week 1
It is hard to believe that this time last week I was sitting in the P.E. Trudeau airport at Dorval waiting for my flight.
The week has been a time of adjusting to time and altitude. It is very exhausting walking up the hill from the entrance to the Botanical Gardens which is really the entrance to Hebron School.
From Tuesday until Friday we were in orientation with the 9 IG's and the other new staff. This morning there was an assembly for all the staff and their children as well as the IG's. Following the break when the native staff joined the IG's took the staff children ages 4 - 11 for some Holiday Club activities. This was a combined VBS and game time. We had two sessions today and three more scheduled for Monday. Tomorrow, Sunday, we have only a session in the afternoon from 2 - 4 with the staff. The IG's are going out for Chinese food tomorrow night.
At lunch today was a "banana" leaf meal. Essentially the meal was served on the usual stainless steel plate and eaten with fingers as if on a banana leaf. The food is acceptable and there is plenty of it.
Yesterday, Friday, we walked from Lushington to the Selbourne campus of Hebron School. The majority of the girl's dorms are at Selbourne. We enjoyed Miss Lily's morning tea and Lunch. The food at Selbourne is of higher quality than at Lushington. These are the 2 dorm areas of the school. We walked both ways along side stinky canal. Guess why it is called "stinky" if you wish. The open sewers don't leave much to the imagination. There are many open market type booths along the road. For the most part we have ignored them and stayed healthy. There have been a few moments when the stomach has been slightly unsettled = really nothing serious to this point. At tea tonight the nurse, Alana, suggested that we not be overly careful because we will be sick at one point or another. Perhaps it is better to be sick now and not alter on.
The hardest adjustment is with the perpetual dampness. Everything is damp! The towel is dry from being in front of the heater at bedtime and is damp on waking in the morning. The sheets on the bed are damp and there is no warmth when one goes to bed. It seems almost impossible to get warm in bed. We can only shower 3 times per week. We have to go to the IG shower for men and let the water run until it gets warm. That can take quite some time if no one has recently used the shower. The water is by gravity flow from hot water tanks on the roof. If there is no sun, there is an electric water heater which can be turned on.
I have been assigned the 2 level 7 math classes. This means 5 period each per week. However, the time table reads as 2 double classes and one single class. Which means 2 periods of 80 minutes for math which is no picnic and one 40 minute period. The text book is dry. So if you have any math ideas please send them my way as there is little resource material.
That's it for now.
Bill
The week has been a time of adjusting to time and altitude. It is very exhausting walking up the hill from the entrance to the Botanical Gardens which is really the entrance to Hebron School.
From Tuesday until Friday we were in orientation with the 9 IG's and the other new staff. This morning there was an assembly for all the staff and their children as well as the IG's. Following the break when the native staff joined the IG's took the staff children ages 4 - 11 for some Holiday Club activities. This was a combined VBS and game time. We had two sessions today and three more scheduled for Monday. Tomorrow, Sunday, we have only a session in the afternoon from 2 - 4 with the staff. The IG's are going out for Chinese food tomorrow night.
At lunch today was a "banana" leaf meal. Essentially the meal was served on the usual stainless steel plate and eaten with fingers as if on a banana leaf. The food is acceptable and there is plenty of it.
Yesterday, Friday, we walked from Lushington to the Selbourne campus of Hebron School. The majority of the girl's dorms are at Selbourne. We enjoyed Miss Lily's morning tea and Lunch. The food at Selbourne is of higher quality than at Lushington. These are the 2 dorm areas of the school. We walked both ways along side stinky canal. Guess why it is called "stinky" if you wish. The open sewers don't leave much to the imagination. There are many open market type booths along the road. For the most part we have ignored them and stayed healthy. There have been a few moments when the stomach has been slightly unsettled = really nothing serious to this point. At tea tonight the nurse, Alana, suggested that we not be overly careful because we will be sick at one point or another. Perhaps it is better to be sick now and not alter on.
The hardest adjustment is with the perpetual dampness. Everything is damp! The towel is dry from being in front of the heater at bedtime and is damp on waking in the morning. The sheets on the bed are damp and there is no warmth when one goes to bed. It seems almost impossible to get warm in bed. We can only shower 3 times per week. We have to go to the IG shower for men and let the water run until it gets warm. That can take quite some time if no one has recently used the shower. The water is by gravity flow from hot water tanks on the roof. If there is no sun, there is an electric water heater which can be turned on.
I have been assigned the 2 level 7 math classes. This means 5 period each per week. However, the time table reads as 2 double classes and one single class. Which means 2 periods of 80 minutes for math which is no picnic and one 40 minute period. The text book is dry. So if you have any math ideas please send them my way as there is little resource material.
That's it for now.
Bill
posted by Bill at
9:42 AM
1 Comments:
Sounds like you are having a great time discovering your surroundings. Don't feel too bad about the humidity. It has been very hot and humid all week in Montreal -- the air conditioner has been going full blast all week!!!
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