Yes Laura and Jess, I BLOG AGAIN!
As some of you might know (while some of you might not) myself AND Scott are headed up to the Northwest Territories (RIGHT NOW!) as I start a new teaching position at Chief T'selehye School, found in Fort Good Hope. As I type, Scott and I are (unexpectedly) in a hotel in Edmonton. Tomorrow we will be catching an early flight to Yellowknife, and then onto Norman Wells for a 3 day conference before the school year begins.
I applied to this same school board last year, however at the time they were looking for "teaching couples," and since I applied solo (Scott was finishing his last year of his undergrad) I was unelegable for a position. This year I got a great amount of help from a great friend of mine from university, Marie, and her fiancee Matt, who are and continue to teach in Coleville Lake, NWT, in the same district. Marie mentioned my name many times to her supervisors and I was granted an interview. A few days later I had a position teaching grade one. Scott is now done his undergrad and taking a year off from his studies to do some supply teaching at Chief T'selehye, and whatever other jobs in Fort Good Hope that may come his way.
Scott and I spent much of our summer prepping for this move. As part of my contract, the school board helps by paying to send up our stuff. Scott and myself are light packers and the house we are moving into is already furnished, so we used the vast majority of our pound allowance to send up as much food as possible for the year. We racked up a hefty bill at Costco and The Bulk Barn, but it will save us A LOT of money in the long run - all of the food in the north has to be flown up and thus the cost of living is extremely pricey, especially "fresh" produce. Matt and Marie helped us a lot by giving us an idea of how much food we would need for 10 months. Also on the shopping list was super warm clothing (I think I got off pretty easy in Kash!) - lots of heavy duty wool socks, long johns, sweaters and army issue hats and gloves. And of course, I have to spoil my grade ones with dollar store buys.
Like I said, we are currently in Edmonton, about to head down to the hotel bar for the last few beers we will have until Christmas. Our day today has been long. Our flight left from Toronto at 9am (which meant leaving London at 5am - thank you mom and dad!)... or should I say it was supposed to leave at 9, however there was a little burnt out light on a wing which delayed take off for 45 minutes. Its times like this when I think about how one little thing can lead to such a long string of events that throws so many other things off course.... We were told in the air we would be landing in Calgary at 11:45am... the exact time our connecting flight to Yellowknife was supposed to depart. When our plane landed at 11:35 in Calgary we literally ran to our gate - and we would have made it - but Air Canada had sold our seats, thinking that our flight was not going to get in on time. As such, we were booked onto a flight to Edmonton and we now leave for Yellowknife early tomorrow morning. I wasn't too impressed, even less so when we got off in Edmonton and our bags hadn't followed us as promised. I was excited to see Yellowknife, our "gateway to the north," but calmed down after Air Canada treated us to a dinner, a hotel stay, transportation to and from the hotel and breakfast tomorrow morning. And our bags did make it here eventually, too.
I just reread my blog entry from this time last year when I was moving to Kashechewan, about to enter my first year of teaching. While it is always sad to say goodbye to the people I love spread between London and Peterboroough, I feel so much more relaxed about this decision, so much more prepared and excited! In large part this is due to having Scott with me, I'm so excited to live together. Marie and Matt have been great resources and have told us alot about what to expect, and we are excited to beable to see them on a somewhat regular basis! The school has also been extremely accomodating and generous. My grade 3 class from last year, godblessem, pretty much prepared me for anything, too. It just feels like the "right" move for us right now, and that makes me pretty happy.
Will post pictures soon!
beers
