Northern BC Adventure Begins

Hello my beautiful people! What seemed to be a simple getaway to visit family on the mainland during Covid times ended up opening an unexpected door.

My second cousin and her partner were looking for a teaching job ideally abroad but due to Covid they were restricted to teaching within Canada and decided to look within British Columbia. They told me about this opportunity in Northern British Columbia where they were looking for two teachers and a counsellor. I was curious and decided to apply with them, not thinking much of it. Little did we know, we would all receive an interview AND an offer! I was not expecting this from my small getaway from the island. Suddenly, it became reality and I had to make a decision. I weighed the pros and cons, more pros. I bit the bullet and accepted the position as a “Child and Youth Counsellor”.

The school is in a small indigenous community/reserve called Tsay Keh Dene, which is composed of 250 people. To reach the community, you drive 2 hours north of Prince George to MacKenzie then it is a 5-7 hours of logging roads or an hour flight from Prince George. A truck or SUV with 10 ply tires is needed to make this drive. You also need a radio to communicate on the logging roads with potential logging trucks as they go fast and can be quite dangerous. Personally, I would like to try out the drive!

July and August were spent working, packing, shipping, doing paperwork, and making sure everything was well taken care of before my adventure. I assure you…no stress at all… just some sleepless nights and working in overdrive, forgetting to eat and slow down. Like I said, no stress!

The day arrived and my kind friend picked me up at 6 am on a Saturday to take me to the airport. I flew from Victoria to Vancouver to Prince George. In Prince George, I stayed a couple of nights in a hotel along with the other teaching staff. It was nice to be able to spend two nights at the hotel and meet the rest of the staff. My cousin, Allison and her partner Kevin and myself decided to borrow the staff van and do our groceries the morning of our departure. Well, that went smoothly with no stress. Just kidding! The grocery shop took over an hour, then we had to pack it in boxes, then we had to drop it off at a specific location at the airport which took a few tries to find it. We made it…. barely! Rushed back to the hotel for a quick lunch and off we went to the airport again. I worked up a sweat!

At the airport, everyone piled their belongings in the waiting room, ready to put on our small charter plane. Not everything fit on the plane, which meant the rest had to be sent by vehicle a couple days later. I was lucky that most of my stuff made it. What an adventure!

The plane was very small, one seat on each side of the aisle. I chose a window seat. It was quite comfortable. The view was amazing. I could not keep my eyes off all the wilderness below. The landing was on a dirt runway. It was exciting. An SUV with a couple of students wearing masks was waiting to greet the new “staff” along with a school bus to drive us up to the community.