Canada

The biggest project of all in 2007 has been to prepare for a year in Canada. We decided in 2006 to apply for a teacher exchange and spent much of the year going through the numerous applications and preparations. We secured an exchange with the Artymko family from Barry’s Bay in Ontario. Barry’s Bay is a rural community of 1200 people in timber and cottage country in the Madawaska Valley, 2 hours east of Ottawa and 4 hours north east of Toronto. St John Bosco School is a Kinder to Grade 8 Elementary School so all of us will beat the same place and we’ll get to have Nic with us for an extra year. We are all a little nervous about leaving everything we know behind but also very excited about the opportunities and experiences that await us. We leave just before Christmas and spend nine days in Los Angeles before heading off to Toronto. There we’ll stay with Baba’s cousin, buy a vehicle and head up for the frigid climes of Barry’s Bay where it’s sometimes warmer in the freezer than it is outside the house! The weather channel on the internet informs us that it gets below minus 35 on the odd occasion (before wind chill is factored)! We are, however, looking forward to the unique winter activities that only such a place can offer. Mar is looking forward to skating on a frozen lake, I’m looking to try ice fishing and dog sledding while the kids are keen to make snowmen, go skiing, skating and make snow angels. God willing, we’ll do all this and much more.