Terry Fox Walk

Well, this past week, a few classes were doing fundraising for the Terry Fox Foundation. It was organized a bit at the last minute, so I couldn't do anything with my class, but then this afternoon the whole school went for a 4 km. walk around town to finish the week.

Last year, we had a great time, LOTS of people, but unfortunately this year some of the secondary students skipped the afternoon since they knew what we were doing and felt too lazy! OH , teenagers sometimes!!! I took a few pictures as we walked... one was taken over my head an is regrettably very out-of-focus, but the other one I think is so cute, since Lane was wearing a shirt that fit our LONG walk!!! See the pic on the right!!

Hmmm, and now is the weekend. NOt many plans, I decided to host a raclette party tomorrow for Anne, Yayi, Mark, Nancy, April, Trevor, Melanie, and possibly Marie and Chris if their daughter is doing well. Megan has down syndrome and is maybe two years old. She tends to get hit hard when sickness is floating around. I have been craving Raclette but since I don't own one I have to invite the others.... JOKING! I like having people over... I never did it much in previous years since I would ALWAYS have dishes and laundry around, but now I realize that if I invite people for supper then it gives me an extra push to get the dishes done and the clothes folded at LEAST once a week... haha!! Wondering what the heck a raclette is???? Check it out below...

Running and take out! Yeah!!

Where has the week went? I hardly know what to say, it's been busy. I have been helping out April with some computer things and we are both fans of talking so I end up dropping in her class then staying there until she leaves... Hope she doesn't mind my eagerness to chat, I love talking though, but am afraid it is annoying! YIKES!

Anyway, I also spent yesterday evening visiting a nice girl, Melanie, that works at Northern but is leaving town on next Monday. They got new managers, so she has to leave! It sucks a lot because I never really knew her well before this August/September... Hopefully however, she will be back, since the new manager and his wife don't seem to like it or want to be here...

One nice thing, this week was the beauty I experienced in the environment... One evening walking home I saw such a gorgeous sight- a rainbow that was positioned in such a way that I could take a picture of it landing on the school (see below)... I thought of it as a wonderful illustration of how "education is the gold at the end of the rainbow"... Corny I know, but frankly, if you don't already know it, that is the way my mind works!! I am a complete sucky pants, corn-dog, emotional, dreamer...

Another night, across from my house was the brilliant sunset behind the west mountain, as you can see in my first photograph of this blog... Then last night, walking home from the beach (where I dropped off a little present for Melanie, late birthday present...) So ANYWAY, the sky was soooo crystal clear and the stars were sweeping in galaxies all above my head... I could hardly walk straight soaking in the immensity of the bright dots speckling the heavens... WOW!!

Adn now, I desperately need sleep. I stayed up a bit late last night, just getting into a new book... can tell it will be a quick read since it is so enthralling... BUT at least, I was able to get one blog in this week!!!! So, all of you would know that I am still alive! LOL!!

Got an idea... Burgundy Curtains!

So, after supper, I convinced myself to get out, despite the crap weather, for a walk. Having felt a tad on the lethargic side these days! I decided to walk down to the beach house and I brought some curtains (extras that I bought this summer and didn't need!) down to April and Trevor's place. I wasn't sure if they had a drill on hand, so I brought that along and I guess that forced Trevor to hang the curtain rods and burgundy curtains that April's mom had sent her.

All of this can be considered part of operation "show April the North is a great place to live"... So that HOPEFULLY I can convince her to stay here as long as I do!! (I am saying all this because MAYBE she'll actually read it! LOL) Anyway, after her new curtains were ung, her face lit up and she seemed cheered a little bit at the fact that her place now has a bit more colour (which is a big beef with her bland, white-walled apartment) Anyway, hope this will make her and Trevor more at home here!!

So, there, something a bit more substantial to blog about!! G.
P.S. That pic is not from her place, but just a visual to compliment my story...

What to say?

Hmmm... brain is having trouble thinking of what to say right now... BUT I want to keep in the habit if at all possible of blogging, so I determined to think of something to write about...

But as I type I have a weird feeling in my stomach... A feeling that there is something wrong with someone close to me... Maybe it is just the fact that I haven't had supper yet? But I really hate that feeling. We were talking the other night about having the sixth sense, and I never really thought about it before... Maybe that is causing me to be overly concerned about the "weird feeling"... Oh well, I guess I will know soon enough...

What to say... hmmm... I am really drawing a blank. My brain and body are still exhausted from the weekend. Fun weekend, but one of those weekends that you wish lasted one extra day to help you recover!

THe fog is thick and heavy, rolled in around 4 pm and that could be a part of the weird feeling I have in my stomach... Our school is however excited to finally get our new Secondary teacher this week, he should arrive in town on Friday, and hopefully will be teaching next week. The students will now have a full schedule and that is a good relief, having missed a full month and half of work so far!!!

Nothing else to say right now, for those of you on my "e-mailing list" that are reading my blog, drop me a line, or post a comment to let me know that you are out there!!!

Later, G.

Accidental Orderings

This week I did my first grocery order for the south. Sent it off on Tuesday afternoon and the groceries showed up on my floor at lunch on Friday. In this order I decided to spoil myself a little with a few treats that I hadn't had in a while- like some brie cheese (which I hadn't had since visiting my little brother in Ottawa when we gorged ourselves on brie, baguette, some fancy italian salami, and a little balsamic glaze and olive oil... it was too hot to cook, so we just ate that for supper one day, mmmm...)

Okay, sorry for that tangent, but brie cheese... yum, I decided to order some as a treat, but typed 1000 grams instead of 100 grams of it, and when I was taking the groceries out of their boxes and putting them away, I almost had a heart attack at the size of the piece of brie that I had apparently bought for over 30 dollars... It was almost a complete wheel/circle...

Oh, what can you do with a piece of brie, what can you do with a piece of brie, what can you do with a piece of brie, early in the morning? (following the footsteps of tuffysmom I created that song to illustrate my dilemma.. LOL! To the tune of your and my favourite Sea Shanty, "what can you do with a drunken Sailor"...)

For lunch that day, I cracked open the brie and a package of smoked ham slices, and had a sandwich and during that meal I felt already that I would overdose on brie before I might have the chance to finish it. Where was my little bro when you need someone to help you polish off a huge piece of cheese?!?! So, I started to think through my options... hmmm...

Option #1- try to sell some of it to other teachers... CHECK (called a couple of them and told them to come see me if they wanted brie... to date I have only GIVEN one piece away, it's too hard to charge friends, with all they give to you... oh, well at least it isn't being wasted!)

OPTION #2- well, this is not an option as much as a GIVEN! The meal I had planned for Saturday night with Melanie (who had her birthday Friday) and April, Trevor, Nancy, and Mark, is now going to be a meal that somehow requires brie!! CHECK (search online recipe database provides many delicious options, fettuchini and fresh tomato sauce with brie sounds not too hard, so THAT is what they are getting! (PS hope they like brie! hahaha)) I broke the rule in hosting dinner that says you should try a recipe that you have made before, and went out on a limb and tried this one for Fettuchini and brie Turned out quite nicely, everyone seemed happy and I made a dent in the brie stocks!

I couldn't think of any more options, I don't feel like eating yet today, and certainly not brie after two days of OD'ing on it. Any suggestions? Does it survive if it is frozen? Anybody know?

As per my weekend to date, I had a WONDERFUL time last night, hosting the above mentionned people for supper! It was a very interesting night, Trevor who works for the northern store, had to pick up boxes from the airport at 7:30 so instead of letting Mr. Grumpy (he wasn't too happy about it!!) go and do it alone, the 4 of us girls decided we would also don our workgloves and help out, so hopefully Trevor would be happy enough to hang out with us! So, Nancy grabbed her truck and we followed, good thing we did, it turned out that there were millions of boxes and they couldn't all fit into the Northern truck, so we loaded up nancy's truck to the top too. What adventures! I am on a mission to show April that even though there is not shopping malls, dance bars, etc. that you can find lots of weird and wonderful things to do up here! She seems to be willing to accept the hair brained ideas I have had so far, so hopefully we can change her mind about this place!

After helping with the cargo, we went back for desert at my house, and spent a couple hours chatting and telling stories and laughing. Isabelle, another secondary teacher, had some people over for supper but invited us all over to hang out after they finished so to top off the eventful evening, we all ended up over there, burning energy with some dancing and burning the midnight and the two AM oil... Hopefully we had a victory for the "show April the North can be busy and fun" campaign! (I write this thinking that she might actually get online and check this blog, I gave her the address but haven't seen her footprints through the page yet...)

Better get going for now! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! G.

Big Town Controversy... maybe I shouldn't be blogging this but hey, it needs to be said!

OKay, so as most of you know the students in my class are all very hyped up about RAP... This August some of them went to another town where there was a music festival. At the music festival, there were a few young guys who had made a rap group and were singing songs of their own in Inuktitut. Everyone suddenly became crazy about it, and many people started to try and copy what they would rap about. The guys in my class started practicing and so I helped them out by showing them how they could actually record what they were making up. I also downloaded many instrumental beats from Limewire and other websites for them.

They ask me EVERY day if they can stay and rap, and I think it is fun that they are actually pouring themselves into something... These guys are not strong in school, don't really do anything except hang out with friends and do lots of drugs... With rap, they have found something they are really good at...

ENTER Controversy... Always enters at the most inopportune times, eh!!

So, one of the raps that the guys did was about a guy from town who is a big bully. Now this guy wasn't just any old bully to them, but he was just back in town from jail, since the court is finally here. He got wind of their rap and started going after them, threatening them and it scared the crap out of them. (I mean a huge 30-40 year old guy with a criminal record... going after you when you are a young teenaged punk kid... yikes! Welcome to the North...LOL!)

So, one of the town council members heard about the rap and brought it up at the weekly council meeting, prompting a decision to forbid the kids to rap anymore... (I would think that it made more sense to put restrictions on the adults from threatening kids but go figure?!) Of course, it kind of implicated the school since they recorded it at school. Our student councillor went to the meeting to talk about the good things that came out of the rap the kids were doing- like the boost in self- esteem, increased ability for them to open up and share their thoughts...

I am not a hundred percent sure whether they changed their mind at the council. I don;t think they have, but as I discussed with my students- there is very little difference between talking and rapping... Other than having a beat to it. We talked about the importance of not making it personal, and I told them for what the record in class, I don't want them to talk about anybody other than themselves. Just to keep it safer. The saddest part was yesterday when they came to school and said they would not rap anymore. I am glad that after our discussion they changed their minds. They are very talented and I would hate to see them squander their gift.

I think that the council just doesn't know anything about rap, so it is easier for them to try to contravene it, but really it wouldn't hurt for some education to happen there... SO, brilliant idea #1 was birthed...

I decided that I was tired of the council and some closed minded people from oppressing the youth... I wanted the kids in my class to be able to reason through things like this and decide what is fair and whether decisions like that are really well grounded. Tomorrow I will start a little English unit on debating. And through our discussions, I would like to teach them about respectful debate. We will prepare a presentation about rap that can be presented by the students to the council to educate them on the positive side of rap... and also to demonstrate the things they have learned in the last few days about expression.

I told the VP and Principal about the current conflict since they had heard from the council that something was happening with the topic. They told me that they would back us 100% and that they hoped that the kids would continue to express themselves through the raps they've been creating... That was good, so now comes the work... and I hope that the results will be students that understand communication a little bit better, who are able to think through critically the things that people tell them to do (unlike when they said they would do no more rap), I hope that some of these guys will realise the importance of an open mind, respecting other peoples beliefs and that someday they will be on council and will be responsible and democratic in the way they operate... BIG DREAMS I KNOW... But I believe that we can only change this community if the young are taught to think and learn and stand up for things worth fighting for...

As an ironic ending to today, I was talking to the student counsellor, who had just finished listening to the rap about the criminal dude that was so mad... she told me that the rap was only talking about the truth... One boy said that the guy came up to the playground when he was a kid, and when he slid down the slide the guy came over and bullied him (or something like that) so the rappers was saying that he didn't like being bullied and that when he got older than he would finally be big enough to get back at the guy if he kept bullying them... Interesting, that he would remember that from when he was a kid, and the idea of the rap was that they didn't agree with his violent ways...

BUT I digress, the most ironic, was that today they were rapping afterschool and one of the things they were talking about was how people get so mad when they don't have their drugs and then others get mad when they lose their money gambling it away, so instead of doing that and being on welfare, they should just stop gambling... (Profound for teenaged boys! hahah) AND the Stud. Counc. told me that was also what they were talking about at the council, how they could stop the gambling abuse in town.... hahaha... HOW ironic!!!

So, there is a bit of a battle happening. I want to keep an eye on the stuff the guys are saying, but don't want to see them stop... They have the guts to talk about stuff that no one else wants to address... As long as there is respect to others... well, hope that it continues and grows!

Presentation prep begins tomorrow... THINK of me as I help fight for their freedom of expression!

Breathtaking Silver Shimmering Sky through Polarized Lenses...

Nice day today! I liked doing the workshop, the teachers who came seemed to learn a lot, and that makes you feel good! I did, however, miss having April there... She called first thing this morning to find out what she was supposed to do when she was sick, then when i called to check if she needed NYQuil or Tylenol cold or anything her boyfriend said that she went to nursing and he said it was bronchitis or possible pnemonia that she had... Yikes... Hope she is feeling better!!! (I put that plug in about missing her at the session since I gave her the blog address yesterday and wasnèt sure if she migth check it, LOL!!)

On my way home, my breath was taken away... I saw something that would not have been even possible to do justice via photograph... As I peered above my Bolle polarized shades, I realised that the majority of the world was missing out on this light display, and that it could only be seen through polarized shades... In my opinion I think polarized lenses are better than rose coloured glasses...

So, what was it you ask? The sky, the clouds- shimmering silver with subtle pink and rose shades, above the mountains in the Northeast beyond the town... I can hardly explain it in words, but close you eyes and- wait if you close your eyes you can't read the description- so keep them opened and use your mind's eye to picture this! LOL!


Above the rugged top edge of the rocky mountains to the Eastern border of town, was a flat layer of cloud that sandwiched the light of the sun between the rocks and the cloudy ceiling... This sandwiched light gleamed in a spectacle of pinks, silvers, peaches, light steel blues and sparkled like the surface of calm seas in the sky... Waves of light dazzled my eyes and mind, so that I almost tripped on the pebbled pathway to my house. A little to the right there was also a mini rainbow, visible only with poarized filtration of the light... It was only as tall as it was wide, but looked like a short ladder connecting those amazing clouds to the rough earth's surface... I was in awe and all around me, people were moving about and missing the beautiful display... Like a secret show just for me! What wonderful creation...

My tummy is growling... better go get a bite before it's too late! Bye for now, G.

Sunsets and late evenings...

Yesterday we had a wonderful afternoon, chilling in the tent at the end of the road (as mentionned in the last post). Well, here is a pic of Nancy's relative Monica and her baby Vanalena who came along. Hopefully you get the mood of the afternoon from it!

Back to work this morning and as I finished my second period class, I remembered that I had agreed to do a workshop for the staff on a computer calendar program... on TUesday afterschool... oops! I was supposed to prepare the handout/ presentation on the weekend, but I guess I was having too much fun to think of it! So, I used all my spare time today putting the notes together and think that it will be good. The handouts seemed to impress the vice principal when I showed him so I think I will do alright. I did get a bit nervous today thinking about it. Since I have never taught the others teachers yet, and maybe all of them will be checking whether I am a good teacher or not. (Worse than that is that the workshop will take place at 3 pm in my class so I HAVE to clean up the junk piles before then!! I don't want them to know what a slob I am!! hahaha I like to blame my lack of organization in my class on my extremely creative mind which is FAR too busy creating things/ developing great ideas to keep the class clean! hahaha)

AND just before leaving for for home, I saw a gorgeous sight out of my window... 6:30 and the sun was setting in the distance, revealing a phenomenal palette of reds and pinks... This picture truly does NOT due it justice!! Enjoy!

Where or where did the weekend go? Or where or where can you be?

I wish I took some pictures today, but I was simply too lazy. But -WOW- what a feast for the eyes. The colours of the tundra foliage has changed literally overnight it seems. I miss seeing the leaves turn but the mosses and lichens are so gorgeous as the change into bright oranges and reds, contrasting against the white stone surfaces of the boulders, scattered all over the land.

Good weekend as I look back over the past two days. As usual it went far to quickly from the realm of the present to the past. Saturday was spent chatting with people online, catching up with Nancy(who just got back from a week on the Hudson coast), cleaning dishes and making plans for the evening. The Northern store manager and assistant manager are both leaving GR, and so we decided it would be nice to have a little going away party for both of them. April and Trevor, who live on the beach, decided they would host everyone, and we had a great time- playing games, chatting, carrying on, and dancing as the night got later. It was nice, almost all of the teachers were there, which is always fun!

This morning I slept in until 10:30, since it was a ratehr late night. Nancy called just before noon and said they were going to the end of the road to set up the tent and spend the day. I always love doing that, getting fresh air and relaxing... We don't do much other than eat, talk and lay around. It was a bit chilly so the stove in the tent made it very cozy. I called the new teachers but two were still sleeping and April was still sick and decided that it would be better to stay inside and let her voice rest before going back to school tomorrow. We were laughing at her deep voice last night, she said she could have a 1-900 phone line put in if her voice stayed that way for long! LOL!

Today was a great day and now I am just tuning into NTV (Newfoundland Television) one of the 8 channels my TV gets, and the Canadian Idol finale is already started with a pre-show celebration from Craig Sharpe's hometown. Should prove to be an interesting finale... So, I must let you all go, and tidy up, grab a bite to eat and get everything ready to go back to work. Have a wonderful week everyone!

Music Star Profile... Jack Johnson...

Ohhhhh baby, I think I'm in love!! LOL!! Forget Nick Lachey!!


Upload music at Bolt.

There is nothing he can do wrong (musically) in my eyes... I only really heard about this summer even though he has been around for many years. My brother, P, had some on my parents computer at home in NS and I just happened to listen and the love affair has begun. I uploaded one of the songs here, and I think it is working (unlike my last attempt with one of my own recordings?!)

I love his lyrics and the beat of his songs. They are driven, free spirited (check out the pic of him with flipflops riding a bike and the surfboard, I am sooooo swoooning as I type! LOL!!) and he and the songs are just so much fun. They are about ordinary old stuff and things that he sees or talks about in a special and creative way. Reminds me a little bit of John Mayer, but with a bit more maturity I think...

These songs, if you know any of his other ones, are definately toe tappers that get embedded in the "hypothalmatic region" of the brain... (PS I totally just made that word up, DR. PhD Mike will surely have to comment!!) Anyway, they get stuck in your brain but you totally don't care because they arer awesome songs.

They can easily be mistaken for simplistic, but they carry deep truths and messages. I chose one of them to put here... will post more when I have more time... Off to watch Survivor: Cook Islands.

Anyway, tonight was the first time I have seen pictures and just have to add... my love started with the sound of his voice and his heart, and it's icing on the cake now to find out he is such a looker!!! One last songs as you hit the road!
Upload music at Bolt.

Teachable Moments...

I love teachable moments. I find them all over the place and all day long. Today, I had to take a few moments to talk to my homeroom about respect and how to learn. Yesterday after school I heard from the new Gym teacher that the boys in my class were HORRID that afternoon. They had come to my class after being with him so I kind of wasn't surprised (having already heard the grumbling from them).

Just to give you some background. Until this year, the students have always had Inuit Gym teachers and those teachers have rarely had a lot of training or backbone. For years, the girls have gotten in the habit of leaving or doing score instead of participating and the boys would complain until they could play floor hockey or have free time. There was very little actual instruction happening. The secondary students are finding it hard having someone in the Gym who is actually trying to teach skills and develop them in all sports instead of just floor hockey.

So, a few of the guys in my class became very lippy with this new teacher and really pushed too far, until they were sent to see the principal. Today I decided I would bring it up with them and have a discussion. So, we talked about what they felt... "It's just kids games", "He doesn't let us play without sneakers", "We want to play floor hockey", etc....

Fortunately I had done my homework and knew what they were learning about- that they were just starting a unit on Track and Field events... So, I asked them, how many of them knew anything about Track and Field. None of them knew what I was talking about, so I said, "Then why not listen and try it out... The teacher is trying to teach you something you have never tried before and that you might actually like, or be good at!" I reminded them that unless they listen and try new things they will never learn how to do anything that they don't already know about, and that they might also miss out on chances to become good at something that they could travel to Arctic Summer Games for. We talked about sneakers and they all said that now they have sneakers to wear, so that wasn't a problem anymore. Then they said that they want to play hockey so they can be better at hockey. I pointed out that even hockey players do crosstraining of different sports and that things like running and track and field will make their heart and muscles a lot stronger so they will get in much better shape for playing hockey.

By the end of the discussion I could see a change in the attitude they were having. I encouraged them to go into class with a positive attitude and willingness to listen at the start so they could play more sports and not spend so much time arguing and wasting time. I didn't hear anything from the gym teacher, but they had class at the end of the day... I hope that things went better and that they will think about their attitudes and actions a bit more...

We might fix them there youngins up yet!! LOL!

Short Blog tonight...

Feeling exhausted and have three long days in front of me to bring me to the end of the week. I am forcing myself to go to bed early... (especially since I have a good book that I am reading, and would like to read a chapter before lights out...)

Things are still running smoothly at school. A few of the boys are trying to push their weight around a little bit. I diffused one fellow with a little humour but I can tell he's going to be walking a thin line if he keeps it up. Oh the joys of adolescence!

Big Brother tonight I heard, and there is also one of the last episodes of Rockstar Supernova...zzzz....

Music... la la le lu la...

Watching the second last episode of Canadian Idol as background to the writing of this blog entry. What talent these last two have! Hard to decide who should win, but BOTH are really deserving at this point!

In the last three weeks or so, I have really been diving further into my love and interest in music. Maybe it is watching so many reality TV programs based on music or something, but I have been spending a large part of my day doing something with music. Listening to my iPod while walking, blaring the stereo while painting my window covering, playing my new drums, downloading new tunes from Limewire, recording new guitar/singing pieces of me on my computer, burning CDs of rap beats for my students or buying new tracks from iTunes store... There is not a minute of the day I am not thinking about a song or listening to one... I have rediscovered some of my old faves and many new amazing tunes!

In junior high my love for music started. My first instrument was the flute and I hated it. In grade 8, I begged the teacher to let me switch to trombone, and the rest is history. I quickly grasped the concepts taught in music theory class and it opened a wide wonderful world to me. I have tried many different instruments and can make it by on most of them. I also really enjoy singing now (as you probably guessed from my references to karaoke) and although I am not all that great I still enjoy singing. I have a very low and small range but make due with what I have.

For me, music is a refuge. I love grabbing the guitar when I am bored and just making stuff up. Or putting on an inspirational or touching song on my stereo and playing some percussion along with the tracks. Or putting a karaoke disk in my dvd player and belting out the words to some classic feel good songs... Music helps me diffuse many intense feelings- frustration, anger, disappointment, insecurity, sadness or extreme joy... There are songs that meet anyone where they are...

Below you can find my second attempt to post a song... This time it's a Beatles song that I played one evening last year on my guitar when I was first learning how to use a recording program on my computer... hope you enjoy it!


Upload music at Bolt.

Iso-spirituality

I was thinking this Sunday morning about how much my thoughts on spirituality have changed in the past four years of being up North. It was a very difficult thing to get used to, living in isolation, far away from the church families that I once held so dear to my heart.

During high school and university, I was always a part of a church where I had encouragment, fellowship, prayer support, and spiritual teaching. I was also drawn to be very involved in the programs and activities that those churches had to help believers and unbelievers deepen their walk with God. For me during those years, I felt that God was calling me to do that work, and that through the 100% commitment I made in those areas of ministry, I was also bringing joy to God, I was fulfilling his will for me. In Ottawa, there were usually only 2 nights a week during which I as not found at the church assisting the youth/young adults pastor or other leaders.

Despite the extreme time commitment, I feel that God really honoured my effort in my courses too and I passed them all with flying colours. (I will never forget the semester in second year in which I was particularly busy at the church, and I still managed to get A+ grades in ALL of my courses. I couldn't take all the credit for the success but was convinced it was with God's help that I did so well...)

It was a busy life, but I felt that it really was a balanced life. I had peace in every decision I made and knew that I was walking faithfully in God's will.

Then came the end of university. I applied to a few school boards including the Ottawa area one, but felt very excited and good about the decision to accept a job in the North. I am confident even still that it was a good decision. BUT with that decision came the prospect that I would not have this home base or fellowship to help me work out my faith. Upon arriving my fears were confirmed when I tried to attend the local church but never felt quite comfortable there. It was first of all in Inuktitut and another teacher who went my first two Sundays later informed me in October of that first year that she was no longer going to go, since on of the main lay leader's is a major drug dealer in town and she no longer felt that she could sit and listen to him preach words she could not understand. She felt that the hypocrisy of the situation was one that was more damaging to her soul than helpful. I agreed. I did not want to go and participate if I could not check with my own heart the teachings that were coming from him.

The other part was that I still felt a major disconnect between myself and the people in the congregation. Sure many recognized me, and I them, but simply smiling and shaking hands did not feel like enough fellowship and building up, as I was formerly used to. I realized that my spiritual walk would have to be a one on one thing only, just back to me and God, and God's creation. Fortunately for me, I had my guitar and also many CD's of music that helped me to have that feeling of church community in the confines of my apartment. But it wasn't quite the same thing.
I am not going to lie to you. It is hard to feel as close to God when you feel alone in what you believe and think. I tried hard and found that while driving skidoo on camping trips became some of my best times of communion with God, when you have no one else to talk to and you are alone with the thoughts inside your head. Maybe I was not growing cold as much as I was finding the new dynamics of my relationship with God.

Now I feel closer to God through my everyday life. Every time I see something beautiful or the amazing colours and movements of the northern lights, I think of God's creation... Everytime I encounter a drunk person staggering on the street, I think of the depression and lack of hope gripping some people in this town... Everytime I have a student come into class with a frown or telling me that they went to bed late, I reminded of how my classroom is sometimes the only safe place they have, and sometimes I am the only "stable" adult that they interact with on that day... When kids I don't know run up to me and give me a hug and won't let go, I realize that maybe they would run to someone who would mistreat them, if I don't take a minute to talk to them and show them that I care. Being here in this town is not just for me, but it is to be an ambassador of hope, of joy and of love. I have a wonderful chance each day to set an example for kids who's lives are filled with people who have given up on them, and who have given up on themselves. Parents in some cases are so bound up with their own hurts, histories and hopelessness that they feel like they can do nothing for their children. My heart breaks when I see that, and even though I know there is not much that I can do, I know that I now have a bit of different calling.

Instead of spending everyday in the ministries inside of the church, my new ministry is everyday, everywhere and to everyone. I find fellowship in a different way and cherish my time visiting home (or Ottawa) so much more. I get recharged from conversations on the phone and online, and in spite of the isolation that surrounds me, I have found out how my spirituality can still be alive and grow.

LIfe in the North... Be ready for ANYTHING!

So, despite my desire and NEED to go to bed early last night, I didn't. At about 9:30 pm, I was reading some blogs and N's daughter caught me on MSN and asked if I was going to the community centre. I was wondering what was happening there, since it is usually just sports and I have never gone before. She said that there was something happening with Inuit games, sports and throatsinging.

Now this caused a bit of a dilemma, to go or not to go. Not knowing the size and importance of the gathering, I wasn't sure if it was something I should show my face at so that I would be seen as someone who makes an effort to integrate. OR could I get away with not going and resting, since these events are often until indescent hours of the night, and I was already dead from not being in perfect health. I decided I would go for a bit and read the situation.

It turned out they organized a celebration for 6-7 Latvian tourists who had just arrived via kayak from Schefferville. They had been kayaking up the George River and my guess is it takes a couple weeks minimum to make that trip. I guess some community members decided to throw together a little event to demonstrate some Inuit culture and just to get to know them a bit more.

When I got there, a few of the Latvian fellows were playing a three on three basketball game against a few of the boys that I taught my first year up north. After that there was a demonstration of the one foot high kick, a traditional Inuit game, that requires an immense amount of agility, strength and skill. It was pretty impressive what some of our boys can do! There was also a group who did a folk dance for everyone and a few youth that were playing the music.

At the end before everything was shut down, four of my secondary girls (who have learned how to do traditional drum dancing and throat singing in the last couple years in a school project), did a couple of drum dance songs and a few throatsinging demos. I was so proud of them and it really just dawned on my that the throatsinging/drum dancing group was such a good project since some of the girls who are in that group are some of our most shy girls and they have really become proud and outgoing in their t.s. and d.d. They were really glowing and were doing their songs without having the teacher supervisor there.

Those tourists really had a great show! Lucky cats! And I was most happy to see the comm. centre supervisor finish the event at a fairly decent hour, instead of after midnight it was 10:30 pm. Needless to say, a late night for me!

Internet will be down tonight... Boo hoo!

Just doing a little post now, since I didn't have a chance yesterday and my internet provider will be down for service for most of tonight. Still taking the antibiotics but now I am coming down with a bit of a cold- stuffy nose, dry cough, brutal headache... I think it is simply a change of season thing, since we have been experiencing late Fall breezes. I am being very careful, to cover my head when I am outside, and am taking in lots of fluids. I even started boiling a pot of water on the stove at my place with some VICK's in it to help clear my nasal passages out. The apartment is kind of dry so it is helping a bit...

I don't tend to be sick very often so these two things at once is making me very cautious. I wash my hands more than usual and notice my tan is fading quickly as a result! LOL! BUT better to be safe than sorry. Soon, I will have to return to the store to stock up on wonton soup... I just can't get enough of it these days!

I am mostly praying I will fight off any worse symptoms since I am a horrible sick person. I hate it with a passion... I mean, I don't know many people who like being sick, but taking medicine and the like YUCK! (I am sure mom can share some embarrassing stories of medicine and me, from when I was a kid!

Hope that school is treating the rest of you teachers well. Enough blabbering for me for now, I don't have much concentration right now to make a coherent blog! got some good news yesterday, a friend of mine who lives in Medicine Hat now is 11 weeks pregnant! Yeah!! Another baby that I can be an honourary Aunt to!

G.

Attempting to post a song...

Upload music at Bolt.

Hope this works... This is an new song I got and I would like it to be my theme song... as in people would think of me from this song... It's got a forward moving beat and very catchy lyrics... Those brits definitely know what they are doing with music!!
G.

The creation journey ends...

So, now when I sit in my blogging chair and look at my door, iI no longer see the reflection of my neighbours house in it, but rather I get to gaze at my thought provoking painting. What do I think of each of the parts of the piece... maybe that can wait for another blog. Maybe you can share any thoughts you get first...

I finished in just enough time to do a bit of cleaning and straightening up before going back to work tomorrow. Glad it will be one of my "light" days, so I can psyche myself up for the rest of the full week. Today the air has a definate chill, autumn is upon us, which was even more evident from the hunters driving by on 4-wheeler with caribou. If the caribou are returning this direction, then the winter is on it's way.

I don't have much else to say. My day was very one-track, painting and listening to music. I have learned on thing though- when painting intricate parts of an artwork, do not play acadian/newfie jigs and reels... the banging of my feet (which is very uncontrolable) makes the table move! LOL!!! (Can't beat "La Bottine Souriante", if you've never heard their music, then maybe Nan can help me figure out how to post a song of theirs so you can see what I mean! It is ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE not to dance along with it!!!)

All for now! G.

Work in Progress

What a beautiful day to have been working inside. You can't see it outside but it was raining all day, and I LOVED it! I listened to the rain drops, splashing all over my porch, the truck outside and sprinkling gently on the ground. It was a nice compliment to the music that I was playing too. A very inspiring environment to be in while trying to do an artistic pursuit.

So, I took into consideration some of the suggestions, and since I also liked turtles, I thought about how a few different creatures from nature remind me of people and thoughts. SO, instead of focussing on just one, I would make a mosaic of nature, with bright background colours to help them stand out. I had a couple of little visitors drop by while I was still in the sketching stage and they suggested adding a butterfly, so even though I don't really care for butterflies, I thought it would be a reminder of the students and kids from town, and how they impact my life.

It was so nice, that for most of the day I propped my door wide open allowing the fresh chilly wind to blow right in and freshen the inner environment of my apartment. I got quite a lot done, and had to finally give it a break around 8 pm when my eyes just couldn't stay focussed and steady for more than 10 seconds. I went to Marie's house (another teacher) to watch the movie "Take the Lead" with her. Cute flick, Antonio Banderas as a Ballroom Dancing teacher that breaks through with some troubled kids... based on a true story at that! The kind of movie that teachers just love watching! Here's the pic of my work in progress...

I need inspiration!

So, I have this window in my front door and it has a very weird shaped window for curtains. So I came up with the idea of making a canvas painted hanging that could fit the already existing rods.





Now you can check out exhibit "B"... I had some help from Anne (another teacher) who sewed it up for me, and for the past week I have been trying to think of something- anything to paint on it. I am still unsure, so I would love some suggestions... I have lots of different colours, so that shouldn't stop me... Let me know what you think!

Campfires burning, Campfires burning, Draw nearer...

As I type- yes, 2:59 in the morning, I am surrounded by the sweet smell of campfire smoke... I love that smell, have never had a negative experience around fire that has tainted the sweet memories that are embedded deep in my mind of campfires... I just came home from the beach and a firepit hosted by a few of the new teachers... What fun it was!

I went to make a quick appearance with another teacher and then after coming back home, and smelling the smoke on my clothes, I decided that I just had to go back. There was no real reason to go to bed at a decent hour, for this was the weekend! So, I called Nancy and we went back down to the beach where the fire was, this time well prepared with a beverage, one hot dog wiener and my special rotating roasting stick.

I had a great time getting to know April quite a bit better. She is from the Northern peninsula of Newfoundland, but lived in Ottawa for years as well. We hit it off joking away and laughing lots and it turned out to be an awesome time. We didn't really talk much since she teaches grade 3, and I teach secondary, and she semed to be very happy to start to meet some of us "old" teachers, which she hadn't really been able to do in the past three weeks. I think it was good for her, since I can tell she is an extremely social person and has felt a bit lonely so far. I explained that most of us don't mind at all getting a call from any of the newbees, but sometimes we are shy or hesitant to call, not wanting to disturb them. BUT I guess they are also shy, to just start talking to us and asking us to do something or come over. I never knew for example that April or Krystal enjoyed playing badminton. I have tried for years to get a teachers afterschool badminton night organized, and now we have more than enough interested!

So, yeah, it was a fun evening... Of course, after a while you knew it was more the rum and coke talking but it was nice to connect with these newbees and help reach out to them. They have all had a pretty rough time for different reasons: the Gr. 6 teacher (Rhonda) has a TREMENDOUSLY challenging group of students, the Gr. 3 teacher (April) has felt very bored socially, not having the plethora of pubs/dance clubs to visit on weekends as well as a group of kids who cannot communicate AT ALL with her(since it is the first year with any English instruction), and the grade 5 teacher (Krystal) has also had a difficult time figuring out how she fits in socially within the staff, plus a couple challenging students...

Well, looking at the time, I really should be in bed. If I had more energy and patience I would find a nice picture to go along with the story, but frankly, I am beat!! I told the girls I would call them tommorrow to go to the gym and play our first game of badminton... At this rate, we'll probably only be up for it in the evening! LOL!

Oh to have the energy of a couple years ago! I am getting so old! (Just kidding! Party on!) G.