NOVEMBER in Canada
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WEATHER:
We had our first snowfall on November 1st and a fair bit of rain for the rest of the month. Daylight savings ended and the days seemed so much shorter. The weather started cooling a lot - most days below 10 and many nights below zero. November 17 was a very snowy day and followed it up with minus 19 over night. Very icy conditions for yard duty!!!!! Winter is definitely around the corner. There was some dispute over whether the weather would be milder or the same as the brutal winter we had just experienced. Canadians love to discuss the weather!
CONDO LIVING:
The condo continues to develop. The dentist is almost open, and there are signs that more shops may be opening. The gardens are finished - just as the first snow falls and the parking police are in full force since the signs for no parking have all finally been put in. The building construction has finished, we are glad to say - the noise, dust and continual truck traffic has not been pleasant. Now it is the cosmetic work to be finalised. I wonder if the building shows up on google earth yet - just checked. That's a NO!
SCHOOL NEWS:
My class continue to delight. We have finished our Flat Stanley: Communities project. The kids were all so delighted with their returning flat friends - something they will remember forever. Adam is a great reading helper - the kids just love reading to him each morning and showing him how they are improving. We had parent teacher interviews this month. Quite different from home. All staff are located at tables around the walls of the gym and parents come in and chat. There are rows of chairs in the middle for waiting families. Children are not intentionally part of the interview process. It went quite well, from 3:30 - 9:00pm Thursday and then again on Friday morning [no students at school]. Interesting, it is the same dates for the whole Board district. Curriculum days [PA days] are also always on the same dates throughout Toronto.
DAY TRIPS:
Dowtown - CLEE breakup: We caught the subway downtown and enjoyed a stroll around before eating at the Old Spaghetti Factory and catching up with the other exchange teachers for dinner and lots of chats and reflections of the year, which seems to have just flown by. We went to the basketball game - Toronto Raptors vs. Utah Jazz. Like all the big sports, the hoopla associated with audience participation was entertaining. It was hard to follow as we were sitting up so high and were in the stands reputed for hooning :-) :-). Baseball still remains my favourite of the sports we have been lucky enough to check out this year.
Missassauga Flight Simulator: For Adam's birthday, he was given a flight simulator package. This was awesome. I was allowed to sit in the passenger seat. It was extremely real. We flew over Niagara Falls and I wanted to go back over, thinking it would just take the switch of a button. We had to go through the whole procedure of flight control, turning, holding etc.... Adam can tell you more about the technical details. It was awesome. Because he has his pilot's licence, the training pilot let him go for it. It was a wonderful experience to see Toronto from the sky like that.
OTHER THINGS IN NOVEMBER:
- Adam continued to recover from his appendix, so we rested a fair bit at the start of November. He got the all clear from Dr. Bui mid November.
- Organised a shipping container consignment to get our 'stuff' back to Australia. It should arrive by March :-).
- Newmarket Film Festival - Road Trip to Italy - our last film.
- Loving our visits each week to the York Farmers' Market.
- Dinner with the Newmarket Six to celebrate Adam's birthday. We will miss Bob, Linda, Elaine, Fred, Dave and Linda.
HIGHLIGHTS AND LOWLIGHTS
Missassauga Flight Simulator: For Adam's birthday, he was given a flight simulator package. This was awesome. I was allowed to sit in the passenger seat. It was extremely real. We flew over Niagara Falls and I wanted to go back over, thinking it would just take the switch of a button. We had to go through the whole procedure of flight control, turning, holding etc.... Adam can tell you more about the technical details. It was awesome. Because he has his pilot's licence, the training pilot let him go for it. It was a wonderful experience to see Toronto from the sky like that.
WEEKENDS AWAY:
Fergus: We picked up our rental car on the Friday night and headed over to Fergus [just over an hour away from Richmond Hill]. Staying at the Brew House was great - as Adam said, it was a booze, amuse, cruise and peruse weekend!!!!! It was also very cold, with flurries and a top of 3 degrees. We checked out this area and the neighbouring Elora and the Scottish history - working class in Fergus and artsy in Elora.
Midland/St. Marie of the Hurons: We left school at King City on the Friday night - it was reasonably clear. As we travelled towards Midland and the snow belt, the snow was really coming down and the roads slushy. It was also really, really pretty. With a high of minus 4, it dropped to minus 27 overnight. We were there to visit the First Light festival at Saint Marie of the Hurons. Five minutes after parking the car, there were icicles on the bumper bar!!!!!! The magic of this place begins when we walked along the paths to the entrance - it was aglow with candles and lanterns and this historic site was lit up with a mellow, amber glow. Saint Marie among the Hurons is a 17thC mission and tells the story of the First Nation people over history. We started with the town crier in the hall and a brief talk of the history by a First Nations spokesperson. We followed paths and trails that told the story of campsites and survival of early times. We listened to awesome music, drank mulled wine, ate cookies and watched the traditions such as blacksmiths, fur hunting, and of course, all surrounding the spirit of Christmas.
The next morning we visited the Midland Christmas Parade. It was fun to see the community out supporting the local community groups and cheering on Santa. Just like we celebrate Carols by Candlelights, the local communities here celebrate Santa Parades. Midland was our first one.
Midland/St. Marie of the Hurons: We left school at King City on the Friday night - it was reasonably clear. As we travelled towards Midland and the snow belt, the snow was really coming down and the roads slushy. It was also really, really pretty. With a high of minus 4, it dropped to minus 27 overnight. We were there to visit the First Light festival at Saint Marie of the Hurons. Five minutes after parking the car, there were icicles on the bumper bar!!!!!! The magic of this place begins when we walked along the paths to the entrance - it was aglow with candles and lanterns and this historic site was lit up with a mellow, amber glow. Saint Marie among the Hurons is a 17thC mission and tells the story of the First Nation people over history. We started with the town crier in the hall and a brief talk of the history by a First Nations spokesperson. We followed paths and trails that told the story of campsites and survival of early times. We listened to awesome music, drank mulled wine, ate cookies and watched the traditions such as blacksmiths, fur hunting, and of course, all surrounding the spirit of Christmas.
OTHER THINGS IN NOVEMBER:
- Adam continued to recover from his appendix, so we rested a fair bit at the start of November. He got the all clear from Dr. Bui mid November.
- Organised a shipping container consignment to get our 'stuff' back to Australia. It should arrive by March :-).
- Newmarket Film Festival - Road Trip to Italy - our last film.
- Loving our visits each week to the York Farmers' Market.
- Dinner with the Newmarket Six to celebrate Adam's birthday. We will miss Bob, Linda, Elaine, Fred, Dave and Linda.
HIGHLIGHTS AND LOWLIGHTS
- Leaves on the trees are almost gone
- Snowing, snowing, snowing.
- Recuperating.
- The York Farmer's Market - Laura, Pamela, Dawn, the butchers, Michael, Kate, Luke - we will miss them.
- Wedding anniversary