Quicktakes

If I understand from the blogging world I stalk, I can jot down a few things I want to mention without going into full-blown details... please let me know if I'm wrong.

1 - Arbre en arbre (literally 'tree-to-tree') on Saturday with parents, Paul and Florianne to celebrate Paul's birthday. The concept is basically that you get from one tree to the next doing all kinds of different challenges in the air. You have a harness and the game might consist of a shaky bridge (easy) or a weird combination of ropes and logs to walk on (hard). It was very fun, we all enjoyed and then had dinner and a yummy home-made chocolate cake for desert!

2 - Rugby on Sunday. Paul and I went to watch our friend Hector play rugby. We're very good friends because it was rainy and cold and we went anyway. Afterwards we hung out and caught up. We cherish our few friends in Montreal.

3 - First day at work on Monday = waking up at 6am, metro from 6:35 to 6:55, bus from 7:10 to 7:45. It's early, and it's FAR. Oh well. I drank coffee and read (I'm reading Wicked, which I recommend). The day was good. There was a general welcome meeting and then time to check out my new classroom and undo many many boxes full of goodies. The teacher I am replacing was there with her beautiful baby and graciously showed me where everything was and how she normally did things - I have a feeling I'll be emailing her often!

4 - A day-long meeting. Oh boy. Various topics came up such as whether or not children should play with snails and whether or not 'we' (teachers) should move the plastifier to the teacher's room. Both made for great discussion and debate, surprisingly. Coffee was not mentioned, which was a first for me at a start-of-the-year meeting, but they have a fancy-schmancy coffee machine and you have to pay for your coffee, so that settles the coffee issue quite quickly. A few Kindergarten teachers and lunchtime and afterschool aides saw my class list and said "oh - insert awkward smile - have fun". I have 29 students, and apparently a few of them have behavioural and or academic and learning difficulties. Oh well, I hope to make the best of it and make sure those little children reach their full potential and feel awesome! Just in case you are wondering, as a team we decided children should not play with snails and the plastifier should indeed be moved to the teacher's room.

There you have it! A quick update. I hope to post pictures soon so you can see what the apartment and classroom looks like!