Content

Lately

Baby Caitlin

I went skiing with my school

We went to Calgary Olympic Park. It's nice to have a ski "hill" right in Calgary. I had to wear a helmet, just like the kids....isn't it RAD!?

Banff!

Another cutie pie!

Kathy and Kevin (the people I live with) had a baby girl last Monday! Her name is Caitlin and she is a tiny little princess. Here I am holding her and my nephew, Cobin. It's so nice to have a little girl to buy for!

Little angels

For the next month I will teaching full time instead of 80%. My school has some money to do this for a few of the teachers who are not full time, but not enough money to do it for more than a month.

So guess what I'm teaching now?

Let's recap what I already teach:

• Grade 9 Social Studies
• Grade 9 Language Arts
• Grade 9 Homeroom
• Grade 5 Computers
• Grade 8 Foods

Now add to that, for the next month:

• Grade 1,2,3,4 P.E.

My school is right next door to an elementary school, in fact we are considered one school (saves money on administration). So I will now be teaching elementary P.E. for a month. This should be no problem, I am supposed to be an elementary teacher right? Well....I forgot how bloody small and delicate they are! Grade one students can barely run around the gym without falling down and bursting into tears!

They're cute though.

On a side note, during computers class today one of my grade 5 students asked the following:

"Miss. Hunt, is it OK if I watch the video of Saddam being hanged?"

Thank god for internet filters!

School's Out!!!

Today was the last day of school and the little darlings were let go at noon!!! Two weeks off...sweet relief! I've been in grade 9 now for a little over a month and a half and I really like it. Not being full time is nice, because I have extra time to do my prep work. I'm not subbing as much as I would like, but that's ok. I do miss the full time pay cheque though!

I'm spending Christmas across town with my sister and her family. I've bought so much stuff for my nephews I can't even remember it all! Shopping is my addiction, I admit I need help!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope Santa is good to you!
Lots and lots of love to everyone in Japan, I miss you all like crazy!

Opening up the video vault

It's Just a Massage...


Dance Lena Dance!


Brooke's New Ride


Karaoke Fun


Leif's Secret Life

Look at the blanket and hat I made!

-24 outside, but warm and cozy inside

For those who are curious about such things...

I just checked my bank account and noticed quite a nice improvement! My pension refund (minus the 20% tax that I will be getting later) was deposited on Nov. 15th. I sent my paperwork from Canada on Aug. 8th. So that means it took just over 3 months to be processed and deposited. Not very speedy eh?

I'm posting here because I know there are people interesting in how long the process takes. If anyone wants to know exactly how much you get after three years you can send me an email.

Cobin approves of his sushi blankie

What were you like in grade 9?

So my job teaching grade 6 finished yesterday. Luckily for me, I was offered another job yesterday, at the same school! I will now be teaching grade 9 humanities (social studies and language arts). Apparently the grade nines at this school are "tough" so I'm a little scared. At least I know how the school runs, and all the routines and rules. I also get to teach a few "options" which are like the fun classes. I may teach P.E., computers, or fashion. This job is until the end of the school year and is a .8 contract. That just means that it's 80% of a full time job. They have made my schedule so that I will have at least 3 full afternoons that I can substitute teach (hopefully at the same school). So I may actually be working full time if I get enough sub jobs. I start on Nov. 13th. Wish me luck!

Do you remember how you were in grade 9?

Hmmmm.....yeah...

Should be interesting!

I'm an auntie again!

My sister had her baby on Nov. 2nd. His name is Cobin and he was born by emergency c-section. He had turned around and was facing the wrong way. Both mom and babe are doing fine and went home the next day. What a difference from Japanese hospitals ne?

He is tiny (7 pounds 6 oz) and has the softest little head.

So it's cold these days, -18 today with the wind chill

These pictures are from the weekend, when it wasn't quite as cold.

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, I've just been busy.

I really like my job these days, and now I only have a week left! Isn't that always how it works? Just when you become comfortable with things, they change. Oh well, there are lots of jobs out there. I was offered another job at the same school but I turned it down because I didn't feel confident about teaching the grades and subjects. I am all set up to go on the substitute teaching list. So I will try that for a while.

A few weeks ago I threw a baby shower for my sister. Then last weekend my little roommate Cameron turned 2. He had a pirate themed birthday brunch.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Nearly finished week 4

Random Observations Lately:

• Life is much better when you are not getting sick everyday.
• Teaching is actually a pretty great job (when #1 is happening).
• Holy taxes Batman! I got paid today, or should I say, I was damn near raped by the Alberta government.
• Paying into 2 seperate pension plans, and knowing that you won't see any of that money for like 50 billion years REALLY sucks.
• Cell phones in Canada suck asssssssss.
• My car rocks, but is very dirty, and it's pointless to wash it.
• My next door neighbour happens to work at my school. He told me about the short cut to school. Now I don't have to drive the Deerfoot Death Trail during morning rush hour traffic.
• My sister is due in a month!!!
• My roommates have just purchased two Welsh terriers, they are Copper and Duster. I will post a picture soon.
• I am all caught up on my marking! It only took 3 weeks!
• I saw the movie "Invincible" on the weekend. I guess it would have been really inspiring if I actually liked football, but Mark Whalberg was nice to look at.
• Gas is super cheap here, like 82 cents a liter. It was $1.20 in Powell River in Aug.
• If I hear Fergie's "London" one more time, I swear I'm going to go insane.
• The woman who teaches next to me was sick yesterday. A substitute teacher could not be found!! There are supposed to be a few hundred subs on the list but there are so many jobs that the Calgary board of ed. can't hire enough subs. It's only Sept. (teachers hardly miss days in Sept.) and already it's a problem.
• I had a student tell me she is really going to miss me when I leave. I got a little misty eyed.

The Joy of Being 2 1/2