Because blogs are structured in reverse chronological order, this final post is possibly the very first one you'll see if you visit this site, and so it must serve as an introduction even though it was written last.

In 2006, my family and I went to Canada on a teaching exchange. Actually, to be more correct, I went to Canada on the teaching exchange, and my family joined me. We had a fabulous year. We made a lot of friends, saw lots of Canada, and experienced what it was like to live in another place. It was a wonderful experience. This blog documents that entire year, and the 6 months of preparation leading up to it.

When I started writing this blog, many people - including my family - did not see any point in why I was doing it. They told me - fairly reasonably at the time - that no one would read it or be all that interested in what we were doing. But I didn't write this for other people. I wrote it for me. It wrote it as my own personal diary and reflection of a year. I wrote it because I thought I'd enjoy looking back on it in years to come. I wrote it because I thought it might be of some use to others about to take the plunge and do a year of teaching in another country. I wrote it so I could learn to blog. I wrote it for my children. I wrote it for a quite a few reasons.

As it turns out, many people did read it, and it has grown into a fairly thorough chronicle of our time there.

As I look back on the year 2006, it was a good year. There is a sequel to the story that is best left for another time and place, but for now, this blog stands as a record of a wonderful year that was.

You can use the list of months on the right side of the page to jump back in time to any point. I hope you enjoy reading it.

Chris Betcher
Sydney Australia