Beautiful Bacon

The countdown is on!! In just 3 short weeks I will be travelling home with some good friends back to southern Ontario where upon crossing the Quebec/Ontario border I will no doubt burst into flames like the day walker that I am due to real summer weather.  I have been lucky as a ginger living in the North.  I manage to avoid sunlight and hot temperatures for the better part of my time spent here, therefore allowing me to live in basic comfort.  I do not worry about sunburns and heat exhaustion in Wemindji.  My alabaster (or glow in the dark) skin can exist peacefully beneath my comfy over-sized sweaters.  Once I hit "The South" however, I immediately burn to a crisp.  My skin, like fine spider-spun silk, immediately catches fire and I become a sweaty mess.  My mother, bless her heart, no longer feels the heat effects of menopause and has now entered the phase of life where everything is "too cold" and the A/C is suddenly set to a temperature that actually HEATS the house instead of cools it.  I'm not kidding.  Once last summer the little fire symbol was active on the thermostat.  Wish me luck, as an internally hot individual with skin paler than that of an albino cave-dweller, summer and I just don't mix.

On another note, the school year is both ramping up and coming to an end, if that is at all possible.  Entering our 3rd week of standardized school board testing, the kids and teachers are at their limits.  Well, I am speaking for myself my class I guess.  While testing literally sucks, it is giving me a really clear picture of where I dropped the ball in some areas, where the kids really picked up a strong base of knowledge and ability, and areas I want to focus more on next year.  Overall I am very proud of the hard work my students have put forth and happy that we are almost done!  While all this testing is going in, I am still working to cram in as much curriculum as our brains will allow us to accept before the end of the year.  With teaching and testing, we are finding fun ways to celebrate the end of the year and provide some fun opportunities for the kids.  Coming up this month we have swimming, sports day, awards day AND an amazing field trip!! Being so isolated and far away from everything and anything, the field trip opportunities are very limited.  The conventional class trip hot spots; the zoo, the museum, art gallery, splash park, safari or even provincial parks, are non-existent.  To take my kids to the nearest zoo would mean chartering a plane, arranging for hotels and taking 51 7/8 year-olds overnight.  NO THANKS. So, My teaching partner Stacy took the initiative to plan a field trip to the Quebec Hydro dam in "nearby" Radisson.  We leave early June 20th at 8am, take a 2-hour chartered coach bus to Radisson where we will eat lunch and receive a guided tour of the amazing engineering marvel that is LG2 Robert Bourassa generating station.  Now, to most, the idea of taking kids on a field trip to a hydro dam is less than exciting.  BUT WE ARE TAKING THE BUS!! That reason alone is why the kids in my class are so pumped.  AND THE BUS HAS A DVD PLAYER!! Well, hold your horses, this could be the most exciting field trip EVER.  So the kids get to take a cool bus trip and I get to see the dam!! It's a win-win.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert-Bourassa_generating_station

Last weekend I hosted my 3rd Annual Bacon Party! It was a complete success and to be honest, there were some very creative and delicious contributions this year!  People really take their bacon seriously here and I don't think anyone left with an empty tummy.  Some honourable mentions were: maple-bacon pastry, bacon and asparagus potatoes, bacon-wrapped fries, some delicious bacon, a bacon, bread and cream cheese concoction, bacon potato skins, bacon cheeseburger dip, bacon pizza, red cabbage bacon salad, Cesar salad with bacon, candied bacon, bacon wrapped grilled cheese, baked bacon omelet, bacon-churro ice cream bowls with ice cream, bacon cupcakes, bacon-wrapped sausage, bacon popcorn, bacon wrapped peppers, bacon broccoli salad, bacon ranch dip and *gasp* veggies, my bacon chili and SO MUCH MORE.  It was obscene but so delicious and a good time was had by all! It was really great to see so many faces in my humble abode and share some good food and good laughs. I can't wait for next year!! 

Anyways, as I write this I am fighting a cold that will hopefully not have me out of commission by the end of the week as I have planned a "last trip to Radisson" with Monika and Raquel and a few others to mark the last time Monika and Raquel will be going to Rad! THAT'S RIGHT - Monika has decided to take the leap and settle back down in Oakville.  I will miss her terribly but since we both live in Oakville, I am not worried that I won't ever see her again.  This isn't goodbye, its see you soon ya big buffoon! I will also be missing Raquel (Monika's sister) who has been up here almost every spring substitute teaching and has been a really awesome addition to our crew.  

I will leave you with the link to my most recent articles written for the quarterly Wemindji Newsletter!! Scroll down to "PDFs" and both issues that I have written for are posted :) Enjoy!

http://www.wemindji.ca/

Baby Dion's Walking Out Ceremony!