Merry Christmas

For the last I don’t know how many years, about 2 or 3 weeks prior to this, I finally get around to putting together a Christmas letter that we stick in all the cards that we send out to our family and friends.

Well this year is different. This year, I missed that date and so there is no letter. This will have to be the substitute, given that we only realized when it was too late that we’d missed the deadline for sending cards back to Oz. No cards, meant no letter either. The other change is that in having moved over here to Canada, there’s a lot more people aware of and reading drift, so much of what would normally go in the letter is already covered and known amongst our family and friends. But I couldn’t help myself and had to put some sort of quick summary of our year together just to post it at drift as a way of wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and to let you all know that we are indeed very much thinking of you at this time of year.

If you’re reading this for a while then you’ll probably be well aware that the year has been full of adventure for us. It started way back prior to Christmas last year with me leaving my Rail contract home of 6 years to go and head up our contract with Santos as an interim measure until they were ready for the Temby’s to descend upon Canada. Of course having made the big step out of the rail contract, it then became a waiting game as to just how long it was going to be until they actually wanted us over here. Uncertainty certainly wasn’t an overly pleasant companion to have during that period, though it was great for me to get to work with a group of people that I’d worked with previously.

Of course in the end we finally got a date for the big move and shifted into the ‘oh my freaking god, what are we doing’ mode of operation that seems to go hand in hand with a decision to move to the other side of the world.

The kids held up remarkably well during the process and I was so busy working that I had little time to think about it. As is probably commonly the case, Caroline was the one that was most heavily burdened with the effort and I don’t think I could ever publicly thank her enough for the effort and stress that she went through in order for this to actually happen for us.

But move we did and in the process, managed to spend 3 days at Disneyland in LA. Its one of those magical dreams that I had as a kid, that one day I’d get to go to Disneyland and its still a little hard to believe that it actually happened. I don’t think our kids quite appreciate just how much of a dream it was for their parents to get to go there. Spoilt little buggers. But it was a great three days and if anything says just how magical that place is, it is the look on your little girl’s face when after standing in line for half an hour, she get’s to meet some Disney Princesses and have her photo taken.

For the boys it was more about getting to go on a buzz light year ride where you get to shoot at targets and keep score through the whole ride. I just know that our Godson Cameron would be in his element on that one!

Of course, LA was just a stop over and so we then made the extra two flights that were required to get us up to Fort McMurray, Canada. Before I left, I said to a number of people, “the hardest thing about agreeing to go to Fort McMurray for a stint will be making sure that we get out of there.”

And I still vividly (maybe because I’ve been reminded once or twice) remember Caroline saying when we arrived, “I’m glad that we’re getting to see Fort McMurray, but I’m even gladder that we won’t be staying here.

So one statement was a prophecy and the other a statement inducing doom. Or maybe they both induced the doom, who knows? But sure enough after coming into work without being really sure exactly why I was here for a space of time, I was given a temporary position, which has since of course been made permanent.

We’re getting used to Fort McMurray and we’ll survive (though will probably still push for something different if the chance comes up) and we’ll probably even look back with fond memories … eventually. The biggest issue was that we were emotionally invested in being elsewhere and it took (is taking?) some time to redirect that bond. If nothing else, we’ve met some great people up here that will surely be friends for a long time to come.

Anyway, enough of that, it’s probably time to mention the kids.

Michael started this year in year 5 back at St Thomas and was doing well, enjoying his cricket and soccer and doing well at school. He played c-grade cricket this year which meant that for the first time he got to wear all the protective equipment for the first time and they played in whites with a ball that had a firmness somewhere between a real ball and the rubber kanga cricket ball. He continued to do well at soccer, especially as a goal sneak. He seemed to have that instinct to get himself into the right place to finish off the goal even if he wasn’t necessarily the one to carry it 20 yards to get to a shot. (Sounds somewhat like my own goal scoring habits … just get on the end of someone else’s work and make it all look good!)

Coming to Canada, he pushed forward 6 months and started the year (in September, start of the school year here) in year 6 having only completed half of year 5 back home. Despite the trauma that the first week induced (for him and subsequently us) due to a lack of time spent outside during the day, he has settled in well to school and is continuing to do well, especially with his math and seems to be surviving being very much at the youngest end of the spectrum. We’ve even asked for him to be extended with his math as it appears he needs to be more challenged in this area.

Sam continues to be Sam (yeah, I know, who else would he be?) and also appears to have settled well. His report was superb in all areas and we’re very proud of it. He of course did half a year in grade 3 back home and jumped forward to start in year 4 over here in September. Unlike Michael, Sam is the one that is prepared to put effort in in all areas of his school work, not just the bits that he really likes and doesn’t seem to be rushing to get it done as quick as he can regardless of how it looks (Mikey likes to be finished so he can get on with other things). Speaking to Sam’s teacher, he’s a quiet member of the class, but I don’t think that’s really any change from where he’s been in the past.

Thomas continues to be our Trooper. He’s in year 2 this year with only the half year in year 1 back home at the start of the year. He was probably the one that we had the toughest decision with in regard to what year we put him in when he started here in December. With the speech issues, he wasn’t really where he needed to be, but we were very conscious of what happens when we come back home and they’re all likely to drop back 6 months again. We finally decided that we’d push Thomas forward, knowing that if we had to, we could hold him back and give him a chance.

We seem to have been very fortunate with the teacher that we’ve landed with for Thomas. She’s older and seems to have a genuine interest in doing what ever she can to assist him with his speech. His reading continues to improve, though he’s well behind where he should be and of course that affects things like his writing because of the effort that’s required to get all the words down. In isn’t quite as intuitive for him as he’d like it to be and as his teacher said, it’s like he sees what all the other kids are doing and when he’s been working really hard for a long time, he wants to have done as much work as all the other kids have. But he retains his persistence and patience (though by the end of the day is shattered and homework can be a real strain).

Emily has participated in two early entry things this year, one at a normal school and one at a French Immersion. I’m assured that she’s learning some French, but whenever I ask her to say something in French to me, she flatly refuses. I did catch her singing a song in it once, which was very very cute. As it is when she says “Do I have French ‘mersion kindy tomorrow Mummy?”

One of the biggest challenges for her is the fact that she doesn’t actually get to start full time school yet and so will be behind where we would have liked her to be if we were still at home. She misses the cut off by 21 days (its on February 28) and that is extremely frustrating to know that she’s so close. She is definitely ready. It means that she’ll be doing kindy next year which runs from 8am until 11:07am. Don’t even ask me where they come up with the times. She seems to be loving things over here though, as independent as she has ever been, though possibly even more demanding. She has attitude to spare and one can only hope that she’ll be challenged a bit during her time in Kindergarten to try and curb some of the energy! Something tells me that’s a false hope.

Caroline I would have to say has her ups and downs with where we are at the moment. I think her transition has by far been the hardest and she has definitely shouldered more than her fair share of the burden. Between the emotional demands of the move and the disappointment with the location being so far removed from anything we really want to see, it’s been a big stress. Add to that the fact that I am working long hours and the fact that just when she thought she might see the last of any of the kids being at home full time and then got Emily back, it hasn’t made things easy for her.

At least she’s met some nice people and has started playing ringette. There’s no ‘field’ hockey up here in Fort McMurray and I know that it’s an escape that Caroline is really going to miss whilst we’re here. The ringette has enabled her to meet a few people and give her an opportunity to get out of the house, its just unfortunate that the timing of the commitment seems to be a little screwy (8:30 on a Sunday night! – it was even later for some of the season).

I won’t say too much here though, as it’s probably better to let her describe things in her own words.

Sport has certainly been different for us. We left in the middle of our soccer and hockey seasons and so we’ve all had to adjust. I feel like my departure from Flinders was a forced retirement. I’ve managed to play one game since I got over here, filling in for an U18 side and all it proved to me was just how quickly you can get unfit. When you’re working demanding hours and the family is adjusting to a new environment and country, it’s hard to say, I’m going to spend my Saturday afternoon playing football. We’ll see how things pan out next summer.

Winter has been fun for us so far, as we’ve taken up ice skating and skiing. Michael and Thomas have probably taken to it the most. Thomas is a little dynamo. He was the first one ‘skid-stopping’ (my term for it, nothing technical) on the ice and loves getting out there. Sam is cautious but improving. Michael and Thomas have both managed to score their first goals for ringette, within about a week of each other. Michael then went on to get a hat trick 2 weeks later! I think it’s that goal sneak thing coming out.

We’ve all taken to skiing, getting out almost every day that we can to the ski hill that’s about a half hour from the front door (yeah, life can be tough). Sam again is the hesitant one, but I think we’ll turn him around before too long. Half his problem seems to be that he can’t be bothered putting all the gear on to cope with the cold weather. After a few heart-in-mouth moments, Emily has come a long way and we’re now happy to take her down the easiest hill, with her falling over occasionally as she get’s distracted and forgets to pay attention.

I managed quite a spectacular fall last weekend and I know that Caroline has gone down once or twice, but all in all, we’re impressed with how far we’ve come given our lack of a history with the sport.

And again, Thomas is the fearless dynamo. The different runs have progressively opened at the hill and last weekend the third run opened and his set up with various jumps and rails for the more adventurous skiers. That’s not us. But apparently it is Thomas. He and Michael have taken to jumping quite happily and I can only say thank God that at this point, the jump they’re going off is about a foot high! Caroline and I have both tried it, but I struggle with reconciling the fact that in 3 years (or significantly less) our kids might just be those nutters that are getting 6 feet of air!

All in all, we’re getting through this and of course have managed a few travels so far to Banff, Jasper, Edmonton and Calgary and have even booked our flights to come back home for a visit in Feb next year. The rest of the travel calendar still needs to be assembled.

That’s probably more than enough for now as it’s going to go forever on drift, but I’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Please make it a safe one!

~Dave.