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Surprise One!
My husband and I got married in the fall of 1990. By the time we settled into our new routine, Christmas had arrived and the New Year soon followed. My Da-Pong husband’s family had the tradition of having Christmas brunch and Christmas dinner on the 25th of December. On the New Year’s Day, the family would have a dinner together again. So, those two weeks of December were busy time for us.
The New Year's Day in 1991, we got down to the parking garage, ready to leave for the family dinner, only to discover that my husband's pride and joy Camero Z28 IROC had disappeared from the parking lot. Two months after we got married and on the first day of 1991, we suddenly fell into a black hole and became the victim of a car theft on New Year’s Day.
We did find the car. Police did anyway, three months later, in the middle of nowhere. The thieves took the whole car apart! The wheels were gone, the engine was pulled, the chairs were taken, and the whole car was ransacked. Nothing was left behind, including the cigarette lighter on the dashboard. The only thing left was the shell of the car body with the glass T roofs. Those stupid thieves did not realize that Glass T roofs were expensive items too, or maybe they wanted the car to look OK from a distance!
Apparently, the 1985 Camero Z28 IROC was the number one stolen car in North America. Thieves would take the car apart and sell those parts to auto shops all over North America. When I saw the empty car body, I cried in the deserted field where the car was dumped. I was sad to see the car but it was a closure for us! It also marked the end of my husband’s sports car era.
Surprise Two!
Christmas of 1994, my husband taped a key to a bottle of Orange Crush (an orange pop) and gave it to me as one of my Christmas presents. He said he knew that Orange Crush is one of my favourite beverages. When I opened the box I was wondering why he would tape a key to the bottle of pop as my Christmas present. I didn’t realize that the family members were all laughing at this time. When I opened the second box, there was a car phone in the box, the bolt in type popular then. I didn’t have any use for a cell phone, so I was getting a bit surprised that he would spend that kind of money on something I did not have any use for. He said it was for my safety if I were in my car.
By now, the family was falling off the chairs laughing. My Da-Pong finally said, “Didn’t you get the connection? Why would I get you a car phone? You didn’t even have a car!” My Gosh! It was a CAR KEY taped on the pop bottle! The cell phone was intended for me to use when I was driving on the road. I was shocked that he would buy me a car for Christmas! Well, my husband got me a car as a Christmas present in 1994. For safety precautions, he also got me a cell phone. He is a very thoughtful guy and often enjoys showering me with surprises. He pulled a good one this time!
Surprise Three!
I started working for the public school system in Ontario in October of 1995. My teaching assignment was only part time and I had to travel between two schools due to the number of ESL students in each school. I was not upset though because I had been waiting for this day for two long years. Finally I got my foot in the door to work for the School Board. I was actually thrilled that I had extra time in the afternoon to plan for my students. Life was beginning to shine in my view.
By this time, I had been driving everyday to work because I had to travel between two schools. Each school is about 40 minutes of driving distance from my house. I quit the furniture store immediately after I was hired by the School Board. Sometimes, I still went back to the store to help out during busy sale seasons. I guess I felt guilty of not leaving the company sufficient time to find another manager to take over my job. So, once a while I would go back to work part time when they needed extra hands. A car was definitely very handy at this time. It was not my first year of driving, but it was my first time driving long distance on the winter road in the winter of late 1995.
I learned how to drive on snowy winter roads. I thought, "If winter driving is not easy, wouldn’t that make sense to learn how to drive in the winter time with an instructor sitting beside me?" I went through the driving lessons in winter, and sure enough it was easy for me to take the test in the spring time. I am always extra cautious driving on the winter road.
Driving during a snowy day is not fun at all if you have never driven in a snow country during a winter storm. Snow would be falling and covering the roads. The road may be still warm enough to melt the snow and turn it to ice or icy water. The new snow keeps falling on top of the melting snow. The road could be slippery, treachery and dangerous at times. In the winter of 1996, I had my first (and only) car accident during the first real winter storm. (Knock on wood; hopefully it would be the last one as well!)
It was the first day of real winter snow. My car suddenly turned many 360 degree turns on a little country road and then slid sideway into a ditch where I sat for two hours waiting for the C.A.A. guys to come to tow the car out. One rule about winter driving is that the driver should NEVER get out of the car when in a car accident. It is too dangerous to be on the road, or to be exposed in the winter cold. So, there I stayed in the car in the ditch and watched the water slowly getting into my car. I crawled from the driver side to stay higher ground on the passenger side just in case. I used my cell phone to call C.A.A. for help and then to inform my school that I would not be able to make it in for the day. Thank God and thank my Da-Pong husband for being so thoughtful! People here in Canada understand the hassles of winter driving, and accidents do happen even when drivers are doing their best. That was my first surprise for the year.
Surprise Four!
My job prospect was great but the big economic environment was still not the greatest in 1995. In fact, the public sector was somehow affected as well. By 1996, the rumour said that many School Boards across the province would have to lay off teachers. My Board has been one of the largest School Boards in Ontario. It is a fact that our students population has been growing as long as immigrants keep coming to Ontario. I was not worried about my job security at all. Until one day, I overheard about the plan for the school.
One of the schools I visited had about one thousand one hundred students, which was considered a super sized school by Canadian standards. The school was a “holding school” for another middle school that was under construction at the time, which meant half of our students would have to go to the other school. So, half of our staff would have to go look for a job elsewhere within the Board as well. I thought, “Well, at least we will keep our job and we just have to go apply for a new post at another school.” I was right. No one had to worry about losing their job except ME!
Since we would be losing half of our student population, our ESL enrollment would go down as well. Being the lowest on the seniority totem pole, I was the first one to get the pink sheet, the layoff notice. I received the notice in May, and I was depressed for a while. I had to go to a workshop for teachers who would be laid off for September. There were 427 of us. Can you believe that? More than four hundred teachers were laid off the summer of 1996. The good news was that the School Board had the obligation to assign each one of us an assignment if there was any opening in September. That was the first time I really appreciate the term, “Contract Binding”.
I had a pretty rough summer worrying about my future in September. I kept telling myself that I could continue supplying for the schools, or I could volunteer again. By August, the good news finally came. I was asked to go back to “supply” as a long term occasional teacher for half a year. That was a God send! I could not imagine how depressed I would have been if I did not get called back. In fact, all teachers who got the pink sheet were recalled back to teach in September. Eventually, I got another maternity leave contract for the second half of the year. From then on, I have been working full time in Ontario.
My husband and I got married in the fall of 1990. By the time we settled into our new routine, Christmas had arrived and the New Year soon followed. My Da-Pong husband’s family had the tradition of having Christmas brunch and Christmas dinner on the 25th of December. On the New Year’s Day, the family would have a dinner together again. So, those two weeks of December were busy time for us.
The New Year's Day in 1991, we got down to the parking garage, ready to leave for the family dinner, only to discover that my husband's pride and joy Camero Z28 IROC had disappeared from the parking lot. Two months after we got married and on the first day of 1991, we suddenly fell into a black hole and became the victim of a car theft on New Year’s Day.
We did find the car. Police did anyway, three months later, in the middle of nowhere. The thieves took the whole car apart! The wheels were gone, the engine was pulled, the chairs were taken, and the whole car was ransacked. Nothing was left behind, including the cigarette lighter on the dashboard. The only thing left was the shell of the car body with the glass T roofs. Those stupid thieves did not realize that Glass T roofs were expensive items too, or maybe they wanted the car to look OK from a distance!
Apparently, the 1985 Camero Z28 IROC was the number one stolen car in North America. Thieves would take the car apart and sell those parts to auto shops all over North America. When I saw the empty car body, I cried in the deserted field where the car was dumped. I was sad to see the car but it was a closure for us! It also marked the end of my husband’s sports car era.
Surprise Two!
Christmas of 1994, my husband taped a key to a bottle of Orange Crush (an orange pop) and gave it to me as one of my Christmas presents. He said he knew that Orange Crush is one of my favourite beverages. When I opened the box I was wondering why he would tape a key to the bottle of pop as my Christmas present. I didn’t realize that the family members were all laughing at this time. When I opened the second box, there was a car phone in the box, the bolt in type popular then. I didn’t have any use for a cell phone, so I was getting a bit surprised that he would spend that kind of money on something I did not have any use for. He said it was for my safety if I were in my car.
By now, the family was falling off the chairs laughing. My Da-Pong finally said, “Didn’t you get the connection? Why would I get you a car phone? You didn’t even have a car!” My Gosh! It was a CAR KEY taped on the pop bottle! The cell phone was intended for me to use when I was driving on the road. I was shocked that he would buy me a car for Christmas! Well, my husband got me a car as a Christmas present in 1994. For safety precautions, he also got me a cell phone. He is a very thoughtful guy and often enjoys showering me with surprises. He pulled a good one this time!
Surprise Three!
I started working for the public school system in Ontario in October of 1995. My teaching assignment was only part time and I had to travel between two schools due to the number of ESL students in each school. I was not upset though because I had been waiting for this day for two long years. Finally I got my foot in the door to work for the School Board. I was actually thrilled that I had extra time in the afternoon to plan for my students. Life was beginning to shine in my view.
By this time, I had been driving everyday to work because I had to travel between two schools. Each school is about 40 minutes of driving distance from my house. I quit the furniture store immediately after I was hired by the School Board. Sometimes, I still went back to the store to help out during busy sale seasons. I guess I felt guilty of not leaving the company sufficient time to find another manager to take over my job. So, once a while I would go back to work part time when they needed extra hands. A car was definitely very handy at this time. It was not my first year of driving, but it was my first time driving long distance on the winter road in the winter of late 1995.
I learned how to drive on snowy winter roads. I thought, "If winter driving is not easy, wouldn’t that make sense to learn how to drive in the winter time with an instructor sitting beside me?" I went through the driving lessons in winter, and sure enough it was easy for me to take the test in the spring time. I am always extra cautious driving on the winter road.
Driving during a snowy day is not fun at all if you have never driven in a snow country during a winter storm. Snow would be falling and covering the roads. The road may be still warm enough to melt the snow and turn it to ice or icy water. The new snow keeps falling on top of the melting snow. The road could be slippery, treachery and dangerous at times. In the winter of 1996, I had my first (and only) car accident during the first real winter storm. (Knock on wood; hopefully it would be the last one as well!)
It was the first day of real winter snow. My car suddenly turned many 360 degree turns on a little country road and then slid sideway into a ditch where I sat for two hours waiting for the C.A.A. guys to come to tow the car out. One rule about winter driving is that the driver should NEVER get out of the car when in a car accident. It is too dangerous to be on the road, or to be exposed in the winter cold. So, there I stayed in the car in the ditch and watched the water slowly getting into my car. I crawled from the driver side to stay higher ground on the passenger side just in case. I used my cell phone to call C.A.A. for help and then to inform my school that I would not be able to make it in for the day. Thank God and thank my Da-Pong husband for being so thoughtful! People here in Canada understand the hassles of winter driving, and accidents do happen even when drivers are doing their best. That was my first surprise for the year.
Surprise Four!
My job prospect was great but the big economic environment was still not the greatest in 1995. In fact, the public sector was somehow affected as well. By 1996, the rumour said that many School Boards across the province would have to lay off teachers. My Board has been one of the largest School Boards in Ontario. It is a fact that our students population has been growing as long as immigrants keep coming to Ontario. I was not worried about my job security at all. Until one day, I overheard about the plan for the school.
One of the schools I visited had about one thousand one hundred students, which was considered a super sized school by Canadian standards. The school was a “holding school” for another middle school that was under construction at the time, which meant half of our students would have to go to the other school. So, half of our staff would have to go look for a job elsewhere within the Board as well. I thought, “Well, at least we will keep our job and we just have to go apply for a new post at another school.” I was right. No one had to worry about losing their job except ME!
Since we would be losing half of our student population, our ESL enrollment would go down as well. Being the lowest on the seniority totem pole, I was the first one to get the pink sheet, the layoff notice. I received the notice in May, and I was depressed for a while. I had to go to a workshop for teachers who would be laid off for September. There were 427 of us. Can you believe that? More than four hundred teachers were laid off the summer of 1996. The good news was that the School Board had the obligation to assign each one of us an assignment if there was any opening in September. That was the first time I really appreciate the term, “Contract Binding”.
I had a pretty rough summer worrying about my future in September. I kept telling myself that I could continue supplying for the schools, or I could volunteer again. By August, the good news finally came. I was asked to go back to “supply” as a long term occasional teacher for half a year. That was a God send! I could not imagine how depressed I would have been if I did not get called back. In fact, all teachers who got the pink sheet were recalled back to teach in September. Eventually, I got another maternity leave contract for the second half of the year. From then on, I have been working full time in Ontario.
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