Out With the Old, in With the New

I finally picked my TV up today. Of course, it arrived two weeks late ... and when I was on vacation.

It was quite an ordeal to pick it up. I had asked my coworkers for a boat ride over to the Sears counter on the next island over and they agreed. Unfortunately, they didn't want to go today because they thought the weather was bad. I was determined to get it though. So I took the seabus.

I'm not sure, but I think the seabus driver was flirting with me on the way there. Which worked to my advantage ... because I didn't quite think how big a 27 inch TV would be. I went to the Sears desk and they wheeled out my TV. It was mammoth! Just then I saw the sea bus driver walking by. So I gave him a come hither look and beckoned him over to help me. And he did! I thanked him profusely and he even offered to get me a free hot chocolate from the restaurant. It's amazing what a smile and the damsel in distress routine can get you.

My severely hung over co-worker help me on this side to load the TV from the seabus dock to her truck to my two-story walk up suite. I sent her on her way and managed to get the TV out of the box and on it's stand (my never used deep freeze that came with my furnished place).

The new TV is so much better than the old. It's big. I don't have to hit the new one with a hammer to make it work properly. And best of all, it has a remote! I never have to get off the couch again!

Stories from “Abroad”

Here’s a funny picture I got when I was coming back from the gym with A. I thought it was funny because what is an “ass pepper” anyway? I know, I know, it probably stands for assorted peppers, but it was still funny.

So I was looking forward to eating fast food because we don’t have it up here in the Small Town. My second day down, I met up with one of my friends from education school and we went to the mall for some retail therapy. Of course we had to have lunch so we headed to the food court. What I really wanted was a Quizno’s sub but the line up was so long and since I’m not use to standing in lines, I decided to go to New York Fries for some poutine. Ahh, finally fast food. I was practically drooling because it had been months since I chowed down on heart-stopping grease.

As I was coming to the table, I was balancing the tray on my hand in an odd way as I was sitting down BAM, I spilled the whole thing on the seat next to me. After I swore like a truck driver, I up-righted the container to be left with three edible fries (Sorry, no 3 second rule for me).



This might have been a sign for me that maybe I shouldn’t be eating junk food. Nah! the fries weren’t very good – I think New York Fries has changed their oil to something more “nutritious”. I decided this was actually a blessing (a waste of $5, true) since I now had room in my stomach for some other fast food delicacy. I then went to A&W and had a Mozza Burger. Mmmm, it was so tastey.

I managed to eat a lot on my vacation including McDonald’s, Subway, Tim Horton’s, various travel food (including a buffet on a boat) and several "real" restaurants.

In other news, I got offered another one year contract for next year to continue teaching up here. I'm going to accept it. I'm pretty happy about that. It's nice to know I'll have a job next year. I also did really well on my evaluation, so when I do leave here, I'll have a good record to show future employers. Of course, I requested to not be teaching Health and Career Education. I check the tentative schedule and I'm down for teaching it. Oh well.

I finally figured out what I'll do when teaching that class. I'm testing my method on my new group (my last group for the year, phew). Every Thursday and
Friday will be movie day. I have 6 movies all lined up.
Office Space - Career Education (the joys of working in a cubical)
Dazed and Confused - Bullying and drug abuse
Super Size Me - Nutrition
Fahrenheit 9-11 – Bullying and school dynamics
Dangerous Minds - School is a right. Take advantage of it!
Kids - (very controversial) AIDS and sexual promiscuity

My last group was royally pissed off when they learned this group got to watch movies every week!

The Big Get Away Part 4

So A finally got home from work, after calling to let me know he had to work late. That night we had dinner, that his mom made. That's right. His mom made dinner. His parents were pretty nice, they even bought me some soy yogurt since I don't really eat dairy. It was sweet of them.

We watched two more hockey games (I like hockey so it was good) and then watched a movie. During this time I tried to be more affectionate because I thought maybe he was a bit stand-offish with me because he may have thought I wasn't into him. So I held his hand and smiled at him lots and tried snuggling with him, etc. It was around midnight and we went to bed. And A didn't try anything. Grrr! Ok, something was totally up. There were other clues, like the working thing and he didn't say any of the nice things he said to me online. Plus, when we went to bed that night he was faced the other way of when he was on his back and I'd get close, he'd hold me but not face me. So I initiated "the talk".

I asked if he was into me and let him know there were signs that he wasn't. I kept going by saying that maybe he was a bit off because I didn't really initiate anything (from my not really "feeling it" off the bat). He replied by talking about pheromones. That's when I drowned him out. I heard him say he knew I was a sweet girl with a kind heart but he had a different opinion of what I'd be, blah,blah, blah.

I let him know that I was a little sad and that I wasn't trying to manipulate him or get anything from the following action. And then I starting crying, I'm gonna be honest (I'm smiling now so it's all good). I was sad that we both weren't what we thought each other would be. I was sad that I spend a month of excitement for such a let down. I was sad that I planned a vacation to see this guy instead of see my family and my kick-ass pregnant sister for this. Through my tears I explained that I wasn't mad at him or I didn't want him to feel bad, I just was sad. I then told him I wanted to leave the next day. He was ok with that. And he even held me for a while. Once I calmed down a bit I starting thinking about why I didn't wasn't compatible with him.

This is why I call him A and not by his real name. He has a few little "quirks" I haven't mentioned yet. First off, his hobby is farting, I swear to God. He was always farting ... and the second night I was there is was these really nasty smelly ones. And he thought it was funny. The last day I was there, actually, he kept trying to wrestle me to the ground to fart on my head. What was he, 12? No, he's 22.

The second quirk is that he was a picker. He'd pick his nose when he thought I was looking, though I'd see him out of the corner of my eye. I confronted him on this that night. He would also pick at his face, which made me sad because he is so handsome and I hate to see him get scars. He also bites his nails.

So my last day there I think was our best. Since I was leaving I think we both really loosened up. We play video games .. mostly hockey where he kicked my ass. It made him pretty giddy though because every time he scored, he grab me and kiss me on the check ... which was the most affectionate he was with me the whole time. But like I mentioned above, he tried some wrestling moves on me which I wasn't too happy about and he'd try to fart on my head.

He dropped me off at the bus station so I could head off into the sunset of my life (I ended up coming to visit my family). We hugged and said our good-byes and wished each other luck. Blah blah blah.

I have talked to him since online. It's funny now that I've met him how I can picture him and know his tone when he types and I can read between the lines. I'm curious if he will ever find the mature relationship his is looking for because he needs to do some serious growing up.

The Big Get Away Part 3

Warning: this entry could be quite graphic and people, like say my brother, may not like to know that much information about me.

We had discussed ... a lot ... about how physical our relationship would get. And I told him if everything was as comfortable as it was online, we most likely would have a ... ahem ... physical relationship. So we went back to his house. I knew I was going to be sleeping in his bed with him because, heck, I like cuddling. He was ok if nothing besides sleep happened.

Ok, more background. A lives on his own in a condo that his parents own. They pay the mortgage and he pays all the other bills and things. It's a three bedroom condo. Well, it just tuns out that A's parents were coming for a visit two days before I was suppose to arrive (they live in New Zealand). Sucky! This means that A had to relocate to "his" room while he parents got the master suite for their visit. It also meant that A had some serious re-organizing and cleaning to do before we all arrived. It also meant that our romantic week would be infringed on by live-in parents. Grrr!

So I got to briefly meet the parents and then we went to his room for bed. I looked around his room and noticed four things that totally reminded me of Asshole. He had computer parts everywhere (he is a system administrator so I knew he was a computer guy), he had a loud Hawaiian shirt in his closet, he also had a very similar bathrobe to Asshole's and he has a shark tooth necklace ... just like Asshole. I kept getting these bad signs but I chose to ignore them. Anyway, I had to take my contact lenses out so I went to the bathroom. And it was scary. The sink looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a long time. In fact, I ended up cleaning it a day later because it was gross... there was shaving hair everywhere. The toilet was also dirty. It didn't have like poop on the seat or anything but I'm willing to bet it hadn't been cleaned in at least 3 months. I ended up cleaning that too.

So we finally got to our sleeping or other-activity dilemma. We decided on other activities. We tried kissing and we were out of sync. Bad. I also don't think I liked his method of kissing. Yada-yada-yada, we went to sleep. It was alright. I've had better ... none as strong as A, but better.

The next day was kinda blah. We went to the gym where I did a lot of time on the treadmill and he worked out with his buddy. We then went to get me a toothbrush (I always forget something when I go on a trip!) and then we went back to his place to shower. I was trying to keep the romance alive and suggested we shower together.

Usually this is not always great because someone always ends up out of the water and cold. But his shower was well suited for two and I was never cold. The shower would have been pretty good except in was in the scuzzy bathroom form hell!!!! I didn't end up cleaning this because it would have taken way too long. I'm still in denial that I used that shower three times. The mold coming of the sliding door looked like hair. Enough said. The next two times I used it I didn't have my contacts in so I couldn't see what was around me.

The rest of the day was ok. We sat around watching hockey and a movie. But something was not quite right. It was not what I thought it would be. It was awkward at moments and we didn't seem to have the intimacy that we had online.

The next morning proved my point. A was going to work. He told me before I came down that he was going to take some days off to spend with me. Apparently, this was not the case. I knew something was up. I ended going out with one of my education friends and we went shopping and I got a pedicure. But I was going to confront A about where we stood and about a BIG issue that I haven't mentioned yet ...

To be con't ....

The Big Get Away Part 2

Things really started to heat up between A and I. It felt like we were actually dating without all the physical stuff. We talked about our days and sent each other little "like" notes (I would say luv notes even, it came to using that variant of the word, but I was not ready to say something like "love" to someone I had never met). As more time went by, the more we were looking forward to meeting each other and we started planning our whole week together and said how great it was going to be.

Ok, I needed a little break, I got a bit teary there.

We even exchanged phone numbers during the last week of our pre-meet courtship and we call each other three or four times. It was all very nice and exciting. I was so looking forward to Break so I could finally meet this great guy. I was also very nervous about the whole thing, you know the whole not meeting yet being very personable with each other. And like I said, I feel I really conveyed who I am to him and let him know everything possible about me that he wanted to know. I did not send him naked pictures or anything (I just thought I'd share that) because of the whole teacher thing and my rule of never having pictures of me out there that I would be mortified if students saw. He didn't send me pictures because he doesn't have a digital camera but there were pictures of him on the website that we met on that his friends had posted and he looked cute on them (just a heads up, there was no lying on his part so don't get worried).

The big day arrived. I was finally flying down to meet this guy who I was practically in a relationship with. We had discussed in detail of what the first meeting would be like. We even discussed where we put our arms when we hug. I was ready. Nervous, but ready.

So a little more background on me. I get super travel sick. So I took an extra strength Gravol to make it so I didn't puke the whole flight down. I informed A I would be doing this and explained to him that I may not be myself since I haven't taken these pills before. They didn't seem to effect me too much in the end (except making me not air sick) except I did notice my hands were shaking at the airport in the Big City either from nerves, the medication or my hate of flying...

I arrived at the airport. And he was not there. I was confident he would show up. I was just a little disappointed that he wasn't there when I arrived. Part of that was that I explained to him about my issues with people being late. In my childhood, my dad would always say he was coming to visit and he would be either hours late or even days late. I spend a lot of time waiting for my dad to show up as a kid and I know it still has an impact on me. I called A and he was running late so I decided to wait for him outside.

He arrived about 10 minutes later. I knew it was him because he had told me what his car looks like. He stepped out of the car and I saw one of the best looking guys I have ever seen. He was gorgeous. I started to shake a bit because I couldn't believe my luck. In hind sight, I was pretty dumbfounded. I got all awkward and kinda stumbled over my suitcase and gave him a crappy hug because I was still trying to up-right my suitcase.

We decided to take off and go for a meal.

I was still a bit awkward and babbled a bit, but if anyone out there knows me, I do this stuff all the time. I finally came to my sense by the time we hit the restaurant and I was feeling myself.

But he kept just staring at me. It made me nervous. We had a nice enough meal and then we were off to his (ex-girl) friend's birthday party. He's remained friends with most of his exs (and he has a lot, apparently). She seemed nice and I asked how the met. They met on Hot or Not. Hmmm, I knew he wasn't new to this dating on-line thing, but I didn't know I would get to meet one!

The party was at a pub and it was alright. A and I spent most of the time watching the hockey game. It was now time to go back to his place.

To be con't....

The Big Get Away Part 1

I think to entice readers and keep myself busy for several days while on vacation, I will tell my story. It does not end happily. It ends in heartbreak. But I do have a smile on my face and I've already started telling jokes about it. It has nothing to do with teaching.

It started on February 18. I have a couple myspace - type webpages to communicate with various friends. Anyway, I got a message from someone whom I've never met before saying that it was too bad that I wasn't in The Big City anymore because I looked "delicious". I don't get many compliments like that from strangers and I guess I was flattered. I messaged back to say that the comment made my day, which it did. We messaged back and forth a few times and he seemed sane so I added him to my friend list and to my MSN. I'm going to call him A because his real name starts with an A (what with me and guys' names that start with A, my only three real boyfriends have all had names that start with A).

I got to see pictures of him and a glimpse into his life and he seemed relatively sane (so as not to scare you reader, he is quite sane just a little bizarre). We seemed to have some common interests and we were flirting even more. He said he was interested in meeting me and possibly having a relationship with me.

I was a little taken aback by this because I'm not one for the whole internet dating thing. I like to meet people to get their whole "vibe" before I consider dating them. Plus, I tell my students all the time that they should never meet someone they meet on line because it could be, like, a 40-year-old pedophile. But he seemed genuine and nice and my brother did meet his ex-online and my dad met his wife online.

I knew I had to leave the Small Town for Spring Break or I would go a bit nuts so I considered that a detour to A's place may be a possibility.

Over the last month, we chatted everyday and really got to know each other as best we could online. I really opened up to him, being totally honest with him and letting him see the real me. I told him about my flaws and strengths and my future plans and just about everything. We were really hitting it off. A was saying how much he liked me and couldn't wait to meet me and that maybe I was the girl for him. I was a bit skeptic that he could be so into me so quickly, and I was caught up in the flattery and the hopes of actually dating a nice guy. I agreed that it would be great to meet him and that I'd come to his town as his guest to meet him.

To be con't ...

Stop snowing!!!

I wish it would stop snowing already, it's snowed here for the last 3 days ... i am trying to fly out on Saturday and the plane won't go during snow! Grrr...

In other news, report cards are due the day after Spring Break so I'm trying to get them done before I leave so I have no work on my awesome break.

Here's some pictures I took this morning. The pictures do no justice to the actually scene.

Friday Random Shuffle

Because I'm busy ...

1. Day Old Hate - City and Colour
2. Light in your Eyes - Sheryl Crow
3. North American for Life - Matthew Good
4. Breakin’ Up - Gwen Stefani
5. Symbol in my Driveway - Jack Johnson
6. Greedy Fly - Bush
7. Pretty Vegas -INXS
8. In da Club - 50 Cent
9. This Love - Maroon 5
10. No Mermaid - Shaye

My Health and Career Education class were being dicks today, well actually they were dicks the last few days. They bitch and complain we never do anything fun like go to the computer lab or go to the store (which is never really an option ever).

So I took their suggestions into account, because I try to make the class fun and I try to take their suggestions seriously. So I book a class in the computer lab on Wednesday and planned a whole lesson around using the computer to watch some video, and playing some games and answering some questions. I thought the lesson was pretty fun, and I'm not saying that just as a teacher.

Well, the kid who is the biggest bitcher got bored after 5 minutes, announced the class sucked and sulked in his chair. I had an alternative assignment that was kinda boring (for the kids who were abusing their computer privilege ... reading 5 pages of notes and then answering questions. Well, he wanted t o go back to the classroom and do those. And then a few other kids decided that they wanted to do the same thing. Then one kids really wanted to work on the boring questions in the office. So now half my class is not in the computer lab... let's just say that's the last time we go to the computer lab.

Then today, as the kids were finishing up their questions ... well some of them anyway ... they started saying that it would be fun to try to make all the new teachers leave this year by being brats and not doing their work. A couple kids chimed in that that would be fun.

I basically told them that the only people they would be hurting is themselves because their marks would suffer and there was no one to blame but themselves. I also told them that they could try this if they wanted, but it wouldn't make me leave because other kids in the school are not brats and they would make me stay. I also mentioned that if teachers left here and reported to the outside world that the kids here are jerks, that would not look good on the community. The kids say that they always say how crappy it is here. I asked them if they honestly thought that ... and then I compared that statement to how we treat our siblings. It's ok for me to insult my brother and hit him, but if some other kid did that to him, I'd beat the snot out of that kid. My students laughed and seemed to agree with me. I hope I made them rethink the brat thing because that would just make my job harder.

Hot for Teacher

Well, it finally happened ... I have been made a sexual object while being a teacher. Let me explain.

First off, I'd like to comment on my sexuality. I think I have a good sexual side. I've commented on some sexual issues in this blog. I also think I have healthy sex drive and enjoy exploring that.

But never, ever do I even hint at this in my classroom. I try to be as sexless as possible. True, I look professional and nice, but I consciously wear things with no cleavage and no midriff showing. I also never talk about my love life and I refuse to answer any such questions about it. I'm not just saying this because it's part of the teacher's code of ethics, I honestly think I go the extra mile to be this way. It works because the students have never joked with me with sexual innuendos. Never. And I'm glad.

Part of my reasons for this is because I'm a new teacher who is fairly young ... but more important I look young (I always get ID'd when I buy alcohol). This works partly to my advantage because I think some students feel more comfortable with me because they think I can relate to them because I'm closer to their age than other teachers. But, the whole young thing can work to a huge disadvantage if the students think they can date me or if they sexualize me.

Well, I have my profile and some pictures up on a popular Myspace-type forum that the majority of the students here use. Actually, I joined it to spy on them. But I've shared pictures of my friends and family and the kids chat with me on there about school and the community and stuff ... all innocent. 99% of my contacts on this site are my students or other students in the school.

Well, the dad of one of my students (she's a 17 year old girl) left a comment on my picture (that was publicly published) that read, "Van Halen said it best when they said I'm HOT for teacher".



Ahhhh! Oh my! I deleted the comment because I didn't want the students to see it ... especially his daughter since she frequents my site.

What was this guy thinking? First, I'm young enough to be his daughter! Second, why on earth would he sexualize a teacher that teaches his own daughter? Thirdly, what does he think other students would do when they see that? Fourthly, if he really wanted a chance with me (which he has none, especially now) , why would he say something like that publicly?

I don't have the nerve to tear him a new one publicly (unless he leaves another comment like that or asks me why I deleted his comment) because as much as I don't want to be sexualized in a semi-school setting, I don't want to be the uptight teacher with "no sense of humour" in a community I'm trying to infiltrate. Honestly, I don't feel victimized here (even though the comment was a classic example of sexual harassment) but I do feel a bit angry and mystified that this dad didn't think before he posted a comment like that about his daughter's teacher in a place crawling with other students.

Bird Dance

First off. I know it's been over a week since my last post ... things have been busy here. Well, not so busy here, but in my life ... but I promise to give the full scoop in about two weeks ... so stay tuned.

Yesterday we had our Health Hearts assembly ... a little late since Valentine's day was two weeks ago, but hey, that's "Indian time".

It was mainly a show case of the elementary students howing how they keep a healthy heart through dance. The kindergarten boys did The Chief's Welcome Dance and the girls did The Ladies Welcome Dance. The grade one class danced to a song to honour a community member who wrote the song. These songs are preformed with drummers and live singers.

One of the grade 2 classes was to do The Bird Dance. I was thinking to myself, "Ok, I've been to quite a few celebrations and I haven't yet seen the bird dance. I'm in for a treat!" I see the teacher cue some music, which was usual because I was expcting drum/singing. The music comes on ... and guess what it was...

The Chicken Dance!



I laughed my ass off. The students around me were wondering why I was laughing so hard. I even tried to bribe some of my studens with 100 tokens to come up with me and join in. I had no takers though