It’s finally here! The moment has arrived and I am a mere two sleeps from leaving for China! My son is so excited he is having trouble going to sleep. I decided to come online and share my thoughts at these last moments. (Wouldn’t you know, this is the moment my Apple keyboard decides to die on me).
It seems like a really long wait although Im sure I won’t remember it that way. Last week I spent my time working as a substitute in a grade four class just to keep myself from going crazy (and my bank account from going to zero, truth be told). At least this wait let me get all my vaccinations up to date. (Ouch!). I’ve gotten caught up on my course work (Im taking an Additional Qualification course from an Ontario university) and even studied the courses Im teaching (English 11 and Intro to English Lit). I feel ready to go!
On the other hand, this is when all the insecurities come out too. Am I really ready for this? Will I be strong enough and flexible enough to handle this, these changes? Will I be able to stay positive when things are going wrong? Having recently failed in the “stay strong” department in the great Canadian arctic, I now have new doubts about my abilities to handle “anything”. The scary thing really is that I don’t know. I don’t know what’s coming even though I’ve done my best to arm myself with knowledge. Never having been overseas, I don’t know if I can handle it. I don’t know if I will fall back on negativity when things go awry. I will have to find out the hard way.
From all this it may sound like I already have given myself over to doubts, fears, and negativity. However, most of the time I haven’t. Here’s what I think about most of the time: I will get to meet adventurous people like me. I will get to see and understand the oldest surviving culture on the planet. I get to discover one of my dreams, to travel-teach throughout the world, my journey is just starting. Almost everything I’ve learned about myself so far has told me I can handle another culture shock and will come out stronger. I will gain a new perspective on the world and world events.
I will hopefully be able to answer these two questions: 1) where is world education going and what is the essential goal of it all? 2) a more personal question, “Why am I doing this?” About the last one: I have been trying to answer this one for years. I read some books about the “Power of Why” and other articles about the question “Why?” being the most important question in anything. However, if I’m honest with myself I don’t really know WHY I’m driven to explore this world and its people.
One of my friends tonight asked “Why ask why?”. I feel that is a deep philosophical question, best left to hindsight but provoking much thought along the way.
I will let you, my readers, know about my progress in answering these questions throughout my journey.
Next time hopefully I will be writing from China!
Monday, August 1, 2016
Still waiting but here's a list - February 26, 2013
I’m still waiting to hear when I leave but as far as I know, all paperwork has been submitted, I just need to wait until the cogs of the machinery that issues work visas has fully turned. Apparently, once all the paperwork arrives from China we will be leaving the NEXT DAY. So when it happens, it will happen fast.
Since I don’t have any exciting photos of Japan and China to show you, I thought I would write about what I have learned about what I should expect when I get there. Here are the things that will be different:
-There are no ovens in China. If I want to do something silly like bake, I should buy a toaster oven from Ikea.
-There are Ikea and Walmart stores in Dalian where we are moving! Also KFC, McDonalds, and Starbucks. Will be VERY different from going to the Arctic. However, I’m told those stores are not stocked the same as in North America.
– Very few people will speak English so if we want to go somewhere, ride a train or take a taxi, we need to know at least some Mandarin. I know this is one of those obvious things about moving to another country but it boggles the mind to think of standing in a place where absolutely no one can speak your language. Very exciting!
-Bargaining. When going to a market, it’s expected that you will bargain for items. I have been told to offer a third of the asking price because they have already put up the price as I approached because of my foreigner status. I should bargain for about half of the price. I have learned all my Mandarin numbers already, thanks to a Chinese friend here in BC.
-Food will be different. There are some things that will be hard to get (I’m thinking bread, given that there are no ovens.) But eating out is very cheap and going to the street markets even cheaper. Northeast China has a different cuisine than southern China or western China. Those meat sticks that you find at the summer night market are popular, so is spicy squid on a stick. Roasted duck and steamed pork buns are available. However, the really spicy foods are found in northwestern China and dimsum is a Cantonese thing in the southern part.
-It will be CROWDED. I probably can’t even really imagine how much. The Olympic game crowd in Vancouver x 100?
-There are no line-ups in China. People push and elbow their way to the front of the queue instead of waiting in a line-up. Being the typical polite Canadian will get me nowhere with no ticket.
– You can’t get certain things that are easy to get here: over the counter pain medication, cold remedies,Tide sticks, tampons, deodorant, etc. Good to know before I leave since I am bringing these things with me.
-Doing illegal and stupid things like selling drugs or breaking other laws can get you KILLED, not just incarcerated, in China.
-There are almost no clothes dryers there so drying your clothing is by hanging them.
-The hot water tanks are very small in China so long showers and baths are out. Often the showers are in the actual bathroom, not a separate compartment in the bathroom.
-Travel is cheaper in China. You can get a “soft sleeper” car train ticket for $70 and that the expensive ticket price! If you want to go with a ‘hard sleeper’ you can pay as little as $30 to travel across the country. Given that my son wants to visit the Gobi desert in May, this is good info to know.
-There are lots of pickpockets in China. Since you have to carry your documents on you at all times, I had to buy one of those ‘under the clothes’ pockets to keep stuff in so if I get robbed we don’t have to worry about getting new passports.
-The school I have chosen to work at has a very good reputation both in the international community, in China itself and among ex pat teachers who are working in other countries. Recent press in BC hasn’t been very favourable but that seems to be coming from only a few individual teachers in another city that were, perhaps, unprepared for teaching overseas.
I can’t think of anything else right now but I think that is a good list to get my readers started.
Thanks for reading!
Since I don’t have any exciting photos of Japan and China to show you, I thought I would write about what I have learned about what I should expect when I get there. Here are the things that will be different:
-There are no ovens in China. If I want to do something silly like bake, I should buy a toaster oven from Ikea.
-There are Ikea and Walmart stores in Dalian where we are moving! Also KFC, McDonalds, and Starbucks. Will be VERY different from going to the Arctic. However, I’m told those stores are not stocked the same as in North America.
– Very few people will speak English so if we want to go somewhere, ride a train or take a taxi, we need to know at least some Mandarin. I know this is one of those obvious things about moving to another country but it boggles the mind to think of standing in a place where absolutely no one can speak your language. Very exciting!
-Bargaining. When going to a market, it’s expected that you will bargain for items. I have been told to offer a third of the asking price because they have already put up the price as I approached because of my foreigner status. I should bargain for about half of the price. I have learned all my Mandarin numbers already, thanks to a Chinese friend here in BC.
-Food will be different. There are some things that will be hard to get (I’m thinking bread, given that there are no ovens.) But eating out is very cheap and going to the street markets even cheaper. Northeast China has a different cuisine than southern China or western China. Those meat sticks that you find at the summer night market are popular, so is spicy squid on a stick. Roasted duck and steamed pork buns are available. However, the really spicy foods are found in northwestern China and dimsum is a Cantonese thing in the southern part.
-It will be CROWDED. I probably can’t even really imagine how much. The Olympic game crowd in Vancouver x 100?
-There are no line-ups in China. People push and elbow their way to the front of the queue instead of waiting in a line-up. Being the typical polite Canadian will get me nowhere with no ticket.
– You can’t get certain things that are easy to get here: over the counter pain medication, cold remedies,Tide sticks, tampons, deodorant, etc. Good to know before I leave since I am bringing these things with me.
-Doing illegal and stupid things like selling drugs or breaking other laws can get you KILLED, not just incarcerated, in China.
-There are almost no clothes dryers there so drying your clothing is by hanging them.
-The hot water tanks are very small in China so long showers and baths are out. Often the showers are in the actual bathroom, not a separate compartment in the bathroom.
-Travel is cheaper in China. You can get a “soft sleeper” car train ticket for $70 and that the expensive ticket price! If you want to go with a ‘hard sleeper’ you can pay as little as $30 to travel across the country. Given that my son wants to visit the Gobi desert in May, this is good info to know.
-There are lots of pickpockets in China. Since you have to carry your documents on you at all times, I had to buy one of those ‘under the clothes’ pockets to keep stuff in so if I get robbed we don’t have to worry about getting new passports.
-The school I have chosen to work at has a very good reputation both in the international community, in China itself and among ex pat teachers who are working in other countries. Recent press in BC hasn’t been very favourable but that seems to be coming from only a few individual teachers in another city that were, perhaps, unprepared for teaching overseas.
I can’t think of anything else right now but I think that is a good list to get my readers started.
Thanks for reading!
Getting Ready for China - February 19, 2013
I have been reading non-stop. I have been going to doctors, getting medical exams, getting vaccinated against nasty diseases like Hep A and B and am aware that I need to get way more organized very soon. And I’m scared.
Little sayings like ‘courage is not the absence of fear’ pop into my mind but I have to say, the more waiting I do, the more scared I get. This doesn’t mean that I’m going to stay in Canada…I think this is a normal part of making a huge change in your life. It’s just such a powerful feeling, fear, that I thought I would mention it so that those of you who may decide to do something new and different in your life, to know that it’s part of the process.
The first stage of moving to a new place for me is always the ‘wow’ moments. As in “Wow, I’m really going to CHINA!” (Or Nunavut, or the Arctic, or Ontario…etc). Then I do all sorts of reading and research about the new place and get excited about it and think of all the things I want to do when I get there. In Nunavut it was the riding of my new ATV on the tundra, the picking of berries, the silence of walking out on the land, the meeting of new people. For China it is going to one of the most dynamic cities in the world (Beijing), the chance of travelling all over Asia, the food, the beauty of the land, the different culture that I will get to know really well in a year and a half, the teachers I will work with who also wanted to experience life this way. Then there’s a stage where I think of all the challenges. In Nunavut it was the cold, the lack of regular plumbing, the chance meeting of polar bears, etc. For China it is the pollution, the lack of ovens, the crowds, the cold apartments and not knowing the language of the majority of people around me, not being understood. The scary part is that you don’t really KNOW which challenge is going to be the one that is difficult for YOU to handle. I thought the fear of polar bears would be intense but I didn’t really think too much about it when I was actually on Baffin Island (although I had plenty of nightmares about it before I left!). What was really hard was the lack of support in my job and the utter loneliness when I didn’t fit in to any social group in that small town. Then there were the things that are impossible to predict before you leave. I had no idea that my dog would be killed, my father would die and my house would be broken into as I slept, terrorizing me after with what might have happened if the criminal had gotten in.
I know I am going anyway and I hope that I can meet the challenges without too much trouble, whatever they may be. For anyone else in the future thinking of moving to China, I am reading a fantastic book called ‘Living Abroad in China” by Barbara and Stuart Strother which outlines all the things that no one else tells you about living there. It has been a great resource. I am also devouring the Lonely Planet books on China and trying to learn Mandarin. In doing this research, i have managed to get my son excited about going to the Gobi desert to ride on a camel. I was reading a blog from a teacher who has been living in Dalian for the past few years and one of his trips was to the desert. I have promised to try and visit there with B– so that he can ride a camel too. Perhaps our May trip?
Regardless of what torture I put myself through before I leave, I should be in China in less than two weeks. Part of me is terrified and part is really excited. What an adventure awaits me and that little boy!
Little sayings like ‘courage is not the absence of fear’ pop into my mind but I have to say, the more waiting I do, the more scared I get. This doesn’t mean that I’m going to stay in Canada…I think this is a normal part of making a huge change in your life. It’s just such a powerful feeling, fear, that I thought I would mention it so that those of you who may decide to do something new and different in your life, to know that it’s part of the process.
The first stage of moving to a new place for me is always the ‘wow’ moments. As in “Wow, I’m really going to CHINA!” (Or Nunavut, or the Arctic, or Ontario…etc). Then I do all sorts of reading and research about the new place and get excited about it and think of all the things I want to do when I get there. In Nunavut it was the riding of my new ATV on the tundra, the picking of berries, the silence of walking out on the land, the meeting of new people. For China it is going to one of the most dynamic cities in the world (Beijing), the chance of travelling all over Asia, the food, the beauty of the land, the different culture that I will get to know really well in a year and a half, the teachers I will work with who also wanted to experience life this way. Then there’s a stage where I think of all the challenges. In Nunavut it was the cold, the lack of regular plumbing, the chance meeting of polar bears, etc. For China it is the pollution, the lack of ovens, the crowds, the cold apartments and not knowing the language of the majority of people around me, not being understood. The scary part is that you don’t really KNOW which challenge is going to be the one that is difficult for YOU to handle. I thought the fear of polar bears would be intense but I didn’t really think too much about it when I was actually on Baffin Island (although I had plenty of nightmares about it before I left!). What was really hard was the lack of support in my job and the utter loneliness when I didn’t fit in to any social group in that small town. Then there were the things that are impossible to predict before you leave. I had no idea that my dog would be killed, my father would die and my house would be broken into as I slept, terrorizing me after with what might have happened if the criminal had gotten in.
I know I am going anyway and I hope that I can meet the challenges without too much trouble, whatever they may be. For anyone else in the future thinking of moving to China, I am reading a fantastic book called ‘Living Abroad in China” by Barbara and Stuart Strother which outlines all the things that no one else tells you about living there. It has been a great resource. I am also devouring the Lonely Planet books on China and trying to learn Mandarin. In doing this research, i have managed to get my son excited about going to the Gobi desert to ride on a camel. I was reading a blog from a teacher who has been living in Dalian for the past few years and one of his trips was to the desert. I have promised to try and visit there with B– so that he can ride a camel too. Perhaps our May trip?
Regardless of what torture I put myself through before I leave, I should be in China in less than two weeks. Part of me is terrified and part is really excited. What an adventure awaits me and that little boy!
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
New address
Here is the address for my new blog. I bought my own domain so that I can post from China (who have blocked blogspot with their Great Firewall).
www.justgolda.com
Cheers!
www.justgolda.com
Cheers!
Friday, February 15, 2013
Last post...new location
This is probably my last post via blogspot. I know things can change but I bought myself a domain: justgolda.com and will be trying to post from there instead.
So a lot has happened since December 8th!
Let me begin by saying that a lot of what I post online is whitewashed. By that I mean "made to look cleaner and nicer than it really is". I probably won't change that very much but this particular post is designed to tell more of the truth than usual. That being said, I have had to take time and a little distance to make sure it wasn't one of those ranting posts that are completely one sided and hateful. I do NOT want to be one of those bloggers. I have tried to see mostly good and have managed to see the good in everything, even recent events. However, it has been mentioned that as a leaver-of-Nunvaut and one who hasn't signed a media form (promising not the inform the media of anything, even after my departure), I am in a unique position to inform new recruits about the 'truth' about living and working in the north. So this is my attempt to do that.
Let me first say this: this year has been tough for a lot of reasons. I arrived in Nunavut with a lot weighing on me. I was vaguely aware of how sick my father was and I was worried about him. In October I was informed that if I ever wanted to see him again, I better come ASAP and QSO (the school board I was working for) was extremely generous in granting me special leave to assist me in going to visit him for one last time. Apparently, this type of leave is extremely rare, especially for new Nuanvut teachers. I think I have my principal to thank for his insistance on the need for this leave. I was gone for a little over a week and the day I got back my dog was attacked by another dog and harmed enough that he bled out in 24 hours, internally. A month later my father passed away. On our Christmas break I attended my father's funeral, my mother having held it for my benefit. This year almost broke me emotionally, psychologically and financially (trips out are EXPENSIVE).
So I arrived with my high hopes: I was going to teach in this extreme place, I was going to do well AND I was going to get my Masters of Education degree in three years through a university who offered online MEd degrees. Even though I was going to teach grade 7/8 (which is not a grade I ever did well with), I was going to be able to meet the challenge, even though it was hard. The reality was a little harder to bear than I thought.
The realities are this: often places in Nunavut don't offer internet, even though they say they do. My house didnt have the option of having the internet, no matter how much money I was willing to throw at it. It was just in a bad spot for the Qiniq servers to reach. Also: The schools boards in Nunavut have blocked many useful sites from use, including all social media, all images (Good luck in making those powerpoint presentations at work!), all data sharing (so don't store your resources on SkyDrive or Dropbox!), all video sites (goodbye YouTube science experiments, goodbye all Prezi!) and many others. For someone who had planned on getting their MEd in 'Technology in Education' this was EXTREMELY frustrating, especially since the people that hired me were fully aware of what I was hoping to accomplish. If they had told me, I would have taken the job offer in the NWT instead.
Here is another frustration you should know about in Nunavut: some of the principals in Nunavut think that since they are in the north, they can get away for things that would have ended their careers quickly in the southern provinces. Sexual harrassment, put-downs of their staff, physical altercations between themselves and students as young as kindergarten age, and the lack of support of their staff is common place in some of these schools. I have personally been in the position of witnessing most of the former and have heard stories from teachers who have taught in other places in the north before coming to the village I was teaching in. I was told by my principal that 'almost anyone' could become an administrator because they were so desperate. All it takes is an acceptance into the two week program which is supposed to train principals, and you are fully qualified to run an entire school! I was offered a position on that training program myself and turned it down. I didn't feel that I was going to be able to run a school WELL because I only had 6 years experience as a teacher. How many people have their own ambitions blind them to the realities of their experience, I wonder? I want to add, however, that I am sure there are mostly dedicated, committed principals in most of the schools in the NU but my experience has been that there is some that are not and you should be prepared for the fact that you might have an incompetent one. If that happens, make sure you back up all the things he/she tells you with facts from other sources because often incompetent principals will cover up their inadequacies by blaming their staff.
I have been fortunate, I think, in that I have been able to work with people who were fully committed, and mostly qualified, for their positions. The teachers I have worked with fall into several categories: 1)The old-timers who have been there forever and know the score on absolutely everything. Get on their good side because they are the best resources in the school! In a system where principals are recycled every 2 or 3 years, you need those teachers who have been there for 15 years on your side to let you know how things really are. However, they are hard to get close to because they have been burned several times and are usually a bit cynical. 2)The 'feed the children' teachers. They usually feel as if the only important thing in the community is making sure the children are fed. They often use their own personal resources to accomplish this and are adamant that their goals is the most important one in the school. 3) The "education is key" teachers who feel that the real goal of their experience is providing a top-notch education to the children who would, otherwise, be subject to the constant degradation of their education due to the lure of lowering expectations, rendering the possiblity of higher education completely unattainable. 4) The new teacher from teacher's college: I was this person in my first year. Stars in my eyes, beliefs that didn't match reality at ALL. You can usually find them weeping in the staff room at their breaks (JUST KIDDING). Okay, this is an over generalization. I met one that seeemed quite cynical already because he had already lived in another part of Nunavut. He preached that lowering your expectations would help you cope with the difficult situation of teaching in Nunavut. He told us once whose philosphy that was and from what book but I have forgotten. 5) The "heads down" teacher. The one who keeps their head down, has been there for about 3-5 years and is in survival mode. This doesn't mean they are not doing their job, just that keeping their head down is a coping mechanism and it usually works well.
Aside from me categorizing the teachers I have met, I still stick to the idea that most of us are committed people. So what happens up there? The amusing anecdotes doesn't tell the whole picture, does it? Here will likely be your experience in your first year in the Arctic if you are in an Inuit community (that's my only experience, so I will not speak for the Dene teachers or those of other aboriginal communities):
-You will spend most of your tme frustrated because of the lack of motivation on the part of the students. They will not do homework, they will not show up half the time and some of them will check out entirely of the process and you will wonder why they even come to school at all.
-You will call parents and find out that the apathy is family-wide. So what if their kid doesn't do homework? So what if they are late, or disrespectful, or non-attending. It is either your fault or the fault of another kid in the class. NOT their kid's fault, for sure.
-You will be blamed for most of the problems.
-if you choose to move to Nunavut, any opinions you have will be silenced. I personally received a "cease and desist" email from the union president because of some tweets. Look it up yourself if you are wondering what horrid things I said to warrant such a threat (@justgolda on twitter about November, 2012 time). The truth is that Nunavut government is afraid of criticism and you will not be allowed to express opinions as you would in any southern provinces. Also, if you teach in Nunavik, you can be fired for teaching evolution because your contract expressly forbids it.
-Your principal might not support you AT ALL. Ever. Or even worse, only sometimes and not in any discernable pattern so that you never really know what's going to happen if you send a kid to the office. Will he be punished or rewarded? You have a 30% chance of it being some kind of reprimand.
- You may have your windows broken at night because the kids are frustrated with you or think it's funny to terrorize you at night AND they know there won't be any consequences if they throw rocks at your windows.
- You may have little resources. Textbooks are almost non-existant. Many students in your class will not be able to read, regardless of the level they have managed to attain. YOu will wonder how they got this far. You will conclude that the teachers before you gave up but they probably didn't.
-The principal may not know what is going on. He or she may give you a bad evalutation for no good reaon. Don't take it too much to heart. It's not about competence up here, it's about other things entirely.
-You may not have a great place to live. YOu will most certainly run out of water and not be able to have a shower at some point.
DONT BRING YOUR CHILDREN UP HERE PLEASE!! I did this twice and I have to say this about this issue: Qualluunaat children DO NOT belong in the north! They are treated horribly by daycares and schools and in the community. Very, very few children leave the north unscathed by racism and intolerance.
Here are some stories from my own experience to help you decide whether or not to bring your child north:
The first place I taught in the arctic was in Nunavik. For the most part this community was good for me. It challenged me, I met the challenge and I was pretty happy with how it was going. However, I had brought my 7 year old daughter. The second year we were there she had a first year teacher and things started going badly. She started coming home with bruises and started getting real quiet about everything. Around November it had become really noticable and her claims that she had fallen were starting to sound really hollow. When it all came out it turned out she had being beaten everyday at school by other kids. She was suicidal at 8 years old because her self esteem had been eroded to such a degree that she believed she didn't deserve to live. I got her out of that community within a week for her own safety, both emotional and physical. The principal's first reaction was that she 'deserved it'. I don't know how I stopped myself from punching her, but I did. It took my daughter YEARS of therapy to overcome this experience.
The second experience I had in the north was in Nunavut. My son was 3 years old when we arrived and I figured that since he was younger, we wouldnt have the same problems. He started coming home from daycare in November saying that he hated 'those teachers' and the kids were biting and kicking him. He also came home one day and told me that he was 'white, like popcorn" and showed me that his legs were 'white too'. I was surprised that either he noticed or that someone had pointed it out to him. He was THREE! I didn't think that kids even saw in colour at that age. I still don't really know what happened at that daycare but he wasn't happy there. From what I saw in the school, I wouldn't want him to attend there either. The teachers were committed, caring teachers but they had no support from the administration and their ability to deal with students who were troubled was so limited. That itself would put my child at a disadvantage in school, in my opinion.
PLEASE DONT BRING YOUR CHILDREN UP TO THE ARCTIC!!! The only exception I can think of is if you manage to land yourself a great position in one of the major communities like Yellowknife, Whitehorse or Iqaluit. I have been told that is different.
I recently read a really hateful blog about the place I was supposed to move to, Tianjin, China and it made me sick to my stomach to read it. I really didn't want to be one of the ranters online, whining about a disappointing experience where I expected first world conditions in the north. I didn't. I had high expectations but not, I believe, unrealistic. I only wish to tell you what you are really in for so that you are not surprised when you get there. My experience was unique, everyone's is.
Our next move is going to be a totally different place, China. It was always my goal to move overseas and teach there. It's the reason that I wanted to get my MEd degree, because I wanted to teach overseas and it was better to have a post graduate so I could qualify to get the better jobs. However, I think I'm okay with floating about the world, gaining knowledge about new cultures every few years. If you follow me on justgolda.com, you will hear about my new experiences, untainted by the old one in Nunavut.
If you are up north still, good for you! There were some great people up there and I loved the quiet and the beauty! If you are heading up north, make sure you read everything you can get your hands on, both good and bad, and make your decision based on ALL the information. I know that nothing could have persuaded me from trying it and I am glad I did, just so I can now look back on my life without regrets for cliffs-not-leaped-off and things-not-tried.
Cheers!
So a lot has happened since December 8th!
Let me begin by saying that a lot of what I post online is whitewashed. By that I mean "made to look cleaner and nicer than it really is". I probably won't change that very much but this particular post is designed to tell more of the truth than usual. That being said, I have had to take time and a little distance to make sure it wasn't one of those ranting posts that are completely one sided and hateful. I do NOT want to be one of those bloggers. I have tried to see mostly good and have managed to see the good in everything, even recent events. However, it has been mentioned that as a leaver-of-Nunvaut and one who hasn't signed a media form (promising not the inform the media of anything, even after my departure), I am in a unique position to inform new recruits about the 'truth' about living and working in the north. So this is my attempt to do that.
Let me first say this: this year has been tough for a lot of reasons. I arrived in Nunavut with a lot weighing on me. I was vaguely aware of how sick my father was and I was worried about him. In October I was informed that if I ever wanted to see him again, I better come ASAP and QSO (the school board I was working for) was extremely generous in granting me special leave to assist me in going to visit him for one last time. Apparently, this type of leave is extremely rare, especially for new Nuanvut teachers. I think I have my principal to thank for his insistance on the need for this leave. I was gone for a little over a week and the day I got back my dog was attacked by another dog and harmed enough that he bled out in 24 hours, internally. A month later my father passed away. On our Christmas break I attended my father's funeral, my mother having held it for my benefit. This year almost broke me emotionally, psychologically and financially (trips out are EXPENSIVE).
So I arrived with my high hopes: I was going to teach in this extreme place, I was going to do well AND I was going to get my Masters of Education degree in three years through a university who offered online MEd degrees. Even though I was going to teach grade 7/8 (which is not a grade I ever did well with), I was going to be able to meet the challenge, even though it was hard. The reality was a little harder to bear than I thought.
The realities are this: often places in Nunavut don't offer internet, even though they say they do. My house didnt have the option of having the internet, no matter how much money I was willing to throw at it. It was just in a bad spot for the Qiniq servers to reach. Also: The schools boards in Nunavut have blocked many useful sites from use, including all social media, all images (Good luck in making those powerpoint presentations at work!), all data sharing (so don't store your resources on SkyDrive or Dropbox!), all video sites (goodbye YouTube science experiments, goodbye all Prezi!) and many others. For someone who had planned on getting their MEd in 'Technology in Education' this was EXTREMELY frustrating, especially since the people that hired me were fully aware of what I was hoping to accomplish. If they had told me, I would have taken the job offer in the NWT instead.
Here is another frustration you should know about in Nunavut: some of the principals in Nunavut think that since they are in the north, they can get away for things that would have ended their careers quickly in the southern provinces. Sexual harrassment, put-downs of their staff, physical altercations between themselves and students as young as kindergarten age, and the lack of support of their staff is common place in some of these schools. I have personally been in the position of witnessing most of the former and have heard stories from teachers who have taught in other places in the north before coming to the village I was teaching in. I was told by my principal that 'almost anyone' could become an administrator because they were so desperate. All it takes is an acceptance into the two week program which is supposed to train principals, and you are fully qualified to run an entire school! I was offered a position on that training program myself and turned it down. I didn't feel that I was going to be able to run a school WELL because I only had 6 years experience as a teacher. How many people have their own ambitions blind them to the realities of their experience, I wonder? I want to add, however, that I am sure there are mostly dedicated, committed principals in most of the schools in the NU but my experience has been that there is some that are not and you should be prepared for the fact that you might have an incompetent one. If that happens, make sure you back up all the things he/she tells you with facts from other sources because often incompetent principals will cover up their inadequacies by blaming their staff.
I have been fortunate, I think, in that I have been able to work with people who were fully committed, and mostly qualified, for their positions. The teachers I have worked with fall into several categories: 1)The old-timers who have been there forever and know the score on absolutely everything. Get on their good side because they are the best resources in the school! In a system where principals are recycled every 2 or 3 years, you need those teachers who have been there for 15 years on your side to let you know how things really are. However, they are hard to get close to because they have been burned several times and are usually a bit cynical. 2)The 'feed the children' teachers. They usually feel as if the only important thing in the community is making sure the children are fed. They often use their own personal resources to accomplish this and are adamant that their goals is the most important one in the school. 3) The "education is key" teachers who feel that the real goal of their experience is providing a top-notch education to the children who would, otherwise, be subject to the constant degradation of their education due to the lure of lowering expectations, rendering the possiblity of higher education completely unattainable. 4) The new teacher from teacher's college: I was this person in my first year. Stars in my eyes, beliefs that didn't match reality at ALL. You can usually find them weeping in the staff room at their breaks (JUST KIDDING). Okay, this is an over generalization. I met one that seeemed quite cynical already because he had already lived in another part of Nunavut. He preached that lowering your expectations would help you cope with the difficult situation of teaching in Nunavut. He told us once whose philosphy that was and from what book but I have forgotten. 5) The "heads down" teacher. The one who keeps their head down, has been there for about 3-5 years and is in survival mode. This doesn't mean they are not doing their job, just that keeping their head down is a coping mechanism and it usually works well.
Aside from me categorizing the teachers I have met, I still stick to the idea that most of us are committed people. So what happens up there? The amusing anecdotes doesn't tell the whole picture, does it? Here will likely be your experience in your first year in the Arctic if you are in an Inuit community (that's my only experience, so I will not speak for the Dene teachers or those of other aboriginal communities):
-You will spend most of your tme frustrated because of the lack of motivation on the part of the students. They will not do homework, they will not show up half the time and some of them will check out entirely of the process and you will wonder why they even come to school at all.
-You will call parents and find out that the apathy is family-wide. So what if their kid doesn't do homework? So what if they are late, or disrespectful, or non-attending. It is either your fault or the fault of another kid in the class. NOT their kid's fault, for sure.
-You will be blamed for most of the problems.
-if you choose to move to Nunavut, any opinions you have will be silenced. I personally received a "cease and desist" email from the union president because of some tweets. Look it up yourself if you are wondering what horrid things I said to warrant such a threat (@justgolda on twitter about November, 2012 time). The truth is that Nunavut government is afraid of criticism and you will not be allowed to express opinions as you would in any southern provinces. Also, if you teach in Nunavik, you can be fired for teaching evolution because your contract expressly forbids it.
-Your principal might not support you AT ALL. Ever. Or even worse, only sometimes and not in any discernable pattern so that you never really know what's going to happen if you send a kid to the office. Will he be punished or rewarded? You have a 30% chance of it being some kind of reprimand.
- You may have your windows broken at night because the kids are frustrated with you or think it's funny to terrorize you at night AND they know there won't be any consequences if they throw rocks at your windows.
- You may have little resources. Textbooks are almost non-existant. Many students in your class will not be able to read, regardless of the level they have managed to attain. YOu will wonder how they got this far. You will conclude that the teachers before you gave up but they probably didn't.
-The principal may not know what is going on. He or she may give you a bad evalutation for no good reaon. Don't take it too much to heart. It's not about competence up here, it's about other things entirely.
-You may not have a great place to live. YOu will most certainly run out of water and not be able to have a shower at some point.
DONT BRING YOUR CHILDREN UP HERE PLEASE!! I did this twice and I have to say this about this issue: Qualluunaat children DO NOT belong in the north! They are treated horribly by daycares and schools and in the community. Very, very few children leave the north unscathed by racism and intolerance.
Here are some stories from my own experience to help you decide whether or not to bring your child north:
The first place I taught in the arctic was in Nunavik. For the most part this community was good for me. It challenged me, I met the challenge and I was pretty happy with how it was going. However, I had brought my 7 year old daughter. The second year we were there she had a first year teacher and things started going badly. She started coming home with bruises and started getting real quiet about everything. Around November it had become really noticable and her claims that she had fallen were starting to sound really hollow. When it all came out it turned out she had being beaten everyday at school by other kids. She was suicidal at 8 years old because her self esteem had been eroded to such a degree that she believed she didn't deserve to live. I got her out of that community within a week for her own safety, both emotional and physical. The principal's first reaction was that she 'deserved it'. I don't know how I stopped myself from punching her, but I did. It took my daughter YEARS of therapy to overcome this experience.
The second experience I had in the north was in Nunavut. My son was 3 years old when we arrived and I figured that since he was younger, we wouldnt have the same problems. He started coming home from daycare in November saying that he hated 'those teachers' and the kids were biting and kicking him. He also came home one day and told me that he was 'white, like popcorn" and showed me that his legs were 'white too'. I was surprised that either he noticed or that someone had pointed it out to him. He was THREE! I didn't think that kids even saw in colour at that age. I still don't really know what happened at that daycare but he wasn't happy there. From what I saw in the school, I wouldn't want him to attend there either. The teachers were committed, caring teachers but they had no support from the administration and their ability to deal with students who were troubled was so limited. That itself would put my child at a disadvantage in school, in my opinion.
PLEASE DONT BRING YOUR CHILDREN UP TO THE ARCTIC!!! The only exception I can think of is if you manage to land yourself a great position in one of the major communities like Yellowknife, Whitehorse or Iqaluit. I have been told that is different.
I recently read a really hateful blog about the place I was supposed to move to, Tianjin, China and it made me sick to my stomach to read it. I really didn't want to be one of the ranters online, whining about a disappointing experience where I expected first world conditions in the north. I didn't. I had high expectations but not, I believe, unrealistic. I only wish to tell you what you are really in for so that you are not surprised when you get there. My experience was unique, everyone's is.
Our next move is going to be a totally different place, China. It was always my goal to move overseas and teach there. It's the reason that I wanted to get my MEd degree, because I wanted to teach overseas and it was better to have a post graduate so I could qualify to get the better jobs. However, I think I'm okay with floating about the world, gaining knowledge about new cultures every few years. If you follow me on justgolda.com, you will hear about my new experiences, untainted by the old one in Nunavut.
If you are up north still, good for you! There were some great people up there and I loved the quiet and the beauty! If you are heading up north, make sure you read everything you can get your hands on, both good and bad, and make your decision based on ALL the information. I know that nothing could have persuaded me from trying it and I am glad I did, just so I can now look back on my life without regrets for cliffs-not-leaped-off and things-not-tried.
Cheers!
Saturday, December 8, 2012
My Saturday without water
I know this is part of the whole culture shock experience but sometimes I just wish things would be NORMAL. Does anyone have days/weeks like that?
I got awoken at 2am this morning by a loud buzzing sound. It sounded like it was coming from the heating system but an hour later, when I flushed the toilet it stopped. So it must be my septic system that was causing the problem. I sat here for an hour, unable to decide what to do with no one to call, having no idea who was the emergency contact for a possible heating problem and I was worried I might succumb to carbon monoxide poisoning so it was a crappy morning.
I think one of the hardest things about moving somewhere new is not knowing what to do if something serious happens. Who do you call? The 'helpful' advice I got on Facebook was to call a plumbing guy. "Of course, I never even considered that. Duh." *rolls eyes* There ARE no heating and plumbing guys here or I would have called them. Sheesh.
It makes me worry for the next place I go. If it's a different country and I have to add a language barrier to the mix, what might happen then? What if one of us gets really sick or something serious happens and I can't get help? Scary stuff. I know I'm resourceful but last night showed me also how vulnerable I could be too.
So the latest news on the front has been this:
I have been talking to a Vancouver recruiting agency about a possible job in Brunei for the next school year. I passed the initial interview and was asked to submit more paperwork. Currently I am waiting to hear from the interviewer in Brunei itself.
I also received a call from a company that manages schools in China and getting a job there is also a possibility. The recruiter from that company only hires BC certified teachers and he called me 2 years ago to set up an interview but I had already accepted a job elsewhere for that year. He said they will definitely have positions next year and I am on the list to be interviewed for them.
It has also been mentioned that if I am interested in becoming an administrator in Nunavut, it wouldn't be a very long road to achieving that goal and I could have an opportunity at the end of this school year to take the administrator's course. That would be an upward movement in my career and it's worth looking in to.
So there are a lot of possibilities on the horizon and I don't quite know which way to go. Another possible option, should there be a spot, is to go back to the school that I liked so much from last year. I would certainly love to teach science there again.
I know I have no control over what happens next but I would very much like to know how this is going to play out! It would be amazing to spend two years in tropical Brunei and I think that is my first choice. I'm stuck a little on the second choice because although I want to teach in another country, I also would like to teach at the school I left last year as well. The principal there was amazing and when I left I felt that I could have learned a lot more from watching her for a longer period of time. I also miss things about that place like being able to run and eat fresh veggies and eggs right from the farm.
Anyway...my water has just been fixed by the housing guy and now I can have a shower and wash my dishes! :) I have waited all day so this is exciting news! Such little things can make you so happy here because the little things are all we have.
Here's some photos for you:
I got awoken at 2am this morning by a loud buzzing sound. It sounded like it was coming from the heating system but an hour later, when I flushed the toilet it stopped. So it must be my septic system that was causing the problem. I sat here for an hour, unable to decide what to do with no one to call, having no idea who was the emergency contact for a possible heating problem and I was worried I might succumb to carbon monoxide poisoning so it was a crappy morning.
I think one of the hardest things about moving somewhere new is not knowing what to do if something serious happens. Who do you call? The 'helpful' advice I got on Facebook was to call a plumbing guy. "Of course, I never even considered that. Duh." *rolls eyes* There ARE no heating and plumbing guys here or I would have called them. Sheesh.
It makes me worry for the next place I go. If it's a different country and I have to add a language barrier to the mix, what might happen then? What if one of us gets really sick or something serious happens and I can't get help? Scary stuff. I know I'm resourceful but last night showed me also how vulnerable I could be too.
So the latest news on the front has been this:
I have been talking to a Vancouver recruiting agency about a possible job in Brunei for the next school year. I passed the initial interview and was asked to submit more paperwork. Currently I am waiting to hear from the interviewer in Brunei itself.
I also received a call from a company that manages schools in China and getting a job there is also a possibility. The recruiter from that company only hires BC certified teachers and he called me 2 years ago to set up an interview but I had already accepted a job elsewhere for that year. He said they will definitely have positions next year and I am on the list to be interviewed for them.
It has also been mentioned that if I am interested in becoming an administrator in Nunavut, it wouldn't be a very long road to achieving that goal and I could have an opportunity at the end of this school year to take the administrator's course. That would be an upward movement in my career and it's worth looking in to.
So there are a lot of possibilities on the horizon and I don't quite know which way to go. Another possible option, should there be a spot, is to go back to the school that I liked so much from last year. I would certainly love to teach science there again.
I know I have no control over what happens next but I would very much like to know how this is going to play out! It would be amazing to spend two years in tropical Brunei and I think that is my first choice. I'm stuck a little on the second choice because although I want to teach in another country, I also would like to teach at the school I left last year as well. The principal there was amazing and when I left I felt that I could have learned a lot more from watching her for a longer period of time. I also miss things about that place like being able to run and eat fresh veggies and eggs right from the farm.
Anyway...my water has just been fixed by the housing guy and now I can have a shower and wash my dishes! :) I have waited all day so this is exciting news! Such little things can make you so happy here because the little things are all we have.
Here's some photos for you:
My son sliding down a hill
Fields of white
Lake Harbour
Sunrise in my backyard
Backyard
The Arctic sky
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Project based life
I was looking over my blog today and realized, much to my embarrassment, that I haven't posted anything in over a month! Terrible blogger that I am, I have many times thought "I just have nothing to say" while excusing myself from writing.
Here is my blog about my projects and how to stave off the boredom of living in a northern place:
First of all, there often isn't much to do. I absolutely do not miss the rat race of having so many things to accomplish in a day that you are never finished but there are days here that are boring. Now I know I live in this amazing place where the land goes on forever but going out on the land by oneself is somewhat dangerous and it is bloody COLD out there. Often my weekends consist of a one shopping trip to our small grocery store and then trying to find things to do at home. To help me pass the time I come up with projects and read ideas about how to become a better person/mom/teacher.
Project 1: I have a guitar which I am trying to learn how to play and my father gifted me a violin before he died that I plan to learn how to play once I get the bow re-haired in my Christmas trip "down south".
Project 2: I have been reading about the evils of wheat from Dr. Davis' "Wheat Belly" book and have decided to change my diet to eliminate wheat just to see if he's right. This takes a bit more planning than if I lived south of here because our food choices are severly limited up here in the north. So I've ordered some of the ingrediants I need to replace the wheat and grains in my diet and will have to wait until my Christmas trip to get the rest of the stuff I need to replace wheat.
Project 3: Exercise. I miss running so much and yet all my efforts to get a treadmill up here have met with failure. However, I did manage to get an elliptical machine and I have purchased some Xbox Zumba games that I have yet to try out. The elliptical is very helpful and I am glad it got up here. I am very unhappy with the 15 pounds that I have gained back since I moved here and haven't been able to run. I am in the process of coming up with a realistic plan for exercise that will help me feel better.
Project 4: This blog (and we know how well THAT'S going).
Project 5: Come January I will be taking two university courses online for my professional development. I recently found out that the teacher's union here will pay up to $2500/year for courses for the teachers in their organization. Why isn't everyone doing this?? We talk about how lucky the kids are to receive free education but some of us aren't appreciating when we get it. So I am taking the courses to become a better teacher and less of a hypocrite. (I have decided on "ESL" and "Tech in Education - part 2)
Project 6: This is my most exciting one yet. I have been applying to interesting jobs overseas and have met with some success so far. I received an email recently asking me if I was interested in apply to a job in Brunei. I applied and did an interview with the recruiting firm in Vancouver and got accepted to their firm! Now I have to wait to see if the Brunei office is interested as well. I should hear by the middle of December, I'm told. So I may be living in a completely different place next year!
I should also mention that I recently was told that if I applied to a teaching leadership program up here to become an administrator in Nunavut, my application would be supported and in a few years I could move from teacher to administrator (Principal or vice-Principal). I have mixed feelings about this: First, it would be a great career move to move upwards into admin and I could change a lot of things I see wrong with the system if I was higher up the food chain. However, my goal was to work here to be able to go overseas so I could experience more of the world and gain a wider perspective on everything. So it's a tough choice. If I chose the admin route I would be 'stuck' up here for a few years, minimum. If I choose the overseas path I would be travelling and teaching but may never really change anything in the profound way I wanted to when I started this teaching career. I'm completely torn.
A word about the title of my blog: There is a lot of talk about project based learning in education and it's seen as the way of the future especially amongst technology-in-education types. However, I wonder at living a project-based life as a way of feeling like you are accomplishing something worthwhile and being happy. Just an idea I'm playing with.
Only 2 and 1/2 weeks to our Xmas trip down south! I cannot wait for a break!
Here is my blog about my projects and how to stave off the boredom of living in a northern place:
First of all, there often isn't much to do. I absolutely do not miss the rat race of having so many things to accomplish in a day that you are never finished but there are days here that are boring. Now I know I live in this amazing place where the land goes on forever but going out on the land by oneself is somewhat dangerous and it is bloody COLD out there. Often my weekends consist of a one shopping trip to our small grocery store and then trying to find things to do at home. To help me pass the time I come up with projects and read ideas about how to become a better person/mom/teacher.
Project 1: I have a guitar which I am trying to learn how to play and my father gifted me a violin before he died that I plan to learn how to play once I get the bow re-haired in my Christmas trip "down south".
Project 2: I have been reading about the evils of wheat from Dr. Davis' "Wheat Belly" book and have decided to change my diet to eliminate wheat just to see if he's right. This takes a bit more planning than if I lived south of here because our food choices are severly limited up here in the north. So I've ordered some of the ingrediants I need to replace the wheat and grains in my diet and will have to wait until my Christmas trip to get the rest of the stuff I need to replace wheat.
Project 3: Exercise. I miss running so much and yet all my efforts to get a treadmill up here have met with failure. However, I did manage to get an elliptical machine and I have purchased some Xbox Zumba games that I have yet to try out. The elliptical is very helpful and I am glad it got up here. I am very unhappy with the 15 pounds that I have gained back since I moved here and haven't been able to run. I am in the process of coming up with a realistic plan for exercise that will help me feel better.
Project 4: This blog (and we know how well THAT'S going).
Project 5: Come January I will be taking two university courses online for my professional development. I recently found out that the teacher's union here will pay up to $2500/year for courses for the teachers in their organization. Why isn't everyone doing this?? We talk about how lucky the kids are to receive free education but some of us aren't appreciating when we get it. So I am taking the courses to become a better teacher and less of a hypocrite. (I have decided on "ESL" and "Tech in Education - part 2)
Project 6: This is my most exciting one yet. I have been applying to interesting jobs overseas and have met with some success so far. I received an email recently asking me if I was interested in apply to a job in Brunei. I applied and did an interview with the recruiting firm in Vancouver and got accepted to their firm! Now I have to wait to see if the Brunei office is interested as well. I should hear by the middle of December, I'm told. So I may be living in a completely different place next year!
I should also mention that I recently was told that if I applied to a teaching leadership program up here to become an administrator in Nunavut, my application would be supported and in a few years I could move from teacher to administrator (Principal or vice-Principal). I have mixed feelings about this: First, it would be a great career move to move upwards into admin and I could change a lot of things I see wrong with the system if I was higher up the food chain. However, my goal was to work here to be able to go overseas so I could experience more of the world and gain a wider perspective on everything. So it's a tough choice. If I chose the admin route I would be 'stuck' up here for a few years, minimum. If I choose the overseas path I would be travelling and teaching but may never really change anything in the profound way I wanted to when I started this teaching career. I'm completely torn.
A word about the title of my blog: There is a lot of talk about project based learning in education and it's seen as the way of the future especially amongst technology-in-education types. However, I wonder at living a project-based life as a way of feeling like you are accomplishing something worthwhile and being happy. Just an idea I'm playing with.
Only 2 and 1/2 weeks to our Xmas trip down south! I cannot wait for a break!
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