Back to civilization!(?)

It is now Sunday and I  am back in Abbotsford.  Yesterday I thought, "Well here I am heading back to civilizaton!"  but as I stood on the dock surrounded by all the people who had come down to say goodbye at 8:30 on a Saturday morning I began to question that thought.  They all helped pack my things on the boat as we listened to an eagle crying out from the trees on the mountain.  Esperanza may not have all the amenities that can be found in Abbotsford - I can't just jump in my car and pop down to the stores, or go to a movie or a concert in Vancouver - I can't even watch video clips on my computer and there are times when there is no power - but it is a loving community where people greet each other as they walk past each other.  It is a place where it rains a whole lot more than most other places but people don't complain - they are just glad that they will have power.  People are willing to help out and share what they have.  I am glad to be back but I hope I will remember that civilization should have a lot more to do with being civil - kind and respectful to each other, than it has to do with fast internet access, good roads, cars, TV, stores and malls.  
It will probably take me a while to really process the past 6 weeks.  Thank you for following along on my adventure.  This will be my last blog - unless I decide to spend another 6 weeks there!!  I am really glad to be home and am looking forward to seeing people again but there is part of me that is missing it already!  It is a beautiful place.  If you get the opportunity to visit a remote place on the west coast of Vancouver Island, then take it.  It is an incredible part of God's creation.
Thanks again for following along.  God bless you.
Janet

Week 6

Well here I am at the beginning of week 6.  The lessons are planned for Monday and after that there are only 2 more days to plan lessons for.  Thursday we will do activities and Friday is Graduation.  It has been quite an experience and the last week has just flown by.  We had a pretty good week in the class room.  Friday night was warm and dry and so instead of having a games evening we lit a fire in the campfire area and sang songs.

My Esperanza shoes - nothing fancy!


 Saturday was a dry day and many people headed into Tahsis.  I spent the morning in the classroom and then made some muffins.  A couple of us headed off for a walk in the afternoon and found some beautiful and peaceful spots by the water.  Whisper, one of the dogs, cam with us which is a good thing because she serves as an early warning system for cougars and bears.  While we were sitting on a dock she suddenly ran closer to the mountain and started barking loudly.  We don't know what she was barking at but it is good to know that if there were an amimal there, she scared it away. 


Whisper surveying her kingdom!


This picutre was taken on the way back from our walk and from her vantage point Whisper is looking out over Esperanza. 
Saturday evening was movie night but since the movie was a cartoon about people in the future fighting giant insects we decided there had to be a better alternative.  All we could come up with was a walk up to the compost area to empty our containers.  We stopped off at the dining hall and checked the walk in cooler to take any veggies that were past their "use by date",  We also found an open container of week old pancakes that now resembled little frisbees.  These are counted as "slop" and get thrown off the dock and throwing slop instantly draws a huge crowd of large seagulls.  So a new sport was born "Seagull Frisbee".  The rules are to throw your frisbee and try to hit a seagull with it.  We had about 10 each to throw and the final score was 0-0.  Over time can't happen for a week because it would require us to make more pancakes and let them get as hard!  We laughed at the gulls as they were trying to fly with the pancakes in their beaks or were fighting over them in the water.  It is amazing what fun you can have when there is no TV and no where else to go.  
Today was wet again but we had a good time in our service this morning.   This evening several young people who were visiting decided to jump of the dock even though it was cold and raining at the time.  I've seen this done on a hot summer's evening but today we were shivering just standing and watching.  I'm glad no one wanted me to try.
I'll probably do one more blog before I leave.  Thank you for following along.  I have really appreciated your interest and prayers.
Janet

A special treat!

It finally stopped raining late Saturday evening and Sunday was dry but overcast.  I helped cook the breakfast along with the dads and other singles on staff.  By 9:30 we were ready to serve pancakes, sausages, bacon and hasbrowns and had even managed to pick flowers for the tables.  The breakfast went over well and I think the mom's enjoyed it.  When the clearing up was done it was time for church.  My students sang a song in the service and gave their mothers the gifts they had made.  During a sharing time one of the guests, the mother of two of the ladies in the program, asked us to pray that she would get home OK.  She was getting the boat from Esperanza to Zeballus and hitch hiking from there to Kyuquot, a small village further north.  I was talking to her afterwards and found out that there would only be 3 or 4 people on the boat and so 2 of us who had never been to Zeballus asked if we could go along for the ride.

  About 2:30 we headed out and it was nice enough that we coudl sit outside at the back of the boat.  As we were nearing the village our driver (or should that be skipper?) slowed the boat right down because there was a sea otter close by.  We watched him for about 5 minutes as he played in the water, and we could even see him swimming under the water.  Once when he came up and rolled on his back he rubbed his face and whiskers with his paws - lookd like he was washing his face.  It was wonderful to see that so close up.  We eventually started moving again and were soon at the dock. 

  Zeballus ia a small village - used to be a gold mining town - but now there are only a few houses.  We got off the boat and I thought how is this lady going to hitch hike in a place like this - there was no traffic.  All of a sudden a pick up truck came off the reserve - it was a friend of hers and he was going part way to meet up with someone who was going to her village - so our prayers were answered.

  On the way back to Esperanza the boat stopped twice more - a bear on the beach and a large eagle in a tree.  What an incredible treat to have seen so much on one afternoon.

  Monday was a beautiful warm sunny day but now we are back into heavy rain that is supposed to last for days.  Well we'll have to see.

  It doesn't seem possible that we are in the middle of week 5.  Time seems to be speeding up and it won't be long until I am back.  Sorry the pictures are not in the right places but I just don't seem to be able to get them to do what I want tonight!

Thanks for the interest, comments, emails and prayers.

Janet

A very wet Saturday

Yesterday we had a great time in school. We started the day by baking cookies.  I had been warned that this could be chaotic but it went really well.  I had tables set up in the dining hall and the kids were working in groups of 2 or 3 with and adult so there wasn't much room for problems.  We were making chocolate chip cookies so when they measured out the 3/4 cup they needed for the recipe I gave them a small bowl with some extra chocolate chips that were for eating.  This kept them happy and the choclate chip cookies had enough chips in them.  They all turned out really well.  After they finished putting them on the cookie sheets they went into the gym to play with the helpers and I did the dishes.  Those of you who know the kitchen at Esperanza know that they have a really big deep sink and I can hardly reach the bottom of it so there was no point asking a 6 year old to help...he could have had a bath in the sink!!  After a break we set up a video projector and they watched the movie Shiloh.  They were so quiet and attentive and half way through I was able to give them one of their cookies to eat.  The cookies were divided up, put into ziplock bags and labelled and then the children went and delivered them to all the mothers at Esperanza.  The children thanked us for giving them a such a fun day in school.  I ceratinly enjoyed it and also the break from having to think of lessons for them to work on. 

Today most of the families have gone into Tahsis to the swimming pool so it is really quiet here.  The only sound I hear is the rain pouring on the roof and the stream running by.  At least we will have free power for a while.

Those of you from New Life who are coming this summer might like to see a picture of part of the roof that we will be replacing and along side it is the roof of guest house that we replaced 3 years ago.  I think you will be able to tell which is which!!

 

Well I am now into my last 2 weeks.  We only have about 8 school days.  The last Friday is gradaution for the parents and the day before we have some special events in school. 

I am wondering how I will adjust to the noise and hustle and bustle of life back in Abbotsford.  Thanks again for following along with my adventures.  I appreciate all the interest, comments, emails and prayers.

Janet

Commercial Prawn Fishing Season opens tomorrow!

Wow - life is sure different here.  The kids were watching a big commercial fishing boat that is tied up to the Esperanza dock ready to go out fishing tomorrow.  And to think that all you other people were probably oblivious of this important date on the calendar!  We are also experiencing cheap electricity at the moment, in other words, it's raining.  It is hard to find anything that is really new this week but it is a good week.  The students have settled down and we are doing more work.  On Monday they spent the last part of the class sewing along the edge of some hadmade paper to make pouches in which we could put things for their mothers for Mother's Day, this coming Sunday.  It was great to see them all intent on doing a good job and they got so engrossed that you could have heard a pin drop.  Since then they have been adding little notes to the envelopes saying "I love you because ...." or "Thank you for ....." or "I remember when .....".  Tomorrow we are going to work on a song to sing with them in the church service on Sunday.  They don't know it yet but Friday will be a special day when we bake cookies to give to their Moms and then we are going to watch the video "Shiloh", since we have just finished reading the book.  For those who don't know its the story of a little boy and a dog he adopts to prevent it from being mistreated by its owner.  I think I benefit more from the schedule for Friday than anyone else because not only do I get to bake and watch a movie, but also I don't have to prepare all the lessons the afternoon before!!
I hope that next time I'll have some more pictures and some exciting news of some kind to give you.  Thanks for reading and following my blog and praying.  It means a lot.  Have a good Mother's day weekend (unless you are in England because your's has long gone), but have a good weekend anyway.
Janet

A weekend of surprises

Saturday I went to town!!  Some of us decided to go into Tahsis for a change.  Now you have to have been at Esperanza for about 3 weeks before you think that Tahsis is a "town".  When we arrived we were told that the place to go was the town dump - that's because there are often bears there.  So we jumped into 2 cars, mine and another and I actually got to drive!! This is quite something after 3 weeks with no traffice at all.  The drive was fun but there were no bears - so we went to the coffee shop and had coffee and some snacks and then headed to the town store.  There are 2 stores in town, a grocery/liquor store and a hardware store.  Tahsis also has a swimming pool - closed becanse of a broken heater, a gym - closed because it was set up for the election and a bowling lane - we just didn't go there.  We got to town about 11am and by 1pm were more than ready to head back but it was a fun change of scenery.  On the way back an otter came right by the boat, floating on its back and looking at us. 
So once I was back I finished working on lesson prep and then at 6pm a number of us were invited to Guest House to watch the hockey game.  All the other computers and the phones were disconnected (except for an emergency line), and we were able to watch almost the whole game even though it was a bit fuzzy and almost impossible to see the puck!  Towards the end we were wondering if the fuzziness was our internet connection or whether the players were beginning to experience it too!!  After about 5 big bowls of popcorn (1 per period) we all sadly returned to our own homes.  (Guest House is the house that New Life has renovated over the past 3 years and so it was really great to enjoy time there).  It was a good evening to spend together, mostly as staff although others did drop in at times. 
Sunday we had a good service in the morning.  Again quite informal with people sharing.  In the afternoon I was invited to join the families of my students and go out to the falls just along the coast.   A fire was lit on the beach and we had a wiener roast.  It was rather cold but the kids had fun climbing down to the pool at the bottom of the water fall.  This is where Epseranza has conducted baptisms in the past since people prefer the fresh water to the salty ocean.  I think today frigid might be a more fitting description than fresh!! It was fun to be out with the families and I think we all enjoyed it. 

Well we are ready to start our 4th week.  I am hoping that we have a good time in the classroom.  Thanks again for your prayers and your interest.

Janet



The beach at the falls - we came in a bigger boat
only 3 people came in the cayaks.



Free fire wood - pulled out of the ocean



Ups and downs

The seaonsoned staff members here say that the third week is often the toughest and I think it could be true of this session too - well at least I hope it is.  Some of the reasons are: the novelty has worn off, the parents are getting into dealing with issues that they don't want to face, some want to go home.  It is also true that the children who have parents who have recently given up alcohol or drugs would in some ways prefer the way it was, because no one used to tell them what to do, no one made them go to school and now the parent is stepping up to the plate and the kid is resisting.  So we have had our ups and downs in the classroom this week.  It has been much like the weather wet, cold, dry, sunny all within a short space of time.  This evening the whole atmosphere seems  calm.  We looked out at the water and it was just like glass and the evening air was clear and bright.  I hope that also holds true for the way people are feeling. 

We had a pot luck supper together this evening and as usual it was a good time together.  We are planning a nature hunt tomorrow for the last part of the morning and so I hope the weather is good.  We finally received some more work for our grade 8 student for whom we have only had Math to this point (I have to find something for him in other areas).  Guess what we got!!  His 2nd langauge work - in his Native language!  I'm not sure I'll be of much help there.  Of course there are others who can help but some of the sounds are very difficult, if not impossible, for me to make. 

On Saturday evening we are all going to refrain from using our computers and the phones will be disconnected for a while and if we get a good connection we may be able to watch the hockey game!! If we can't watch it then we can listen to it live.  They didn't suggest doing the same for the Royal wedding but I guess we have to get our priorities right eh!

Well I think that's about all for now so I'll say thanks for your prayers and your continuing interest.  I will try to find some new news for next time.  I thought you might like to see our classroom.
Janet.

 

Easter at Esperanza

 Easter weekend was a special time.  We were blessed at the start of the weekend with wonderful weather.  Saturday turned out to be quite busy day as I did school work all morning and was able to get almost all the lessons planned for Monday.  In the afternoon it was warm enough that I sat out on the deck and peeled a bunch of carrots for the stuffing and then grated them and chopped bread onions and celery to make two huge trays of stuffing.  Two of the ladies came over to my house and we laid out egg trays on our dining room table and filled 13 doz plastic eggs with candy.  The result was very colourful.  These eggs were to be hidden the next day. 

We awoke Easter day to much needed rain, but really would have rather had the sun of the previous day.  We had about 40 visitors coming in from just up the coast and the room where we usually have church was not big enough and so we were hoping to have had it outside but ended up in the gym.  People really joined in the singing and then we had a snack followed by the sermon, which was my students helping to tell the Easter story using the Resurrection Eggs. (for those of you who don't know these are plastic eggs that contain an object relating to the week before Easter, a donkey, money, a cup,  a whip, etc).  We had opened 11 in school and they all had to explain they're object.  The last egg was to be opened in church.  We finished all 11 and then sang a few verses of Were You There When They Crucified My Lord.  Before the last verse we opened the final egg, only to find it was empty!  We talked about the empty tomb and sang the last verse, Were you there when He rose up from the dead.  It was a good time of worship together and then many of the first nation people gave testimonies.  It was no longer raining and so the kids went outside for the egg hunt and we continued working on the meal.  I carved 2 turkeys of the 3 we had.  We also had ham and a very large tuna and loads of other food.  About 90 of us sat down to eat.  It was quite a day. 

We had torrential rain overnight and so hopefully that should help us get water power again.

A view from the classroom window

We have now started out 3rd week in school.  Several kids were sick today and so we are hoping they will be back tomorrow.  We have an additional teacher assistant who is a friend of one of the staff.  She cannot be awarded her degree till she has finished Math 12 and needs to spend about 3 hours a day working on it.  I spend about that much time in the classrooom doing lesson prep and so she is going to help in the classroom in the morning and work on her Math in the afternoon and I can help her if she needs it and otherwise work on the lessons.  A great solution all round.   Well I need to get ready for bed and so I'll say goodnight.  I wish you all a great week ahead.

Thanks for you interest and you prayers.  Janet

Good Friday

I hope you all had a good Good Friday and were able to get together and worship on this special day.  Because the people are here for a set 6 week course and the counselling has to go on, so does school.  The children who live here year round and go into Tahsis by boat every day for school, of course didn't have school and this made it hard to keep out students on task particularly since it was so beautiful and sunny outside.  We fininshed in the classroom early and went out for some "PE"!  We managed to attract the students who had a day off who came to join in as well.  In the afternoon all the families and the rest of us decorated eggs.  I was also able to get some things done for the Easter service in which my students are telling the Easter story. 

We badly need rain so that the electricity can be produced from the water coming down the mountain.  We have had several power outages in the past few days, only lasting a short while.  However the sudden fluctuations in power have been enough to blow the circuit board on the new washing machine in our house and so we now have to walk across the field to the old wash-house to do laundry.  Life here is certainly different to what I have experienced in the past - from London to Abbotsford to Esperanza.  Will my next move make me a hermit?? 

I hope that you all have a wonderful Easter Sunday.  We are expecting visitors to come in and we are cooking a big meal - a sort of organized pot-luck.  I am making loads of stuffing from the left over frozen hotdog buns!  I'm glad I brought along poultry seasoning!  Anyway - back to Easter - may you all be blessed as you celebrate the wonder of the empty tomb and the risen Lord.

The Second Week of School

After a good weekend school is again keeping me busy.  We now have some work, from their regular schools, for all the students but have gone through a lot of it already and need more.  Communication with the schools seems to be slow.  The closest school, in Tahsis, is prepared to lend us books.  None of our students go there.  The books they lend us are no longer used at their school - which means that they are rather ancient and not used by any school anymore, but they are better than nothing.  The preparation takes much longer than the school day.  I can't believe how it easy to stay busy so much of the day and evening when I am only teaching from 9:00 til 12:00. 

It has been great to have sunshine for the last few days.  The house in the picture is the one I am staying in and we saw a bear on the rock behind it one evening.  The other view will remind some of you of this lovely place.

 

I will try to write again before Easter.  We are inviting people from up and down the coast to join us for Easter Day and are having a big meal. I will be working on that.

Hope all is well for you. 

Have a blessed Easter.  Janet

This school is for the birds!!

Hi there
This week has been very wet and very cold and on Thursday it snowed but the snow didn't settle although we had several times when there were huge flakes coming down thick and fast.  The students didn't even want to stay outside and that is unusual - they don't even seem to notice the cold and wet and will run around with a t-shirt on while I'm shivering under several layers and a rain jacket.  A few of them did run home at recess and we rang the school bell and waited for them to appear.  When we looked out to see if the last one was coming we discovered we had a new student heading up to the school room!

So as you can see the rooster made its way all the way up the stairs and even stuck its nose into the classroom and probably would have come in if we hadn't shut the door!  It gave us all something to laugh about as we settled back to work.

Friday was a great day - it stopped raining and the sun came out and by the afternoon it was quite a bit warmer.  Friday afternoon is activity time and we had a scavanger hunt that took us all over Esperanza looking for letters.  We had a page with photos of things like part of the dock, a small foot bridge, a log pile, under the big bridge, a seat by the water etc.and so we had to find all the letters and unscramble them.  I was with two families who had not been to Esperanza before and so I was considered the expert in finding the items.  We had fun and found them all.   

Friday evenings are games and chumus nights.  Chumus is the name for sweet snacks.  We played several games including team pictionary with a twist - the person who could tell us the next item to draw kept hiding and so people were running all over trying to find her.  It was a good evening.

Today I spent the morning planning for Monday and some things for next week.  I'll finish that tomorrow.  I have two people coming for supper tonight so will have to go and get started on that soon.  I can't believe I haven't been anywhere but here for a week already.  I think I'll suffer culture shock when I return.

Thanks again for your interest and your prayers.

Janet

 

Getting into a routine

It continues to be cold and rainy here.  As you can see from the picture I took early this morning the snow is very low on the mountains across the inlet.  It did brighten up for a short time this afternoon but we just had another heavy shower.  However it is warm in the building where I stay and it eventually warms up in the schoolroom - we have two small fan heaters. 
Well I am getting to know my 10 students and two helpers.  The two youngest (K and Gr 1) usually have their own full time aides.  Their two older brothers, Grade 3 and 4 will work when you are with them but not much else gets done.  One student is usually in French immersion in grade 5 but she hasn't brought any work with her and the student in Grade 8 has brought very little.  However I think we are going to be able to make it work.  School is from 9:00 - 12:00 and then I go hame for lunch and come back and plan - that takes longer than the school day!  But it is absolutley essential that I have a detailed outline prepared for every student. 
I hope that it warms up here soon.  Everyone is saying that this is a much colder April than usual.  I hope that where you are you are able to enjoy the Spring flowers and blossoms.  I'll let you know who things progress here.
Thanks again for you prayers and your interest.
Janet

First Day of School

Well I should say it was only a half day.  After a general introduction with all the people at Esperanza I took my students to the classroom where they worked on an introductory exercise which told me about their families, interests etc.  I have 10 students and another may be coming.  The youngest is in Kindergarten and the oldest in Grade 8, 6 boys and 4 girls.  2 of the girls are children of staff and are usually homeschooled so they are used to working a bit more independently and have all their work laid out.  Most of the others have work but one girl in Grade 5 has none and the Grade 8 boy only got work from one teacher.  I work with the children in the morning and then in the afternoon work out their assignments for the next day.  Today took quite a while to get through it all.  I hope that I have assigned a suitable amount of work to keep them on task tomorrow.  We also take time to do some group activities.  I have two young guys helping me. 

The weather continues to be typical West Coast.  It is quite cold and we woke up to seeing fresh snow on the mountains of Nootkas Island, just across the inlet - a beautiful site.  Below is a picute taken on my drive here.

The road to Tahsis

Well I don't have any other news today - I can't tell you about heavy traffic on the way to work, or the price of gas, or the best buys in the stores this week.  The top news story at Esperanza, one of the roosters was killed and there will be good meat available!

Thanks for your interest and prayers.

Janet

The Weekend

I am not so sure that it is going to be as easy as I thought to do this blog!  Yesterday I couldn't get onto the internet again and today the power was out untul 5 minutes ago and I have only a few minutes before going to work. 
Saturday it rained and Sunday it RAINED and they tell me that we only had about 3" and they can have up to 10" in a day!!!  Despite that work got done around the site getting ready for the people.

On Sunday we had a service - First Nation Tradition is to serve food during the sermon/dicussion.  So, after the worship and children's talk, we sat in a circle and a plate of raisin bread followed by a plate of melon was handed round and then the service continued.  It was an interesting experience.

In the afternoon I worked in the kitchen with Lou, who I had met last summer and Lydia, from Abbotsford and we prepared supper for 50.  So during supper I was able to meet some of my students.  This morning at 9:30 we have an orientation meeting with everyone and then a short session in the classrooom. 

I will try to post some pictures in my next blog.  Thank you for your interest and prayers.

Janet 

Getting here and the first day

I’m here but I cannot connect to the internet – so I will get that sorted out tomorrow.  I am writing this in word and will copy it to my blog tomorrow.  What an incredibly beautiful day to travel here.  I was afraid that the road from Gold River to Tahsis would be difficult and I was scared I might get a flat tire.  Well I got over that fear rather quickly – as I went back to my car on the ferry I noticed that the front tire was down considerably.  A few years ago I evaluated a small school that was near the ferry on my way out of Nanaimo and I knew there was a Cal Tire on the corner – so I headed there and got the tire fixed.  I didn’t worry about the road from Gold River – and I didn’t need to.  It had just been graded.  There was snow yesterday and the day before but the road was clear however everything else was fresh and white and so beautiful.  The boat came to Tahsis to meet me and all my things were taken to North Creek – the new building that a number of New Life people have worked on.  I have my own room and share the kitchen and living room.  I is all very comfortable.  I had supper with Paul and Lydia form Abbotsford – loads of connections with them.  I have been made to feel very much at home.  Tomorrow I will explore the school room.  However tonight it is time to sleep – which I should be able to do provided I can adjust to the extreme quiet!!  Thank you all for your prayers – I felt really safe as I traveled.

The first day went well and I spent time in the school room setting up for my 12 students.  I only get them for 3 hours a day and I have 2 helpers - so I think I should be able to cope!  The problem with the internet continued until later yesterday evening and now it seems to be fixed so I will be aboe to keep you all posted.  I have to go to a meeting with all the staff but wanted to get this off first.

I will try to include some pictures next time.