So not too much had happened since my last post it seems, but I bet once I begin to recount many things will come to mind. So let's commence!
This past weekend we had our 2 day excursion to Halifax; which in my opinion is the most beautiful city I've ever seen! I definitely plan on living there st some point in my life! The ocean is right there, the city is so unique and clean and there are so many nifty little shops! The people are so friendly... Especially the homeless ones!
We visited Peggy's Cove which rivals the Rockies as one of the most breathtaking views instilled in my memory. It was a tad cold though.. ha ha ha! I have never been so close to having frostbite in the absence of snow in my life! Imagine this if you may. December. Large rocks over-looking the sea. No trees or buildings. 70 km/hr winds coming directly off the ocean. Brrrr!! Yet being that I was not raised to be a wimp Kristen and I spent the entire time out on the rocks, braving the cold, freezing our asses off, in order to get as many pictures as possible! I can't even begin to describe how gorgeous this place is so I will include a couple of said photos.
After Peggy's Cove we went received a tour of Citadel Hill, solely in French. Needless to say I didn't take in too much.. I honestly think that the only thing I could tell you is that the world's first telegraph was sent from Citadel Hill and the message was "We need beer". How fitting is it that this is the only thing I pick up in me second language??
Apres l'tour de Citadel we went to the Pier 21 Museum. This was really neat to see as over 1 million immigrants came into Canada through this single port during it's years or operation. Also the stats say that 1 in 5 Canadians can trace a connection to Pier 21, be it relatives who immigrated into Canada or traveled through during war times.
Saturday night we hung out with the Katimavik group from Spryfield. They are a cool group of individuals and they will be in our cluster for the next 2 rotations. We stayed at a day care that night where we were given 2" thick foamies to sleep on, although they would have served as better table tops! Needless to say with 12 people sleeping in the same room I didn't catch many winks! I was impressed, however, with our group's level of performance on Sunday with such little sleep. We had a seminar/workshop with a woman Marjo did Katimavik with way, way back in the day. We learned all about.. BA, BA DA BAAAAAAA!!! SEX! It was a really good workshop but I won't elaborate other than to say that we received an education about sexual health that we sure as hell couldn't get in sex-ed at school! After we got all sexed-up (Just kidding!!) we went to the Halifax Discovery Center which was almost as good as the one in Edmonton. I felt like a kid again doing some of the activities. Especially the bubble room!! :D The remainder of our time was spent shopping and walking around downtown Halifax. We went into some extremely.. unique shops to say the least! I love Halifax!! Did I mention that? I wasn't able to make a return trip to the Keith's Brewery which was disappointing, but hey.. I have the rest of my life to drink right!?
When we returned home we had a little bit of a group meltdown. No.. I don't want to describe it as a meltdown.. More of the finale to our honeymoon period. One of the girls had been causing problems with many members of the group and one of the other girls finally gathered the balls to confront her about it. So we're not down one large problem, a bunch of drama and one French girl. Annabelle decided that maybe Katimavik was not for her; with the little push from Sandra; and now there is finally peace in our house. The relief this has caused is amazing! We had been walking on egg shells for the longest time as many of us (myself included) were on the very verge of explosion. It is sad that Katimavik didn't work out for Annabelle and I do feel bad that she can't live out her experience, but I don't feel she had the maturity level for it. I think that this was probably the best decision for her as it is not healthy for a person to be living in constant conflict like she had been. I have to say that I am a little jealous as she gets to spend Christmas with her family, but there's not too much that could drag me away from my Katima-family!
Until next time!
Life is an adventure. Live it to the fullest!!
~Syd
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Short blurb from the east coast
Time for a short blurb.
A new sense of excitement and joy settled over the Dieppe Katima-house this morning as we realized that it was the first day of December. (As if Danielle would let anyone forget it anyways!) I didn't really think about it until I started walking into the tooth brushing mosh pit in the bathroom and Kristen came at me like a spider monkey, pinched me and punched me while yelling "Pinch! Punch! First day of the month!" I think I just might bruise! You know that someone loves you when they don't hesitate to leave their 'love marks' on your arms!
C'est semain je suis la house manager avec Annabelle. This couldn't come at a better time for me really. We just get back from billeting and a full week of actual sleep and if I had to adjust back into 6 hours of extremely iffy sleep and work at the same time I think I'd have a mental breakdown! No joke! You know it's bad when a person would rather sleep on the floor vs the 'Katima-bed'. The first night back in the house after billeting I woke up at 5:00am and realized I couldn't move my neck. Anyone who has ever had partial paralysis would agree that this really sucks! I'm still not able to use my pillow as it creates painful angles with my neck. Vraiment pas cool!
This morning I decided that because sleep is futile in this house anyways I would make french toast pour tous le monde a six heure. Luckily it's not my day to do breakfast dishes! (haha poor Annabelle! :p)
I learned yesterday that while most people are done work on the 18th of December and don't have to return until we rotate to BC that I am required to work December 21st, 22nd and 23rd as well as the 28th, 29th and 30th! One could say that I am less than impressed! We will have to wait and see how that turns out I guess. I'm going to have a conversation with Marjo regarding this as I don't see it as just.
I'll try and keep this as up to date as possible.. Although I will make no promises as per usual!
Live Love Laugh! (I know it's not exactly original but I believe it's very important!)
Till next time!!
~Syd
A new sense of excitement and joy settled over the Dieppe Katima-house this morning as we realized that it was the first day of December. (As if Danielle would let anyone forget it anyways!) I didn't really think about it until I started walking into the tooth brushing mosh pit in the bathroom and Kristen came at me like a spider monkey, pinched me and punched me while yelling "Pinch! Punch! First day of the month!" I think I just might bruise! You know that someone loves you when they don't hesitate to leave their 'love marks' on your arms!
C'est semain je suis la house manager avec Annabelle. This couldn't come at a better time for me really. We just get back from billeting and a full week of actual sleep and if I had to adjust back into 6 hours of extremely iffy sleep and work at the same time I think I'd have a mental breakdown! No joke! You know it's bad when a person would rather sleep on the floor vs the 'Katima-bed'. The first night back in the house after billeting I woke up at 5:00am and realized I couldn't move my neck. Anyone who has ever had partial paralysis would agree that this really sucks! I'm still not able to use my pillow as it creates painful angles with my neck. Vraiment pas cool!
This morning I decided that because sleep is futile in this house anyways I would make french toast pour tous le monde a six heure. Luckily it's not my day to do breakfast dishes! (haha poor Annabelle! :p)
I learned yesterday that while most people are done work on the 18th of December and don't have to return until we rotate to BC that I am required to work December 21st, 22nd and 23rd as well as the 28th, 29th and 30th! One could say that I am less than impressed! We will have to wait and see how that turns out I guess. I'm going to have a conversation with Marjo regarding this as I don't see it as just.
I'll try and keep this as up to date as possible.. Although I will make no promises as per usual!
Live Love Laugh! (I know it's not exactly original but I believe it's very important!)
Till next time!!
~Syd
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Well.. So maybe Katimavik isn't the best program if you require time and energy to do extra things.. Such as keep a blog updated or eat. :p Just kidding! It seems everything we do here revolves around food.. 'We can't do this activity because it will run into our lunch time'; or 'no we can't do that because it starts at 5:30 and that's when dinner is.' It's frustrating, coming from a house where food fell into the time between getting home from volleyball practice and running back over to the school for a game. I'm really missing my volleyball as this is the longest I've gone without playing since I started in grade 7! I'm really excited as there is a drop-in league in Riverview which is about a 15 minute drive from here. It goes every Wednesday and Saturday I believe and I know that a few roomates would be interested in going with me. This would be nice as it would be an organised, indoor physical activity! Something we don't do very often!
I'm currently writing this from the home of my billet family; with an 8 week old golden retriever puppy snoring in my lap. You could say I'm happy. :) Let me explain the term billeting for those of you who don't understand it. For 9 whole days our Katima-family gets dispersed around the greater Moncton area. We all are assigned families to live with for this time in order to become better acquainted with the local culture and also for a little 'sanity break' from the group. I'm staying with a woman from my work, Donna; her husband; son and of course Pheobe the puppy! They're a really great family and just plain wonderful people! Especially to put up the the likes of me! :) I'm also lucky enough to be able to enjoy the peaceful tranquility of my own bedroom (WOAH!!). This means I don't wake up to a jostle, sneeze, cough, full or incomplete sentence, fart or any other sleepy-time bodily function. Oh the luxury of billeting! :p I am starting to miss everyone though.. It's difficult. We've spent such an intense amount of time jammed together already that it's extremely bizarre not to be surrounded by my Katima-family. I catch myself wondering what everyone else is doing and hoping that they're having a good time. I cannot believe the bonds that have been formed in such a short amount of time! It's nutso! :p
So I'm not going to take the time to recap on everything that has gone on here as that would require far too much time and energy. Plus I don't think anyone besides you grandma wants to read about it all! :p I'll just say that I'm still having the absolute best time of my life! I'm loving the Maritimes! The people, the ocean, the atmosphere; the way of life! Things are a lot slower paced here compared to anywhere else I've been. This is one of the only places (outside of Delburne) where I'll be standing on the side of the road, waiting to cross illegally and the cars actually stop and allow me across the road! The first time this happened to me I didn't know what to do! I'm in a city and people don't mind taking the time out of their day to slow their transit in order to let a complete stranger cross the street? It's so cool! People will start conversations with you on the street while waiting for a street light to turn or while you're standing in line at the grocery store. It's really refreshing to me as it goes to show that maybe humanity isn't as far gone as it seems to be at home. It's also really cool how people react to me.. If I were an unknown in small town Delburne right now I think people would regard me as an unsavoury character based on appearances. I have red streaks in my hair now and I'm in the process of stretching my ear piercings. I am able to pass a pencil though my left lobe without any difficulty. I really like it but it's been expressed to me (*cough grandma cough*) that maybe the effect won't be so pleasing in 15 years or so.. I don't really care as I think almost anything that makes you happy is worth doing.
Here people don't care what you look like. It seems they don't just judge a book by it's cover; they seem genuinely interested in what the pages may hold.
Well I'm off to take the puppy to the beach :) Gonna play in some tidal pools!
Until next time!
True happiness cannot be measured. Only felt.
~Syd
I'm currently writing this from the home of my billet family; with an 8 week old golden retriever puppy snoring in my lap. You could say I'm happy. :) Let me explain the term billeting for those of you who don't understand it. For 9 whole days our Katima-family gets dispersed around the greater Moncton area. We all are assigned families to live with for this time in order to become better acquainted with the local culture and also for a little 'sanity break' from the group. I'm staying with a woman from my work, Donna; her husband; son and of course Pheobe the puppy! They're a really great family and just plain wonderful people! Especially to put up the the likes of me! :) I'm also lucky enough to be able to enjoy the peaceful tranquility of my own bedroom (WOAH!!). This means I don't wake up to a jostle, sneeze, cough, full or incomplete sentence, fart or any other sleepy-time bodily function. Oh the luxury of billeting! :p I am starting to miss everyone though.. It's difficult. We've spent such an intense amount of time jammed together already that it's extremely bizarre not to be surrounded by my Katima-family. I catch myself wondering what everyone else is doing and hoping that they're having a good time. I cannot believe the bonds that have been formed in such a short amount of time! It's nutso! :p
So I'm not going to take the time to recap on everything that has gone on here as that would require far too much time and energy. Plus I don't think anyone besides you grandma wants to read about it all! :p I'll just say that I'm still having the absolute best time of my life! I'm loving the Maritimes! The people, the ocean, the atmosphere; the way of life! Things are a lot slower paced here compared to anywhere else I've been. This is one of the only places (outside of Delburne) where I'll be standing on the side of the road, waiting to cross illegally and the cars actually stop and allow me across the road! The first time this happened to me I didn't know what to do! I'm in a city and people don't mind taking the time out of their day to slow their transit in order to let a complete stranger cross the street? It's so cool! People will start conversations with you on the street while waiting for a street light to turn or while you're standing in line at the grocery store. It's really refreshing to me as it goes to show that maybe humanity isn't as far gone as it seems to be at home. It's also really cool how people react to me.. If I were an unknown in small town Delburne right now I think people would regard me as an unsavoury character based on appearances. I have red streaks in my hair now and I'm in the process of stretching my ear piercings. I am able to pass a pencil though my left lobe without any difficulty. I really like it but it's been expressed to me (*cough grandma cough*) that maybe the effect won't be so pleasing in 15 years or so.. I don't really care as I think almost anything that makes you happy is worth doing.
Here people don't care what you look like. It seems they don't just judge a book by it's cover; they seem genuinely interested in what the pages may hold.
Well I'm off to take the puppy to the beach :) Gonna play in some tidal pools!
Until next time!
True happiness cannot be measured. Only felt.
~Syd
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Thank you for your patience!
Well everyone, here's the update I know you've all been dying for! I know because I've had numerous comments over Facebook regarding this.
This past week or two has easily been the busiest time frame since last volleyball season! We've been going non-stop.. Quite literally.. Our last block of free time must have been.. hmm.. uh.. October 4th maybe?? :p
Here is a list of some of the things we've done/accomplished in the past little while:
-A high school dance
-TYPS Youth conference
-Bottle Drive
-Acadian Concert called Ode a l'acadie
-Amazing Race with the Boys and Girls Club
-In house Talent Show
-Halloween Party at St. Pat's
-Apple picking
-Lunch with Bouctouche
-Oliviary Soapery
-Moncton Zoo
-Magnetic Hill
Our "free-time" blocks are filled with learning activities and the infamous KCC meetings. This leaves us with (if we're lucky) an hour of free time per week. Let me elaborate on KCC.. It's where we come together as a group and decide what we want to do with our non-existing free time. We have different committees who plan different things. I'm on the Official Language Committee. We plan different activities that focus on practicing our second languages. There's the Activities Committee who ..duu duu duu duuuuuu! Plan different activities for us to do, usually on weekends. The Community Committee plans different volunteer activities for us to participate in within the community. Last but most definitely not least is the Executive Committee. They're in charge of bringing all the committees together in order to make sure that everyone is on the same page and that the group is okay with all of the proposed activities. Our last KCC meeting took place on Sunday night, from 7:00 until about 10:00.. Who would have thought that during one week we'd accumulate three hours of discussions!
Now I'm moving on to Magnetic Hill.. I was actually pretty disappointed with it! Sure our van of twelve people was successfully pulled up a little path, but it was no where near the spectacle I'd built it up to be in my head. I was hoping for a huge hill that we were pulled up in a spiral form. It was just a tiny, barely paved road with a slight incline.. It really tweaked my curiosity though.. What exactly is the reason for this natural wonder? I'm sure with the help of Google I could figure it out but as you all know I'm pretty lacking in the time department.
Nothing else was of extreme consequence (either that or I'm failing to remember which is probably more than likely).
I'm really, really excited about the Halloween party we're hosting for the other Katimavik groups in my cluster as well as 18 Canada World Youth participants. This will bring our total to around 65 people in our tiny little (former crack-) house. I just came into the information that our house used to belong to a hard core junkie.. Turns out this is why we were able to find the square footage at such a reasonable rate! Who knew?
The weekend after this one is our 48-hour break!! :D I'm heading off to Digby NS to stay with my cousin! I cannot bloody wait!! I'm not even sure what I'm going to do without 6 other people sleeping in the same room (*cough bed cough*). You could say that we're pretty close here in Katimavik: Dieppe :) I think that my personal bubble is sans-existent anymore as I'm forgetting what it is like to be alone.. So far I have had very few struggles with this lack of privacy and I'm very grateful to have the wonderful group that I do have!
We had an Open House last night and we had about 15 local visitors (almost a Katima-record!) and I really had to laugh at people's reactions to our living quarters and just the general tight-knit formation of our group! I guess I don't really think about who I sit on or who's pretending to make out with whom anymore.. Gotta love Katima-life! Just 5 weeks ago we were 11 strangers sitting around a table in the Moncton Airport and now we're one big family, no one existing completely without the others.. I can't believe how I've come to rely on my Katima-family. Be it when I'm setting the table or just need a hug I know that I have 10 other people to turn to.
Well I should wrap this up and get to bed.. It seems the only computer time I get is late at night when everyone else has gone to bed.. Until next time..
Live vicariously through yourself. (Or me if you would prefer.. I don't mind :p)
~Syd
This past week or two has easily been the busiest time frame since last volleyball season! We've been going non-stop.. Quite literally.. Our last block of free time must have been.. hmm.. uh.. October 4th maybe?? :p
Here is a list of some of the things we've done/accomplished in the past little while:
-A high school dance
-TYPS Youth conference
-Bottle Drive
-Acadian Concert called Ode a l'acadie
-Amazing Race with the Boys and Girls Club
-In house Talent Show
-Halloween Party at St. Pat's
-Apple picking
-Lunch with Bouctouche
-Oliviary Soapery
-Moncton Zoo
-Magnetic Hill
Our "free-time" blocks are filled with learning activities and the infamous KCC meetings. This leaves us with (if we're lucky) an hour of free time per week. Let me elaborate on KCC.. It's where we come together as a group and decide what we want to do with our non-existing free time. We have different committees who plan different things. I'm on the Official Language Committee. We plan different activities that focus on practicing our second languages. There's the Activities Committee who ..duu duu duu duuuuuu! Plan different activities for us to do, usually on weekends. The Community Committee plans different volunteer activities for us to participate in within the community. Last but most definitely not least is the Executive Committee. They're in charge of bringing all the committees together in order to make sure that everyone is on the same page and that the group is okay with all of the proposed activities. Our last KCC meeting took place on Sunday night, from 7:00 until about 10:00.. Who would have thought that during one week we'd accumulate three hours of discussions!
Now I'm moving on to Magnetic Hill.. I was actually pretty disappointed with it! Sure our van of twelve people was successfully pulled up a little path, but it was no where near the spectacle I'd built it up to be in my head. I was hoping for a huge hill that we were pulled up in a spiral form. It was just a tiny, barely paved road with a slight incline.. It really tweaked my curiosity though.. What exactly is the reason for this natural wonder? I'm sure with the help of Google I could figure it out but as you all know I'm pretty lacking in the time department.
Nothing else was of extreme consequence (either that or I'm failing to remember which is probably more than likely).
I'm really, really excited about the Halloween party we're hosting for the other Katimavik groups in my cluster as well as 18 Canada World Youth participants. This will bring our total to around 65 people in our tiny little (former crack-) house. I just came into the information that our house used to belong to a hard core junkie.. Turns out this is why we were able to find the square footage at such a reasonable rate! Who knew?
The weekend after this one is our 48-hour break!! :D I'm heading off to Digby NS to stay with my cousin! I cannot bloody wait!! I'm not even sure what I'm going to do without 6 other people sleeping in the same room (*cough bed cough*). You could say that we're pretty close here in Katimavik: Dieppe :) I think that my personal bubble is sans-existent anymore as I'm forgetting what it is like to be alone.. So far I have had very few struggles with this lack of privacy and I'm very grateful to have the wonderful group that I do have!
We had an Open House last night and we had about 15 local visitors (almost a Katima-record!) and I really had to laugh at people's reactions to our living quarters and just the general tight-knit formation of our group! I guess I don't really think about who I sit on or who's pretending to make out with whom anymore.. Gotta love Katima-life! Just 5 weeks ago we were 11 strangers sitting around a table in the Moncton Airport and now we're one big family, no one existing completely without the others.. I can't believe how I've come to rely on my Katima-family. Be it when I'm setting the table or just need a hug I know that I have 10 other people to turn to.
Well I should wrap this up and get to bed.. It seems the only computer time I get is late at night when everyone else has gone to bed.. Until next time..
Live vicariously through yourself. (Or me if you would prefer.. I don't mind :p)
~Syd
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Work Placement!!
Hey all!!
Today I started working at St. Pat's Family Center. The morning was filled with cleaning sweaty exercise equipment and mopping wet changing room floors. That did not float my boat if you can imagine! We then had a two hour lunch and a chill period of doing nothing until the kids started showing up. I couldn't believe how haphazard everything was! The kids were crazy and the supervisors could hardly contain them. I wasn't told of any responsibilities expected of me so it was a lot of confusion and just playing with the kids. I'd say my day was productive.. I built a huge house out of blocks with this one cute little girl, played some soccer and got inked. One girl decided that I would look better with 'Rock On' written across my forehead alongside a skull and crossbones in black gel pen. I think it's a really good look for me and I'm considering getting it permanent. All in all I really enjoyed work! It beats cleaning the house (for now).
Thanksgiving away from home was really not like Thanksgiving at all.. Sure we had turkey and most of the fixins' but it just wasn't the same! There wasn't quite the family feeling although that sure is building in our house. We all sort of have our roles within the house.. Rachel and I are the mothers apparently, Kristen is the honor-role daughter, Danielle is the hormone driven teenager and Daniel is the crazy uncle that everyone loves. I really hope that the group continues to grow tightly knit and that everything continues to go smoothly.
This past weekend we did two big activities.. the first was a cluster trip to Hopewell Rocks on Saturday to see the Fundy tides. That was so amazing! The rocks were huge and 'eaten away' at the bottom so they were a lot skinnier at their base. We went at low tide and could barely see the waters edge from where we were standing at some places. We went for a walk through a little forest, did some group activities and by the time we got back down to the beach there was 6 inches of water where we had been standing. I couldn't believe how quickly the tide came in and how high it was going to get! Unfortunately we weren't able to stay until high tide but we were told that it was expected to reach 36.4m that day! Insane!! On Sunday we went to TreeGo which was basically an obstacle course 50 feet in the air through the trees! It's such a test of one's courage and nerve! I had a total blast! There were 4 huge long zip lines over the river and the views were spectacular! I couldn't believe the adrenalin rush! It was like nothing I'd ever felt before! It was a great activity for the group as it required a lot of teamwork keeping people calm and talking them through obstacles. The City of Moncton gave us 12 free tickets which was amazing considering the tickets normally cost $25 per person!
The new house managers, Josh and Sandra, are making homemade cabbage rolls for dinner tonight and I'm really excited! It's a good meal that I didn't have to cook! :p
I'm continuing to have the time of my life and it's getting easier to be away from Alberta every day. This place and these people are slowly beginning to feel more like home. I'm just really really glad for current technology which makes it easy to keep in touch with all of you.
Until next time! Loving life!!
~Syd
Today I started working at St. Pat's Family Center. The morning was filled with cleaning sweaty exercise equipment and mopping wet changing room floors. That did not float my boat if you can imagine! We then had a two hour lunch and a chill period of doing nothing until the kids started showing up. I couldn't believe how haphazard everything was! The kids were crazy and the supervisors could hardly contain them. I wasn't told of any responsibilities expected of me so it was a lot of confusion and just playing with the kids. I'd say my day was productive.. I built a huge house out of blocks with this one cute little girl, played some soccer and got inked. One girl decided that I would look better with 'Rock On' written across my forehead alongside a skull and crossbones in black gel pen. I think it's a really good look for me and I'm considering getting it permanent. All in all I really enjoyed work! It beats cleaning the house (for now).
Thanksgiving away from home was really not like Thanksgiving at all.. Sure we had turkey and most of the fixins' but it just wasn't the same! There wasn't quite the family feeling although that sure is building in our house. We all sort of have our roles within the house.. Rachel and I are the mothers apparently, Kristen is the honor-role daughter, Danielle is the hormone driven teenager and Daniel is the crazy uncle that everyone loves. I really hope that the group continues to grow tightly knit and that everything continues to go smoothly.
This past weekend we did two big activities.. the first was a cluster trip to Hopewell Rocks on Saturday to see the Fundy tides. That was so amazing! The rocks were huge and 'eaten away' at the bottom so they were a lot skinnier at their base. We went at low tide and could barely see the waters edge from where we were standing at some places. We went for a walk through a little forest, did some group activities and by the time we got back down to the beach there was 6 inches of water where we had been standing. I couldn't believe how quickly the tide came in and how high it was going to get! Unfortunately we weren't able to stay until high tide but we were told that it was expected to reach 36.4m that day! Insane!! On Sunday we went to TreeGo which was basically an obstacle course 50 feet in the air through the trees! It's such a test of one's courage and nerve! I had a total blast! There were 4 huge long zip lines over the river and the views were spectacular! I couldn't believe the adrenalin rush! It was like nothing I'd ever felt before! It was a great activity for the group as it required a lot of teamwork keeping people calm and talking them through obstacles. The City of Moncton gave us 12 free tickets which was amazing considering the tickets normally cost $25 per person!
The new house managers, Josh and Sandra, are making homemade cabbage rolls for dinner tonight and I'm really excited! It's a good meal that I didn't have to cook! :p
I'm continuing to have the time of my life and it's getting easier to be away from Alberta every day. This place and these people are slowly beginning to feel more like home. I'm just really really glad for current technology which makes it easy to keep in touch with all of you.
Until next time! Loving life!!
~Syd
Friday, October 9, 2009
Hey all!! :)
Here's a little insight into my Katima-life!
I'm going to start off by saying that being house manager is not everything it's cracked up to be. Sure I enjoyed the sleeping in and the ability to wear pajamas all day but the stress of turning around to look at an area you just cleaned and not being able to tell it had just been clean is not for me. I know have an understanding of why my parents would react the way they did when we didn't tidy up after ourselves! I would have such a sense on accomplishment when I would sit down on the couch after cleaning! ..and then 'the children' would come home from work and my whole day's work would be destroyed. Gaah! At least I got many glowing commendations on my cooking! I was asked on several occasions to stay on as perma-house manager. I quickly declined! I really pulled out my dad and grandma's best recipes though so I can't take all the credit.. Tofu vegetable stir-fry on Monday, seafood fettuccine Tuesday, bacon and eggs on Wednesday, Thursday was Dad's beef stew and tonight we did lemon cod and Grandma's Japanese salad. Yay us! (Danielle and I)
There's really nothing much to report as my days were extremely repetitive! We just got back from Halloween shopping at Value Village! I got most of my costume already! :D
Tomorrow we're heading to the Bay of Fundy with the rest of the cluster! I'm so excited! We haven't gotten together with everyone since Orientation Camp!
On Sunday I think we're doing Tree-go.. This is basically zip-lining through trees and having group building activities amongst the tree tops! I'm really stoked!
Nothing else is jumping to my mind right now so I'm going to end here I guess.. Until next time! Adios!
Here's a little insight into my Katima-life!
I'm going to start off by saying that being house manager is not everything it's cracked up to be. Sure I enjoyed the sleeping in and the ability to wear pajamas all day but the stress of turning around to look at an area you just cleaned and not being able to tell it had just been clean is not for me. I know have an understanding of why my parents would react the way they did when we didn't tidy up after ourselves! I would have such a sense on accomplishment when I would sit down on the couch after cleaning! ..and then 'the children' would come home from work and my whole day's work would be destroyed. Gaah! At least I got many glowing commendations on my cooking! I was asked on several occasions to stay on as perma-house manager. I quickly declined! I really pulled out my dad and grandma's best recipes though so I can't take all the credit.. Tofu vegetable stir-fry on Monday, seafood fettuccine Tuesday, bacon and eggs on Wednesday, Thursday was Dad's beef stew and tonight we did lemon cod and Grandma's Japanese salad. Yay us! (Danielle and I)
There's really nothing much to report as my days were extremely repetitive! We just got back from Halloween shopping at Value Village! I got most of my costume already! :D
Tomorrow we're heading to the Bay of Fundy with the rest of the cluster! I'm so excited! We haven't gotten together with everyone since Orientation Camp!
On Sunday I think we're doing Tree-go.. This is basically zip-lining through trees and having group building activities amongst the tree tops! I'm really stoked!
Nothing else is jumping to my mind right now so I'm going to end here I guess.. Until next time! Adios!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Katima-life
Hey all!! :D
Just a quick note to keep y'all updated on my Katima-life experiences!
We're all settled into our house and pretty close to settling in to our new lifestyle.. It's difficult to wrap your head around the idea that it is in fact possible to fit 9 months of your life into one dresser drawer and a milk crate! I'm doing it now and it's not as hard as one may think! The thing that I'm struggling with however is the fact that I have to share a bedroom that is smaller than my own at home with 6 other people! I'm never able to be alone and I'm never able to sleep peacefully as it seems there's always someone coughing, snoring, sneezing or talking in their sleep! I'm getting better at sleeping though such things but it's still such an adjustment.
Here's an outline on the past few days..
Monday: House orientation
Tuesday: More house orientation
Wednesday: Tour possible work placements
Thursday: Made a music video which was shown in a short film festival
Friday: Job placement interviews; found out where we will be working
Saturday: Shopping at the Farmer's Market in the morning and Bouctouche Beach in the afternoon
Sunday: Finished grocery shopping and made bread!
I'm going to talk about my week starting on Thurday as the days prior to it were really loong and dull.
We were given the wonderfully unique opportunity of making a short film as a group. We decided (for whatever reason) that we were going to make a music video to Lady GaGa's hit 'Poker Face'. (I swear if I have to listen to it one more time I'm going to lose it!!) I'm going to try and upload the digital copy onto the blog.. We'll see how it goes.. We got to work with a professional film guru who helped with filming and editing. *cough.. did all the good filming and all of the editing ..cough* I think the coolest part of this experience was when we got to go to a little underground bar and watch our film being played for a room of about 35 people. Not too many people liked it I don't think as there was mixed applause and many looks of confusion as they tried to find a deeper meaning than a group of teenagers running down some stairs and dancing. We didn't really care what everyone else thought and we cheered and yelled for ourselves!
Friday was an exciting day as I got my work placement! We met all of our possible 'employers' in the gym of a local community centre and were interviewed by the ones we were interested in. I interviewed at St. Patrick's Family Centre, the Boys and Girls Club of Dieppe and an after school youth program. I really wanted St. Pat's because I would be able to work with children and also have free reign of the facility. Wouldn't you know that positive thinking is really a wonderful thing as that's the one I got! :D Work starts on Monday for everyone except for me and Danielle.. We are the house managers (House Bitches) for the first week. We get to stay home and do the cooking and cleaning. It'll be nice because we'll get some peace and quiet but at the same time we're cleaning up after 12 people.. Not an easy task! I'm really excited to try out some new recipes!
Yesterday was a day at the beach! We had a BBQ and a sand castle building contest. It was such a beautiful day.. I even got a sun tan! :)
Today was the first of many bread-making days. It started out innocent but soon turned into a 'get dough on everyone and everything day'. It was so much fun to work with my hands and to see how creative everyone could get with the placement of flour and dough on other people's bodies.. I'm not going to elaborate anymore.. You can get the picture! I can't wait until we bake it and get to try it! :D
So far my Katimavik experience has been amazing! Something that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world! (Not even a huge ass steak! wow!) I just hope I continue to have such wonderful experiences and enjoy every opportunity I'm given! Katimavik isn't something you learn.. It's something you live! :D
<3
Just a quick note to keep y'all updated on my Katima-life experiences!
We're all settled into our house and pretty close to settling in to our new lifestyle.. It's difficult to wrap your head around the idea that it is in fact possible to fit 9 months of your life into one dresser drawer and a milk crate! I'm doing it now and it's not as hard as one may think! The thing that I'm struggling with however is the fact that I have to share a bedroom that is smaller than my own at home with 6 other people! I'm never able to be alone and I'm never able to sleep peacefully as it seems there's always someone coughing, snoring, sneezing or talking in their sleep! I'm getting better at sleeping though such things but it's still such an adjustment.
Here's an outline on the past few days..
Monday: House orientation
Tuesday: More house orientation
Wednesday: Tour possible work placements
Thursday: Made a music video which was shown in a short film festival
Friday: Job placement interviews; found out where we will be working
Saturday: Shopping at the Farmer's Market in the morning and Bouctouche Beach in the afternoon
Sunday: Finished grocery shopping and made bread!
I'm going to talk about my week starting on Thurday as the days prior to it were really loong and dull.
We were given the wonderfully unique opportunity of making a short film as a group. We decided (for whatever reason) that we were going to make a music video to Lady GaGa's hit 'Poker Face'. (I swear if I have to listen to it one more time I'm going to lose it!!) I'm going to try and upload the digital copy onto the blog.. We'll see how it goes.. We got to work with a professional film guru who helped with filming and editing. *cough.. did all the good filming and all of the editing ..cough* I think the coolest part of this experience was when we got to go to a little underground bar and watch our film being played for a room of about 35 people. Not too many people liked it I don't think as there was mixed applause and many looks of confusion as they tried to find a deeper meaning than a group of teenagers running down some stairs and dancing. We didn't really care what everyone else thought and we cheered and yelled for ourselves!
Friday was an exciting day as I got my work placement! We met all of our possible 'employers' in the gym of a local community centre and were interviewed by the ones we were interested in. I interviewed at St. Patrick's Family Centre, the Boys and Girls Club of Dieppe and an after school youth program. I really wanted St. Pat's because I would be able to work with children and also have free reign of the facility. Wouldn't you know that positive thinking is really a wonderful thing as that's the one I got! :D Work starts on Monday for everyone except for me and Danielle.. We are the house managers (House Bitches) for the first week. We get to stay home and do the cooking and cleaning. It'll be nice because we'll get some peace and quiet but at the same time we're cleaning up after 12 people.. Not an easy task! I'm really excited to try out some new recipes!
Yesterday was a day at the beach! We had a BBQ and a sand castle building contest. It was such a beautiful day.. I even got a sun tan! :)
Today was the first of many bread-making days. It started out innocent but soon turned into a 'get dough on everyone and everything day'. It was so much fun to work with my hands and to see how creative everyone could get with the placement of flour and dough on other people's bodies.. I'm not going to elaborate anymore.. You can get the picture! I can't wait until we bake it and get to try it! :D
So far my Katimavik experience has been amazing! Something that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world! (Not even a huge ass steak! wow!) I just hope I continue to have such wonderful experiences and enjoy every opportunity I'm given! Katimavik isn't something you learn.. It's something you live! :D
<3
Monday, September 28, 2009
KATIMA-HOUSE!!
Well.. Life in Katimavik just took another massive step forward as we moved into our home in Dieppe. We're on the very end of a dead end street with beaucoup d arbres! ('Lots of trees' for you non-Frenchies) It's so beautiful and green here! I love it! The house is kinda old and somewhat sketchy but it's ours and it's free so I'm not going to complain!
The bus was supposed to arrive at Sheldrake camp at noon on the 27th but the times got mixed up and it showed up at midnight the night before instead. This meant that we had to call the bus company and order another one which didn't make it till 2:30 or so.. That was alright by me as it gave us time for a campfire on the beach with almost everyone and time to say goodbye to the beautiful Miramichi River!
Our house is three levels plus an attic but no one can use the basement as it floods and the attic isn't usable yet either. This leaves us with 3 bedrooms for 12 people.. One for Marjo; our project leader, one for the 4 boys and one for the 7 girls. How it's even legal to shove 7 girls into one 12x15 room I don't know but at least we're all getting along.. for now :p The plan is to finish the attic and move Marjo up there so 3 girls can move into the other bedroom.. Who knows when/if that'll happen during our time in Dieppe.
We've made a rule that states that the kitchen area is French-speaking only and you get verbally assaulted by everyone else if you speak English in there. We'll see how long that takes to get old! Also we're going to have 4 French meals a week which means that during dinner you cannot speak English either! This is challenging for me and a lot of nodding, smiling and 'oui oui!' become necessary. That and a lot of 'je ne sai pas!' (I don't understand)
Last night I battled with my first bought of home sickness when I realized that I'm not probably going to see my family or friends until June or at least until they come see me! :p Luckily a girl in my group, Rachel, is big into meditation and she helped me through these amazing deep breathing exercises which really, really made a difference in my anxiety levels!
Tonight we got to take our first trip in the Katima-van! It was awesome.. Even though we only went to Walmart. *You'll notice that a lot of things will have the prefix 'Katima-'. This is just one more element to Katima-life!
My group is so amazing! We have 4 Frenchies: Annabelle, Daniel, Saundra and Candy. They're all from Quebec which I find really cool! From BC we have Kristen, Rachel from Nova Scotia, Scott from outside of Toronto, Josh from Barrie ON, Danielle from Kingston and Nikifor from Regina SK. Kristen asked for a special shout out so here it is! 'You smell funny and should maybe consider a shower!' Just kidding! i love you girl! :)
Well I'm definitely over my computer time limit and I better get off before I get in trouble for having an exclusive relationship with the computer!
Till next time! I miss you all and think about you all the time!! <3
The bus was supposed to arrive at Sheldrake camp at noon on the 27th but the times got mixed up and it showed up at midnight the night before instead. This meant that we had to call the bus company and order another one which didn't make it till 2:30 or so.. That was alright by me as it gave us time for a campfire on the beach with almost everyone and time to say goodbye to the beautiful Miramichi River!
Our house is three levels plus an attic but no one can use the basement as it floods and the attic isn't usable yet either. This leaves us with 3 bedrooms for 12 people.. One for Marjo; our project leader, one for the 4 boys and one for the 7 girls. How it's even legal to shove 7 girls into one 12x15 room I don't know but at least we're all getting along.. for now :p The plan is to finish the attic and move Marjo up there so 3 girls can move into the other bedroom.. Who knows when/if that'll happen during our time in Dieppe.
We've made a rule that states that the kitchen area is French-speaking only and you get verbally assaulted by everyone else if you speak English in there. We'll see how long that takes to get old! Also we're going to have 4 French meals a week which means that during dinner you cannot speak English either! This is challenging for me and a lot of nodding, smiling and 'oui oui!' become necessary. That and a lot of 'je ne sai pas!' (I don't understand)
Last night I battled with my first bought of home sickness when I realized that I'm not probably going to see my family or friends until June or at least until they come see me! :p Luckily a girl in my group, Rachel, is big into meditation and she helped me through these amazing deep breathing exercises which really, really made a difference in my anxiety levels!
Tonight we got to take our first trip in the Katima-van! It was awesome.. Even though we only went to Walmart. *You'll notice that a lot of things will have the prefix 'Katima-'. This is just one more element to Katima-life!
My group is so amazing! We have 4 Frenchies: Annabelle, Daniel, Saundra and Candy. They're all from Quebec which I find really cool! From BC we have Kristen, Rachel from Nova Scotia, Scott from outside of Toronto, Josh from Barrie ON, Danielle from Kingston and Nikifor from Regina SK. Kristen asked for a special shout out so here it is! 'You smell funny and should maybe consider a shower!' Just kidding! i love you girl! :)
Well I'm definitely over my computer time limit and I better get off before I get in trouble for having an exclusive relationship with the computer!
Till next time! I miss you all and think about you all the time!! <3
Thursday, September 24, 2009
First day of travels
Holy longest day of my life!! :p Up at 5am, flight at 9.. Saying bye to the family at the gate while trying not to cry was so hard! I met Jenn at the airport and she helped keep me sane (or as close to it as possible). Our flight into Toronto flew by (haha) as I had music, movies and a new found friend to help me pass the time.
Landing in Toronto was gross.. I'm not a fan of tasting the pollution and feeling the smog move through my lungs. And of course it was pouring rain to top it off! Oh well.. Time at the airprot was well spent as there was a katima-posse gathering by the time we got there. We whipped out some cards and sat on the floor of the terminal laughing about the strange looks people were sending our way. :)
The wait in the moncton airport was a little more eventful, what with all the games of spoons and 'asshole' scattered throughout the place. And of course there was finally meeting Andrew.. He's pretty awesome just as I knew he would be. We were all so wired and tired at the same time so times waiting for (and on) the bus were pretty sketchy :p of course I sang a lot of the way to orientation camp..
Our first activity started at 12:30, pretty much as soon as we got off the bus. We played 'Bob the Weasel' as an icebreaker and then we were finally able to go to our cabins. Of course I was so excited there was no chance of sleep!! Andrew was in the same boat so we went exploring in the pitch black until about 3:30am :p
I can't believe how clean and crisp the air is out here! It smells like cedar chips everywhere i've been.. The easterners were making fun of me because I would come outside just to breathe in the air :p It was a good day full of new faces and experiences!
Until next time! :D
PS I'm still alive! :p
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry
Landing in Toronto was gross.. I'm not a fan of tasting the pollution and feeling the smog move through my lungs. And of course it was pouring rain to top it off! Oh well.. Time at the airprot was well spent as there was a katima-posse gathering by the time we got there. We whipped out some cards and sat on the floor of the terminal laughing about the strange looks people were sending our way. :)
The wait in the moncton airport was a little more eventful, what with all the games of spoons and 'asshole' scattered throughout the place. And of course there was finally meeting Andrew.. He's pretty awesome just as I knew he would be. We were all so wired and tired at the same time so times waiting for (and on) the bus were pretty sketchy :p of course I sang a lot of the way to orientation camp..
Our first activity started at 12:30, pretty much as soon as we got off the bus. We played 'Bob the Weasel' as an icebreaker and then we were finally able to go to our cabins. Of course I was so excited there was no chance of sleep!! Andrew was in the same boat so we went exploring in the pitch black until about 3:30am :p
I can't believe how clean and crisp the air is out here! It smells like cedar chips everywhere i've been.. The easterners were making fun of me because I would come outside just to breathe in the air :p It was a good day full of new faces and experiences!
Until next time! :D
PS I'm still alive! :p
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry
Monday, September 21, 2009
If Katmavik had a prologue, this would be it.
Hey all!
This blog is new for me and I have a feeling for many of you. I'm going to try and update it as much as humanely possible (mostly to keep my mother sane). I write in a fairly similar manner to which I speak which means that there is a good chance some of the things I say won't make sense and there will probably be some ..colourful.. language to top it off. I'll try to keep this to a minimum (My grandparents read this you know!!). I was told by a great man to never stop writing and to follow my passions. This advice I will take to heart and we'll see where it takes me! I hope you enjoy following my blog, and if you don't.. well, frankly I don't give a rat's furry petootie! I'm writing this more for myself than anything so like it or lump it, this is how it's going to be.
In a mere 48 hours I will be embarking on the largest adventure of my life. The blur of emotions that are rushing through my head at mach chicken are something I've never felt before... I don't think I'm particularly fond of it. Sure there's the excitement; this is a brand new experience, an opportunity that contains the potential for almost anything I could dream of. There's also the total 'Oh my God! Shit your pants' fear. For those of you who don't know, 9 months is a loooooong bloody time! A time that I'm sure will fly by one minute and drag seemingly into infinity the next. The length of time isn't really what's bothering me.. It's more the fact that I don't know when I'll get to see my family and friends again.. It's this unknown that's driving me arguably close to insane. I say arguably simply because I know a large number of you already consider me to be insane even for signing up for Katimavik.
My flight leaves Calgary International Airport at 9:10 Wednesday, Sept, 23rd. I fly into Toronto and have less than an hour to get to the correct terminal. This could be catastrophic for me as anyone familiar with my sense of direction (or lack there of) will know. I'm just happy that I'll have Jennifer to travel with. Hopefully she won't let us get too lost! :p
*Jennifer is in my cluster and not my group which means that we'll be travelling together and most likely seeing a lot of each other yet not living together. While I'm in Dieppe her group will be in Bouctouche NB. During my Kamloops stint they will be in beautiful Penticton and when I'm in London they will be in Hamilton.
When (/if) I make my plane from Toronto to Moncton I will have a 3 hour wait in the Moncton airport before the bus comes to take us (my whole cluster) to Mass-O (Orientation camp). I believe we're spending 5 days there and we should be moving into our house next Monday. Mass-O is taking place at a shut down children's bible camp. When I found this out I was really worried that they may try to convert me.. My dad's biggest thought that they may need to use some form of brainwashing techniques in order to get 32 young adults to behave for 9 months (fat chance!) Either way I'm going into this experience with an open mind and a thirst for knowledge. Who knows, something good may even come from it! (and no Grandma, I'm not talking about children with red and black hair!)..(anyone who doesn't understand that comment.. kindly disregard it)
Well I think I've rambled on sufficiently so I will leave you with this.. I will miss you all so much! My family, friends and community. You have been there for me my entire life and now you're supporting me still by allowing me to spread my wings and to find the person I want to be. I want to say thank you for always being there for me and for guiding me toward adulthood. I love you all!
'A friend is someone that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become and still gently allows you to grow.' (I don't know who wrote this but I saw it on a painting in a school a couple years ago and it stuck with me)
This blog is new for me and I have a feeling for many of you. I'm going to try and update it as much as humanely possible (mostly to keep my mother sane). I write in a fairly similar manner to which I speak which means that there is a good chance some of the things I say won't make sense and there will probably be some ..colourful.. language to top it off. I'll try to keep this to a minimum (My grandparents read this you know!!). I was told by a great man to never stop writing and to follow my passions. This advice I will take to heart and we'll see where it takes me! I hope you enjoy following my blog, and if you don't.. well, frankly I don't give a rat's furry petootie! I'm writing this more for myself than anything so like it or lump it, this is how it's going to be.
In a mere 48 hours I will be embarking on the largest adventure of my life. The blur of emotions that are rushing through my head at mach chicken are something I've never felt before... I don't think I'm particularly fond of it. Sure there's the excitement; this is a brand new experience, an opportunity that contains the potential for almost anything I could dream of. There's also the total 'Oh my God! Shit your pants' fear. For those of you who don't know, 9 months is a loooooong bloody time! A time that I'm sure will fly by one minute and drag seemingly into infinity the next. The length of time isn't really what's bothering me.. It's more the fact that I don't know when I'll get to see my family and friends again.. It's this unknown that's driving me arguably close to insane. I say arguably simply because I know a large number of you already consider me to be insane even for signing up for Katimavik.
My flight leaves Calgary International Airport at 9:10 Wednesday, Sept, 23rd. I fly into Toronto and have less than an hour to get to the correct terminal. This could be catastrophic for me as anyone familiar with my sense of direction (or lack there of) will know. I'm just happy that I'll have Jennifer to travel with. Hopefully she won't let us get too lost! :p
*Jennifer is in my cluster and not my group which means that we'll be travelling together and most likely seeing a lot of each other yet not living together. While I'm in Dieppe her group will be in Bouctouche NB. During my Kamloops stint they will be in beautiful Penticton and when I'm in London they will be in Hamilton.
When (/if) I make my plane from Toronto to Moncton I will have a 3 hour wait in the Moncton airport before the bus comes to take us (my whole cluster) to Mass-O (Orientation camp). I believe we're spending 5 days there and we should be moving into our house next Monday. Mass-O is taking place at a shut down children's bible camp. When I found this out I was really worried that they may try to convert me.. My dad's biggest thought that they may need to use some form of brainwashing techniques in order to get 32 young adults to behave for 9 months (fat chance!) Either way I'm going into this experience with an open mind and a thirst for knowledge. Who knows, something good may even come from it! (and no Grandma, I'm not talking about children with red and black hair!)..(anyone who doesn't understand that comment.. kindly disregard it)
Well I think I've rambled on sufficiently so I will leave you with this.. I will miss you all so much! My family, friends and community. You have been there for me my entire life and now you're supporting me still by allowing me to spread my wings and to find the person I want to be. I want to say thank you for always being there for me and for guiding me toward adulthood. I love you all!
'A friend is someone that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become and still gently allows you to grow.' (I don't know who wrote this but I saw it on a painting in a school a couple years ago and it stuck with me)
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
