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...

Plant Eating + Mike Chewing

So I said today (Sunday) our whole group will be joined by our PC (project coordinator) Christine for a hiking tour in the Slocan Valley about edible plants in the region. So at 11 am, we set out in the Katimavan and headed to the tour. Midway there, we picked up our PC...wow that was the first time the van contained 12 people in total, so it was a bit tight. But anyways I always enjoyed road trips in Katima-vans, and in BC it is especially great because the scenaries were absolutely gorgeous, with the mountains and rivers...in fact we saw 2 deers running in a field when we drove back.

So the edible plant tour...it was led by these two guys (Michael and Tyler) who were ethnobotanist (professionals who study plants and human interactions with it) and they brought us to 2 different logging sites and see how different logging practices changed the ecosystem of the forest. It was quite interesting, and I think what I was most amazed by was that in a small area there could be so many plants that is useful, and how nature always finds a way to adapt despite human destruction. And we can eat the plants, which is right up my alley. I guess my only complaint about the tour - the weather was a little too hot, which made people a bit impatient (because the tour was from 12-3), and the Frenchies were somewhat bored because the whole thing was in English, with many technical terms. At the end they just kind of sat around while the rest of the English kids listened to the tour. By the way I learnt about a good number of interesting plants...let's see if I can remember them (this is only what I can remember):

- thimbleberry, stalk is edible
- huckleberry
- a mini version of pacific dogwood, only in grass form
- wild ginger (root tasted like ginger)
- cow parsley, edible seed and root (tastes like carrot)
- this plant where, if rubbed on body, gives the worst sunburn (but edible still!)
- aspens (apparently the powder on the bark is equivalent to sunscreen)
- soapberry (very popular within the aboriginal people in the region, but it tastes bitter!)
Much much more...and who can forget about dandelions?
Ooh and it rained a bit during the tour, and that was refreshing on our overheated bodies...that was the first time I saw rain while it was perfectly sunny.
After the tour was over, we stopped for ice-cream in a roadside convenient store...but I forgot my wallet...just as well, I need to save money.

Part 2 - Big Meeting on Mike
One of the reasons our PC joined us was because of this pre-planned meeting on Mike. I am not going into details, but pretty much for almost 3 hours the group (I didn't say much) gave our complaints, with Christine (PC) trying to find solutions. In the end, everyone created a couple of contracts listing a whole bunch of rules that Mike has to follow in order to stay in the program. I don't know how effective this will actually be...but Mike is pretty much walking on thin ice right now.

2 things I want to mention:
1) I think I worked out a schedule for me to do everything I want (blogging/email + exercising + studying Japanese and Navy)
Morning before work - exercise for 30 minutes, shower, breakfast, study until 9:30 am?
Night - Chill, hang with people (working to be more social)
11:00 something - blog time
Let's see how things go...
2) Speaking of blogs, the blogs I have to work on to finish (self reminder)
- Montreal
- Quebec City excursion (quite interesting, actually)
- My work in Alma
- Quebec (thoughts, feelings, opinions...incorporate with Quebec discussion)

Ok I am out...let's see if I can get up at 7 am tomorrow (today)

Angel

First Weekend in Castlegar, BC

LAST BLOG BEFORE I GO TO BED! GO ANGEL GO!

So because I had a wonderful day today, I should share it...

This morning (Saturday) everyone dressed up in their funny costumes that we found in Salvation Army, did a bit of face painting (I didn't because I was breaking out in "hives" due to my allergies...not many though), and we went to the Castlegar Sunfest for a parade (Alex entered us into the parade, for fun and for PR, haha). We were joined by Tracy the '84 alumni (she was a ball of energy and had crazy stories about her Katimadays) and Beth the future participant (her dad did Katimavik and she just got accepted for the September one). Yes that is one thing I forgot - we decorated our van, made water balloons, and katimavik badannas for the parade.
Despite the 2 hour wait time (we left at 9 am, parade starts at 11 am), we had a really good time. The Frenchies were carrying the Quebecois flag, 2 other people (Zach and Cheryl) carried the Katima-flag, and a couple of us threw water balloons at the crowd (to their delight). Tracy/Rebecca/I were hard-core distributing our pamphlets and billeting information...we played Abba music and danced a bit to it, even though the group in front of us were a bunch of Scottish Highlander band who were playing loud bagpipe music, so our music was covered. Dancing/candy throwing/music/costumes/goals met...what could be better?

Came home, tired so got a nap...the allergy pills makes me tired...

Then saw a doctor (at ER because the walk-in clinic was not available...Alex dropped me off while she and Mike and Cynthia went for groceries...man the trouble I had to go through to enter into the hospital), who wrote prescriptions for me for medication and informed me that the "hives" I got were not hives...they were merely mosquito bites (man did I feel so stupid when she told me that).

At 8 pm the Trail/Jonquiere/Sault Ste. Marie group arrived and we hung out a little bit...and at 9:30 pm we left to go to Selkirk College to watch a live band (the band was all right) and at 10:00 pm the fireworks started...for a small town of 7000 the fireworks sure was gorgeous...there were some that I haven't seen before, and everyone just kept ooohing and ahhhing. A fabulous day, overall...

So I am almost done with the blog...
Tomorrow we are going for a hike...but not just any hike...we are getting a guided tour by a botanist on edible plants on the trails...and there will be tasting....we will meet the PC for the first time, and she will join us for group meeting to figure out the Mike situation...
BC is so far so good...
I am getting good at summaries eh?

YEAH I AM DONE!
HIP HIP HOORAY!

Work Site Tours + Interview

Argh it's getting late now, but I have 2 more blogs I want to write before I head off to bed. Let's see if I can still make them short yet informative and entertaining.

So here is a list of work placements for 10 people in Castlegar:
1) Friends of Parks and Trails - trail-building/maintenance, manual labour, 7-2, hard work but seems fun...they get to do canoeing to sites and swim in lakes during breaks. 2 positions
2) Doukobhour (wrong spelling I think but you get the idea) Cultural Museum - working in the museum, but work ranging from gardening (they have a nice garden and lawn) to cleaning displays to working in the bistro to giving tours to other things. 10-5.
3) Station Museum/Zuckerberg Island - similar to the first museum, except more interesting and more fun...they are redoing the displays in the museum, as well as other things. The island is pretty gorgeous. 10-5. 2 positions.
4) Salvation Army - thrift store, cleaning/sorting out clothing, cash/customer service. Seemingly awesome staff. 9:30 - 5.
5) Bear Aware - something by BC Parks Board on raising awareness on bears and environment. Pretty much door to door education on bears, and presentations in school. (2 days only)
6) Kootney Society Care Living - working with people with disabilities, there will be a summer camp for kids with mental disabilities that the participant will work in. 8-4?
7) Blueberry Elementary School - summer camp with kids. 8-4?
8) Birds Emergency and Kare Society/BEAKS - taking care of birds 8-4?

My top 5 choices/interviews (and I did well in my interviews, I must say)
1) Station Museum
2) Salvation Army
3) Dokhobour Museum
4) Bear Aware
5) Blueberry Camp

In reality
Rebecca - Trails (apparently her first choice)
Stephanie - KSCL (1st choice)
Zach - Station Museum (1st choice...jerk...)
Cynthia - Station Museum (1st choice)
Stephen - Bear Aware + Salvation Army (both were his first choice)
Charles - Trail (1st choice)
Maxime - Blueberry Camp (1st choice)
Mike - Salvation Army + mystery job (either trails or Dokoubour)
Cheryl - BEAKS (was not her first/second/third choice...got pissed off when she found out)
Me - Doukoubour (3rd choice, but whatever...I had a really eerie feeling that I was going to work there when I saw the work placement, no joke)

1 thing I realized - having great interviews does not mean you will get the job. It all comes down to PL deciding and making everyone happy. So being good in interviews is only a bonus...we are at the mercy of our PLs...

Things we also did Wed/Thurs/Fri - Calendar set-up/House tour/Scavengar Hut/Group introduction (this one is interesting...the group introduces each person (many of the stuff they said about me made me crack up laughing...like me being a hard-core feminist and being the most naive in the group)/visiting Tulip Falls and swimming in Lower Arrows Lake...really would like to tell you guys more about them but I think this is good enough...I am tired.

By the way one bad thing about being back in BC...attack of the allergies...my nose is stuffing up as I am writing this, arrrggghh

One more blog!

From Rotation Camp to Castlegar

So...I am officially back to Pacific Time Zone...and back to an English keyboard...

There is quite a lot to say about what happened between Rotation Camp to Castlegar, but because it is quite late (11:13 pm) and there are job interviews tomorrow (yes they are moving fast!), I am going to see if I can summarize, focus on the important things, etc (yeah right)

Before I start, I just want to mention that I am slightly worried about the blogging/computer situation here in Castlegar, because Alex (our new PL) seem to have strict rules about computer usage (no MSN/hogging the computer), so blogging/emails may become difficult. As well, I am keen on starting my navy package/Japanese learning (remember my 2007 resolution?). But we will see...where there's a will, there is a way...

So rotation camp...it was located in Mount Lac-Vert, in Hebertville (30 minutes away from Alma, and also where the awesome fromagerie is located at). We had supper, and at 7:00 pm drove to Mount Lac-Vert...so long, Alma and Valerie...but I was eager and ready for a new change. Overall there is really not that much to say about rotation camp, other than these points:
1) This time camp was shorter (good), but all the girls in the cluster (18) share one big room (bad). Last time camp was nicer looking and almost all the girls got their own room. The boys had to share room too but there are only 6 of them now (not including Mike because he wasn't there).
2) Things we did - reshowing our final presentation/farewell to PL/expectations of next PL/Rhythm exercise/gift to PL...overall the experience was relatively relaxed. Veronique (Quebec PC and a cool lady, I must add) and Cara (old ex-PC in Ontario) have quite different styles of doing things.
3) Got to know some people a bit better from the other clusters, and got to hang out with Robbie (whose grandfather passed away, so he left for a week to return home to the funeral), so that was cool. By this point cliques are forming in the cluster (and
me/Cynthia/Robbie/Devon..ish are kind of in a group...the nerdy under-the-stairs kids, haha).
4) Got confirmation from Veronique that Mike is indeed coming back...and he will be (he did) join us in the Kelowna airport. Unsurprising thing - people were disappointed. Surprising thing - Veronique indirectly encouraged us to find ways to get rid of him. She said we (especially Zach and Rebecca) know valuable information that is useful to the head office, and with enough of this information things can be done. We will see...

Travelling...man that was crrrraaaaazzzzy
Itinerary - bus arrives 11:00 pm, Tuesday night (the bus came at 10:20 pm)
- bus arrives at 5:30 am in Montreal (WHAT? but anyways the bus was earlier and fast...we got there at 4:00 am, and waited for an hour before the counters were open).
- plane leaves at 7:00 am, flies to Toronto and arrives at 8:05 am
- catch a connecting flight at 9:20 am, arrive Kelowna at 10:56 am (PST - which means 1:56 pm in CST = 4 hours)
- bus picks us up at 12 something, and drives us off from Kelowna to Trail/Castlegar/Nelson, respectively (4+ hour drive). I swear, Katimavik always tries to find a way to make the travel arrangements as difficult as possible...I don't know if anyone can beat this...
Important things to mention here:
- Things went relatively smoothly, but Stephanie's baggage got broken on the flight. Luckily, Westjet was willing to fix it and the lady who helped us had a spare suitcase, so we took that and she said Stephanie's old suitcase will be fixed and returned to her after a couple of weeks. In any case, things worked out...I am pretty impressed with Westjet's service.
- We saw Mike in the Kelowna airport. What can I say...he was the same old Mike, sans the colored mohawk (his grandmother cut it for him). Perhaps there are slight changes, because he was relatively distant to the group, especially Zach and Rebecca (apparently Rebecca waved hi to him, but he didn't wave back). Zach thinks someone in the head office talked to him about this and advised him to watch his behaviour if he still want to stay in the program. We will see how things fold out.

Bus ride - 5 hours long, and was spectacular. I always knew BC was gorgeous, but I did not realize the true meaning of the phrase "Beautiful British Columbia" until that bus ride. Luckily for us, our bus driver was a tour guide so pretty much he spent half of the trip talking about different things in the region and its history (Japanese concentration camps, Gold Rush, Doukhobours)...with pretty Okanagan farms and stunning mountains and rivers to boot. Needless to say I enjoyed my bus ride, despite the fact that a) I didn't really sleep well even though I would love some sleep from the long travelling b) in the airport I spilled iced tea on my new CD player, and it was acting funny on me...=( Anyhow seeing BC in its full splendor made me realize how lucky our group was to do our last 3 months in BC, with the stuff it offers.
So after a good couple of hours we arrived to Trail, which is where Sault Ste. Marie/Jonquiere is staying...they have the nicest house I have seen from Katimavik with lots of rooms and design a bit like an IKEA house...plus it's right by the river, and close to downtown...
Their PL is a guy (something I want just to mix things up) and apparently he is a replacement for the last PL who quit. That should be interesting.

Next - our house. Unfortunately, our house is not quite like theirs (back to Katimavik standards), and it is far from anything...the closest things (7-11, Dairy Queen) is a 25 minute walk, and downtown is like 1.5 hour walk...so you pretty much have to bike everywhere. Despite all this things are pretty cool still. The girls get to have 2 in one room (Maxime + me were assigned to one...the best room in the house) but the boys still had to stay in one room together. And our background is pretty sweet...a gorgeous view of the mountains and Columbia River, and nice and big with flowers and fruit trees and stuff that was planted previously. And our new PL Alex seems very nice, easygoing and sweet...more about her in the future.

Things are moving fast...Thursday is work tours, Friday is interview, work starts Monday.

Last Blog in Alma

Ok I really don't have much to say (well yes I do but that will take forever...), but one certain thing...big big thing...

We just got a phone call from Mike that he is officially coming back to Katimavik...and he will be joining us in Castlegar, BC. Which means we will see him by Wednesday...

(creepy music playing in the background)

So most of the people (especially Zach and Rebecca) are not happy that he is coming back...and I understand how they feel...2 short weeks of freedom and now that is taken away...back to Mike harassing them everyday. Zach already said that he is going to convince Mike to hang out with me 24/7, because I am almost the only one in the group who does not mind having him back.

Let's see how the drama unfolds...I can tell that life after Mike will already be very different...he may even be sorry that he is back, perhaps...

Ciao Alma

(Update) Valerie just said Mike is probably BSing, because she did not receive anything from Katimavik head office...so pretty much people are sitting on the edge of the cliff, tilting back and forth, back and forth for comfort (not literally but you know what I mean)...Mike is like the bad cancer that threatens to haunt the group...and only a few people have immunity (me) for it.

My Thoughts on Work

Ok I have 40 minutes before we (as in Café Sofa) call it a day...let's start...

But before I talk about work let me just say something very cool will happen tomorrow/Sunday/Monday, and I just cannot believe it is happening tomorrow...excursion to Quebec City, à la belle province de Quebec! I am going to see my sister (who is doing a geography exchange program in Sherbrooke and they are having an excursion there also) there too, woohoo! Hopefully I have time to write a blog about it, but we will see...

So our group is leaving Alma very soon (May 28), and I feel I should dedicate a blog on my work before I leave, as a reminder to myself (and perhaps to the "lucky" person who will work here after me...but maybe not). Anyways what can I say about it? I guess I should explain what it is: Café Sofa is opened by La Boite à Bleuets, an organization with a team of dedicated people from all walks of life (doctors, politicians, students) that works hard to attract young people from the Lac St-Jean region to stay in the region. The profits from the cafe then goes to projects and other developement plans that La Boite à Bleuets have. As well, the café itself is pretty cool: it serves as a venue for meetings/entertainment, and it sells fair-trade coffee and other items for third-world aid. The café is one of those totally hip/chill places that is anti-starbucks, where people go there to chill because of its atmosphere and stuff, and they can enjoy the chillax music they play (yay, I even got to play my choice of stuff one day when I worked with Aurelie) and the art/photo exhibits the café has going on (right now it is Aurelie's art...very cool). Unfortunately, because the café is in a small town, not much people go there. But I can guarantee that if it was in Vancouver/Montreal/Toronto, the place would be buzzing...which is a bit unfortunate (but if it is too busy then it would lose that intimacy). And another crappy thing about the cafe - everything is pretty pricey...

...Aw shucks...not enough time due to distractions from my friends. To be continued...after Quebec City...

Blogging Rant

Yahoo...the Carnival is in town...so instead of doing our healthy lifestyle (water aerobics in the community center), we got to use our hobbies budget and blow it all on the carnival...$12 per person. Anyways I used that and bought myself 12 tickets ($1 per ticket) and went on 2 rides with Billy/Sabrina (who were just coincidentally there) while others bought more (they had to subsidize anything over $12) or brought the all-you-can-ride $25 bracelet. It was all right, and though I enjoyed it, it just made me realize that I am getting too old for rides because my body cannot handle it like I used it...after Music Ride (a medium-mild spinning ride), I had to find a seat and calm down the tornado in my head...

Here`s just a little something I thought about these days about blogging. Blogging, I found out, is actually hard business, especially in Katimavik and the way I am doing it...days pass by everyday, with something going on everyday and it is hard to capture that. Even when one can capture that, there are still thoughts/comments/intimate feelings, which are more important to capture. The balance between both things is what makes a blog interesting to do, and I hope I have been doing that in them...however there are so much things happening, and so much subtle emotions conveyed in them that it is pretty much impossible for me to record everything. There are still a number of blogs that I would like to write about, that are still in my head...especially The Big Group One (tickling Charles`s curiousity). Anyways despite all the words I write, I haven`t even covered many of the things/dynamics happening in the house. And the days just grow longer and longer, with more to write about...I feel like a poor gardener battling in a land of dandelions...as soon as you finish weeding some, more pops up.

Another thing that occurred to me is the old saying about living life versus reading about it. I think one of the reasons I am not able to capture all the subtle emotions between people is because I am so busy occupied with the idea of trying to write/catch up with blogs, instead of sitting down and just enjoy doing stupid yet crucial (crucial in a sense that it promotes closeness) things with the group. In a way, I am like the hardworking parent that works all the time to make ends meet and make sure everyone in the family is financially stable, but really have no idea who the children are and what they are like. I feel like an outsider...something to think about.

Finally, the thought of Charles reading my blog means I should watch what I say, haha...read the comments if you do not know what I mean. Although if I do that, I really shouldn`t be writing this blog anymore. However reading Charles`s comments today made me realize that I am only getting a narrow vision of what is happening, and many times my vision may not be true (again referring to the "feeling like an outsider" comment). And I guess in a more philosophical level, what is the truth? What I see/say versus what others in the group see/say will definitely be different, despite the situation being the same. I think a great example is putting a bunch of artists in front of an apple and telling them to draw it...and you would get everything from your classic apple picture, to abstract, or even a sculpture of it made from paper. Who is to say there is one definitive picture/truth? Alright I think I am ranting too much right now, but my point is with this blog I am telling what I think is right, and even though others may disagree or even feel offended, I am going to continue doing what I do (in order words, too bad..:P).

Mike update - not that Mike told us anything...but now the group enjoys the house without him enough that people like Maxime are planning to put a stop to it if Mike comes back...ouch.

Things That Irk Me

Yesterday 2 things happened that bugged me (for those of you that know me, you guys know that there isn't much that bug me, so this should be interesting eh?):

1) I don't know if you guys know, but Café Sofa does not do recycling. The reason for that is because the recycling system here in Alma sees the Café as a business, and therefore charges them money. This is incredibly stupid, in my opinion because a) both Le Coderr (recycling center) and La Boite à Bleuets are both non-profit organizations and therefore should help each other out, especially when the money made in the café goes to projects in La Boite à Bleuets to attract young people to stay and thrive in town...so therefore they really have no extra money to spare b) shouldn't recycling be something that is free, because everyone has a social responsibility to recycle? But anyways, because of that, I am now in charge of bringing recyclables back to the house pretty much everyday.
So yesterday I had 2 boxes of recyclable materials to bring home, and as I was walking home I realized 2 boxes together were too heavy for me...if I continued on with them my arms would snap...so I decided to leave one box of materials by the bridge, and walk home with one. After I am done with that, I would return, fetch the other box, and bring that back to the house. So I walked back to the bridge, and as I was walking towards my recyclables I saw 3 punks/teenage boys goofing around the box...then suddenly one of those idiots PICKED UP MY BOX AND THREW IT INTO THE RIVER...oh my lord...
Why are people so stupid and ignorant?
I wish I said something to them (I didn't, due to me feeling a tad intimidated and/or lack of French, especially when I am obviously an anglophone)...Stephen was right, when I told him the story...we must fight for what we believe in.

2) Ok this is more complicated to explain...remember when I mentioned that I wanted to invite Alexandre Cloutier (current MLA in Lac St-Jean) or Stephan Tremblay (previous MLA and Alexandre Cloutier's "boss") to come into the house and talk about Quebec culture (differences, why it is the way it is, separation, etc.)...because Alexandre did not respond and Stephane was waaaay too busy, and since there was only 2 weeks left I decided to give up...until Lucie (my lovely French teacher) told me on Monday that she found a great person (a history teacher, Lucie promised me she is very dynamic and interesting) to do this...because all the English kids and Lucie and Valerie really want this workshop, I decided to go ahead and arrange for meetings...the only catch - Valerie wants the Frenchies to participate, but they don't...
Why don't they? That is a good question indeed (and just to be safe, I am not talking about every single Frenchie in the group), and it pretty much boiled down to them believing that we would never understand, because we are not Quebecois. Therefore, efforts to try are worthless and would only lead to frustrations and arguments (Charles if I am incorrect at what I said here, feel free to correct me). This frustrates us English kids (well not all, and different degrees with me probably feeling the strongest because it is my event, after all) because it is like we try and we are curious about their culture, and we work hard to learn about it and intergrate into it, but it seems like they are defensive and overprotective about the whole situation...not willing to allow us to enter into the Quebecois world. In order for the situation (English/French division) to improve, both sides must communicate and share knowledge...be open-minded. If this is the current situation just between us, how is it like in a bigger picture/level? How could things improve?
On a brighter note, a date has been set (next Wednesday) and I am now just hoping the teacher is great enough that even the Frenchies will be sold and everyone is happy and well-knowledged at the end of this...

Quick little something - Mike just informed Charles on msn that his family doctor is A-OK with him returning to Katimavik...as soon as May 28. However, the Katimavik medical team did not decide whether he is allowed, so we shall wait...and I hate to disappoint but majority of the people in the house were disappointed about this news...

More in the future...

Katima-dramas

Since I last blogged, a lot of things has happened. A lot of these things have to do with "dramatic" events that happened in the group (which is relatively rare because our group, compared to the other groups - Elliot Lake/Chicoutimi and Sault Ste. Marie/Jonquiere in our cluster - we have almost no drama), and what I am going to do is dedicate this one blog to the drama that has been happening in our house, as well as other groups (only because if you read what happened to them versus what happened to us, you would laugh at our "dramas"...

Just to get your attentions, I will tell you what I heard from other groups. Although I must admit I do not know the whole story, but whatever...
Jonquiere/Sault Ste. Marie - 2 guys (Thom and Rob) from their group got kicked out and sent home, because they were caught drinking in the park. I know this sounds like a relatively minor thing to get kicked out, but apparently both Rob and Thom had final warnings back in Sault. Ste Marie for getting pissed drunk at a Motley Crue concert and coming home and puking all over the PL's computer, plus other things. The drama part - it was Melissa (a girl who is in their group) that saw them and told the PL that they were drinking in the park. And this was not the first time that Melissa told on the participants to the PL. She was also the one that busted Jon and Katrina back in Sault Ste. Marie about their pot usage in the house. Now I am not going to comment whether Melissa did the right thing or not, but I absolutely would not want to live with someone like Melissa for 9 months just because she is obviously someone people can't trust. And I do not know why Melissa did not hesitate in telling the PL...if I were her, I would be afraid of backlash from the group, retaliation...and obviously I would not want to live in a house where everyone hates me. As well, I feel bad for Thom and Rob in a sense that they pretty much didn't see it coming (they were told last Sunday that they would be sent home on Tuesday/Wednesday...man if I was Melissa, I would not be able to handle the hostility from them during Monday/Tuesday).

Elliot Lake/Chicoutimi - This group is really like a reality TV series, in my opinion...pretty girls/boy-girl relationships/alcohol...their drama is rather complicated:
- Originally there were 11 people...4 guys and 7 girls (3 English, 4 French). Now they are down to 9 (perhaps there may be more leaving in the future)...
1) Niki (one of the guys) apparently was in a "love triangle" with Kelly and Marie Eve...although he and Kelly (who has a boyfriend back home) were much more serious and Marie Eve was apparently a "drunk-fling". One day he got a concussion due to something, got sent to the hospital and during his concession, he decided to go home because of his mom freaking out and stuff like that...apparently he is now trying to appeal to come back to the group, using the reason that "he was not thinking clearly during the concession and made a bad decision"...good luck buddy.
2) Travis (an angry looking skinhead with anger issues) had problems in the group and therefore became one of the scapegoats of the group (another guy, Devon, was another one)...he especially had problems with Kelly and eventually got sent home because of an incident with Kelly (no no he didn't hit her or verbally assault her, from what I heard, but Kelly feels threatened enough that she went and talked to her PL...and in fact it was Robbie who was buddies with Travis that totally bitched at her which caused her to talk to the PL). On the other hand, Travis in Elliot Lake had final warnings for attempting to burn his hand (no joke) and throwing Marie Pier (a girl he had relations with) into the snow, which ended up being hard concrete...you get the story
3) Girls and Drinking - apparently all 3 English girls (Bonnie Jean, Kelly, and Nina) had final warnings back in Elliot Lake with drinking (being drunk, underage drinking, etc.)...and there was an incident last Saturday when all 3 groups went to the Chicoutimi group to hang out (which I don't think I mentioned about...perhaps when I have time to write another blog) and Bonnie Jean/Kelly/Charles (yes the Charles in my group) were in the house drinking before they went to the bar. Now there is a rule in Katimavik that says we are not allowed to drink in the house, and lo and behold Valerie drinks from a cup the next morning and she tasted beer...more later.
4) Girls and Drinking II - the French girls also went to the bar that night and Tania (who was 17) decided to join them, as well as Maxime (17)...more later.
5) Convergence of both stories - the next day during their house meeting, Jonathan (Chicoutimi PL) brought up the story of Valerie finding beer in a cup...therefore Kelly and Bonnie Jean confessed that it was them, and they both got final warnings for that. Then Kelly said it wasn't fair that there were double standards with rules, and the French girls, thinking that Kelly was going to mention Charles in the conversation too, urged Kelly to spill the beans (despite Kelly saying that she will go directly to the person and talk to them)...little do the French girls know that Kelly was talking about the underage people going to the bar and so she spilled the beans about that. So now Tania got a CTI (commitment to improve) on underage drinking, and others (Maryz, etc.) either got final warning or CTI for drinking with a minor...and apparently they also brought up Maxime in the story, saying that she was underage and if she is not punished, then that would not be fair...

As you can tell, there is a pretty obvious division between the English girls and the French girls...
One more thing I would like to add - Charles if you are reading this, you are lucky that Kelly didn`t squeal on you...be a little more careful next time.

Now that you guys know about the other groups` drama, here`s what has been happening with us in regards to drama:
- Friday (volunteering): Charles/Maxime/Rebecca did the presentation (on Canada) for Wednesday/Thursday, and on Thursday night Maxime and Charles said they no longer want to do it and asked if others want to take their place...unfortunately, no one did so they did it again on Friday (Rebecca had no problems doing it again and again...). However Charles wanted to back out on Friday morning and Valerie kind of pressured him to stay, which probably made Charles dissatisfied, as well as Maxime.
- For our presentation on Canadian food, Charles and I decided to serve Nanaimo bars (which are really from Nanaimo, gasp!) and so we made enough to last us for 3 days. To "protect" the bars from being eaten, Charles taped a "DO NOT TOUCH" thing across the container, and therefore was pissed off (I can guarantee you that almost never happens with Charles) when he found out that a strip of the Nanaimo bars were gone and no one confessed to it. And this is the part I don`t really understand...he went to Valerie and started venting his anger on her. And really, it was me =P...ok in my defense when I first saw the Nanaimo bars, there was already a bite mark on it, and therefore I decided to cut enough so the bite mark would be gone, and gave it to Cynthia and Stephen. Little did I know there will be another bite mark, and I thought that was what Charles was referring to...
- Friday volunteering again: After lunch, majority of us were given the choice of a) staying behind to help with volunteering b) go home. Either way, someone has to stay, and someone gets to go. So Charles/Maxime pushed to go home, and brought along Rebecca because they believe they should go home after 3 days of hard work. This leads to 2 problems. 1) Small problem - one of our volunteering activities consist of leading fun activities/games for 30 to 60 minutes to 20 - 30 french kids, and guess who ended up leading it? The English kids (Stephen/Zach/Cynthia/me). Very interesting...
- Cheryl and Stephanie were judging the exhibitions all the way until 1:00 pm (even though all of the English kids minus Rebecca thought they left with Charles/Maxime/Rebecca), and when they finished and found out Valerie/Rebecca/Charles/Maxime left, Cheryl and Stephanie got mad that they weren't asked for this option (Cheryl in a bad mood is not a good thing)...and this kind of affected group morale during volunteering which the lady in charge of the volunteering program picked up (she told this to Valerie). Eventually Cheryl and Stephanie called Valerie and asked to be picked up, since there wasn't really anything to do anymore...tensions were everywhere, with Cheryl and Stephanie mad about that, plus that Charles and Maxime were "complaining" about their work too much, while Charles and Maxime were disatisfied with working too much through the presentations and no one really willing to help them.
So what does one do in this situation? Group meeting specificially on this situation...and eventually everything worked out.
- Cheryl and Cynthia: they were house-managers last week and there were tensions between them (this happened way before house managing week), and finally on Saturday afternoon (I wasn't there, but I heard enough) Cheryl snapped at Cynthia, feeling that Cynthia did not throw in her share of work and was always on the computer (apparently on Saturday Cynthia was on the house computer for 3+ hours, which annoyed everyone). I was not there to witness the event, but I can imagine Cheryl venting...ooooooohhhhhh...and Cynthia....aaaaahhhhh
- Maxime got a CTI/Final Warning because of underage drinking/going to a bar during the Chicoutimi weekend...actually a couple of weeks ago (Stephanie's birthday) Maxime/Charles/Stephanie/Rebecca were going out to the bar and as Maxime almost entered Le Crapaud, Valerie was walking down the street and saw Maxime....hahaha she walked Maxime home.
- Maxime again: on Saturday night, Maxime went to the Dooly's (a pool hall in town) with me/Stephen/Mike/Charles (which is a risk for her because of Valerie and her warning), so when Stephen wanted to leave at 10 pm ish, she snapped at him and put him and Cheryl together, saying that he just wants to be with Cheryl and that he changed...Stephen was just like "what the hell, this isn't any of your business" but eventually things settled down and Maxime bought (more like bribed) Stephen a drink to stay longer. If you can read between the lines things between Cheryl and Maxime aren't going great...
- Maxime III: Later on in the night, Maxime and Charles were just in the living room, chilling...I walked in, and Maxime was shaking incontrollably...Charles was laughing and so I think it was all a joke. After a shower I came downstairs, and Maxime was crying and not speaking, while Cheryl/Stephen/Charles were like "Maxime are you okay? What is happening?"...so apparently Maxime had a seizure, which scared everyone and we were all hesitant to tell Valerie because Maxime drank beforehand and we didn't want to get her in trouble (others may have other reasons also)...here's the drama/mystery
1) (From Cynthia) Apparently Stephen found a bottle of pills under Maxime's pillow while everyone transported Maxime back upstairs into the room and Stephen asked Maxime (who was already feeling better) what the pills are for, thinking it could help her. Apparently she immediately grabbed it from him and didn't say it...does she have something to hide?
2) When Stephanie and Cheryl decided to wake Valerie up (this happened around 1:00 pm), Charles immediately tried stopping them and said "no"...does he know something that no one else does?
Charles feel free to spill, although I doubt you will. That's cool.
- Probably the biggest thing of all: Mike...is now gone. We cannot believe it. After months of him constantly around and being himself, we would think his activities would kick him out for good...well he left on Sunday, but it is not because he was kicked out...it is quite a shock, actually, with what happened...
So on Friday afternoon, when we had our bitch-fest (oops group meeting on volunteering I mean), Valerie dropped the bomb: Mike has ADD (which was something we knew previously) and stopped taking medication that he has been taking since he was young (and is still supposed to) around the 2nd week into the program. No one knew about this until Valerie herself found out, so she made me take it again because according to his Katimavik file, he cannot do the program unless he is on medication. Because of that, Valerie was obliged to write a report on this and send it to the Katimavik medical team to help Mike. Medical team's decision - send Mike home, have his family doctor decide whether he is suitable for the program based on his conditions, and either come back into the group or not.
This is complete bullshit, in my opinion...how does that help Mike? And it is not something Mike can control, in fact it was pretty much dropped onto him like a surprise that came from nowhere...I feel very bad for Mike because that was probably the first time I have seen him very upset. Not even when he got a final warning was he this upset...
So Mike has a 50/50 chance of coming back...and we got our first (and hopefully only) hit with the group...down to 9 right now.

As well, this reminds me of a conversation I had with Cynthia and Robbie about scapegoats in human groups. Cynthia feels that once Mike is gone, Cynthia will be the new scapegoat in our group. I absolutely hope this is not going to happen, because if it does, what does it say about people in our group and human nature (by the way, that would totally be like "Lord of the Flies" if that happens, it just occurred to me)?

More "drama" in the future, I am sure...stay tuned. Oh no, don't yawn...we are pretty tame compared to the other groups eh?

The Blog with No Title

Yes, I am that creative with headings.

Madames/Monsieurs/Sirs/Mams:

I do not have much to report with the latest events of our Katima-lives, other than:

1) We are finally starting to work on our presentations (no not our final presentation at the end of the month, although that we will have to worry about too later on). What it is for is actually for our volunteer work next Friday at Odyssée des Batisseurs for the whole day because they are holding a special event, and there will be a bunch of kids from elementary schools going to it. Our job: to introduce Canada (more specifically Ontario, Alberta, Quebec, BC, Nova Scotia) in different aspects (geography/music/dance/food) in a presentation format...we have 45 minutes. Our groups are divided this way:
- Cheryl/Mike/Valerie (I think Valerie is only helping because of Mike) - Geography
- Stephen/Cynthia/Stephanie - Music
- Rebecca/Zach/Maxime - Dance
- Angel/Charles - Food (naturally)

So far Charles and I are doing fine...we have decided to incoporate pictures and a puzzle (as in guessing puzzle) of the food, plus its origins. Mix it with a bit of verbal descriptions, and in the end we are serving Nanaimo bars to the kids, haha. But we donèt really have a lot of time, and there is a lot of work involved. However I am excited about this type of volunteer work, as it beats the usual type of volunteer work we have been doing for the last 5 months (serving seniors food) and it is relatively challenging...the deadlines and work make it feel like school, though...school, not too far away from the horizon. After this I better start working on it.

2) Cynthia - It seems like Cynthia and majority of the house have problems with each other. For example, Cynthia would give a comment that was considered ignorant/stereotypical, and certain people would...not so much as snap on her but respond back with a strong contradiction. Case in point - During current events last night, Zach presented a newspaper article about NDP politicians and how they want to pass a bill to create some form of national renewable resources sharing...and somehow I asked a question which lead to Cynthia saying "most politicians treat this event as a drinking party"...I laughed, but Zach immediately contradicted Cynthia by saying that she was stereotyping and he was sure there are politicians who take their job seriously. As well, Cynthiaès ugly monster of horror came out yesterday again when Maxime said she never received the Cynthiaès game plan, which got her very irritated and she spent a couple of minutes furiously looking for it in the lost and found box...I will elaborate on that subject at a later date.

Gotta work, ciao

Last Weekend

Haha, so I didnèt wake up early to work on this blog. But hey, I am now working on it in the cafe. No loss, eh? By the way the café looks cooler than ever with the new art that Aurelie created and put on the walls...she is putting an exhibit in the cafe, and selling her art at the same time. Rather talented, even though her art is quite pricey (cheapest one starts at $60)

Anyways details are fading from me, so I am going to try and summarize in order to get the big picture...hopefully this blog is not too long, for your sakes

1) House-managing week with Rebecca - overall a good experience, she always seems to have ideas (current events night, etc...although she didnèt go gung ho with the games this time around compared with the time she was house-managing with Charles, because everyday there would be something happening during dinnertime when they were house managers). We were going to do Zachès superhero night, but that didnèt happen...oh well Zach can do it again when he becomes a housemanager with Mike for the 2nd time (poor, poor boy). I got to talk to Rebecca quite a bit, and she was pleasant to work with...like me, she has the feel-guilty-if-someone-does-my-work syndrome, and she also likes to feed me back the same things I said to her before...quite amusing. Rebecca is also a good cook-in-training, with the same sense of adventure in cuisine that I have, which is fun. It helps both of us enjoy being a house manager, unlike other people in the house. After house-managing with Rebecca and Stephen, I am now officially done with house-managing until the next trimester (coming very soon...end of May).

2) Saturday/Cabane à Sucre - At 9:00 am, the whole house left and headed to Laterriere (a bit off of Chicoutimi, and where Valerie is from) to the sugar shack. I have linked it so you guys can find out what cabane a sucre is without me explaining what it is. After an hour, we arrived at the sugar shack/erables dèor, and only then did I realize we were also doing this with the Jonquiere/Sault Ste. Marie group. This is one of the things that frustrates me about this trimester compared with the last one - I never seem to know what is going on (and I know I am not the only person in the group with this problem). But hey, the more the merrier, eh? So everyone goes to the sugar shack, and the first thing we do is go inside the giant dining hall and have their classic sugar shack breakfast (I donèt know whether I have mentioned this before, but I actually went to this sugar shack before with my billeting family)...pancakes, ham, deep fried pork rinds, sausages, beans...all topped with maple syrup of course. This surprised me because I didnèt think we had enough money to get breakfast for everyone, but hey I am not complaining. After a hour of food chow-down and enjoying the music by the same performer that I saw last time/perhaps the sugar-shack owner/Johnny...many of us went outside to have a good tasting of maple lollipop, which consisted of pouring maple syrup onto blocks of snow, have it harden, and slowly roll it onto a popsicle stick. Personally, I am not a dessert/sweets fan, and I was done after 2 of them. However, everyone else (especially the French kids) had one after another after another, and Maxime claims that one time she ate 15 when she visited a sugar shack. People pretty much spent the whole time socializing by the maple lollipop snowpile, or going back inside the dining hall and dancing/waiting for the clown to do face painting for them, or take walks around the property...I did all 3 things, minus the face painting plus the quick tour of syrup making room, which I didnèt get to go last time (but I got to go dog-sledding!) By the way, no one got face painting at the end because the clown shuts down her business at 12:30 pm, and the last person she worked on was a kid who got there earlier than any of the katima-kids). We stayed there until almost 2 oèclock (we got a scare when rumours started that we were supposed to stay until 4:00 pm, and inactivity started around 11 something), and I think everyone was relieved when we were told that we were leaving. Overall, it was all right for me, because I have done it before and the freshness wasnèt there...but the amount of inactivity was what bored me...in fact upon arriving back to our katima-van we found Stephanie and Maxime in the van, sleeping...which annoyed Valerie but she didnèt really show it (we only found out about it during the next meeting).
Oh yes one funny story - Rebecca and a bunch of us were around the maple lollipop snowpile, chatting...and Rebecca dropped her lollipop to the ground. Just as she bent down to pick it up, she accidentally kicked the lollipop...and the lollipop landed on the pants of a lady that walked by. The funniest part - the lady didnèt know about it and just kept walking...
NO...we didnèt wait for the lady to leave and start laughing our ass off. Everyone was shocked, and we started bawling with laughter, while looking at each other with the same thought "what are we going to do now? Let the lady go, or do something?" In the end, the good Samaritian in Rebecca got out and Rebecca and I ran to the lady and told her what happened, and apologized. Luckily, after some paper towels/cloth/snow, the lady was extremely humored about it and everyone enjoyed themselves. Although I feel a tad bad for Rebecca because after that, the lady told the story to her friends and they were all pointing at her and laughing...

After - We actually went and visited Valerieès parents. Her dad was a bit non-descript for me (just because I didnèt get to talk to him personally) but her mom was very sociable and friendly. She handed chips and drinks all around and asked us questions (well more targeted to the French kids, but whatever). We got to see photos of Valerie when she was younger (not that much different from now but her eyebrows were much bushier back then), and heard some stories (again I couldnèt understand everything, because the conversations were mainly in French). All in all it was all right, I think the French kids enjoyed it more than the English kids...it certainly didnèt help that many of us were getting a sugar crash...Cynthia was nodding off on the couch.

Saturday night - As I had promised Stephanie for her birthday, she and I went to a folk music concert held in Cafe Sofa (Sylvie Jean redemption, haha). It was free for me since I work there, but for Stephanie it costs $10 (well duh I paid, itès her birthday!). By the way Stephanie got a sweeeet laptop for her birthday (to be more precise she bought it but her parents sent it to her at her birthday)...itès the newest ACER with cool speakers, webcam, windows vista...not to mention that her laptop is able to pick up wireless better than Maximeès or Stephenès and can splice it so that all laptops can go online at the same time. But back to the concert...it was pretty good, despite that the genre was more suitable for someone like my mom and most of the audiences were middle-aged adults. Went home around 10:30 pm, and just chilled on the computer (havenèt done that on the house computer for a loooooong time) while Valerie/Stephen/Charles were outside, having a bonfire and playing guitar/tam-tams/spoons

Sunday - relatively uneventful in the morning, the afternoon a lady from an arts association in Sag-Lac area came in and talked about her beadwork. This lady (also an English teacher/photographer/graphics designer) made jewelery using beads and she showed us what she did...Maxime and the majority of girls were "oooohahhhh" over many of her pieces. Best part - we got to make our own! After 2 - 3 hours of labour, most of us (except for Charles and Cynthia, who gave up making jewelery after an hour) made different pieces, and everyoneès jewelery kind of reflected their personality, in my opinion. Rebeccaès simple 2 strand necklace got many appraisals, as did Cherylès bracelet. My choker was a fancier version of what I used to make when I was little - daisy chains (Ady this will be your birthday present ;). Another perk - originally the lady was going to charge us extra with using fancier crystals and giant beads, but I think she just omitted that at the end, which was very nice of her as Swarovski crystals are expensive.

Later in the evening - House meeting: What was supposed to be your average house meeting turned out to be the revealing event of our group tensions. I know I didnèt really talk about the group dynamics in our group during Alma (or even in Blind River I think), but in my opinion this is probably the most interesting and important thing about the whole Katimavik adventure...and I am sorry that I didnèt quite have time to describe whatès going on in terms of relationships between people. To summarize, our group was once a good group of kids that got along relatively well in Blind River, with the loving encouragement of Emilie. There were differences, yes, but it wasnèt as apparent as when we arrived to Alma. Once we got to Alma, and I donèt know why...but the differences became more apparent and soon enough, little tensions started forming. The French kids and the English kids divided themselves and everyone became more cliquey, and less communicative with each other. I can go into this further, but due to time and now that Charles reads this, I have to watch what I say ;P...nah I will write another blog about this another time.
Pretty much everyone in the group knew and saw these problems, but no one really tried solving the problems or even bother acknowledging them...which was really sad because once upon a time the strength of our group lies onto the fact that we were relatively open communicators. But the last meeting kind of changed that...in Maximeès positive and negative comments, she mentioned that there is tension in the group and she was being more reclusive. Cynthia agreed with her, which brought Valerie to create a giant discussion on what is going on in the group and have everyone say what they felt was the problem in our group...I am not going into details but different people have different thoughts on what the problem is (Cynthia and I are the most similar in thoughts in this department), with the Stephen/Rebecca complaining about the language barriers. Valerie chipped in with her thoughts, saying that many of us are still clinging on to Blind River and our memories with it and not giving Alma a chance...and our little tensions are normal because we are in 2nd trimester and this trimester is usually the most difficult to deal with (and I think our group got the worst because a. the English have to deal with the language barriers and b. the French have the temptation of going home), with the most amount of people quitting during the 2nd trimester. Because Maxime was the one who brought it up, she was kind of put on the spotlight on the group dynamics, which was slightly unfair (how ironic, though...I was kind of the person who was pushing it), but she did the best she can, and I could tell it wasnèt easy for her.

My 2 biggest thoughts on this:
- I donèt think everyone in the group was being honest and truthful. Maxime is the perfect example, just because when it was her turn to tell her part, she would say something, then hesitate and not want to talk about it...we had to encourage her to keep going and this went on for a couple of times. Why is it so difficult for her? When Zach just shrugged and said "I donèt know" in this certain tone, I thought that was total bullshit, being the fact that this was Zach and not someone else. As well, Cheryl, who is opinionated, vocal, and acknowledged the fact that there is tension, did not really comment or say anything. That again disappointed me. And because of this...
- Even though it seems like we "acknowledged" the problems, I doubt things will improve because certain people seem to have things to hide (ok that may be a bit strong) and are not really willing to take the first step...perhaps I am being cynical though, and honestly slight improvements are starting to happen...but we will see what the future unfolds.
- Maybe I canèt blame the people for not opening up though...probably some of the tensions come from individuals with other individuals. Again I will not go into details right now.

Welcome To Storming...so this is how it feels like...

I think I am done blogging for the day. My back is starting to hurt.

Life/Six Degrees of Separation/Telepathy

Haha I know I said I was going to bed, but I really want to share something before I do that...

First of all, it seems like my blog may be about something deep (judging from the title), but it isn`t. But life is such a mysterious and strange thing...let me explain:

Because of what happened to Charles and the blog, I have decided to set it in private mode (read THE VERY VERY FIRST BLOG for more information on why I do it). So today at work I was just putting up more emails telling people about this, katima-victims included. And as I was looking at Aisling`s blog, I started wonder whether Aisling and Cynthia may know each other. After all, they were both from Calgary, and Aisling was bilingual...which probably meant that she went to an immersion school like Cynthia, and judging from the culture of Alberta there aren`t many immersion schools in Alberta, haha. I was going to ask Aisling, but I forgot...

Tonight during dinner, Cynthia and I had a good conversation...and she was telling me how a girl from her school (Sara Evans) is doing Katimavik at the moment...and then she brought up the name Aisling Brock. And immediately I said "oh my god, I know her! She is one of the katima-victims in my blog!" (It`s kind of good that I can talk about my blog with her)...we totally had a good laugh over that, because a) what are the chances? and b) once upon a time Cynthia and I (along with Zach and Rebecca I think) talked about six degrees of separation...TADA!!

Thirdly, I was just reading my emails and Aisling sent me an email...and she mentioned that she just found out that Cynthia and her knew each other...so strange...this is where the power of thought comes in because at the same day 1) I thought about the possibility 2) Aisling came up in our conversation 3) Aisling recognized it too...craziness...

Aisling what do you think? (If you are reading this) Comment...

Oh yes speaking of comments - my friends...if you read my blog, you may as well comment, damn it!!!! You silent speakers are driving me nuts =P

An Interesting Change

As you guys may have all known by now, my blog is now in private mode. This is a bit unfortunate, because I like the idea that anyone can do a random search and accidentally stumble upon my blog, and enjoy it at the moment. However it is this exact trait that made me decide to privatize my blog...I will get into the story later. But right now, sorry about the extra step.

Before I start, let us get accustomed to one thing. This - è - is now an apostrophe. I am now using another computer in the cafe that is less important (with all the allo stop stuff and other cafe/organization documents), because I donèt feel like getting kicked off anymore while I write. Caprish? I was going to add in quotations also, but I actually found it in this keyboard. My goal today - 2 blogs.

So let us start...I now must contemplate whether I tell everything in a ¨what happened today¨ point-of-view, or just go to the main events. Main events it is.

Mondayès main event (man the ¨apostrophe¨ cracks me up) - first day of going back to work after house manager week, and I found one part of the cafe flooded. Water was all over the floor at that part and my job for half an hour or so was to dry up the water. Apparently the ceiling of that area of the cafe had holes, and Monday happened to be raining. Rain + holes = you get the drill. Other than the part with me mopping the floor (which I actually didnèt mind that much), it was rather amusing, and slightly nostalgic in a way because the rain pitter-pattering into the buckets reminded me of Vancouver and the rain/rainforest/etc. In fact, if the cafe is in Vancouver, they could name it the ¨Rainforest Cafe¨, haha...yes I am lame :P. The whole day, Marie Pilote (director of La Boite à Bleuets) plus Claudie had to deal with the landlord and stuff like that, and for me that was the amusing part because it kind of felt like watching 2 chickens running around with their heads chopped off (not in a mean way, of course :P)

Mondayès Mike Moment: All of us English kids were in Lucieès French class, and we were discussing about holidays. Lucie told us about Quebecès provincial holiday - St. Jean Baptiste Day, to which I asked who he is and why he was chosen over other saints. She explained that St Jean Baptiste (John the Baptist) was the one who baptisted Jesus, and he was the cousin of Jesus...with that, Mike created a classic moment for himself...although Stephen and Zach saw it coming:
¨So does that mean Jesus is French, because of his cousin?¨

Tuesday/Yesterday - 3 to 4 main things happened, and all in all an interesting day of events.

1) Quebec discussion - I donèt know whether you guys still remember, but I said I wanted to invite Alexandre Cloutier (the MLA of the Saguenay-Lac St. Jean area) to come in to the Katimavik house and talk about issues in Quebec (culture, differences, separation, you get the drift). After 1 email and letter later (I sent it on Monday), I decided (along with the suggestion of Lucie) to look for other possible candidates. A very good candidate for me was a man by the name of Stephan Tremblay, an ex-politican who Alexandre Cloutier actually worked for before becoming a politician himself. And luckily for me, Stephan Tremblay is actually the vice-president of La Boite à Bleuets himself.
Originally I got Claudie to ask Marie-Pier about this to Stephan Tremblay, and Marie-Pier said she will ask. Now with my experience in asking people for favours, I knew the chances of her asking are relatively slim, just because it doesnèt concern her. Perhaps it was fate or whatever, but yesterday Stephen Tremblay showed up for a meeting and although I had seen him a couple of times in the cafe, I had no idea that he was Stephan Tremblay until Marie-Pierès dad (who is also part of the La Boite à Bleuets organizations) called him ¨Stephan¨. Everything immediately clicked and I thought ¨itès now or never, Angel...hereès the giant ham sitting there waiting for you...you donèt need to go through people or find him in other methods...go ask him!¨ So despite myself being a bit nervous (because the opportunity was unexpected and I had never talked to him previously) and feeling that what I was doing was a bit inappropriate (because Marie-Pier said she would ask him), I went up to him and with my bad French introduced myself and explained what I wanted...the result:
He said yes (I think), but he will have to check when he is free, and he will get back to me. I immediately gave him my phone number and Valerieès contact information...now I just have to wait. But I am not going to get my hopes up because you know how it is, men with womenès phone numbers (oh snap).

2) Mid-Trimester Reflection: This is something that the Project Coordinator does with each group in her cluster. In Blind River, Cara (our PC in Ontario, who quit after we left Ontario) was the one that does this, and the whole thing pretty much is about how the group is doing, and the PL, etc...when Cara did it, all of us were doing billeting and the whole thing took around 3 hours, since she included meditation, painting, all that fun stuff. The PC in Quebec (Veronique Frigon) was much more practical and to the point than Cara (not that I have anything against Cara), although it was ¨interesting¨ to have Veronique doing the mid-trimester reflection because previously to this, many of us have never talked or even met her before. However, she was one cool lady, and she only took an hour to do our mid-trimester reflection. That is because she focused all her questions about Valerie, and we didnèt have to answer questions about our group dynamics and etc. That one hour was interesting, but not in the sense of ¨wow this is mentally stimulating¨ but more like ¨I am learning things that I never really knew because I was in obliviation¨...I am not going into great details, but the meeting pretty much consisted of all of us sitting in the living room, and Veronique interrogating us (well not that bad, but you know what I mean) about Valerie. And a good half of the meeting consisted of the Frenchies answering majority of the questions and the English kids staring into space/trying to understand because a good part of the meeting was in French. Only when we demanded for translation (which was often) do we get one. But it is not that bad, and soon we were given an explanation of what they said after the French part was said. And in my opinion the meeting got to be more about the ¨English group¨ when I mentioned that Valerie wasnèt close to the English speakers the way she was with the French speakers...that got interesting...and some stuff I discovered that I never really knew (or kind of had an idea but only until yesterday did I truly understand because of the group dynamics):
- Valerie apparently was relatively moody, and the French kids had to guess when she was in a good mood in order to get a good advantage with things (as in you canèt really talk to her if she was in a bad mood)...this I didnèt really know about.
- Valerie doesnèt really have great patience like Emilie did. If anything she was usually the first one to want housemeetings to end (this I saw but I guess the Frenchies got the brunt of it), plus other things.
- The French kids felt she didnèt really know the dynamics of the group because she never really knew there were little tensions in the group until last Sunday in the group meeting (will talk about that in another blog), and could realy afford to spend more time with the group instead of working in her room/computer room.
- Stephanie (and Cheryl I think) thought she complained a lot. This I didnèt know.
- (The biggest problem, in my opinion)...Valerie pretty much planned majority of the events for us. In the words of Cynthia ¨when we first got here, we donèt really know what is going on because we were new and therefore didnèt really plan activities...Valerie helped us out by showing us around and filling the calendar..but that continued and no one really planned anything in the group...and therefore no one really know what is going on half of the time¨ (only though she said it shorter and sweeter). Well to be more precise, because Valerie is from the area (Laiterrie), she knew all the things around here and had all these ideas...and delegated to only the French kids for work, while the English kids didnèt really do anything. (There was a slight bitterness in the voices of the lovely Frenchies as they explained this) Veronique thought this may be one of the reasons all these little tensions started happening in the group. Honestly, I never really knew the Frenchies have been doing all the work, but it was obvious that Valerie planned many, many activities for us.
Rebecca also pointed out that when she tried to plan an activity (Ecological Village, Alma Big Clean Up, under environment committee), Valerie would say it is a really good idea, but would add in her input and eventually turn it into something different (Alma Big Clean Up = Backyard Big Clean Up, haha).

However, on a more positive note, we did discuss the positive things about Valerie (energetic, driven, very organized, an overall nice person), and the meeting ended with us telling Veronique not to give Valerie a hard time, and then Veronique explained why she was absent for so long and why we never got to meet her. Apparently she went through a bad time during March/April, plus she had to deal with the irresponsibilities of Cara (who was supposed to give Veronique information packages about us but never did)...she apologized and promised she is now reachable 24 hours a day (I must say Cara wasnèt like that at all). All in all she seemed pretty cool, and she said we get to go to Quebec in 2 weeks!!!
This meeting made me realize that a) the English group do not really have a close relationship with Valerie (but do we really want to with the stuff the Frenchies said?¨and b) differences/boundaries caused by language, plus responsibilites (whose responsibility is it to bridge the gap? Although she didnèt talk to us like she does with the Frenchies, but donèt the English kids have a responsibility to close that gap too?) . Things to reflect on...

3) THE BIG DEAL - MY BLOG...(sorry I will write about that later in the night/next morning...it is now 5:00 pm and I gotta go home for dinner...I canèt be late or I will get bitched at by the group and/or get a CTI...pah...damn I did not reach my goal. My new goal - have both blogs up by tomorrow morning)
*A couple of hours later*
Hello I am now using the Katima-computer...I have decided that since tonight is free time, I will most definitely finish this blog, and wake up early tomorrow to write the other blog I promised. So where was I? Yes MY BLOG
When I got off work yesterday, I saw Charles hanging out in the kitchen with Maxime and Stephanie...very normal until he said "Angel I saw your blog today"...only he said it like "Angel I saw your block today" with his heavy French accent, so no one really got him, including me...but everything clicked in for me, and in my head I was like "uh oh...I need to talk to him". So after the meeting with Veronique, I immediately followed him into the computer room and asked him about it. So he told me that during his inactive period of work, he was bored and was simply searching in google using words such as katimavik and blind river...then he stumbled upon my blog and spent a good 2 hours reading my entries, looking at photos, watching videos, etc.
His thoughts - very interesting, wants to read more...and no he was not offended about me uploading his pictures and videos without his permission...and when I talked about him.
My thoughts - Hooooooooly Shhhhiiiiiiittttt (chill in body)

But now thinking back, I think it was fate that he found the blog...it definitely opened up many conversations that we don`t usually have, and it allowed us to really sit down and discuss about things (if you can read between the lines Charles and I don`t really socialize with each other), group dynamics, etc. So I got to hear some of his thoughts, and it was definitely a bonding moment...yes I am kind of glad that he found the blog, ironically enough. But with both Cynthia and Charles knowing about the blog (even though Cynthia still haven`t found it), I have decided to set it to private, very unfortunate...but ironically enough I am allowing Charles to read my blog, haha.
Since Charles I know you are reading this right now, here goes: I know you promised you wouldn`t tell anyone, but if I find out you did...[insert your worst nightmare here]...=)

4) So because Charles and I were looking at the blog and looking at photos and stuff, there is now evidence of my blog...so I was clearing the history on the computer and chatting to my friends about what happened when suddenly I felt a pair of hands slapping on my shoulders...normally I am not that jittery, but it was just the idea of getting caught and the surprise element that scared me...and I screamed my head off, which made Zach laughed his ass off (he now likes to scare me every now and then). Then Zach noticed that I was clearing the history, which he began interrogating what I was doing...and I got all flustered and started frantically closing all the windows and stuff. Yes I know, how smooth of me...it just made him so much more suspicious and he was like "you know I could easily find out where you went"...I was just like "ahh you are annoying"...closed my conversations abruptly without any goodbyes and just left the room. Zach (always the one to have his last words) said "ha, you never say that...something must be going on".
Why am I such a bad liar? Why does Zach have to be so damn sharp?

Ok I think that`s all I have to say for this blog. I really need to go to bed early tonight because I am working at 7:30 am tomorrow, and I want to wake up early tomorrow to write the other blog. Plus I have rejected Maxime`s plea of me going to the bar with everyone (minus Cynthia and Mike, I think) because of this so I really need to go to bed, or else Maxime will shatter me to pieces (and she can because she is 6 feet tall, and I...let`s just say I am not).