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!
Since we did more fun stuff you guys had to wait a day (or maybe 2 from European perspective) to see our pictures from our helicopter trip. We already had quite a few questions about it, so without further delay: enjoy!
