My time at home has been a blast with the result being some highly lethargic blogging. My bags are partially packed and marginally ready to go. I will have three checked bags. I would feel somewhat sorry for the poor airport employing that discovers my hockey bag weighs 80 pounds by breaking his back, but then I think of thrown and broken luggage. This weight is a result of my books, both for pleasure and teaching, which are lacing the bottom of the bag. The hockey gears itself will be used for the Dalian Expat hockey team. This will be a nice addition of three to five road trips around China! I may actually have people pointing at my hockey skills in an admiring way rather than an amusing way.
In terms of clothing and things to bring I have learned several things. Shoes are a must if your feet are at all large and I have accordingly replaced the required shoes. Clothing could also be hit or miss and is thus another area to come fairly well prepared. However, the possibility of an extremely cheap tailored suit leaves me highly intrigued. I also enjoy the possibility of having a cleaning person for only 20 Yuan. This amounts to approximately four or five Canadian dollars a month. Cleaning when I return to Canada may prove to be rueful. Deodorant, vitamins, and over the counter drugs are also must bring items. The quality and availability of good options in this regard is extremely questionable.
The preparation for teaching has gone to plan. The Moodle website for the school is well organized and my English 11 summer class is ready to go through little work of my own. The school had a prepared course available that required only marginal tinkering by the incoming teachers this summer. My course load for the regular year has been set as well. I will be teaching three blocks of Social Studies 10 in the first term and three blocks of Social Studies 11 in the second term. I will also be teaching a block of English 10 for the year. My preparation in these courses is basically non-existent as my department head recommended waiting until I had arrived to determine the ability of the kids. It is suggested that the grade 10’s will require a slower pace than I am familiar with.
Now we can turn to my feelings and mental state as I prepare to leave. To steal a little Owen Wilson from Armageddon, “I've got that excited scared feeling. It's like 98% excited, 2% scared. Or maybe it's 98% scared, 2% excited. But that's what makes it so intense. It's so confused; I can't really figure it out." I would say it is definitely closer to his former assessment, but nevertheless it is quite a whirlpool of emotions.
Being back on the Island and in the Cowichan Valley has helped settle my thoughts. I love it here, but that being said after a month I am ready to go. There is not that much left for me anyways. Two of my best friends remain here and leaving them will be difficult, but these are friendships that have survived separation and have remained strong. Furthermore, as I will touch on more later, modern communication has made distance a highly trivial thing. It certainly has made the excuse of distance for ending a friendship or losing touch obsolete. I have more connections in Victoria and like my friends in the Cowichan Valley I feel these will remain strong. There may be one or two that will be more difficult to leave. This concern primarily relates to my concern over the future. Unlike my friends in the Cowichan Valley I am not entirely certain these relationships will survive. That being said, I will make my best efforts and with the marvels of modern communication, mostly Skype, unless my efforts are met with apathy there should be no trouble.
I do not see an issue remaining in touch with my family. My mom and I talk more, as we have lived in different provinces, then we ever did while living in the same house. My sister and husband are just about to have my first niece or nephew! I look forward to keeping in touch and returning just in time to be the super cool (or possibly super weird) uncle. Either way that kid is going to be a star! I plan on living vicariously through this child. It will be good practice for my future kid(s). Which apparently will be three daughters, according to my brother. So much for living to 100.
My Nana and Jim deserve a special paragraph. I will also be able to remain in touch with them through Skype. They have marginally mastered this piece of technology. Granted their cell phone is still destined for a museum in a few months. They have graciously let me stay with them the past few years as I moved back between school, practicums, and work. These visits involve me cooking for them and enforcing a normal dinner time (seriously who eats at five). In return for this I basically get to have all the foods I want stocked up. I also get instance laundry service. The suffering is great. A few notes of why it will be sad to leave. Even as I start to feel old at 25, coming here makes me feel young as my Nana and Jim constantly refer to “old” people. Secondly, between my Nana and I we could win jeopardy. My Nana can answer all the old questions and I can answer all the new ones. It is nearly a clean sweep some days!
I will leave it at that for now! Two days. Cheers!
In terms of clothing and things to bring I have learned several things. Shoes are a must if your feet are at all large and I have accordingly replaced the required shoes. Clothing could also be hit or miss and is thus another area to come fairly well prepared. However, the possibility of an extremely cheap tailored suit leaves me highly intrigued. I also enjoy the possibility of having a cleaning person for only 20 Yuan. This amounts to approximately four or five Canadian dollars a month. Cleaning when I return to Canada may prove to be rueful. Deodorant, vitamins, and over the counter drugs are also must bring items. The quality and availability of good options in this regard is extremely questionable.
The preparation for teaching has gone to plan. The Moodle website for the school is well organized and my English 11 summer class is ready to go through little work of my own. The school had a prepared course available that required only marginal tinkering by the incoming teachers this summer. My course load for the regular year has been set as well. I will be teaching three blocks of Social Studies 10 in the first term and three blocks of Social Studies 11 in the second term. I will also be teaching a block of English 10 for the year. My preparation in these courses is basically non-existent as my department head recommended waiting until I had arrived to determine the ability of the kids. It is suggested that the grade 10’s will require a slower pace than I am familiar with.
Now we can turn to my feelings and mental state as I prepare to leave. To steal a little Owen Wilson from Armageddon, “I've got that excited scared feeling. It's like 98% excited, 2% scared. Or maybe it's 98% scared, 2% excited. But that's what makes it so intense. It's so confused; I can't really figure it out." I would say it is definitely closer to his former assessment, but nevertheless it is quite a whirlpool of emotions.
Being back on the Island and in the Cowichan Valley has helped settle my thoughts. I love it here, but that being said after a month I am ready to go. There is not that much left for me anyways. Two of my best friends remain here and leaving them will be difficult, but these are friendships that have survived separation and have remained strong. Furthermore, as I will touch on more later, modern communication has made distance a highly trivial thing. It certainly has made the excuse of distance for ending a friendship or losing touch obsolete. I have more connections in Victoria and like my friends in the Cowichan Valley I feel these will remain strong. There may be one or two that will be more difficult to leave. This concern primarily relates to my concern over the future. Unlike my friends in the Cowichan Valley I am not entirely certain these relationships will survive. That being said, I will make my best efforts and with the marvels of modern communication, mostly Skype, unless my efforts are met with apathy there should be no trouble.
I do not see an issue remaining in touch with my family. My mom and I talk more, as we have lived in different provinces, then we ever did while living in the same house. My sister and husband are just about to have my first niece or nephew! I look forward to keeping in touch and returning just in time to be the super cool (or possibly super weird) uncle. Either way that kid is going to be a star! I plan on living vicariously through this child. It will be good practice for my future kid(s). Which apparently will be three daughters, according to my brother. So much for living to 100.
My Nana and Jim deserve a special paragraph. I will also be able to remain in touch with them through Skype. They have marginally mastered this piece of technology. Granted their cell phone is still destined for a museum in a few months. They have graciously let me stay with them the past few years as I moved back between school, practicums, and work. These visits involve me cooking for them and enforcing a normal dinner time (seriously who eats at five). In return for this I basically get to have all the foods I want stocked up. I also get instance laundry service. The suffering is great. A few notes of why it will be sad to leave. Even as I start to feel old at 25, coming here makes me feel young as my Nana and Jim constantly refer to “old” people. Secondly, between my Nana and I we could win jeopardy. My Nana can answer all the old questions and I can answer all the new ones. It is nearly a clean sweep some days!
I will leave it at that for now! Two days. Cheers!