Christmas

So Christmas came and went. It was a little disappointing that we didn't have snow for Christmas. I went to Busi's family from the 24th to the 26th. It was nice to meet her family and friends and extended family and see where it is that she came from. It was also nice to see a different part of Cape Town. I'm sad I didn't get to spend Christmas with my sister and the babies this year, next year they're spending time with Simon's parents. All in all it was a nice experience. The next hurdle is figuring out what to do for New Years. I think that we're going to have a small party at one of the girl's host familys place which should be nice. Then we'll have a sleepover so that no body has to worry about walking at night or being without transit.

Right now I'm at work. Yesterday was a VERY busy day. I didn't get much sleep the night before either. I'm working at an abused women's shelter doing reception (if I haven't already told you before). The women here are very nice, but hearing the women's stories day by day is a little upsetting. Today was quiet though which was nice.

Yesterday we went to one of the girl's houses and had dinner. It was really lovely.

That's really all the news I can think of for now.

Birthday, Christmas, Work and Love

So it was my birthday. I had a lovely birthday, we went into a different part of the city and did what girls do best. SHOP. Nobody bought anything though because we were checking out all of the expensive designer shops and one must look before they buy! Although I went to a market last week and I did buy a new dress. I'm going again on the 3rd to pick me up some more swag, because there is a BEAUTIFUL dress there that I MUST have.

Moral of the story is that I had a lovely birthday. Thank you everyone who sent me lovely birthday wishes. I appreciated it so much. This includes the girls who are on the program with me! Cheers!

I started work at an abused women's shelter doing reception work with another girl. We're both doing full days at the moment until we get used to the ins and outs. But like most work places, different people are telling us to do things differently (or even opposite) and that leads to us A) getting confused and B) doing something wrong all the time. A few more days and we'll be professionals knowing all the ins and outs I'm sure. The ladies who work there are all lovely people and they've been very inviting. It's the same place where we also hold a lot of our workshops so we're getting to know the place pretty well. There's also 4 girls who work at the daycare at the centre, and 2 more who work in a call centre which is located in the same complex. Because it's festive season, most people are on leave so it seems like we pretty much have taken over the place!

Yesterday we had an HIV/AIDS workshop and it was really lovely. I'm not sure what more I can say about it.

On the 24th, I'm going home with Busi to her family's home until the 26th, then we're going to THE BEACH. I'm pretty excited for Christmas lunch beacuse I've been hearing all about it. Christmas is pretty huge in Cape Town. There's a house down the street from us that is absolutely COVERED in lights. I tried to take a picture of it, but I don't think the pictures do it justice. Our host family went on vacation and now the project supervisors are staying with us to make sure we stay out of trouble. It hasn't been TOO terrible yet. It's been lovely having Jackie stay with us, and Shameema will come after Christmas. Then I'm not sure how they will divide up the rest of the time, we shall see.

I only have a few more minutes of time, so I'll use it to wish everyone all of my love! Merry Christmas and if I don't get a chance to say it beforehand, HAPPY NEW YEAR. Stay safe, have fun and be happy!

Sunburns.

Today I got a library card! Woohoo! Now I can use the internet for 45 minutes a day for free! No more R8 for 15 minutes (trust me, it's a lot to pay for internet). Today I got internet for R10 for an hour. Our host family is officially going to keep us! That's a huge relief. They are going on a two week vacation, but for the time they are gone, our project supervisors are going to stay with us (thankfully). So we're in a good spot.

All of the Canadian girls are sunburnt. All of the South African girls are sunburnt. I think the only girl who might have escaped a burn is the girl from Kenya. One of the Canadians had heat stroke and fainted. Another one had to go to the doctor and get a wrap. I thought mine was bad because I can't sleep on my right side and my nose is peeling. NOT SO MUCH. I lucked out in the sunburn department.

My email isn't working, I think it might be down? I'm not sure. I'm going to start working at a women's center soon for abused women. Right now we're working on researching the Millenium Development Goals, and once I found out what they were, I realized that they were grafittied around my neighbourhood. Cool stuff. Politically minded people everywhere. We're going to have to hand out a survey to the neighbourhood youth to figure out what types of programs would be beneficial to the community.

my.nose.hurts.

That's all I can think of for an update now, I'll let you know more once work time starts. We're also maybe going to Table Mountain next weekend but we aren't entirely sure yet. Here's hoping it works out, because I think we're all a little too sunburnt to go right back to the beach.

Cape Town Baby

I have a host family! Woohoo! They're pretty centralized too which is nice. My host mother is a lovely cook and they've been really nice to us. We have separate beds but we share the same room, which is all good (for now haha). We went to town the other day and went to two museums. We went to the Slave Lodge and the District Six museum. They were both VERY informative and wonderful to visit.

Yesterday we had to "explore the community" so we took a taxi to Athlone and it was our job to ask questions at the police station. We went in, they gave us all the information we needed to know and then on top of that they gave us water bottles. I love free things! Most everything is at least in walking distance, which is a nice break from Calgary. The down side is that we don't get our transport paid for, unlike in Calgary. You win some, you lose some. I guess you can't have it all.

Tomorrow we are going to.... THE BEACH! I'm so excited. I can't wait to go to the beach. Busi and I are about to go to the shop and grab some snacks because they're crazy expensive up by the beach area.

Everything is going well, and I think I'm finally starting to get over jet lag, now it's just a matter of adjusting to the heat. I haven't gotten a sunburn yet (thank you sunscreen) but I can tell it is coming. Probably tomorrow... at THE BEACH!

I'm not sure what else is going on right now. I'm going to work on getting a library card so I don't have to pay R11 for internet for a half hour. It's cheaper to do an hour, but I also want to buy snacks. Talk to everyone soon! Much love!

Cape Town

Okay, Okay, Okay, so I'm in Cape Town, South Africa.

After quite a while of travelling (9 hours from Calgary to London, 9 hours in Heathrow Airport, 12 hours from London to Cape Town), I have finally arrived. I just got out of the camp where we were with the other (mixed-gender) team who is going to another part of Cape Town. Oh.My.Goodness. I LOVE my all women's team. I had no idea how loud boys could be. I just spent 3 months with almost all girls and I never realized how truly lovely it could be. At the camp, I got to swim in the Indian Ocean (woohoo) in GIGANTIC waves. It was amazing. My internet access may or may not be extremely limited. We shall see. Right now I'm in an internet cafe woo. I meet my host family tomorrow, it's been slightly diffucult to find host families and so everyone else has already met theirs. I think that means ours will just be a little extra special! So tomorrow we get to meet them and we start our orientation around the community.

I'm excited, but we don't start our work placements until January. It's festive season, but that means theres so many other exciting things that are going on that we don't want to miss. Today I went to a holistic market, and there was a booth there that had BEAUTIFUL clothing. I wanted 3 things, but I had zero money. I change my money on Tuesday, so next time it comes around I'll be able to do it. I hope that my positive energy lasts (at least until the jet lag hits) because so far I LOVE CAPE TOWN.

My time is almost up so I must go, but I'm sure I'll be able to update soon enough. Love everyone and don't worry, I'm alive and safe!

Cheers

Last Minute!

Oh man. Today was the last day I had with my entire host family. We had an awesome day because we went to see THE DINOSAURS! AND THE HOODOOS. The badlands were awesome. The dinosaurs were awesome. The museum was awesome. I took pictures. I didn't buy anything at the gift shop because nothing was perfect enough for anyone. I can't give someone something imperfect unless its meant to be so. Then tonight we were all sitting in the living room and my host parents got both Busi and I birthday/Christmas gifts! (Busi's birthday is the 6th, and mine the 16th of December). My host parents got me the hoodie that I saw but couldn't bring myself to buy. I love it. They also got me a book, Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. How well do they know me! Their gift comes in the mail tomorrow, I think I'll wrap it and make them promise to wait until Christmas happens. Maybe I'll send something to Rowan (the little girl) from South Africa, not that she's really old enough to understand or appreciate it.

As is my fashion, I broke something I need today. Hah. Two days before departure and I have to do some running around to figure out WHAT IS GOING ON. I need a watch/clock/something. The battery finally disappeared from my piece of crap travel alarm clock so I'm going to have to rush out and get a new one. I ate McDonald's today and it was OHSOGOOD at the time and now my body is outright rejecting me.

Tomorrow I have to do laundry and pack so that Tuesday I can spend the whole day SUPERCLEANING EVERYTHING. I'm worried about my luggage weight, even though I'm going over with less than I came with, or at least the same. I dunno, I just don't want to have to spend the extra charge. I'm sending a bunch of books home for dear mother and father to deal with, as well as my highly broken camera. Lucky for me, I'm a smart cookie (who knows she breaks everything she touches) and I brought a USB stick so I transferred all of my pictures to that. Now I have all of my pictures in case for some freak chance I'll need them in Cape Town.

This may be my last blog update for a while (I know, it's not like I've been particularly good at keeping up with it). I'm not sure what my internet access is going to be like in Cape Town. I'm almost certain there won't be a computer with internet access in the house. It's all a matter of if they have internet at my specific work placement, or if I can find a library to use, or if I want to spend my weekly pocket money at an internet cafe updating this. (If it comes down to that, you might not get as many updates, yar har).

Moral of the story: My host family gave me super thoughtful gifts, my stomach is very unhappy with me, dinosaurs are completely AWESOME, I'm leaving soon (on a jet plane, i don't know when i'll be back again), Stephen Lewis is officially done on December 1st (World AIDS Day), and my dare is done. I do have pictures of myself and a couple other lovely superhero-iffic ladies, but they are on the camera I don't have a cord for. Some other girls have a picture of it, so if they get theirs on facebook, then I'll probably steal it and see if I can put it up here and wherever else.

Okay. I'm going on a rant and I must go to bed soon because I don't have an alarm to wake me up tomorrow! Cheers, good luck with everything between now and whenever.

One Week

Okay. So I'm probably the worst blogger ever. I never do it. I'll totally try to do it more in Cape Town even though it's actually going to be more difficult. (Hey, alone time right?) The biggest worry on my mind right now? PACKING! I did my Stephen Lewis dare, but didn't get any pictures so I'm doing it again tomorrow! Haha. Good for me. I dressed as a superhero and went to a high school class with one of the sexual health educators. She said she'd give me money if I walked out of the school without my jacket on, looking like a fool in front of everyone. Of COURSE I did it. Now I have to worry about changing my money, sending crap home that I won't need in Cape Town (like a giant wooly sweater and a million books), seeing how much sending that crap home will COST. Phew. I'm a stressbag. But all of the things we have to do for the program are done, by which I mean all the things my team of 6 had to organize are all done.

We went skating last night and let me tell you, skating is not really my thing. I completely fell on my bum and I'm pretty sure I have a huge bruise. It was really fun though. We went to the Olympic Oval, which is pretty impossible to find unless you have a map tattooed on your body, and who (besides that dude in prison break) actually has that? Especially of Calgary. We're in the midst of debriefing our Canadian experience now and preparing for South Africa. I'm nervous and excited all at the same time. I'm nervous of having to live with a whole new host family and learn their ins and outs, at the same time as trying to learn directions around an entirely new city. I'm finally getting used to Calgary and traveling through Calgary and now we're leaving. Lucky for us we'll be in walking distance of our work placements and each other (as well as malls etc). This is BIG. I had to travel an hour every day to and from work, other girls had to travel an hour and a half. This is all for a 15 - 30 minute drive by car. Ridiculous!

I'm not sure what else to tell you right now. This is my update. I love everyone and I'll see you on the other side!

Banff, Halloween, Whatever else

WELL. It's about time that I posted a new blog. After Mid-Project we still had to have another educational day, which meant ... yes ... even MORE MEETINGS! Mid-Project was interesting. I never in my life want to create meals for 20 people. Leave it up to the professionals! We had to cancel one of the activities due to group negativity, but we did it the next night. Banff is pretty much full of Australians. I don't know how I feel about this. They were nice enough, if they never had to see you again. Some of the girls learned this lesson the hard way, and I didn't really have any interest in the lot of them. We also got to see Lake Louise. It and the mountains were BEAUTIFUL! I love the mountains.

Halloween we volunteered at this crazy Halloween party. I went as an accident. I had to spend most of the night outside however because they needed someone to ... I'm not even sure. I just know I spent 3 hours outside in my host mother's high heels (she made me wear them). It was cold, but I got a walkie-talkie which apparently made the rest of the girls extremely jealous. I also got in tight with the security dudes, I pretty much OWNED that party. It would have been fun if I hadn't been outside alone all night.

Work is going well, we only have 5 days left. I'm a little sad and I'm trying to find work at other Sexual Health Centers, but Calgary Sexual Health is pretty unique in their approach. I want to "borrow" all of their ideas and take them global. Only 3 more weeks until Cape Town, and I'm starting to get excited. Although I'm feeling guilty, I've only sent out one letter and no post cards. I need to get on that, but I've been incredabusy that it's been hard. I will try harder though!

Thats all I can think of for now, I haven't had my coffee yet.

More Meetings?

Yeah, so we just keep having meetings! I came into work early today just so I could do all my computer stuff that has eluded me. I was even early enough today to treat myself to a GIANT muffin. So maybe it wasn't giant, but it's pretty darn big (and for the price, it SHOULD be). Last weekend we went to a pumpkin patch/corn maze. It was fun, we took our host sister and ran around and it was really muddy. My boots used to be "cream" coloured. Now they're dirty but thats fine, its what boots are for.

Tomorrow is the start of our mid-project evaluation. One of the reasons we were having so many meetings. My group of 6 girls is planning the activities and food for the entire mid-project evaluation. This is after a week of meetings for a) our group problems and b) for our educational day presentation. Sooo... each group of 6 has to do 3 educational days where we present a topic to the rest of the group, and have to organize the entire day and facilitate it. The mid-project is basically a 4 day 3 night educational day (but slightly more fun). We're going to BANFF! Woo! Mountains! It's sort of a group building, check-in with how we're progressing personally, in our counterparts, in our work placements, etc. IE: How is the program doing and how are we doing in the program. That way if we come to issues, we can try to solve them as a group, because in Calgary it's very difficult to see each other.

Next week we have even more meetings, because we have our second educational activity day. Phew. I knew we were going to be busy, but this is ridiculous! On top of this we all have to work on Stephen Lewis. Although I keep saying it, I need to actually do this: I need to take a step back before I burn myself out. With all of these things that need to be done, it's hard not to get caught up in trying to do it all. Now is the time too, because I proved myself to be hardworking and dedicated, so if I take a step back and things fail miserably, it's not my fault. I'm not expecting that to happen (failure), but it's comforting to realize. We're not getting a grade that affects future scholarships, masters, possibly jobs, oh no. Which means I can. Am I going on too much and not making enough sense? I think likely so.

Only a month left before we go to South Africa! Wow, time is going by so quickly. Soon I will have more free time to do all the things I promised I would do though!

Update

I realize I haven't updated in a while. Update is, we had 3 meetings this week, so we did full 7 am to 11 pm days all week, and it doesn't stop there. We have another meeting tomorrow, but then Busi and I are going to a friend's house. That will be a fun way to end the week. I can update on what the meetings are about, but right now I am tired and alive and that is all anyone needs to know. 

Talk to you all once I've gotten some rest.

Stephen Lewis - A Dare To Remember

Remember that time I was fundraising for CWY? Well, stand aside, its time for the Stephen Lewis foundation to take center stage. Our CWY team are the community mobilizers for Calgary. The project we're doing is called "A Dare to Remember". Proceeds from this fund will go to help grassroots organizations in various parts of Africa and go to support the "Grandmothers of Africa". This is really amazing stuff. A Dare to Remember is a pretty unique take as well. As a fundraiser, you can a) do a dare, b) dare a friend/co-worker/family or c) contribute to an existing dare. 

My personal dare is to dress up like a superhero and run around Calgary doing various acts of kindness and good deeds. I will hopefully have a few other superheroines running around with me to help out. Busi's dare is to dance in public. If you want to contribute to our dare, our personalized fundraising page is http://stephenlewisfoundation.akaraisin.com/p/bluasuira.aspx

If you would like to create your own dare, the website is adaretoremember.org

Phew. Now that you've seen all that, updates! Today at my work placement we got to go to a high school and observe the first of four sessions of sexual education. It was really exciting. We're going again tomorrow, which is going to be nice. Thursday we are going to the Criminal Young Offenders Center, which I also think is going to be really interesting. Apparently too, if I later in life decided this was the job for me, the educators all have bachelor degrees. Did you hear that world? I CAN GET A JOB WITH A BACHELOR. So much exciting news, so little time. 

SELF DEFENCE

Today we had a self defense course with two "peace officers" ... they work in prisons. They were actually really cool. Now I know how to inflict the most pain with the least amount of effort. For those of you who thought I was terrifying before, now I know how to break a collarbone, or floor a 400 lb guy with one shot. Fun! I'm still sick so it made me feel a little better to get some exercise. I'm feeling better than yesterday though!  Still not feeling great, however. My poor counterpart, once I'm feeling better I'll be able to do exciting things. Until then its probably best to do as little as possible. I most certainly don't want to spend the next 3 (or even 6) months sick. It's not fair to me, my counterpart, my host family, or the group. Soooooo, tonight I rest. Tomorrow I hopefully won't have to leave the house at all and that will be the end of my illness. In other news, we are going to be participating in fundraising for the Stephen Lewis foundation. I'll give more information on our role when I can concentrate for longer periods of time (hopefully tomorrow). 

Until then, I'm feeling better, I can kick butt, and we're having Chinese food tonight. 

PS.

Probably should have put a little PS on that one. My work counterpart is feeling fine now, just a little tired. So no need to worry about her.

First Week of Work

They told us it would be an adventure. It was. Oh boy howdy it was. My first day of my work placement was alright, we got there, got a little oriented, and did quite a bit of reading. The reading was interesting because it was all about sex, sexual health, and sexual health statistics. Some were surprising, others were not. So most of the day goes by without much excitement (besides the excitement of actually being at our work placement). I woke up that morning feeling a little under the weather, hardly being able to swallow. This eased up throughout the day. 4PM rolls around (we work 9-5) and I leave the room to go pick up another article to read. I come back and my work counterpart is in so much pain she is in tears. We ended up calling our project supervisor and she drove us to the hospital. Still in tears and buckled over in pain, they tell my work counterpart that it will be a 2 hour wait to be seen. By this time she has been in pain for almost 45 minutes. Long story short, we ended up waiting 8 hours until we were able to leave (she stopped being in excruciating pain after about 5 hours). But our evening isn't over then, because its still a 30-40 minute drive home! (by car!) So I stumble in around 1 am to my host family's house. Luckily the next day we were allowed to sleep in due to the circumstances. So the next morning, completely unaware of my current circumstance, my house counterpart comes to check if I have slept in. She enters my room and shakes me awake, prompting a "WHAT.DO.YOU.WANT"... a little taken aback she asks "are you going to work this morning?" which led to a firm, loud NO. Then I immediately fell back asleep (the previous events may not have happened in this way, its what my mind told me happened). Waking up several hours later and realizing that this had actually happened I felt quite guilty. So day two we work, not only am I tired, but my sore throat has moved into my nose and made me slightly congested. The day ends with me apologizing to my counterpart for the morning's outburst, talking to dearest mother, and making myself a zombie in front of the television. Today. I AM SICK. No more pretend, I am without a doubt, full.on.sick. I also think I'm the first person in the program to get a cold. Go figure. As I write this blog, I am missing a party that is being held specifically for us. It's an hour long bus ride. I almost fell asleep on the WALK home, not in the state to be partying. Plus tomorrow we have a self-defense class. I had a choice between party and potentially have fun (or feel like crawling into a ditch), or sleep and hopefully feel slightly better tomorrow. I think that I made the right decision, otherwise I might not recover. Now I do believe it is time for tea and food. 

WORK PLACEMENT!

okay. okay. okay. okay. okay.

SOOOOO. I finally got my work placement! Pause for effect. After a long wait, and knowing that the theme of our project is Health and Gender.... and that I have a BA in Psych, Soc, and Anth.... my work placement is..... THE CALGARY SEXUAL HEALTH CLINIC! Pause for applause. I'm excited for my work placement, I'm excited for my work placement counterpart who is a lovely girl named Ilham. I'm just... pretty darn excited. I might buy shoes today, considering the fact that my shoes have all but fallen apart. Week two, shoes = on death bed.

I'm in..... CALGARY!

OKAY. So a lot has happened since the last time I posted. I woke up at 2:30 am last Tuesday to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. For the first time in my life, I was packed and ready to go. Dad and I drove to the airport, got checked in, and I was off for my plane by 6 am and BOY WAS I TIRED ALREADY. Got on the plane, made it to Montreal for my transfer. Found my gate, had a mini panic attack about my luggage and realized that everything was going to be okay so all I needed to do was relax. 

Got on the plane from Montreal to Calgary, and watched two movies. I watched the new X-men movie, .... meh, at least Ryan Renolds is attractive. But if I wanted that, I could have watched the Proposal. ANYWAY, I watched the first part of Star Trek, but didn't get to the ending. I'm dying to know what happens, but nobody tell me! 

That's it. My plane arrives in Calgary. I have to get my luggage and meet the rest of the group in the airport at 12 (Calgary time). This would be about 12 hours into my traveling adventure. We leave the airport on a big yellow school bus and head out to our VOC, volunteer orientation camp. All of the Canadians are here at this point, and its a 45 minute drive from the airport into the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. We go into a session about how we are going to greet our South African and Kenyan counterparts. Then we have supper and decide that we are going to decorate our camp (where we slept in bunk beds). The girls arrive at about 10-11pm (by this time it is about about 2 am my time, awake for 24 hours). We greet them and then we GO TO BED. 

We are at the camp until Saturday, where we had various activities to help get to know each other, begin to understand each other's culture, and let us know what is coming ahead of us. The whole time, I had no contact with the outside world. Parents? Who are they! Friday, we find out who our counterpart for the next 6 months is going to be. Mine is a lovely South African girl named Busi. Then Saturday, Busi and I meet our host family for the first time. 

My host family is from Pictou County of all places! They have a 16 month old baby girl, and a 4 year old dog. We live in a suburb thats very south of downtown. Sunday our host mother took us on an adventure through Calgary. She showed us the hip places, an indoor market, the red mile, a park by the river, and we went walking around and driving in her parent's convertible. We were obviously the coolest people in Calgary. Then today Busi and I had our very first adventure.

We went to take the bus (all by ourselves I might add) to go to our friend's place in the northwest. We had it all planned out, considering we were new to the city and have ABSOLUTELY no idea of time, space, and place. We end up at our destination where we are supposed to be according to our directions, and realize that the house we are going to is next to impossible to find. After quite a bit of frustration we end up knocking on a random door, where a random woman answers. We tell her that we are lost, and trying to find this address. She invites us inside and says she doesn't know where it would be either, so we call the number that we have for our friends (seeing as we don't have cell phones). We call and find out that the address we have is completely wrong! It is several kilometers east of where we are, and so we have to hop on another bus to get there. We get on the bus and the driver isn't sure of where it is, so she tells us to get off at a stop that is too early. Luckily we only had to walk from about 700 to 900 (house numbers). It took us somewhere around 2 hours to get there, a trip that should have taken 1 hour and 10 minutes. 

I think it was a good experience to get lost for the both of us. Busi told me that you can only ask mothers in Cape Town for help and directions, or in the shops. Busi learned that in Calgary, you can ask almost anyone for help and they will usually help you. I have found this to be similar in most of Canada, and in the part of Seattle where I visited. Now we know how to take the bus into town (and beyond). Tomorrow we have to do a treasure hunt, so we are going to take the train into town so we know where/how to take that. We'll be Calgarians in no time at all. Although technically I already am one (its on my birth certificate.... but i moved when i was three). 

I think that's all I can write for now... it's almost time to eat. Oh, and we made it back with no problems because we're almost professionals at the bus system now.

ALLLLLMMMOOOOSSSSTTTTT

So, I only have 80$ left to collect. Also, my dog kind of smells like feet today and I'm not entirely sure why. I'm going to Halifax this weekend to see a friend I haven't seen in about 6 years which is a quarter of my life. Then I'm going to New Brunswick to work for a period before I head off to Calgary for part one of my two part adventure in Canada World Youth. I'm starting to get pretty excited. I'm getting more frequent emails, and now our group is starting to get to know each other. I'm realizing how much I'm going to miss my puppy, who is currently awaiting a walk very patiently (and foot smellingly). I'll update once I have a little more going on! Thank you to everyone who has made a contribution thus far and has gotten me to this spot! It's very much greatly appreciated!

The Home Stretch

Preparation time is winding down. I have 20 more days to collect a grand total of $180. That will be the completion of the fundraising portion of Canada World Youth. I'd like to thank everyone who helped me along this portion of the program, be it financial or moral support. Both are greatly appreciated. I just got all of my shots (I hope), and I can finally raise my right arm above my head again. I just had to fill out a questionnaire which will help with my work/home placements. This is finally starting to feel real. I'm starting to get nervous about everything. I worry that I won't get along with my host family, my counterpart, or the other girls in the program. I'm worried that I'll flake out and be a terrible program member and be a complete waste of space and resources. I also worry that I'm going to lose everything I own on the flight to Calgary. After having lived out of a suitcase for the past year, I've placed half of my wardrobe in boxes. Also! I'm worried that I won't have packed the proper clothes, because I have to pack for Calgary winter (I have two memories of Calgary, one is a gross pool, the other is hail the size of golfballs) and South African heat. But hey, maybe I'll come back with a tan (the second in my life). I'm also not going to dye my hair in hopes that I become crazy blonde (not A crazy blonde) just in time for Canadian summer.

But, I'm also really excited. So don't get me wrong... I have all of my worries and fears, but I'm sure those will all disappear (except for losing my luggage... thats a constant fear in travel... especially considering - AIR CANADA LOST MY DOG - he was later returned, but seriously... how do you lose a dog? To this day we don't know where he went...) the moment I step off that plane in Calgary to embark on a 6 month journey that will be both exciting and trying.

I will update soon enough when I have some more information to tell you (like hopefully finishing my fundraising).

Dear E-diary, I'm chillin.
p.s. I washed my dog today and he smells like raspberries

More Fundraising News

I'm almost at 60%! Woohoo! Home stretch right? Maybe. Tonight I go see the legion to give them a nice little presenation on why they should donate. Hopefully that goes well. It's nice and warm today, my dog REALLY wants to go to the beach, and he just might get the chance. Perhaps I'll get up the courage to go in the water and swim today (not likely) but I always wear my bikini down just in case. Gives me a chance to wear my tinted overpriced sunscreen, but its especially for my face so that I don't get all greasy and gross. My lovely sister bought it for me anyway, who is now VERY pregnant. No more awkward "Did she just gain a lot of weight or is she really two people?" She actually is two people now. She will be having a lovely little lady who I won't get to see until I'm back from South Africa. I'm also missing my grandmother's 90th birthday, but I suppose we must make sacrifices in our lives. Who knows, maybe this experience will give me the knowledge to change the world. In the very least, maybe I'll get a tan?

Fundraising

So I have stagnated a little in my fundraising efforts. This weekend I'm having a yard sale that will hopefully serve two purposes: get rid of all the stuff I've been holding onto for no reason since my childhood, and make some money for Canada World Youth. I'm hoping that will help, because my home run apparently had their last meeting for the summer the DAY BEFORE I contacted them. The harsh realities of life I suppose. I'm hoping to go to Sackville sometime soon and expand my fundraising efforts. I'm starting to worry that I won't be able to raise the funds and I'll have to donate the rest of the money myself. In other news, its cold and rainy out so the dog and I are getting fat and lazy. He's sleeping in a bed upstairs, and I'm hardcore procrastinating on getting all of my life together to sell off for a dollar a piece. I'm hoping people will be more generous seeing as none of the funds raised are going into my pocket. I keep reminding myself that this is all one step towards a pivotal moment in my life (I hope). I'm hoping to gain at least a little direction from this experience, and even if I don't, it will be a great learning experience for myself and everyone directly and indirectly involved.

And that is my latest update. Now its time to go back to sorting through my past life. Hopefully I'll find some gems. In the very least, hopefully I'll get rid of the too tight jeans that say "sexy" on the butt that I obtained in a clothing trade. I'd take the stiches out, but then you'd still see a faded "sexy" on the butt, and thats just as embarassing. Thank goodness for long t-shirts. What I'm trying to say is BUY MY JEANS. I'm going to also be selling some clothes that aren't entirely outdated. They just... don't fit anymore. Whatever doesn't sell at my yard sale, I will likely cart to Sackville to see if anyone else fits into my clothes and/or shoes. Yes, thats right, I'm selling shoes. Any shoes that haven't been bought in the last 2 years must go. Size 7-8 depending on the shoe.

I have never blogged before in my life.

So it has come to this. Apparently, I am now officially a blogger. What does that mean? I guess it means that I write stuff down and assume that people care about what I have to say. I'm hoping to use this blog as a space to give updates about my progress and adventures through Canada World Youth. The way I hear it is that long distances calls from South Africa are a little more expensive, and being as I will be volunteering (a nice way of saying making no money), this might be a little more financially viable for me. I'm sure that eventually I'll get the hang of it, and its easier than sending out a impersonal mass email.

I'm working on my fundraising now, and its going. It sucks asking for donations when everyone's pocketbooks are so tight. I'm eternally grateful for every penny I receive, because I know the term "disposable income" is a bit of a misnomer. I'll update again once I figure out this "blogging" deal. Seems to me like its more like an e-diary.

Dear E-Diary, I am well.