I have decided to keep this blog titleless, just because I don't feel like thinking of one after sitting at the computer for a couple of hours working on my Creston day trip excursion protocol that Alex (PL) was supposed to have sent to Christine (PC) 2 weeks ago. Sigh...

Oh yes as you have noticed, once again I am at my billet family, healing from my injuries. This blog will be dedicated to the billet "drama" that has happened. Since I don't feel like sitting in front of the computer (perhaps switching to sitting in front of the TV instead) any longer, I am going to keep this short and simple (yeah I know, that's so unlike me).

1) Stephen - ever since 72 hours off, Stephen has developed something on his legs which is believed to be a very, very bad case of poison ivy reaction. It is pretty disgusting looking, all pus-sy like and comparable to a tree bark. He went into his billet family with that condition (although it seemed like he was getting better) but apparently Friday night he puked in his billet family and had to go to the hospital and stay there for a couple of days...

2) Maxime - she is billeting with one of her co-workers, and things were supposedly going well...until Christine got a phone call from Maxime's billeting family saying that they no longer want to billet Maxime. This is confusing because apparently Maxime didn't think there were problems, and didn't see it coming. Nevertheless, she is still living with her billet family...I think this is rather awkward, especially when Maxime and her billet mom are co-workers...let's see how that goes.

3) Cheryl - this has nothing to do with her billet family, instead it's about her work placements. So right now Cheryl works in BEAKS, a shelter where people send in injured birds and volunteers take care of them until they get better...then the volunteers release them. Sounds like an interesting job and a good cause and all, but Cheryl had trouble with that job ever since day 1...and it's all because of her boss Carol. Anyways apparently Carol is someone who is super-obsessed with her job...she would pretty much wake up, take care of her birds for the whole day, then go to bed. In other words, BEAKS is her life...and according to Cheryl she is extremely hard to deal with, super stubborn, high stressed (sounds like she has some mental issues) etc. Also BEAKS is highly unsanitary (there are dead bird carcasses/animals/worms/dirt everywhere)...with a combination of these things, plus the fact that Carol pretty much told Cheryl off (she indirectly "fired" Cheryl, if you know what I mean), Cheryl kind of lost her work placement. Which actually for Cheryl, isn't a big deal...she hated working there. So right now she is working in Blueberry Elementary School with Maxime for a week, and something will be decided once Alex returns. I personally think it would only be natural that Cheryl will take over Mike's positions, since...

4)...Mike is gone - Yes, you read right. Mike is officially kicked off the program. After months of edging towards that path, but never quite reaching it...and then gone but returning like cancer, Mike is forever gone in our group. So what exactly happened that brought on to this? Well on top of the 2 final warnings that he accumulated in the program (one for respect, one for participation), he did something during billeting that ticked off his billet family: apparently he went "snooping" in one of the daughter's bedrooms (if you guys kept up with all the blog entries then you would know that Mike knows no boundaries) and broke a cabinet door (well the week he was billeting with Stephen's boss he broke the shower handle, but she didn't complain). Anyways the family called Christine and told her they want Mike to get out of their house, so Christine spent her Saturday morning calling all the billet families and asked if they could take Mike in temporarily...and Mike got the boot officially on Monday (Irony - when I asked Mike what he did that got his billet family upset, he was very vague and muttered something quick like "oh I don't know I guess we don't get along...yeah I broke their door". Then he adds...and this is the golden part: "oh I am sure I won't be kicked off because of this, or else Christine wouldn't have called all the billet families to look for a place for me to stay". And boom, within a couple of hours he got the news that he is going home...
I am not going talk about my thoughts and feelings on this incident because a) I don't quite have time right now, I am quite sick of being in front of the computer for so long and b) Mike is a subject that is over-discussed ever since the beginning of the program. Perhaps another time.

5) And who can forget about me, my ordeal, my drama? Yes it has to be about me, as always...=)

TV time.

Blogging After My Accident

So I am now blogging in the afternoon...wow I haven't done that since in Alma. Since I can't do that at my museum job right now, this obviously means I am at "home" (billeting house to be exact). I am staying in for the day because of a "dramatic" event that happened to me yesterday...and since I have quite a bit of time right now I have decided to tell the story in the long format, for you unlucky people, hehe. And well, also because I haven't properly blogged for such a long time...I really should be more diligent with that, especially with all the stuff that has happened since our arrival in Castlegar, BC

So the story (long format). This goes back to Friday, after I wrote my blahgins blog. As per usual, I rode my borrowed bike to work, and as I was changing the gear while climbing uphill, the gear locked but so did the pedals..so I couldn't pedal. Luckily I wasn't that far away from the house, so I walked back, and called my boss. He offered to drive me to work but since I lived in a location that was relatively difficult to find, I told him to find me at the old Schoolhouse Restaurant (a known landmark in the area). But I didn't see him there, so I decided to continue walking on the highway and hopefully see him driving up. Well I must have walked 30 minutes (in muggy 30 something degrees, no less) on the highway before I see his car driving on the other side. He honked, I got into the air conditioned car, and all was well...except for the bus ride back home. Castlegar has only 1 bus route available and it takes an hour to do the whole route...and unfortunately the bus did not stop where I needed to get off (the bus driver told me I missed the last one that did) so I had to walk from downtown back to the little suburb in hot interior heat (ok it wasn't that bad...they only lived a 20 minute walk from downtown).

That night Jim (my billet dad) fixed my bike, and he noticed that my front tire was flat (which I was confused about since people pumped it for me during my bike-a-thon from Nelson to Castlegar only 2 weeks ago) so he added air for me. But it got flat again the next day so Karina (my billet mom) pumped it again and added a cover for the airhole (since my tire didn't have a cover for the hole). And yesterday we found out the tire got flat again so Karina decided that I should borrow Arija (my 11 year-old billet sister who is about my height ;P)'s bike instead, so I did that...here's where the story gets interesting.

Arija has a really good bike, with brakes that stop immediately after you press them...too good to be true. And that's was what happened to me after I got off work yesterday...I was biking on the highway in a bike owned my an 11 year old (I was pretty close to the house) and I was going downhill...I braked and it stopped immediately. Well if you can imagine those old cartoons, it looked exactly like that...I flew out of my bike and fell on to the pavement. I will give you a couple of seconds to imagine that...

...so I was on the pavement and I don't know...I was in shock at what just happened and I just started gasping. And before I know it, I see 2 ladies' faces asking me if I was ok, what my name is...then more faces appeared. Most of them were men who just got off work, and a good number asked me what happened and all that stuff...someone called 911 (I was thinking, oh no...the police will fine me for not wearing a helmet), while another person (who worked for construction or paramedics or something like that) had walkie-talkies and tried diverging traffic...everything felt so surreal, with all these people hurrying around me and me just lying on the ground...oh yes then out of nowhere Cheryl shows up with her billet family (they drove past and saw me) and she was like "Angel oh my god...". I got her to take the bike away and bring it back to the house, though, which was good...
Popular question amongst the crowd - Where's your helmet?

Then the ambulance shows up and the paramedics did the whole first-aid drill...one guy was pretty cute with blond hair and blue eyes, it was too bad I looked pretty disgusting at that point...then they put me in this stretcher bed and pushed me into the ambulance car...as they do that I saw blood on the concrete...man the surreal factor just goes up so much more...
During the ride the cute paramedic asked me a bunch of questions, ranging from where I was from and what happened and all that stuff...fortunately I felt fine enough that when he asked where my home is, I answered with "where the heart is, haha". And the question of the day, no less..."Where's your helmet?"

So the rest of the time was kind of anti-climatic, in my opinion. The nurse comes in, checks on me and asks a bunch of questions. Then the paramedic comes in, says goodbye (not before warning me to wear my helmet next time)...and I was alone for a little bit. Suddenly...

...the police shows up. I was thinking "darn is he going to fine me for not wearing my helmet" but it turns out he just needed to do a file on me since someone called 911. So he asks me a bunch of questions on where I am from and what happened. And finally he ends the whole thing by saying "wear your helmet next time". Haha apparently he handles around 100 cases of this on a daily basis...he must be so jaded about it.

Then Karina shows up (she looked rather worried) with Cheryl (which was quite a surprise). While I got bandaged by the nurse, Karina and Cheryl and I chatted and shared "katimavik-gossip"...quite a load of drama happened this week during billeting, it seems. Maybe I will talk about them at another time.
Finally I got driven home by Karina...Cheryl apparently contacted Christine (my PC) who contacted Karina so that's how she found out. Oh yes the nurse reminded me to wear my helmet. And that night, instead of watching Harry Potter with Arija and her little buddy and Karina, I indulged the evening vegging out in front of the TV, half dead from the medication while informing my mother very lightly what happened to me (she freaked out nevertheless).
So today I don't have to work...in a way it was good because I haven't been in an empty house free from work ever since...katimavik started? So that is why I can write all this stuff right now.
Yay silver lining!

Ok that's not it with the silver lining...the fact that I didn't sustain any head injury or break anything was really quite something (even my glasses weren't crushed). Plus I wasn't fined by the police, which is just great. Now I just need to check if my CD player is broken too (someone laughed when they find out that not only was I not wearing my helmet, I was also listening to music too...)

Moral of the story - Wear a helmet. And don't ride a bike owned by an 11 year old with glue-like tractions.

Injuries sustained - mildly scraped knees (good thing I was wearing jeans), scrape on right shoulder, various cuts and torn skins on both hands (especially right one), and a giant red gash on right cheekbone which needs icing. Plus I bit the inside of my mouth too. And who can forget my very tender left wrist...

Something interesting - 1) This is actually not the first bike accident I had in Castlegar. Last last Friday (the Friday before my 72 hours off) I fell of my bike at Kinnaird Bridge. But that's more with skills, and I just scrapped my right palm and my knees.
2) However, this is the first time in my life that I got into an ambulance, with the whole 911 and people crowding drama included. Katimavik makes a first for everything, doesn't it?

Bitching about UBC

Just finished registering for my courses in UBC...1 measly psychology course, haha. May I just add that planning and registering for courses is absolutely a pain in the butt; not until 5 minutes prior to my alloted time in UBC did I find out I needed to pay for non-refundable deposit (doesn't this smell like a scam to you?) and therefore my account was blocked from registration...what??

Good thing for credit cards and quick wit ;)...fixed everything and I was able to register for my course...now I owe UBC $716.55. Next thing they will tell me that I also owe them my future first-born.

The whole school situation this year is kind of tricky, because I have decided to study at 2 schools at once (UBC, good old Cap) and therefore had to balance my schedule between both places, as well as allotting time for navy training and a potential 2nd part-time job (which will happen, I guarantee it!)...certain courses had to be sacrificed (ie. Japanese) and in the end I could only take 4 courses, which was not what I had intended but things worked out for now...I had other schemes in my head to balance everything out...

Now that I finished my "breakfast" (two sausages...mmm haven't had that for a looong time), I will leave to bike to work...conquer the great big mountain on my 6 speed old-school bike...hopefully more later.

A Quick Blah

Hey, long time no blog...will try to write something good, very soon...lots of interesting stuff happened to me since I last wrote...

- Relay for Life
- St. Jean-Baptiste Day (drama, drama)
- Changes in work
- 72 hours off (fun fun fun)
- My week of house managing with Zach
- Billeting (this Friday!)

'Kay Night!

Meh (New Update)

Hello

It is now 11:50 pm, and I was on the computer for an hour with the purpose of blogging, but 1 hour later and some mindless surfing...and I still haven't anything proper. Shame on me.

A good number of stuff happened that I would like to share about, but I think it's time for my for bed...crazy day tomorrow...

...will write more on what's on my mind.

Good night

(Next day, at 2:54 pm)

Let's continue on where I left off last night. A couple things that happened this week:

1) Sock Assasin - it is this new game that Alex/Stephen introduced during last week's house meeting. Each person draws out a name from a hat (in this case Stephen's "new" cowboy hat that he wears everywhere...what a loser :P) and the name which we get is the person we must "assasinate" for the next week. To kill a person, we simply get a sock (which we carry everywhere with us) and simply hit them with it. And if the kill is successful, the assasinated one gives the assasinater the name of the person the killed person is supposed to kill, and now the assasinater must kill the new person. This keeps going until the assasinater gets their own name, and then becomes the winner.

The game and me - I personally think it's kind of funny that I was the first person to get killed...by Mike. Originally I got Maxime, and I was thinking that it would be pretty easy for me to do the job since I share a room with her. Then the insomnia night happened, and by 9 o'clock my brain was totally fried (I ended up going to bed at 7 and sleep for almost 2 hours) and I actually considered not going to work...so I went to the computer room (still half asleep) and asked Mike if he could tell Larry (my boss) that I am feeling sick and therefore cannot go to work. He simply said "well if you do that, can you call Larry so instead of me biking there by myself, he can come and drive me to work?" As I grumbled at that and falling asleep on the window, he just whacked me with his sock (dirty) and yelled "GOTCHA!" I wasn't even fully awake and I was just like "wwwhaatt?" And of course, Stephen and Zach heard the whole thing and made fun of me because it was Mike who killed me.
I think it's highly unjust that I was murdered at that state of mind. If only I was more conscious...

Throughout the whole day (and the next day and day after), people were freaking out whenever they are alone with someone else...some people made alliances to protect themselves...it was quite interesting to see. So what eventually happened at the end with the game:
(A chart created by Zach and Cynthia deciding who is still in the game...I had to dig through the recycling bin to find it and post it here...sigh the things I do for making a good blog)

Angel - (killed by) Mike - (killed by) Alex - (killed by) Zach
Cheryl - (killed by) Charles - (killed by) Zach (I think)
Stephen - (killed by) Maxime - (killed by) Alex
Cynthia - (killed by) Rebecca. Cynthia was supposed to kill Rebecca
Stephanie -???
Through logic and process of elimination, Zach and Cynthia concluded that Stephanie got her own name, and chose not to drop her name back into the hat...this is probably because she does not like games and uses this to get away with things (although she did not confirm whether this is true...the sly little thing).

Monday - Bear Aware Workshop...very appropriate after finding bear scat in our backyard. Overall interesting, but I was falling asleep in the workshop due to the lack of sleep from the night before. After workshop -> SLEEEEEPZZZZZZ

CIP/Community Involvement Project - apparently in BC (or 3rd trimester or even 2nd one also, but we never did it in Alma) every group must do a Community Involvement Project which promotes Katimavik/work with the community. This time we kind of took an opportunity that landed on our door (BC Cancer Society's Relay for Life asked us to do some volunteer work - set up, running our own games) and made it our CIP. After all, we are working with the community. The interesting twist - the lady in charge asked us to volunteer from 8 pm - 8 am, which means we are staying up the whole night and camping out there...this is happening tonight, and that should be interesting. This is probably the craziness demand I got as a volunteer ever, and I will let you guys know more about it later on. We are going to be so fried...

Work - It started out slow in the beginning, but I am starting to like it more and more...it's quite a zen like place to work, full of nature...I work with beautiful scenaries around me, flowers and coolbirds and a bit of wilderness combined. The other day I saw a bald eagle circling in the sky...really cool, when do I ever get to see that in Vancouver? I also like the fact that my job is dynamic. I can choose to work by myself (cleaning, gardening) or talk to people (tourists that come in...and it's getting busier and busier). Yesterday I even did 2 tours (an acadian couple from Fredericton and another from Whitehorse) and it was fun, and great practice and confidence booster for me. Plus Larry and Ron are pretty cool, even though with Larry you can't tell when he is serious or joking even when he made a joke. I think things are going to be better and better there.

Potential Fundraiser - Remember I said I thought of the idea of creating a Talent Show to raise money for the Doukhobor Museum? Well I finally met Dean (who Larry referred me to because he was interested to do this too) and after 45 minutes of talking with him and sharing vision and task, I am feeling a whole lot better...he knows lots of people and connections and he said he can easily fill in the first hour of the talent show (we are aiming for 2 hours). So right now we agreed to make posters (we are meeting on Tuesday night to compare posters) to scout more talent, and hopefully we will have a good variety to present...this is probably the hardest step, but if it works out I think the show is going to be big, fun, and a great event for the summer!
Fingers crossed...for this and for no rain tonight during the 12 hour crazy volunteer fest...

Time to make my poster...I don't know where to start with my artistically challenged skills...

Update...

...because I can't sleep, and it is 1:17 am PST...my first insomnia in Katimavik. Let's remember this night.

So a bunch of stuff happened over the course of the week, and I don't even know where to begin...so I think I will look at each day and talk about what happened:

Monday - first day of work. I think I wrote a blog about that, so that's done.

Tuesday - Rally for Change...this rally thing where a bunch of people met up in Millenium Park and rallied against global warming. I think they were going to do a demonstration on the streets plus an open mike, but we missed the demonstration and instead got there for the open mike. It was pretty cool to hear the ideas and how they see things could be done to decrease polluation/global warming...the only thing that sucked was that it was cold and pouring, and no one had an umbrella except for me, because a lady took pity and lent it to me...a couple of the people started crowding in (hello BC rain, long time no see...). During the open mike, 2 young people came up to us and asked if we want to join them the next day to do another demonstration in Nelson, BC, but of course we couldn't because we had to work...a shame, really. Oh yes it was also Charles's birthday...we bought him a Dairy Queen ice-cream cake and had a very small party. Knowing him he would have wanted to go to the bar, but since we now live in the middle of nowhere, that didn't happen.

Wednesday - Free time...I skipped group dinner (a good thing, as I found out, because apparently Stephen made a barely edible dinner) and rode the bike out...did a bunch of errands and then treated myself to dinner in a restaurant, which was serving all-you-can-eat shrimps...wooyah! In total I had 48, and brought another 12 home. Oh yes I also rented the first 4 episodes of The L Word, so I watched that on Stephen's laptop.

Thursday - Committee Planning Day. An overall productive time, in my opinion. This time Cheryl and I are in the environment committee, and we have a bunch of ideas on what we are going to do...and it seems like that for everyone else too...I am pretty happy that people are more eager on planning things than the past two trimesters. After that Zach/Rebecca/Stephen/Alex/I played Clue...I found out the answer by luck and accident, although I didn't win...perhaps you guys can figure out why.

Friday - BBQ at Station Museum (the Welcome Party)...overall an enjoyable time...a couple of you may be amused to know that an 11 year old girl (daughter of a work partner) came up to me and said "wow I am almost as tall as you"...the same sassy thing later played with Stephen and chased him around. The PC (Christine, man this is the first time we see our PC so much so soon) joined us because...

...to check up on Mike and his progress in the group. So after the BBQ, we drove to a hill off the museum where we can watch the sunset and the valley, and we had a little meeting on Mike there. Overall, he improved a bit...let's see what things bring later on.

Friday night brings a slew of mindless activities...while Stephen/Cheryl/Charles went out for a bike ride (to BCL and then drinking in the park...Cheryl and Charles are lucky that Alex and Christine didn't see them since it's a small town and they were out that night also), Cynthia/Zach/Rebecca/I (plus a bit of Mike) were mindlessly surfing the web and doing personality quizzes and stuff like that...we came across this quiz (I am not going into details on what it is right now, perhaps another time) which led to Zach/me/Stephen hotly debating (more like me, with them laughing at me and saying things to provoke me) on our choices. The theme of this, I would say, is feminism/male and female gender roles.

Saturday - Cluster Day at Nelson. I really could talk about this more, but that could take a while (it is now 2:31 am and I should sleep even though I am buzzed). In point form:
- Nelson is one cool city/town...the whole town has a hippie/laid-back vibe to it...a good number of the citizens have dreads, and their downtown is rather funky and eclectic. And of course who can forget the official fragrance of BC? Apparently Cheryl said there is a certain spot/store where people can smoke pot, and Charles checked it out (hehehehe Charles you, what a surprise ;). But my thoughts: Why bother? People do it everywhere there.
I can totally see Emilie in Nelson, chilling out...and getting along really well with the PL (Renaud, who is a French hippie). Maybe I should go there for my 72 off?
- After seeing all the houses in the cluster, my favorite one is the one in Nelson...it has personality like the one in Blind River, except more...I don't know how to describe, but more like the old yet charming houses in the residental area in downtown Vancouver. Plus their neighbourhood (downtown Nelson) is pretty cool...a bit jealous right now.
- What we did: a) saw a waterfall b) went to a farmer's market (hippie central) c) played soccer in barefeet and mild rain (that was fun...I was goalie but my team was really good with all the PLs and Christine on the team, not to mention Zach who runs like the wind) d) the whole cluster suckered a tram (think Vancouver trolleys in Stanley Park) conductor into giving us a giant discount for riding on the tram...I got in for free, and it was pretty nice seeing the Kootney River and other scenic points along the way.
A good day overall...but our group had to leave right after, which was just as well because everyone was pretty much in zombie form when we returned home.
- That night: Alex/Mike/Rebecca/Zach/Stephen/I watched The Lady in Water...I fell asleep halfway because I was tired but I was still able to understand the story more than Mike did, who was awake the whole time and kept asking ridiculous questions about the movie. Pretty amusing.

- Sunday: Breakfast with Jack Johnson twist (think about it...), then ultimate frisbee at the field by the community center (fun...the only downfall was that everyone played barefeet except for Cynthia, who absolutely refused to take off her shoes...and me not being very good at the sport and not being in shape). Hung out by the river with Cheryl, and then Mike/Alex/I biked to the museum, since Alex was supposed to show us the route to there. A nice picnic supper, and loooong house meeting (our usual, but longest Alex has ever done), and here I am, writing this.

Currents thoughts in my mind/drama in house:

1) I LOVE YOU DRAFT AUTOSAVE! I thought I lost my blog because the computer froze, but yeah you came through! No bitching blog!
2) With house-meeting tonight, it is now decided that 72 hours off will be happening over Canada Day long weekend. Now that my mom and my sister can't come see me during that time, I am now contemplating whether I should go back to Vancouver, or go to Nelson, or stay in Castlegar, or go somewhere totally different (Kelowna)...each has its pros and cons, I don't know yet...
3) Obvious drama (but not really drama) - differences with people wanting 72 hours off in Canada Day long weekend, with Maxime really insisting it because her parents are coming up during that time and they have booked tickets/campsites/everything. Others prefer the August weekend because on that same weekend, Wheels for Life are happening and people would like to participate in it, plus various other things. So some "conflict" happened there
Not-obvious drama (actual drama, 34102 style) - Rebecca and Cheryl's room has this tiny shelf for storage that is really only meant for 1 person to use...while our room (Maxime and I) has 2 storage shelves, with Maxime using one that is suitable for 2. Cheryl and Maxime had a slight conflict over this (with Cheryl wanting Maxime's drawer and Maxime not wanting that, of course...I don't know what quite happened but next thing I know, Cheryl and Rebecca are moving the shelf upstairs to their room...and when I went downstairs, Maxime's stuff was everywhere on the floor in our room. I imagine that Cheryl and Rebecca confronted Maxime about it, and Maxime was like "fine take it" and threw all her stuff out and left the house to chill out.
Later on I offered to switch with her (because I don't have much stuff) but she just said "no don't worry about it" and just furiously shoved all her stuff into her bags/suitcase...and later on when I wanted to go into the living room (the door was closed) I heard her on the phone, crying to someone...
Summary: I sympathize with her for the fact that both shitty things happened to her on the same day, but really she must learn to stop shoving problems within herself and talk to people.
4) I have this crazy idea that I would love to do, but it's lots and lots of work...plus luck and timing is required...I would like to do a fundraiser for the museum...a talent show, in fact...with different talents from town. I would like to make it big, publicize it...but I don't know, with the schedules and demands of Katimavik...we will see...
5) Thing that Annoys Me about the Group These Days - People Who Ding Others For Not Following Rules But Does The Same Thing When Rule Does Not Suit To Their Liking...I am not going to elaborate quite yet because again, it can take awhile and it's getting late...

...so I will stop here. But I think I will pull an all-nighter because it is already 4:12 am, and I am not tired...if I sleep I am afraid I won't get up for work tomorrow.

First Day of Work

So I was contemplating whether I should really write this email or not since my first day of work was rather uneventful. However I am trying to maintain my schedule of blogging/emailing (well I can't blog right now, Cheryl and Stephen are in the room) so here goes...shouldn't be that long.

So my job (and Mike's also for Mon/Tues/Wed, but he is house managers with Stephen this week) starts at 10:00 am, and my boss Larry picks me up from the Katima-house. Anyways if you guys are curious, I wasn't able to wake up at 7 to go for a run and study Japanese, but at least I did my situps and pushups, woohoo! But anyhow I am supposed to start biking to work by next week, which should be interesting because a) it is a bit of a drive itself and b) a majority of it may be uphill. We will see how things go...

So work today...things I did/people I met
1) got a tour of the museum (the museum itself is pretty cool, it is in a faux Doukhobor village with pretty gardens and orchards, and 10 minute walk to the river).
2) spent an hour/2 hours reading and learning about the Doukhobor people.
3) made a flower bouquet
4) pruned the roses
5) swept the concrete floor and cleared out pine needles
6) cut away any long grasses around the trees (because Larry can't get them with his lawn mower)
7) met Ron (an interesting guy with an interesting background), the 2 ladies that work in the bistro, and the cats (Duncan and another cat whose name is in Russian...Larry said it's the dolls that has one within another and another)
8) met 3 German visitors, had to pull something out of my ass about the Doukhobors (luckily I read the information!)
9) spent 20 minutes going down the river to dump the plant waste, and climbing back up...then finding out that I didn't need to go down to the river.
10) divided a small library of books in Russian and English...I have been told I will be alphabetizing them soon...I can't wait to do that for the Russian books, it should be interesting. As well, many of the books are so old and fragile that I am afraid of touching them.
11) Chilled - that's the philosophy of working there
12) Relaxed - my boss told me to do that, and I did

So that is it for work. And not much happened tonight other than a house meeting, an unplanned frisbee game (alex/stephen/cheryl/zach/rebecca/me/later mike)...oh yes Alex found bear scat (pooh) in our backyard, so there may have been a bear that came by during last night? Who knows.

More to follow...