we may never pass this way again

Day two in Port Colborne was amazing. Full of laughs, neighbourhood walks, meeting creepy locals, and becoming severely addicted to Esso gas stations and Tim Hortons. We didn't make it to the movie yesterday night because dinner was too late. Tomorrow we are going to tour all eleven possible work placements, which is very exciting... a lot of them sound totally up my alley. There are a few work placements where I would get to work with youth who have learning impairments, or other burdens to bear and just need someone to talk to. I think this will be a great way to test the waters of a potential career choice for myself.

Port Colborne is a very quaint little town. It's bigger than Bells Corners, and the first thing I noticed about it is that every single house looks SO different... none of them are the same and they all look kind of old fashioned.

This weekend we may have a potential excursion planned for Saturday. I think it's called the Gandhi Peace festival? Something like that. It's in Hamilton all day on Saturday and we'd be helping out at it. I think it sounds really interesting, plus I'd get to see all of my friends in the Hamilton group!

Anyways, better be off to bed. Got an early start tomorrow! ... 7:30am!

Here is the link to the Facebook album with Port Colborne pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15173&id=1650360075&l=d12b6dff58

oh, the places you'll go

Our group just moved into our Port Colborne house yesterday, after waiting for a bit outside for our project leader to arrive. It was so hard saying goodbye to people from other groups that we met at orientation camp, but I love my group so much.

Our orientation camp was located at Camp Kintail in Goderich, Ontario. At first, I think we all had a bit of wariness about the whole staying at a camp thing. But that was probably because we were all EXHAUSTED (having arrived at 4am and having to drag our heavy suitcases through dirt to the cabins.) It was such an amazing experience though. I am pretty much friends with all 44 people of our cluster. The beach we were staying on was so gorgeous. We walked on it practically every day, and watched the sun set at night. It was pretty breathtaking to say the least. On our last day we did a bunch of ropes courses, which were really fun and good for team building.

We had a little over at 5 hour bus ride to Port Colborne, because we had to zig zag and drop everyone else off in their own communities. We haven't learned about our placements yet, but I'm sure they'll all be fantastic. Apparently there is a heavy metal concert once every month. Today what we did was have meetings about all the comities we can be in, for organizing group activities and how to learn french/english faster.

People in my group are: Robyn, Rachelle, Aysha, John, Alexandre, Valerie, Dan, Philippe, Jillian, and Mya. Everyone's really interesting. We have a very diverse group, so it makes things very interesting. We've already seen some young people who live in Port Colborne, which is exciting because tonight we're going to a free movie night and we might meet even more people!

Here is the Facebook album I made with all of my Katimavik pictures so far, that I have made public so anyone can look: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14752&id=1650360075&l=a9bb8478c1

enough ain't enough this time

This is how good I am at packing.
















My beloved door calendar, that will remain empty for 9 months after September 23.

don't let those tears quench the thirsty ground

There's only three days left until I embark on my Katimavik adventure! I still have some packing to do, and some last minute shopping for little things I need, but I'm nearly ready. I'm getting more nervous and more excited at the same time. The hardest part will be saying bye, but I know I'm going to come back with so many experiences and memories, and lifelong friends.

I spoke to Rasheeda, my Port Colborne project leader, a few days ago and she is so nice! She sounds very excited to meet all of us. For the first couple of weeks we will be doing orientation and going on tours at the places we can volunteer at. There's a volunteer placement at a women's centre that I'm really interested in.

As for the house I'll be living in, Rasheeda said it is one of the bigger Katima-houses. There are two girls rooms and one guy room, with two dressers in each for our clothes and a closet that separates the girl rooms. We have 8 bikes, which will be awesome because we can ride around and explore Port Colborne. We also have 2 bathrooms... thank goodness!

Rasheeda said we aren't allowed to buy any processed food, and we have to make everything ourselves that can be made. So everything like bread, noodles, condiments (ketchup, mayo) and things like that. It's going to be such a great experience. She says that a lot of Katimavik alumnis thank the program for their current healthy lifestyles!

Anyway, my next post will probably be before I leave on Wednesday, and then you won't hear from me until I'm at my house in Port Colborne! I'll post some pictures of the house, and some of Port Colborne, too.

you only live once

I received my bus tickets for my first leg of travel a couple days ago. I'll be traveling by Greyhound bus from 2:30pm to 7:30pm to the Toronto airport. There I'll be meeting up with one person from my group (so far, don't know about the other 3 I haven't spoken to) and we'll wait there for 40 minutes. Then we take a bus to the Toronto airpot where we'll meet up with the rest of our group, as well as our cluster. A cluster is three other groups that are in the same area as we are for 3 months. However, they aren't REALLY that close by. We get to Goderich, Ontario at 1:30am for three days of orientation camp, and after camp we travel nearly 4 hours to Port Colborne, Ontario to move into our Katima-house!

I'm pretty sure we spend most of the holidays with our cluster, too. I think we have Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner with them! So that'll be nice to have a big group of people all together for a huuuge dinner.

I had minor packing difficulties, and had to switch to two suitcases instead of a suitcase and a duffle bag. That'll probably be a lot easier anyway for when I'm traveling by plane because they both roll. So, now I have a huge suitcase for all of my clothes and shoes, plus a smaller suitcase for my bedding and cosmetic case and sleeping bag. I'm really having to work at thinking MINIMAL when I pack, but I think I'm doing pretty well. I've decided just to pack what I want, and then as I get closer to departure I'll take things out that I really don't need. Which reminds me, I need to buy some dressier clothing! On top of packing for my first 3 months, I have to pack my big containers for my parents to send me when I need my snow pants and snow jacket, and my summer stuff as well. Then I'll have to send all of my winter stuff back once it starts getting hot. I'm so paranoid I'm going to forget something really important!

I talked to my friend Scott a couple days ago. He's on Katimavik now and is having a BLAST! He's working in an elementary school in Alberton, PEI and is also organizing an after school program for the kids. I'm very excited to see what type of volunteer opportunities I will have in the places I go to! Hopefully I'll be able to do what I'm interested in, and maybe get the chance to explore some career ideas. Katimavik is partnered with Habitat for Humanity in Edmonton, which I am very excited about... I've always wanted to volunteer with them.

Anyways, I'm making a recipe book to bring with me for when I'm on house duty. I've never REALLY had to cook before, so this will definitely be interesting!

so pack a change of clothes, cause it's time to move on

In 17 days time, I will be embarking on quite possibly the biggest adventure of my life: Katimavik, “a program in which those 17 to 21 years of age spend 9 months helping in community projects in three different areas.” Basically, I’ll be living in three different provinces for three months each with ten other people. Pretty much Big Brother without the video cameras and being on TV. My first destination is Port Colborne (Ontario), then I’m in Bridgewater (Nova Scotia), and last but not least, Edmonton (Alberta). However, I won’t be right in Edmonton, but in a little French community just on the outskirts.

A year from now, I wouldn’t have dreamed of taking a year off in between high school and university. I was afraid people would think I’m not smart enough to go to university, I was afraid of my friends leaving me behind. I didn’t want to be OLDER; I didn’t want to graduate at 23 instead of 22, for fear of… what? The fear seemed so rational at the time, and now I can’t even remember why I was afraid.

But after months of deliberation, I realized that taking this opportunity would not leave me behind, but push me forward in ways I would not experience going straight to university. Now when I think about my decision, I am happy to have made it, to have disconnected myself from those who thought it may not be the right choice. I’m excited, nervous, anxious, agitated, enthusiastic, scared (thank you Thesaurus.com)… but I’m ready.

In the words of John Mayer:
“Everybody is just a stranger,
But that’s the danger in going my own way.
Still everything happens for a reason.”

I’ve been testing the waters my whole life, but the only way to live is by diving in head first.