Orientation & First Weekend

Day 8: Friday August 17, 2012

Sarah & Josh Fessl’s Wedding Day!

After a good Thursday, I had somewhat high expectations for the things to come on Friday. We had orientation at the school, starting at 8:30, and I was a little bit nervous...but we arrived and had a SUPER delicious breakfast - crepes, bacon, eggs, hashbrowns and so much more. I'm learning VERY quickly that they eat A LOT and they eat well around here! A lot of staff that I hadn’t met yet were introducing themselves and everyone was just very casual and friendly. Another huge and unexpected blessing: they say grace before every meal/meeting (apparently) - so an elder said grace in DENE (their language) - I had NO clue what he was praying, but it was so beautiful, I almost cried. After breakfast in the home ec. room, we headed to an english classroom and I received my school set of keys! That was pretty cool. Orientation started off with some introductions of the staff, new teachers, Chief and council (they each had a little speech), we were given our manuals and a bunch of important information. 

I found out that we have a ‘roadtrip’ to Meadow Lake in a couple of weeks for some orientation meetings. I guess we’ll be staying there overnight and I’m bunking with a teacher who’s getting married at the end of the month! She’s the volleyball coach and I’m likely going to help her out with the teams this year. We were supposed to head to the office to discuss sleeping arrangements, I got there a bit after most of the others and the VP told me “Sorry Marsena, you weren’t here right away so we’ve put you with 3 male teachers.” HAH. Ya right. I’m not picky about who I stay with, but it will NOT be dude staff!

After the more formal portion of the meeting, last year’s Grade 2 teacher gave me a bunch of files, plans and showed me the helpful set of math books, etc. It was reassuring to be able to talk with someone who went through basically the same thing last year. It was his first year of teaching, too. It was really nice of him and eased my mind A LOT, but I still have a lot of planning and figuring out to do..

We finished up at the school early afternoon and we went back to the beach with our plates for supper! Chester, Mr. B and I were hanging out with the kids on the beach, it was such a sweet time. I was chatting with some girls and teaching them a couple of words in french as one girl braided my hair. During our meal, two nice elders welcomed us and told us some neat stories. 

That night, I was settled in my home, on the phone with Jord and Mom, when I hear a knock at my door around 9:30. It’s getting to the point when I can tell when students are at my door - they have a small knock and it’s fairly evident. This knock was different. I was a little bit nervous, but I opened the door to two friendly RCMP officers. It caught me off guard, but they clearly aren’t threatening in anyway! They apparently had seen my Ontario license plate (and likely heard that a new teacher moved in) and I think they just wanted to meet me and say hello? They were posted here and one has been here for about a year, the other only two months. Neither of them are from Saskatchewan and one has a girlfriend that I should apparently be friends with! It was nice to get a warm welcome from them, but also a little strange. They assured me it’s a fairly safe neighbourhood and a couple of the RCMP guys live right across the road, so that was also comforting to know. They still lock their door at night and suggested I do the same (I already was). I basically kicked them out though, since I was still on the phone with my family and they were really just small-talking, they didn’t have a huge purpose in coming over. I was happy that happened!

It seems that the teachers often carpool into town to get groceries and to spend time together. I’m looking forward to learning more about this community as time goes on. 

Day 9: Saturday August 18, 2012

Okay. This is ODD for me - in fact, I can't think of another time when I experienced this - but I'm fairly certain I had NO face to face human contact on this day! It was nice though. It was my first Saturday in Patuanak and I didn't feel the need to be with people. I slept in and was happy to do so (I don't think I slept past 10)...It was a VERY hot day and I got some cleaning, unpacking and organizing done in my house. (It's changed slightly since then, but I'll attach some pictures from that time anyhow.) 

I decided to checkout the trail behind my house, I was excited to see how close the water was - but as I started to head off, my bear-fear kicked in a little bit, so I grabbed some RAID bug spray...I'm sure that it wouldn't have actually saved my life, but in theory - I was armed and ready to go. I am actually VERY close to water, and I walked down a cute little trail, reminding me a lot of my childhood...there was a cute red boat down at the water's edge and I could look out at the Churchill river and see pelicans and, well..BEAUTY! I didn't end up reading down there (bear-fear still in place), but I ate a few blueberries (bear bait, I know...duh), took a few pictures (embarrassing self-taken photos of course) and then I headed back home and read on my porch for awhile. 

I don't think that I 
accomplished anything for 
school on this day, but it 
was nice to relax and 
enjoy my new home.

Day  10:  Sunday August 19, 2012

Hmm, so much for church! I was really looking forward to going and meeting with other believers...I woke up pretty early, had a lovely Skype date with Maura (IN FINLAND!), got all ready and walked there (beautiful day by the way) ... and nobody was around...went into this rustic old cobwebby building (or, I opened the door) and realized it hadn't been opened in ages....so then I looked over and saw this other building that's partially open, but covered with a  roof...and looked in and there are several pews, and all the Catholic 'decor' setup...so I figured that was it...went in and nobody was there! It was nearing 10:30 so I began to assume everyone was doing church at the beach - would have been neat to have gone to that, but I was walking and wasn't going to walk home to get my vehicle and show up late...next weekend hopefully! 

the trail to school

Instead, I decided it'd be a nice time and opportunity to tour the town...so I walked to the school and learned I'm just a comfortable 15 minute walk from the school, and between 5 and 10 minutes away from the church & the Northern Store! awesome!

After getting home from my little walk, I finally felt TIRED, so I napped, read the ERFN Personnel management manual, and planned/organized for a little while that afternoon!

Later that evening, I went to Chester’s to cook supper for us! I didn't have a working stove, and he hadn't cooked very much before this, so it worked out quite nicely. 

I guess that's it for my first weekend in the Patch!

Thankful for all of the loving comments and so much encouragement from my home peeps!