Oww....

Sorry for not writing for so many days, things have been a lot more hectic than I thought they'd be. Things have been a bit more exciting lately and I finally feel that I'm being more productive...

As I mentioned before, my workplace is with the YWCA. It's a fairly big organization, its mission is to support to support the right of all women and their families to live free from violence, poverty and oppression. There's quite a few programs that they organize, some programs include the women's shelter, food box program, Y's Buy, skills developement and many more. Last Wednesday with Saumu (my Tanzanian work counterpart) and I helped out with the Food Box Program. For this program in particular we do it twice a month. We basically pack food boxes for families within the community. Families do pay for the boxes but there is a subsidy for families that need it. The programs give a chance for local communities to have access to fresh vegetables adn also helps support local farmers. In a month over 450 boxes are put together.

Last Friday wasn't so exciting..... We worked in the Y's Buy Store which is a second hand clothings store... but it just makes me realize I much rather be kept busy by doing soemthing than to be bored doing nothing at all.

The reason I titled this blog "Ow" is cuz that's basically how I've been feeling for the past couple days... On Thursdays, it's our Community Activity Day so this past Thursday we visited an organic farm. We harvested beans, potatoes, pumpkins, and onions for the day.


My legs have been hurting for days... the squating and bending over hours definately worked out my body, I think I'll scratch being a farmer off my I wanna be list....lol It was a lot of fun, but a bit painfull after a while. We also got to take home a couple gigantic Zuchinnis.










As for the last couple days... I finally got a gym membership, thankfully now I can go there when I need some stress relief....

One of the most interesting incidences lately was yesterday...we brought some of the Tanzanians to the Gay Pride Parade in town. It was quite shocking for some of them. It turns out that being homosexual in Tanzania is illegal. The Tanzanians couldn't understand why they were publically displaying themselves and "promoting" it. The only way I could describe it to them was that, it's not illegal to be gay, les, or bi in Canada. We want people to be treated equally no matter what gendre, age, sex, ethinicity, and sexuality they are. I made the comparison to women;s rights... "girls shouldn't go to school" Is that a fair judgement... then I think the point came across... but it's still a very different mentality for them.


Check out the slide show for more pictures...

LaLaLa

It's been exactly 2 weeks since this program started, but I feel as if its been atleast a month.
hhmm.. What shall I talk about first.. I guess work placements. The place that I will be volunteering at is the YWCA. Mon, Wed, Fridays I'll be there during the day during all sorts of differentt activities. I'm paired up with Saumu (from Tanzania), we got off pretty easy on Monday. As for Wednesday we are helping out with putting together food boxes, there's over 250 that we'll have to make :S then on Friday we will be helping organize clothing at their 2nd hand clothing shop then.. on Monday we will be visiting and helping out at the shelters. There's a couple other activities in the works... but I'll tell more about them later on.

As everything starts to unfold, I'm starting to realize this program is a lot more focus on the informal aspects more so then the actual planned "activities" such as the work placements. As we do more group activities, you start to realize what things make you tick, drive you, annoy you, or motivate you. I'm definately noticing that I struggle with having patience and really miss my independance that I've gotten very use to in the last couple years. It's the little things that seem to be creeping up on many of the participants already and sometimes it is really hard to see the bright side of things, but we always somehow do... The workplacement are a crutial part fo the program, but it sometimes seems that we're stretched in other directions as well that it almost seems like a never ending program. I don't mean this in a negative context, I am enjoying it, but sometimes I wish I could have Sally time a lil more.

We went to a First Nations Pow Wow (Back in the day, tribes got together to have a Pow Wow in order to exchange goods) last Saturday. We saw quite a bit of tribal dances. Did you know: If the people are dancing in a circle, you have to move in the same direction as others..if not, it means you're declaring war. There's was this really cute lil boy dancing around too... he was soo adorable... I just wanted to bring him home..hehe

I'll write about some other tomorrow... I'm too tired right now...

Yeah!

YEAH!! First day tomorrow morning at my workplacement. It's going to be at the YWCA, Super excited! :)

Tikitimaji (it's just fun to say! My fav word)

Well well.... I've had the chance to breath a bit now... things are settling down and I finally have some time to reflect and absord information. This will be a longer entry... if you have any questions feel free to drop em a line or make a comment under each blog...This whole blog thing is still a bit weird to me.. I find it a bit hard to just simply write and out my personality.. but I guess I'll slowly get use to it...

Things have been great with my host family they are all soo sweet... My host family consists of Tammy (mom) and her 3 daughters (Kayla, Emma, and Rachel).

They are soo nice and Tammy would doing anything in the World for Deborah and I. The house is pretty hectic with so many girls in the house, but somehow it all just works. The first night we got to town... when the family came ot pick us up at the wecome place.. it just so happend that next door was the R.C.A.F ("The wing") and there was a big sign advertising for cadets. We even got talking about Cadets.. and as it turns out.. Emma who's 13 just so happend to be interested in cadets.. so ofcourse I encouraged her a lot to join and brought her there on the first night!! I told myself that I would take a break from Cadets while I had the chance on this exchange... but ofcourse... I got roped into it again... I got talking with the CO (commanding officer) at the squadron and she talked about how they didn't have an officer for ground school.... soo.. one thing leads to another and from now until I leave... I will be teaching groundschool for a couple hours on tuesdays.. :S One the other side of things.. this is a great opportunity for me to see how another squadron functions..


The last couple days we've done some more team building activities, since the entire program really is dependant on how well we all work together. Deborah and I won the Scavenger hunt the other day! YEAH!! I think Deboroah thought I was a bit crazy for being so competitive...LOL... We had another bombfire at one of the host family's places one night, along with a concert by a band named "Powerhouse" They were really good.. with trumpets and all...


Then tonight we went to see a ground called Otesha (www.Otesha.ca). They do bike tours across many places in Canada and do short plays focusing on our actions on the environmental issues affecting Earth and other countries in the World.



We were given little black books and they're called our "Dream Book" we put in it the things that we want to accomplish/do before we die. Since writing it down makes it more concrete. I'll share my "to do list" another time...We also got our work placements today!! Letcha know soon which one I have... I know which one I have but I'll tell more about it next time...

JAMBO!! (hi in Swahili)

Its been about 4 days since I've touched a computer... I was experiencing a bit of withdrawl there for a bit. We spent the last 4 days ish in Ancaster doing cross cultural workshops and a lot ofteam building excercise. Some of it was new, but most the the cross cultural training was a repeat of things I've already done in the past from international orientation and other stuff. We stayed in this old Catholic School or maybe it was a convent... not quite sure. It was a bit creepy though with statues all around the place staring at us, especially at night.

During the last couple days we also did A LOT of self reflection activities. We had to go back and think of all the things that have influenced us the most and why adn how it has shaped our values and beliefs systems. Its been a really good reflection time, for the first time in my life, this exchange is the one thing I have to worry about. But there are so many components for this exchange, our supervisors just keep warning us that there's gonna be some really big ups... and really bit downs... wait and see I guess...

The Canadians had all arrived on Wed then the Tanzanians arrived on Thursday. Many of them were saying that it was cold already.. even though it was about 20 degrees out.. they ain't seen nothing yet..

We had a campfire one night and sang songs around the fire and introduced the Tanzanian's to SMORESS!!! soo good...



We finally got to meet our counterparts. This is the person who I will spending a lot of my time with for the next 6 months. We share a room together and will basically ask each other just about everything.


Her name is Deborah, she speaks English pretty well, I just have to make sure I slow down a lot more when I speak.

I just met my host family for the first time today, I'll write more about them in the next day or so. Here's a picture of everyone on the exchange. I'll also add some more pictures to the slideshow soon...

Adventure begins

I'm finally leaving TOMORROW!!! It seems like I've been counting down the days for quite some time. The timing right now is a bit weird, its the first time in 16 years that I don't have to go to school!!!Still a bit surreal that I'm done my degree..

This past weekend was so relaxing...


I spent a couple days up in Edmunston visiting my friend France. She brought me to a "mud run" where we saw a bunch of trucks race through the mud...lol. Not the typical event that I would go to but, it was great.

Then we went on a 7 hr long canoe ride on the Rivier Verte. It was awesome! The scenery, the water... it was the first time all summer that I had the chance to simply sit there with nothing on my mind.

Today has been quite a packing day, I still have to unpack my luggage/backpack again for the 4th time. Since I over packed :S

I've talked to a couple friends that have done CWY in the past. One of them explained that during the exchange, I'll have 5 relationships going on. These relationships will be with my host family, counterpart, supervisor, work placement, and overall group. Out of these 5, 1 relationship WILL go wrong. My friend didn't mean this in a bad way, I look at it as a reality check. As nice as someone is, there is no way that you can get along with everyone at all times. You also won't like everyone you meet. Some people just don't click. I think it's important though that although you might not get along, you have to be civil and not pick on the little things. Afterall, the exchange is 6 months long, everyone has to give and take.

The one thing that I'm wondering about the most right now is how I will be keeping myself busy. I'm still a bit out of the loop on things until I get there. I don't know how strict my host family is or what my counterpart likes. I do hope that I can keep myself busy. For the first time in a long long time, this exchange is the only thing I'm doing. I thought about volunteering at an Air Cadet Squadron to teach groundschool for flying but I realized I should give myself a break from it all since I know I'll be coming back to it after.

Well, I head out tomorrow! We'll be going to Ancaster for a couple days to do some group training then we head to Peterborough. I recently got told to not bring my laptop for the exchange :S While in Canada it shouldn't be hard to keep this blog updated, but as for Tanzania.. I guess I'll have to wait and see.

The adventure begins....