Inside Pictures

Here are some pictures of my classroom (oops I forgot to take some of Greg's room in the process) and of the inside of our apartment.

There were garbage bags on everything. Greg was busy taking things out of garbage bags and taking the ones down that were covering the bookshelves.

This is the view of my classroom from the door. The wall opposite the Smart board has the chalk board on it and my desk is in the far right hand corner.

This is our kitchen. We have flat top oven and it has been tricky getting used to cooking with it. I will admit I have burnt some thing on it already.

This is our living room. We have brand new couch and loveseat and a flat screen tv.

This is supposed to be our linen closet, but I think it has become more of a medicine cupboard/make up and hygeine closet.

This is the hallway. None of the closets have doors on it.

This is our bedroom. There is a closet on the right (with no doors) and a dresser near the foot of the bed. AND.... our bed is a QUEEN size. We are used to a double, so it feels like we have so much room.

Clearly this is our little bathroom. The only thing I can fault in our house is the bathroom and that is because the floor by the tub is rotting. Otherwise everything is PERFECT!

Laundry room, with the freezer. Our back door is also in this room, but we don't go out there. I think if we stepped off the porch we would get lost in the jungle of grass (this is a little exaggeration, but I am not lying when I say they do not cut the grass).

Tomorrow we are using the school vehicle (wait till you see this thing) to go to the Northern (the grocery store) so I will have more pictures to come.

Pictures!

Okay so I have managed to post a few pictures. Sorry that the timeline for them happening is backwards, but I am still getting used to this blog thing.


This is the school, it is really nice inside. Greg and I each have our own smartboard for the classroom and a science lab we are supposed to use. There is also a really nice computer lab.

This is one of the two rows of teacherages. The third door in is where Greg and I live(the one with the couch outside of it. It isn't there anymore though, I just checked!).

This is the front view of our house. The big window is the living room where we just got a brand new teal coloured couch and love seat. The small window is the kitchen. We also have a bedroom with a QUEEN sized bed. There is so much room, we are definitely not used to that. We also have a bathroom and our very own washer and dryer. We were also amazed to see that we had our own chest like freezer. I can definitely say I wasn't expecting that.

This is the view of the runway coming in on the plane. All we saw was trees and lakes and then suddenly there was this clearing. Our first sight of Deer Lake.

This is what we saw for most of the hour we were on the airplane. While we were flying over this our pilot was reading flyers and listening to his IPhone.

Sorry this picture is flipped the wrong way I guess I should have edited before I put it on my blog. Anyways this was Greg in the plane. I was sitting across the aisle from him and we were sitting right behind the captain.

The shadow of our plane as we were flying out of Winnipeg. We did not get much higher then this. So it was nice to see what was on the ground the whole time.

The Martin's Have Landed!!!

We have arrived safely in Deer Lake. It has been a long day and Greg and I are both very tired. We had a really early start this morning. We got up and went grocery shopping for our final items, and then we finished packing our boxes.

At 11:00 we boarded the Northway van. This was a free service that picked us up and took us to the airport. We had a very long tour of Winnipeg due to the fact we were the first on the bus and the driver had to back track because a passenger missed the van. Our driver was very friendly and very nice, however it was one crazy ride. We were in an eleven setter van that our driver whipped down main streets and went in and out of traffic.

When we finally made it to the airport and then we quickly unloaded and checked in. To be honest the whole St.Andrew's Airport was very much like going to a doctors office. We walked in the airport and told them we were here (no paper transfered hands, except for the money). We then waited in a chair until the pilot walked up and said Deer Lake. Then we followed him out to the plane and got in a tiny 8 passenger plane.

The plane ride was like nothing I have ever experienced. We were closer to the ground then I am used to when flying. We could see the ground the entire time. The landscape was beautiful. It looked like green, lush land with tons of trees, dotted with a bazillion lakes. It was also a loud ride. Next time I will definitely either read a book on the plane, or listen to my ipod.

When we finally arrived in Deer Lake the pilot unloaded the plane and the people waiting for other people walked right out to the plane waiting for the plane to be unloaded. We met our boss' they are very nice and they helped us load up an elders truck. We then journeyed over to our teacherage.

We were pleasently surprised when we got to our teacherage because we were not expecting it as nice as it was. We have living room/kitchen area, bathroom, bedroom and our very own washer and dryer plus a larger freezer. We have been very busy cleaning and trying to get things organized, but are feeling like we are getting things there.

At 6:00 we had to walk over the to school to get a quick tutorial on Smart Board and we saw our classrooms. Well this is the beginning to a new adventure with many more stories to come.

This is a picture of the plane we flew in.

ps. mum i tried to post more pics but it isn't working. I will try again later.

Flying to Winnipeg

We made it safe and sound to Winnipeg last night. Greg and I were through security and waiting for our flight by 3:15. Things went smoothly at the airport, although we did have some excitement at the security area. Greg caused the beeper to go off because he was wearing his belt and of course I was the one picked to be frisked. LOL. I was the lucky random person who got to spread eagle and get padded down. However, after that excitement everything was great. We had some time to get some Timmies and email our parents and of course I always enjoy the people watching.

Our plane left right on time and we had a fairly smooth flight, just a little bit of turbulence at the beginning. The plane was not overly crowded so the girl sitting next to me got up and moved which was nice because it gave Greg and myself some more room.

I was so excited when we were beginning our descent into Winnipeg because I had never seen thing so flat before. It was amazing. You could see so far and there was so much farm land. We also had a great look at the Red River and we saw how windy it was. Winnipeg is a pretty small airport compared to Toronto. We landed on time (6:13) and were off the plane and had all our luggage by 6:20. That would never happen at home.

My mom's cousin have graciously invited us into their home for the two nights we are staying in Winnipeg. Last night they cooked what they call Manitoba Farmers Sausage for us. To Greg and I it looked like one big piece of summer sausage or a piece of pepperoni. It was really good though and we really enjoyed it.

Today, we ventured out to the Superstore. I thought the superstore in St.Catharines was big, but this one is HUGE. We spent a large sum of money on food that we hope will last us awhile. We do have to go back tomorrow morning quickly to get a few items that we were not able to purchase today.

Tomorrow will be a big day, as it is the final leg of our journey. Hopefully all goes well and we are in Deer Lake tomorrow and at our new home by 3:00 pm.

Greg and I on the plane bound for Winnipeg, Manitoba.

It's Official

It's officially I finally had my first little freak out. I have felt pretty good about this adventure and about how my packing has went I have felt like had packed everything I needed in the bags we were taking, and then this evening as I was walking through my house I started freaking out. I kept finding things I hadn't packed yet and that I would need. I have no clue where my blow dryer is going and our pillows. However, as quickly as I started freaking out, Greg and my grandparents sprang into action. Greg, quickly told me not to worry (as he always does and he is 90% of the time right). Grandma said that she will mail me anything I find out that I will need. And Grandpa simply kissed me and told me he loves me. These were al things I needed to hear, that and they all told me to take the rest of the night off. Which I have done, and Greg and I have enjoyed some episodes of Criminal Minds. Just the thing I need, scary episodes where an ax murderer is coming out of the dark woods to kill someone, right before I move up into the great white north. LOL. No I will be fine as long as Greg is there.

I am ready for this adventure that God has set before me. However I am not ready for all the goodbyes. I have told Greg that I am sick of crying. Anyone who knows me knows that I cry at everything (not one of my best qualities lol). I know that this move is not permanent and that we will be back and see everyone again. But it is the things that I am going to miss not being here that set me off. Hangout with my sisters, going for dinner at Meaghan and Gregs, not to mention the births of three good friends babies (I will be back before they are a month old, and thank goodness for email and facebook for pictures).

Our last full day at home is tomorrow and it is already so busy. We have appointments, a few phone calls, a couple of errands and a visit to Eh Jose at the market. He makes the BEST quesadillas. Then our evening is filled with Greg's final baseball game and an outing with the Martin family as this will be the last time we see them until Christmas. I am preparing myself already for a very taxing day. The next time I post we should be settling into our great adventure. And I hope to even post a few pictures :)

Time is Flying By!!

I can hardly believe that two weeks today is the day Greg and I fly out. This whole adventure has already been a whirlwind. I finished my last day of work on Monday and have been very busy packing (and buying things) ever since. We have officially bought all our winter gear except for snowpants, we canNOt find them anywhere (so once the cold weather sets in we may be in trouble).

Greg and I fly out on Wed August 25 to Winnipeg for a day where we will do our grocery shopping. It should be a really busy day. We are expected to arrive in Deer Lake on Friday August 27, where our new adventure will begin. We are both very excited to see where this adventure leads us and to see what God has in store for us here. I know he is with us all the time even when I am having fears of the unknown. Please pray for us as we embark on this new chapter of our lives.