Dodge van baby, Yeah!!

So we've been here for a couple of weeks now. We've been really busy, and my usual 6 week holiday has been reduced to just 4 days. On top of that, we get no half-terms, so I'm working straight through to Christmas for the next 15 weeks. That's more work than I've ever done in a row, almost as much as non teachers do. My banking wife has displayed exactly the right amount of sympathy: none! (well, a little.)

We've bought a car; a Dodge Caravan (minivan/mpv type of thing). The gearstick is on the steering wheel!! old school American. It's a V6, but so old and clunky it feels like only 1 of those cylinders is working. Still, we're getting around in comfort, if not style.

In our splendid new chariot (who I have named Felicity), we've been to Banff to paddle the Bow river, surrounded by towering peaks and abundant wildlife. We went up the Lake Louise Mountain gondola to see where the skiing will be.
We visited the fable and beautiful Lake Louise itself, its azure waters turned a lovely milky blue by the rock flour: bits of silt ground up and trapped for millenia by the Glacier that feeds it from above, finally released in the melting river. It makes for a cold river as well, let me tell you. Careful when you're canoeing, this is not one to fall in on!
On our travels we saw Elk, a Hoary Marmot, a Muskrat, Chipmunks, Columbia Squirrels,
an Osprey carrying a fish to it's young and the longest train EVER! All in all it was a lovely outdoorsy weekend. Great steak too, quite unbelievable. Reallt tasty. I'm not sure what a New York cut is in English terms, but it rocks and i'll be having more of my Alberta AAA beef that way.

School is fine so far, but seeing as it's just training week with no kids yet that's to be expected. The department are all really supportive (and everyone seems really Catholic). When we go to school mass (yes, we all go) they al know the words and can list Saints I have never heard of. It's good that they are all so helpfull as I have a lot of questions. Some about the system and various educational acronyms, some about the Math(s). I haven't taught at this level for a while; it's much higher than even the A* stuff I was doing last year, definitely A-level equivalent. It's all coming back but I feel like the numerical stabilisers are on my maths bike!

I'll put some photos on a separate post, its a lot easier that way.

I'm sure I've missed stuff, so I'll fill in the cultural blanks over the coming year.

Ciao for now, and as they say
"here increase the peace."
(and they are not being "ironic," just cheesy and with poor "grammar" and use of "these things")

Week1, Calgary. The beginning of a 'rocky-road'...

So, here I am in Sunny Calgary (25-30 degrees
so far) adjusting my body clock and thermostat at 9.00 am Sunday morning, 4pm hometime. Making the first pot of coffee in my new percolator.

Well we made it out to Calgary with no hiccups on Thursday 16th, which frankly is a small miracle given we only received our visas on the 7th! We left Manchester in the pouring rain and arrived 10 hours later to 30C heat, an Ingham rep (based in Banff - yes!) that I randomly worked with Canoeing in France10 years ago…and the lovely Carmen who we will share a house with this year.

Carmen is Alison's sister, who I am exchanging with.. She is 25, full of beans, very easy going and a BMW-Mini salesperson with lots of nice cars for me to ‘test drive’ at weekends and she has a great set of friends.

Calgary is at the foothills of the Rockies in Western Canada, about 1 million population and booming thanks to its oil and gas industry. There is quite a high rise downtown (centre) and then a sprawling grid system of suburbs – we’re in the north east about a 10 min drive from the airport and a 20 min drive to the city centre.

We’re in a lovely 3 bed town house with a tiny little yard with a few weeds for plants – so Vic has been appointed head gardener and shall see what I can do!

Here’s a couple of things we’ve been up to since we arrived…

Saw the Canadian football (not soccer) match of the season between Calgary Stampeders and Vancouver Lions. The evening was run by a pub who laid on a bus and provided a tailgate party in the parking lot with all the (scrumptious) hot dogs you could eat and all the cold fizzy beer you could drink. Just the way to get in the mood!
Then we sat down for 60 mins of play somehow spread over 4 hours, lots of burly men running at each other in armour, cheerleaders and pom poms, a horse that runs around the pitch every touch down and a streaker that didn’t quite get his top off before being pounced on by police! Ended in a thrilling draw after rare extra time but Vic was half asleep as it was 7am UK time by the final whistle! It was without a doubt the most fun I have ever had at a sporting event. Much more chilled out than football or rugby games at home andall those frequent stops between downs allow ample opportunity for chat, witty deriding of players, explanations of 'what-the-hell-just-happened' to the newbies and beer drinking.
I bought a large red plastic horn to cheer on the Stamps, but it sounded more like a moose’s mating call on its last legs. This caused much hilarity around us and almost caused a riot when a BC fan borrowed it, a Stamps fan jumped on him from several rows above and 4 policemen got involved! Don't worry, somehow we got the horn back!

Vicky has discovered frozen yogurt – sin free ice cream and milkshakes – why this hasn’t caught on in the UK I have no idea.

We went for a lovely run along the Bow river around the edge of downtown with a friend, Shawna, thoroughly earning our iced coffee and rocky-road cake afterwards (a kind of chocolate brownie with marshmallows on).

We’ve been teaching Carmen to cook (she’s a fast food girl) – so Risotto and cheesecake were on the menu last night and were great successes.

We've aready been pretty busy getting sorted with mobile phones and that all important coffee machine and stocking the kitchen from a supermarket we don't yet understand. Calgary is quite dry, lots of open prairie good for cattle and heat so that's about all they row. You can get cheap meat, bread and beer (all the basics then...) but any fresh veg comes up from way south in the stated or over the rockied from BC making load of the stuff we take for granted very expensive. 70p for one lettuce and a pond for a pepper! Also, none of the tea and coffee was fair trade. For all that I sometimes moan about how materialistic UK society we are much more globally aware than Calgary culture.

Another thing we should all be greatful for is our mobile phone service. We're about 10yrars ahead of the Canucks. You have to pay to recieve calls as well as make htem. You have to pay to have voicemail, pay for call to it an even pay long distance rates to check your messages outside you home cell. The whole shebang is double the cost of an equivalent pay as you go basic service at home. we couldn't eeven bring our own phones out: their phones are sealed units that you can't change the Sim card in, another rip off tying you to you provider. Still we do now have phones at least.

Next steps are to buy a car (that will last us through -40C winters and get us up in the mountains regularly), go walking in Banff for 4 days and catch up on some sleep before I start work on Mon 27th. Bring it on; 15 weeks and no half term. I have never worked taht long in my life!

Hope all is well for you

No photos to post yet, but the video footage is already building up.

Cheers,
R

goodbyes, tension and lists

That's me, still in the office at home. No more pictures here for a while...



So this is it, we're off! Having begun to apply way back in September Victoria and I are finally off. I booked our flights to Calgary yesterday, just NINE days before we fly out. We have had SOOOOO much hassle getting hold of a pair of Visas from Canada House it's untrue! They don't have a phone line you can call to chase them either! Not being sure we were going has been a real source of tension, especially this close to the wire, but we had faith and it all worked out in time. With such a short time left I have a huge list of jobs to get through. I feel like Sisiphus; for every job I tick off the list at least one more appears to rear it's hydra-like head. Still, I'm sure it'll all get done, it always has before.

Alison Arrived on Friday (see her blog at

http://www.alisonvandelaak.blogspot.com) and we have been super busy. She now has a car, a phone and a bank account and I'v introduced her to all the classic British activities: Pint at the Pub, cheese on toast, fish finger sandwich, curry, fish and chips, barbeque in the rain, roundabouts and much more. It's been interesting thinking about my culture from an outside perspective and I look forward to seeing Canadian culture an education up close in the same way. She's off on tour soon, so we can pack.... AAAAAARGHihatepackingsomuch

Just a few piccies here of what i'm leaving at Horbury...

Here's the boss, Mr Hunt...
and here's Miss Van de Laak in her new room, M12 down in the mobile village. Mmmm, look how clean and tidy it is. That never lasts once the pupils arrive. Big thanks to the cleaners.




Here is the mobile village, more use than 4 tennis courts, surely?!



And here's the new building going up.It'll be almost done when I get back. Exciting!