Day Twenty Three

I sit here, in the little off shoot from our living room we have dubbed the "reading room" and begin to think. I look like a struggling artist or perhaps a naive student in this dimly lit, pathetically furnished room. I have my cup of tea made with a tea bag that arrived today from my nearly psychic mother who some how knew I was getting a cold, and needed something warm. The tea bags were accompanied by an assortment of items almost as good as the hugs I am missing at home. An english puzzle book, nearly a commodity in Quebec, a few packsof gum, a bit of money (very appreciated when living on an allowance of 3 dollars a day) and safety pins rounded out the care package. I cannot thank my mother enough. This house has been compared to a frat house with the lack of personal space (which is a foreign concept in a house of 12), laundry every where and the wonderful randomness that manages to find its way on the the internets.

Our house suffered a saddening blow this week with the sudden departure of Arnaud. His skinny, white, nerdy behind is certainly missed from the complex group dynamic. We will be getting a replacment (who statistically has to be a francophone male, but we'll see) some time next week. Its a big topic of conversation in the house. How will the new person fit in? Will they think we are crazy? Will we scare them off? CAN we scare them off? We are constantly thinking of new ways to initiate him into our little family. Right now it is to blindfold everyone, have everyone except him take off the blind fold and lead him through an obsticle course. Hey, we had to do it.

This morning, we had our french class for all the poor little anglophones. Only four out of nine were awake, and the teacher was arriving in five minutes. We clearly had a crisis on our hands. So the obviouse solution was to walk into each room, and gently get them up for the day. But the more fun solution would be to each arm ourselves with a metal spoon and a large pot and stand in the hall way and CRASH the pots and SCREAM as loud as we could! Kellie came blundering out of the room (from the top bunk) a-cursing our existance.
It was a moment for this history books

Every day is a new adventure, so no worries.

Day Eighteen

What a whirlwind these days have been.Still house managaer, so I sometimes forget about the world outside of our Katimavik house. On my free time one night this week, myself, Anna from Calgary, Bruce from Belleville, and Kaley from Logan Lake went down town. The sights we saw and the shops we visited were some of the most amazing I have seen. On the top of the plains of Abraham, there is a rail that you stand by (or infront of if you are Irene or Bruce) and the Chateaux Frontinac is completely lit and it is beautiful. The river is to the right, the city is to the left, the moon is full and the city lights are just shimmering. Absolutly breath taking. The thing that made the night complete was the steep hill that jutted out and down.Bruce and I took one look at it and knew: before we left, we were sliding down that hill! We did. And it was unforgettable. The world whirls around so quickly that once you finally stop rolling (after catching air time, and ruining your clothes) you have to try and convince your self that the sky is up and you will not fall into it by laying on the grass. The light pollution blocks out most of the starry detail, but there are the brave and brighter stars still poke through. A different sort of night sky than I am used to, but beautiful nonetheless.

We have a visitor right now in the house. Arnaud's girlfriend is here, and she is fitting in well. It is nice to have a fresh face here after being with the same people for almost three weeks.

Trying to cook for twelve people every night is really difficult. You have to be sure not to accidentally use the ingrediants that will be needed for the next night. Which is exactly what happened last night..

My house is very nerdy. We discuss retro video games, pokemon, and internet memes that have died out long ago. Most popular meme in this house? Peanut butter jelly time!

Funny Story:
When? Last night
Where? At the Star Club
Who? Kurtis
What? We were trying to get to another place in the club, which has mirrors covering all the walls. We reached a small clearing, and our exit was blocked by a mirror. I, not wanting to walk head long into a mirror, stopped. Kurtis, later using the excuse of tiredness, didn't. All I could do was stand and watch as he tries to get around a guy that he thought was getting in his way. He really tried to "beef himself out". Upon his realization, he spunaround with a completely stunned look on his face. Literally the funniest experiance of the night.

A new adventure everyday, so no worries.

Day Fourteen

Aujourd'hui j'ai le "house manager" et je nettoiller et cuisiner tout le jour.

Look! I'm learning (broken) French!
During each week, two people are designated as the House Managers. This happens to be my unlucky week. My house managing partner is a guy from Montreal named Arnaud. We get along quite weel, but the fact of staying home everyday to cook and clean is just aweful! Its clearly a blessing that I was born in this era of working moms and stay at home dads. I could never be satisfied with being a housewife.
Although I am learning some really cool new things. Right now, I have three loaves of cinnamon bread rising on the counter, and the dough for the biscuits ready to bake for the home made soup we will have for dinner.

In Katimavik, we make anything we can, and if we can make it, we do not buy it. We learned to make our own bread and I have to say, it is really hard to do!! So sticky and the dough gets everywhere and there is nothing I can do about it.

These are the things I hope to improve and be able to take away from this experiance. I will be more self sufficient than I ever thought possible. As one of my roommates, Kaley, put it "Katimavik is the half-way house of life" and it is true. It is teaching me to keep my enviroment clean, to communicate with people, to cook, and most importantly, to be completely and totaly responsible for myself.

I miss my family, of course, and I was lucky enough to chat with my mother and sister last night. At the same time, I am enjoying the different type of freedom this is giving me. It is a freedom that comes with responsabilities farther than "clean your room so you can stay out past 10". Its more like "do this now so you can enjoy the down time much easier." (upon hindsight, they are the same thing)

I'm rambling, and my bread is ready to be put in the oven, So i'll leave you with that.

Every day is a new adventure, so no worries.

Day Eight

The last day I posted was only three days ago, but already so much has changed.
We toured the work placements and explored some of the downtown. I also had my first taste of Night Life. Being from Fredericton NB, and at the same time being 18, I had yet to go to a bar or club, and last night both those things changed. First a bar, then we went to a night club at a center known as (are you ready for this?) The Clap. I didn't want to sit down much in "The Clap"... But I actually had a really fun time. Dancing and letting go for a bit was so freeing and I enjoyed it as much as I could. (Dear Mum and Dad, I didn't drink to much. Just enough to see what it's all about. FYI not a fan of beer...)

Today was our first day at work. I surprised myself with the amout of french I was able to come up with. Entire bits of conversations were in French on my part.
A la travaille, j'ai travaille dans la jardin. That means at work, I worked in the garden! I'm already learning French. AND ITS DAY 8! I am really enjoying this. As I have mentioned before, my housemates are great. They are the best group, with such a variety, it is better than I could have asked for. And as Kurtis (from Ottawa, no surprise) puts it "We are awesome, especially Kurtis." Clearly there are ego problems in the House. But we willsort them out.

Every day a new adventure, so no worries.

Day Five

My group has already become very close. The eleven of us are always talking, cooking, playing games and usually laughing. Last night, we took the bus with our new bus passes and went down town, and Toto, we aren't in Kansas any more. For those of you who don't know, the Fredericton downtown is about three blocks long and two blocks deep, so when little me got into downtown Quebec City, it felt like it stretched on for days! There was every type of store you could want, and almost every fourth store sold Gelato. Yum! The streets were lined with people going in and out of traffic, there was lights everywhere, it was brilliant! After downtown, a few people talked about going clubbing or to a bar, but I chickened out and stayed in with Arnaud, Kurtis, Anna, Bruce and Kaley to watch Across the Universe only to sing along bady and fall asleep before the end of the movie.

The days so far have been really interesting. Its all about the rules and expected behaviours and getting to know each other. We are really good at the last one.

The other day we were doing something with the two other Katima-groups in the area. One in Beauparte and one in La Vie. We all congregated at the Beauparte house,and realized how little and cramped our house is. We have now taken to affectionatly calling our house a "Crayon Box". A. because it is tiny and not a lot of elbow room, and also because in every room there is at least one wall that is a different colour than the rest. For example, the room I am in right now houses three of the girls, is 10 feet by 15 feet approximatly and has three white walls and one blue one. The whole house is like this. Its great.

Every day a new adventure, so no worries.

Day One

Yesterday I got onto the bus at Acadian Bus Lines in Fredericton, and set out on the first leg of my six month journey. Luckily there was another travellor from the area going to Katimavik. Steven and I sat beside each other for the length of the 10 hour bus ride. It was long, but enjoyable for the most part. We found we had some things in common so we were able to chat. I feel like the ride would have been quite a bit shorter had it not been for the constant stops of the bus, dropping off packages and parcels. We were rather excited when we hit the Quebec border.

Finally we arrived at a bus station in Ste-Foy where we were greeted by people wearing the orange and green Katima-shirts. Steven and I had to part ways there since I was going to Quebec City and he was on his way to La Vie. In the rag tag group of exhausted but excited travellors, there were two others going to the same house as myself. Jeremie (which I spell wrong thanks to my limited knowledge of the use of accents) from Gatineau and Kurtis from Ottawa. Varying language barriers kept converstation to nods and hand gestures. I know very little, very broken French, but am still able to catch bits of conversation and at the very least embarasse myself at a minimum.

Once at the Katima-house (as marked by the Katima-van parked outside of it) we were greeted by 9 enthusiastic and interesting people. I know that we will have a good time together. In total there are six girls and five guys. Many different characters but a surprisingly good mesh between us all. Even though it was late, we all stayed up to chat and learn about eachother. After a while the less fool-hardy of us went to bed, while the others stayed up to play card and board games and try to pretend the french is not going to be a problem. There is one solid francophone, two or three bilinguals and the rest know little to no french. Quebec will be fun.

There is no wireless internet so I don't know how often I will get a chance to blog, but I will try to get on here often! The next few days we are here at the house, but soon we will get our work placements. I am very excited for that, but for now am content to chill with my new friends in the brightly painted house.

A new adventure everyday, No worries

One Day Before

Its September 7th, 11:58
I have exactly fourteen hours and 17 minutes until my bus rolls out of the station. I have no idea how it will go. Alone on the bus.
I have been trying to make the most of my last few days here. Thanks to my wonderful freinds, this last week has been wonderful. I went to the Frex today, and somehow it is not as exciting as I remember.
 I have never been so reluctant to leave this city. I grew up here, and for the last 5 years at least, I have been dreaming of leaving it. Now I almost want to stay here. But I know that this trip will be the adventure I have been craving. My friends are all talking about studying and getting organized for class and school, and it makes me wonder if I am making the right choice by taking the year off to volunteer. But then I remember that this year gives me the chance to explore and see more of Canada before having to submit myself to the headache of school fees and tuition. 
I will miss you Fredericton, I'll see you all on the flip side

A new adventure everyday, so no worries.

One Week Before

Dear Fredericton, I know we have known each other for a very long time, and we have had some good times. But I think that our relationship has run it's course, at least for now. I think that we should see other people.. What I'm trying to say is that I'm leaving you for Quebec. Don't take it personally...
              Best of Love
                           Irene

As I sit here, in my now barren room, I begin to think about the magnitude of what I am about to do. Going away in September is nothing new to the just graduted. Countless coming-of-age books and movies are based on it *cough* Looking For Alaska *cough* but what I find over whelming is this: I was not born here, but I grew up here. I am so accustomed to Fredericton and the way it lives that, while growing up, my little sister and I were convinced that all cities have a river running through them. Emptying out my room was surreal. I found papers, books, pictures, even a few shirts that I had assumed long gone. I found bits of my past that I had hoped to forget...

Today is September first. In exactly seven days and 5 hours, I will be in the Acadian Bus terminal, with bags and family, just waiting for the first step in a six month adventure. Who knows what I will find! I have been to Quebec and Quebec City before, but never on my own.

In each Katimavik Group there are eleven volunteers. The breakdown goes: 2 from BC, 2 from the Prairies, 3 from Ontario, 3 from Quebec and one from the East Coast. That means that out of the eleven people there, I am the only representative from PEI, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrodour, and New Brunswick. I don't know why, but that idea just taunts me.

All I know is that I have to keep my head up and take everything one day at a time. I will up-date this as often as possible, and try to keep in touch with my East Coast friends.

Every day a new adventure, so no worries.