Well, I had a different topic in mind for my first blog, but I decided to tweak slightly!!

I've now been in Vancouver for about 5 weeks, and it hasn't been the easiest sometimes - but I will preface this by saying that I do love it here!

Being a native Calgarian, I knew that the Calgary Flames sticker on my car was going to cause some issues moving here, particularly in the middle of Canucks fever right now. I realized early on that there were some interesting driving habits here - like having a turn signal is apparently an optional feature in cars out here - as they never seem to go on...which caused an accident 12 days into my stay here (small...thank goodness!)

I then randomly began getting parking tickets in my neighbourhood & I noticed the parking guy staking out my car - I think he had a real hate on for my Flames sticker. Perhaps my fighting these tickets caused him to be re-assigned to another neighbourhood.

So then things started to rock & roll, fewer car issues, started to need my GPS lady less (annoying woman called Samantha) and I am enjoying the atmosphere of the city during this playoff run. I am trying my best to remain neutral - not really caring who wins, smiling nicely to people who talk about the awesome Canucks win etc...My neighbourhood is full of honking cars and screaming girls during a good game. I am secretly resisting the urge to do a Nelson from the Simpsons 'haha' after the past two games.

image courtesy of sharenator.com

So, just as I start to think that things are settling in & after every box was unpacked & I even entertained my first houseguest...I thought things were going well.

Then I realized the potential problem of parking on a hill (of which there are many). I ended up having to get my car towed this morning, as my steering wheel was locked up so ridiculously after turning it to not roll down a hill!! Volkswagen was great (though I think they thought I was just a dumb girl who couldn't get her car started & sent a guy out to check before getting the tow truck out). I took pictures of the event as I was sure that no one would believe this dumb story. (I still don't!) It was once more suggested that I change my bumper sticker to help the car feel better....I will go on record now saying...um, no!

image courtesy Sasha Žekulin

And so...my adventures in BC continue. I've already had a few trips & have had training sessions and meetings with loads of educators and administrators. My Flames gnome, Jarome, (courtesy of a great teaching friend back home) is travelling with me (a la Travelocity gnome) and here he is enjoying Victoria - 

image courtesy Sasha Žekulin

One thing that wowed a few teachers in New Westminster, which I will share here (in case you're really craving a new SMART tip for the week!) was the website KeepVid. http://keepvid.com/

I know it's been floating around out there for a while as the number one way to quickly download online videos. My teachers were blown away at the ability to choose the download .flv option - so that A. they didn't  need to be on You Tube to watch a video and B. that with .flv files downloaded - they could embed video into their Notebook lessons and annotate with the students right in Notebook. So, in case you weren't aware of this one...it's a keeper!

I look forward to sharing tips and tricks with the faithful followers of the blog & to start to turn the teachers of BC onto some awesome Ed Tech stuff along the way!

Cheers,

Sasha