Wednesday

First, to all my loyal readers, I am sorry that I have not put up a blog in such a long time. As you know, I was in Edmonton from Wednesday the 14th until Sunday, the 18th.

The Conference was the first Little Red River Cree Nation Board of Education's conference ever...and it was a great success. They had many quality workshops to attend, that touched not only on general education issues but also specifically on aboriginal issues in education. I feel much more comfortable working in a school with such a rich aboriginal culture after the conference.

Whenever there were group sessions, the Cree language was used first to speak, and then was later translated into English. And I must say, Cree is a beautiful language to listen to. The elders began our conference with a pipe ceremony, and ended the conference with prayer. Although they did not translate the prayers, I was able to follow along, simply by listening to the rhythm of his words. He was saying "The Lord is My Shepard". I think that it is wonderful that although I do not know the Cree language, or any other languages for that matter, that I can follow along simply by recognizing the rhythm of words and matching them to the rhythm of words in English...connecting them to recognize familiar poetry, such as The Lords Prayer, or "The Lord is my Sheppard".

I was able to spend time with family and friends briefly while in Edmonton, and if I did not get a chance to see you, I am sorry. Time was not great and I tried to fit in as many visits as possible. Of course the conference was my priority, but I also made an effort to get to know the teachers and TA's from my school...outside of a school setting. I must say, this has worked out very well.

Before the conference, I noticed a lot of segregation in the staff room, natives on one side, whites on the other. It really sucked. I am here to not only teach but to experience the culture here, and it is hard to do that when we don't intermingle. Anyways, Tuesday and today, Wednesday, have been awesome. We all smile at each other in the halls. Many of the men have approached me offering to look at my car...(word spreads fast here and I am sure everyone knows my car is having problems). Some of them have even offered to buy it already! One of the high school teachers here offered to take it off my hands if I give him 20$! There is lots of laughter and teasing and smiles. There is lots of conversation and comfort. I guess I made lots of friends with the Fox Lakers while I was in Edmonton because I have so many now that I am home. I am very happy to be home! I am proud to call Fox Lake home and to call myself a Fox Laker!

Tuesday I had five children. It was a bit wild in here because the children had had about a week off of school. We managed to get through the day though. I am so proud of how well their sounds are coming along and to see their interest in the math activities that I have planned for them. I put shaving cream in the water table today instead of water and the kids had a blast! It was really easy to clean up after and our classroom smells awesome!

Wednesday, today, I had the most children I have ever had in one day show up, 16. 17 if you include the boy who showed up an hour before school was let out! And wow...I was bragging in the staff room during my prep about what an amazing group I have. So well behaved and eager to listen. They were easy to manage today and just simply delightful children to have in the classroom. Activities were done with minimal distraction, worksheets done to the Best of their abilities. I didn't even have to ask more than once for the kids to clean up! Now that's incredible!

And what better way to end an awesome day than to go out on a date. Yes, you read correctly, a date. See, the grade eight's put on a Valentine's dinner for us Fox Lakers. It was postponed due to the conference, so tonight was the night. Dinner and a movie. Each couple had their own table complete with candle light. Each couple shared a pizza and had salad and pop. We watched the Illusionist with Edward Norton...one of the most wonderful actors on screen and most talented of men today in the arts. I adore him...so a perfect movie to "set the mood". The lights were dimmed. I sat next to my date. I wore my red dress and sequenced shall. I had done my hair up nice after school and put on perfume. My date had asked me out almost as soon as I came to Fox Lake...I think maybe a crush?

Just Kiddin!! my friend Joanne was my date! But all other details are true ") I dressed up, over dressed to try an embarrass her! It was awesome. There were lots of other couples there and friend couples. I guess the grage eights liked being waitresses so much that they have asked their teacher if they can do it again....and I will be there.

I am not quite sure how I survived in the city. I am not quite sure that I will ever love to live in the city again. I feel so alive out here and refreshed. This is truly a blessing, this job. I can not find the words to tell you what a wonderful place this is, and I do not even want to try, for fear that I will leave you feeling anything less than awe. I do hope that I am offered a position here next year, and I will accept the position. Hopefully, this is where God desires me to be for another year, because I do not feel in any rush at all to leave.

I miss you all and cannot wait for your emails. They are part of my joy each day. I felt joy when I came up here to teach and was curious how long the joy would stay for, but now I realize. The joy of the Lord will never leave you, only you can leave it. I am full of joy and I see no reason to leave it. Praise God for his many blessings and for his abundance of love! I am so happy!

Angela,
Miss Cassidy

PS The grade eights made some beautiful leather pouches, about the size of a small purse. some have leather tassels, some have native artwork on them. I think all of them have a shoulder strap. They are available for purchase. I will check to see how much they are. I am going to purchase one. Would anyone else like one?