Saturday February 25, 2023

 Hey..

Well, we have sun until about 5:00 these days--spring is coming!!

I also am on Star Link now--the Elon Musk answer to the internet in rural areas.  A colleague two houses away has it, and it is being transmitted via another residence.  The power is more then I have with the local provider--so, I am cancelling that, and paying less to my colleague for this amazing service.  

It was a hassle getting cable this year.  I finally gave up, and am using the internet for my tv--with Star Link, no more circles, and much better picture quality.  My zoom lessons are also so much better--life is good!!

My former principal is currently in a place called Ivujivik, pronounced, E vue you vik, which is the most northerly settlement in Quebec. She has invited me to teach there next year, so, I have agreed.  The weather that we are getting here, up to minus 60 and lower, is training me for next year.  Apparently, Ivujivik, is the coldest place in Canada, and perhaps, the world.  Polar bears roam the village, along with other wild life--I want to see that before I die.

We have missed a bit of school because of the weather.  The heat in the school shut down, and the school bus could not run because it was too cold.  Only two weeks until spring  break, but the weather continues to be much colder then usual--I expect that we will lose more days.

Two of our teachers are from Cameroon, in Africa.  They are amazing people, hard workers, and generous.  Marie Louise has spent all of her extra time doing fund raising for her village in Africa to buy gear for the maternity hospital.  She has cooked food, and sold it, as the main fund raiser.  Next Thursday, she is preparing a meal for the village to thank them for participating in her campaign.  She raised over $10,000 and this has gone a long way to improving the situation there.  Rather then going through all the red tape, she has given the money directly to the chief of her village and as a result, the equipment has been bought and is already in operation.  She will show us the outcome of the how the money was spent through a visual and documented presentation.  What a girl!!

In the class room, we are up-ing the level for reading.  We now have 2 groups.  The top group is going so fast--I have to really prepare carefully.  The second group is still focusing on letter sounds, but they are also moving forward.  Keeps me up at night trying to provide challenges, but not to hard to frustrate and cause tears.  I do push too hard sometimes.

I have had fun with the cooking program.  We have done smoothies, dips, pizza, hot chocolate, and we are going to do toast, and toasted cheese sandwiches before the break--a lot of fun--and my own cooking has improved.  I can even make presentable pizza dough, and baking powder biscuits!!

We all are looking forward to the spring break which is March 10-19.  I will be spending most of it in Courtenay.  They pay for my trip to Montreal, and then I am responsible for the rest of the travel.

They pay for all of the travel to Comox at the beginning of the year, Christmas and the end of the year.  Fortunately, I got a great ticket to Vancouver return for under $300--so everything is ok.  The return trip from Montreal to Kangirsuk  is $5,000.

See you soon--I will have a little time in Vancouver, on either end of the trip. Probably, I will slip down to Victoria for a day as well!!!   

Yahoo--homemade pizza!!

Yahoo, bead making stuff with Brenna, our special needs person.

A visit from an Elder from George River.  He was attending a government meeting held in our gym and took 10 minutes to talk to us about seal hunting.

Yea--egg carton people!

We can make hot chocolate ourselves!!

This is what minus 60-minus 67 looks like.  You can see the water beyond the houses--this is the ocean, frozen solid up to 5 feet. Looks just like the land.