Laid Off

I got canned last Tuesday.

It wasn't anything that I did wrong. I am actually a pretty good teacher, I think. It's a little complicated and it has something to do with the fact that the "feds" have taken over the teaching of English in Canada and have decided to cut certain programs.

The Manitoba government was doing a great job running the EAL programs but when the feds want to take over, I think there's not much anyone can do.

Tuesday night I had a weird dream. I have not remembered a dream I've had in years. It was Sunday morning and we were going to a mega church in Toronto with Kristen and Andy. It was a 15 minute walk from the parking lot to the church and I was wondering if it was really necessary to go through that much trouble just to go to church.

Wes was with me too. I had suspected that our marriage was over and I knew that we were going to talk the next day but I didn't think anyone knew. As we were walking to the church we met a good friend from Winnipeg who expressed her condolences to us about the break up of our marriage. Kristen and Andy looked at me too with sadness and concern in their eyes. They knew too. I was surprised that everyone seemed to know that a break up was imminent except me.

It was the same with my job. I kind of suspected that I would lose it and when I got to the staff meeting it seemed that everyone knew except me. I was not informed by my supervisor until the staff meeting. Very unprofessional I would say.

I don't need the job for the salary but I realize I need a job to challenge me and keep me connected with my community.

So now I'm back to trying to decide what I want to do. I'm not ready to retire but I want a job that is flexible so I can do some travelling, visit my parents and spend time with my grandkids.

Think I 'm asking for too much?

August 13, 2012

On Tuesday, August 13, we will gather to celebrate the best of times and the worst of times. I thought the worst of times was Wes' collapse on our couch at 10:00 PM and the 6 minutes of chest compressions that I performed on him while various family members watched in horror and disbelief. Watching the paramedics defibrillate him the first time was awful. I turned away every time I heard the word "clear" because I can't describe to you the horror of watching that.

But I think the absolute worst for me was when the doctor explained to me that they wanted to cool his body for 24 hours to give his major organs (the brain specifically) time to rest and heal. At that point I realized that although he was alive, I had no idea what other damage might have been done with him "down" for so long. That was hard.

Those 24 to 36 hours of not knowing if Wes would even survive were both the hardest and the best times of my life. People coming and going all day, dropping off pizza, coffee, snacks, gum; taking over the family room at the ICU; holding Wes' cold hand; visiting with individual people in the hospital room; Eric, Joey and Micah maintaining a nighttime vigil; delicious food in the fridge and the counter when we got home; pride in my children and their significant others; support of sisters; the best olive oil money can buy; laughter mingled with sorrow; people who provided childcare in the middle of the night so family could be at the hospital with me.

All the time not knowing if we'd have Wes back at the end of it. Or if we'd have to make a decision to "pull the plug." Or if we'd have to build a wheelchair ramp in our house. Or if his personality would change...

And then, that morning when he woke up.

"Wes, do you know who I am?"
A look from him that told me, "Are you nuts? Of course I know you."
"Squeeze my hand." And that's what he did. Three times. Hard.

It didn't take long for him to fall asleep again but at that point I knew I had him back.

Evening Class

The first book by Mauve Binchy that I read was called Evening Class. It was classic Mauve, where each chapter was about a different person and you wondered how they were connected. As the title suggests, all of her characters participated in an Italian class.

Ever since, I have thought about taking a class to learn a new language. It was always hard to decide. I thought French might be good because I have some knowledge of that language. When we went to Italy, Wes and I bought a set of CDs that we hoped would teach us Italian(didn't work for us). I wondered if this 50 something brain could handle a language with a different alphabet and decided that it seemed like too much work.

We've been to Central America twice now and each time, I feel so sad that I can't communicate with the people there in their language. In Honduras, there were so many children that I met and it was unfortunate that we could only communicate with grunts and gestures.

So finally, I've decided to learn how to speak Spanish. Wes and I are going as are Rob and Michele and we attended our first class. I am so pumped! I have to be careful because I'm the person in the back row who wants to pump her hand up in the air because she knows the answer. Not that I know the answer but I am so eager, it's a little embarrassing.

There are some interesting people in the class, many of whom already speak at least one other language. Several come from other countries and are hoping to learn Spanish too.

When I sit in the class and when I do my homework (honestly, I'm doing homework!) I feel my brain being stretched. It is a good feeling and good for my aging brain. I also think that by taking a language class, I can understand just a little bit, how my EAL students must feel in my class. It can be pretty overwhelming.

And I'm looking forward to our next trip to South America so that I can try out my new-found language. Lucky me!

Maple Syrup

In my EAL class I'm doing a unit on Canada and tomorrow, we'll be talking about maple syrup. We'll talk about sap, tapping trees, Sugar Maples and all things maple.

So what is this keener teacher doing? I'm going to make waffles and serve them with maple syrup tomorrow. I am so excited!

It's going to be messy and sticky and a little chaotic but it will be such fun!

Signs of Spring

There are a number of people on Facebook who commented on the fact that they could hear and see the geese flying overhead yesterday. A sure sign of spring.

For me, the first sign of spring that warms my heart is...the sound of the sump pump. It is one of the most comforting sounds for me because I know that the snow is melting and the water is not coming into my basement.

Sorry folks. I've lost interest in this blog. Maybe one day I'll resurrect it.

Have I told you about my granddaughter?

She's always looking for fun.She's goofy.
Yes. She smiles. Alot.
And she loves the boys and men in her life.

She's a great big sister too. Photos of little Julia will be coming soon!

What did you learn in school today?

This morning, students were paired up and were told to make small talk on a given topic. We do this most mornings with the EAL students and it gives them a great opportunity to get to know each other a little better and to practise their English. Topics include work, family, shopping, cooking, marriage, children-all the things that many of us chat about.

I was eavesdropping on the marriage conversation between 2 African women today and they were talking about dowries. More specifically, the cows that their husband's families had to give to their fathers. I half jokingly asked how many cows their husbands had to pay for them and one woman said that her husband had to give her father 5 or 6 hundred cows.

That is a lot of cows. Then the other woman said that she was worth 1,000 cows because she had a university education.

This is big business! The women told me that there were negotiations between the 2 families and if an agreement could be made, the marriage would take place. In addition to cows there was gold and other gifts that were given to the bride or her family.

I wonder how many cows Wes' dad would pay for Wes to marry me.

Actually, I'd rather not know.

Travelling

It seems that many of those nearest and dearest to me have been or are currently travelling somewhere interesting.

I'm ready to do the same. So, last night, when Wes and I were out for dinner, we decided that the next trip for us will be this fall, to Croatia. We have friends who are Croatian and Val talks about his beautiful home country, often with tears in his eyes. It's right on the Mediterranean, the weather is mild and there are lots of things to see and do. We'll probably do a biking tour-much like the one we did in Italy 5 years ago and then we'll decide where else we might like to go.

I think we'll try to do some couch surfing while we're there too.

The planning truly is almost as much fun as the actual trip. Any suggestions as to what we should do?

First time out biking today. Oooooooh. It felt so good!

Dragon Bowl

There is a amazing little vegan restaurant in Winnipeg called Mondragon. It's in a funky area of town-the Exchange district. A few weeks ago, one of the chefs came to IFC (the place where Michele works) to demonstrate how to make a popular dish of theirs, the Dragon Bowl. Not only did he demonstrate, he gave us the recipe.

I just had a delicious dragon bowl for lunch today. Yum Yum. I will not post the recipe here as that would be unfair to the people at Mondragon but boy oh boy, am I glad I have it!

I was at Mondragon for lunch one day a few years ago and asked about a recipe. Rather than explain to me what was in the dish, they actually gave me their stained recipe binder and told me that I could copy any recipe I wanted. What a great place! It's not just about the food but it's about the way they live and share in their community.

Yet another reason to love Winnipeg.

Jed's pack is away for a few days. I must confess I was a little worried. The last time they were gone, he didn't eat for 2 days-and if you know Jed, that's pretty unusual. A few weeks ago he did something with some carpet that was for him, very out of the ordinary. I wasn't sure what to expect.

Right now, he's found a patch of sunlight on the (heated) kitchen floor and is behaving in his usual, lazy way.

So, if any of his pack is reading this, don't worry. We're doing just fine.

Having recently finished a TESL course, I am now on the hunt for a job. It won't be too easy because I want part-time, days and those jobs are hard to come by.

For the time being, I volunteer twice a week in a program for immigrant and refugee moms with preschoolers. Teaching these women is a pleasure. Despite the hardships that all of them have experienced in their lives, they are the most positive group of people I have ever worked with.

Spoke with a woman today who told me that her husband was a pharmacist in his homeland and now works at a meat packing plant. I don't understand how Canada encourages skilled people to immigrate and then doesn't allow them to work in their professions. The woman's husband inquired about working as a pharmacist and he was told that he needed to take his schooling all over again. Beginning with the first year.

This same woman (Leke) told me about a time she was at a local hospital, visiting her sister-in-law. Someone was trying to put an IV into her sil's hand and after trying 3 times, the sister-in-law who was in pain and fed up with her nurse asked if Leke could do it. After assuring the nurse that she was well qualified, Leke poked the needle into her sil's hand successfully, first time.

I'm sure administrators and head nurses don't know about this but I think, if I ever find myself in a hospital bed needing an IV, I'd take my chances with Lete.

Enjoy the planning

We have a wedding celebration to plan this summer. Kristen's getting married to the love of her life, Andy.

The best advice I got just after I was engaged some 30+ years ago was from a friend/cousin who was married a year before my engagement. She said, "Enjoy this time of planning." Good advice because wedding planning can be all-consuming. You want everything just right-the dresses, the venue, the flowers, photos. And everything just can't be perfect. And brides especially, can get pretty stressed out about that stuff.

Weddings have become a huge industry. The amount of time and money that can be spent on them is outrageous. And I'm worried about the cheap, judgemental, scroogey (is that a word?) side of me coming out today at the wedding show.

But I will remember the advice Joyce gave to me so many years ago. I will enjoy all the lovely things I see. I will enjoy the fact that my daughter actually wants me to join her and her girlfriends at the show. I will learn, I will get some great ideas and I will enjoy this time. I will ooh and aah at the dresses. I will admire the pots and pans and other kitchen gadgets that I don't need but love to look at.

Maybe I'll even write another post, after the show, to let you know how it went. That would be a record. Two back to back posts.

Tuesday Twelve

What I like about teaching ESL.

1. Walking into the classroom to a chorus of "Hi Teacher! How are you today?" in various accents. They seem genuinely happy to be there and happy to see me.
2. Being the only caucasian in the classroom.
3. I love being stretched and challenged in a new way.
4. Not having to worry about class control.
5. Seeing the "aha!" moment, when something I'm trying to teach is understood.
6. We listened to "Let it Snow" today and one of the vocabulary words I presented was "kiss." One student, in very broken English described how his nephew would greet him with a big kiss and a hug when he would walk in the door. That just warmed my heart.
7. The unit I'm teaching now is about weather. It's so good to see people excited about the snow and cold.
8. I'm using a Smart Board. What a great invention!
9. My practicum teacher, Heather, who is full of encouragement and ideas.
10. I asked one student where she was from and she answered that she is originally from Somalia but lived in Yeoman for a while. She must have quite a story and I'm thrilled to be part of the group that will give her the English skills to share it one day.
11. It doesn't matter what your class is made up of, there is always one or two jokers (usually male). We have them too and they add some great humour to the class.
12. It's cool to see students from so many different countries work so hard to communicate even though their English is very basic. The need to communicate and relate is so very strong.

I am not making this up

I read a quote in a magazine at the salon today. I can't remember it exactly but it went something like this:

"Women are wearing bold, brightly coloured lipsticks as a response to the way men have messed up the economy so badly in the last few years."

Go girls. Let's all buy great lipsticks and show those men.

ESL

I never thought I'd say it but, I'm loving school! Going to university when I was younger was not fun. It was just something I started and felt I had to finish. Stepping onto a university campus for the first time in thirty years, as a student, was a thrill. As I walk around there, I feel like I'm 20 again. There's energy, hope and possibility reflected in the faces around me. What an inspiring place to be.

It's only an 8 week course and I'm just about finished. I'll miss my classmates, 80% of whom are interesting, intelligent and fun people. But I think that teaching English to immigrants and foreign students will be a great challenge and plenty of fun too.

One of my teachers is teaching a class of young mothers, many who are not literate in their first language. Imagine the challenge of teaching people like that! Not only are you teaching them a new language, they are also learning how to read and write for the first time!

In a couple of weeks I start a practicum and then who knows where I'll be after that. No doubt it will be quite an interesting journey for my students and me.

Vote for B*rad!

We just got a flyer in the mail today encouraging us to vote for a certain person who is one of 4 people running for Winnipeg's mayor. There is a list of 19 promises that he will follow through on, should he be elected. I found a few of his points to be particularly interesting:

4. Vacant schools will be used to room the homeless and have separate living accommodations built in them. (Uhhh, will he be building separate living accommodations inside the homeless people?)

12. The city will build low level housing and affordable housing and sell off as many as need be to pay off the debt of the building keeping the remaining ones to house the people and have equity in having hundreds of units built and clear title. (This I copied, word for word. If you can understand this statement, you are smarter than me.)

15. I will remove 20% of traffic lights and synchronize them to move traffic more efficiently.

(I'm not sure how synchronizing traffic lights that have been removed will make traffic more efficient, but then again, I'm no expert. Maybe B*rad knows more than me.)

Fortunately this particular mayor wannabe is not likely to win. I think he might do well to either take grammar lessons or ask someone to edit his material.

I was getting bored of my little blog here partly I think, because I was kind of bored with my life. Not much to talk or write about. You know, same old, same old. But today, as I was reading some of my old posts, I thought that it would be good to keep at it. So today's post will be a summary of what has happened here since the middle of August. If you are the kind of person who finds this extremely boring, just stop reading. It's not for you.

• At the end of August we took our bicycles to Minneapolis with Yvonne and George and spent about 5 days cycling around that great city. I think that if I ever moved to the US I could live in Minneapolis. What a lovely city!
• We also discovered sometime in August that we will be grandparents again. What fun to have another little one around!
• I am taking a course called Teaching English as an Additional Language at the University of Winnipeg. I am loving this course. I love the atmosphere at the U of W, and most of my fellow students are interesting and fun people. Except for ONE. She's crazy but deserves a post of her own. I don't know how someone who is 60 years old can still act as if she's in junior high.
• The family's great. Tim's loving CMU and so is Kristen. Eric is happy with his job and his life as are Ben and Carolyn. I am so proud of and thrilled with my kids. They are great people.
• And...in addition to the little baby who is expected, there will be another person who will be joining our family in an official way. Kristen and Andy are engaged! We're thrilled and so are they.
• Last weekend, we helped to move my folks from the home that they have lived in for 45 years, to a one bedroom apartment. While this is naturally a big adjustment for them, they're mostly very pleased.

The problem with writing a post such as this one is that it is hard to know just how to end it in an interesting and creative way. Hmm.

The end.

Got a date!