The last couple days have been a bit crazy, had a mini family reunion, just missing one sister from it (See pic). I'll post a couple pictures of other things that I've been up to prior to this exchange...
It's a bit weird, for the first time the last couple days I've been doing basically nothing, I'm liking the change of pace... I actually have time to absorb everything in. My original plan was to finish my Commercial Pilots License, but after running into some road blocks and working in Debert for the summer. I decided to just take it a bit easy before I leave instead. I didn't want to spend my last 3 weeks before I leave studying. Afterall, it doesn't make a big difference if I finish my license now or when I get back in 6 months time.
Lately, everyone seems to be asking me what I will be doing on this exchange. Honestly right now I don't know. It really depends on what kind of projects that my project supervisor has lined up for us. From what I've been told there's lots of opportunity for us to start our own initiatives. Many people seem to have the assumption that I'll be going to Tanzania to build houses...that may be the case or it could be something completely different. The objectives of the program are not to "help save people" and in my opinion that's very narrow concept/naive for someone to have. I do hope to have a positive impact on people and the communities, but more importantly I'm looking forward to the experience overall. The intercultural exchange, learning about Canada through eyes of other Canadians (demographics played a role in our selection), the language barriers that we will encounter, personal development experience and soooo much more. And of course the travel experience!!^_^
I thinking many people look at this exchange and only focus on the international portion. Yes, I am very excited about Tanzania but the Canadian portion plays a crucial role as well. During the duration of the exchange, I will be paired up with a counterpart from Tanzania so I will have lots of opportunity and support to get from him/her and give as well. I'm sure there will be lots of cultural adjustments needed between us.
Going into this program I'm trying not to have expectations to a certain extent. I find that when you do, you often get disappointed and make things harder for yourself. I realize that there will definitely be some bumps in the way and I may not always get along with everyone. But at the end of the day, we're all there to share the same/similar experience.
Well well... Back to packing :S Since nothing spectacular has happened yet, I'll post some recent pics to keep ya entertained :)Check out the slide show!
