Tuesday 28 August 2007

Canadians for a week

We've been here for a week already, and starting to feel more settled. I've started work, which is keeping me busyish as I start to plan for the year ahead with composite classes and new subjects. Working with different curriculum documents means the planning is taking some time, but I hope I will speed up as the week goes by. (More on work later)

Tonight Nath and I spent a few hours enjoying two conversations - firstly with Ross (N's brother) as we had fun getting video calls up and running with windows live messenger. Secondly we a great encouraging conversation whilst trying out a skype video call with our Australian friend Andrew in Houston, Texas.

Nath is getting into pre-reading of the Old Testament before orientation on Friday, which keeps him occupied whilst I'm at work - hopefully he'll jump on and add his two bobs worth sooner or later, until then, you've got me for company! I'm still not 100% certain of all that I am teaching, or how it will work, but I hope to have a timetable by tomorrow, and the students start back on Tuesday (Monday is Labour Day) . There's a link to the school's website on the right of this page. At the moment the definites are 7-9 Maths, 7-9 Science, 10 Maths. Then there will be some subjects which aren't a full subject like PE (Gym), Health & Careers, Business / Technology Studies - I may even be teaching cooking once a week yet!

From what I can tell the school community seems lovely, and I'll find out soon enough I guess. The school is having a BBQ at the end of the first week with all the families. There are 3 yr 7's, 4 yr 8's, 2 yr 9's, 3 yr 10's and 1 yr 12. The seniors do most of their subjects online. There are 17 kids from Kindergarten (Prep) to Yr 3, and 17 from Yr 4-6.

I hear its been raining in Australia - the weather here is mostly okay, the wind is starting to have a chill in it and we need to wear jumpers outside sometimes. But since this is all the summer we are going to get until next June, I'm trying not to be too negative!

On Sunday we visited University Chapel, a church of about 300 ppl, and also the location of my school. The next two Sundays we hope to visit two other churches, 10th Ave Alliance, and University-Town Church, a church plant on campus.

We haven't really met a lot of people yet - besides the ladies that I work with, a few others at a school prayer meeting on Monday night, and Nath met a few Aussies at Regent yesterday (not first yrs), but we have only been here a week. We've appreciate your comments and prayers,

M

Friday 24 August 2007

Sightseeing in a Pontiac

Well, we hired a car to help us get around, especially as we were going to make a few purchases and didn't want to navigate with much lugguge on buses! The student travel agent got us a good deal, and then we were upgraded as there were no small cars left, so we got to drive around in a Pontiac G6 for 3 1/2 days.
Our apartment is looking much more lived in now that the bookcase is near full - partly with farewell cards and photos.
Wednesday night we took advantage of the late sunset (9pm) to check out a local beach.



Thursday, after having a tour of my new school (Westside Christian School), we drove to Grouse Mt. We caught a SkyTram up to the top of the mountain (4100 feet above Vancouver), and saw grizzly bears, an eagle/hawk demonstration, an amusing lumberjack show and a chairlift ride.
Later that night we drove through peak traffic to find IKEA as Mareesa wanted to buy some house stuff. Today (Friday), we went for a wander around Granville Island in the city, which is known for its public markets with fresh produce, deli's and seafood.
Mareesa starts work on Monday, getting ready for the school year, and I am going to start my readings early for college (orientation starts 31 Aug).

Wednesday 22 August 2007

We're here!!






We're in Vancouver, pretty tired, but we are here with all luggage. We are going to try and hire a car as we need to do some shopping and we have a lot to buy, might be too difficult on a bus!
A summary so far!

My carry-on suitcase was 14kg - 2x the recommended weight! Customs pulled me up, and wrote the weight on my ticket, but the air hostess didn't seem to care and we were sent straight through.
10 hrs to Taipei - good aeroplane food, good service, airbus330 has great inflight entertainment!
Plane was a little late, found the hotel transfer easier than expected as we wore a big sticker saying 'mirimar golf country club' or something like that, and were found once we got through customs. After 30 min drive (Taiwan is like a sauna!) we were at a 4 star hotel, very nice, but only had 30mins til the buffet dinner closed.
Could have taken a taxi in to have a look around, but chose to take it easy, with a 40min walk around the 36 hole golf course. A fellow passenger said that it cost about 60 dollars for a taxi to drive her around, show her the town, and take her to the airport (about 3 hrs). Rearranged my suitcase (just in case!) Only had to pay for lunch at airport, as other meals provided.
10 hr flight to Vancouver - old 747 without luxury of the entertainment consoles, but had 3 movies. I didn't really sleep during either flight, but Nathan got an hour or two.
Security in Canada a little more intimidating than Taiwan, with several passport checks. Baggage took a while to come through, and we praise God that immigration wasn't any hassle, not even needing bank details that had caused us some stress on Friday!
Were picked up at the airport by a Regent student called Beth, driven to St Andrew's Hall (receptionist was a bit flustered) but we finally got all 9 pieces of luggage up the elevator to our room - the same as the pictures on their website, maybe a little smaller than I thought. (We have a shower, not a bath). The last tennant left some disposable bowls and a toaster. We purchased some necessities from local shops, walked a little around UBC/Regent, still getting our bearings.
I can't wait to sleep! Even without pillows or a blanket (just sheets). Weather is about 18 degrees, a little humid, but the sun comes out occasionally.
We love you all, and are missing you -although it's easy not to think about that with all the things to do to keep us busy at the moment.

We have done recon for Nathan's family on China airlines as they are making the same trip in January to visit....hence lots of photos of the accomodation stop over

Saturday 18 August 2007

Answers to prayer

With only 1 sleep to go, and Nathan's 10 yr high school reunion tonight, we are getting very excited. This morning I received a phone call from Canada and was offered a part-time job at a Christian school around the corner from our apartment, which I gratefully accepted! Details will be worked out next week when I am there, and I will be teaching middle school Maths/Science/IT to a composite class of 10 students. We also caught up with Nathan's Granny and Grandad in NZ on the phone.
Last night we had a combined Dibben/Cunneen BBQ and family photos, and my Nanna J from Toowoomba came to stay the weekend and see us off at the airport tomorrow morning. We will be arriving at the airport at 7am for an early baggage checkin (we are praying that our suitcases won't be thought too big), for a 10am flight.
Next post: Taipei Airport, Taiwan after a 9hr flight!

Sunday 12 August 2007

1 week to go!

Here is a picture of the front of our house - notice the neat gardens!
Today Grovely Gospel Chapel had a farewell lunch for us. We appreciated the chance to catch up with the people who could make it, share our plans and thank them for their support and fellowship. Grovely has been very generous in their support of Nathan's ministry in particular, and we thank God for them!
Tonight we are having dinner with my sister Beth, her husband Reuben and their daughter Samantha, catching up before next Sunday.
I've also had the chance to talk over the phone to my brother Tim who's at Kapooka in the army, it's been great to catch up with each other's plans.
Tomorrow we will finish getting the house ready for viewing, only needing a little more cleaning work to do. The real estate agent in coming on Tuesday to take some pics of the inside, and take some prospective tenants through. We are fairly confident we have some applications for tenancy be the end of the week. =)

Monday 6 August 2007

Latest update

Well we did find our camera...I'll try to add some pics soon. Less than 2 wks left and while the organisational things seem to be finishing, we are aiming to have everything packed and moved up to mum and dad's at Caboolture this weekend. Tomorrow (Wed) is my last day at Mueller - I'm very thankful for the couple of days work I've had these past few weeks. Nathan finishes up on Friday, and is being taken out for lunch which is pretty nice.
A snapshot of the last week:
  • Sunday we moved to Nath's parents' house at Albany Creek.
  • Tuesday I permanently deleted most of the files from our computer (Yes, I know that as a Computing teacher I should know better).
  • Finished painting our new 4th bedroom.
  • Packed our 4 suitcases with clothes, some books, 1 set of sheets and 2 towels. It's a tight squeeze!

12 sleeps to go! We look forward to catching up with you at our open day next Wednesday 15th.