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
Monday, September 28, 2009
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)
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