On Becoming a Teacher

While perusing through the mass of emails that my inbox netted today, I stumbled across an article written by a young woman who is attending the same module of the teaching program that I graduated from back in 2010 at Simon Fraser University: the Indigenous Perspectives Teacher Education Module (IPTEM). Much of her words resonate with my own beliefs about education--that it needs an overhaul, and that we are all responsible in part for re-invisioning an education system that works for the communities in which we find ourselves.

I'll let you read the article if you're interested before I ramble on a rant that is fuelled more by sleepiness and baked-potato filled tummy than actual in-depth thought. Here's the article. Let me know what you think.

I have lots to say, but I'm going to disentangle my thoughts in a word document that can be read tomorrow before it gets posted.

On another note, we made our own kites today, and they worked wonderfully! I was half-surprised, really, as I seem to be whenever things work out seamlessly. A good way to finish off the Monday of the last week of school!

 Pippa and her Dad flying kites.

Pippa and Liam flying their kites. There wasn't much wind, but 

running was enough to keep them up in the air.

On Wednesday I'm hosting a year-end tea at the community club, where I will hand out some certificates of achievement and plaques to our graduating grade 7s who are off to the high school in Lillooet. I wrote a little speech about the year, and one for the grade 7s farewell, with some parts that people hopefully laugh at. I did make up a list called "Ten Signs that You Live in the Bridge River Valley", and I was laughing at my own ideas, but unfortunately that's never a guarantee since sleep-deprived teachers tend to laugh more easily than the general population.

This weekend was a good one as well. More mountain biking, followed by a big annual party that I was invited to where we played "Redneck Olympics" beside the bonfire late into the night. Events included a cabre toss, which is throwing a log and trying to get it to flip end over end, and rock put, which was throwing a rock as far as one could. It was quite entertaining, and I did pretty well considering it was the first time I have ever actually done either of those things. It also rained up here like it was North Van on Saturday night, but in typical fashion it only lasted an hour, and if you dug the toe of your shoe into the sandy soil it was still bone dry just an inch below the surface.

After work today I finished pulling up wads of grass from what was once a dirt flower bed, but hasn't been tended to since the folks who own the house moved out, almost a decade earlier. The dirt underneath is still fresh and dark--shipped-in dirt, certainly not the kind you could just go and shovel into a pail from the forest up here. I know because I have had my eye out for just such a dirt stash since I moved here in August. Nope. Here it's lava-ash sandy, and I'll probably be in the ground myself before a fallen tree around here will become absorbed into the earth. Not like the rain coast forests, whose moisture disintegrates old logs into dirt in as little as a few years.

I'm making a little garden with some heirloom tomatoes and pepper plants that a friend grew from seeds that she started last year. I'm hoping to start a little greenhouse at the school next year that I will heat with a wood stove in the winter. Gardens are amazing tools for science and math, and I think it's part of my responsibility as a teacher to talk to kids and get them thinking about where their food comes from. There's something immensely satisfying and confidence-booning about growing your own food and then feeding yourself with it. And cooking with kids is another great way to tie in a bunch of social skill practice, team work, time management, and math, without them even realizing it!

A recent hike in Lillooet with my wonderful tomato/pepper growing friends Mindy and Kathleen. I thought the big Douglas Fir tree deserved to be in a picture.

The view from our pre-designated stopping point, "the rocks" that we could see as we edged along the trail through the gap-toothed trees.  Lillooet is in the background, and the muddy river is the "mighty Fraser", filled with effluence from the northern mountains, all the sloughing off of the winter swelling the river cold and murky. Eyeless sturgeon gorge themselves on the ruins of a season in the darkened depths. They are such cool fish, and can live for hundreds of years. Prehistoric fish, relatives of the Jurassic period. I have applied to raft down the entire Fraser River, a three week trip starting in August at the river's birth, Mount Robson in the Rockies, and ending as it reaches the Pacific Ocean in Vancouver. I should find out if I get to go on it this week sometime, so I'll let you know more info if I am part of the ten who will be embarking on the journey. Should be amazing, so wish me luck! Oh okay, if you're just dying to know more check out the link here. Doesn't it sound amazing? It's been exactly 10 years, this September, since I have spent three solid weeks out in the wilderness, and therefore I think I'm past due for a repeat! If not this trip then I have a secondary plan to head out on horses for a few weeks, so it's a win-win. Gosh life is good!

The rain this weekend caused a lot of flooding, and the road up to Tyax Lodge has washed out, meaning tourists have to travel through the Marshall Lake road to get there. There were major forest fires up here in 2007 I believe, and much of the area along the road was burned up, meaning the water just runs off in a slew of muddy debris since there are no thirsty roots to suck it all up. That and the mosquitoes are out with a vengeance. They are tiny buggers, but they swarmed my shoulders as I was climbing to the Carl Creek trail on my mountain bike on Saturday, and my shoulders are now covered with a chicken pock-like blanket of red bumps. Thank goodness they haven't been around much until now!

The darkness is just arriving, and the crickets are out chirping--my cue to scratch out a couple of pages in my journal to empty my brain before sleep. I'm hoping to look through some of my writing to submit some pieces to short story contests and such over the summer. That's a more manageable goal than trying to write an entire novel while holding down a demanding fuller than full time job. I am still working on it though, slowly, day by day, sometimes a little each night before bed, and sometimes I don't tap into an inkling of it for a week or two. No rush though. One thing at a time.

Tomorrow the students and I are off to visit the students in Shalath (at Sk'il' Mountain Community School) for some hip-hop lessons with a pro and some peer-aged social interaction, and then there will just be two more days of school left (with students) and one day of administration before I am freeeeeeeeeeeee...

Almost Summer

My schedule here keeps filling up with amazing opportunities, and I am falling more in love with this place as the weeks pass. It seems that the spring brings the town of Bralorne alive, and I have had no shortage of evening and weekend plans playing rugged par 3 golf, mountain biking, hiking, going to friend’s places for dinner and horseback riding. I feel like I am doing all the activities that I have always wanted while spending more time in the great outdoors than I ever have; living in such a small town has certainly had its challenges, but I am rapidly finding my place in this community and in the mountains here and I am absolutely loving it!

Things at the school have been busy as well! A few weeks ago I hosted a BBQ and School Grounds Clean-Up, which was extremely well attended. It’s a goal of mine for next year to involve the community in the learning and in events at the school, and the turn out at the Clean-Up showed just how many people are in support of our little school. There are about ten kids under five years of age living in the community, so if we can just ensure that the doors stay open then enrollment will be up over the next few years.

Look at all the people who turned out to clean up the schoolyard!

I couple of weeks ago I took the kids out to Lillooet to the Walking with the Smolts event, held along the Frazer River in Lillooet. It was AWESOME! Tons of hands-on learning experiences about the water shed, the importance of maintaining a healthy spawning habitat, and about the life cycle of a salmon and about other inhabitants living in the river and in the area. It fit well with our ecosystems unit in science, and it was great to be with such a small group of kids, because it meant that they stayed more engaged than they probably would have with 25 peers standing crowded around each display.

 Learning about the types of salmon and bottom feeders that live in the water shed habitat.

 Liam holding a snake. There was a snake guy named Ruth there who had a class set of thirty snakes with him! I asked about getting a pet snake for my classroom next year and he is going to get me a rescued snake!!! I've wanted one for years and think the kids up here would love to have one around!

We skipped rocks and dipped our feet in the Fraser River after lunch. We had time to spare because things are much faster with such a small group of kids :)

This past weekend I spent a couple of nights out in the mountains with cowboy Barry and his horses. We each rode a saddle horse and led a couple of packhorses. It was such an amazing experience, although I was certainly glad to have my warm winter sleeping bag and down coat! It’s been FREEZING here! I helped him clean up one of the camps that he uses for guests, and we bucked up some wood that had blown across the trails up to Spruce Lake. I’m learning how to use a chainsaw, which is a good skill to have if one plans on living a rural life. It’s just the start of the busy summer season here, so we were lucky to be the only ones around, other than a couple of mountain bikers who stopped to chat with us at the top. Barry said that some summer days he can pass up to forty mountain bikers and a couple of strings of horses all with the same desire to get away.

Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries very early on in the trip, so I only have a few pictures; luckily these few basically sum up the trip: stunningly beautiful and peaceful.

 Me wearing the chaps Barry leant me, with my saddle horse and pack horse.

Walking through the meadows. It's been so cold here, so the wildflowers are a few weeks late this year.

Looking towards Gun Lake Road, where Barry's ranch is. The view was of the entire valley, except looking the other way there were our horses grazing quietly in the meadow. The flower is a balsam root, one of the first to flower in the spring.

We saw a couple of bears that were eager to get out of our way, and at one point my horse, Tyax, smelled something, and Barry saw a cougar dart across the trail in front of us. Pretty amazing stuff! It was nice to have his dog Bert around at night. It certainly made me feel more comfortable than if I would be camping with just another human being.

In the evenings we fed the horses some oats and turned them out in the meadows to graze. One of them, Molly, wore a bell so that we could hear if she was nearby, and the lead mare, Ellie, was tethered by a long rope to a stake so she wouldn’t stray too far; since she is the leader of the group, the other horses will always stay close. Another horse had to have its front legs placed in hobbles, which is a rope that is kind of wrapped around the legs to prevent the horse from running away. This particular horse has a habit of taking off and last year it resulted in a serious injury to her leg when she was kicked by a horse in another herd. She can still move around well with the hobble, which was my primary concern before witnessing it. She has to hop her front legs forward together and then walks her back legs to catch up, and she does it like a pro!

Today I took my intermediate students in to Lillooet to spend the afternoon at Cayoosh Elementary for their Aboriginal Day festivities. We sampled soap berry smoothy and ice cream, which is whipped soap berry juice frothed with sugar added (delicious!). We also played lahal (pronounced as it sounds, la-hal), which the kids weren't that keen on but I thoroughly enjoyed. It's an aboriginal guessing/gambling game with drums and singing led by my roommate from when I was living in Lillooet who now lives elsewhere. We made sage bundles, carved soap stone, beaded necklaces and key chains, and the kids and I caught up with the students and teachers we have come to know over the past couple of years.

 Sampling the salmon cooked over a fire, as well as wind-dried salmon which is a traditional method of preparation in Lillooet and Lytton, where a hot summer wind blows the racks of salmon along the river dry in a matter of hours. 

Liam and his soapberry smoothy moustache.

It's hard to believe that the year is over next week! We have come so far as a little school family, and being out on the field trip today made me think of just how close I have become with all these kids. I really am going to miss them, and even though that say "yeah right" when I say it aloud to them, I know in their hearts they know it's true, because I'm sure they are going to miss me too... at least a little bit :)

Mules and Shalath Trip

It's been a while—longer than I like to leave between posts—but the beautiful weather has had me outside late into the evenings, and sitting at my computer just isn't as enticing as it is on a dark winter's night.

I’ve been mountain biking every couple of days, and have the bruises to prove it, but I am noticing myself improving slowly with my balance and skill at maneuvering over tricky obstacles.

I’ve also been riding with Barry and his horses each week on Friday afternoons and sometimes on the weekends. Last week we had a run-in with some mules that escaped and followed us down the road. It was quite a fiasco to get them rounded up again. There were three of them, two of whom jumped over a low point in the fence as they followed our horses while we were riding alongside the fence. The third mule we locked up in a part of the yard with a higher fence, and luckily the other two came back to get her and Barry got them into the field the next morning.

A mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey, and they are sterile. Barry was saying that they are exceptionally smart, have tough hooves and can survive on much less food than a horse, and can keep working into their 40s, making them an ideal animal for packing in the bush. Their smarts can make them a bit of a hassle, though, as we found out. The mule that was left kept calling for her friends to come back for her, which I found supremely amusing: part whinny, part hee-haw. Hilarious! If only I had my camera to get the whole thing on video.

Things at the school have been BUSY, as they always seem to be in May and June. A couple of weeks ago I took the kids out to visit Sk’il’ Mountain Community School in Shalath, about 75 kilometers away, among other trips out. We hung out with Mr. K and his grade 5/6/7 class. They took us on a hike to a beautiful waterfall and we got to see the spring flowers in bloom. At the top of the hike we saw where the water is piped from Carpenter Lake through the mountain to the power generators below. Carpenter Lake is the gigantic lake that is cupped in the bridge river valley by a dam that I believe was built in the 50s. The Bridge River is called this because there used to be over 25 bridges over the river that travelers to the area would have to cross to get to Gold Bridge. Now the vast valley is a large reservoir that the snaking highway 40 follows for 45 minutes, and water from the reservoir is pumped through the mountain before generating power and spewing out into Anderson Lake. Apparently the power from this plant used to supply 25 % of the electrical energy to power Vancouver.

My flower book is at the school, and unfortunately I forget the names of these beautiful things. There are SO MANY wildflowers in this part of BC. It's amazing to watch them all come into bloom: orchids, lilies, wild roses, balsam root. More flower pictures to come!

Students at the water fall.

The water that is pumped through Mission Mountain. You can see the power plant--the small grey building at the bottom of the green tubes--and where the water feeds back into the Anderson Lake.

Gold Bridge students and Sk'il' kids pose for a picture.

I’ll post some more pictures and info about the other exciting events that have been happening up here with the little school when I get the chance, but for now I’m off for another ride in the hills.

Spruce Lake Mountain Bike

Saturday. Get up, get dressed and wait for a friend's pick up to pull into my driveway to take us to the start of the trail up to Spruce Lake. I had never been there before, but the local guys that I go ski touring with are avid mountain bikers and asked if I would like to join them on a full day ride. Yes please!

It took us about seven hours round trip, peddling and pushing our bikes up the mountain, stopping in the fields that will be ripe with wildflower in the coming weeks, walking through snow at the top to look at the lake and then riding downhill. I even went swimming! Apparently there was ice on the lake last weekend, but I love swimming in cold water and couldn't resist the urge to dip in after all the uphill riding. It was like an instant full-body ice pack, and if the entry into the lake wasn't so marshy (the snow was deep, so we didn't feel like trudging through it for another thirty minutes to get me better swimming access) I would have jumped in again!

Spruce Lake. There are a couple of cabins on the opposite shore. When the snow is off the trail at the top it will be easier to bike around and get a better view of the lake.

Grizzly tracks that were in the mud and snow up the trail. This picture doesn't really do the print justice. The paw print was about six inches across!

The ride was awesome, although I had a couple of very minor wipe-outs (I was busy looking around at the scenery and rode off the single-track trail once, among other things). I walked some of the trickier stuff as well, which is common practice for me as a new biker. My thinking is that I have two legs that work great, and I love hiking, so why not use my feet instead of risking life and limb to ride over obstacles I am not comfortable with.

 Looking down the trail on the ride downhill.

Looking up the trail.

I was more interested in taking in the scenery with my own eyes rather than snapping pictures, but I did manage to take a couple of shots during the ride. I'll be up here again, I'm sure, when the wildflowers are out in full bloom, and I'll certainly be stopping for more pictures then.

Here's an action shot of me looking all pro while riding through a criver (creek/river). What you don't see is me putting my foot down to re-soaker it right after this pic was taken. I had soakers for most of the ride after a double foot dip in the first criver we crossed. It was actually refreshing to have wet feet all day, because the sun was shining and it was HOT!

Walking, Biking, Fire

Last night the rain came, just a faint shadow hovering momentarily over the town, but it seems it was enough to keep everyone inside. It rains so rarely here that when it does people seem to take the cue to curl up with a tea and a good book. When the dusting of drops feathered their fingers elsewhere I collected Sanford and we went out for a walk along highway 40 towards Bralorne. There was not a single car that passed us—just the sound of the wind flickering through the gentle leaves of the aptly named trembling aspen trees that line the highway. At one point it was so quiet that I heard a car door slam from the town below the switch-backed highway, and when I looked I saw Darlene’s white van driving home from dinner at Jean and Bob’s place. It’s funny to know all the cars around here, and to assume, usually correctly, where they are going or coming from. We are creatures of routine after all, perhaps more so after decades living in a place like this instead of the city, as there are not constantly new activities to snap us out of our daily comforts.

On Tuesday Sanford and I went out hiking for two and a half hours. I like to travel to new places when I walk, and after wandering one of our usual routes we found a path not traveled, and took it. It was a busy day at work on Tuesday, with an event for parents and preschooler children at the school that taught parents about early literacy and learning while the school kids and I helped the little ones make crafts and play outside. It was awesome to have the preschool community at the school, and I’m hoping to make it a more regular occurrence next year. There’s nothing like being a “big buddy” to help kids build confidence and their social responsibility skills.

But I digress – back to the walk, where I saw bobcat tracks snaking up the lava ash sand, softly punctuating the edges of the usual moose and deer tracks. At one point we came across a garbage bag with a tiny deer hoof sticking out from the top of it, probably a fetus that was found inside the mother. It smelled bad, but not as bad as it will a week or two from now. Probably someone up hunting in the spring without a license. There are no police stations up here, and conservation officers are also a rare sight, making it easy for people to disregard the laws about hunting way out in the bush where they imagine no one is watching. It's interesting to live in a place that is self-policed, and to notice what people think is "okay" here that they would never consider doing elsewhere. Drinking and driving can at times be a big problem here, although I think that someone who does it here would be just as likely to do it in the city anyway.

On Wednesday I went on the Wednesday night mountain bike ride, which happens every Wednesday until the first snowfall. The location of the ride – Bralorne or Gun Lake – alternates each week, and locals meet in a designated spot at 5:30 to hit the local trails for a couple of hours before having an after-bike beer and sometimes a BBQ at someone’s place. I’m feeling more confident with my balance on my bike, and each time I go out I notice myself improving. It’s fun to be a beginner in this sense, because the improvements are enough to be noticeable from week-to-week. I think it’s good for the kids to see me out trying something new as well, with the bruises and scrapes to show that I do fall, but I keep getting up and back in the saddle. It’s a great analogy when teaching kids about their own strengths and stretches.

View from the Wednesday Night Ride

We had our first forest fire of the season on the outskirts of town a couple of weeks ago. Someone lit a brush fire that they didn't keep a diligent eye on and it got out of control and burned seven hectares of forest and a bunch of uninsured snowmobiles and old cars. The guy who owned the property had sold off a parcel of land to a friend, who started the fire. The guy who used to own the property lost all of the toys mentioned above, but when I saw him at the grocery store in Lillooet he was in good spirits about the whole incident. "Still got my house," he said, "and all I really lost was just stuff after all." 

Picture of the fire still smouldering on my drive back to Gold Bridge from camping.

There were a group of First Nations fire fighters staying in the hotel below my yard for a couple of weeks, and each night the clink of horseshoe games and lagging laughter would waft through my windows while I cooked supper. They are gone now, and the fire is out, but it's good to remember how quickly a small fire can become uncontrollable. In April I took a "Fire Safety and Suppression" course put on by the forestry department. It taught us all about pump systems, fire behaviour and how to operate a fire hose and pump system, as us locals are the first ones on the scene when a forest fire happens up here. 

I held a fire hose that was operating with pressure from two pumps, and the power of the spraying water was so forceful that I had to angle my body and lean on the hose to keep it spraying forward. All I kept thinking was "don't let go, don't let go." I used to play "snake" with the garden hose as a kid, letting go of it as the water bucked the hose back and forth across the front lawn. I certainly didn't want to see what kind of snake would be unleashed if I let go of a fire hose that was so thick that I could barely wrap both hands around its skin! It gave me a deep respect for the fire crews who have to handle such things for days at a time with minimal rest.

This

is part of my yard.

where I sit in the morning and watch the birds bathe in the pond.

This is the side table I just rolled from the log pile at the front of the house.

Living here demands innovation. You can't just go out to IKEA every time you need something. I think city living makes us forget just how smart and creative we can be, because buying what we need is so easy to do. Out here I'm figuring out just how much can be made with wood and duct tape.

This is me.

This is one of the flock of wild canaries that were in my yard all morning, along with half a dozen other kinds of birds that look amazingly cool and colourful, and sing beautifully. I'm becoming a bird-watcher. Certainly didn't see that hobby coming!

This are a couple of humming birds at the feeder at the school. We have so many "customers" (as Liam calls them) that we have to refill the feeder daily. They swarm around in hordes, tweeting and splaying their tail feathers at each other. It's so much fun to watch! Stay tuned for a video of these little guys made by the students.

And as always I have much more to say, but I'm off to go for a horseback ride in the hills. Life is tough :)

Levette Lake

Sometimes talking about my experiences up here makes me realize just how unique my situation is, now that I'm living on my own in a tiny town in the mountains, running a one-room school. It is astounding how quickly a reality, however far from what we once knew, can become commonplace. Spending most of my time up here with other people who live a similar reality makes me forget that most of the rest of the world does not live like this. Up here I live in isolation in a sense, but because of the small population, and because of my role as an educator, I have become an influential part of a tight-knit community. I know the people who live up here more intimately than I would ever have known even my own neighbours in the city. I know what kind of cars they drive, know what their hobbies are, know who is related to whom. I hear things about people, both positive and negative, and people must hear things about me (there was a rumour that I was a lesbian for a while because I am a single woman living on her own); I choose to believe only what I hear first-hand, but I practiced this before I moved out this way, and I think it has served to keep me well out of the small-town dramatics. Living here one can soon forget that there is an outside world, and this can make petty differences stand out more starkly without the buffer that an over-abundance of anonymous strangers provide. It can also make the positive things people do stand out like raindrops in a spider's web.

Leading these meandering thoughts was my weekend out camping with my North Van friends, many of whom I have not seen in years. It was nice to catch up with people, and in doing so I was reminded of just how “crazy” and unusual my whole life may seem. Living in a town of 43, running a one-room school. Yup. I’ve certainly never been one to choose the well-traveled path, and this is no exception.

It was great to see some of the friends that I grew up with. I was craving a little dose of long-term friend love, and I have honestly never laughed so hard for so many hours in my life! At times we were crying we were laughing so hard, and all this laughter in the place I love most: the great outdoors. There were about twenty of us all together camping at Levett Lake in the Paradise Valley (Squamish). I was acutely aware of the differences between the costal rainforest climate in which we were camping and the dryer more interior climate of Gold Bridge and Lillooet. Living in different places is good for noticing things like this that you otherwise wouldn’t if you just stayed put for most of your life.

The roots of the old-growth trees splayed out below our feet creating a trampoline of fallen pine needles. It was easy to get lost in the woods because the canopy of tall trees blocked the sunlight from hitting the forest floor, meaning that there was not much growing at walking-level. There were also these huge grey boulders scattered everywhere, and hundreds of years of needle pile-up and thick moss was growing overtop of them, allowing us to scamper up hills, imagining that one day the rocks would be completely buried under a laver of dirt.

The water was spring-fed, and warm enough for multiple swims on Saturday while the weather was nice. I had an awesome time walking out on a huge log that was hanging about ten feet over the lake. I tried to walk right to the end, but the log bounced and shook so hard that with just a foot of log space left I ended up flicking off into the water below. It was my best friend’s 30^th birthday, and what a way to spend it.

This week is another busy one, with some mountain biking happening as well as some time in the garden and a day or two of horseback riding. I’m planning on spending this coming weekend here, which will be AMAZING since I have been going out on ridiculously long drives every weekend so far this month!

I found out this week that I got the job as the teacher here again next year, which is great. I already know and am loving the community here, I know my students, know what the job entails, and have an amazing house to continue to live in, so I am happy to stick it out until the teacher who will be taking an extended maternity leave decides to return. Sure, it hasn’t been the easiest posting, but I made it through the cold winter months and am making the most of my time up here. I feel like there is just too much exploring to do around here before I am ready to move on, so I’m sticking around as long as I can.

Hope you all had a wonderful long weekend as well!