Winter Concert and a Christmas countdown... - Winnipeg, Canada
Winnipeg, Canada
In the last month I would spend in Winnipeg, I'm pretty sure I managed to pack in more activities, work and social events than the previous 11 combined, a slight exaggeration perhaps, but it sure felt like I had by the end of it!
We had our Winter Concert, there were dinners, outings, a field trip, parties, more dinners, last visits to my favourite places and people, a musical, a rescue mission for my South Australian drivers licence, movies...well, you get the idea, I'll let the photos tell that part of the story, while I attempt to fill in the gaps here.
On December 1st I had all the joy and fun of decorating my first Christmas tree, or 'trimming' it, as they say sometimes over here, at my friend Jennifer's. We had a delicious roast dinner, and I had the chance to meet her lovely mum, and see Jen's daughter and her partner again. Chris just happens to be a South Aussie Dana met when Jen was on a teaching exchange in Adelaide in 2010. It was kinda cool, and weird, to hear a South Australian voice again, and I really noticed the accent after not hearing one for quite a while, apart from my own family and friends. Jen had so many Aussie animal tree decorations from her time there, it was great! Of course, it had already been snowing on and off for several weeks by then, so it was the perfect start to start the month with the lead up to Christmas.
School continued apace, we'd just finished parent interviews, and suddenly the Winter Concert was looming fast, scheduled for the 6th of December, and we were rehearsing frantically for that for days. I'd chosen a classic "All I Want For Christmas", before I realized it was the music teacher who organized a song for each class to sing. Barb, however, was very enthusiastic and accommodating, and was happy for the kids to do both. Poor kids, more rehearsal! Still, they didn't seem to mind, and they helped me choreograph some awesome dance moves and ways to act out the lyrics of the first song. Of course Ben the puppet had to be involved! The whole school had several rehearsals in the days before the concert, I was worried the kids would be so over it by the time it came to actually perform for an audience, but they were troopers. Sandra had a great idea for the stage backdrop, I drew it across 20 feet, and with some help from Faye and Melinda, we had it all painted in time. I thought it looked pretty fabulous, especially with the paper cranes the kids had folded serving as stars in the sky. The big day came, and we had two shows to perform, one at 1:30 in the afternoon, the evening one at 6:30. It was wonderful, we had a packed gym at night, standing room only at the back. I'd pushed the kids pretty hard during our last rehearsal that morning, and went all 'stage mom' on them when they gave what I knew was a pretty lack lustre performance. After that they pulled out all the stops and made me feel (and more importantly, themselves) proud. I really have some talented kids in that class, especially singers. Everyone's classes performances was brilliant, and we could see it had been worth all the hard work. I was totally surprised when I was called up on stage at the end of the concert and given the most beautiful arrangement of flowers, thankfully I couldn't really see any faces in the audience, because I was nervous, but managed to pull off a heartfelt thank you which I can't really remember much of, but it was an unforgettable moment, to add to so many this year, and I was very grateful for all Prairie Rose had done for me. I brought Timmy's donuts in the next day to thank all the kids for their hard work, nothing like a sugar rush to start the day...( I gave them out just before recess, I'm not stupid!)
My colleague and friend Anna had been wanting to organise a dinner at the newly reopened 360 restaurant downtown, and we met up with my wonderful EAs from this school year and last, Sharon, Stacey, Candace and Mary Anne, for a fun and hilarious girls night out, with amazing views of Winnipeg at night, 23 floors below us, while rotating. If you went to the washroom you may have found your table had moved, which a couple of us found a bit disconcerting! Also, we found out that Candace and Mary Anne weren't crazy about heights, or external glass elevators for that matter, so that made things even more entertaining, at least for the rest of us! I was given a beautiful gift of a bracelet with a charm from each of them, and also from Lorri, who unfortunately hadn't been able to make it. So spoilt this year I can't even begin to tell you. It was bitterly cold dashing back to the car, winter was truly here, even if it wasn't supposed to officially arrive until December 21st.
Sandra Taylor, my friend who works next door, invited me to several events this month, and the first of these was a production of Godspell at her local church. Thank goodness she came to pick me up, because the roads and weather that night were pretty gruesome, and I'm sure I'd have come to grief if I'd driven there on my all season tyres. Even Sandra's sturdy car was slipping and sliding at times on winter ones, and on the way home the windscreen kept icing up so badly she had to get out and scrape some of it off so she could see to drive! I think Winnipeg must have some of the best and worst drivers in the country, if not on the planet, when it comes to driving in these kind of conditions. Thankfully Sandra falls into the former category, and we arrived at my place in one piece. Along with funeral directors, I think crash repair people must have the most secure jobs in the city! Anyway, the musical itself was fantastic, all local church members, with excellent singing voices. It's an amazing church, absolutely massive, built in a converted former warehouse, and could seat well over a thousand in their main auditorium.
The next evening I had a dinner booked with more lovely friends, Quon and Barb Hum, at the Chinese Kum Koon Garden of course! This time it was dishes shared, not Dim Sum, and the food and company was wonderful as always. They insisted on paying for everything, I'm still not used to that, and I know it's not gracious to protest, when they really want to shout you. So many friends I wanted to spend time with, and I was running out of time in which to do it.
Meanwhile, back at school the next day, every class was loaded onto buses for a field trip to a local High School called Tec Voc. It had all been booked and organised by Andy Young, the grade 2/3 teacher. Which I was grateful for, as I hadn't taking the time to do any field trip with the kids this last few months. It was to see a production of Dickens 'A Christmas Carol' by the drama students, and while it may have been a bit above some of the younger children at times, they had smartly worked in some audience participation which helped keep the kids involved during some of the wordier scenes.
After another busy week at school, we ended the second to last week with the staff Christmas Dinner, held at Rachelle and Hugh's lovely home not far from work. Lorri and the social committee had done a great job of sorting out all the details and ordering in delicious pastas from an Italian restaurant, and those of us who were able to come had the chance to relax and chill out, which we badly needed by that stage! Rachelle is a decorator extraordinaire, she had a gorgeous table setting, and a Christmas tree with the most beautiful decorations, including many that sang a tune, turns out she's a Disnerd (Disney Nerd, for you non nerds out there) as well, ha ha!
That weekend was my final one with my car, so I enjoyed the chance to drive across the city to Sandra's sons school, who had this amazing living display of scenes from the nativity. Their entire gym had been transformed into Herods palace, Bethlehem's marketplace, the Jewish temple, the inn, the stable and the shepherds in the fields, complete with the church choir dressed as angels and somehow housed halfway up the wall of the gym! It was incredible. Thousands of people flock to see this spectacle each year, and it's not hard to see why. After a guide had shown us through, we had a chance to hear about the real gift Christmas is all about, and after this hot drinks and delicious home baked snacks were offered (I was told by one of the organizers that they had over 100 volunteers who baked for the event.)
After this, I farewelled Sandra, her hubby Kelly, brother Ron and son Sammy, and decided I still had time to make a quick final visit to one of my favourite places in Winnipeg this year, The Forks markets. It always looks beautiful covered in snow, and no matter how bitterly cold it may be outside, the smell of hot coffee, chocolate, spices and fresh bread as soon as you walk in soon cures that problem. One final visit to one of my favourite shops there, the Hartford Candle Company, and the Tall Grass Prairie Bakery to pick up some dessert to take to Jennifer's that evening, and I was on the road once again. Jen's place isn't too far away, and we enjoyed another yummy dinner before we settled down to another...you guessed it...Chuckathon, yay! We just can't get enough of this show, so thank goodness they made 91 episodes, (not that anyone's counting) because I'll be sad to come to the end of it.
The next day was the first one in more than a week when I didn't have anything booked to go to, nor anyone booked to come over, so it was time to relax and chill out at home, if you can call baking several hundred Christmas cookies and starting to tidy up and sort things out relaxing! I was so tired, but happy I'd had the chance to spend so much time with friends who I had idea when, or if, I'd be seeing them again. I had one week of work left, and once again it was due to be crazy busy, so I slept the sleep of the socially exhausted that night.
It continued to grow colder, and the end of the year was fast rushing towards us. I was determined to try and finish off things, so as not to leave Carla with too many loose ends, but also wind things down in the last week, because we'd all worked hard for the last four months, and everyone was feeling tired and ready for a holiday. The kids surprised me with a thank you cake on the final Monday. One of the lovely moms who works at our school, and whose older daughter I taught last year, brought it in, telling me that it was for her daughters' (the one I'm teaching this year) birthday, which had been Friday the week before. Upon opening it, however, I found "Thank You Ms Rose" piped on top, awwwh, you guys! Such a lovely thing to do, I was touched, and they had not breathed a hint of it, nor of the wonderful goodbye letters they had been secretly writing for the past couple weeks, which were presented to me at our class party that Thursday. I love my kids!
Tuesday night saw Stacey, Sharon, Candace and Mary Anne and I meet up for one last dinner together, and we chose Boston Pizza next to Polo Park, as Stacey, Sharon and I went to see the film "The Book Thief" afterwards. I still haven't had time to read the book, which I downloaded over a year ago, but the story line, acting and production were all incredible, with a Canadian girl playing the main role. I'll be surprised if there are no Oscar or Golden Globe nominations for this one, I've rated it right up there with Forrest Gump and The Shawshank Redemption as a must see.
The following night I had organized to meet up with Tracey Pierce at the nearest Costco superstore, to buy final supplies for the farewell party I'd planned that Sunday. Tracey had offered to take me on several occasions, but I'd always been busy or had something on...what an incredible store! It's like a massive warehouse, but also a supermarket, where everything comes in bulk sizes, or greatly discounted, or both! Everything from clothing to household goods, books, kids toys and groceries galore. It was amazing. You have to pay $55 a year for membership, so using Tracey's card I was able to avoid that. Yet another example of her generous heart. We had one of the famed hotdogs after trawling the aisles. I only managed to embarrass myself once by wandering off with some strangers trolley, thinking it was one of ours! Thankfully he was really nice about it, and didn't think I was deliberately trying to steal it, merely tapping me on the shoulder halfway down the aisle and saying to me "Are you sure you want that trolley?' I then looked down and realized nothing in it was what we'd chosen, ha ha, doh! It gave all of us a good laugh, even if it was at my expense. Loaded with goodies, Janis (who had come along to scout out desserts for the party, which she and Monica were generously providing) and I headed for the car in the freezing cold and another evening was over.
Thursday night Christi and I had a return visit to Steve's Bistro booked, where we'd dined for my birthday way back in April. It's a lovely place, and it was a nice way to relax the night before my last day at school, which in some ways I wasn't looking forward to, with lots of last moments that had to be faced.
The last day of school went so quickly, it seemed there was not going to be time to finish tidying up everything so I could leave it the way I wanted to for Carla, but hopefully I did manage it. Most of the kids were ok, knowing that we'd be meeting up at the movies the next day. I'd organized several weeks ago to take them to see Disney's latest offering, Frozen, and most of them were coming. Which is amazing considering the busy time of year, and parents not having a whole lot of money to spare. Some I had to say good bye to that day, so I felt sad about that. Mostly, however, I felt grateful that I'd had the chance to work with and meet so many wonderful people here this year, of all ages. I decided I was going to feel happy and grateful that I'd had the chance to be here, and do all these amazing things, making so many new friends, rather than sad and miserable that I had to leave them all behind. Although it does make it harder when they're getting upset and I'm trying not to! It was of course also time to say goodbye to my trusty little car, which had seen me safely through storm, blizzard, icy roads and everything else Manitoba's weather and sometimes horrible roads had to throw at it for the past 11 months. Happily, it went to a good home, and with someone I knew at school. Bob Medel was the right man for the car. It was meant to be, he had shown interest in it the day I'd posted the advertisement in the staffroom, and none else showed serious interest in purchasing it until we'd settled that it was going to be his! Then several others told me they were really interested...oh well, gotta get in quick! His old van had so much rust he told me it'd cost him a similar amount to fix it as to buy my vehicle, so it was a no-brainer. Sorted, everyone walks away happy, well, one of us is walking anyway, namely, me! So I'd arranged for my friends Sharon and her hubby Jan to pick me up after doing the bus run that day. It was everything coming full circle, as they'd been the ones who gave me rides to school for several weeks at the start of the year, both before I bought the car and a while after until I mustered the confidence to drive on the roads myself. By years end, I was driving in with conditions that I wouldn't have had the courage to face in February, but of course, the worst is yet to come, and most Winnipegers reading this right now are scoffing at me calling current conditions 'challenging!'
We had done most of the cleaning up and tidying by now, so the last day was relaxing for the most part. The kids had a music lesson first up, which was great, as it gave them one last practise before assembly, and me a chance to do some tidying without 22 excited children underfoot! The final assembly, for me at least, was after morning recess, and I'll never forget it. We had a fantastic slideshow with scenes from the Winter Concert that Quon had created, and right at the end of it was a memo dedicating it to me...my kids sang the opening verse of Waltzing Matilda, waving the little Aussie flags I'd given each of them as part of their Christmas present. They then sang our concert songs again, and three girls who had been in my class last year had put together a thank you slide show for me, which really got some people getting emotional, including me, despite my best efforts. One of these girls in-particular had not taken kindly to me taking over Carla's place at the start of January, and it took her quite a while to warm up to the idea of me as her teacher. That really meant something, I can tell you! Once that was over, Quon had some hilarious winter scenes that everyone living here could relate to, all too well, and then it was time to go back to the room and do some serious chilling out, which for us involved watching a movie, and enjoying hot chocolate and Tim Tams. I had shown the kids the Flour Game at our party the day before, so of course they wanted to play that again. For those who don't know, you're really missing out, and should seriously consider it as one of your next party games. We used to do it at kids Youth Group all the time in Clare! It involves creating a 'castle' of flour, much as you might a sandcastle at the beach, except don't use damp flour! You then place a lolly (candy) on the top, and everyone takes turns at cutting away slices of flour. Whomever makes the candy fall...well, let's just say you don't use your hands to retrieve it... and nearly all of them wanted to shove their face in it at the end, so I obliged, it's the last day, what's a little flour going to hurt?! A few of them discovered that it might look like fun, but when it's caked inside your nose and mouth...not so much, ha ha! That was a nice way to end a fun day, and all too soon, they were disappearing out the door...Christmas holidays had begun!
After Sharon and Jan had dropped me off at the condo just after 5pm that night, I knew it was time to get some serious packing happening. I'd been famously ( those who really know me know I hate packing and will often leave it to the last minute!) putting it off. But I knew I was busy most of Saturday and Sunday, and Jen was going to pick up my extra suitcase and carry on bag at the party on Sunday. It HAD to be done before then, at least with everything I wasn't taking to New York or posting home. I was up until about 1am...and then I couldn't think straight any more, and left the rest for the following night.
The next day I let myself sleep in just a bit, before Janis picked me up to drop me off at Polo Park. It was strange to look down at number 18 parking space and see no car there after all these months, but a relief on the other hand, because that was one less loose end to tie up. Janis had really wanted to come to the movie with myself and the kids, but this was the only morning Monique had time to meet her at Costco to shop for the party the next day, so much to her disappointment, she couldn't. Thankfully I had plenty of parents who were able to come along, because altogether I had about 21 kids turn up, 17 of whom were from my class! The others didn't gate crash, but were siblings who had one or both of the parents come along, which was awesome! We had such a wonderful time, the movie was brilliant, as expected, it is Disney/Pixar after all. The creation of snow and ice was just amazing, great songs, story, funny snowman and reindeer sidekicks, it had it all. I don't think any other kids could have appreciated like Winnipegers can, just how cold the scenes felt at times, especially during a blizzard...they get to experience it first hand here every year!
All too soon it was time to say our goodbyes, for one last time. We had a great group photo together, which you can see in the blog. It was really cool to end our time together with something non school related, and outside of school, it'll be a great memory for us all, hopefully. After this I went and consoled myself with some retail therapy in The Bay and bought a beautiful deep blue jumper with just enough sparkly sequins to make it classy for evening wear. No doubt you'll see me wearing it in some future photo.
Mary Anne had booked me to come and hang out with her large extended Dutch family weeks ago for a games night, with the possibility of a street hockey match thrown in during the afternoon. By the time I'd finished shopping and called her, I'd missed the opportunity to play the hockey, as it was already twilight and too freezing to even be outside for more than a couple of minutes. I'd be telling a lie if I said I was very sorry, since Mary Anne had regaled me with tales of her younger brother's "take no prisoners" approach to the game. I didn't fancy hobbling around New York on crutches, or with any missing teeth for that matter! Once again I plunged into a household of strangers, apart from Mary Anne and her husband Ted and her three boys, whom I'd met once briefly before we drove out to their cabin several months ago. I soon was introduced to lots of people, however, and Winnipeg style, with Dutch style on top of that, was welcomed as a special guest. Once I'd been bombarded with the usual questions, where was I from, what was I doing here at this time of year, voluntarily, no less, etc, I was allowed to act like everyone else and join in a card game while we waited for the BBQ to be cooked. Somehow I found myself involved in a drinking game with the younger crowd in their twenties and early thirties, maybe they thought I was under thirty five, whatever, I brought over my diet Sprite and decided to live on the edge for a few rounds! In all seriousness, I told them I wouldn't be drinking alcohol, especially beer, which I hate, as I was diabetic, and they were totally cool with that, and didn't care what I was drinking. So it just goes to show you can have the fun of playing without drinking yourself stupid! They had a pack of cards arranged around a cup in the centre, and depending on which one you pulled out when you had your turn, you had to perform or do a certain thing, or make others do it. Everything time a king was turned, you had to pour some of your drink in the centre cup, and the one who found the final king card has to drink everything that's in the cup, thankfully I dodged that bullet! It was a hoot, and before I knew it, it was after 9, and Mary Anne kindly drove me home, because that's the kind of people Winnipegers are. Then it was packing until I got it done, which was after 1 am again...
The farewell party was the next day, and I was so glad I had Janis come and help me set up about an hour before people began arriving. Monique, Tracey, Carla's mom, and her friend Carol also got there earlier and we had things organized in no time. The worst thing was having to carry so much from the condo, I must have made about 5 trips that morning, and I'd already taken over several bags of stuff the previous morning. Tracey and Carol were like kids on Christmas morning when I gave them the fun job of clipping little toy koalas to a nice big Christmas tree in the kitchen area. I'd had that brainwave a couple weeks ago, and had made up little cards with my personal and Aussie email work addresses. I tied them to the koalas with Christmas ribbon, and of course, I laminated them! They were such a hit, everybody wanted one, some people asked if they could have another when there were extra left over! Tracey and Carol already had theirs picked out before anyone got there...
With the food everyone else brought, we had two big tables groaning under the weight of it, and the kitchen area was soon filled with my friends, people I'd met right at the beginning of my journey, some I'd only gotten to know since summer, or even more recently. It was exactly as I'd hoped it would be, with people who'd never met before making connections, and some even finding they actually knew each other, or had friends in common. I had to go and take photos on my iPad and show people how comfy it was in the upstairs lounge area before I got some to start moving up there, it was getting crowded in the kitchen, and I had hired out the whole place! We had a big group of us happily relaxing in a big circle of chairs towards the end of the party. I had to be out of there by 6pm, and the time flew by too fast. Some friends came earlier, but couldn't stay long, others came later and stayed until the end. It was that kind of casual "drop in when you can" vibe, which is how I'd planned it, because that allows everyone to be flexible at a busy time of year. Barb snuck downstairs a bit earlier and was an angel, helping clean up before we knew what she was up to. Others jumped in and helped toward the end, and I was grateful, because it saved me hours of work otherwise. There was so much cake, chocolate, snacks and soda left over, but thankfully nothing that couldn't be either frozen or kept in the pantry for Carla and Stew make use of when they got back. They'd left so much food for me I hadn't got through a lot of it in 12 months!
Once again it was pretty late by the time I finally got to bed, but thankfully a lot earlier than the last two nights! Jen had taken my bags, so now I only had what was going to New York. I went over to Janis's and she gave me several boxes, which I then packed with so many things that I couldn't face giving away, and my fridge magnets I'd been collecting all year. Lacey had asked if there was anything I needed help with, and I'd asked if she was available I'd love a ride down town to the MPI insurance and registration head office to pick up my Aussie drivers licence, which they'd been hoarding all year, I'm still not sure why. She was kind enough to take me the very next day, saving me a long cold wait at several bus stops. I was also able to post the boxes, so that was my busy and successful first half of Monday. We went and hung out at Polo Park to have lunch and indulge in a pastime we both like doing, people watching! There were certainly plenty of them there, rushing around frantically, loaded down with last minute Christmas shopping. It was a nice feeling to know all my gifts were already baked, boxed or wrapped, many of them already delivered, it had been a lot of organizing, but saved my sanity at the last.
It was the final days before Christmas, which I think deserves a blog entry of its own, I certainly have enough photos, and I'm pretty much over typing this one, as I'm sure you are of reading it if you've stuck with it this long! So, the next instalment, to follow soon I hope, will be what happened for the rest of Monday, right up to Boxing Day! And since it's already been and gone, can you believe it? I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, as I did.
Merry Christmas to you and yours,
Signing off...