I had been presenting around Southern Ontario for almost thirty years. I wanted to present at Balhousie Primary School in Perth, Scotland. This was my mom’s school. I flew to Scotland and presented at Balhousie, St. Ninian, a Young Carers group and for the Perth Kinross ADHD support group. I believed that every connection I made would lead to another opportunity.
When I returned to Canada, I decided to pursue schools nationwide. I received a request from a northern British Columbia school in Fort St. John. Getting to Fort St. John would take a stop in Calgary and a late flight. I was ready for the adventure. When I arrived, it was midnight. I shared a cab to the hotel with a guy training to be a helicopter pilot. When I got to the hotel, it was locked. I had to wake up the manager to let me in. The fact there was snow in September led me to believe I was going to have a great adventure.
The week was filled with presentations during the day and one evening show. I met a man at the evening presentation who reconnected with me while I was shopping in Walmart for an evening snack. He told me how much he enjoyed the show and how he related to my struggles with reading.
While in Fort St. John, I drove down to Dawson Creek, the start of the Alaska Highway. I also went on a hike. It occurred to me that there were bears in northern BC. On my hike, I did see bear poop and got lost, but I managed to survive the experience.
My travels took me to Calgary, Alberta, where I presented in an English-Spanish bilingual school, toured Banff and Canmore and survived driving in downtown Calgary. I had lunch in the Calgary Tower on a freezing winter’s day. It was a fun trip.
I read an article about a school in Milltown, Newfoundland; an arsonist burned that down. I could raise these students’ spirits, so I went to Newfoundland. The kids were moved from their school in Milltown to St. Alban’s. They were being housed in a community centre. The school was Bay d’Espoire Academy. I began with a parent presentation, followed by two presentations for the students.
At one of the presentations, I brought a little boy up to take part in my presentation. During his performance, I noticed some of the teachers tearing up. I later asked why and was told that this boy was selectively mute and had never spoken until his moment on stage. While in Newfoundland, we toured Twillingate, where we saw an iceberg. I loved Newfoundland.
BACK TO SCOTLAND
I travelled back to Scotland, where I connected with another school named St. John. I also took fifteen Young Carers to a camp called Dalguiese. Young Carers are children at home performing an adult job: caring for a younger sibling, a parent, etc. The camp was amazing. We went canoeing go-karting, took part in high ropes courses and played night games like Ambush.
On the second evening, one of the younger campers, Ryan, knocked on my door at 2:00 am. He wasn’t feeling well. I took him back to his room, where he barfed. I got him back in his bed and left, only to return at 3:00 am to check on him. He was still alive. The camp was an amazing opportunity for these kids.
Before this camping trip, I had already taken thirty kids camping at a location in Kinloch-Rannoch and brought fifteen kids from Scotland to my camp in Canada.
One of the highlights of my Scotland tour was presenting at George Heriot School. I talk about this experience in one of my other blog entries. George Heriot is in Edinburgh and was the school that inspired JK Rowling’s Hogwarts.
I am writing at a time when we are not allowed to travel because of the COVID-19 pandemic. When COVID is behind us, I plan to create adventures that will take me across Canada, Scotland, and who knows where.
SASKATCHEWAN AND BEYOND
I have been travelling across Canada and loving it. I have been to Montreal, Ottawa, Temiscaming, Quebec, Newfoundland, and Alberta and have presented virtually to schools and organizations in British Columbia. My goal is to be present in every province and territory in Canada.
I am not a big fan of virtual presentations, but I am working on creating a virtual presentation that will be as dynamic as my in-person presentations. I also did a virtual presentation for a Bermuda school. I would have LOVED to present in person. I like beaches!
February 2022
I have just returned from Regina, Saskatchewan and what an adventure! As I was flying over Regina, I thought: “They weren’t kidding; Saskatchewan is very FLAT!” When I popped out of the airport to get my rental Toyota Corolla, it was COLD! (-34 C) I stayed at the Meridian Inn and Suites, the starting point for Syrian refugees. I love meeting people from around the world.
All the schools I presented at were country schools. I drove for forty minutes in every direction across a flat countryside to get to my destination. There was a snowstorm on the day of my first presentation at Mclean Elementary School. On the way to the school, I nearly hit a pole, took the wrong highway and got pulled over by a policeman for my back lights not being on. It was a white-knuckle drive to the school.
On the second day, I was at Sedley Elementary School. As a result of Saskatchewan being flat, the snow blows across the highway. It wasn’t easy seeing the road at times. In one of its classrooms, I made it to the school and presented two in-person and two virtual presentations for Willowgrove Elementary School in Saskatoon. After I finished my virtual presentations, I went into two classrooms and told the kids a few stories. It was a great day! There was an old school for delinquent girls beside Sedley School. It is now condos, but it had an interesting history. The nuns ran it. It even had a jail in the basement. There was an old school attached to Sedley Elementary. The janitor told me a few ghost tales to spice up my day.
I drove to Stuart Nicks Elementary School in Grand Coulee on the third day. It was a beautiful drive into a gorgeous sunrise. When I turned off the highway, I had to drive along an icy country road. Farm fields were on each side, with snow streaming across the road. Out of nowhere appeared a small community. My GPS didn’t lead me to the school, but I did manage to find it. The kids were great! I met a boy named Madden who showed great interest in me. He sought me out to ensure he could say goodbye before I left. One of the younger students cried at the end of the presentation because he didn’t want it to end.
During my time in Regina, I visited the Saskatchewan Museum to see the dinosaurs, walked through a wintery park to see the parliament buildings and drove to Barry’s Coin Store to buy a 1935 Canadian silver dollar. My Saskatchewan trip was a success.
The only negative part of the trip was my flight home. I arrived at the airport at 10:00 a.m. The flight kept on getting postponed and was eventually cancelled. I had to take a taxi to the Marriott Hotel and get a 7:00 a.m. flight the next day. All in all, I was pleased with this leg of the tour.
