Work and Driving

The last 2 weeks have been uneventful in many ways, however, so much has still been happening on a mundane level. Wayne has had Term 1 reports to do which means he has had to enter marks and comments for 10 subjects. Together we have spent about 45 hrs over the last 2 weeks working on them. It has been a steep learning curve for both of us and by the time I have to do mine I should be an expert as we use the same reporting system. Even for the Canadian teachers it was still a time consuming job. Grade 8 students

We have also finally solved our insurance problems. Ernie, Paul's father, has spent countless hours with phonecalls and emails trying to get insurance for Paul and us. The quotes ranged from $2,000 to $5,000 and the whole process has been a bureaucratic nightmare. What I would advise people to do in future if they intend to exchange cars is to sign the car over to the Aussie exchangee so that they don't encounter the same problems that we have. Canadian Insurance Cos will only insure you if you own a vehicle which is quite ironic as they are not concerned about the vehicle and its value but rather about the individuals' driving and insurance record. In fact we can drive someone else's vehicle or rent a car and our insurer will still cover us. We finally got to meet Ernie and Elizabeth and Ernie managed to have the last laugh as he sold us the car for $2 and other considerations. The lady at the MOT queried the price but when I confirmed it she smiled and said fine. Johnsons are the company who insured us and the bonus is that we do not have to get an Ontario license which is what we were previously looking at. A big thank you to Helen Gregory and all of the past and present exchangees who emailed and even phoned us with their help and reassured us with their own insurance stories.


The snow continues to fall, in fact we have had light snowfalls most nights and on Fri 29th we had a heavy snowstorm which will ensure a snow coverage for quite a while. We have had some beautiful sunny days, however they have made little impression on the snow. Last weekend we opened the house up to get some fresh air, we had to rug up to compensate though but it was worth it.

Many people are saying that Spring is just around the corner which saddened us because when the snow disappears Woodstock could look like any Aussie city. A white landscape is still exotic and exciting for us and we definitely haven't tired of the cold yet.

We bottled our first wine brews yesterday. The Rishworths have lent us their equipment, cellar, expertise and hospitality. We hope that we don't wear out our welcome as we are enjoying ourselves immensely. Mike and Wayne hard at work

Two weeks ago we were round there putting the brews down and a quiet night turned into a party at Ed and Pauline Weiss's house with Rob Henry and Carmen, teachers who Wayne works with. Ed lives across from the Rishworths and we only went over for a brief visit when the party and dinner came to us.Below is a photograph of Mike and Laurie Rishworth.

A great night all round with a few headaches the next day. Laurie and Mike are also introducing us to the world of Canadian specials. Mike bought us 2x6kg turkeys for $13 each. We are having turkey tonight, no need to wait for Christmas or Thanksgiving. Wayne has also been shopping online at Cabelas (an outdoor supplier) as they are having an end of season sale.

Our Aussie vernacular continues to confuse the locals. When I called one student a 'whinger' she had no idea what I meant, but when I translated everyone else in the class agreed. When we say someone gave us a 'ring' to catch up they look perplexed, they have not heard of the term 'fortnight', when you ask if a shop assistant is 'free' they query you and when Wayne asked about his CdoubleA (CAA which is like NRMA) card the woman thought he was talking a foreign language, which in a sense he was. Students 'write' exams they don't 'sit' for them, which actually makes more sense and 'folders' are 'binders'. There is also a clothing company called "ROOTS" and it is not unusual to see people wearing hats and sweaters with 'Roots' emblazoned across them. We, of course, thought this really funny and had to let people in on the joke. Again they had never heard our translation of 'roots'.

Next week is Spring break and while many Canadians are heading off to warmer climes we are going over to Montreal and Quebec City. We will post another installment when we return.