OK! So i've been in Northern Ontario for over 2 weeks now, and i really want to get this done and talk about this tiny FREEZING town, but before I ramble about it i want to get rid of the backlog of info that i have yet to type out. So i suppose the best thing would be to continue from where i left off, yes? yes. alright then. [side note: i'd like to defragment my brain. is there a way?] [other added side note: i've been working on this post for at least a week now, so even though i'm not done i'll still post it and elaborate on the last few points later.]
We returned to our little yellow house from our Vancouver excursion on december 29th.
-On the 30th, Gabrielle's billet dad came over and gave us a hard-core lesson on how to make authentic french baguettes.
-new years eve: Slumber party at the Penticton Katimavik house. We had hoped that the Vernon group would come too, but they decided it was too far to drive on very snowy roads. Fair enough, but it would've been great to have them with us. We started 2009 off with crepes and smoothies, then we took a walk in the snow through downtown penticton (that's also when we found the frozen children by the lake. you'll know what i'm talking about if you've seen my photos on fb).
-Jan 2nd: I organized a Spa Night, complete with homemade scrub, steam, mask and toner, as well as a relaxing spa playlist à la Sigur Ros and Feist. It was super awesome to have everyone participate willingly. I made sure to take photos of everyone with cucumbers on their eyes.
-Later that night, the Nelson BC katimavik group arrived at our house. When groups plan excursions to other cities/towns, they usually try to stay at the local katimavik house instead of paying to stay in a hostel. So, for two nights there were 10 extra people to trip over. We all went together to Croc Talk, a really cool exotic animal refuge. I pet a caiman!
-Jan 14th: final presentation (almost a disaster... yay improv!)(Ron's billet mom was field hockey coach for sands)
-last days of work: sadness
-Jan 16th: big white: 4 runs
-cleaned the dickens out of the house
-goodbye house: more sadness
-Jan 19th: drove to winfield camp arbuckle for rot.camp
-Jan 21st: ready at 3:30am to bus to airport and fly to MARATHON ONTARIO!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Oh sweet lord in the blueberry muffin, I haven't written in this in an OBSCENELY LONG TIME! ...*slaps self on the wrist*. [New Years Resolution: Post on Blog once per week. At least.]
I'm going to stop apologizing for my lack-of-posting though, b/c who at home has tried to keep up a blog? ITS HARD! As a general rule, Katima-life doesn't let me have very much free time, and when i do, I always seem to have a bazillion things to work on, so just know that I think about all you blog-reading fools A LOT, and I'm always thinking of things I'd like to tell you about or make you or send you, i just haven't yet figured out a system in which i can rid myself of all distractions and GIT R DONE! Yes, that was a run-on sentence.
*sigh*. I think I'll rock the point-form format in this one. Sooooo, starting from after billeting i suppose... oh gads. so much has happened.
-Dec 5th to 7th: 48 hours off!! (every trimester, the group gets 48 hours of time off from the program in which they can go do whatever the heck they want, but on their own money. We're not allowed to miss work, so the mini-vacation starts after work on Friday, and ends on Sunday at midnight. if there's a long weekend, we can apply to have 72 hours off, but it has to be approved by regional office). 2 peeps went to Vancouver, 2 went to stay with the Vernon katima-house, and the rest opted to stay and hang out in k-town. I didn't think it was worth it to spend a large portion of my time off travelling home, so i chose to stay. We had a grand old time crocheting, getting tattooed, watching movies on the computer, and cutting hair. Yup, i got myself a free haircut! Ali did most of the chopping, and i managed to snip away at my bangs until they looked reasonably reasonable. NO I DID NOT GET A TATTOO! (did your heart skip a beat?) Lisette did though, and Jon, Jeanette and I went with her. I was definitely the most nervous one in the room. It was a nice relaxing weekend, but this trimester methinks I'm going to try to organize something a bit more novel for myself.
-week of Dec 8th to 14th: Communication workshop, health & sexuality workshop, volunteered at the rec center for a huge dinner/dance for disabled people and their families (quite fun, we served food and washed dishes... i managed to horrify an autistic woman by reaching into garbage cans to fish out recyclable plastic cups. oops), and had an Open House, which wasn't nearly as disastrous as i had anticipated, but it was still pretty weak. Approximately 6 people showed up. At least it taught us that we had to improve our organizational skills!
-I have no idea what we did from the 15th to 21st, but there was definitely stuff in there. I definitely had a great week at work, b/c i always did. And i know it snowed like the dickens.
-Dec 22nd to 29th: A fabulous week! our last day of work before the holidays was the 23rd, which was a super exciting day pour moi, parce-que my Sister and Dad drove up to stay in Kelowna for a night! I had also organized a drum circle for my group to take place that evening, so after i went out for sushi with my fam, we all went back to the house for a crazy-awesome drum lesson/session. It was lead by a super cool man in the community who does drum circle facilitating all over the Okanagan. He brought over 12 or so assorted hand drums, plus a duffel bag full of interesting percussion instruments, explained the basics of hand drumming, and then we jammed for about 2 hours! I LOVED IT. I'm definitely getting myself a djembe when i get home. After the drum circle i gave my dad and Kirst a tour of my neighbourhood; we walked past my work placements and through part of downtown. I found it quite amusing that they thought it was extremely cold. It had been -20 something throughout the week before, so i had found homeostasis by that point. It was great to hang out with them, but it also felt a bit bizarre to have my katima-life and regular life collide.
on Xmas eve we volunteered at the Ki'lo'na Friendship Society for their Christmas lunch. They served an amazing meal of turkey, buffalo roast, mashed potatoes and veggies to about 200 homeless/disadvantaged people of Kelowna. The food was amazing, and it was a nice afternoon.
That evening we watched a couple movies, had a midnight visit from Santa, and toasted to Christmas with cups of very fine, very expensive "champagne" (...sparkling cider). In the morning we hung out in the living room and opened our homemade Secret Santa gifts, ate brunch, then went outside in the backyard to play in the snow! we watched The Rescuers, dressed up for a formal Christmas Dinner, ate a glorious turkey cooked lovingly by Ron, then played a round of Cranium. It was a fantastic Christmas Day, actually one of the best in a while. I got spoiled with cards and packages from friends/family, which was SO SPECIAL! T'was a wonderful Katima-Christmas.
Boxing Day!! I went over to my Great Aunt & Uncle's house for dinner and a lovely visit. I have such a great family! The visit reminded me of how important it is to stay in touch with family... I'm not doing the greatest right now, but I'm trying to work on it. Later that evening my group drove through the snow to one of the fire halls in town, and had a super-fun time. We got a tour of one of the firetrucks, then got to get all dressed up in full-on firefighter gear (oxygen tanks and all), and did simulations of firefighting/rescue situations. It was extremely cool. At the time, i felt like i could actually be a firefighter if i chose to.
On the 27th we all piled into the katima-van and road tripped to Vancouver! We only stayed for 2 nights, and we had to stay in the dump that is the Burnaby katimavik house, but we had a great time. we did Granville island, the aquarium, the Stanley Park Christmas train, Lynn Canyon suspension bridge, and Chinatown. The excursion was extra-awesome for me, b/c after our walk at the suspension bridge we all went over to my Dad's for lunch and played rockband for a bit, and i got to meet up with some friends downtown for dinner after the Christmas train. It was fantastic to see them, but it would've been fantastic-er to have more time to talk more and really catch up. [shout out to ace gang: I MISS HANGING OUT WITH YOU!] It was hard for me to have to go right back to my katima-life and be cut off from everyone and everything in Vancouver again. I think it was hard for my group too... i felt like there was some jealousy that i got to see some of "my people" during the holiday season, and so there was more homesickness than usual as a result.
Holy Guacamole, It's now 2:45am here in Marathon Ontario (yes, i survived the journey. I can't wait to tell you about this FREEZING COLD place, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow. or Monday. I'm HM this coming week, so I'll have some time to catch up on my blogging and emailing and facebook messaging and letter writing when I'm not cleaning the bejeeezus out of this house. oh so much to write about, oh how i ramble), SO, i should probs stop for now. My circadian rhythms are so messed up.
I'm going to stop apologizing for my lack-of-posting though, b/c who at home has tried to keep up a blog? ITS HARD! As a general rule, Katima-life doesn't let me have very much free time, and when i do, I always seem to have a bazillion things to work on, so just know that I think about all you blog-reading fools A LOT, and I'm always thinking of things I'd like to tell you about or make you or send you, i just haven't yet figured out a system in which i can rid myself of all distractions and GIT R DONE! Yes, that was a run-on sentence.
*sigh*. I think I'll rock the point-form format in this one. Sooooo, starting from after billeting i suppose... oh gads. so much has happened.
-Dec 5th to 7th: 48 hours off!! (every trimester, the group gets 48 hours of time off from the program in which they can go do whatever the heck they want, but on their own money. We're not allowed to miss work, so the mini-vacation starts after work on Friday, and ends on Sunday at midnight. if there's a long weekend, we can apply to have 72 hours off, but it has to be approved by regional office). 2 peeps went to Vancouver, 2 went to stay with the Vernon katima-house, and the rest opted to stay and hang out in k-town. I didn't think it was worth it to spend a large portion of my time off travelling home, so i chose to stay. We had a grand old time crocheting, getting tattooed, watching movies on the computer, and cutting hair. Yup, i got myself a free haircut! Ali did most of the chopping, and i managed to snip away at my bangs until they looked reasonably reasonable. NO I DID NOT GET A TATTOO! (did your heart skip a beat?) Lisette did though, and Jon, Jeanette and I went with her. I was definitely the most nervous one in the room. It was a nice relaxing weekend, but this trimester methinks I'm going to try to organize something a bit more novel for myself.
-week of Dec 8th to 14th: Communication workshop, health & sexuality workshop, volunteered at the rec center for a huge dinner/dance for disabled people and their families (quite fun, we served food and washed dishes... i managed to horrify an autistic woman by reaching into garbage cans to fish out recyclable plastic cups. oops), and had an Open House, which wasn't nearly as disastrous as i had anticipated, but it was still pretty weak. Approximately 6 people showed up. At least it taught us that we had to improve our organizational skills!
-I have no idea what we did from the 15th to 21st, but there was definitely stuff in there. I definitely had a great week at work, b/c i always did. And i know it snowed like the dickens.
-Dec 22nd to 29th: A fabulous week! our last day of work before the holidays was the 23rd, which was a super exciting day pour moi, parce-que my Sister and Dad drove up to stay in Kelowna for a night! I had also organized a drum circle for my group to take place that evening, so after i went out for sushi with my fam, we all went back to the house for a crazy-awesome drum lesson/session. It was lead by a super cool man in the community who does drum circle facilitating all over the Okanagan. He brought over 12 or so assorted hand drums, plus a duffel bag full of interesting percussion instruments, explained the basics of hand drumming, and then we jammed for about 2 hours! I LOVED IT. I'm definitely getting myself a djembe when i get home. After the drum circle i gave my dad and Kirst a tour of my neighbourhood; we walked past my work placements and through part of downtown. I found it quite amusing that they thought it was extremely cold. It had been -20 something throughout the week before, so i had found homeostasis by that point. It was great to hang out with them, but it also felt a bit bizarre to have my katima-life and regular life collide.
on Xmas eve we volunteered at the Ki'lo'na Friendship Society for their Christmas lunch. They served an amazing meal of turkey, buffalo roast, mashed potatoes and veggies to about 200 homeless/disadvantaged people of Kelowna. The food was amazing, and it was a nice afternoon.
That evening we watched a couple movies, had a midnight visit from Santa, and toasted to Christmas with cups of very fine, very expensive "champagne" (...sparkling cider). In the morning we hung out in the living room and opened our homemade Secret Santa gifts, ate brunch, then went outside in the backyard to play in the snow! we watched The Rescuers, dressed up for a formal Christmas Dinner, ate a glorious turkey cooked lovingly by Ron, then played a round of Cranium. It was a fantastic Christmas Day, actually one of the best in a while. I got spoiled with cards and packages from friends/family, which was SO SPECIAL! T'was a wonderful Katima-Christmas.
Boxing Day!! I went over to my Great Aunt & Uncle's house for dinner and a lovely visit. I have such a great family! The visit reminded me of how important it is to stay in touch with family... I'm not doing the greatest right now, but I'm trying to work on it. Later that evening my group drove through the snow to one of the fire halls in town, and had a super-fun time. We got a tour of one of the firetrucks, then got to get all dressed up in full-on firefighter gear (oxygen tanks and all), and did simulations of firefighting/rescue situations. It was extremely cool. At the time, i felt like i could actually be a firefighter if i chose to.
On the 27th we all piled into the katima-van and road tripped to Vancouver! We only stayed for 2 nights, and we had to stay in the dump that is the Burnaby katimavik house, but we had a great time. we did Granville island, the aquarium, the Stanley Park Christmas train, Lynn Canyon suspension bridge, and Chinatown. The excursion was extra-awesome for me, b/c after our walk at the suspension bridge we all went over to my Dad's for lunch and played rockband for a bit, and i got to meet up with some friends downtown for dinner after the Christmas train. It was fantastic to see them, but it would've been fantastic-er to have more time to talk more and really catch up. [shout out to ace gang: I MISS HANGING OUT WITH YOU!] It was hard for me to have to go right back to my katima-life and be cut off from everyone and everything in Vancouver again. I think it was hard for my group too... i felt like there was some jealousy that i got to see some of "my people" during the holiday season, and so there was more homesickness than usual as a result.
Holy Guacamole, It's now 2:45am here in Marathon Ontario (yes, i survived the journey. I can't wait to tell you about this FREEZING COLD place, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow. or Monday. I'm HM this coming week, so I'll have some time to catch up on my blogging and emailing and facebook messaging and letter writing when I'm not cleaning the bejeeezus out of this house. oh so much to write about, oh how i ramble), SO, i should probs stop for now. My circadian rhythms are so messed up.
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