MacBook Air

Yay! After 4 days of phone calls to Apple.com, the order finally went through and is being prepped for shipping!

Stupid Firewall

Although I am blogging intermittently and publishing my posts from Dashboard, I can't actually look at my blog.

Today I fed the kids spaghetti with TVP. Nobody knew that they weren't eating meat. Hahahahaha!!!!

Sitting in the computer lab at 11 pm in the school alone, still working on an AQ assignment. Less than 2 weeks before my course is done!!!

Awesome Week (despite computer issues)

It's been a very productive week so far! Highlights of the week:

• We have been getting a steady stream of Sec IV students (Grade 10s) daily!
• T. made pizzas from scratch for us. There was a vegetarian for me too! Monday pizza night was busy and we didn't leave until after 9 pm. I actually had students do a lab with me from 7-9 pm!
• I finally got 2 Sec IV A students! The Bs have been good but we have been struggling with getting the As out. They are the older students who have repeated Grade 10, some a few times. They are more jaded and likely not going to come back to school if they fail high school another time.
• S. has been working her ass off. She had two students writing essays with her until 11:30 pm last night!
• I ran a Rocks and Mineral workshop by myself! S. led it in the morning on Tuesday with the Grade 4s and then I did it solo in the afternoon with the 5s. S. and I split it up for the Grade 6s.
• When I get serious, kids listen to me because they know I am annoyed / stern / strict. It's sort of funny that they will pay attention to me. I am better at "yelling" than A. and S. I had to "yell" at some kids for S. when they weren't listening to her during a robots workshop.
• I finally ordered a refurbished MacBook Air to Collingwood. I will meet it in Waskaganish when I head there in 2 weeks. I got a small teacher's discount!

And last but not least:

I love students shouting my name and saying hi to me everywhere I go!

I Just Wanna Computer

Frig!!

I'm trying to order the Macair and Apple doesn't ship to PO boxes!

I refuse to go to the Northern and buy a laptop there.

Worst Place for Cloud Computing

T. the team lead is leaving the team today and headed to Wemindiji. He's taking the router with him ... no more WiFi on the iPad! Argggghhhh!!!

Long but good day

Long 12-hour day.

I did programming with S. on Rocks and Minerals. Grade 4s in the mornings and then I did the Grade 5s in the afternoon on my own. And not too bad!!! L. was the teacher, she used to work for us last year and now is permanent staff here.

After school, taught a lab and some kids stayed until 8:45 pm! What a great day!

Laptop Dying

Bad news.

My Toshiba screen has fried. All you can smell is plastic burning as it boots up. It doesn't help that:

A) I require a computer for work purposes

B) I will be the new team lead after T. leaves on Tuesday

C) I am still completing my AQ and have another deadline on Friday

Yeah, this sucks. Maybe I can find a monitor and drag it home? Normally, I would be flipping out but since living up north I feel more zen when I encounter problems. I was even surprised myself that I wasn't as upset as I thought I'd normally be. Take life as it comes, no sense in wasting energy.

After a breakfast of blueberry pancakes, we had a little meeting to lay out what next week is going to look like. In the afternoon, A. and I dropped into the Northern supermarket to pick up groceries. I went to the basement and they did have 2 Acers and a Toshiba. I forgot to ask about prices since I've pretty much decided that I might be switching over to a Mac (so that syncing with the iPad will be easier). I will hold off, find out where I will be headed in a few weeks and possibly order it in. In the meantime, I will have to use the computer at the school. Therefore, this week:

• Have more premade lunches on hand
• Stick to my work schedule
• Squeeze in AQ work everyday, even if just seeing what the next task is

This will be a crazy week with additional programming running. I am helping do a Rocks and Mineral program for Grades 4,5 and 6s. Sleep is important but it may have to be sacrificed here and there. Booo... don't think I will be able to get away for volleyball on Tuesday and Thursday night (although I did get to practice some overhand serves on Saturday at the gym).

Oh yeah, I missed the Whale Cup this weekend too. Sigh.

Disconnected

Not having internet at home sucks!!!

At the university doing another AQ assignment.

Social Media

I started a Facebook account to harass, heckle, bother, annoy and pester students into showing up to our program.

(No, I will not add you.)

Poster at School

Having taught sex ed, I am a big fan of this poster. It is awesome.

"Don't be silly. Wrap your willy!"

Goose Break News

The weather is messing everything up. One of the ET staff in Waskaganish said that the principals may be pushing Goose Break back one week early.

Stinky

Had dinner in the large kitchen - someone made a big roast. Now my hair and jeans smell like caribou meat!!!!

Advertising Ourselves

Look at this poster I made today. My drawing skills haven't completely atrophied!

Plus I tracked down a lot of students and learned a ton of names too. Apparently my name sounds like the Cree word for "take [your clothes] off'."

Wow. That is awkward.

Came home and sat here for 2 hours writing work emails and updating the database. Shower, dinner and then AQ homework.

Sigh.

Map of Whapmagoostui/Kuujjuarapik

Great Whale River

Life in the North

Here is some more information about life in the north:

• Northern stores are the go-to place up here for food. The Nutrition North Canada program subsidizes nutritious and perishable food items that are delivered to 103 isolated northern communities throughout various provinces and territories. Northern has a list (PDF) of how some foods are subsidized. The government website also has a sample list (PDF) of subsidized items; some have higher subsidies (i.e. vegetarian products as tofu or vegetable-based patties) and others lower subsidies (i.e. flour, bacon* and ice-cream*)
  
  
• Roderick Rabbitskin on CBC's Eyou Dipajimoon gives updates about the Cree communities.
  
  
• There are two schools. One is in Whapmagoostui (Cree) and one is in Kuujjarapik (Inuit). I have not visited the Inuit high school yet. The entire high school population is tiny, at approximately 50 students. It is run under the Kativik School Board. Instruction is done in three languages - Inuktitut, English and French. You can read more about teaching in Nunavik (northern Quebec).
  

*I'm not sure how these item are considered 'healthy'.

Zzzzzz

I slept 11 hours last night, skipping a party and going to bed earlier. Got up with A. and made omelets and Tofurkey sausages. Snuggled back into the sleeping bag to read a bit of Catching Fire* and just now, woke up from a 3.5 hour nap.

Oops.

That's probably an indication that I need to go to bed earlier on a regular basis.

*Yes, it's better than Twilight and even this York University professor says so.

City Mouse and Country Mouse

"You don't seem like someone from Toronto," a few of my coworkers said to me.

I actually travel outside of the city and around Ontario, they pointed out. I'm more open-minded and I didn't show up with a pair of high heels tucked in my suitcase. They were shocked when I told them I knew of people - not friends of mine - who wouldn't wander north of Bloor Street. It's laughable, but when you give it a bit more thought, it is actually pretty horrifying to know that there are individuals that choose to be ignorant about the very people that live in the surrounding communities, despite claiming to be a cultured citizen of a multi-cultural city.

If you're a friend of mine and reading this blog, you probably enjoying traveling. It's actually the best way to learn about yourself. You don't realize that habits, mindsets, perspectives are specific to you and the environment that you grow up in until you leave it. And being in Quebec has given me more perspective on why other Canadians aren't necessarily the biggest fans of us Ontarians.

There's definitely a difference between how people approach life in Quebec. They embrace the winter by snowshoeing or cross-country skiing; tourists come from all over the world to experience the amazing winter festivals. Ski-doos are more common than cars. When you drive pass through these areas, you can often spot little ice-fishing huts on the lakes. While I'm not saying that these activities don't happen in Ontario, I'd be hardpressed to say that lots of people embrace the winter to the same degree.

And reflecting on how Torontonians approach the winter?

Well, there's definitely a lot of complaining. People in the city whine about the weather. Constantly. When it starts to warm up, everyone starts going bonkers and celebrating. Even I would admit I've been an active participant and having realized that, I hate myself for it. People up here, on the contrary, don't base their observations on the temperature - it's about the flow of the seasons and the natural cycle of things. I'm up next to the Hudson's Bay now and while it was 6 Celsius yesterday, you don't see people rejoicing. The average mean daytime temperature in March is suppose to be -17 Celsius. They weren't complaining about the temperature to begin with and suddenly happy that it's warm. Something is unusual and it makes people weary.

I have to go back to the point about complaining. I think about the conversations I have with people daily when I live in Toronto. It seems that no one is satisfied with anything. The weather sucks. Driving to work sucks. Commuting on the subway sucks. Going to work sucks. Being unemployed sucks. Having a part-time job sucks. Living at home sucks. House-hunting and not being able to find my perfect home sucks. Paying maintenance fees for my condo sucks. Being single and looking sucks. Being stuck with clingy boyfriend/girlfriend sucks.

Everything simply sucks.

Think about what you might have said today when you were at work, or had a beer with a friend. Did you complain?

If you did, then I'm going to give you a sad shake of the head.

What is it that makes the urban environment conducive to excessive griping? Is it the paradox of choice, as Barry Schwartz claims? Is it the pollution that's gone to our head? Or is it the high population density that just drives us batty? Why can't we be satisfied with what we've got? Cause we've got a lot of choice!

Up here life is simple. I'm not claiming it's perfect but you learn to live with what you've got. You stay in tune with your senses, the seasons and the people around you. You make the best of what you have. It's a different environment up here. People are more realistic in their approach to life and simply live it, instead of complaining about it.

At the same time, most of the highly motivated students I've seen are also those who have lived in the city and moved around a lot. They are more outspoken, carry themselves differently and are often more insightful. It's the fact that they experience a lot - and experience what may be different and new - that makes them more open-minded. I feel that living both worlds keep our expectations of ourselves and those around us healthy*.

So shut up and stop complaining.

*Maybe this is why camping is so refreshing to us city folk.

Hudson's Bay

Awesome day.

After school, dropped into the regional science fair. Students from all over the Cree School Board came. Saw one of the two science teachers, C., I was working with just a week ago. He came up with two Sec 3 students, who did a project on solar panels. Unfortunately, in Waswanipi there were no Sec 4s or Sec 5s that did projects from all over. There were some pretty amazing projects and I even got a presentation in French (and interacted a little bit in French). The fair was suppose to go from 4-6 pm but the judges didn't even finish until 7:30 pm!!!

After that walked over to the gym. I snapped this one because the light over the bay was beautiful. I will need to go by and sit in on a sunset sometime (damn wish I had a tripod). Too bad Dave is not here with me he would love it.

Here I am at the gym. It is on the Inuit side (so even Cree have to come here to use the gym) and I played in the volleyball tournament that the Youth Fusion team had set up. I was happy to play a little - most of the ones that came were Inuit. The sports here are intense. The gym is full of people and busy busy busy. These kids are AMAZING at sports because they work hard and train. I met lots of little kids and learned lots of clapping games. I gave out stickers to 10 different kids (originally I wanted to give to one but then they all swarmed me). There were some pretty cute kids that I just wanted to pick up and take home with me.

Walked back and got lost a little bit but it is so safe here. There are always people around, whether zipping in Ski-doos or just wandering through the street. And the lights .... the northern lights are going crazy tonight! Absolutely stunning. Green flickering all across the sky.

Photos don't do it justice, you just have to come up and see it. I think at least once, every Canadian should come up and be up in the north.

Whapmagoostui

Last night, we stayed in Chisasibi. In the morning, I did a drop-off/pick-up of equipment at the high school and then jetted to the airport for our flight at noon. Between the three of us women, we had 880 pounds of check-in luggage. Since we're only allowed 30 pounds check-in each, the excess ended up costing an additional $580. I swear, we had about 16 boxes and suitcases. Here I am getting on the Air Creebec plane. Yaaaay!!!

This sounds stupid but I am very VERY proud that I can say 'bonjour' and 'merci' with an accurate Quebecois accent that the stewardess thought I was Francophone. When she asked me what I wanted - northern Quebecois accent is thick and I don't know what she even said - plus I forgot how to say 'ginger ale' I had to switch back to English. It was nice to sit on the plane and not do ANYTHING for 35 minutes!!

Moving between place to place is hard work*. We've been on the road off and on 5 days now - having left Waswanipi on Saturday, to Rouyn, then to Waskaganish to drop off other staff and FINALLY in Whapmagoostui (wah-MASH-to), our final destination.



Here, A. is guarding our stuff at Whapmagooshui:

T., who is another staff, had arrived 2 days earlier. He took us to the school and we met some teachers, got ourselves sorted and had a mini meeting. At the end of the day, we got introduced to everyone at a teacher's meeting. Mostly the school is supportive but there is one person causing a big pain for us. I cannot publicly go into details about this.

After work, we walked to the Northern Supermarket on the Inuit side. Whapmagoostui is half Inuit and half Cree. They don't like each other as the Cree wanted to be part of the deal with Hydro Quebec. The Inuit voted against it. Whapmagoostui is the one Cree community that has, therefore, lost the opportunity to get funding (i.e. $) from Hydro Quebec. The other Cree communities ended up having schools built by Hydro Quebec and they are nice schools. This school board is probably one of the richest ones.

Anyway, there are lots of food choices at the Northern. There's even tofu! It's nearly $3 though. A. and I shared milk, eggs and a block of butter ($7.99). I think Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are $2.05 for three. Actually everything is not as horribly expensive as I had expected. We walked back and a dog followed us. T. said not to pet them because there is a rabies epidemic here right now and you can't tell which has rabies and which does not.

We didn't get back and unpack until 7 pm. I ate a giant bowl of pasta with some premade pesto and devoured my poor asparagus which I've been carting around since SATURDAY (from supermarket to car to hotel fridge bar to car to fridge to car to ... you get the idea). Man I took a plethora of food up - a suitcase full and a cardboard box. I even have daikon, beets, kai lan, tempeh, two bags of Daiya and a giant box of salad, two bottles of Kraft salad dressing. T. said that almond milk is popular here since it is portable and doesn't have to be fridged. I am so happy but I haven't been able to find it yet. For now I'm drinking milk with my expensive Quebecois granola. I don't like drinking milk but I got sick of eating yogurt with it. I can't wait to find almond milk again!! I hate milk!!!!

I'm not exhausted, just glad to be sitting. It's actually nice that it's a little bit of a workout to move stuff around (bruises suck though). Now I am sleeping at a research centre owned by University of Laval. I get my own room with 2 sets of bunk beds. This is only for 2 days as we wait for another bed to be moved to an actual house. Man we've been moving for 5 days - I don't want to move anymore!!! I have to repack all my food ...

Internet here is slow so I really can't upload very many photos. It took me 10 minutes to do 2!! Keeping a blog is also work. As I settle in more I can slowly catch up on phone calls. It's too hard moving so much right now for me to call anyone. I'm glad that at least I got to talk to my grandma for 45 minutes last week as I had not called her in 3 weeks.

OK drink some water, lotion all my dry skin and bed.


*As I was going to take a shower tonight, I noticed that I had accumulated a lot of bruises. There were a few on my knees and a few long bruises on my shoulder.

James Bay Highway

It was about 6 hours from Waskaganish to Chisasibi. All three of us girls drove - I drove for a couple of hours and we listened to Bruce Peninsula. I'm also happy to know that I have another coworker who likes Fleet Foxes and Great Lake Swimmers and Hollerado!!!!

Here is the gas station at 381 km. You have to fill up here because there is nothing for quite a distance.


After fueling up, we went to use the bathroom. A woman came in and mumbled something and I understood her!!! She said that it was cold in Cree. (The other words I know in Cree right now are purple, black and white)

More info on the James Bay Highway at this website. You can also take a virtual tour from the computer!!!! For Vince and Sonja - the dams were not visible from the road but if I head back here later I can sign up for a tour.


When we got in it was dark at 9 pm, we saw the northern lights. Holy cow the sky is green!!!

Leaving Waswanipi

Last night, D., L., E., A., S. and I stayed up for beer and pizza. It turned into a little jam party with a ukelele, guitar and more beer. Our boss even had a few with us. This is a really good crowd. Everyone is just awesome and it's sad that we have to split up now! L. and I took a picture and I drew something for her to keep on the wall of the house.

This morning there was freezing rain. I slipped and landed on my ass coming right out of the house. D. saw as he was looking out the window and said it was pretty funny. Bossman said we couldn't leave. We waited until it started snowing and the roads became better (snow is better for grip). So I got to sleep in until 11:30 this morning on the couch. I haven't been able to sleep in much since I started this job. Couches are actually good for me because they force me to sleep on my back.

Went to the local hotel for lunch - grilled cheese, coleslaw and fries with a fruit platter ($15 including tax and tips). Packed up our gear and then said goodbye to half the crew. It was a sad and awkward goodbye but we will see each other again come Goose Break when we head to Collingwood to train in May. I took a picture of the staff walking to another house.

I am sitting in the back of the car - we are packed and ready to go!

Off to the Next Place

NOTE: Been lazy and not been taking pictures.

Saturday: Left Waswanipi and got to Rouyn in 4 hours. Did some shopping and ate at a nice cafe named after Antoine Saint-Exupery. Boss and a few new hires came in. We had dinner. I tried to finish a pint of Stella and failed (I've never had an entire pint on your own). Chitchatted with A., who is going up to Great Whale to me. I love meeting other people who also worked in Korea!!! COREAAAA!!!

Sunday: There were 9 of us that met up for breakfast. Newbies make me laugh because they remind me of what it was like a few weeks ago, shy and not confident about speaking French. Got groceries for Great Whale at the Rouyn Loblaws - also bought $300 worth of snacks to take up north too (for the students). We moved equipment around the three cars - 2 headed back to Collingwood and the rest of us seven staff drove 6 hours to Waskaganish. I took one for the team and rode with the boss all the way up - good chance to get to know him better. OMG he likes Great Lake Swimmers too!!! Got in around 9 ish, still not knowing where we were going to stay. Drove to the high school, ambushing a custodian leaving the building. He took us to the principal's house and I played with My Little Pony (the ferris wheel is motorized!!!) with her daughter and her friend. Principal called another custodian who found the keys and took us to the houses. Unpacked some food, shower and then went to bed by 10:30 am.

Monday: It's a PED day (PD day) today so the school is empty. But we are here to run a teacher's workshop as well as a kid's science drop-in thingy. Helped set up teacher giveaway packages for boss' workshop in the morning - filling bags and ziplocs. Then moving equipment around. When we had a break, E. and I drove around town and there is BMO here!!! And there is a sign in Cree!! Training some new teachers now and going through Sec 5 exams.

Last night on the couch

Presents for Students

Last science class!!

I had students play 'Guess Who?' with elements from the periodic table. I taught the teacher how to run it - it worked well and most of the class was engaged and trying hard. It helped that I said I'd buy them prizes - an individual bag of chips. Of course, I didn't get the chips until after the last day of class, but I told the science teacher to pass them on next Monday.

I wrote little notes, each one personalized for the Sec 4 French kids. I saw a few in the halls on Friday afternoon so I passed them on and got some thank you's. H. said I am cute and sweet for doing so.

The 30-Minute Challenge

I made S. catch up and do the pH lab since he wasn't here last week and was playing hockey in Mistissini (everyone here plays hockey or broomball, sadly the basketball enthusiasts suffer quite a bit from neglect). This kid is probably undiagonised for ADHD/ADD. Why do I keep working with all these hockey boys that have ADHD??? (Hockey is horrible for ADD while cycling is good for it)

S. is soooo bright but it's soooo hard for him to sit and focus. He is brighter than most of the other Sec 4s and will intentionally not give you the right answer despite pretty much always knowing the right answer. I learned quickly though that he knows and he has a fast memory. It was a struggle to get him to do the lab, which would have really taken 10 minutes instead of 30 minutes. We did it in a classroom, I took down notes for him and he forgot his lab sheet. I told him to go downstairs and get it, knowing that he would probably wander off and forget to come back. He didn't want to. He wanted to mix all the samples and then test the pH of that.

What a great idea! I cheered him on. Let's find out!

He was excited and so was I and then I dangled the carrot ... I'll do it, if and only if you go get your lab sheet first (whining ensued). It took 10 minutes and another one of our teachers to wrangle him back up. I didn't want to treat him like a baby - he's 15 and tall - and follow him to his locker and back. I wanted to give him the opportunity to be responsible and go and come back (for most kids would take 2 minutes). The last 10 minutes were a struggle, wrangling a pair of shoes out of his hands that he tried to toss basketball style into the garbage can and getting him to sit down. But if you can create anxiety in a way that's positive (you've got 2 minutes left I know you can do this!) then you can create healthy pressure for a kid to focus. He scribbled furiously and fast when I finally got him on task. Pumping him up as if he were on the last stretch of a marathon - write your name on the page so I can give you an awesome mark - a high five to tell him I'm proud him for finishing and zoom he was outta there as the bell rang at 3:40 pm.

I did my job. And so did he.

Thoughts

Not blogging a lot - I've actually been blogging a lot less than I had been planning. Lately just been busy and not in the mood for writing (i.e. if you've read any of my other blogs you know that I've been writing pretty sloppily on this one and I've not been proofreading this one). Another reason is that all of the teachers/housemates get along so we don't just sit at our computers and ignore each other. Even after work, we're always chitchatting with each other, working in the kitchen and just hanging out. Tonight, C. made ghoulash with chicken. The nice thing is that the other teachers always cook the meat in a separate pan so that I am still able to eat (note to self: the sauce for butter chicken is amazingly delicious and although not vegan, is worth learning).

Uncooperative teachers - Part of our job here is to collect marks so that we can see which students we need to focus on come exam time (i.e. who is most likely to pass and graduate). Some teachers get weary and feel as if we are sent here to check on them (no, that's not our job). Despite having the okay from the vice-principal, who runs the school, he's absent this week and not here to crack the whip. We are still missing marks from a few teachers - despite being asked straight up, a few just make up some BS answer. I cannot even summarize what has been said to me - some of it just seems like nonsense. It's strange for teachers to be so uncooperative. Some of them fear that they aren't doing their job and are just psychologically protecting themselves. Well, dammit! It's not about you, it's about what your responsibilities are. This really annoys me. Also I was stunned when I was giving suggestions to a teacher who just finished a lesson and he thought that 'think-pair-share' wouldn't be a good idea (my OISE teachers would have been appalled, this is probably one of the most basic things a teacher would do for cooperative learning). Man, the kids and the teachers here could use TRIBES training. There is no teachers lounge or kitchen that staff hang out and chitchat together. It's really unfortunate. It's a ghost town come lunch time (everyone lives walking distance so packed lunches are pointless). I asked a teacher one day for bristol board and he couldn't tell me the art teacher's name. He asked 3 other staff members and none of them knew the art teacher's name. She's been working here since September 2011.

Last three weeks - I feel as if the past 3 weeks were somewhat successful, although I feel as if I could have done more. Having said that, everything here in Cree culture moves slowly. People are late ... ALL THE TIME. Too much change in too short a time could also be met with resistance - either by students or by teachers. So perhaps it is fitting that I helped out as much as I could, without having rocked the boat too much.

Things you get used to - Petting at least one dog before you get home. The school hallways smelling like cigarette smoke. Not spending money because there is NOWHERE to spend money. Sleeping on the couch. Crappy WIFI.

Students - A lot of students here are shy. They don't have a lot of practice giving oral presentations or doing cooperative group work. The science teacher can't even get half the students to read a sentence out aloud during a lesson. If you ask questions in class a lot of them lack confidence and will not even give you a guess. But you know the kids that didn't grow up here. You can tell which kids have lived in the big city. They stand taller and talk louder and faster and are generally more confident. They pick up more quickly. This is analogous to ESL students when I worked downtown Toronto - you can tell which ones learned English quickly by traveling and interacting with others. It's the kids who only learned English purely inside a classroom setting that struggle with speaking (i.e. I'm the kid who learned French only in a classroom and therefore my French is crap). I'm sure there are people that disagree with me but I still believe that being in an isolated environment isn't healthy for people, especially children.

AQ - AHHHHHHHHH! I wish I didn't have homework!!!! ARGH!!! I hate writing lesson plans!!! I just like reading all the interesting articles!!!

Packing - Started, will finish tomorrow night and off on Saturday morning at 8 am.

Bad Mood

I went to bed in a bad mood.

And when I woke I was still in a bad mood. The whole day I was just in a bad mood and feeling everything was crappy and pointless and hopeless.

And that's all I really want to say today.

My Two Cents (Worth More Than Two Cents)

The teacher who fails to accept criticism and listen to suggestions is no different than the student who stops learning.

Thankfully, I am working with someone who wants me to help him.

First Period

It is really, really, really painful to watch a teacher execute bad classroom management.

Monday

Five days left in Waswanipi.

Then I am off to Rouyn on Saturday, Waskaganish for a few days to do a workshop and then I fly up to Great Whale for 4 weeks.


School - I finally did the pH lab with the English Sec 4s. I marked the labs for the French Sec 4s but am still missing conclusions for two students. Another two students did not write the test from last week. Marks for Term 2 are due on Friday.

Generally feeling frustrated with myself for not having accomplished more in 3 weeks. I know I did as much as I could, despite all the stupid interruptions and being new on the job. Was a little bit grumpy towards the end. It was -25 degrees outside and was cold by the time I was leaving. When I went home I ate HUGE big plate of vegetables - peas, water chestnuts, carrots, ginger and tofu - with some quinoa, took a shower and listened to CBC's Wire Tap. Jonathan Goldstein always makes me feel better.

Sitting here writing a lab handout about l’électricité statique. Demain, je vais leur enseigner:

1) Frottement
2) Conduction
3) Induction

Mac and Cheese

Sunday night dinner!

Sunday Rest

Uneventful day, just recharging after skiing. A bit sore.

Did another workout from the Gorilla Workout app as I have not in the past two days. I did 2 sets of 15 Supermans and 15 Dead Bugs. Read my book Shantaram for 3 hours. Took a 2.5 hour nap in an armchair. Worked out where I wanted to put my tax returns, including giving $100 to Yan Yan and Gramma.

Skiing!

We went skiing in Chibougamou. It's probably been more than 10 years since I've skied but I had an amazing time!

Fresh snow when we arrived at 10:30 am. Perfect powder, no sun and the just the right temperature. It snowed the whole day and I loved it. I regret not taking photos up at the top, it was so peaceful and just very beautiful sitting quietly in the snow, overlooking the lake. My knees were starting to feel a bit of pain halfway through but otherwise was okay. I stuck with the green runs and skied the whole day without poles.

Stopped in between for a grilled cheese and un chocolate chaude. There were also a group of 12 teachers from Mistissini. I could actually talk to the cafeteria ladies in French and they understood me! I'm starting to like the rural Quebecois accent and my listening/comprehension is better.

We probably left around 3:30 pm. Everyone had so much fun! There was a snowmobile rally in Chibougamou (see photo). After skiing, we ate at Cafe Brulot encore. J'ai mangé un sandwich végétarien avec le chevre et les legumes. Et j'ai ajouté les photos on my Yelp review.

My House

This is where I live with 3 other teachers - C., H. and L.

The black dog is our neighbour. The other guy hangs out with her.

Sniff sniff. Pet pet.

Friday Interruptions

I am so mad!!!

Just as lunch was finishing up, I went in to the science lab and set up everything. I had my lesson plan in bulletpoints on the board. I came out to the hallway to talk to another teacher and watched as two boys started to go into the washroom, only to back out again. Apparently, some idiot started a fire in a trash can. It looks as if it had happened over the lunch break, probably more than 10 minutes prior and the ashes were flitting in the air. I blocked off the doorway to prevent others from going in and sent the two boys downstairs. Unfortunately, I breathed in a little bit of smoke in the process.

One of the maintenance staff R. then turned the fire alarm bell and we all had to clear out. I chitchatted with some of the teachers, including S. the Greek math teacher. She is super nice and very well organized. C. the vice-principal came in to check with R.

The funny thing is that we stood around for 5 minutes before the firetruck came, despite the fact that the firestation is literally less than 100 meters across the street, on the opposite side of the school. It would have been faster for the firemen to run over! The VP said that the building will not be opened to anyone the rest of the day, not even the teaching staff.

Now it is 1:30 pm and sitting here, NOT DOING MY pH LAB!!!! And it's all set up on the counter!!! GRRRRRR!!! It's frustrating that I'm only here for another 5 days and there are so many interruptions. I want to do so much but there are always interruptions.

Sigh.

Indulge

It has been a long day, but one of the most productive ones in the last two weeks I have started this job.

The French Sec 4s - the ones that struggle the most - did a retest on the periodic table and unit conversion - both the teacher and I were helping them quite a bit. From the looks of it, I hope that everyone got at least 60%. It's unusual that I'd help students so much during a test, pointing out formulas and telling them when they are right or if they should try again, but these kids are special. They haven't been doing well and they are grade levels behind. They have no confidence in their own ability and need far more encouragement and handholding than other students I've ever worked with. They don't ask for help. Some of them don't know how to. Some of them don't believe they deserve help.

It's a different place up here. The same rules don't work and you have to understand that.

And guess what?

When they saw that both N. and I were willing to help them and encourage them, they worked. And they worked harder than they normally do. They knew what they were doing. But they didn't know that they knew what they were doing until we gave them praise. By the end of the hour, I was running from one desk to the next, having my name called out by multiple kids, being asked if I could check on what they were doing. I worked up doing a sweat, moving from one table, getting up and crouching down to talk to them at eye level.

I'm hoping that this would be a turning point for some. Maybe. Maybe not. I won't be around in Waswanipi to see how they turn out but I can only hope that in the next week or so, I can continue to motivate them to believe in themselves.

As a bit of a reward and in the spirit of the Quebecois, I decided to have vegan poutine for dinner.