A Year at a Glance

It has now been a year since I moved from Ontario to B.C. Looking back, it has been a year of definite highs and lows. So much has happened and changed that I could not possibly catch up with writing it all down. Here are a few highlights and lowlights:

August: I moved into my unfurnished basement suite. It was a super cute apartment but all I had to furnish it was a lawn chair my dad had bought so that he'd didn't have to sit on the carpet. I slept on an air mattress and waited for roommates to come home with groceries... but I didn't have roommates. It was sad. I also bought my first car. I had no idea what I was doing! I was shaking and pretty much sick to my stomach as I signed the papers and looked at the price of insurance!

September: School started. It was the first day of school for my Kindergarten kids and the first day for me as a teacher. Little did we know what the year would bring for us. I was in charge of my first class trip where we went for a "fall" walk in the forest and had a picnic at a playground. I had my first encounter with a child crapping his pants, another child pulling down her pants and a sibling of a child peeing in the sandbox. I was a little intimidated about what the next 9 months would involve.
Also in this Sept, my brother got married on Mayne Island, one of the Gulf Islands off the West coast. Many relatives came from Ontario and we took over the island for a weekend. It was such a nice wedding in a little chapel on the island with a view of the water across the street. It was such an exciting time and after 23 years, I can finally say that I have the older sister I have always wanted!

October: I turned 23, didn't really know too many people around and so I figured the Blink 182 song, What's my Age again? was actually coming true. But, I went to the beach on my birthday! I've never done that in October before! At school we had our Teacher's Convention in Lynden, WA and so I was able to see all the people I had worked with student teaching in Smithers and also some Dordt grads. It was a little exciting! I also took my students on our second field trip to the Pumpkin patch, got lost on the way and ended up being 20 minutes late for my own class trip which was pretty embarrassing as a first year teacher (but completely not my fault either).

November: I don't remember too much about the month of November except for this almost unbelievable moment when my name was drawn out of a hat at a Membership meeting as the winner of 2 NHL Vancouver Canucks tickets for a February game against Edmonton. Enough said right?

December: 2 weeks before school is out for Christmas holidays we get this snow storm Of course, the snow begins falling Friday night, continues all Saturday and Sunday so that we don't miss a day of school. However, Sunday night, it begins to pour rain as another "winter heat wave" rolls in. The foot of snow that is outside now all turns to slush just in time for the 2 min walking commute to school. Excellent. My boots are wet, my socks are wet and my key will not work in the school door. When I finally figure my stuff out, I walk into yet another rainstorm which this time is happening inside my classroom and in the hallway by my door. Chunks of ceiling tiles are falling and the water is accumulating on the floor making my Kindergarten classroom into the new school wading pool. Kids art work is dripping off off the walls, the name tags are floating in puddles of water and the chunks of ceiling continue to fall. Needless to say, I got the snow day I was praying for. However, it was spent cleaning and moving everything out of my room and across the school to a new classroom that would be my new room for the next 2 months. It was like September again- rearranging furniture, making new name tags, posters etc. What a lot of work!

Enjoying a Starbucks break during the flood clean-up.

At Christmas, I went home for the holidays and it was a nice break to be back in Ontario for a while. It was great to catch up with family and friends and have plenty of food around. When you have to eat for one, sometimes cooking gets forgotten and you eat whatever is in the cupboard that doesn't involve too many leftover, too many dishes and too many coins out of the pocket.


January: I went skiing at Whistler and stayed overnight in a really nice hotel in Pemberton. It had 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, a fireplace, 2 bathrooms, a heated outdoor pool and hot tub. It was great! We skied all day and played games all night. It was excellent. I even went skiing past the tree line in the rocky part of the mountains and "skied" (sat on my butt and slid) in a glacier area.

February: Vancouver beat Edmonton. It was amazing! My first NHL game and I managed to find an NHL Jersey in the thrift store a week before the big game. All my colleagues were jealous of my winnings and were extra nice to me so that I might give them my tickets. HA! Andrea and I also managed to play ice hockey too!

March: Although it rained and was cold most of March break, I was able to make it through a blizzard onto the ferry to visit my brother and sister in law on the island. I also managed to get in a few good hikes and trails. A good friend from home visited and it was fun to be a travel guide for the Vancouver area. I also made the trek to Mt. Vernon, WA to meet up with a college friend for the day. I had heard so much about Mt. Vernon so it was fun to actually see what kind of place it actually was and recall who all lived there.

April: It started to become nicer outside and I anticipated the spring/summer weather. It was fun to let my students go outside more often and enjoy all their discoveries outside in the forest and on the playground. We took another field trip to the Fire Station (without any ordeals) and I got to put on all the fireman's equipment! It was exciting!

I got a call from my parents saying that my grandma had a heart attack and was in the hospital. She's doing well now but it was a little scary there for a time. I'm glad that she is feeling better now and is back home and doing her grandma thing.

May: We did a rain forest unit in Kindergarten which was super fun and exciting for both the students and for myself. We decorated the classroom like a rain forest and took a trip to the zoo to see the rain forest animals. 2 nights before we went, someone broke into the zoo and stole one spider monkey and murdered the other. How sad is that? May was a pretty busy month just getting ready for the end of the school year, having staff devotions, grandparents day, doing report cards etc. At this time, I was also stressing out about where I was going to work the next year, whether I would move to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island for a job or if I would stay and move just a short distance away so that I could have a roommate.

June: Decisions all made, report cards all finished but the stress still high as the school year came to a close. Kindergarten graduation loomed in the air and I was super busy just getting everything done and ready for the big day. The excitement in the air for the approaching vacation was definitely felt. The kids, not only in my class but in the whole school were out of control with excitement and summer fever. I think it also had to do with the fact that June was the coldest and rainiest month of the year. We started calling in Junuary just because it seemed to rain everyday. Everyday the kids were inside for recess couped up in the classrooms. Even the end of the year parties to the water park had to be cancelled cause of the cold and wet temperatures. But, graduation day came and it was so super adorable to see the students, who I had gotten to know so well get their Kindergarten diploma. Although I had many struggles with this class at times, I was able to appreciate each child and I loved them for who they were. I will miss them for all their quirks, all their strengths and all their weaknesses as they go on to grade one next year. My first year of teaching is done. I am no longer a rookie although I know I will still feel like it at times.

July: The summer is here and it is fantastic! Warm weather, sunsets, cloudless days and the smell of the ocean. I spent the first weekend of my summer camping in Golden Ears with Andrea and a few of her friends. My goal became to go camping every weekend in the summer. In July, I packed up all the belongings I had accumulated over the past year and moved to Langley. I had more than just a lawn chair this time! I spent July hanging out with old friends and new friends, going on many hikes, camping trips, walks around the seawall and mini road trips. Lynette and Jena came and we were troopers as we drove around Vancouver taking in the sights and walking different trails in and around the lower mainland. We took a ferry to Mayne Island where we went kayaking, saw a few seals including a baby seal laying on the rocks, almost met Raffi and saw a pod of Orca whales swimming and jumping in the "Ocean" (Straight of Georgia) while on the ferry back. My mom also made a visit out to BC in July and we went island hopping, covering 5 islands in 5 days! Unfortunately no whales on the ferries this time though.

Now, the new journey begins...