Krisanne Landry: 720 hours

I officially stink at keeping up with this blog, but I've decided to give it another go, if for anything, for my own sanity.

This past month was a month some major things happened that I would sooner forget but some pretty cool things happened as well. Bad stuff first...

Our community suffered a devastating loss with the fire that destroyed our high school. I suspect down south a complete levelling of a school would be similarly tragic, but up here school's are more than just a building that educates the younger generations. Here, schools have a central existence that brings together everyone for community events, not just teachers and students. As well, because the community is small, the destruction of quite a large building really has left a visable scar on the landscape of our town. It really was a sad event to experience this loss and it still stings to walk by the broken skeleton of that school, though mother nature seems to be trying to blanket it with snow lately.

Due to the fire, we now have also combined both the high school and elementary school in to one building. I've struggled a lot with this personally, but am trying to focus on the positive aspects of life, such as the fact that I once again have an amazing (but small) class this year. Our days are full of learning, laughter and spirit that I only think can come from young minds, and I truly appreciate the time I get to spend with each of them. I've also been able to see much more of my students from last year because of this combined school which has certainly brightened my days as they are strong and caring young people who make me smile every time I see them... or hear them... One of my favourite things about them being at our school in the afternoons is when they show up early and yell "hello kris" from outside the classroom window. I'm also very fond of the kindness they and their families have continued to show me. I don't think too many teachers are as lucky as I am with the students I get to teach! As well, from the stresses of all of this, I have learned how fortunate I am to have a roommate like Gail, and the friends and family I have here and down south because the support is pretty darn fantastic!

The combined school situation has also made me look at high school students differently. It's really nice to see them daily, and get to know them better. I also love seeing them on the playground equipment swinging away, which strengthens my feelings that EVERY kid should be given time to play, no matter what age they are. And truly it is amazing how much these kids want to be in school! Despite losing their beautiful high school and now having to often sit in tiny chairs designed for tiny kids, they still show up, do their work and enjoy being there!

Some other interesting events that happened this month was the young polar bear that visited (though short lived) our community. One Thursday morning while I was on yard supervision I quickly noticed all the kids running to get a closer look at what I call "the harbour" (it's similar in shape to the halifax harbour but not nearly as deep or wide). To my astonishment there was a polar bear swimming around while being chased by a bunch of people in boats. The students told me that the people in the boats were trying to scare the bear back to the other side, so we watched... the bear seemed to be taking it's time and in my opinion was in no rush to do what the boaters wanted. The bear eventually climbed out onto the shore on the other side, so we all went about our business.

Then close to lunch we heard gun shots (to be honest I didn't know what it was and my students told me). We all rushed to the window because our classroom has a view of the water but we couldn't see anything. Over lunch hour I found out that the polar bear came back to our side of the harbour and started chases three young guys and had to be shot. One of my fellow teachers took myself and another teacher down to try to find out where it was, and after a bit of wandering we found the conservationist (at least I think that's the guys title), skinning the bear near his place of work.

At first I was alarmed by how small the bear was. I'm very use to seeing extremely LARGE polar bear skins stretched out to dry, this one reminded me of a large Newfoundland dog in size. But then the conservationist shows us it's teeth and claws and I quickly realized that had that bear gotten a hold of one of the guys it was chasing, it probably would have been very bad for the young man, if not fatal. Also for those of you who are like me, and do not like the idea of animals being killed, I must tell you that here in Dorset not a single bit of an animal goes to waste and they certainly don't kill for fun. Furthermore, despite what news articles say about polar bear populations, it seems here that the polar bears are doing very well for themselves as there are lots here!

On Friday night I needed some hang out time, so my friend picked me up on her four wheeler and drove me around for a bit. We went up to where the trucks fill up with water to turn around and saw a fox! He looked so much different then the foxes I have seen in Nova Scotia and the Maritimes. As some of you know over the summer, Rodger and my friends Jenn and Gary and their children became rather fond of a fox we befriended in Prince Edward Island... so naturally I feel like an expert in fox identification (not seriously). The top picture is the PEI fox and the bottom is one I've found on the internet of what the fox we saw the other night looked like.

This past month I also had a wonderful day adventure with our Principal, and three other staff members. We hiked across the land bridge (a stretch of land that is completely submerged when the tide is in, but passable when the tide is out) and visited some ancient Thule and Dorset sites where 1000 of years ago people set up life. I had learned about these sites while taking the course I took with Nick Newbury, so it was extremely exciting to actually see them in person. Though I must admit to be slightly anxious about being stuck on the island if the tide came in too quickly as I was pretty sure we'd become supper for the local polar bears, but thankfully our Principal knew the tide schedule exactly and had bear spray with him... though I am rather inclined to think that a polar would scoff at bear spray!