Did you ever wonder what its like to always be the new kid in school? I was the new kid a bunch of times. Because we were always moving. The thing is, if you started a new school at the start of the school year, it wasn’t too bad because there were probably other new kids starting too. And besides, things were new for everybody. A new teacher, a new classroom, new desk, new start. But changing schools mid year soon became one of my least favorite things. I suppose it was the same for the Evil Sister and the Angel Monster. You kind of feel like this:

Grade 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8 were the ones where I changed schools mid year. I was not a fan. The changes in 7 and 8 involved moving to a different province, with a completely different school system. That was good and bad, especially grade 8.

We moved from Manitoba to BC when I was in grade 7. The thing is this. In Manitoba grade 7 is Junior High School. But in BC, Junior High doesn’t start until grade 8. So a mid year change is like a major demotion, being set back from Junior High to elementary school. Not that the school work was easier.

But grade 8, YIKES. We moved to Clinton at the start of grade 8. I found the academic curriculum especially easy and was by far top of the class in all subjects (as far as the boys go). There was a brainy girl as well and for some odd reason we were expected to be a couple of some sorts. Like a penguin couple, I suppose. And I also met a new best friend. Those were the good parts and I will tell you about them later.

When we moved from Clinton to Edmonton the schoolwork was completely different, especially math. I was totally in the dark and went from getting tests scores around 98% to 35%. Can you imagine the shock of that? It’s not that the Alberta math was any harder, relatively speaking, it was just completely different. And we arrived in Edmonton just in time for Easter mid terms. Imagine having to write a high value exam that is written in Chinese. 98 to 35. Its like flying high in the sky one moment then being pushed to earth by a mean friend.

More about that later; it wasn’t all bad.

Even by grade 4, the constant moving had become a disruption in the continuum, so staying put for an entire school year was a blessing, sort of. We moved from St Johns to College Ave. I was still at Machray School, but now I had ‘MRS. MONDOR’.

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