Frist Day Of School

Yesterday was Kyle's first day of school. Doesn't he look handsome?!

He wasn't too sure about this whole business of sitting in class for half the day (they work for half the day and have classes for the other half).
But the day went well, and I think it would be safe to say that he actually may have enjoyed it! He got to hold a snake in science class, so thought that was pretty good. Lets hope the enthusiasm continues.
He has a very busy schedule: He leaves the house at 6.45am to be at the boys dorm for worship at 6.55, then off to breakfast at 7.15, music practice from 7.50-8.20, then work from 8.30-11.55, lunch 12-12.55 (they have to change clothes in this time), classes from 1-5, orchestra from 5.10-6, tea, then worship from 6.45-7.10. He comes home till 8 as this is the boys study time then heads back to the boys dorm at 8 to have free time with them till 9! Not much time to for the students to get up to 'no good'. I think that is the idea.

It has been a few days since I last updated the blog. This is due to some internet difficulties, but we had the computer man up at the house today and he seems to have sorted it out. So hopefully I will be able to do regular updates again. (As if you guys hold out for my updates!).

We had a fantastic time at the lake over the weekend. Tamzin went out for the day on Friday and had a blast with all the kids wakeboarding and knee boarding and all that fun stuff. James Rafferty took his wakeboard boat also, so that was fun.
The camp is about a 20 minute boat ride up the lake. On Saturday Alistair, Tamzin and I went up to the camp site on the jet ski. The weather was amazing - the lake was as smooth as glass. The surroundings are so ruggered, set in the midist of hugh mountains. The helicopters would come a fill up their water buckets from the lake and dump it on the fires which were burning on the otherside of the mountain!

Upon arriving at the camp, I was blown away. There were near on 200 people camping there (all the students, there families and some staff). The size of the beach was not what I was expecting, it was about 3 meters wide at it's widest point and was about 100 meters long and there wasn't a grain of sand in sight - it was stones/pebbles.
Mostt of the boys had just rolled out their sleeping bags and slept on the beach/stones and the girls had pitched their tents up amongst the bush - which wasn't very flat. What really amazed me though, was that there was just 1 long drop toilet for all those people! I tried really hard to not have to use it while there, but unfortunatly wasn't able to hold on so had to brave it - not something I would like to repeat!

Having said all this, it was very well organized. They feed all those people without any power or running water and the food was great.
They ferried everyone's things over on the pontoon boat Fountainview made themselves and also on the houseboat of one of the staff here. The house boat comes equipped with a hot tub which was very much a hit with the students on Sunday when the weather turned rainy and cold, but they all still swam etc, so was a nice place to warm up in after. There were so many kids on the front of the boat it looked like it was going to sink!
Unfortunatly, the weather didn't play the game on Sunday and rained - they only get a few inches of rain a year and it had to come on that weekend. So everyone packed up and headed out earlier than planned. But it was still enjoyable.

Yesterday there was a first for me too - I went to a new hair dresser! I have been going to the same one for 15 years, so it was quite a big deal for me to have to find a new one. I managed to find a lady who works from home in Lillooet (about 20 mintues away) and she did a good job. So that was a relief. And she was reasonably priced too - I guess we are talking Lillooet not Vancouver!

Alistair is still 'finding his feet' with work. His job discription has change from what we thought he would be doing, so he is getting his head around that. He is now the Farm Manager for the the organic carrot market gardens. Fountainview is the largest organic carrot producer in British Columbia, so he has his work cut out for him.
His work force is 28 students age between 15 and 18 (some of whom would rather not be pulling weeds in the carrot patch!). They rotate the students around to different parts of the school for the vocational work. Kyle has been put in the market gardens with Alistair (not our choice), but at least Alistair knows his capabilities and can put him on the machinery.
Kyle is hoping to get a go in the media department where they do all the video editing etc. I guess he has 3 years to get a go in there - i think it is pretty sort after.

Tamzin and I unpacked a few more boxes today. Doesn't look like we have made much of a dent on the piles and piles of them. Small steps I guess, a few each day and we will get there. Somethings will have to stay in there boxes as there just isn't room in this house to have everything out.

I better go do some more............