finally, my own internet connection!

Now that I have my own high speed connection, I'll try to be a little more regular in posting some blogs. This week has gone by very quickly. Officially, I started the job last Tuesday, and we did have lots of teacher meetings and I did get lots accomplished in my classroom and getting myself up to speed on the curriculum offered here. However, we didn't see any students until today, and then only for some introductory stuff. I still have not seen my students in my own classroom. The school here believes in starting the students off slowly, so next week we will take the whole high school group, (about 60, grades 8-12), on a cod fishing hike to the reversing falls on the Sopher River for a day's outing. That's only about a 45 min. hike from town. Then on Tuesday afternoon we will hike across to the other side of the harbour and pick berries for a morning. On Wednesday we will hike about 8km to Sopher Falls to play on the sand bar in the river for awhile and so that the kids get out on the land. Friday morning, we put on a community breakfast at the school and the whole village of about 500 people is invited. Afterwards we will go to visit the parents whom we may not have seen at breakfast in their own homes. It is quite a change from the wham-bam, get 'em into the groove quickly, approach that I am used to in Ontario. In actual fact, I don't really start into serious teaching until Tuesday, Sept. 6, so in spite of our earlier start, we end up in about the same place as Ontario students. I am having a wonderful time. I'm getting out for hikes and jogs as much as I can, and getting to know a few people in the village. I'm going to try to send a couple of pictures now and then I'll try to send some more each time I post an entry. The first picture is of me and the cod fish I caught last week. The second is of the big limestone outcropping across the harbour from which the town gets its name. Kimmi in Inuktitut means heel, and it does look a bit like a human heel. Hope to hear from some of you.
Jim