Tuesday, October 28, 2008

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!

Monday, October 27, 2008

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

Friday, October 24, 2008

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.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

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

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

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.

Monday, October 20, 2008

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

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

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.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

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

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

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

Friday, October 3, 2008

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

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

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.