Bas Siebring's Blog

Tag: English

  • Photos and a small update

    A lot of things happening here

    Were quite busy taking care of everything for next year. It is a lot of work. Luckily we have a lot of people helping us out. There is not much work for Bas anymore, since the exams are starting, but he already started prepping for next year. It is almost clear what kind of classes he will teach, but we’re still waiting for the definite schedule. Next to that he has to get all kind of letters and “proof” to get a good position on the grid. Is that important? Well, it means being paid a lot more, so, yes!

    Judith is having some work for Talaria again, which is pretty nice as well! Hopefully that continues over the summer!

    The last two weeks in Yellowknife

    We’ll have more dinner parties, Graduation ceremonies, a Time Trial Bike Race, more prepping for Bas and visiting his new school and new collegues. July 5 we’re flying out to Edmonton. July 6 we’ll continue to Amsterdam with a short stop in Chicago. We still need to pack and bring some stuff to friends that will store it for us over the summer. Neat we have people willing to do that for us!

    Not to be mean, but….

    Don’t expect us to be rushing all over the country the entire summer to see all of our friends and family. Bas is flying out again on August 17, Judith may be on that flight as well, or, if she has a gig for Talaria that requires her to be in The Netherlands a bit longer, a few weeks later. But as it seems we both are busy prepping for next year, doing work for Talaria, etc etc etc. We love you, we welcome you to come and visit us in Yellowknife, but we’ll definitely have to disappoint people by not being able to visit them this summer.

    Photos

    Quite a few actually…. enjoy!

  • Photos June 15

    After the great news in our last blog post, we thought it was time for a photo update. We took a few pictures at different occasions over the last couple of weeks. Enjoy!

  • Signing on for another year in the knife!

    More activity on our weblog

    Wow! Only 4 days ago we posted some pictures and now I am typing an update again. Very very very exciting news! I will start right away with it:

    I   G O T   A   J O B ! ! ! !

    I will explain how I got there, since it is quite a long route. I haven’ t been able to tell too much about it, so I will tell it all now, hopefully it is not too boring, but yes, it is work related.

    How did this all happen?!?

    Well, it is clear now that I am doing something right here. The year so far in Yellowknife has taught me a lot about myself and about what kind of teacher I am and that I am indeed a teacher, that teaching is something I wish to do as a profession. Before coming to Yellowknife, I played with the idea of doing something else after a year of teaching in Yellowknife. But the way I was able to pull it off here, the interacting with the students here, it made me aware that I have certain qualities that make me a decent teacher and that I enjoy teaching a lot.

    Applications I have done so far

    And the fact I have been doing well in substitute teaching is something that hasn’t gone unnoticed. In February I came just short of getting a job at Sir John. At that time I didn’t feel I was that close, but apparantly I almost got the job as well back then. In May two positions opened at Sir John, both with an emphasis on Mathematics. But since a teacher up here is considered a generalist, it was more than logical to everybody I had to apply for it.

    There were 8 candidates for 2 positions and I was in the top 2 and thus eligible for one of those two positions. In the hints I was given I could also conclude I was the top pick out of those two. I am still truly honoured by that, but in the end, it didn’t do me any good. Since the position was not posted nationally and only internally, they could not hire a foreign teacher. No BS there, I studied the rules as well before I came here and I know that is a fact. And the HR department was unwilling to post nationally, so they could not hire me. The administration already put me in the draft for the schedule for next year, in their minds I was already hired, but the YK1 board blocked it. Still some hard feelings there from my side, since I invested a lot of effort, lots of it voluntarily, in Sir John. And I have been more than just a substitute teacher for them, I truly established myself as a part of the team there. A lot of people on Sir Joh congratulated me, but felt bad I eventually had to leave them.

    So tell us, where did you get hired then?!?!

    The simple answer: across the street. Literally. Saint Patricks High School is the Roman Catholic High School that is on the other side of 52nd Avenue. I applied for a Science and Math position there, went on an interview 4 weeks later, since they posted the job opening external (nationally) after the internal posting. So the concern that made me not get the position on Sir John was not at all present: we are totally following the rules here! And, and I have to be honest that I wasn’t counting on this, they decided to hire me! I got the news today and although there are a few mixed feelings, I am totally ecstatic! I will have to work very hard again, I have to find myself a spot in the team again, have to proof myself, more than I would if I were hired at Sir John, but a part of that is exciting as well! It truly feels like a crown on all my hard work, the icing on the cake, and hell yeah!: it’s gonna be good icing!

    So what about Judith?

    Judith already has a work permit for next year. Mine can be issued once I sent my current one in when we get back in The Netherlands in July, so I’ll have it before I go back to Yellowknife in August. But she is looking forward to work in Yellowknife as well. Next week she will attend a Communicators forum here, a nice spot to get some good contacts for her network. I am totally confident she will find something, since we know so many people in different professions and organizations here! She should be able to find something interesting and challenging, while still working for clients in The Netherlands as well!

    Concluding

    Lots of exciting stuff happened and a lot more of exciting stuff to come! If you want to visit us here, make your reservations fast! Since I will be working we’ll have a Christmas holiday (temperatures between -20C and -50C) available and of course Spring Break in March! (anything between -5C and -40C, but really nice!) And we would love to host you and show you around in one of the Final Frontiers of this world!

  • Photo update June 5

    It’s June… already! Time flies by when you’re having fun. One more month and then we’re flying back to the Netherlands. Many people have asked us what our plans are for next school year. To be honest: we would like to stay longer in Yellowknife, because we really enjoy our life here…  However, we don’t know yet what possibilities will come up. For now, we expect to be back in the Netherlands on July 7 and we will definitely have awesome memories and photos of our stay here. (To all Dutchies: “gelukkig hebben we de foto’s nog… :)”) We sure hope you enjoy watching these pictures as much as we enjoyed taking them!

  • Photos May 24

  • Photos May 10

    Here are a few pictures of last weekend:

    • preparing and eating dinner with Oscar, Catherine and Simone (at Simone’s place)
    • the students participating in the 30 hour famine at Sir John raised over 16,000 dollars
    • assembling our new barbecue
    • preparing our first barbecue of the season: sooooo tasty! (oh, and by the way, the average temperatures right now are around 0 Celsius…)

  • Update May 2

    We promised you an update: and here it finally is, including some pictures which we took over the last month!

    Life in the Knife
    Life in the ‘Knife’ is good. It’s actually getting more and more normal, even though we are still very often amazed by the beauty of this place and we surely don’t take things for granted!

    Weather
    We were fooled by the weather in April: it was really way to warm for the time of the year. The snow was melting quickly, the ice road closed early and people put on their shorts…. However, the +20 (Celsius) temperatures didn’t last long: right now we’re back to ‘normal’, which means a few degrees below zero at night and around +5 during the day. But with the sun shining brightly practically every day, it is very pleasant outside. Last night, I walked outside at 10.30 pm and it felt like a summer night: there was no wind, the sun was about to set, so it was still light outside and it was just  nice.  These kind of moments make me happy! Imagine how it will be in the end of June, when it will be light 24 hours a day! I can’t imagine that, actually, so I am glad I get a chance to experience that!

    Work etc.
    Bas has been working almost every possible day since March Break. He really enjoyed subbing for the physics teacher, who was gone for 3 weeks due to personal circumstances. Bas could make his own lesson plans, really teach some things to the kids and even made (and marked) some tests for them! Another great teaching experience in Yellowknife!

    Besides work, there’s volunteering: over the last couple of weeks, Bas coached the (indoor) soccer boys under 15 for Sir John. This weekend was the tournament, so he spent many hours at the gym coaching his 4 (!) teams (together with another teacher). He had mixed feelings after having one of his soccerteams play the final, but loose since the opposing team seemed to be playing another sport, which resulted in one of Bas’ players going to the hospital with a broken wrist, that turned out to be completely shattered… Thus, not such a fun ending of this weekend…

    I have worked a bit myself as well, but am looking forward to hopefully doing some more (full-time) interim work in the Netherlands over the summer, when we get back (potential clients, if you read this: I am available starting from July 8th – probably including a complementary jetlag… ;)). As usual, I have been volunteering a lot as well, working with ‘my’ grade 2’s and participating in the Rotary Reader’s programme with grade 1’s.

    One year and counting!
    Bas and I celebrated our first anniversary on April 18th. In the morning we went out for brunch, followed by a nice walk to the old town. We were planning to go to a fancy restaurant for dinner, but found out quickly that most places are closed on Sunday’s (due to some annoying liquor law). Anyway, we ended up at Boston Pizza… good food, but not so special as we planned it to be. Oh well, we’ll make up for that another anniversary, since we’re planning to stay together for a looooooong time! 🙂

    Social gatherings
    Just to sum up what we did lately:

    • Pre-easter dinner with Virginia and other international friends
    • After-Easter dinner at Robyn and Travis’ on Monday April 5th
    • Travis’ birthday party April 6th at the Black Knight
    • April 10: Erin came over for dinner
    • April 17: birthday/bbq party at Virginia’s
    • (almost) every Friday: the Elk’s for a Friday afternoon – start the weekend- drink with colleagues
    • April 24th: girls’ night at my place
    • April 25th: dinner with Obed, a colleague of Bas, and his wife, at our place
    • May 1st: I went to Theresa’s  bridal shower. She will get married on June 19th and we’re invited, which is really cool. The bridal shower is for ‘girls only’, so I went there. It was fun: we had to do some games, there was food and cake, but mostly it was about Theresa unwrapping many presents and getting in the mood for a wonderful wedding. A fun afternoon!

    Talking about food and cakes…
    Bas and I are on a diet! We are participating in the ‘biggest loser contest’ at Sir John. About 40 teachers (and spouses) participate in this ‘contest’, which goes on for 8 weeks . It is actually for a good cause: the food program at school, everybody deposited some money and the winner gets part of the stake (the rest goes to the food program). For us, it is not about winning, but about losing (weight ;)) and getting a bit more healthy life style. So far, that resulted in eating less, exercising more and already losing some pounds (or: kilograms, if you’re Dutch ;)). Yay for us!

    Conclusion
    Life in the Knife is good. 🙂 We’ll keep you posted. Enjoy the pictures below!

  • Snowking says Thank You

    Last night at choir practice, one of my fellow choir members handed me a page from the Yellowknifer (local newspaper) of April 2nd, in which the Snowking thanks all the people that helped him out this season. And… I was mentioned. Check it out (click on the picture to enlarge):

  • April 20: “Summer” in Yellowknife

    I am not kidding: I took this picture downtown Yellowknife about an hour ago (I posted this at about 3 pm)! And it doesn’t say -21, but +21 Celsius. Can you believe it?! No, neither can we, but it is true; it is about 20 degrees warmer than it is supposed to be around this time of year. The last week has been crazy with rising temperatures. The snow is melting quickly.

    This is just the only thing I wanted to share with you right now. Bas and I have both been busy and not much ‘weblog-worthy’ took place. However, another update will follow soonish, because we know it has been too long since  you heard from us. Anyway: all is well in Yellowknife!

  • Aurora Kodak Moment

    Of course….

    On the day we post that we were busy, didn’t see too many things that were worthy of a photo and more yada yada, we walk outside on the ice to witness the best aurora since we arrived in Yellowknife. It was everywhere, the sky was painted green in different shades and brightnesses. Many parts were dancing and showing their pink ribbons on the edges. It was truly amazing. Amazing. We selected almost all the picture took. The only image enhancing we do is aligning a horizon every now and then (only on the first picture), since the pictures sometimes are a bit angled. No colour enhancing what so ever! It is so awesome. Wish you were here!