My suitcase has officially moved and I'll be a few days behind it. I'm moving into Aimey's house for the month of June. After that, I'll be staying here, there and everywhere! Aimey lives in Airdrie (a suburb of Calgary) and while it isn't central and I swore I would never live in a suburb (Emily told me tonight that in our thirties we should be allowed to say "but I can change my mind"), there won't be the colourful characters that inner city living brings. Well, if I do see a man peeing in the parking lot at her house, I may take that back! This week has been all about packing and lists and phone calls and organizing myself. I'm exhausted but enjoying the process.
Thankfully, my work has been much less stressful because my students are working on a project all week (intentionally I might add) and are really engaged so I have no worries such as "is this really a learning opportunity?" They have formed a political party and are elected to government. They are now charged with the task of eliminating a 2.2 billion dollar deficit and justifying their positions. Below are actual quotes from actual junior high students:
- "Oh, wow! We really are on the left. We are socialists!"
- "You can't cut that social program. My grandma needs it."
- "We need to give businesses subsidies because they will end up paying taxes too."
- "There is so much waste in education"
- "Lets cut out the military completely. We have the USA to protect us anyway"
- "Ms. MacEachern, did you get a new hair straightener?" (Junior high girls are so astute)
So there you have it folks! Apparently my students are learning something and if they are not, at least they think I have great hair! :)
Aimey are now thinking about going to Bolivia as part of our South America trip. It looks as though we'll stick to the southern jungle so that we can make our way there. Deanna has gone and really liked it. All it means is cutting out a northern Amazon trip to the jungle. We'll see the jungle either way. Plus, Aimey really wants to bike down the World's Most Dangerous Road. I'm not convinced I'll do it. It's not the bike ride that makes me nervous but the drive to get there. I remember back to Iceland, driving along the fjords in the back of the Red Wagon praying that I wouldn't die from driving off a cliff into the Denmark Strait. I usually blessed myself as I got in the van and prayed to St. Guilio that I would make it home from Iceland. (Guilio being our driver - I don't know if there really is a St. Guilio....) Well, I did make it back from Iceland (my mantra for my trip was "What's the absolute worse thing that can happen?") and I have a few pictures to show for it!
Those cliffs in Iceland really are dangerous.
Our trusty van and truck that I thought would wind up in the ocean.
If you don't manage to fall off a cliff, the views are spectacular.
And on those cliffs are these cute little puffins! (So cute, Icelanders eat them with blueberry sauce)
hi anna, maybe you should keep on going praying to St. Guilio ... it helped in Iceland so I'm sure it will help in South America and later in Africa, too. :- )
ReplyDeleteTake care, Juli