First Full Day in the New Home

Day 6 - Wednesday, August 15

Mom woke up at 5am this morning (Wednesday) and headed to the Saskatoon airport, on her way to Sol’s graduation. Here is a big shout-out to my beautiful Momma: THANK YOU FOR BRINGING ME HERE - for encouraging me to apply to jobs, for supporting me in moving far away, for motivating me when I needed a lot of prompting, for being patient with me when I was freaking out, for loving me always. I cried a little bit when you left, but soon after, I was able to fall asleep and I am just thankful to have had you move me in here. I was sleeping on pillows in my kitchen since my bed hadn’t been delivered and rather than fussing with the air mattress, I had a good little rest on the kitchen floor from about 5-8am and woke up to the sun shining in the window. I did some dishes and organized my computer....and then Al knocked on my door, “locking your door means that you don’t want to be disturbed.” Oh. I thought it was a general safety precaution to lock my door on a reserve at night. Hm. Anyway, the boss man told me that my brand new furniture would be delivered that day and he suggested that I head on over to the school to start setting up my classroom. I was happy to head over and check it out. I left my door unlocked since I DID want the furniture guys to “disturb.” On the drive to school (which is really only a 3 or 4 minute drive), I found my new teacher friend Chester wandering the streets of Patuanak, trying to find his way to school. Perfect timing Lord! We got to the school and met the secretary, VP, saw the staffroom and had a more thorough tour of the resource room and classrooms. I SAW MY FIRST TEACHER MAILBOX - AH, that was weird. The VP gave us some history on the community and the school. I was informed that the kids won’t be given their native language instruction this year (Dene) but there is a school gym teacher so I don’t need to teach gym and when my class has gym, I have prep time (that happens for half an hour, three times a week). I enjoy gym but it’ll be nice to have one less class to plan and assess for. One of the first striking features of this school is the red roof - and another, is the incredible view of the water. We asked about Sask-Tel at the office (phone and internet services) and we went to the staffroom to call about getting that set up. Al also informed us that we'd need to call about having something-to-do-with power transferred (?) and we would have to call about our propane - it needs to be filled up before winter. I was somewhat mentally prepared to be without communication for a week or more, but I was happy to get that process going. I talked to the lady for a longtime and it was difficult because nobody had given me my home address. We eventually figured out where I’ll be living and the lady said that the guys only come up to the Patch on occassion to hook up phone/internet, but I was forunate and they’d be coming the VERY NEXT DAY. Thank you AGAIN Lord! This wasn’t a guarantee...but I was hopeful that I could call home from my house the next day. The VP offered to show us around the community but Al suggested that I head home to meet the Leon’s furniture guys. 

I snuck into the office at the school and used the internet to do a bit of messaging (I asked and they said I can use it for personal use, ESPECIALLY when I didn’t have internet at home yet!) I hate to be so reliant on technology, but it sure does help to have communication with home peeps!

I got back to my house and was overwhelmed at the amount of beautiful, brand new furniture that was being brought into “MY HOUSE” - WOW! The guys were very friendly...borderline too friendly I would say...they asked some questions, commented about my name...and made some odd remark about the size of my house... “this is a big house for you...I could come live here and your rent would be SUPER cheap!” (My rent is already very affordable, but thanks - haha) I explained that I have a roommate coming soon (THANKFULLY!). They brought in a super comfy new bed, dresser/mirror, standup dresser/chest thingie, couch, chair, coffee table, end tables, dining room table and four chairs - plus Kathleen’s room is furnished too! (Have I mentioned that my wonderful sister-friend from North Bay is coming here in a week or two?!)

I was overwhelmed at the idea of taking all of this stuff out of boxes and putting it together...so I made a comment (a truthful statement, but searching for help in all honesty) - “Oh boy, I think I’m going to sleep on my couch tonight” - implying that I had a lot of other things to do and did NOT want to fight with setting up a double bed on my own. INSTANTLY, they offered to put it together for me...I gave them water and thanked them very much - saying they really didn’t have to but I’d appreciate it very much. Around here, when you’re alone - I suppose depending on people is all part of the learning experience? They were getting paid overtime, so they really didn’t seem to mind. :)

Two of the girls that visited on my first evening in Patuanak came over again while the guys were setting up, and two other girls stopped in as well. I was happy to see familiar faces and they are just SO cute, it’s hard to turn them away! We sat in my livingroom and they wanted some trailmix, so I didn’t mind sharing. (I am able to say no and I have said no to them a lot more lately, mind you.) The kitchen was quickly filling up with cardboard and garbage, so I decided I might aswell put the girls to work - they seemed to have a blast hauling the mess from my kitchen and into the furniture truck.

After the furniture was in the house and the guys were gone, I gently asked the girls to leave and explained that it would be more ideal to visit once I’m set up and into the routine of school life. I have a lot to get done in preparation...and I think I am in great need of some down time!

Shortly after the furniture arrived, a nice lady and dude who work at the school brought over some brand new lamps to add to the collection - WOW! I was thankful for the lamps at this time especially because some of the ceiling lights in my kitchen weren’t working.

One of the visitors, (the one who has stopped in mostly everyday since I’ve been here) - she asked... “Do you like this house? Is it too big for you? What are you going to do when you start teaching, is it going to be work or fun?” I told her that I DO like this house and I’ll have a roommate living with me, so it won’t seem as big...and I am comfortable here. I explained that I’m not entirely sure what my class will do on the first day, but hopefully we’ll have some fun while we’re doing some work! The girls asked when they could come back...and I explained that I wanted to get more settled in my house... so how about 7?

After the craziness of that first full day started to die down, I was feeling a little off - a little homesick and the reality was sinking in deeper. I decided to head back to the ‘temporary house’ where Mom & I had slept the night before - they have internet there. I drove over and chatted with Chester and talked to a few friends online. I teared up a little bit (mostly from relief) when I was able to connect with some loved ones. I went home to setup more of my house, tidy/organize, unpack. Sure enough, the girls came back to my house at 7pm and it was time for me to try and make something for supper...I was excited to use my stove for the first time - until I realized that it doesn’t heat up! The girl visiting me actually asked me if my soup was even warming up. I was a little disappointed but the temperature of food never seems to bother me, so I had some cold mushroom soup for my first full day here. Awesome. My new friends wanted me to drive them around Patuanak, so they could give me a tour. I wasn’t comfortable with this idea and tried to explain that to them...to which one replied “People aren’t mean here.” I got a little defensive and said “well, I don’t think I’m mean, but I didn’t know that was allowed!” And of course, she had a quick response: “you don’t know much, do you?”