My Sister was an ESL teacher in Japan, so in 2003 my family and I went to visit her. We toured all over Japan from big city Tokyo to surfing in Aoshima. I was astonished with the Japanese culture and respect and the country’s scenery. I was in my early 20s on this trip, with little travel experience. This experience opened my eyes to the diversity of cultures and land present on earth and gave me a better understanding of how to interact with the diverse groups that came to visit Whistler and the adventure company I was working for. This experience showed me how much you can learn, for example the how and why some people do things, when you are immersed in a culture.
Besides the beautiful outdoors and all the fun adventures in the snow and the summer, working at this company for many years gave me so much experience in working with tourists from all over the world. There were peoples of all different experience, from the expert to the ones who had never see snow, that brough a new challenge to every day. I was introduced to so many different cultures and I got to share my knowledge about the local flora and fauna. I as well shared local Traditional Knowledge on our cultural snowshoeing and walking tours based out of the Squamish Lillooet cultural center.
After obtaining my 80 hr. first aid and graduating my Bachelors in Outdoor Education, I started working for this outdoor touring company. I would take groups, usually from over seas and of all ages, for a two week+ long vacation, camping and hiking through the interior of BC and in western USA, when I moved down to Texas. I would pick the clients up from the airports and drive them from campground to campground. Upon arrival where we were staying, I would help them set up their tents and cook them all their meals. It was quite the experience, taking care of a “big family” in the outdoors, while showing them our beautiful province and exploring the US with them. I had to do a lot of research before guiding in the West of America, as I had never been there before. I learned so much history about the land and cultures, for example the grand canyon and the Navajo peoples. This experience showed me that there is so much to learn and add to my professional development.
Moving to Texas was a huge culture shock. The biggest town I had lived in before here was 15000, in the busy winter months of Whistler. I though It would be the same as the prairies, boy was I wrong. First off the City of Houston was 3 million people, wow. This sounds big but it took over an hour of driving before you actually saw the prairie. I never even locked my doors growing up, so when we moved into our first house, I was petrified to see bars on my windows and three deadbolts on the outside doors: I carried my bear spray around with me everywhere. This was so new to me but almost everyone in Houston never thought twice about it. They looked at me weir for having bear spray and not a gun.
Then came my job Training at the Four Seasons Hotel. The first part of it was for all the new highers in every location of the hotel, to learn about the hotel chain. When were asked to read silently, I became very aware of how privileged my upbringing was. The lady next to me was all shy and asked me if I could read it to her because she couldn’t read. In my life I never really seen race, social class, or any other diversity. But it was everywhere in Houston, a real eye opener that it isn’t just made up stuff on the TV. This kind of stuff is very real, and it needs to be addressed, not ignored. Reflecting now, why wouldn’t the director of that training have a video of the instructions, read it out loud herself, or have the employees take turns if they felt up to it. In other word reflecting on my time in Houston helped me to further see the diversity that exists in this world, that could and will most likely be present in every one of my future classrooms.
Once I finally made it out of the city, I found nature and some true cultural history. The landscape is almost as diverse as Canada’s as you will see in the next 6 pictures.
After having kids and my career change, I worked as a Certified Education Assistant. I was on call and thus had the privilege of working at several different schools with many different students. I really loved this work. Before my work as an EA, I always wanted to fix everything to make it right. However, this job helped me to see that no one needs to be fixed, there are only barriers that need to be broken. Looking back critically, I feel every teacher should have this education to help support inclusion: Every child belongs and has a right to succeed in the way that suits them best.