The Whole Cluster at Hopewell Rocks <3
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
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