Continued...

So to pick up where I left off 10 days ago (umm...oops), another fantastic fun thing we did a while ago was to go see the Holiday Train. The Holiday Train is a really cool train that is dressed up in lights and stuff and sent down the track from Toronto to I-don't-know-where. But in between Toronto and I-don't-know-where, there is Schreiber. We were used as hot dog giver-outers and hot chocolate pourers. I was on hot chocolate detail and got to see a lot of the people that is see in the library all the time as well as the kids in the school I work at. It was nice to see everyone all together and waiting for this Holiday Train that I had never heard of before. It is obviously a very well loved tradition in the town. Anyway, I was pouring hot chocolate for people and Jessy was putting marshmallows in the cup. However, we only worked until the Holiday Train started pulling into the yard.


Besides the train being really cool looking (although we didn't actually get to see it at night when it is at it's best, but at 4:00pm or so) there is also a musical guest on board that sings you some sweet sweet tunes. This year, the musical guests were a woman named Tracy Brown and a man named Johnny Reid, both of them country singers. Now you may thinking "ewwcountryeww" but believe me, Johnny Reid is not an "ewwcountryeww" country singer. To begin with, he is Irish and has a delicious Irish accent. Also, this song is just not an ewwy song. It's really good. In fact I had heard it for this first time in the Katimavan in our first week here and I liked it so much that I tried to remember lyrics so I could look it up later on Google. Then I listened to it over and over. I like this song A LOT. In fact it is a house favourite. And when I realized that the singer on the Holiday Train was the very same singer on my mp3, I got very excited. He sings so well in person! As does Tracy Brown, but I don't know any of her songs where as I DO know Johnny Reid's 'Darlin'. Oh my god, it is such a good song. I'm going to include two Youtube videos that you can look at so you can see and hear what I did.

This is Tracy Brown and Johnny Reid singing a duet. When I was at the train, there was about this much light, so you can understand why I didn't really get to appreciate the lights as much.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMByEK2JyM8&feature=related


This is just Johnny Reid, singing 'Darlin'. It is night time in this video so the lights look much more impressive.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b3-Gb4x6cQ


We all had so much fun that day. It was absolutely frozen and we were all cold but we moved an danced and waved our hands in the air and had an awesome time.

The next day we went to the Rec Center and painted all the windows in the gym, the games room and another room that I think is used for town meetings or something. There is a very official looking gavel in it and big comfy tall chairs. Basically, all the windows that can be seen from the highway have been covered in winter themed Katima-graffiti. Because I am a perfectionist (especially when it comes to artsy things and painting) I took about three hours to draw up and paint my window. It wasn't helped by the fact that I was in a very awkward position, squished from behind by a treadmill, which was actually being used while I was painting at one point, and in front by a magazine rack that refused to come off the wall it was attached to. But the painting is so cute and lovely (though you can still see streaks because it wasn't very good paint).




And here is the finished picture. Please ignore the grubby hand prints all over the place, but it is impossible to not put your hands on the glass while drawing and painting...unless you are wearing gloves I suppose.




Because I am such a perfectionist when it comes to painting, I ended up being the last person there and had to clean up and walk home on my own which was very :( and cold and not something I enjoyed in the slightest.


A funny sidenote, while Simon and Rosie were waiting around for everyone to finish, they started commenting on some of the people who came in to work out while we were there. In particular they were commenting on this one man who was about 40 years old, attactive and with a very nice butt...and they commented on this out loud but in french. Now they had no idea that he understands french, nor that he was going to be joining us the very next morning for our walk to Secret Beach, which he did.



They were so embarrassed. It was pretty hilarious to see their reaction when Terri told them that the man they had been making such complimentary comments about could hear and understand them and would also be walking with us for an hour or so as well as having dinner over. It was all quite hilarious.



Last weekend we went sledding with our new crazy carpets and had so much fun...but also a lot of sore muscles. There were a lot of kids on the hill with us so we had to be careful with the sledding, but it worked out okay. On the hill there is this crazy dip and mogul that hurts like hell if you hit it the wrong way or really quickly. It turns out that crazy carpets aren't all that good for moguls because, although you move fast and get a a lot of hang time, you have to land sometime and there is no padding when you use a crazy carpet.

There were two really bad landings, mine being one of them. I hit my head on the ground...and then it bounced up and hit the ground again. I ended up lying on the hill backwards with my head lower down the hill than my feet. It was fun though. And it didn't actually hurt all that badly at the time. I was wearing a headband/ear coverer which was really thick so it actually padded my landing somewhat. Terri was very concerned that I was concused in some way and I couldn't give her a confident answer that I wasn't since I've never been concused before...but I ended up being fine. Well, the next day my neck was sore as hell, but that was too be expected. Rosie was another person who landed very badly. She was on this large tube that the other kids on the hill were using and let us borrow. She just flipped off that thing after the mogul and hit her back, shoulder and head. It was a mess and we were all concerned but laughing because it was such a spectacularily bad landing. Actually it was a little scary at first because when she landed she kinda fell, rolled and then ended up on all fours with her head just hanging down. At that point we all started to walk down to her (and Terri ran) but then she started colourfully swearing in french. It was quite impressive. And she was lucid enough after that fall to know that it would be a bad idea to say any english swear words since there were still kids on the hill. I should explain that the f-word is very popular in Quebec to the point that it is much less serious there than it is in english Canada to use and it is thrown around in conversation much more easily.



Anyway, we caught the fall on Jessy's camera and now watch it anytime we feel the need to laugh...we also show it to everyone who asks what we have been doing lately.


And that seems like enough stories for today.


Toodles,



Sara

So much to say...

I realize that it has (again) been a very long time since I've posted anything. Actually, I guess that might not be right since I don't actually remember what the date was the last time I reported anything, but anyway, I have a lot of stuff to say and I already know that I'm not going to be able to remember everything.

I guess I'm just going to have to start events as they come because I really don't remember what came first and on what date anything occured. I've decided to post a bunch of pictures though to help you visualize just what we did this past however many days have passed.

Okay. First! The Senior's Christmas Party. We were all dressed up as elves. Enough said.

...

No not really. I'll elaborate and not leave you with such a hilarious mental picture and no story to picture it in. We were dropped off at the Senior Center in Terrace Bay at about 5 pm. We all had costumes that Simon had made for us earlier which consisted of a red or white tunic with iron on christmas themed decals. The tunic was tied with a length of green rope and the costume was topped off with a santa hat with elf ears attached. Should you like to see a picture...Here it is.

Like good little elves we took people's coats and hung them up. Then we entered the gym (the senior center is an old elementary school) which was so beautifully made up! There were about twenty different strands of warm glowing lights strung over our heads. The effect was just gorgeous. The tables looked were dressed up in white, red, gold and green and christmas trees were impressively tall. There was just this beautiful glow about the place even though everyone was sitting on plastic school chairs. It doesn't convey well in pictures, but still, I'll show you one.


We also got to eat (still in costume) among the guests so as to interact with the people more. After dinner we were all called up to the front of the gym and we preformed a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday in french and english to people in the gym with December birthdays, which included Jessy (pictured above for those who don't know him) who turned 20 the night before. I'll tell you about that day after this one.

We were then ordered by Santa and Mrs. Claus to hand out the presents the guests brought to the party. It was lots of fun being Santa's little helpers and we even got awarded for our embarrassment. Each of us got a little gift to take home! We got individual Christmas mugs with a hot chocolate packet, a cookie in a Christmas tin and an assortment of Christmas chocolates. It was so nice of them and made me smile.

The day before this was Jessy's 20'th birthday. We went to an old fashioned Christmas skating party at the Terrace Bay Rec Center. It was so much fun! Terri had discovered a box of skates in the basement before we came and we all tried them on and found the right sizes (except Jessy who has feet that are too large for his own good...joke Jessy!) and got them all sharpened up. My skates were amazing. They were old in a totally cool way. They were made of leather and looked about 30 years old (literally because they were much older than I am I think, and I'm 19). They were so old that people around me were commenting on just how old they were. And they were hockey skates. I didn't realize just how much I relied on picks until there weren't any. It was kinda scary just how off balance I felt without the picks..well, that could have been also because the skates were a bit too big and also not tiedd tight enough. I had to re-lace the skates because the old laces were rotten and short, so by the time I was finished doing that my hands were frozen and not very useful in the tyeing department. Eventually though I got comfortable with them and I was wizzing around the place. Not really though. I was slow and awkward, but better than when I first started.

On the ice there were a few christmas trees, a bench, and Santa! It was really nice skating around with all those people and some real Christmas carols on the speakers. And when Santa came out the kids were so cute and exciting. He handed out a bunch of small reineer stuffy animals and all the kids got one. Actually, the half of us who asked for one got one too. Mine is green and cute. I named mine Je-Sais and Maddy named hers Je-Ne-Sais-Pas.

I unfortunatley don't have any good pictures of the skating since I was concentrating more on not falling. On that note, one with the next event!

After skating we went to Wah's for their buffet night and ate well. Also, we invited John, our Schreiber friend that I met at the work. However, of all the people there, only Jessy and I could do any REAL celebrating. I had a rum and coke, he had a vodka and orange juice. And I also was able to have some wine at the Senior Christmas Party which was nice. Everyone was very jealous. Apparently wine is a well loved drink in our group. While eating Terri went back to the house and brought the pack of birthday hats she had bought earlier and we all out them on. Then we decided that they would look better if they were all on Jessy at one time.

We then walked back to the house (in frigid windy weather... it was not fun) and played pin the tail on the donkey. I don't think I've laughed as much playing that game as I did that night. When we spun people we didn't necessarily point them in the right direction making it that much more hilarious for everyone else.
We then played a game of keep up with a ballon in which you were not allowed to use your hands. It was much like hacky sack but much slower. That was suprisingly a lot of fun. After that we hung out on our KING SIZED MATTRESS!!!! in the living room. Yeah. You read that right. We have a random mattress in our living room loaded up with about ten extra pillows and blankets and sheets. It's so comfy.

I think that will have to be all for this post. I have some anxious people waiting to use my laptop so they can watch some movies or something.

Sara

No Posts! Oh no!

I'm sorry. I truely am. It's not that I didn't have the time in the 10...no wait, it's been more hasn't it...the more than 10 days that I've been gone to write anything. I just haven't had anything to write about. Although the Quinton's seemed like a busy house...they aren't so busy when they are sick and both Tom and Sandy were sick the entire time we were with them. It was hard not being able to do anything all night long, but having Sarah there helped. And there was a TV, not that we used it much. Sarah spent most of her time on the computer, catching up with friends and family, and I spent most of my time reading. Sometimes I'd join Tom to watch some show or another but I've grown so used to not watching TV (not to mention that I don't know anything that is happening in my shows) that I've found that even when it's available, I didn't really need it. Also we had movies and cards to occupy us. I introduced Sarah to The Breakfast Club and Rocky Horror Picture. She really like The Breakfast Club. Rocky Horror? Not as much.

Speaking of movies, we are all testing ourselves using movies. We have been watching a lot of English movies with out subtitles and people have not needed a lot of translation. In fact I just finished watching Juno with Alyssanne and we only had to pause the movie two or three times to clear things up. I've been trying to test myself too. I have a movie called Bon Cop Bad Cop that I (and a lot of people) just love. They speak french and english in the movie but you can have subtitles only in english OR french, not both at the same time. There is also an option without subtitles for the bilingual viewer. Sarah and I were brave and tried that option while at the Quintons. Now I've seen this movie quite a few times so I know what is being said basically, but still, I didn't need to ask anything, and I actually was able to recognise what was being said just by listening. It makes me so excited to think just how far I've come from where I was. Just how much more I understand. I can listen to a conversation going on around me and get the general idea of what's being said, which isn't easy when the people speaking aren't slowing down for you. I can speak so much more french now and even though it is not very grammatically correct, I've got all the basic words I need in the right place. And before I didn't know anything. It's amazing what being even slightly immersed and just listening and TRYING to speak will teach you.

Today we had a bit of a short day at work. The clouds and radio station were both telling us that there was going to be a storm today and they were correct. I don't really know how much snow we got today. It was probably only 5-10 cm, but the wind blowing it around made driving a very slow and careful affair. Actually, Donna (my work boss) was saying that we may want to go home at noon or earlier if the storm kept up. As it was we left at about 2:00 or so because it was just too much of a risk to try to stick around. We also found out that they literally close the highway at 5:00 pm if it's been storming and we would have probably been stuck in Schreiber the rest of the night if they hadn't cleared up the highway. We had it all figured out though if that is what ended up happening. Everyone was supposed to meet at the library and if Terri hadn't come to pick us up 5 than we would go to the Press Box Restaurant until Terri could come to get us. If she couldn't she would call and we would get a room for the night at the motel attached to the restaurant. We are oh so prepared.

So that is my update for the day. It's been nice having a break from the Katima-house, but I think we all mostly prefer it to being away from eachother. Everyone was very happy to get back to the house and be close to eachother again.

Let the shenanigans commence once more!

Sara

Living at the Quintons!

I am in the middle of my billeting period at the moment which is why I haven't posted anything in a bit. I haven't had a computer for a few days because I was really busy getting all packed up to go and then also the wireless at the house here is being a little screwy. But now I've got the internet and I've got the time and the planets have all aligned. It's time to write!

Sarah and I are living together with the Quinton family which consists of Sandy, Tom, Bonnie and Diesel. Also, their daughter Patty drops by a lot with her kids Kenny, Arora (also known as Rory!) and the baby girl Casey. The kids are all very blond and cute. The two oldest go to Schreiber Pulic where I work so I've seen them before and I didn't even realize it. Bonnie and Diesel are very cute as well, but they are a little hairy. Of course that could be because they are dogs...Bonnie is a mid sized brown and white something dog and Diesel is a small little dauschand! I'm living with a little weiner dog! He is so cute and so naughty. He likes to steal everything. He was chewing on my shoes on Thursday night and on my socks this morning. When I was unpacking on Thursday he was trying to get to my underwear and bras. The little bugger. And he jumps around everywhere, which you wouldn't expect from a weiner dog, but he is the exception I guess. These dogs are spoiled rotten. They have Sandy and Tom wrapped around their...tail? Sandy and Tom are their Mommy and Daddy and it's really sweet just how much they love their dogs.

Oh, you should all know, Tom is the man that owns the Schreiber Diesels! OMG! He is a very well liked here because he apparently saved the team from being disbanded or something like that. Right now he is on the road with the team to Sioux Lookout for a game with their team. And maybe...just maybe...we will get to meet some of the team! That would be fun. Seeing people our own age is always very exciting. Apparently two of the boys are from California and one is from Nevada. I didn't know that Junior A Hockey was so serious that you moved countries for it.

We were warned before hand by Terri that we would be working a lot and that this is a busy house. Last night, Sandy put Sarah and I to work making these delicious looking walnut and maraschino cherry bars. We didn't get to try any this morning though because they went to the Legion for their penny auction. I think I'm going to have to copy the recipe down and bring it with me to the Katima-house and then home after because it smelt delicious. I also made another cracker cake (since the last one went over VERY well with everyone) for tomorrow's dinner. I think we are going to be doing a lot of baking and eating in this house which is just fine by me.

Sarah and I are very happy here and happy to be living together even if we are the only two people living in Schreiber. Rosie and Cassie are by a lake (in a very large house we have been told) about 15 minutes west of Schreiber, and everyone else lives in Terrace Bay. At least we don't have to shovel any of the snow at the Katima-house. That is Maddy and Jessy's job since they live the closest. We are getting a pretty sweet deal at the Quinton's. Good food, our own beds, two cute dogs and some really awesome people. Also they have a piano! I haven't played in such a long time. Now I just have to remember all the music I've half memorized from home.

That's all I've got to report right now. Love you all and miss you!

Sara

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Today we woke up to winter white! It's so beautiful. A blanket of white on every surface and small flakes falling down from the sky. However beautiful it is, snow can be annoying when you live 15 kms from your work. However, before admitting defeat to the roads and snow, we had to atleast try to get up the two hills on East Grove Court. The roads were plowed, but there had been some more snow falling since then, so we were not sure if we would be able to get to the highway (which we hoped would be well plowed, or else we were turning around). It was not to be. We motored our way up the first hill, pressing down on the gas and yet traveling at a snail's pace. Oh dear. This was going to be harder than we thought. When we approached the second hill Alyssanne pressed down on the gas but to no effect. We were going backwards, and into the side of the road! Umm...uh oh. Alyssanne jumped out of the car to see what was wrong and promptly hit an ice patch and fell! It was pretty funny. She is so short that it just looked like she was in the window one second, and gone the next! When we understood that the truck was stuck Sarah, Rosie and I ended up getting out of the truck. Sarah ran down the hill (and fell fantastically, feet up in the air and everthing) and went back to the house, while Rosie and I got behind the truck and started pushing it forward so Alyssanne could turn the wheels and get straightened out. She drove backwards, back down the hill to a place where she could turn around and go back home. We were well and truely defeated by a slippery hill. Four season tires are not meant for the partially cleared streets of East Grove Court.

We had worked it out that if the Schreiber people were not able to get to work due to snow, we would go with the Terrace Bay people to their jobs. I ended up calling everyone's work to tell them that we wouldn't be able to come into work today and then went and put on my winter boots. I went with Rosie and Alyssanne back up the slippery hill, and walked very slowly in fear of falling. I really hate it when I slip on ice. I'm so tall that I have much longer to fall down and it always hurts so much. Rosie and I went to the Family Place and Terrace Bay Public School for the day while Alyssanne went to the Senior Center. Simon and Sarah also went to the Senior Center, but they had a ride and actually passed us on their way there.

It was very quiet today. Since the Family Place is a drop in center there weren't very many people. The only child in the place was actually the daughter of the only employee there besides Rosie and I. And in the school I worked with the Gr. 3/4 class. It was much like Schreiber, and actually the two schools share a principal, french teacher, and a few other teachers as well.

It was a pretty standard day if you don't include the snow, but fun all the same.

Sara

Your mission should you choose to accept it...

One house. Thirty people. Two House Managers. Stirred, not shaken...because Bond had it wrong. You get chaos and exhaustion!



No, there was no chaos. Controlled chaos maybe, but utter chaos? Not when Maddy and Sara are house managers. It actually went really well considering that we both only have so much experience cooking and never for 30 hungery teenagers. We made the same thing for dinner as Pieday Friday. Shepards pie, quiche and pie again for dessert.



Everything went really well. We couldn't get everything out on the table when everyone came back from playing dodge ball because we were playing as well. Having to participate kinda infringes on your timing. So there were people hanging out in the kitchen while we were trying to get everything in the oven and cooked or warmed up. Actually there were so many people in the kitchen that Maddy had to draw a red line on the floor with dry erase and have Kwaku stand there and be our bouncer. He wasn't all that effective though. He kinda just stood around and watched people mill around our space. Actually they were dancing in our space too until Maddy physically picked Alyssanne up and put her behind the red line. And then later there were people literally sitting and lying down in our kitchen space, but by that time so were we so it was cool.



We had so much food when everything was said and done though. We actually had two leftover shepards pies and almost a whole sweet pie. There was only a bit less of a quarter of a quiche left but that was only because we didn't know that one of the new participants in Marathon is vegetarian (or doesn't eat beef maybe) and Manitouwadge's PL, John, nearly ate a whole quiche to himself. It was impressive. He would just wander into the kitchen and look at the oven and we would ask him, 'John, do you want some more?' and he would hesitate then answer 'Uh...yes.' I still can't believe that we have leftovers from that. Two whole shepard pies and that is after people at seconds and thirds. And then the dessert pies, though it's true that a bunch of people were feeling kinda flu-ish/cold-sick and Cassie was actually throwing up from the night before (poor Cassie, she's feeling a better now)...But still! People hadn't had breakfast that morning. That is how hungry people were and we STILL HAD LEFTOVERS! I don't think I can stretch this enough. And Maddy also made muffins and I made a cracker cake (thanks Zia Silv!) but people were so full that they only had one or two pieces of pie, meaning we got to save the rest for ourselves.



And now to get off the subfect of food. It was nice seeing all three groups together again. It's been a month since we were all in one place at the same time and having everyone in one house was nice. It kinda felt big and empty after they all left though so that was odd. But I didn't stay awake to much longer after they left. Only long enough to clean everything up and then Rosie gave me a shoulder massage on her bed and I ended up falling asleep there. Then Simon came in and started calling me Rosie and talking to me in french about 20 minutes later and I had to wake up and tell him I'm Sara, not Rosie. Then I ended up climbing into my own bed, checking the time (9:08 pm) and falling asleep until whispering voices woke me up (12:00 am-ish) and falling asleep again until Maddy got up to go to work (7:00 am) and drifting for another hour until I had to wake up (8:00 am).

And that was about it. We went to the train museum in Schreiber, the waterfall in Terrace Bay and played dodge ball at the Senior's Center. Then everyone danced, talked, vegged and ate at our place.

I hope your Sunday was just as exciting!

Sara

J'ai Tombé, Cooking for 30 and Pieday Friday!

Today was Pieday Friday! Yay! Maddy and I decided we wanted to make shepards pie one day and then decided that we should put it on a friday since pie rhymes with fri...and then decided that the perfect dessert would be pie (obviously)!

Pieday Friday was well recieved. I started baking bread at 12:30 pm and made 10 dinner rolls and a loaf. Then we started making the first pie as a tester. Blueberry. Maddy took control of the pie and it was delicious. The crust was buttery and beautiful and crisped up just right. The pie filling...was from a can, but still delicious! We also made a cherry pie which had a criss cross top. They were so pretty. And Maddy was hilarious. Apparently she doesn't particularily like pie but she liked making them so much that she wanted to make more than the two we had filling for! Then Cassie helped us to chop up potatoes while I skinned them and Maddy made the dough for the second pie. I am so happy Cassie didn't mind helping because we would have been so late with the dinner and instead we were slightly early. We ate at 6:45 or so if I remember correctly.

Anyway, we kinda just winged it with everything we were doing this week. The pies called for shortening and butter, but since we don't have any shortening we just microwaved some butter to make it soft like shortening and used that instead. That's what we have been doing all week when the bread recipe calls for lard and we haven't had any mishaps yet. For the shepard pie meat I just seasoned at will. I really had no idea what to do so I just stuck in a bunch of pepper, oregano and basil and hoped for the best. Same with the potatoes actually. We ran out of milk because everyone used it for breakfast yesterday I didn't know what to do but Maddy's family makes potatoes with sour cream so we used the extra container we had bought at the beginning of the week. We added some cream, cheese and salt as well and the potatoes were delicious! After everything was finished cooking we layered it all in casserole dishes. I got to draw lines on top of it with a fork which made it look all pretty and professional and then we stuck it into the oven. We actually made the perfect amount for four shepard pies and after dinner we still have two left over for lunches tomorrow! Yay! We finally mastered the art of making leftovers. I am so proud. And we also erased everyone's fears of our cooking abilites after yesterday's debacle. Oh I hurt just thinking about it.

For Terri (who is a vegetarian) we made a quiche! Can you believe it Mommy. Your little girl has gone and made a quiche and pie. Actually, I think technically Maddy made the quiche and pie since I was busy cooking meat and making sure potatoes didn't boil over while the quiche and pie were being made...but still! Maddy says I supervised. And it all came out perfectly. I think it was a little bit of beginners luck and hope for success on our part. Everyone was very happy and so were we and that all that matters is that everyone had a full stomach and clean plate.

Tomorrow is going to be intersting. We are having Jessy's cousin over for a 'hair workshop'. Really she is just going to come and cut and dye everyone's hair who wants to by cut and dyed and then give us a few tips and pointers. But Maddy and I will again be busy cooking more shepard pie. We are having Marathon and Manitouwadge over for the day and we were just told by Terri tonight that we are going to be cooking for everyone! Yay! I can't believe it. There is somewhere around 30 people in our three groups. I am going to be cooking for 30 people tomorrow. I am going to be wiped. But we get to delegate which means that we get to tell people to clean things for us and watch over our simmering concoctions while we do something else. Should be...interesting. I'm not quite sure yet if cooking for 30 is going to be fun, but it is going to be interesting.

NEXT SUBJECT!

Today while cleaning I fell. On the stairs. With a bucket of dirty water and a mop. Ow. I fell on the last two steps and hurt my poor bum. I can feel the bruise forming as I type. :(

And that was my day today!

Sara

The Terrible Rice Accident of 2008, Quilting and Waxing a Boy.

Maddy and I have been trying to be healthy. Yesterday's meal was supposed to be baked tilapia and potato wedges, however we discovered that we couldn't bake the potatoes and fish at the same time since they didn't both fit in the oven. We therefore had to resort to frying the fish, making the meal decidedly UNhealthy. Delicious, but so very bad for you, especially when you add in the ketchup and mayo we ate with it.

Today we tried again. Stir fry. Just how badly could that be screwed up? Pretty badly apparently when you don't figure in the fact that rice can be tricky...especially when you don't pay attention to it because you are being distracted by howls of pain from the living room. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Maddy and I burnt the rice. We burnt it so badly there was smoke coming out of the pot. We burnt it so badly that the rest of the unburnt rice smelt and tasted like a fire pit (an unpleasant taste I found out). We burnt the rice so badly that we recommended to people NOT to eat it and to just have a bowl of veggies instead. We hoped that by pouring soy sauce over the rice and smothering it in veggies we wouldn't be able to tell that it tasted like acid smoke...but we could. Oh it was so bad. It's so frustrating because we made a bunch of rice so there would be leftovers and everyone would be nice an full, but instead everyone just ate PB and J sandwiches. And we have made rice before, so this wasn't just a beginner screwing up. Oh it was just so bad.

Suneet just called me! Hi, Suneet! She is going to a club and needs clothes. That is the only reason she called me. I JOKE! I know you love me. <3 class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Alyssanne went out and bought those Nair wax strips, they laid down a mattress in the living room and then started to film. Oh god, from the screaming laughs you would think that he was being tickled to death. It was so funny. He would yell and then laugh maniacally. And then I had to step in to see and I helped to teach them how to pull the strips off in the least painful way possible. Let it be known that having a mother who is an esthetician (I think I spelled that horribly wrong) has many benefits, and one of them is that you can wax boys chests and pluck boys eyebrows with some confidence. That's what I did last night. I don't know how really because I've never plucked a boy's eyebrow before. At least when I pluck a girls eyebrow I kinda know what I am doing since I do my own...but boy eyebrows are a whole other world. To get back on track though...

I waxed a boy's chest! And it was his first time (and last he says). And because we were distracted by the goings on in the living room Maddy and I let the rice burn. Sigh.

After that Simon and I went Quilting Club in Schreiber! A woman named Deb (who works in the Adult Learning Center and taught us about resumes) picked us up at 6:45 and drove us over. Simon learned how to crochet and I learned how to make a simple square with coloured corners. They look so pretty! I was able to make three in the time I was there and the ladies were very impressed with how quickly I picked it up. I may continue and do more squares. I was thinking of making on square for each of us and having everyone sign or scribble on their own square and make two pillows or a small throw or something. I don't really know right now. But they are so pretty!

Right now Alyssanne, Sarah and Rosie are in the office singing karaoke. Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys! I think I am going to sing karaoke too!

Sara

House Managers Attack!

Today is my third day of house management duties. On Monday night we had Sour Cream Chicken (one of Maddy's recipes) and last night we had vegetable soup with egg dumplings (not just eggs dropped into the soup like I said to you on the phone Mom and Dad. Real egg dumpling noodle things). They were delicious if a little oddly shaped...and huge.

I've never made egg dumplings (which is basically just egg noodles but rolled into a ball) so I didn't know that they expand to ginormous proportions. And even though Maddy told me to roll smaller dumplings, I didn't listen. Dinner was getting late and I needed to roll those dumplings FAST...which meant everyone ate oddly formed huge balls of dough. But they still tasted good which is really the only thing that matters. And the soup was fantastic. Jessy even finished the broth when there were no dumplings left...apparently thats huge for him.

Anyway, besides soup we had odd salad (Maddy and I decided to use sesame seed oil and balsamic vineagar...the oil just smelt so good and we couldn't resist even though we probably should have because sesame oil and balsamic just tastes odd). To make it taste a little bit less weird we grated up some cheese (which did help a little) and sprinkled it on top.

Then we made Ginger Bread cookies! It was all Maddy's idea. She thought people would forgive us for the poorly shaped dumplings and oddly dressed salad if we gave them cookies...and they did. Actually, they tasted very good and I think we may need to make them again this week. ALSO we made two different types of bread. The first was an olive oil bread which didn't look like it was rising properly and we were afraid it was going to turn out horribly. It didn't thugh. It turned out to be very delicious and soft if a little small. But we didn't know it was going to work at the time so we made another bread. Cheese bread. It smelt so good in the house last night between the cheese bread, olive oil bread, ginger bread cookies and soup. Mmmm. And so ended yesterday's house managing duties.

Today I got up early to make a hot breakfast for everyone. Pancakes I have found go over well with everyone. They were all very happy to have a hot breakfast they didn't have to cook themselves.

And something very exciting! Today, Maddy and I get to go to the highschool and see people our own age! Yay! Yesterday at the Remeberance Day ceremony all the school's go to the town center and that was our first glimpse of highschool students. Do you realize just how exciting it was to see people in our age bracket? Very. I don't know where they hide, but they don't come to the library and they don't go to the Rec Center. It's all so confusing. But today Maddy and I get to go and set up a table and ask people if they would take us home to live with them for ten days. That should be pretty cool. And hopefully people actually come up to us since we are their age and new. But we aren't allowed to 'recruit' people for next years program because the funding is under moratorium. This could be the last year of Katimavik! That is so sad. I really really hope the government gives Katimavik the funds to continue for next year. Apparently the work we do (for free) saves people 7 times as much as the government spends to feed and house us. That is a win/win situation.

Anyway, that's enough from me. I need to start getting ready to go.

Toodles,

Sara

First Snow, A Craft Show and The Changing of the Guard

Just a quick blog today because yesterday's was quite long and I want to go hang out. In short, this is what happened today.

1) Today was the season's first snowfall to stay on the ground. It was nice to wake up in the morning to snow even if it was a light dusting on the ground and a small little flakes in the wind. Now we just have to wait for the intense meter deep snow that falls in one night. Just by the by, I don't think we will actually get a meter of snow in one night, but it would be impressive if we did. But the serious snow and winter comes in January...so we will just get a taste of it before we have to leave and the poor group coming in from B.C. is going to get blasted. Those poor souls are going to be coming from a relatively temperate winter to KABLAMMY! Northern Ontario winter. That should be interesting!

2) There was a craft show being held in the Schreiber Rec Center Hall (the same place that held the Medieval Festival). It was really neat actually. There were a bunch of people and stalls there selling everything from soap, candels and sausage to paintings, jewellery and socks. I bought quite a bit since everything was also pretty cheap. And I got presents! Finally. I wasn't able to get something for Suneet for her birthday since there really isn't anything to buy here but now I have presents to send! Now, it is a small gift Suneet since I am a poor poor person, but it's something! And it is really neat and cool and I think you will like it. I can only hope. And if you don't pretend you do!

3) Today is the final day of Sarah and Simon's reign of terror! No I joke. I just wanted to use the words reign of terror.

Sarah and Simon were good house managers. We just had some odd meals made of whatever was left in the kitchen towards the end of the week and salty oatmeal once. Did I talk about the salty oatmeal yet? If I did...Sorry but I'm going to repeat myself. For our lone hot breakfast Simon made oatmeal. And put salt in it. A lot of salt. So much so that I couldn't cover the taste with milk and brown sugar. Now, to give him break, it did say that salt was optional, but I think he must have mis-read just how much was optional. It made me sad. I don't particularly like oatmeal, but I do like hot breakfasts that I haven't cooked. Anything to make getting out of the door faster. We also had an odd dinner tonight that was split into two by about an hour. Because the chicken wasn't defrosted all day we had to wait until 8:30 for it to be finished. To tide us over until then Simon and Sarah made us a a pasta salad. It tasted fine but it had lettuce in it. I think they took the salad bit a little to literally. But it still tasted good. So if you find that all you have in the house is salad and macaroni, don't be afraid to combine the two into one dish. It works out somehow.

But to get back on track. Maddy and I will be house managers starting tomorrow morning. We get to go shopping and buy food for 9 people, for one week with only $188. In Northern Ontario where everything is more expensive because you have to ship it so much further! Oh joy. We have a very specific and thought out shopping list, but I don't know how we are going to keep it at $188. I'll have to tell you how it goes tomorrow if I haven't imploded with frustration first.

Here endeth the news.

Sara.

Wenches, Hiking Some More and Snowcakes.

Today we have a tale of warring Shires and persons of odd dress.

Last night, my group helped to set up for the Medieval Festival and after selling packets of apple cidar mix, chicken seasoning and 50/50 draw tickets we were able to sit down and eat and participate in the night's goings on. It was so much fun! They had a Town Sheriff who told us that people in the medieval times didn't use knives, or clap with their hands. If we were caught clapping we could be put in the stocks and our table would have to pay a fine to be decided by the king, or if he was very generous, the villagers. They also sold forks for silver coins because the food we were eating had gravy on it...and some people wouldn't want to get their hands dirty. Simon dressed up like an executioner and went around with the Sheriff catching people who had been delinquent. He actually had to chase one woman (Who oddly enough happens to be Jessy's cousin by marriage in some way) who had been charged with selling day old bread to the king. How scandelous!

According to where you are sitting you are part of a different Shire. We were in the Yellow Shire, but there was some fierce allegiance making from the Blue Shire's Lord until we were told that we were part of the Yellow Shire. Well, after dinner there was a town crier competition that Jessy participated in and a best costume competition. Simon won that one for the men and was awarded a knight statuette. It's cool and adds a little je ne sais qua to the house. There was also a jousting competition that John (a friend from work) participated in. It was quite funny actually. The had these hoops with an horse head cutout attached to the front and hanging fabric around the rest of it to hide the fact that you aren't actually riding a horse. The 'knights' had to go running at these little rings hanging from posts and try to spear them on their 'lances'. FUN! We were also treated to a medieval dance lesson called the Toss the Duchess. The girls are supposed to be 'tossed' on the last beat of the eight steps you shuffle to your left, but because half the boys were 10 and the girls they would be tossing are not. After all the competitions were finished, the winners were tallied up and the Blue Shire won, making their lord and lady the king and queen at next years Medieval Fest.

And Princess Pilfer has struck again! I pilfered us a friend. Jessy is very happy about knowing another young person in town (who's a boy!) and the fact that I pilfered him from meeting him once two weeks ago is impressive. While we were working I happened to ask if he was going to the medieval festival and he said he wasn't. The shame! I basically said that he had to come and meet everyone and too bad that he had gone last year because he was GOING AGAIN! Actually I didn't quite phrase it like that. Its more like I said, "Aw, thats too bad. Why don't you just come anyway!" He comes in one or twice a week at lunch time to say hey and a few days ago he dropped by to say that he had decided to come after all! YAY! We are meeting people our own age in Schreiber!

After the festivities were over the Katimavikers helped to clean up and pack up the extra food and decorations to bring to the food bank. Then we went home and slept. It was fun day.

Today we went hiking again but this time with Manitouwadge! It was a lot fun to see everyone again and to talk and hang out with everyone. This time we went to Jackfish to a friend of our neighbour's camp. A camp is actuallya very rugged cottage, but they call it a camp. We hiked up a lot of hills and then went down a lot of hills and while going down all I could think about was "Oh dear lord this is going to hurt going back." But the hike was nice and tiring and got our appetites up. After getting to the camp we sat around for a bit and ate some pizza and cookies and drank hot chocolate. After we were all warmed up we all went for ANOTHER walk. To the ghost town. Did I mention that Jackfish is a ghost town! Because it is. It is so cool seeing the abandoned houses and over grown bush. Nature has very thoroughly reclaimed these houses. The ceilings are collapsed, the walls are covered in green and the light shines in just right for it to look beautiful and just a bit sacrosanct. I got some really beautiful pictures there.

While we were walking back we went to the beach where there is a lot of seaglass. It's actually a neat story. The glass is from the old hotel in the area that used to throw their old bottles and plates and stuff into the water. They eventually broke and the corners rounded off and now they are beautiful! I actually found a piece of porcelain with a blue pattern on it. So cool!

Also, we have to cross some train tracks to get to and from the camp. While we were crossing to go to the ghost towns Maddy put 5 pennies on the tracks. A train just happened to go by while we were walking and squished the pennies flat! So cool! Actually you can still see a slight impression of the leaf and the word Canada on it. Yay...defacing Canadian currency...it's only a penny though. They barely even count as currency anyway.

When we got back we ate moose and pork sausages again. This time they were cooked over the fire and served as a delicious hot dog! Love it! Then we packed up and hiked back. On our way out of the bush we first stopped off at a grave site in the forest. It was really really neat. These graves had wooden markers from 1915. Walking through the forest to the graves was really neat. While the hike to the camp was on a rocky road with rivers and puddles of water running through it, the walk to the graves was through the forest. I've never been in a forest like this one. It is absolutely gorgeous. There is green moss everywhere and little spiky green things blanketing the ground. They almost look like little small pines or something, but aren't at all. For some reason, the whole thing reminded me of Bridge to Terabithia. I've read the book, but never seen the movie so I don't know how they portrayed the forest, but it still brought the book to mind. Everything just seemed so otherworldly and giant.

Anyway, we said goodbye to Manitouwadge and went home after that. We all piled into the living room at 8 pm and watched a movie called Snowcakes. Oh my god. Wow. The movie is so good. It's based in Wawa, Ontario, which is actually a town we passed through when we were driving up here after orientation. I actually reconized the diner we stopped at as the diner in the opening shot. The movie stars Sigouney Weaver, Alan Rickman and Carrie-Anne Moss. Family you will all love it, but Mommy I think you will like it most. It's your kind of movie.

And that is my blog. Dear lord this took a long time. Jessy had these little amuzing comics on his computer next to me and he kept deviously distracting me. And I had a lot to talk about. But it's over now, and not a second to soon!

Sara

Lost in Translation and Being Fooled...Twice.

Today was the first day that Alyssanne drove the truck and that was an interesting experience. At home she drives a Toyota Echo which is way smaller than our truck. While we were driving to the gas station in Schreiber we had a hilarious situation of trying to make Alyssanne understand that we had to go 90 kms on the Trans Canada not 60 or 70 kms. When I said go faster she thought I was saying she was going too fast and when I said she was going too slow she thought I was saying she was going to slow. Either that or she was just too scared to go fast in a truck.

To try and fix the situation I asked the French teacher at the school to write down a few sentences for me. I now know how to say 'You are going to fast', 'You are going to slow', 'You have to go faster' and 'You have to go slower'. Actually, the ride back home was much smoother (and quicker) and Alyssanne is getting more comfortable with the truck. Oh, and I also now understand the difference between tu droite and a droit (I'm not sure if that is how you actually spell the words though). One, droit, means straight and you don't pronounce the t. The other, droite, means right and you do pronounce the t. It's confusing but I'm getting it. And having those words is very useful. I was also able to say a longer sentence in French today, which leads me to the next part of my blog.

When Jessy, Alyssanne and I walked in the door today after work we all walked to the kitchen and promptly told Sarah that Alyssanne parks the truck better than her (after being coached in our French of course). Sarah didn't give us the reaction we expected (She was indifferent! After all that work) and then I heard an unfamiliar voice in the office. I stuck my head around the office door and saw a petite girl sitting talking to Terri. She stood up and introduced herself as Tracy...the new participant. We were cordial and nice but after going upstairs to change Alyssanne and I were confusedly talking about just WHY we have a new participant when we were expressly told that we were not going to be getting a new person (and a girl at that. WE NEED MORE TESTOSTERONE Headquarters!). It was then that I said my longer sentence with hal remembered words. It doesn't make much grammatical sense but I said, "Je suis content avec huit persons." which means "I'm happy with eight people." And then we went downstairs and learned tha$t Tracy was actually an alumni. Thank God. Even though it's only been two weeks and bit, I am still happy with our group and for someone to just drop in on it with us unprepared would be very uncomfortable. It's needless to say that I was very relieved that she was an alumni. At this moment Simon and Sarah are cooking dinner and Tracy will be staying over to eat.

However, this was not the first time we have been fooled. You may recall me saying earlier that we didn't have the same voltage in Terrace Bay and Schreiber. We were FOOLED. Terri is tricksy and we are gullible. I can't believe that we actually fell for it...Ontario is still Canada and that means that we have the same voltage. We were trying to conserve the battery power in our cellphones and we had such troubles because the cell phones were our alarm clocks and therefore had to be on all night in order to wake us up in the morning. And then Terri told us that she was fooling us all. And Jessy and Cassie figured it out two days before she told us and they pretended they didn't know! They laughed at us in secret. How rude.

I'm sorry. The door is open to the kitchen and people are talking which is making it hard to think. I feel like I'm not making as much sense as usual, or maybe not being as eloquent as usual. Either way, I hope this post was understandable.

Sara

Hiking, Marathon and Chinese food

Today we went hiking in Neys National Park. It wasn't too long of a hike, but it was all up hill and cold so everyone was tired. But we were hiking with the Marathon crew and it was nice to see everyone after two weeks of being apart. Even though we had only hung out with the people from orientation for three days, you still feel this bond of being away from home for a long time and doing something completely different. And it's also nice to see other people that you don't see everyday.

The hike up might have been long and tiring, but the view was incredible. There was a little pavillion near the edge of the mountain that looked out on Lake Superior. It's an amazing view and the pictures I have do not do it justice at all. It was also very cold and windy up there though so it was hard to stay out and look at the view as well as stay warm. We ended up sitting in a big pile in the pavillion to try to stay warm which worked for the most part.

After we walked down the mountain we went to the Marathon house and ate lunch. Oh my lord their house is small. They have the same amount of people living in their house as we have in ours but it is so much smaller. You basically walk into the side door and there is a little mud and coat room, then you turn to your left and you are in the kitchen. Their PL, Niall, has a bedroom right off of the kitchen and then there are the three bedrooms upstairs, two of which are being used and the third is going to become an office I heard. The poor girls though, they have the same amount of bunk beds as we do and less than half the space that we have. My bedroom at home is larger than the one they have to sleep in and I'm one person. And they are getting two more people on November 10th. There are going to be 11 people in that house and I don't know how they are going to survive. At least they have a couch in the basement. We don't have one of those. Only a strange assortment of mismatched recliners and kitchen chairs. And apparently the Manitouwadge house is even smaller. Actually, the Manitouwadge group is having some trouble and just can't catch a break. Apparently Manitouwadge is one of the quieter towns. There isn't very many youth there and not much to do after work. Also, their house is leaking and they had a power outage for a full 24 hours. No phones, heat...911. Seriously, there was no 911. There were reports on the radio saying that if you needed emergency services you had to go to the police or firehall and that there would be police patrolling regularily to help. Wow. Actually, I think our group really lucked out. Compared to Marathon, Terrace Bay and Schreiber are both really warm and friendly communities and it seems that Marathon doesn't get the same warmth from their community that we do. Marathon is also slightly larger (they have a shopping centre and we have to wait to buy any clothes until we go to Thunder Bay) and doesn't really have the same small town feel. And our house is huge. I'm really really happy with my placement and my group. Can you tell?

While in Marathon we all agreed that we would go out for dinner to Wah's, the Chinese and Canadian restaurant in town. It was nice to choose what we were going to eat for a change instead of leaving it up to whomever is cooking for the week. And we were sitting next to Lake Superior surfer dudes and chicks! It was cool, we were walking up to Wah's and we saw these two cars with a multitude of surf boards strapped to the top. I can't believe that people actually surf in this water and weather. It's so frigid. AND YOU DIE IN 8 MINUTES IN THE WATER. I'm going to say that they used those winter weather wet suits, but still! The water is cold!

And that is my update for today!

Sara

Bowling, Guitar Hero and a Happy Birthday/Hallowe'en

Hello everyone. I'm sorry I've been so long in updating. My mom, dad and sister let me know that they don't appreciate not having an update since Tuesday.

SORRY.

So this week has been pretty average. We didn't do any excursions or anything but it was still fun. Today we did go bowling up at the Rec Centre. It was five pin bowling (the very best kind!)and so not so hard. I actually broke 100 for both rounds. The first I had 112 and Maddy beat me by one point. Damn you and your point Maddy. On the second round I had 105 points. Not too shabby. Anyway, we had to walk to the Rec Centre because apparently we are over our km's for the week or month or something by 700 kms I think I heard...or maybe it was 70. That kinda makes more sense. I was so sure I heard 700 though. Anyway, it was a really cute bowling alley with only 4 lanes and little red and white seats and non mechanic score keeping, that is to say, a pencil and paper.

Yesterday was a very special person's birthday...SUNEET! I hope you had as much fun as you sounded like you were having when I called yesterday night. For Hallowe'en I hng out with the little kids at Schreiber Elementary. We watched movies, ate treats and then Sarah and I ran a gamey thingy. I shall explain. Basically, during our lunch we decorated boxes with construction paper and stuff and made them all spooky and cool. Then we but gross things in them! There was jello, pasta, mashed potatoes and pumpkin guts inside and the kids were so funny when they touched them. None of the kids guessed all of the things though. I was actually dressed up for the day as Dorthy. I had ruby slippers and everything. It was cool. I randomly found a Dorthy costume at the Thrift Store in town (I love that place to bits) and I'm going to be using it for the Medieval Night/Festival/Thing as well. It's pretty perfect. I'm going to bring it home too because it is perfect for so many Hallowe'ens to come. Then at night I wanted to dress as an alien but I wasn't able to think of anything to wear so I made myself into an alien Dorthy and wore my white and blue dorthy costume and then painted my face blue and red and put a green googly eye in the middle of my forhead. It was kinda terrible, but fun all the same. And then I trick 'o treated. I know, I know. I'm too old. TOO BAD. It was fun and I felt like such a kid and I loved it. Running from house to house and yelling trick or treat at every house. So much fun! There were four of us (Simon, Cassie, Rosie and me) who went. Then Cassie went home, I went home, and Rosy and Simon stayed out for another two hours. They had FULL pilloww cases. It was very impressive.

After Trick o' Treating we went next door to our neighbors who had a huge chiminea (I think I spelt that terribly wrong) and we sat around and roasted marshmallows and sipped hot chocolate. It was so nice.

So at the library I work at there is a guitar hero. It's fun and I'm terrible. I can get about 85% on Easy and that's about it. Jessy can get 98% on Medium. *Sigh*. Well, yesterday I played with Sarah after I was finished with the school because we had a n hour to kill before Jessy came off work. Oh, and we have our own truck! All the Schreiber people are now able to get to Schreiber without the big Katima-van. Instead we have a Schreiber truck. It seriously does say Schreiber on the side and we love it. And though we are not technically allowed to drive in Katimavik, we have special circumstances with the fact that the two towns are not close enough to walk. It was take quite a few hours actually. And that is in good, sunny weather. But we are vey careful with the truck and follow all speed limits and only use it to get from Terrace Bay to Schreiber and back again. We actually have to record all our kilometers and gas and stuff, for the towns to know where we are going. They are paying for our gas though, which is nice.

On Wednesday (while Terri had her 24 hours off) we had to write out our group contract and today we signed it. And there was no blood on the walls. There was on tense moment when we were discussing our Family Night (the one night a week we all have to hang out together and play games or do something fun). We have decided to make that Friday nights and when Jessy commented on the fact that we might want to go out with co-workers or friends in town on a Friday night, Alyssanne asked "You have friends here?" and Jessy responded "Not yet, but.." and Alyssanne said, "No, do you have friends?" And Jessy again responded, "No." And Alyssanne in all her short fury yelled, "NO! Fuck your friends, family comes first!" And then everyone laughed. Alyssanne may be small, but she is loud.

Last thing, and then I've got to go. We are going to be going hiking tomorrow in Neys National Park with the group from Marathon. That will be good because we haven't seen any of the other groups for two weeks. So that will be fun!

Up date you later.

Sara

Strega Nona

I almost forgot. There is a large population of Italians in Schreiber and therefore a lot of Nonna's. I have been talking about Nonna's fabulous cooking and how to entice the Nonna's in Schreiber to give me food by saying they couldn't beat my nonna's soup...and then them making soup for me to try/bring home and enjoy.

Well, Terri has been listening to me talking about the various ways I could butter up the nonnas in town and then she came across a book entitled 'Strega Nona'. Now, she didn't know that strega means witch in italian, so it was funny to see her expression when I told her. Anyway, the book is about a woman known as Strega Nonna, or Grandma Witch for all you non-Itals. She is from a small town in Calabria (which is possibly why Nona is only spelled with one n in the middle?) and cures all sorts of ailments and makes all sorts of potions in her magic pasta pot. She is getting old though and needs help around the house and so gets a man known as Big Anthony to help out with the animals and house work and gardening. When he sees her magically make pasta in her pot he tells the villagers and they laugh. Basically what happens is Strega Nona has to go up the mountain to talk to her friend Strega Amelia and Big Anthony steals the magic pot! He makes pasta for the whole village (even the priest and sisters the book says) and everyone is happy. But the pot doesn't stop making pasta! Oh no! Big Anthony doesn't know that he has to blow three kisses to the pot after saying the spell to make it stop and so the pasta just keeps coming and coming and invades the town. When Strega Nona comes back she stops the pasta and every one is happy. Then the towns people turn on Big Anthony and tell him he must be punished and they start to string him up! Strega Nona says the punishment must fit the crime and makes him eat ALL the pasta up.

THE END.


Sara

Library, Snow and FIRE ALARM TERRI

I worked at the library today for the very first time. It was great. I'm working with a girl named Sammy who is cool, and blonde and 23 and has this sarcastic, playful sense of humour that I love. She taught me all about the operating system for the library and we did check ins and outs for a while. She also took me on a tour of the library to show me where every section is located. She tried to print off these little sticker laabels to be put on the book spine, but it wasn't working so I didn't have any work to do all morning. I basically just got a book off the stacks (Next by Micheal Crichton! Dear lord it's cool...and I've wanted to read it for so long) and read all morning while Sammy built a website (she is a graphic designer in her other job). Then Pam the bread woman (who is a chair person for the library) brought her Italian bread book with her to the library and let me photocopy recipies! SO exciting and delicious.

After I ate lunch I helped a couple on the computer figure out their Empoyment Insurace stuff and then Donna (the head librarian) came in and we talked about after school programming and cataloging/organizing the basement.

Oh, guess what book I found and took out from the library Mom, Dad and Lia. Have you guessed yet? It's a kid's book and you love it (ESPECIALLY you mom). I'm going to write it at the bottom of this post in white to give you some time to think. Just hi-light it to make the word show up. And if you don't understand, get someone more computer savvy to help.

It snowed today. Omg, time to hyperventilate. Snow! But not too much so it's okay. There were really only flurries and the like, but still, snow!

Then we went home and at dinner at 5:30! DUDE that is an early dinner. Props to the House Managers Rosie and Alyssanne.

We had a fire drill tonight. Terri had a flashlight with a strone setting and she creeped around our rooms and the rest of the house with all the lights off and us in bed and would turn on the light randomly and yell "FIREFIREFIRE!". Then everyone had to jump out of bed (without killing eachother, which is hard when you are on a top bunk and someone is getting out of bed from underneath you) and run to the nearest exit or the fire extinguisher. Our nearest exit in the bedrooms is a fire ladder at our windows. So everyone tried piling onto Alyssanne's bed (where the ladder is located) but six girls on one bed is not all that safe...fun, but not safe. So I ended up hanging off the side, and Maddy was on the ladder and everyone was laughing and yelling. A fabulous way to end the day.

The brilliant children's book I took out of the library is The Porcupine Named Fluffy. Love it!

Got to go. I'm writing up some thank you cards for Terri to the people who helped us out around town and gave us free stuff and workshops. Love you Schreiber/Terrace Bay!

And I forgot...

There was a rainbow in the sky yesterday. Also, Maddy and I played with waves in Lake Superior. We were running from waves trying to get as close as we could to them. We also got sticks and stuck them in the ground as close to the water as we could. My shoes ended up getting wet because of it, but really only my right foot's toes got a little damp. I ran out of the water QUICK!

FUN.

Sara

Bread, Chickens, Hockey and my first day of work.

On Saturday the group went to a woman's house to learn how to make bread. Her name is Pam and her bread is amazing. She taught us how to knead our dough and how to shape our loaves after the dough has risen. Also, we need to use a LOT of flour or else it becomes a sticky mess. While the bread was baking (in their outdoor oven :O !) Pam and Maddy and I made cinnamon buns (which were fluffy and delicious) and then we ate our bread with some turkey and beef stew. Oh good lord was it tasty. And they had a cute dog named Mike.

Mike actually looks like a demon dog because of the red eye...but we will ignore that.

Then we went to a chicken farm belonging to a couple (betty and ...Ben?) and Maddy and I occupied ourselves with chasing chickens. And we have video evidence. It's actually really funny. Maddy kissed a chicken....and I pretended to.

We also made our group contract and promised to eat vegetarian for two to three days a week (because our PL is vegetarian and because meat is expensive) and we also vowed to speak only French or English on alternating days to try and help our second language abilities.

The next day we got to sleep in for the first time since we started the program. I slept until 9:30 am. Omg. 9:30 is sleeping in! When did that happen?

We had cinnamon buns for breakfast and made a huge GO! Diesels GO! banner (which is now hanging on our living room wall) and murdered the gold and black sharpie markers in the process. The Diesels are the very well loved local Junior AA hockey team. I just found out I like Junior AA hockey. All the boys are around my age in Juniour AA hockey. Mmmm hockey boys. Basically the girls and Simon spent the game oggling all the boys and being generally inappropriate. And their coach lives two houses down from our house! Mr. Bob Spadoni. So I guess that means that there will possibly be hockey boys around our house....maybe? Mmm hockey boys. DON'T WORRY! I promise that these next few months will not be an incubation period. There will be no bundle of joy. But we didn't spend the whole time looking at boys. We also actually watched them play hockey...but we mostly just debated who was cuter or taller or more muscly. Not that we could really tell with those helmets and padding. They won their game and that was exciting. It was against the Thunder Bay something or others and this win ended a five game losing streak. YAY!

So that was yesterday. Today was our first day of work. I was at Schreiber Elementary Public School and there is a population of around 40 students. ONLY. The whole school is 40 students. I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN A ZERO. So the class of 14 I was in was a mix Grade 4/5/6 class. :O And the teacher's (Ms. Wiznuik) daughter is in her class. Weird.

I did a lot of photocopying today because the teacher didn't know I was coming, but that's okay. I was a last minute addition. I was supposed to be at the Adult Learning Centre, but they wanted me at the school too, so Terri decided to change it. I can't wait to see what the library is like tomorrow. I really wonder what, besides stacking shelves, I'll be doing. Apparently I will be doing some after school programming and stuff. And they have everything there. A photo printing thingy (I'll be like you Suneet!) and guitar hero and the librarian wants to start a graveyard tour...And I would probably be running it. That would be so wicked, and cold, but mostly wicked. So if that is what she wants to do it would be fun. I realize now that I wouldn't be able to have the kids all day. They are kind of crazy.. I'll be happy of the quiet in the library.

Oh and we are figuring out what to do for Halloween. I think I'm going to be an alien. I don't have all the logistics figured out yet, but I will make this alien thing work. Only, I'm going to have to be something else for the school (she wants me to work there on the Friday for the party which will be lots of fun).

That's all Folks!

Sara

Interviews and Placements

We all did your interviews this morning! I interviewed with our top three choices which means that we get some say in where we work. I interviewed with St. Martin's Catholic School (Which is an absolutley beautiful new school with a small student body), Schreiber Public Library(kind of small but they have guitar hero and a really nice librarian and assistant) and Schreiber Public School (a very small school with graduating classes of 5 students, but a very cool placement all the same).

After all our interviews were finished Terri drove us to the house and everyone changed out of their nice clothes and either went to the bakery (a local hang out of ours with fantastic sweets) or went to sleep (which is what I did). Terri went back to talk to the interviewers and figure out a schedule that would suit everyone.

When she got back, she teased us with white envelopes with our names in them that had our placements inside and made us clean some donated furniture and move it inside before we could open the envelopes up. We cleaned quickly and argued a bit about where to put the extra dresser in the girls room and then came downstairs and waited. Maddy quized me on simple French speaking excerises and then Terri came downstairs with the envelopes.

And (drum roll please) I have been placed in two places! Most of the group has been actually. There were some original placements that were paired together (like Schreiber Public School and the daycare next door) but they were all shuffled around to accomodate everyone's wishes.

I will re-write what Terri wrote on the page in my envelope.

Sara

You were the talk of the town today, my dear. You truly, truly knocked the socks off of everyone. We had to accomodate (willingly!) all the people who wanted you, so we created a new position! (insert smiley face) You will be back in Italian Terriory in Schreiber at:

Mondays: Schreiber Puble School

Tuesday-Friday: Schreiber Puble Library.

Muy Buen! I can't wait to see/hear about all you accomplish! xoxo Your P.L Etraordinaire.


On Monday afternoon I will be paired with the other Sarah at the school (she is there everyday as well as the daycare) and we will be able to hang out.

Tomorrow we are going to make bread in an outside oven in Rossport (a town west of us) and it is going to be fun. This is the last week that we will buy bread. Everything from now on is baked by us. Omg, like wow.

Love all around,

Sara.

Bilingual Scrabble

Playing scrabble in French and English is much easier than straight English scrabble. I ended up just throwing down letters and hoping that they made a random French word. And sometimes they did which was uber awesome and allowed me to get second place with 120 points. I was also the last to finish my letters thanks to help from Maddy in finding me a place to put my S T and G (creating sitting from a horizontal taxi and vertical tin). Then I mooched off of Alyssane's toy to make toys and I was DONE!

Now I have to tell you all how I became known as Princess Pilfer. Yesterday, we were set the task of going around to our neighbors in groups of two to ask to borrow a rake until all eight of us had one to use. Sarah and I were a duo and we scored big time. It was slow going at first (we visited two houses before someone answered at all). But at the third house we were greeted by Rena (who, coincidentally, is best friends with the owners of the house) who was very nice and generous and gave us not one but TWO rakes to use. And when she asked if she could get us anything else I asked for any old lamps she would be getting rid of or extra hangers (and as instruced by Terri, I looked as cute as possible hehe) and miracle of miracles! she gave us two handfuls of primo hangers. For this The Sarah and Sara Pilfering Pair were awarded the Tiffany Hanger Award 2008.

Today, instead of going "downtown" with the rest of the group I went with Alysanne and Terri to go home and nap and work on my resume...but instead we went to run some errands. During this time while Terri went to the Schreiber elementary school to talk to the principal Alysanne and I went to the Thrift Store across the road. When we walked in the woman there somehow knew we were Katimavikers and told us that anything for us was half off. Sa-WEET! Half price thrift store prices! So we started looking around (I saw some very nice sweaters that I will probably pick up when it gets more frigid) and waiting for Terri to finish up. When she came in we started looking for throw blankets for our new (antique and very dusty) couch and tablecloths for the table since we only have one. When we found blankets I went up to ask for prices for the blankets Louise (a very nice woman who works there) said to just take them! Princess Pilfer strikes! She let us take anything that the house needed. We ended up taking a few mugs, a plate, globe and lamp that Simon broke, but we still have the mechanism to light up the light bulb. So yay!

After that we went to the restaurant that the owners of the house own and run and talked to them for a while about the oven and lights. When we mentioned that we were searching for moose and deer meat he said, "You want moose meat? Here have these" and HANDED US A PACKAGE OF FRICKEN MOOSE SAUSAGES! Well they were pork/moose sausages because moose apparently has next to no fat in it so they mix it but still, Princess Pilfer strikes again! and we fulfilled one of the things we wanted to do while we are (well I wanted to do). Now we just need to find some deer...

Anywho, Jessy and I cooked them up for dinner in some oil and made some pasta with a wicked improved tomato/other veggie sauce. It started off with just tomatos and onions, oregano, basil , chili flakes and bay leaves, but then we were afraid we were not going to have enough sauce and so added two carrots and two celery stalks as well. It was orange tomato sauce and very tasty. Seriously tasty. Like plustresplestres tasty.

And everyone enjoyed the pasta. Not everyone was keen on the moose since it was pretty intense and gamey. Thank god for pork or else I wouldn't have been able to eat the whole sausage. But those sausages would be awesome amazing on a fresh bun with onions and dijon mustard. Mmmm, you would REALLY enjoy moose sausages Dad. Another time I think. Only thing is, you can't buy moose meat because it is illegal to sell. So we will have to try and get some for free from someone which is not a problem for Princess Pilfer! My group during the scavenger hunt found a contact named Tom who is out hunting for two weeks but home during the night so we are going to have to give him a call I think.

It's late. I need to have a shower. Tomorrow we are going to be meeting all the people at the possible work placements and so I need to be fresh and clean and put together.

Night.

Sara

Lake Superior

We went to a resume writing workshop today. It was really good because now I have a new resume that isn't out of date. We also visited Lake Superior and took video of everyone stepping in it for the first time. It was quite cold. Actually if you are submerged in it for 8 minutes you will die. So it's REALLy cold in the winter months. Today we had a high of 3 degrees. Chilly!

Yesterday we did a scavenger hunt which was awesome fun. We split up into two groups and Terri dropped us off in the middle of Terrace Bay and Schreiber. We had an envelope to open and then complete each assignment on the paper. Basically it was just to talk to as many people as we could and get familiar with the people and town. And then two and a half hours after that we switched towns for another two and a half hours. It was cold but fun. And now I know where the police station is and that they are very friendly and helpful there and that you can go up to random people on their driveway and ask them which is the oldest house in town and they will point out the wrong house but be very halpful when you ask to use them to spell the word FOX with their bodies.
And to let everyone know. On Sunday afternoon, Dad had an accident on the motorcycle and broke his right lower leg in two places and is having surgery today at 3:00 pm...I guess he's already out by now. SO I should be getting an update on that soon but Lia and Mom and Dad have all said that he is fine. Love you lot's dad and I hope you are enjoying your cocktail of drugs.

Cheers.

Sara.

Woken up at 6:30 am...by snoring.

OMG. IT'S ME! Do you all miss me yet? I have finished orientation and now I am at my new home for 3 months. The towns I'm in has only about 2,000 people (We are working in Terrace Bay and Schreiber ...which is pronounced scriber..and they have this cute rivalry going on). So far everyone seems nice. There are nine people including me and the Project Leader Terri (now known as a PL). About half the people are from Quebec and are pure french with some english and one guy is completely bilingual because he has lived in Quebec and Alberta or something. So names and provinces or cities when I can remember them are as follows...drum roll please.

Cassandra (or Cass) from Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is nice, but likes to talk a lot especially about home and her sister who is a boxer. She is also the only one with cellphone service even though she uses this weird Nova Scotian one that I don't know the name of.

Rosaline (probably spelt wrong, but that's okay because we call her Rosie anyway) from somewhere in Quebec. I get the feeling that she is from a smaller town. She is also partially bilingual and says sweet instead of soft and cutie instead of cute. Aww.

Sarah P. (Omg, another sarah. What ever shall I do) from somewhere in Quebec as well. She is very quiet so I don't know much about her.

Alyssane (who's name isn't pronounced Alison, but Aly-san) also from somewhereville Quebec. She is very short and doesn't know as much English as Rosie or Sarah, but we still are able to talk.

Madelyn (or Maddy as she likes to be known) from a town an hour outside of Ottawa. She is very nice but likes to talk about home a LOT. And she was missing her Olivier (bestfriend turned 'omg I'm falling for you' boyfriend thing but they have agreed to wait for eachother and not date while she is away. I think).

Me! from Woodbridge Ontario. Yay.

Simon (our bilingual dude) from Alberta. He has dyed his hair as red as my streaks but all over.

And last is Jesse from Vancouver, B.C. He is the guy I was talking to on facebook before I left and is really nice and into Ska. He also demonstrated how to Skank (which is how you dance to Ska) to the full Mass orientation camp thing which was about 35 people and then some of us (including me of course) tried it out. There is a lot of flailing going on in that dance, let me tell you. He also has an orange hat.

Oh, also, there is Terri the PL. She is really cool. She has been out of the country for the last 8 years teaching English I believe and has been to Korea and other places I don't know about.

I woke up at 6:30 am to a symphony of snores and I couldn't get back to sleep so I decided to go on the computer and talk to people in the cold cold office without my jacket or anything on.

Today we are going to be having a tour of the two towns. It's actually really cool. This is the first year that Katimavik is in either Terrace Bay or Schreiber and since they both wanted us in their town we are being shared. Also, there are black bears. There is forest on two sides of our street and the bears haven't gone into hibernation yet so...there are some bears in the neighborhood. It doesn't help that apparently one of the neighbors feeds them apples. I shake my head at her.

OH. There is also a dead car in our side yard thing. It is blue and overgrown with weeds and things but thats okay because it is a car and can't help where the weeds grow.

The house is rented and most of the furniture is donated by the kind people of Terrace Bay, especially this one man named Clark who came and visited yesterday night to say hi and ask when we can take the couch from the seniors centre. Apparently we are either going to ask someone to use their truck to move it...or carry it for a few kms down the street to the house. It's going to be our exercise for the week because the couch is very solid apparently.

I have learned how to swear in French already and we have taught the Quebecois some English words too. They really liked one word that is not fit for gentle eyes and so I shall refrain from typing it here (email me if you really want to know lol).

We are stealing our nextdoor neighbors Wi-Fi and so it only works in the office and girls room (convenient I know). The only downer is that we can only connect one computer at a time, so we need to wait turns. Blah. Also, we need converters apparently because there is a much higher electrical output here for some reason, so we are waiting until the one we ordered gets shipped in from Thunder Bay before using any electrical chargers...like blowdriers. Sigh.Hopefully I can talk more tonight when we get back.

Orentation was great. There were about 30 participants and then 6 support staff and Project Leaders. Everyone got along well and any problems we had with translation we solved through bilingual people and charades. I've been getting French lessons from some of the people (not much of it sticking, but I'm trying) and I now know how to say fork and cup. Un forchette and une tasse. And I think knife is pronounced 'un cutard' or something like that. I can also say 'How do you say' and various words that I didn't know I actually remembered from school. I can't really spell anything correctly though. It's more conversational stuff we are learning.

Also at orientation we did a lot of group bonding and communication exercises and also wrote and drew a lot. Actually, there is a lot of artists in our group. About a third of the people went to an art school and half of the group can draw with or without a schools help. So that is pretty cool. Markers have become very fun in recent days.

And of the three groups that make up our cluster, Schreiber-Terrce Bay has the biggest house. Even though there are six girls in the master bedroom, we aren't squished yet because we are using bunkbeds and they are very well arranged for maximum roominess.

I'm going to go now and take a shower before they are all taken. The good thing is we have two showers and three bathrooms so we can kind of spread out a bit.

Love and miss you all!

Sara

In Sault Ste. Marie

I have landed in 'The Soo' as we were told it is known as. I'm sitting charging up my laptop with another guy named Jason who just bought me chocolate milk out of the blue! Thanks Jason. I've also been talking to a lot of people on my plane (Jason, Rosie or Roselynn and Ali) and we have been trying to get our French and English to work. I'm going to be living with Rosie (who is very sweet) and a girl named Alysanne and another girl named Sarah. I can see the confusion already.

Anyway, it is raining here (mom you were right) and I am carrying very heavy bags. But everything is good and I am very excited. I'm no longer nervous now that I am in here which is good.

Hugs and kisses all around.

Sara

I'm going, going, gone.

This time tomorrow I will be asleep in a cabin in a place called White Lake (or is it River?) Provincial Park. Today is the day. In a few short hours I will be going to Mass Orientation (or Mass O for short) with 30 other people of my cluster. About 1,000 other excited and scared 17-21 year olds will be doing the same thing. Think about it. Today there will literally be 1,000 youths leaving their homes and moving around the country to many many small towns. It's like a mass exodus of the home nest.



In 10 hours I will be lifting off the ground and flying to Sault Ste Marie. I'm going to be talking to other participants and finding out about them and after everyone has congregated we will hop on a bus and go camping until Sunday. Then we will hop on another bus or possibly the Katima-van and road trip it to Terrace Bay. And we are going to be doing this for 9 monthes. Living with people. Constantly surrounded by people. Preparing food for, eating with and cleaning with people. And they are complete strangers right now. In a week they won't be, but right now they definetly are. And yet, I am so excited. I haven't really felt afraid or nervous or anything. I've had a few nervous twinges in my stomach but it's not even a percentage of what I when I started highschool. When I started highschool, I was so nauseus from nerves that I couldn't eat any breakfast for the entire first week. And leaving home entirely hasn't even made one wave.



I think the reality of it hasn't entirely hit me. When I looked at all my packed bags today I got this overwhelming 'Oh my god this is actually happening and this is all I'm going to have with me for 9 MONTHES' but then it went away and I am back to being blissfully happy. And even though the fact that a lot of people are not blissfully happy about my leaving, it isn't effecting my happiness. Sorry about that. It's just that I am embarking on something huge and cool and it is happening now. Before, October 15th was just some vague day in the future. But now I am leaving today.

Wow.

Sara

So wow.

I've met another person...kinda

I have just got off the phone with Terri, my project leader. She seemed very nice. Apparently the house we have is quite big (and new to the program I think) and we will be painting some, if not all the rooms. That should be fun. At least I've got some experience in that myself.

She also gave me a phone number to reach her on and told me to call with any questions. She also said to pack warmly, not fashionably, which I have been doing anyway. Apparently we will be doing a bunch of camping and hiking and stuff, which is what we need the warm clothes for.

So, if you are reading this, Hi Terri!

Sara

I've made a friend...kinda

I have met someone from my group and his name is Jesse. Well, we've only talked on facebook...but if you are reading this....Hi Jesse!

Sara

Forever is just a day

My last post was only 4 days ago, but it feels like forever that I have known the names of the towns I will be living in. On Wednesday October 15, 2008, I will be taking an airplane at 12 pm to Sault Ste Marie. On this airplane will be two other people from the program (Kwaku and Erin I have been told is their names) and from there we will join the rest of the cluster (for those who don't know, a cluster is the three or so groups who are living in the same area and will do some activities together sometimes) and go to White Lake Provincial Park in White River. We will be staying there until Sunday and will have an orientation camp for those days. I don't really know what we will be doing and just how strenuous it will be...or how cold it will be for that matter, but I am really excited. After that Sunday we will be split up into our three groups and my group (33125) will be living in the two towns of Schreiber-Terrace Bay. It is about two hours from Thunder Bay. It is going to be cold.

I have loaded up on warm clothes because of this. I'm not the best person in cold weather. In fact I much prefer the warmth, but I am still looking forward to being at the very tope of Lake Superior and toughing it for three months.

Anyway, on January 15 I will be moving on. My second placement is in Quebec as you know and that will be in the Town of Mont-Joli. It seems really really nice there. It's right at the beginning of the St. Lawerance so that will be beautiful to live near even if it is going to be absolutely frigid. At least if I'm close to the water, it won't be as cold as if I was inland or farther north. In that respect I am very lucky. There is a population of about 6,000 I believe. I may be mistaken of course. And I don't know the size of Schreiber-Terrace Bay. I've had conflicting information. I've read that there are about 2,000 people; 2,000 people in Schreiber and Terrace Bay each; and about 6,000 people as of 1970...so I am mightly confused.

After Quebec, I am going to be shipped off to British Columbia on April 15 to their reknowned wine region, the Okanagon..Okanagan?...Valley to the town of Pinticton. Such a funny name isn't it. I could actually say it over and over. Pintictin pintictin pintictin...all those I's are funny looking. There is a population of about 30,000 people there. The nice thing about the town is that it is situated right in between two lakes. One is the Okanagan Lake and the other I can't remember, but can you imagine just how beautiful that would be. I know I have a lake view cottage, but I love lake views and I'm going to be living in a town that has two!

Dad wants me to bring back some wine for him which I will do since it isn't every day that you live in a wine region.

And so, now you know where I will be for the next nine months. I'm happy that I will be in BC in the spring and summer. It's going to be beautiful in a valley during that time. And I'll be near water the entire nine months. Everywhere I'm going to be living is near a lake, or river. That id fantastic!

8 Days.

Sara

You have one very excited Sara on your hands!

I was starting to write a post telling you about how I now know what towns I am going to be living in and how I am so excited (which I will do...but later) when I remembered that I have to go check the mail to see if my Katimavik things are here...AND THEY ARE!! I am so so excited. I am reading it all right now. I will relate what it all says....after I'm done. Oh dear lord I could squeal with happiness right now!

Sara

An update on the situation

So I talked to Xavier this morning (he is the person who called me yesterday) and he told me that I need to resend the Police firm (this time I'm sending the one for my area which is what I should have done in the first place) and then he will process it. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to go until the background check was finished (and that will take a while I believe) but he said that he sent a package with all my departure information to me TODAY. So I'm still able to go, we just need to send everything ASAP. I need to wait for all my stuff to be returned to me because he sent back the money order that you need for a police check as well and I don't want to have to buy another one.

So everything is STILL up in the air, but it is at a slightly lower altitude today.

Sara

Some not so good news.

This morning while I was asleep the phone rang. I didn't get up to get the phone because generally I let it ring if I have been woken up by it. My theory is, if they really need to get a hold of me they can leave a message, or call again. This person left a message that I did not pick up. My father did, and as he was listening to it he swore and put it on speaker phone and started the message over again so I could listen. It turns out that the person who called earlier was from Katimavik. I didn't get his name since I was too intent on what he was saying but I think it was an Xavier I have talked to before. His message was as follows.

"Hello Sara, I am calling from Katimavik to let you know that your Police Report application has been rejected."

Basically what happened is that I went to the police office near me that does vulnerable sector screenings and background checks and asked to have one done. However, in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) you need to have the organization you are getting the screening for to fill out a portion of the form. I asked about this and Katimavik sent me a form that they use to do background checks which I filled and sent back to them to complete. It noticed that the form was for Toronto area citizens and I am part of the GTA, but I figured that they knew what they were doing and that they had done this before and it was fine. I was wrong. Maybe I said in my email to them that I was from the Toronto region instead of the GTA, but I don't remember it that way. Anyway, they are sending all my forms back (which I hope they haven't done yet since it would be a waste of time for me to have to resend them back again) and I have to send them another police form from my specific region. I'm going to have to do as much as I can tomorrow I suppose. This is just so frustrating. It is 15 days before I am supposed to leave and I don't have any information and I don't even know if I am still going to be allowed to go at all. Will doing another check set me back time wise? I've already told all my family and friends that I AM going, but now who knows?

I was thinking that maybe I could talk to the person who called me and see if I can still be sent to where ever I am supposed to go with an agreement that if my background check turns up anything that would not allow me to continue with the program (which it won't because I am clean) then I will pay them back any money they have spent on me as of then. Flight tickets, buses, food...whatever it is they need to reassure them and let me back into the program. I just need to know what is going to happen. I need time to buy clothes and necessities. I need time to pack and clean. I need time to get everything in order. And I can't plan if I don't know what my timeline is like. Everything is in limbo now. I don't even know where I am going and how I am supposed to get there.

Things need to be cleared up.