Picture Day!

Today is picture day at the school, and of course my hair isn't co-operating. I thought one was supposed to grow out of this sort of issue! At least the staff pictures are first thing in the morning...If they were after school there would be some interesting shots.

Adam arrived home last night just after ten, so we were able to visit a little bit before I crashed. I haven't seen him yet this morning, but given the time, I didn't expect to. He plans on doing the flooring thing today, which means moving all of the furniture of the laminate, pulling the flooring up, and putting back down in my room. He thinks I can be in my floored and painted room by Saturday. I'm thinking Monday would still be a generous estimate, taking into account the possible smell of paint. But, hey. If he's going to do it, I'm going to be encouraging. It looks like I will be painting after the football game tomorrow!

Wynyard is in town to play the Foam Lake Panthers in the exhibition game of the season. I know very little about football, but I'll be there. In fact, I think I'm helping run the canteen...I'm not sure what that entails, but I'll find out today I'm sure.

It has been an interesting week so far. I've taught my first lesson, so the creative writing class is now mine. I'm taking over grade seven French next week, though that doesn't look hard. All is good on the school front. The excitement has been here at home. I've been meeting the neighbours, but not in the usual way. The older lady that lives next to us has been seeing people across the street from her house, and she called the house at 3:30 am Monday night/Tuesday morning. That frightened me a bit, because she kept saying "Can you hear it?" Now, me being in a new house, listening for a strange sound is a sure way of hearing one. She had called the RCMP, so shortly after four am, I met Brent the RCMP. I expect he now thinks I'm crazy, as I couldn't tell him that my neighbour wasn't seeing things. I fell back asleep about 5 am, and that day at school seemed a little longer than usual.

The next episode, I'll call it, was Tuesday evening, blessedly at 8 pm rather than the wee hours. I went over to my neighbour's house after she called, saying those prowlers were back. She took me into her dark, exceptionally tidy little house, and all the way into her bedroom, and showed me the people out of her bedroom window. I'm afraid there wasn't anyone there. She tried to point out all four bodies she was seeing, but there was nothing to see. Even the fence she said they were near didn't exist. I told her that I would go and see if Gord, our other neighbour, would go for a walk with me so that she could see us over there, checking it out. He would, we did, and all we found were some oddly pruned bushes that I could hardly make out from the bedroom window. Gord and I reassured her that there was no one there, and that there was no danger.

She seems to be ok now. She didn't call last night. It must be hard to live alone, knowing that if anything does happen, if anyone does "prowl", one is completely vulnerable. I understand this isn't the first incident, and that her only close family is a son in either Saskatoon or Regina. I've been told not to expect to ever see him in the four months I'm here for. We'll see what happens next. I hope everything turns out for the better.

G2G. We can't be late for picture day, now can we?

First Day of School

Ok, so MY first day of school was last Thursday. I met the staff at Foam Lake Composite School, where I'll be interning this fall. It seems like a great group to work with so far. There are a wide range of skills and ages present, so I'm sure to learn a lot about teaching, and surviving in the profession.

Today was the first day of school where the students were present. For a small school, there seemed like a lot of kids! I have classes ranging from 14 to 29, in grades seven and eight, and eleven and twelve. There are only two grades that I'm not teaching a subject to, but it's likely I'm teaching one of their siblings or cousins. I'm starting to recognize some common last names. Now if I could only remember the staff, and who teaches what!

I'm completely moved out of Regina, and partially moved into the house here in Foam Lake. My room still needs a bit of work, like flooring and painting, and maybe a bed, so I'm bunking in Nathaniel's room at present. This is just fine, as they are away at present, but I don't think Nathaniel will be willing to share once they get home. It's just my thought. He has to share his toys with the kids in the daycare. That's enough sharing for one little guy! Anyhow, my stuff is in various places in the house, not to mention the garage. Five or six boxes, and maybe even my computer will end up at the school for the duration, but there's still a "bit" of clothing and a "few" boxes left here. You should see my room at the farm if you think I have stuff here!

I start teaching for real on Wednesday, starting with the Creative Writing class. I have a bit of tweaking to do before then, but I think I should be set at least until Monday. We'll see if I feel the same Wednesday night! It should be a very interesting class, with a wide range of skills in my students. I'm interested in finding out if their interests are as varied. It's why the curriculum is vague.

Anyhow, 7 am seems to get earlier and earlier, so I'm off. Like I've said before, my intention is to update this regularily. Intention, not requirement. To sleep, perchance to dream.

How I Spent My Summer vacation (at IKEA)

A lot can happen in a week, even more in two...

I'm writing this from Lacombe, Alberta, where I'm visiting with Steve and Colleen and the boys. It has been a wonderful weekend camping with family out at Buffalo Lake, and the days I've spent here in Lacombe have been the icing on a rather sunburnt cake. I'm definitely going to keep my eyes and ears open for a teaching job in this area. I can't imagine living between two Ikea's. That just might be any salary I get!

We went in to Calgary today (Calgary has never been a "day trip" for me before), and we had it timed so that we were at Ikea first, then the mall since that was how they opened. I have to go home tomorrow, and to work on Wednesday. It will be good to go home yet hard to leave. If anyone else wants to surprize Steve and Colleen Sunday morning, the service starts at 10 am. It's worth it to see the church...let's call it a unique design.

I can't believe that I'm moving in 10 days, and that means I have less than two weeks left of work days. So much to do! (So much that should already be done!) Better get started.