“That we leave our homes, that we step through our doors to the world, that we travel our whole lives not because we want to collect exotic T-shirts, not because we want to consume foreign adventure the same Western way we consume plastic and Styrofoam and LCD TVs and iPads, but because it has the power to renew us—not the guarantee, not the promise, just the possibility. Because there are places our imaginations can never construct for us, and there are people who we will never meet but we could and we might. It reminds us that there is always reason to begin again.” - Stephen Markley, Tales of Iceland or "Running with the Huldufólk in the Permanent Daylight"
The commute from home to school is quite literally a dream. An 8-9 minute walk from home and we were walking through the main entrance among all the littles making their way into the day at school. It wasn’t 2 minutes before people started welcoming me, introducing themselves, and making me feel very much at home. My first official duty was as tourist when two lovely young ladies from grade 7 took me on a personal tour of all their favourite places. Helga and Eyglo were fantastic tour guides showing me the black hole, the attic, and the escape routes in case we had a fire drill! I feel very safe here. ;O) I even found Icelandic versions of Harry Potter just for Cai! They talked about their families, how they learned English and some of their favourite things to do. I had a very explicit lesson in the Snowball Zone with a very strict warning that I’d get what I got if I chose to go in there at any time. Lol...little do they know that Canadians are excellent throwers of snowballs...watch out! There is construction in the back fied and we stopped to watch the “mechanic giraffe” lifting heavy blocks of cement into place. When I explained that we call that a ‘crane’ Helga laughed, “we do too, but I just like to say mechanical giraffe!” Me too now Helga, me too. When I came back to the office, Dadda and I walked around again and I saw a whole new school! We visited classrooms and hallways I had yet to see with not one mention of an escape route or the mysterious “legit insane asylum” room. In fact none of the adults here know about that room... Secret room for students? Haunted classroom? Imagined zen zone with a horror-type twist? Who knows...but stay tuned because if I find it I will certainly let you know! Each class has a boot room and hooks for their things, with many kids walking around in socks most of the day. They recycle and compost much like we do, thank you Mrs. Gartner’s class, and have reminders posted all over about the year’s theme kurteisi metnadur. Be polite and do your very best. (Insert picture - boot room and Kurteisi) I can tell you that if I could pay to NOT have to make my lunch every day I totally would! Steamed fish, a salad bar, and lovely dark bread were on today’s menu. It was delicious and best of all we didn’t have to make it ourselves! I wonder where we could put a cafeteria in at Marlborough… I chatted and got to know a few more staff members over lunch and coffee and shared all about my adventures with Helga and Eyglo. Many of my stories were met with uproarious laughter and a general sense that my tour guides were just perfect for the task of touring visitors around. I would agree, it was a lovely introduction to my new home of the next two weeks. Thank you for making me feel so welcome everyone!
1 Comment
Jody
4/4/2019 19:22:33
Love the picture frames for the staff wall!!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorAubrey: "Leader of the Elves"....that's me. Mom of two amazing guys, wife to one bigger (yet no less amazing) guy and teacher of little ones. Blogging about the adventures (usually with my rubber chicken in tow) is one of my favourite things. Archives
April 2019
|