It's Official

Thanks for the patience. We were without internet since Monday morning. It finally returned
Friday afternoon. At the same time, the cable and phones were down for a couple days between Tuesday and Wednesday. Imagine not having any of those. Luckily, our decision to go for satellite worked out well this week. Interesting story about the phones. Apparently, a construction crew, which is here to install some new trailers, blew a hydro line or something like that. Our school phone still works, but at least one home in the community can hear all the conversations. Similar to the old party lines. This started on Tuesday, but the school didn't find out until Thursday afternoon. The people living there had been listening in on the school, to all the private conversations. To make matters worse, these people had invited people over to listen. Oh yeah, they are also parents to one of our grade 9 girls.

With over a week to blog about, there isn't too much to report. The acting principal gig is now over. I had a lot of fun and appreciated the new responsibility. It did make for a longer week with juggling both duties. The school was so understaffed that they had to hire two or three people for the week.

On Thursday we did sign our contracts for next year. We have committed for another year. It should be a great year with some experience behind us. The school is hiring 2 or 3 outside staff, which would make it less like All-Bran cereal and more of a Multigrain cereal. Amanda has been asked to go down to grade 3. Julia wants to participate in EQAO and needs a strong teacher for that class. We don't know yet who might be coming up to Grade 7, but it is a heavy boy class who had little structure this year. When we signed on Thursday, Solomon, the grade 2 TA, asked if I was coming back. When I said yes, he seemed a little surprised. He is always a nice guy who you can count on for a smile. We earned instant credibility with the staff and fit in that much more with our decision.

Last night we went for a walk and saw our first wildlife. A partridge. Not too exciting, but it is the first one that I have ever seen. I went into the woods and tried catching it, but the trees, bushes, and shrubs made it difficult to maneuvre. We finished our walk at 9:10, and it was still light out. Makes the gloom of the winter seem worth it.

A couple of side notes we can report. One of our grade 8 students said he wasn't going to be here for a couple of days next week, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I asked why and he said he had to go to the bank. In preparation for the year end trip, he needs to set up a bank account and get a interac card. With the flight schedules, there isn't a way to do it in a day or two. Oh the inconvenience of the North.

Speaking on the subject, Amanda had a little injury this week. She had moved a cabinet to write something on board, which she has done every week this year, when it toppled over and landed on her foot. I had heard a loud noise and figured I would take a look. Then I started hearing a wimper, so I hurried my step. I found her on the ground in obvious pain. She went to the Nursing Station and came back with a cast. They took X-rays of her foot to measure the possible damage. But with the internet down, they couldn't send the images out. They had to write them on a CD and snail mail them to Red Lake or Sioux Lookout. And it was Tuesday, so the mail won't go out until Wednesday. The nurse told her that it would be about a week before she would hear anything. He, yes a male nurse, thought it might require surgery to fix and she would have to fly out for that. So staring at her in the face was the possibilty of paying over $1000 for flights and another $150-$300 for hotels. Her foot is now better (she cut the cast off herself after two days) but sore after a long day of standing.

We'll finish off with a weather report. All the snow is now gone, save a pile or two that was over 8 feet tall. We have had daily highs of 18 or 19, with sun all the time. Duck Lake (the lake behind the school) has now completely melted and Deer Lake is showing signs of life. A thin layer of ice remains but it will not last too much longer.

With Monday being Court, we have no school. We are looking forward to a long weekend, and are planning to walk to town today.