More darkness, more cold, more everything

Soooo... there has been nothing much besides silence on this blog lately. That's because there has been a multitude of activity in my life: my ever-changing dayjob mornings, my whirlwind afternoons in 5 different classrooms each day, plus my other two jobs I keep on showing up at just in case I become sane. I would like to blog. I would like to call friends back home. I would like to do many things I don't have time to do, because I'm trying to be an okay teacher and an okay human being, all at the same time.

And I'm trying to do this with ever lessening sunlight to guide my path; since the time change on Sunday, the sun sets at around 3:00 and the days are only getting shorter. Monday, it was minus 30 with the windchill, and days with single-digit negative temperatures may be behind me for a while.

Luckily, I got my winter boots in the mail on Friday. They are big and puffy and warm and use a drawstring instead of laces, which is brilliant. I also got a thermos which keeps the coffee from my stovetop espresso maker piping hot all morning, even after the chilly walk to work. These are the simple pleasures I cling to amid the cold and dark. That, and I get a long weekend in 3 days.

Here's a view of the early twilight outside my window:

increasing darkness, snow, and children

My week has been a hectic one. I started a new job on Monday, which I almost didn't start due to a police-check mix-up. My afternoons consist of a whirlwind of visiting classrooms with children who, at their worst moments, have climbed on top of their desks, climbed under their teacher's desk, sworn at me, worn laundry hampers on their head, and hit me in the face with said laundry hamper. Having said all that, mostly things have been going really well. Honest. I haven't planned any serious work yet, so we've mostly just played math-related games. Hopefully I can continue being the guy who visits the inuktitut classrooms and does fun stuff, with an increasingly focused plan to teach a full slate of math and English skills.

Hopefully, I will be able to keep a positive outlook as it gets dark earlier and earlier. It's already looking pretty gloomy by 5pm. I'm told we lose 50 minutes of daily light each week.

Also, it appears as though the snow has settled in as a long-term resident. My blog header shows the view from my window from a few days ago. My big red parka has became my new companion. Photos of me hidden behind my furry hood to follow.