work....

Peek-a-boo!

Saying Goodbye to Grandad

It brings me much sadness to say that last week my darling Grandad passed away just shy of his 85th birthday of lung cancer. My Grandad was a dynamic man with a deep commitment to family, friends, the arts and storytelling. He touched so many lives and made quite an impact on the lives of many children over the years as a volunteer at my elementary school reading once a week to my and my sisters classes in his retirement years.

With a flare for the dramatics (something I believe was handed down to me...) he was an amateur actor on the Oakville stage in dozens of plays. I had the fortune to act alongside him at a very young age in a Stagecraft Production of The Seven Year Itch. I remember the time we spent together fondly and have many, many memories to last me a lifetime. 

My Grandad was a source of support throughout my entire life. He devoted his life to my mother, aunts and my sisters and I. He was extremely generous and would have given everything, and did, to ensure we would never go without. Braces, lessons, books, clothing, even cars. If we needed it and he could provide, he would without a seconds thought. I hope that I showed him the gratitude he deserved for the things he did for my family. 

The little things he would do when we were growing up were a source of constant entertainment. Wearing his shorts so high they sat just below his nipples, his socks pulled almost as steep. Getting McDonalds drive-through and making us put it in the trunk until we got home to keep his car spotless (something I would appreciate later on when that spotless car became mine). Waltzing with each of us as babies in front of the camera, leaving us all with our own photo of his pure joy at having three more beautiful ladies in his life. He used to play with my earlobes when I was young. It weirded me out when I became a teen, not realizing it was his way of showing affection and now there isn't anything I wouldn't trade for those moments! 

We spoke a lot over the last few weeks of his illness. I called him everyday to see how he was, ask about his day, how he was feeling and to share with him the events of my busy day. He and I both looked forward to those calls even though they got shorter and shorter as time went on as he got more and more weak. The last time I talked to him, the day before he died I told him I loved him and missed him and hoped he was not in too much pain. He mumbled something that I couldn't hear but I know he heard me. I hope he knew how much I loved him and how much he meant to me. 

The service was held at a beautiful old church in Downtown Oakville, where he got married for the second time almost 5 years ago. It was a really nice service and those who spoke captured his spirit perfectly. Seeing so many people there to pay respects and show support made me proud to be his granddaughter. I loved and will always love him so much and am so grateful for the time I got to spend with him when he was alive and for the generosity he bestowed upon me in our time together. Rest peacefully Grandad. 

William John "Jack" Morgan

April 11th 1929 - March 12th 2014 

Mini Pencil Mayhem

It has been a week with most of the town without Internet.  As you can imagine, this is incredibly frustrating and BORING since pretty much the entire community is relying on 3G which makes it essentially impossible to do anything on your phone, if that is what you have left to use.  I have been wandering my house like a lost puppy desperate to read the latest gossip from Hollywood, curious to know what is going on in the outside world.  What month is it? Where am I? WHO am I? A life without Internet forces one to start thinking deeply and asking too many questions.  I need to get online.

Thankfully the school has a different Internet source which is very lucky for me because this weekend I needed to make an emergency purchase that required a fast and reliable connection.  You see, my electric sharpener died last week.  Any teacher will understand the benefits of having a good electric sharpener.  With the amount of sharpening these kids seem to need to do in a day, using the little hand-held ones would leave them all with dozens of blisters.  So I invested in 2 very good sharpeners, set some rules about proper and responsible use and things were good. Anyways, my first sharpener of the school year died a natural death on Tuesday.  After quite possibly MILLIONS of sharpens, it finally croaked and moseyed its way through the shavings clouds up to sharpener heaven.  I replaced the dead sharpener with a newer, faster model.  This sharpener however fell short (no pun intended) in one department.  It had no fail safe or whatever.  Meaning it just ate pencils until you removed them.  It didn't stop sharpening when the pencil was sharp.  So the kids quickly discovered this and began making mini pencils by the DOZEN.  At first it was kind of cute.  But then they became obsessed with making one inch pencils that were essentially useless.  Upon checking the pencil baskets, I found about 648376 mini pencils and NO normal sized pencils.  I lost it.  "NO MORE MINI PENCILS!" I bellowed at the kids, explaining in a calmer manner that it wasted our dwindling supply of pencils and you couldn't write with these ones anyways.  We agreed no more mini pencils.  Over the course of the week, the odd mini pencil did pop up and a student would be told on for making the offensive mini pencil, mini pencil offenses became the tattle-du-jour, but I felt the problem was on lockdown.

Well, I will not name names, but a particular student decided to try and sharpen their eraser on Thursday.  Take a guess what happened.  YEP.  Not 72 hours after replacing my electric sharpener with a superior model, this sharpener was also sent to the pencil shapening pasture.  I was livid.  After an already incredibly stressful week with lots of "chats" with the class, I was understandably upset.  Also, think about it.  I am up here fairly close to the middle of no where with NO Staples or office supply store within 9 hours.  That means at LEAST 1-2 weeks (with express shipping) until a new sharpener would arrive.  That meant at least 1-2 weeks of complaining about no sharpener, losing countless hand-held sharpeners in the garbage cans and TONS of blisters.  I foresee a very rough couple of weeks in the future.

Anyways, I am trying to keep my chin up and keep calm during a stressful time in the school year.  Lots of testing and all around business have the students and teachers pushed to the max.  Tomorrow we begin our first of 3 days of standardized testing school-wide, tonight is the season finale of The Bachelor, Wednesday is report card night but thankfully Friday is a PED day which is a nice little light at the end of a looooooong dark tunnel. 
Last week we had visiting artists Veronika and Katie come teach cool art lessons to the entire school.  They came to the grade 2 classes and read "The Enchanted Caribou" and had the kids draw and create silhouettes on black and white paper.  The effect was very cool and the kids liked drawing with white pencil on black paper. 

This weekend I also did my taxes.  Last tax year was my first full calendar year teaching and living up North so expected to see some of the benefits, also filing as an Ontarian to claw back some of the INCREDIBLE amount of deductions I am robbed of on a bi-weekly basis as I work in Quebec. It got off to a shaky start (see picture) but was soon resolved.  THANK GOD.

As for my broken bum, it is still broken but fast on the mend!  Physiotherapy was a lifesaver and I cannot stop singing the praises of the community's expert physiotherapist Lise.  LOVE HER. 

 Spring Door!

 New breakfast buckets for the entire school!! JOY!

 My pleasure.

 Beautiful sunset in Wemindji

 All that remained of a delicious Indian Taco

 Amazing care package from Clair!!

 Veronika reading from The Enchanted Caribou

 Some of the kids silhouette drawings.