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!