its cold!

The temperature has dropped quickly this week - so much so that Friday was a half day because it was minus 42 and thus too cold for students to walk back to school from lunch. A native friend has warned, "It's not even February yet." I woke up early this morning (for a Saturday) to take the dog out and saw that the sun was rising quickly. I ran back inside to grab my camera and jogged to the top of the dike to snap a few photos. I was outside for a grand total of maybe 5 minutes, but in minus 50 degress, it took me an hour to warm up once back inside, and Ive spent the majority of the day on the couch, sick with fever. While I was sleeping this afternoon the dog managed to escape and is no where to be found - its cold outside and I'm hoping that the warmth and food found here will draw him back tomorrow morning... poor little guy.

January is passing pretty slowly, I look forward to mid-February as the teaching staff will be headed to Cochrane for the Great Moon Gathering, a 2-day professional development workshop with an emphasis on frist nation education. I get to see Scott again, too.

Sooo...

... found one!

Doggy Day Dreams for a Kash Companion

I've nearly always had a dog in my life. First there was Co-coa, a pure bred German Shepard my parents owned when I was just born. Co-coa liked to howl at and follow the wind, coincidentally one gusty day she ran away. As soon as I was able I began pleading with my parents for another dog, and many years later my dad finally succumbed and we got Bosco - a dumb witted mutt with plenty of character, only to be hit by a car two years later. Third time is a charm, and we really lucked out with Ozzy, our pure bread Golden Retriever. He really is the best dog on the planet - I don't care that every other dog owner might disagree. Ozzy lives with my parents and I think for the most part really enjoys his life in Nilestown. He gets regular walks and visits from his friends Franks and Beans, my sister's two hilarious and charismatic pugs.

I want my own dog now. NOW!

For almost a decade now I've been living away from home. I've moved from one house to another in Peterborough throughout my studies at Trent (just ask my parents who have graciously packed up the Chrysler too many times to count, and carried many a mattress on car rooftops, sometimes tied down, sometimes not...) I've traveled many places around the world, lived in Africa and on Canada's west coast twice. Thus, owning and caring for a dog has not exactly matched my lifestyle.

Kashechewan - however - seems the perfect place to own and care for a puppy. It wouldn't be hard to find one! Walking the streets in Kashechewan, there are always one or two dogs that trot along beside you. The stay dogs here are not what you might expect - mangy, poorly fed, ravenous, teeth barring animals, brawling for their survival. Quite the opposite. "Kash dogs" have the greatest dispositions; look well fed, their tails are always wagging. Most are a mix of several breeds usually including Husky, Lab and German Shepard, which makes for amazing colorings and brilliant blue and brown eyes. They seem to have no fear (much like the children!) and are... well, chilled out. While there are some strays that are matted and in need of a good brushing, from what I've gathered most are extremely trusting - even of absolute strangers. While these dogs lack a single owner, what they do have is a community that cares for them.

I am busy nightly with planning, yet having a little pup curled beside me while I type, draw, stick a million post-its everywhere and sort through piles of papers and work books would be such a comfort, and the time might pass by that much more happily, especially with a long (freezing!) haul until April break. What brought this all on? Just 15 minutes ago I heard a knock on my door and I was holding the cutest black lab with one white paw... for fifty dollars.... sigh. Mind racing, heart breaking. I can't yet commit to such a cute creature; while I know where I'm headed in the next several years, I doubt my traveling days are quite complete. It would be unfair and costly to carry such a companion.

Being the first day back in action at St. Andrew's after the Christmas break, I left a little earlier this morning to prepare my classroom. This morning one of the "regulars" was curled up just outside the teachers' lodgings, asleep, frost covering his fur. I couldn't help but want to take the poor fellow in. If I cannot yet adopt a pup, perhaps I'll just care for one... or two...

Broomball!

Nearly every morning after rowing formal each year, friends of mine would wake up at a ridiculous hour (getting up alone is ridiculous hung over after rowing formal) and play broomball. I thought they were crazy, and quite contently slept in on those cold mornings in February. I was invited to play the game for the first time at the arena here in Kash, and it's awesome! We're able to borrow all equiptment we need, including helmets, sticks, jerseys, knee pads and foam shoes (that allow both sprinting and sliding!). This weekend was a broomball tournement - our team consisting of elementary and high school staff is called "Creenglish", and so far we've lost one game, tied two, and headed to the arena once more this evening for the quarter finals. Wish us luck! It's been so nice to have something to do, to be apart of something outside of the school yard, and to be (very) physically active and competitive. Sometimes, a yoga mat just doesn't cut it.

In other news: 4.5 days until I fly home! Excited beyond words to see fiancee, family and friends. The plan? Flying to Timmins (fingers crossed!) and driving through the night to Toronto with 5 other teachers. After a short visit in Peterborough Scott and I will head to Lanark to celebrate Scott's sister's birthday and an early Christmas. On Christmas Eve Day, Scott and I will take the train to London to spend 4 or 5 wonderful days with my family (and Ozzy!). We'll head back up to Peterborough for New Years. Throughout I plan on eating out, seeing many movies, getting a massage or two (health coverage rules!) shopping for myself and for my kids - and hopefully relaxing as much as possible (although with all the faces I want to see, I doubt that will happen!)

Christmas season in Kash

Its nearly December and I'm noticing drastic changes in student behavior. Maybe its all the snow we've gotten. Perhaps my kids are actually listening to something I say (but probably not). Maybe I'm not as easily shocked anymore (probably so). Whatever the reason, my job has been getting somewhat easier over the past few weeks. Students are again easing into routines after the week off in October (yes, its taken THIS long to relearn them). I look forward to our mornings together. I make sure I have a smile on my face when students come in. A "special student of the day" writes out the morning message while I read with a student or ask about their weekend. Some students brush their teeth. After announcements, we've been doing daily morning exercise (just 30 seconds of push ups or jumping jacks or crunches), it gets a smile on their face and wakes a few of 'em up. I'm hoping to eventually make this more of our day, the kids really enjoy it and I think its worth the time spent. After we regain our breathe, groups of students race to the carpet and the morning message is read and edited, all led by the special student. We do a "morning boogie" in a circle as a class, and then the special person leads the whole class in reading our words of the week, and students orally put them into sentences. By this time, breakfast has usually arrived and the special person washes their hands, and hands out the snack. Students eat apples with peanut butter or banana muffins while I tell them where they will begin their center activities. If its Monday, we brainstorm and then vote on a "Fun Friday" activity that they earn with good behavior and good work over the week.

Being consistent has not only really helped the kids, its helping me TONS with my planning. In September and October I'd be up late, writing and rewriting every lesson - most of which I wouldn't get through because I didn't have consistent routines and expectations in place, and well, because sometimes my kids are .... "hyper." While they certainly aren't angels yet, things are on an upswing as of late. Aunt Barb, if you're reading this, you gave me the best advice on an earlier blog when you told me to stick to routines. I was originally afraid to bore the kids, but they really are thriving on structure.

The other best piece of advice I've gotten is from a high school teacher up here, a friend and mentor of mine. He said, "Love and forgive. Love and forgive. Over. And over. And over." I've caught myself saying this sometimes once a day, sometimes every 5 minutes. It really is the best advice that has really saved my sanity, not to mention my voice box.

As the Christmas season approaches I look forward not only to my 2 weeks off (yea!) but my class is singing a song and doing some drama for the St. Andrew's Christmas Concert. We begin practicing tomorrow! I'll be playing the guitar for the first time in a few years. I've chosen "Nutt'n for Christmas"... because it suits my kids ;)

Movember

Its been a few weeks since I've last posted - a lot happens everyday (every minute in the classroom) but its getting harder to think of things to write about. My theory is that the peculiar of Kash is now becoming the everyday and its taking more and more to shock me these days - a good thing for my classroom management, a bad thing for writer's block.

Scott visited last weekend for six amazing days! We didn't get up to too much - there isn't much to do in Kash with the Northern Store as the lone destination point, and not many sights to see (its so flat you scan the horizon and see it all in one go) however we watched many movies, made pancakes and omlettes, played scrabble, walked around the dike and the town every day, began to plan an all inclusive vacation with Jill and Zach for April (eeee!), relaxed, and even began to sort out some "wedding stuff." He met my class, helped out with some language work and centers, played tag with them during recess. As predicted they fell instantly in love with him (as I did). They've been asking about him ever since.

Since he's left I've been more homesick than ever - November is proving to be an extra stressful month - on top of regular nightly planning, students' Individual Education Plans (IEPs) were due, first report cards go out in two weeks and parent-teacher interviews are scheduled for the end of the month. And, oh yeah, I'm turning 26. Yikes. However with 5 weeks until Christmas break and my plane tickets booked, I know I'll be south and home again soon.

The school year continues and I'm still learning more and more every day. My students continue to keep me on my toes, continue to challenge me in countless ways. While my students drive me absolutely crazy some days, I'm falling in love with each one of them. Getting to know these kids will I think be one of the more invaluable experiences I will take away from Kash - they are each uniquley absoluetly brilliant.


The greatest grafetti written on my portable door - hard to read since someone's attempted to wipe it off, but it still faintly reads:
"A+ for Scott loves Geni."
Like I said, brilliant!

Mom's request: I blog again

I've noticed time has been going by much quicker these past few weeks. September crawled, October has been flying by.

Two weeks ago was Goose Break as previously mentioned. My roommate and I mostly worked on our long range plans - wrapping my mind around the next year within a few days was difficult. We did however manage to get out a bit. A friend we've made offered to take us up to James Bay on a "Kash canoe" (motorized). Kashechewan sits just below the tree line, as we headed north east towards the Bay the trees became smaller and smaller, until nothing remained but the flat horizon. Can see a single large rock a mile away. A few had brought guns and took turns practicing their aim at small birds while I aimed my camera. (My camera cord is probably sitting idle at the post office in the Northern store... meanwhile, all of these photos are on loan from Olena.)

We were also invited last Saturday to participate in a sweat lodge ceremony. One of the spiritual leaders of the community invited us, so 4 teachers and 4 nurses and one reporter jumped into the back of a pickup with towels in hand. For those who aren't familiar, a sweat lodge (or, at least the one we used) is a small man made cove of sorts, a circular dome made of woven and entwined sticks, then covered with heavy black felt and dark blankets. The dome itself was in a small shack or cottage, protecting it from the elements so that it can be used in the winter. We helped clean out the shack, pulled fresh grasses to cover the floor with and watched as a large fire was built a dozen feet from the cottage door. Large rocks were placed in the middle of the fire, and as the fire died down the rocks were red hot, through and through. Our guide explained to us the significance of the prayers and stories and the origin of the sweat lodge ( I won't repeat here for fear of getting something wrong), then we stripped down to skirts and t-shirts, took off our rings and watches and crawled into the lodge. In the middle of the dome is a pit. The red rocks are placed in the middle, prayers and various ceremonial rituals take place, and then the felt is closed over the small opening that serves as a door.

I've never been in such darkness in my life. About 5 minutes into the ceremony I was forgetting whether my eyes were open or closed, and made myself blink to remember which. Every few minutes, a mixture of water and sweet grass "medicine water" was splashed onto the hot rocks in the center and the lodge would instantly fill with heat. Our leader told several stories and prayers in Cree, praying for the people (especially the children) of Kashechewan and also for us. Every so often sacred eagle feathers would be waved just above our heads - I kept jumping, thinking a bird had miraculously found its way into the dome and was dive bombing us. Usually a sweat lodge ceremony is broken down into four 15 minute periods, however we did two longer, "double" sessions. In between the door flap was opened and the steam escaped and we cooled down some. The second session was much hotter than the first, and I think I allowed myself to relax a little more and my eyes played tricks on me. While I don't think I experienced anything that might remotely resemble a vision, the beating drums, the songs and the heat defiantly put me into a zone I'd never been in before. We came out of the lodge feeling detoxed and relaxed - really neat, great experience I would have missed out on were I home for the holiday.

Any relaxation I experienced last weekend quickly disappeared come Monday. Just one week out of school and I'm back at the drawing board, reteaching routines and procedures, reminding students of what they were easing into so nicely before the break. Sigh. Students tired easily this week of work, meanwhile work has tired me out as well. I've heard that students typically bounce back more quickly in October than in September and I hope that is the case!

Some great news on the horizon: a high school teacher is going to be helping me out by bringing the students healthy breakfast in the mornings. I know that for atleast a half dozen of my kids this will be a great help (to me, too!) And of course, Scott comes in less than 2 weeks to visit!

It's begun to snow! We woke up 3 or 4 times this week to find a dusting of white covering the ground. I think Kashechewan will look great, all dressed up for winter, especially for sunsets and on clear nights when the starts are out.