It's raining....

again. I know it is the rainy season here in Zambia - it is the rainy season almost everywhere right now - but this is ridiculous!!! It was sunny this morning for Miriam and I to go grocery shopping and for me to go to the bank, but now it is raining again so our plans for exploring livingstone have been put on hold.

We went to victoria falls yesterday for christmas. It was stunning. We went on a hike down to the boiling pot - a set of rapids just down stream from the base of the falls. We hiked down a gorge, crossed a stream and got wet, and climbed over rocks to get down to the bottom. It was fun going down - not so much fun going up - but it was worth it. Beautiful! We were near the bottom of the bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe and watched a few people bunjee jump off the bridge. miriam is thinking about doing it but I think I will pass this time :)

Last night we joined three women we met here for dinner. We went to a restaurant across the street from our backpackers (called fawlty towers hehe) that claimed an authentic zambian experience. The food was pretty good and it was well done except the dancers were wearing zulu clothes, danced zulu dances and even sang some ladysmith black mambazo, a very zulu group who can be heard on Paul Simon's Graceland album. It cracked me up.

We are still here for a week so we are hoping the rain holds off a little so we can enjoy our adventures without getting too wet. Yesterday at the falls we got soaking wet from the rain, but that wasn't a big deal since we would have gotten soaking wet from the spray of the falls anyway. The plan for the rest of today is to book our various activities, explore livingstone and find my dad's house and do a little shopping. A nice relaxing day!

Greetings from Zambia

Well, here I am in Lusaka! Finally after several delayed flights and a very short visit in Nairobi with Pip. I arrived on friday, explored the neighbourhood a little, went to the near by shopping centre - wow this place reminds me of Botswana! Only much greener of course... I had dinner at a cute cafe which also has internet - I am there now actually. Then I went "home" to the guest house, went to bed early. I woke up half an hour later and was violently ill. Apparently this cute cafe did not agree with my stomach so I spent most of the night in the bathroom throwing up. It was very pleasant. So I will not be eating here again and I made loud comments about the food as I was walking in, but it has the cheapest internet around so what can you do?

I am feeling better today, though still a little off. If I continue to feel like this after I arrive in Livingston tomorrow I will see a doctor - don't worry parents I will be fine!

Aside from the sick part, Zambia is good. Mirriam arrived yesterday and we explored downtown a little today. It is sunday so most things are closed but we will have some time to explore further on our way back in january.

So that is all for now. Tomorrow we take the 7 hour bus ride to livingston and on christmas day we will go to victoria falls - a good way to spend the day!

busy, busy, busy!

It has been a crazy week. My two bosses from canada arrived last saturday morning and we spent all week facilitating a workshop for thirty people. I arrived for work by 7am every day and the earliest I got home was 6pm. It was a great week - alot of learning, good ideas and fellowship, but it was also a very stressful busy week! We didn't even have a venue until the friday before and then we had to switch to a new place for our second day. But it was nice to have Philip and Peter around and we straigtend up some things with my supervisor here as far as what my role will be in January. So hopefully I'll get out of the office more often and actually do some community development work! Very excited about that.

Aside from the craziness of the workshop I had the craziness of moving. I am finally living in my new house! It is nice, but I haven't really had time to enjoy it since I have been so busy. It is quiet and I miss the kamaris but having my own space is really nice too. I leave for Zambia on thursday for my christmas holidays and when I get home the house will be filled with my roommate's family. Pip's parents and grandfather are coming for a visit so that will be great fun.

I'm looking forward to Zambia, especially since I recieved my credit card in the mail today - I am no longer poor! I will spend one day in Kenya on my way there and another on my way back since the flights are silly. I arrive in Lusaka, the Zambian capital on friday and my friend Miriam, another WV intern working in DRC, will meet me there on saturday. We head out to Livingstone on the 24th and we'll spend Christmas at victoria falls. We have a couple of adventures planned including canoeing on the Zambezi river and a night game drive. It will be good to just be a tourist for a bit!

It is weird to think that it is christmas though. At home there is a lot of snow, and here it is hot and sunny. Well, hot and sunny when it isn't cold and raining. :) The traffic circles are decorated for christmas and some of the big hotels are as well. If it weren't for these garlands and lights standing out and catching my attention I might forget that christmas is so close! But I have been listening to Christmas music trying to get into the spirit.

I don't know what my internet access in Zambia will be like, so just in case, Merry christmas to everyone! And a happy new year.

Workshops and Salsa

Last night I went out with some friends to our regular thursday night hang out. It is a place called Pasadina in the Gikondo area of Kigali. Thursday nights are Salsa nights. No, I am not talking about the yummy mexican treat that you eat with nacho chips. It is Latin music meets Kigali and it is a lot of fun. They teach salsa dancing every week starting at 7pm and as the night goes on the steps get harder and more advanced. I am still very much a beginner although those salsa lessons I took at CMU actually stayed with me so I don't step on anyone's feet - at least not very often!



Tomorrow my bosses from Canada arrive here in Kigali and on monday we start a week long training workshop. It is a little stressful since there are still so many details to take care of (our venue fell through at the last minute leaving us scrambling) but I am looking forward to seeing them both again and the workshop should go smoothly as long as we find somewhere to hold it! This will be the biggest training we do all year and people from all over the country are coming. At least next week I know that I will be working everyday, and I know what will be going on every day. A real treat and very different from the way things have been going here lately!

Also tomorrow I finally move into my new place. I do this with mixed feelings as I really love the family I have been staying with. It is nice to have people around to share the happenings of the day with, to eat with and share the happenings of the day. However it will also be nice to have my own space and to be able to cook for myself. The place is near to town and to church. We are expecting to have a lot of visitors once people figure out we are living there - and the neighbourhood kids will be camped out at our gate. I figure this will get frustrating at some point but it is also a great opportunity to interact with the community and with people from church. So it is good.

Well, I am at work, so maybe I should actually find some work to do....

A taste of poverty

So I'm getting a lesson in what it means to actually be poor. Thursday night I went out to a restaurant with some friends and my wallet was stollen. Whether someone actually took it from my bag or if I left it on the table and someone 'found' it is as yet unclear, but the fact remains I have no money. Unfortunately I had both of my credit cards in my wallet at the time. I was planning to go to the bank that day (my only access to money is through my credit cards) but got held up in line at the post office so never actually got there. So both my credit cards, my driver's liscence and my emergency health insurance card are all gone.

I now have about 175$ to last me until my cards can be replaced and sent to me here. I am not completely penniless, and this is more money than a lot of people here make in a year. However the whole experience has taught me a lot about how I view money. I have never thought of myself as particularily materialistic and I am careful with my money,but as I try to figure out how to stretch this money - transportation, food, electricity, airtime for my cell, water etc - I realize how much I have taken for granted. Thankfully my apartment is paid for by work, but food isn't. I can't book my trip to Zambia without a credit card so now my plans are on hold until they are replaced - hopefully in less than three weeks so I can still go!

I am trying to keep a good attitude and see this as a learning opportunity and to lean on God for things, but it is frustrating nonetheless.

Good bye Paul Simon

This may seem like a weird title, especially since I am a pretty big Paul Simon fan. However, I have had his song 'Homeless' from the Graceland album in my head non-stop for the past four weeks. It is a great song, but a little depressing when you are essentially homeless.

But no more! We found a house!! It is a really great place and our patience (or impatience...) has paid off. It is right beside the church where Pip works, and we both attend. It is very near the centre of town, close to public transit and the house itself is great. The landlord originally wanted 500$ more than we could pay a month. When we explained that we are essentially volunteers he brought the price down. He is replacing the stove and the fridge with new ones, adding screens to the windows (hallelujah!) and basically redoing the kitchen. So even though the house itself is not that old to begin with, we are essentially going to move into a brand new house! Pip is in Kenya right now so I will move it next week when all the work is finished. The house has three bedrooms so there is a place for visitors, or maybe another roommate, and three bathrooms. It has hot water (sooooo excited) and showers!!! No more bucket baths for me. Really, this house is more luxery than we were looking for so we are incredibly blessed. We even get an oven so I can bake bread and stuff. Mmmmm.

Ranguage Chan be Rots of fun!

The small idiosyncrasies of language intrigue me. For example, in Kinyarwandan the letters ‘L’ and ‘R’ are often interchangeable. This means my name is exceptionally difficult for some people – Rola, Lola, Rora – not to mention being called Nora, Laurant and other weird variations.

It also makes for some minor, though amusing, misunderstandings when speaking with my Rwandese friends. For example:

Walking in the city centre with Pip and David
David to Pip - “Don’t walk on the glass!”
Looking around our feet I cannot see any glass. Then it occurs to me – we are walking on the grass J

Two weeks ago I did not go to church since it was pouring rain and I would have had to walk up the muddy hill to get to the bus. So Pip and I stayed home, listened to some Rob Bell sermons and had church in the living room. The next day I was talking with one of my friends, Enok.
He said to me “ So you and Pip played in your room on Sunday?” I looked at him in confusion.
- “Um, we did what?”
-“You played in your room.” Silence and a confused look. Finally understanding dawned.
-“Yes, we did. We prayed in our room.”

It is interesting to me though that although read can become lead and there are many other examples where the R and L are switched, Rwanda is never called Lwanda.
Another interesting language variation comes with the Ugandan accent. Many Rwandans found themselves on the Ugandan side of the border when the Europeans drew their arbitrary lines (this also happened with the Congo). So these Ugandan Rwandans speak Kinyarwandan but with a different accent. This is most obviously manifested in the pronunciation of the letter ‘K’ and the ‘CH’ sound. For some reason sometimes the ‘K’ is pronounced as a CH – Chigli instead of Kigali. Also the ‘CH’ is often pronounced as a K – KaCHyiru instead of Kacyiru (the area of town where WV head office is located). This is most amusing and confusing with Kitchen and Chicken. Kitchen (the place where you cook) is often pronounced as Chicken and Chicken (the bird you eat) is pronounced as Kitchen. This can cause a little bit of confusion when talking about what is for dinner

What is the deal with Rwanda anyway?

I have said over and over again that I love it here in Rwanda, but since work is often frustrating and the housing hunt has become epic some may wonder WHY I love this place so much. what is the deal with Rwanda anyway? I find it very hard to articulate but here is my effort:

Mountains – everywhere you look, there are hills upon hills. Terraces of maize, cassava and various other crops can be seen along with banana trees and tea. Everything is vibrantly green and even on cloudy days when it is raining there is an element of otherworldly beauty in these hills. I can go for a few days without really noticing it and then suddenly I turn around and it takes my breath away.

Kigali Traffic – I have a friend currently in Vietnam and I read in his blog about traffic in Hanoi and count myself blessed - traffic here in Kigali is crazy enough. While for my friend dealing with the traffic is taking his life in his hands, for me it is a source of amusement, wonder and occasionally pure terror. Some examples:
Lanes are just lines on the road, they are suggestions but really don’t mean anything.

Right of way goes to whichever vehicle is bigger, faster or more reckless.

Motorcycle taxis can go anywhere – including the wrong side of the road, sidewalks, gutters and just about anywhere else you can think of.

Bus taxis – large vans that serve certain routes – pay little attention to pedestrians, fit up to 25 people ‘comfortably’ and I am never certain if the banging sound I just heard was not in fact some vitally important piece of the engine falling off.

Honking is a language unto itself. It has its own grammatical structure here. There are honks that say “I am passing you on the left”, or on the right or “move over”. There are honks that say “Do you want a taxi?” or “I know you!” or just “hey look at the mzungu!” (mzungu is the word for white person or foreigner but it is not derogatory)

The Streets – There is always so much going on in the streets. People selling clothes -jeans, shoes, suit jackets; selling food, things for tourists, airtime etc. The streets are always full of people. Even at 10 pm or 1am, there are people walking from place to place. Kigali is one of the safest cities in Africa so crime is a minor concern. While walking home it is not uncommon to come across a couple of goats happily grazing on the street or several cows wandering through. While this does not happen in the city centre like it does in Mthatha South Africa, it happens often enough.

The people – Rwandans seem reserved and dignified when you first meet them – and they are. But they love to laugh and joke and have fun in a way that blows your first impressions out of the water. The Rwandans that I work with are warm, friendly and hard working. My Rwandan friends make sure that I am taken care of and fine. Despite the tragedies of the past, Rwandans have a hopeful and positive vision of their future and are working hard to make this future a reality. It is amazing to watch and a genuine honour to be a part of.

So, now maybe you can see a little of why I love this place so much. I have been here a month and already it feels normal and comfortable. I feel very much at home here, at least most days. Of course there are still cultural things that confuse me – the greetings and the language, but slowly, (bohora bohora) I am getting it.

A few more pictures:)

My first night in Kigali Pip, David and I went to a wedding wearing traditional Rwandese Mushanana. Normally only guys IN the wedding wear this, while most women guests dress this way. Needless to say we got a lot of stares walking down the street like this!!



Isabella is the daughter of Jen and Serge, the people I am staying with while I search for a house. She had her first birthday a couple of weeks ago - huge party and her first time eating cake!

She was enthralled by the candle and shortly after this picture was taken she knocked over the cupcake and the candle hit a little girl beside her. Scared the girl but she wasn't hurt.

Pictures - Finally!!

Finally I can post some pictures! Here are a few pics from my week in Tanzania - can't you just see an elephant or a lion wandering through the brush?!


Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa. My last day in Tanzania we went up to the base camp of Kilimanjaro too - such a beautiful place!


Me infront of Kilimanjaro :)



Our last day we also went to see this waterfall. We had fun splashing in the water and enjoying the sun. This picture shows some of the participants in the launch workshop that I went to. It was the introduction and grand launch of the project that I am currently working on.


Mount Kilimanjaro from the airplane at sunrise. This view almost made up for all the stress I suffered that morning trying to get to the airport on time!

Housing woes

So I found an apartment that was perfect. The top floor of a house, three bedrooms, fully furnished including dishes, just up the hill from my church and a five minute walk from the main road. Beautiful tile, hot water and a nice view. We were supposed to be able to move in on saturday. Well that didn't happen.

Last tuesday we saw the place and said we wanted to rent it. The owner said we could pick up the contract the next day. So I went to meet him, but he didn't have the contract. Tomorrow he said. Well he never showed on thursday, wasn't ready on friday and never called like he said he would on saturday. Finally on monday Pip, my roommate to be, went to the house to see what was going on. Turns out the guy's brother is living in the house, not renting it, but now it is not available until sometime in december. He wasn't even going to tell us that we couldn't rent it.

So now we are back to square one. More house hunting, negotiations and stress. I just want to be able to unpack my bags and not live out of a suitcase anymore!! Grrr.

On the up side - MY BUDGET IS FINISHED!! No more budgets for me :) Yahoo

Lizards and birthday parties

I shared my "shower" with a lizard the other day.

Just one more part of living here:) I think I finally have a house. We are hoping to get the contract this morning and move in by monday. I am very excited about this as it means that I will finally be able to unpack all my stuff - I'll be able to find my stuff and get settled. I will also be able to make my own food and have a real shower again! Maybe even with hot water!! The luxery. Though I may miss my shower friend...

Today is Prince's birthday, and no I don't mean the artist formerly known as. The family I am staying with has a now ten year old son and this is a really big deal - double digits. So there will be 50 kids at the house when I get back today! It will be fun and I am trying to duck out early so that I can be there for most of it.

Work is going well. All of a sudden I feel like I have a hundred and one things that need to be done but the pace of work here is much slower than at home so I am not actually sure it will all be done when it should be. Oh well, such is life.

This is just a short post, since I am at work and should be figuring out why my budget does not equal. I do not like budgets. at all. I may have said that before, but I dislike them that much that it bears repeating. But hopefully it will be finished and sent off by tuesday and then I never have to touch it again!

Hopefully my next post will be made by a person who is no longer homeless!!

more settling in

Nearly a week since my last post, and not too much to report. I’m still looking for an apartment. Pip Horne and I are going to live together – very exciting – but so far we keep striking out in the housing department. We thought we had found a place – a huge three bedroom, two bathroom, fully furnished with dishes and everything and 3 balconies. Turns out the toilets don’t actually work. If they fix it we may consider it, but for now we are back on the hunt. There is no real shortage of places in Kigali, it is just finding a place that meets our budget and our location needs and we need a place that is at least mostly furnished. To buy furniture for five months seems impractical and very expensive.

Aside from the accommodation woes, things are moving very slowly on the work front as well. I actually am ‘working from my hotel’ today, just as I did yesterday. I actually do have some work to do, but not a lot. And my hotel room is not so comfortable or roomy so I am at Bourbon coffee shop drinking a caramel macchiato and watching the rain. I am starting to get a little frustrated with work since nothing is really happening, but I have to keep reminding myself to relax and enjoy. I am hear to learn and experience, not to make sure the project is a success so I can take some of the pressure off myself. Also, time here works much differently than at home. Everything that needs to be done will get done eventually.

Living in Kigali is a great experience. I have a World Vision driver named Jean Malie who takes me to and from work, but aside from that I am on my own with the public transit system. It actually works quite well and is not that complicated but there have been times where I long for the transit systems of home, or better yet, my own land rover!

Sunday I took a ‘bus’ to church – a 15 seater combie van – and it was really easy. I loved church and my friend Dora translated for me so I even got to understand most of what was happening. After church I went out for lunch with Jen, Serge and a couple from Elmira who are part of an International Teams team that is here from Woodside. I took a taxi to Novotel Hotel where we had lunch since there wasn’t room in their car but on the way home I decided to save some money and take a bus back to the hotel. This should have been easy. There is a bus stop a couple of meters down the road from the hotel and many many buses were going past. They were going to Remera, to Kimirongko, to Kiciciyru and to many other places. None of them were going to Momodji (town centre) where I wanted to go. So I waited. And waited and waited. A young woman sat beside me and we started chatting in French and a young man decided that I needed help getting a bus so he started yelling at each bus that stopped that the mzungu needed to go to Momodji. Of course they were all full and already going to other locations so this didn’t really serve any purpose except to draw even more attention to me. Finally an hour and a half later a bus to momodji came by and I was able to squeeze in. I have had a couple of other adventures with the transit system here but my mom reads this blog now so I won’t go into detail :)

stress relief

What a difference one day makes! Thursday I woke up stressed and anxious – couldn’t really eat breakfast. I mentioned in my last post that I had seen where I was supposed to stay and that it was really small. Well, I don’t think I conveyed exactly how small. It would have been ok I guess for a week or so – but 5 months? So as I thought more about it and started picturing the next five months I started to freak out a little. We had discussed with the WV Canada staff during our orientation that we needed to make sure that our accommodation was appropriate and comfortable so remembering that I decided to talk to my boss thursday morning and ask if there were any other alternatives.

Turns out there aren’t really any options in Nyamata. So I will be living in Kigali! It is only about a half hour drive to Nyamata from the city so it isn’t even a long commute. And I will probably be sharing a flat with at least one other Canadian so not only will I have room to turn around, I will have roommates again! I am very very very excited about this!! We are still looking around for flats, though one has caught our eye and it is fully furnished which is a big plus. It is near the church I attend here and not far from the main road where I can catch buses to get into the centre of town or to work. It is all an answer to prayer and it happened really before I even prayed about it!!

As for what I am doing at work, it is a little dull at the moment. We are working out of the main office right now and there is no space for us. Thursday I was sharing a desk with two other people and the day before that there were four of us. On friday Apollo (my supervisor and the coordinator of the project) and I snagged an empty office. We are working on the budget for our project right now. It is boring and slow work but it has to be done. We are nearly finished so early next week we will sit down with an accountant and figure out how many mistakes we made! Also on Monday we will be heading out to Gashora, the other area in which this project will be operating. It is near Nyamata, about 30km from there, so somewhere around 60 km from the city, if the roads were straight. Which of course they are not!

It is the rainy season now in Rwanda. What this means is that it is sunny and hot in the mornings and then the wind starts to blow harder around noon. The clouds come and there is at least one sustained downpour in the afternoon – Tuesday we had two thunderstorms – and then the winds calm down, the sun comes out and it is nice again, if a little cooler.

Today is saturday and it is 'work day.' The last saturday of every month people have to do work to clean or better kigali as a city. This lasts until 11am and nothing is open. I walked up to the main shopping centre this morning around 10:45 and it was down right freaky. No traffic - at all. Almost no people on the street. Nothing open and it creeped me out. I met up with two american girls who were also waiting to get into the coffee shop and we chatted and hung out until we were able to get in. I have met some really interesting people since I've been here. People from all over the world are in Kigali doing all sorts of interesting things!

Just another day at the office

So today was my second day in the office here in Kigali. Yesterday was slow and boring and I spent a lot of time trying to look busy even though I wasn't. We are trying to get the budget nailed down for the project - this is not the exciting part!! So it involved a lot of waiting for feedback and pricing. Today was more of the same in the morning, though it felt like things had actually been accomplished which is nice. This afternoon my supervisor was out of the office so I was told that I could work from my hotel if I wanted - space is at a premium. So here I am in a coffee shop a few blocks from my hotel working. Rather, now I am finshed working so I get to play! I met some fun people while I was working, so the day as a whole has been really good. I woke up this morning feeling a little homesick and frustrated but now I'm feeling much better. Just have to stay busy!

Tomorrow Apollo(my supervisor) and I are heading out to Nyamata, the area where we will be based. It is about an hour drive from the city and we'll be looking at what supplies and equipment we'll need, who we need to include in our trainings and I will also get to check out my accomodations for the next couple of months. Hopefully it is a good day.

Tonight I am meeting another CIDA intern who has been here in Kigali for a couple of weeks already. I have been meeting people left and right! Nice so that I have people to hang out with and things to do so i don't go insane.

Today is cold and rainy - on par for rainy season here. I'm even wearing long sleeves. Even grey and raining Rwanda is a beautiful place to be!!

Adventures from the road

I made it! I am in Kigali and I made here safe and sound, and on time. That in itself is a miracle.

My fellow intern Miriam and I left our hotel in Tanzania very very early on saturday morning. We piled all our stuff in the van at 4am and needed to be at the airport for 5am for a flight that left at 6. So we're driving down the road in the dark, trying to get a little more sleep and the check engine light comes on in the dash. The driver ignores this and keeps driving. Then the van starts making odd noises, lurching and clunking. The driver pulls over and checks under the passenger seat - I guess this is where the radiator is located. Good thing Miriam and I had some bottles of water and these were sacrificed to the radiator. Steam and smoke billowed out into the van so that Miriam and I and all our stuff smelled like burning oil and gross, but it seemed to do the trick and we were good to go. Or so we thought. Just as we pulled into a small town the jerking and clunking started again and we barely made it into a petrol station before the van quit, smoke billowing. So we were stuck in the middle of nowhere in the dark. You should have seen Miriam and I standing on the side of the road laughing. What else could we do?! Evenutally we found a taxi and made it to the airport - at 5:50. Miraculously they let us on the flight and we got to Nairobi close to the time we were supposed to - around 7am. My flight to Kigali was boarding at 6:45. I really thought I would be stuck in Nairobi but God must have been watching over things because that flight was delayed and I made the connection easily. So much stress and all before 8am!!

So now I am in Kigali and am very happy to be here! Last night I went to a wedding with some friends and wore a traditional rwandese dress - pictures to come - and now I'm off to Jen and Serge's daughter Isabella's first birthday party.

Greetings from Kilimanjaro

After a LONG trip with almost no sleep I have arrived! And it's great! The workshop is going really well - I'm very busy and haven't completely recovered from jet lag yet, but I'm learning lots, meeting interesting people from all over and I'm really loving it. I have a better understanding of what I might be doing once I arrive in Rwanda, though that will still change I'm sure!

I am really excited to actually be doing development stuff. Discussing Livelihoods Approaches and how they translate to activities and interventions on the ground and talking about systems theories and what they look like in real life, observing them in a Development Project. Frankly I'm in heaven!!

I'm also really excited about the feedback I'm getting from the people I'm working with. I don't need to be patted on the back or anything like that but to hear that I'm doing a good job, asking good questions - this makes me more sure that this is where I am supposed to be, and what I am supposed to be doing. That is a good thing!!

Last post from Canada

Well, it is almost time! Finally. I am almost packed and only have a few errands to run tomorrow and then I am ready to go. It is so weird to think that in a couple days I'll be back in Africa. I'm excited but I'm going to miss friends and snow and hot showers. But I am excited for avacados, fanta, mountains, banana trees and people everywhere. So this will be my last post from Canada. I'll try to post from Tanzania - I'll be in Moshi town just outside of Arusha at the foot of Kilimanjaro for five days and then off to Kigali Rwanda. I don't know how many people still read this but I enjoy posting here more than on facebook.

Now I will go to sleep and then it is only 1 more sleep until I go!

FIVE DAYS!!!

Happy turkey day everyone! Yesterday my family had a very yummy turkey dinner and it was nice to spend time with the family. Especially since I leave for Africa in five days!!

I have not posted in over a week since I did not have internet access at the house where I was staying and I thought maybe I shouldn't post while at work. There have been many blog worthy events but I will just summarize the important ones.

First, I saw the movie 'Shake Hands with the Devil' on wednesday night. I really liked it. Roy Depuis plays Gen Dallaire and does a really great job. The movie is a little technical - looks at the hows and whys of the genocide, but it is well done and especially for a Canadian film, it is worth seeing.

Second, I spent most of the week doing work that actually had to do with what I studied at school! I was going over annual plans and logical frameworks for programmes in tanzania, senegal and mali. I loved it! I even took two home to do over the weekend since it is so busy and I actually enjoy the work.

And finally, I recieved my finalized itinerary this week. I leave on saturday - this saturday! at 6pm from Toronto. There are 7 of us from world vision traveling together for a 5 day workshop in tanzania so I'll have company on the long flights, which is nice. we are flying through amsterdam but only have 3 hours there so no exploring the city this time. But this means we get to Arusha tanzania on sunday evening. Then I spend five days learning and seeing mount Kilimanjaro and then I leave for rwanda bright and early on the 20th. I land in Kigali at 8:25am where I'll be met my Pip and David, two friends from my last trip. Very excited!!

There is so much to do between now and saturday!! People to see, things to pack. It's crazy! i will be trying to post on a regular bases while I am away, and while some of the posts may be cut and pasted into facebook, this will be my primary post place. I just like it better :)

where does the time go?!

So I went away to mississauga for a week and I came home and all of a sudden Fall had arrived. I didn't notice while in Mississauga, mostly because I hardly left the office or hotel most of the week, but it definately has arrived. The trees are all sorts of pretty colours, the fields are a golden brown and even the sky is a different colour. I love fall!

Time is going by very quickly. My weekend zoomed by and I feel like I got nothing done. In reality I got through about half of my to-do list, but time went by so quickly i didn't have time to breath. One thing on my list was to vote. I will not be near my polling station on election day, so I voted at the advance poll. It was exciting for a couple reasons. first, I have missed my last two chances to vote - the last federal election was while I was in South Africa and due to a breakdown in internet access I actually went a week without knowing who the prime minister of Canada was. the Last provincial election took place while I was at school in winnipeg. So I finally got to vote. The other reason it is exciting is because there is a referendum about a new election system. For those of you who do not live in Ontario, the new system is call MMP - multiple member p-something. Anyway, if it goes though it would mean a more representative method of electing MPPs. I like it alot and it would especially benefit parties like NDP and the green party where the number of seats in Parliament do not actually represent the percentage of the vote they recieved. Yahoo.

Now I am in Downtown Toronto sitting in my hotel room. Differnet hotel than last week, I am here for a training/orientation course with the Centre of Inter-cultural learning through CIDA. It looks like it will be a little bit repetative since I just did most of this stuff with World Vision last week, but there will be several other people here with other organizations so that is good. I like meeting other people going overseas! It is always fun to meet new people and compare experiences.

It begins!!

So today was my first day as an intern with World Vision. I am really excited about it all and haven't really gotten to process it all. we had a tour today of the head offices of World Vision canada and met our mentors, learned how to use Lotus Notes (already knew that one....) and got our shiny new laptops. yahoo! except mine has a crapy battery so I have to have it plugged in at all times, so it is really not much different from my own laptop except it is much smaller and lighter.

There are two other inters going through training with me. Miriam is going to DRC (the not-so-democratic republic of congo) and Joanna is headed to tanzania. They both have their master's degrees and are a little older than me, but seem very nice and we all get along very well. They live close enough that they are commuting every day whereas I live in a hotel five steps away from the office. Very convenient! I have a huge king sized bed, a small kitchen and I'm bored because there is no one to talk to.

That is all for now. Stuff to read and things to do!

It is Time...

So this afternoon my parents are driving me to Mississauga where I will settle into my hotel room tonight and get ready for tomorrow when I will start my internship with World Vision. This freaks me out - in a good way, but still freaked. Things have gone on in the last week - my last day of work, a birthday dinner for Jen, a blind date and spending time in my garden, but I can't really concentrate on anything well enough to actually tell you about it. Maybe later, but for now, it is Time.

The countdown is on!!

This time next week I will be settling into my hotel room in Mississauga getting ready for my first day of orientation. One week left! Still lots to do, and it hasn't really set in yet. I'm working full time at the recruitment job and I spent 6 hours in the office on saturday just trying to catch up on the backlog of paperwork. So, I haven't had time to really dwell on the whole leaving to go back to Africa thing. Yesterday we went out for dinner for Carley's birthday. We went to Sole, a fancy restaurant and had a really yummy meal that cost a lot of $. Today I went shopping trying to fill the holes in my wardrobe for my internship and so I spent more $$. So really it is a good thing that I am working so much!

My exciting day

It began like any other day. I woke up, pressed snooze and fell back asleep, then woke up again. I got a coffee on the way to work, did some interviews, some data entry and some filing. Went to lunch with my sister, then did some more interviews, data entry and filing. Very exciting. Then I left work.

I take two buses to get home from work. Between these two buses I usually have to wait about 20 minutes and since there is a starbucks on the corner where I wait, I occasionally break down and treat myself to a grande half-sweet, non-fat, no water tazo chai tea latte. Today as I was sitting in starbucks waiting for the bus I watched a couple of idiot teenagers jumping into traffic, running along side cars and generally being stupid. They were waiting at my bus stop. So the bus comes, I leave starbucks and get on the bus. We have gone two blocks when one of these idiot boys comes to the front of the bus where I am sitting and asks the bus driver for a first aid kit because he has somehow managed to cut his arm on the seat. The driver pulls over to call in a report and then as she is getting the first aid kit, she realizes that this isn't some little scratch. It is a cut nearly 2 inches long and the idiot boy* is dripping blood all over the bus. So she has to call an ambulance. The fire truck arrived first since we were just around the corner from the fire station and idiot boy and his friends get off the bus. One of the other passengers on the bus calls the driver over to tell her that he was on another bus with the hooligans and explained that they had gotten into a fight with an old man on the other bus and then he went on to describe their traffic games. My fellow passenger says that he wouldn't be surprised if idiot boy cut himself on purpose. Another passenger pipes up that she overheard one of idiot boy's female friends tell him he should cut himself and then somehow he mysteriously now had a cut on his arm. So by now the ambulance has arrived and we are quite the spectacle in rush hour traffic - a bus with a fire truck behind it and an ambulance behind it and a couple hooligan idiots out on the sidewalk with the paramedics. With the police on the way our extra bus finally arrives and the two other passengers are asked to stay behind to make a statement to the police. After a little while the rest of us finally board the new bus and continue on our merry way. 40 minutes after idiot boy first asked for the first aid kit. And so ends my exciting day.


* Names have been changed to protect the idiotic.

No cats were hurt in the making of this post

I was on the phone last week with Annemarie and I walked into my kitchen and freaked out. Amp laughed at me, but I was not happy to see the furry little mouse scurrying around my kitchen floor. I actually stepped up on a chair - not really out of fear, more out of disgust since I was barefoot and it grossed me out. My cat was less than helpful and ran in the opposite direction when she saw the cat. I asked to borrow amp's cats, but that wasn't really realistic. So then I had to find a mouse trap, all the while blabbing nonesense into the phone at Annemarie who was trying to be as supportive as someone on the other side of the country can be, but at the same time she was laughing at me and my crisis. I finally found a mouse trap in the back hall closet, but then I couldn't get it to work. Really, this should not have been hard. They are not all that complicated, but I couldn't get the stupid bar to hook onto the snapy part. Finally I got it set up and I tried to put it under the fridge - since this is where the mouse ran to - but it wouldn't fit. So I put it right beside the fridge. Annemarie and I finished our phone conversation and I went upstairs. An hour later I heard a distinctive snap and my cat running around (for such a small cat, she makes a lot of noise when she runs). I went downstiars to find the trap had been set off, but not by a mouse. Now the trap did not actually snap on my cat or hurt her in anyway - I think she just sniffed it and it went off. Anyway, the mouse was still on the loose but I put the trap away so as to not hurt my poor scared cat. This all happened while my parents are out of town. All my mouse adventures do. But I didn't see the mouse again until after they came home and now we have trapped two mice and we think that is all there is. We hope. So that is the less than climactic ending of my story. But my next cat will chase mice and be useful.

fun and frustrations

Saturday was my last shift at Zehrs ... and there was much rejoicing! So no more stupid mindless scanning of food and rude customers! This is very good. I do like most of the people I worked with so not seeing them anymore is a little sad, but overall leaving is a very good thing. Now I have three weeks of working at my HR job and then it is off to Mississauga to live in a hotel.

I have been having a good week. The weekend was full of fun and people and movies - I finally saw Harry Potter - and friends are home from Europe. Tomorrow we are watching all the So you think you can dance episodes that Steph and Andrea PVRed while they were gone so no one tell Steph who won.

Right now I am trying to get my application together for interest relief on my student loan so that I don't have to pay it while I am in Africa. This is very annoying and there are two pay stubs that have buggered off or are hiding somewhere. I am also trying to pause my gym membership while I am gone and that is a big hassle too. I don't like all the admin and beaurocracy involved in planning for my trip - don't even ask about my visa- but I am starting to get really excited about the internship. September is almost here so it is starting to feel real.

Fun things in the summer!

So summer is going by very quickly! This is sad because it means I will be leaving soon, but it is happy, for the very same reason! So the best thing to happen lately is that I gave my notice to Zehrs. This means I am almost done there. Yahoo!! Also, I went camping on the long weekend and had lots of fun. I went with Pam, my cousin Mike and a friend named Jen. It was great. We went hiking, we went swimming and we ate copious amounts of marshmellows with chocolate and graham crackers. The weather was terrific and the whole thing was very relaxing.

Another fun thing is that tomorrow I am starting to make skirts out of the fabric I brought home from Rwanda. My friend's mom is helping me since I have limited sewing skills. I will post pictures when they are done. Yahoo.

Tomorrow we have a team bbq for my Rwanda team and I am excited to hang out with them again. My parents are off galvanting for the next week so I get the house to myself and can do dishes when I want and not when I am told to do them. This is very exciting.

So despite the crazy hours that I am still working there are fun things going on and there is light at the end of the 50 hr work week tunnel.

something for you to read.

I have decided to post even though I don't have anything of note to write. Now you will have something to read. I am going to be totally and utterly insane by the time friday roles around so pity Mike Pam and Jen who are going camping with me next weekend. I'm going camping!! I know I have already posted about this (at least I think I did, but I may have dreamt it.) but I am really looking forward to it. I am working at least 10 hours every day until then, but at least I will have some money to spend when I go to Kenya for Christmas.

Here is a story for you. Today at Zehrs a cute little old lady came through my till. You know the type - less than four feet tall, very delicate frame, curly cute old lady hair and very thick glasses. She was all smiley and called me dear. When I had finished ringing in her items she paid with debt. She must have pressed the wrong button because the next thing out of her mouth was "oh Shit! I've made a mistake. Dammit!"

It was all I could do not to let my mouth drop open in shock or to burst out laughing. It made my day.

Seriously, what day IS it?!

Honestly I am having trouble with this. Today I really thought it was friday, but it didn't really matter that it was only wednesday because it isn't like I have a real weekend anyway! Somehow in the midst of all this craziness I have still found time to read the last installment of Harry Potter - which I had to buy since I can't borrow it from Amp - see Transformers (fun!) and read a really good book called The White Man's Burden by William Easterly, which is about Development stuff so I don't expect anyone except me to enjoy reading it. It is his second book, and now I have to find his other one.

I really should go to bed since I haven't been sleeping well lately. I work between 9 and 13 hours most days and wake up every morning really tired, but by the time night comes around I am wide awake, so not much sleeping really occurs, which starts the horrible cycle all over again.

The cycle will be broken next weekend because I am going camping! I am very excited to spend a couple days in the woods and I am smugly satisfied that I snagged the very last site. Yahoo!

So now, I will go to sleep so I can start it all again tomorrow.

Malaria Free!!

I took my last malaria pill yesterday!! Yahoo! So, I guess I am not so much malaria free as malaria pill free, but whatever. I am sad though, since this means I have been home from Africa for four weeks. Weird. No worries though since the little blue pills will be back with me soon enough!!

Good thing I have Rwanda to look forward to. If I didn't I might go a little crazy with my work schedule. I'm back to working crazy hours so I'm looking forward to sunday, my first day off in almost two weeks. I'll have to enjoy it though since it'll be another two weeks before I get another one!

Still excited

Sorry for the lull in posting here. I will get around to telling more about my trip and putting up my pictures, I promise. For now I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I only have to work at Zehrs for another month and a half!! I leave for Rwanda in two and a half months!! I am still not sure what all this means but it got a little clearer yesterday when I got the orientation package from World Vision. Still don't know where I'll be living in Rwanda but more info about expectations and logistics makes this all seem real. It is very exciting!!!!

Aside from freaking out about this - I am moving back to Africa hourah!! I have been working in my veggie garden which is sadly lacking in veggies as of yet despite the abundence of leafy greenery. I have also been picking, washing and pitting cherries until my hands are semi-permanently died purple. So now you are mostly caught up with the happenings of my life. Sadly no camping adventures yet, but I must go before the end of the summer - anyone who lives in Ontario who wants to go, let me know!!

Yahoo!!

I can hardly sit still enough to type this! I got a call about ten minutes ago from World Vision. I GOT THE INTERNSHIP!!!! I don't even know if I have posted about this yet. So here's the background. Before I left for Rwanda I had applied for an internship with World Vision. It is a research and capacity building position working with national staff in Rwanda. Since I was going there anyway, I thought it would be a great thing to apply for. Then while I was in Rwanda we stayed right across the street from the World Vision offices in Kigali. The week after I got home I had an interview in Mississauga and now today I got a call saying I GOT THE INTERNSHIP! So I get to go back to Rwanda in October for at least six months. Now I have to go get ready for work at Zehrs but who cares since I only have to work there another couple of months!!!!

Finally - My Rwanda Trip - Part I

So, I have been putting this off because I don't really know where to start. Now I have been home for two weeks and it is silly that I haven't posted this yet. So here it goes.

My adventures started with an impossibly long trip - three planes and two days. We managed to have fun on this trip despite the lack of sleep, the rude awakenings at 1am for "supper", and spending several hours sleeping on the floor at the Frankfurt international airport. So after all this, we arrived in Rwanda.
I have never seen anything as beautiful as this country. South Africa is a stunning place and Canada is full of beautiful places but there is something about Rwanda that just made me fall in love. Kigali, the capital, is a crazy bustling city. So many people everywhere, and you can't dive straight. You are either going up or down at all times.



A view of Kigali from our guest house

The moon rising over Kigali


The church where we spent most of our time when we were in the city.




After a couple days of getting settled and planning we took off for Kibuye, which is a small city on the shores of Lake Kivu. Again, this place is the most beautiful place ever. We spent three days working in a refugee camp outside of the city, on the top of a mountain. While we were there we did leadership training with the Youth Workers in the camp.
Youth Ministry is a pretty new thing there so we talked alot about our experiences in Youth Ministry, what works, what doesn't, and the importance of having relationships with the youthe you work with. It was a really challenging but rewarding time. Three days was not long enough!

Somewhere around 18 000 people live in the camp. They are Congolese-Rwandan refugees who found themselves in the Congo when the Belgians drew the borders. Now they can see their home on a clear day, but they can't go there.

Lake Kivu is a volcanic lake so there are tons of inlets and islands making it great for scenic photos, but also for fish! We ate lots of fish and except for the times when the head was still attached, it was very yummy:)

Rwanda is known as the land of 1000 hills and it is not hard to guess why. Green lush mountains as far as the eye can see. We drove half an hour through the mountains everyday to get to the camp and

were treated to this magnificent scenary on the way.

I have to stop here for now, but the rest will follow soon.

Beam me home Scotty!

If only! I have decided that while I love to travel, I hate airplanes. Hate is a strong word, but it applies. I am not afraid to fly - in fact it is pretty cool. I just hate planes. It took us two days to get to Rwanda - three flights - and more than 20 hours to get home, also three flights but with less layovers, to get home. If only transporters like the ones in Star Trek really existed. Than I could go to Africa and back when ever I wanted!

Anyway, despite the neverending trip, I am home safe and sound. Rwanda was amazing. It is such a beautiful country with such amazing people. I loved being there and really I didn't want to come home. The trip was affirming, challenging, fun, sad, hard, comfortable. So many different conflicting but complimentary things. We saw and experienced so many things and I have only been home two hours so I don't think I can describe much of it yet. Pam already came over for a walk so we could chat more because we're both still processing. When I have things sorted out I will tell more, but for now I am home.

On the road again!

I can't stay in this country for a whole year! I arrived home last year on June 1st. I am leaving on May 31st.... I guess I must have ichy feet or something.

So here we go. I leave for the airport in one hour and twenty minutes. It still hasn't really set in that I'm leaving for three weeks. I will try to post if we get access to internet, but otherwise I'll be radio silent for the duration. I'll have lots of stories and pictures when I get back, so stay tuned!

RWANDA IN FOUR DAYS!!!

... well actually Germay is in four days. We don't actually get to Rwanda until saturday. But it is very exciting! I am mostly sort of packed - all my things are spread out on the bed in the spare room. We have plane tickets and it is all really happening! I am still not compelety at the place where I am ready to be going- my head is in a different place, but I'm sure it will be in the right place by the time I get to the airport on thursday. So, it has been a little while since my past post because my internet has been wonky. Heh, good preperation for Africa! :) Anyway, since my last post I cut my hair. People keep assuring me that it is still long but really, how can it be long after I got 7 inches cut off?! In my head I know that it is still long - just below my shoulders, but it is a big difference to me.
Also, I have applied for a real job. It makes me nervous to talk about but I sent in my application for an internship with World Vision. Keep that in your prayers when you think of it please! There is alot going on around here, so even if I don't get the job I think I will be content, but it would be a great thing to have a job that PAID, that is in my field.

I will try to post more before I leave. Four days! Crazy!!!!

Domestic Goddess Part II

I am so proud of my domestic prowess today. I worked at Zehrs this morning with Steph which was happy because we rarely work together, and we hardly ever see each other which is sad since we live only a few kms apart. Then I came home and put in a load of laundry. I started a batch of bread while the nice new washing machine cleaned my clothes. Then I went out to dig up my garden while the bread was rising and clothes were drying. The place where my new garden is was under patio stones and before that was lawn so the dirt is very packed in. I turned it, added peat moss and turned it all again. Inbetween the turnings I came inside, put in a second load of laundry, punched and divided my bread and did some dishes. I am the queen of multi-tasking! Now the bread is in the oven, the clothes are on the line outside and tomorrow my garden will get covered in top soil and I will find a fence to keep the mutato bunnies out.

Reunions and Rainfall.

Monday was lovely. I walked to work and it was nice and cool and sunny. I finished at 1pm and then walked home. Then I had lunch and got into the car with good happy cds and drove to Toronto. The traffic was great and I got to Mississauga very quickly (doing the speed limit of course....)and then traffic got heavy but not too bad. I parked at Yorkdale, which for you non-ontarians is a huge mall. I took the subway into the city and attacked Diedre on the corner of King and Younge. We met Aaron at Richtree restaurant, a fun market style restaurant, and ate lots of really good food. It was great to see them both and in typical Aaron fasion he patted me on the head before he even said hello. Granted, I did try to go in the revolving doors the wrong way, but Diedre went in before me and it worked for her... So things don't change that much :) We went to see Spiderman 3. It was entertaining but I don't need to see it again. Then we got on the subway and after dropping Diedre and Aaron at their stop I continued to my car. Driving home I remembered how much I hate driving in the dark and how much I hate Transport trucks. The combination is vile. But I got home safe and sound so all is well.

Today was not so lovely. I like thunderstorms but tonight was a little crazy. I took the bus home from work and as I got off at the stop across the street from my house it was cloudy and starting to rain - it had been raining off and on all afternoon. Ten minutes later the sky was green, it was raining horizontally and the wind was blowing at nearly hurricane force. We actually went into the basement it was so crazy outside. It only lasted about five or ten minutes at that intensity and we found out from the weather channel that the storm was moving at more than 65kms an hour. Our neighbour lost some tree limbs and around the city power lines and trees went down. No damage to our yard and the power stayed on so I could watch the series finale of Gilmore Girls.

Laura the Domestic Goddess

I had a full out domestic goddess day yesterday. It started with cleaning a house formerly occupied by unversity guys. One of the things we auctioned off last weekend at the fundraiser was 5 hours of house cleaning. It was gross but we got it done pretty quickly. Then I went home and cleaned my own house. You can now see my bedroom floor- quite a feat since I am getting organized for my trip, doing scrapbooking and going about everyday life in a small space. Then, I went outside and started to dig up my vegetable garden. I dug out, cleaned and stacked 36 very heavy patio stones and soon I will be turning the soil and planting things. It was hard work but I got to play in the mud and fool around with worms. It was like being a kid again. Good times. I want to plant tomatoes, beans, peas, lettuce, carrots, cucumber, zuccini and squash. Yumm. First I need to fence it off since we have a mutado bunny hanging out in our yard. I like little bunny rabbits as much as the next person, but this creature is seriously bigger than most small dogs. I have already planted my tomato plants inside and they are growing very well. Anyway, after my day of domestic works I went to Zehrs for five hours and it sucked. I was on express and had a huge line until after 9. We close at 9 people!! GO HOME!!! Now I will have lunch and then go play ultimate frisbee. I like spring!

struggling with disappointment

So last night was the second of our two movie night fundraisers. We rented out a local movie theatre, the Princess, and showed the movie Shooting Dogs. This is a terrific movie about the first few days of the Rwandan Genocide - well done and very challenging. See it if you have the chance! Anyway, we were expecting quite a few people. We had been advertising and telling lots of people about it and a lot of people had said they would come. We worked hard to put it together and then the turnout was incredibly disappointing. We covered the cost of renting out the theatre, but didn't make very much more than that. I am struggling not to get discouraged. People who came enjoyed the movie, learned stuff and showed us a lot of support. The people at the theatre were great and helped us out a lot. We had fun as a team hanging out and working together. So there is a lot of good that came from it. I guess with the success of the dinner and auction over the weekend we were looking forward to another successful fundraiser and that didn't happen. On the happy side, we did find out that the overall cost of the trip is lower than we first thought so the pressure of this less than stellar fundraiser isn't so bad.

Random Ramblings of the Insane

Ok, my life has been so hectic of late that I have had no time to even check my email let alone blog on a regular basis. I know that I am not the only busy one so I will not complain too much, but suffice to say I am only home to sleep these days, and even then not for very long. So, to catch you up on some of the happenings, here are some random snipits of my life, in no particular order...

* While walking to work one morning the strap of my purse broke. I walked the rest of the way swinging the purse by one end. I got a lot of weird looks and it was an interesting way to start the day.

* We had a dinner and silent auction to fundraise for what I now refer to as The Trip. It was stressful and crazy but it was a great success so all is well.

* One morning at my office job it was just me and the HR manager person and we had 10 interviews and the server for the testing we use was down and it was insane. I was like the chicken with no head.

* Sunday I was up very late getting organized for the movie fundraiser that we had monday night. I did this after a very busy, not sleep filled weekend. My shift on monday at Zehrs started at noon and I woke up at 11:56. Not Good.

* I spent friday night at Pam's. She and her roommate are cat sitting two cats in addition to their own two cats. I did not sleep much because three cats took turns attacking my feet, jumping on my head and knocking things off desks and dressers.

* On a less crazy note I went to Pam's cottage for her birthday the weekend of the 28th. There were 15 of us and it was good fun! Some of us girls went for a walk along the lake and it was nice to be outside! Fun Times.

Now you are all caught up! :)

I'm not dead yet....

So one of the highlights of my weeks was the small group that I lead for the youth at WMB. We have five kids who have been coming out regularily and it is lots of fun. Our planned "lesson" didn't really go as planned but I had fun anyway because two guys, brothers, spent half the time quoting Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Fun times!

Tonight I helped with a youth event for Grace MB. We hid in the mall and the youth had to try to find us. Only one group found us so basically I shopped for two hours. I found a great hat that actually looks good on me. I am not a hat person so this is a big deal. Afterwards we "leaders" went and hung out. Andrea and Jen ditched me which is fine, but that meant that it was me and eight married people. So it was the night of the ninth wheel, but we played cranium and my team won. It was fun:)

Laura had a little lamb...

and everywhere that Laura went, her cat was sure to go. I have this nursery rhyme in my head because my cat has been following on my heals the past couple days. In the morning I tend to go up and down the stairs several times because there is always something else that I need that I left in my room. My cat follows me on every one of these trips. She follows me when I do laundry, when I wash dishes she watches me. She is always where I am. Sometimes this is cute. I walk around the house just to see how long she'll follow me. Other times this is extremely annoying, like when I trip on her on the stairs or when she decides that she absoluetly must sit on my book. She even tried to follow me out the door the other day. Silly muffin!

smokiing or non-smoking?

There is a program called Out of the the Cold that operates in many urban centres around North America. Churches open their doors to the homeless community during the cold winter months so they have somewhere warm to stay. The program usually wraps up the end of march, middle of April but because of the unusually cold spring this year, the program here has been extended. Unfortunately two of the churches that normally run the program during the week are not able to keep up their involvement for the last two weeks of April. So, even though my church is far away from downtown, we are opening our doors for the Out of the Cold program tuesdays and fridays until the end of the month. So tonight, I went to help out. I got there in time to serve the meal, then I helped with clean up, made sandwiches for people who arrived too late for dinner and then manned the door to register people who arrived.

What made this evening interesting to me was not just interacting with the people who came for the program, but the fact that things at the church went on pretty much as normal. There was a cooking class going on in the kitchen so we shared the space with them which we were cleaning up after the meal. There was a worship band practice going on in the sanctuary upstairs and the youth had an event in the gym. Can you just picture the parent's reactions as they picked up their kids and saw 6 scruffy men standing around outside smoking?! Pam told me about a conversation she had with our friend Joe and they said that the smell of cigarette smoke in the church foyer added character. I agree:)

Weird

So today at work I was on break and I went to my locker to see if my mom had left me a message on my cell phone about what she wanted on the grocery list. As I was putting in my combination my cell phone started to ring. Weird!! It was Steph and that made me happy. Now I am going to her house to watch amazing race and desperate housewives.

I think I have made up for my lack of blogging now....:)

Good Books

I've been doing a lot of reading lately. For my trip to Rwanda we have been encouraged to read about the genocide and anything else we can find about the country. Right now I am reading a book called the Bishop of Rwanda.It is written by a Rwandan bishop and looks at what happened during the genocide in 1994, but it also looks at the way God was present there, how forgiveness and healing are rebuilding the country. It is really encouraging and powerful.
Also I am reading Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. Steph has written about this in her blog and it really is a dangerous book. It is also a book that has taken much longer for me to read than I thought. I have been accused of "eating" or "inhaling" books because I generally read so quickly. This book however takes a lot of digestion so I can only read it in small chunks at a time. It is challenging but it is also comforting. One of my favourite parts so far is where he talks about the gospel as being unsafe. He suggests that maybe being in God's will is not the "safe" place that we are told it is. Even today in church the pastor of Grace suggested that when we find God's will things get easy. Let me tell you, I am not finding this easy!!
On a lighter note, I got the compete works of Jane Austin from my sister for Christmas. It includes a book that I have never read before called Lady Susan that I have just started. So far it is pretty good - not Pride and Prejudice, but good :)

Rewind!

Ok, so here is my last month in a "short" entry. Obviously my blog stopped working properly and I still don't really know why. Grr. But now it is working again yahoo. (I hope!) So here is what you missed!

I think I mentioned before that I lost my passport in January. Rather, I realized it was missing in January. I don't know where it went so I don't know when it was actually lost. So I looked for it until the end of February, convinced that it would turn up in some stupid place.Needless to say, it didn't. So at the beginning of March I started the process of applying for a new one. As I was filling out the online application I realized that I had not seen my birth certificate in awhile. Then I remembered putting my birth certificate in my passport for "safe keeping." The passport that I couldn't find.

This is not good because in order to apply for a passport you must have your birth certificate. I tried to apply for a birth certificate online but the website wasn't working so I took a road trip to Toronto with Jen to the placey place downtown. There they told me that it would take two months for my birth certificate to be replaced. Two months!! In two months I would be leaving for Rwanda!!! So this was just a little stressful. Then the guy said that if you apply online it only takes three weeks. I told him the website was down and he said they had it set up on the other side of the room. So I went all the way to downtown T.O. to apply online. Grr. Happily though my birth certificate arrived three days later - just in time to be a very happy birthday present!! I got to apply for my passport after standing in line for only 8 minutes.


So in order that my suffering has not been completely in vain, you must learn from it. First and most importantly, DO NOT LOOSE YOUR PASSPORT!!! EVER!!! .... but if you do make sure your birth certificate is not in it. When you apply do it online - you get to jump to the front of the line which is very nice. Lastly, and really I cannot stress this enough, DO NOT LOOSE YOUR PASSPORT!

This was all very stressful, but it is over now. My other adventures this month have to do with baking. I did A LOT of baking. We had a bake sale to raise money for the trip. I wanted to make paska, which I have never done before, so I did a trial run the wednesday before. It tasted great but looked weird. On saturday I went to the Elmira Maple Syrup festival. For those of you not from around here, this is a tradition here and everyone from miles around pours into Elmira, the small town 20 minutes outside of Waterloo where my dad grew up. The main streets turn into wall to wall people and the normally short scenic drive takes more than an hour. Good food, tractor rides and of course, maple syrup covered pancakes, are the main attractions. Fun times! Then in the afternoon I started baking. I made four batches of paska, 5 pies and 7 pie shells. I was in the kitchen until one in the morning and then because of a frosting crisis I had to get up at 5 to go to the grocery store. (Sobey's is open 24hrs.) For the record, I HATE frosting. The bake sale went really well and my pies sold out really quickly. We made 1500$. Later in the the week we did some baking with my small group to help my friend Cheryl who was doing a fundraiser at work for one of her coworker's whose son has cancer. Then I made 4 dozen cupcakes for my sister's birthday party. Again, let me say how much I really hate frosting!

Easter weekend was nice. Good Friday there was a joint service with all the MB churches in Kitchener Waterloo. It was cool to worship together like that and to take communion together, but the service was really basic and didn't have a meditation or any direction. It was a little disappointing. Sunday morning I went to both of my churches. WMB's service was really great - I love Easter at my church. The message was challenging and fun, the worship was good and I got to see some people I haven't seen in awhile. Then I went to Grace, where the message wasn't as good, but the hymns were good Oh well, nothing is perfect. I did miss St. Andrew's (my church in SA) and St Margarets though. I missed the liturgy, the tradition and the mystery of those services.

So, there is a recap of the last couple of weeks. I've been away from the blogging world for a couple of weeks, but I'll try to be better.

Oh happy day!

It worked! It worked! Happy dance :)

Paska, Pies and Maple Syrup Festival, Oh my! It's a lovely day!

today I am making pies and 3 batches of paska for our bake sale tomorrow. Yummy! I love baking and this is great because I don't have to eat it! I made a practice batch of paska on wednesday and it tasted great but it looked kind of funny. I think I have figured out how to make it rise more evenly so this time it will be better. Maybe I will post pictures of my paska. :) Also today is the Elmira Maple Syrup festival. I haven't been in a long time so it will be tons o fun. Hopefully this post works.... I have tried to get in contact with the blogger powers that be but no luck yet. Sigh.

Lalalalalalalala

Nope.

Does this work yet?

I got my birth certificate in the mail today!! Happy Birthday to me!! Now I can get my passport. Yahoo

I'm glad that you all find this so amusing. Of course if anyone has anything USEFUL to add? Like how to make this work again?! Oh well, from now on I

DAMN IT!!!!!

Test 2

Testing, testing 1..2...3

AHHHHH!!! STUPID BLOGGER KEEPS ERASING MY POST AND LEAVING THE TITLE!!!!!!!

I am not crazy

Nunchuck Skills

It hurtses.

I have one of those headaches where light and sound feel like spears piercing your skull. It has been rather unpleasant and has lasted a couple of days now. I hope it is almost gone. I went to work on monday and endured four hours of beeping and bright florecent lights and people talking and children shreeking. It was torture! So today I decided to spare myself the torture and I called in sick. They were not very nice about it. They kept yabbering on about how I have missed a lot of shifts recently (umm....no I haven't. I don't know what they are talking about) and how I needed to get a doctor's note because I have missed so many shifts. All I could think was 'please shut up your voice is hurting my brain!' but then they passed me to the store manager who finally said fine you don't need a doctor's note but people have been telling me you have been missing shifts. Is there another Laura out there that is missing shifts? I seriously do not understand what the hell they are talking about and my head hurts too much to make any sense of it. I guess I will have to figure it out on Thursday when I go back in. Stupid Zehrs and stupid headaches.

Sorry this has been so whiny. The screen is evil and hurts my eyes so I am stopping now.

On the evening news:

"A huge storm blew through southwestern ontario today, leaving the roads unnavigable due to ice and snow, trees downed from the wind and power outages across the province and schools, buisnesses, everything really has shut down due to the weather. Have no fear! Zehrs is open, and pop is on sale!"

Ok, so not really on the news, but you get the idea. Stoopid people who need pop for $2 in a storm.

Happy March everyone

Today I really long to be back in South Africa, in the sun, on the beach. We are in the midst of a snowstorm at the moment and with strong winds and the threat of freezing rain everything under the sun has been cancelled. Scratch that. Everything under the clouds has been cancelled. The bus I took home from work today got stuck in the snow. I shoveled the driveway less than an hour ago and you can hardly tell I did it at all. Craziness! Also, my hair appointment was cancelled so I still have all my hair.

Happy March.

Day off!! Yahoo!

That's right, I am not working today. It's been awhile since I had an actual day off! Two weekends ago I didn't work, but I had a Youth Leader's meeting in Oakville all day Saturday and a meeting for my trip to Rwanda all day sunday so while I had fun, it wasn't really a weekend off. So it is not even noon and I have already been very productive today. I have cleaned my room, and done laundry. I tried to make a hair appointment but Amber my hairstylist doesn't work at the placey place anymore so I made an appointment at my old placey place for tomorrow. Looking forward to getting it cut but I don't know exactly what I want to do yet.... Also today I made an appointment to get all my shots and stuff for Rwanda. Yahoo. They are booking a month in advance so Pam, Caleb and I are going on April 3rd. I hate needles.
Now I am going to do some long neglected scrapbooking and then read a good book about Rwanda. I love not working!

She's back! Hourah!

So, it has been a really long time since my last post. Sadly, I do not have the excuse of lots of exciting things happening, like traveling to visit friends or reading week or homework. My life has just been too boring to document! Even homework would be a welcome diversion!
The only blog worthy events are as follows:

* I saw a house being moved down the expressway. I was riding the bus on an overpass and it passed under me. Cool.

* My cat has learned a new "trick". We keep a cup of water on the floor of the bathroom to discourage her from jumping up on the counter to drink out of the sink. It works very well, except the cup we use has a narrow base and if we forget to fill is often enough, she can't drink all the water. She has discovered that if she shoves her head into the cup and then tilts it, she can reach the bottom. This works very well until she is finished drinking, and then the cup dumps over, spilling water all over the bathroom floor. Steping in a cold puddle on your way to the bathroom first thing in the morning is not a nice way to wake up!

* On a sad note, two of my friends got injured. Jen fell down some stairs and broke some ribs. Pam fell snowboarding and cracked her tail bone. (ouch!) On the up side, I have not fallen at all this winter. Ha!

* I can't find my passport. This is frustrating since we are trying to plan our trip to Rwanda for the end of May and now I have to get a new passport when everyone and their brother's dog is lining up at the passport office to get one too. Also, this means I can't put all my cool stamps in the same passport.

That's it. Tomorrow I am going to try and get my hair cut. That is exciting since it is very long and very annoying. I'll let you all know how it goes since I know you will be very interested. :)

Everyone is doing it...

I usually avoid doing things that everyone else is doing, just because everyone else is doing it, but I am bored and this seems fun. So here it goes.

You.
Can.
Only.
Type.
One.
Word.
1. Where is your cell phone? Drawer
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend? hiding
3. Your hair? curly
4. Your mother? neat
5. Your father? tall
6. Your favorite thing? books
7. Your dream last night? malaria
8. Your favorite drink? coffee
9. Your dream car? hybrid
10. The room you're in? yellow
11. Your ex? forgotten
12. Your fear? falling
13. What do you want to be in 10 years? PhD
14. Who did you hang out with last night? Michelle
15. What you're not? aware
16. Muffins? please
17. One of your current wish list items? apartment
18. Where is? job
19. The last thing you did? peed
20. What are you wearing? comfy
21. Your TV? on
22. Your pet? Lucky
23. Your computer? slow
24. Your life? challenging
25. Your mood? blah
27. What/who are you thinking about right now? passport
28. Your car? bus
29. Your work? Groceries
30. Your summer? WHERE???
31. Your relationship status? alone
32.Your favorite color? green
33. When is the last time you laughed? today
34. Last time you cried? today
35. School? miss!

I wear real fur...

I finished my last post and then read some other people's blogs and I was reminded of some fun things from my life. So I will share quickly. Two blogs in one day helps make up for the long sabbatical I took this week.

* I went out for Thai food on Friday with a woman in my small group and her two daughters. The food was REALLY good and then we watched Bend it like Beckam. It was fun hanging out with the girls and my fortune was that I would be rich and materially comfortable in my old age. I must have gotten someone else's fortune! The evening inspired me to cook for my parents and we had beef in black bean sauce with steamed asparagus and green onions over basmati rice. It was lovely.

* My cat has been following me around this week. For example, this morning she skulked around my room while I got ready this morning, then she followed me downstairs when I went to make my lunch. When I realized I forgot something she followed me back upstairs and then returned to the kitchen with me. I got up early this morning so I actually forgot several things upstairs and had to make a couple trips. She was on my heels for each one. Very cute except that she trips me going up the stairs everytime.

* Also, my cat has taken to sleeping on my neck like a scarf. I wake up in the night with her draped over my neck like she is a mink shawl or something. Very cute except that it makes breathing rather difficult.

And that is all.

Life Lessons worthy of TLC...

So I worked at the call center today for the first time in a few weeks. They aren't hiring many people right now so they haven't needed me a whole lot. Fewer hours means less money, but also less insanity so that is ok. Today most of the department was at a conference or whatever in Toronto so it was just myself and one other girl in the recruitment office.

I was assigned to do exit interviews over the phone for the day. When someone quits (which being a call centre and all, happens enough) we are supposed to go through this survey thing with them to get feedback on why they left and their experiences and stuff. I made lots of phone calls, left numerous messages, and sadly talked to some real people too. Obviously since it is the HR department confidentiality is important, so no specifics here. I will however let you in on a few hints in case you ever find yourself leaving a job for any reason and they want to do an exit interview with you.

1. Don't answer the phone "John Doe* speaking" and then tell me that John Doe is not home right now.

2. During the course of the survey do not spout off about all the B.S. those stupid B****y girls in the HR department fed you - you are speaking to one of the HR girls right now.

3. Lastly, and really most importantly, do not, I repeat DO NOT, go into a detailed account of the location, size and treatment of whatever skin infections that may have caused you to miss work in the first place. Please.

* Names have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals involved.

Bursting bubbles

Comments on my last post talk about West Jet's new service to Waterloo. It's true, West Jet will soon start flying out of KW. We have a tiny little airport 15 minutes from my house and it from there I started my trip to Africa last year. Sadly though, it is a limited service, only to Calgary and only in the summer. It is possible that they will expand services eventually, but for now it does not help in the visiting of Jan/Paul or Diedre/Aaron. :( Sorry for bursting bubbles.
However, I am still hoping to visit Winnipeg in May although it may be more difficult now that my Rwanda trip will probably be at the beginning of June. We shall see.

Happy Thoughts

Winter has finally arrived in Southern Ontario! There is white stuff on the ground and scarves and touques are now required for any outdoor activity. This has caused many people coming through my till at Zehrs to grumble and complain but it makes me very happy. If only it would snow a little more so I could go cross country skiing. That would make everything perfect.

Some things about winter that make me really happy :

* Drinking hot apple cider, hot chocolate, tea or any variety of hot beverages after coming in from the cold.

* Scraping the thick ice from my windsheild while blasting Imogem Heap in the parking lot of Zehrs.

* Curling up in my electric blanket with my cat watching tv in my bedroom - the blanket is a must since my parents take conserving energy VERY seriously.

* Watching bad drivers finally get what they deserve! :)

* wearing comfy sweaters and big fluffy socks

I was sad that winter took so long in coming this year. If this keeps up I may have to move back out west!

Don't get yourself in situations...

Last night I had the first meeting of the small group that I am leading for my church's youth group. I have ten kids in my group, but only six could make it yesterday. We did the whole get to know you thing and did a very brief bible study to start things off. I think it went well enough but now I am even more nervous about the whole thing. I asked what they wanted to do with the small group and they said they want to discuss controversial topics. Mostly I am looking forward to the challenge this presents but it is a little scary for me too. How do I get myself into these situations?!

Aside from that, not a whole lot is going on in my universe. Ooo, except I am reading a book called Rwanda means the Universe and it is really good. The word Rwanda actually means "the universe" so I can say that there is not much going on in my rwanda! Anyway, it is a cool book. Sunday is my first meeting for my Rwanda trip which will be cool. I can finally find out who else is going and see more about what it will be like. Life has gotten a little boring and slow lately, but I still get super excited about going to Rwanda!

A belated Merry Christmas!

Well, a belated Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all. The holidays were really busy this year, a big change from my Christmas in Botswanna last year! It was great to spend so much time with my family and we "catsat" for my sister's kitten. Really cute! Lucky was not impressed. She hid in my room and demanded room service because she refused to grace us with her presence even long enough to eat anything. Christmas eve I got to go to both churches, and both services were nice. Grace had a cute kids thing and the music was pretty good. WMB had a very relevant and interesting message and it had strings so the music was great :) Strings and Christmas carols go together very well!!

Christmas day was actually very layed back. We didn't start opening gifts till somewhere around noon and the turkey wasn't ready until 8:30. This is because part way through cooking the turkey we realized that the roasting pan had a whole in it and all the yummy turkey juices were ending up on the bottom of the stove. We had to take the turkey out and clean the oven and then put it back in. So we were European and ate late. :)

I got a TV for christmas, with a built in DVD player. As soon as I get the cable hooked up I will not have to fight with my parents over the tv. That is a good thing since that and dishes are really the only thing we fight about. :)

I got to see Jan and Paul and Diedre and Aaron before Christmas and it was a fun couple of hours. We made fun of Paul's tendancy to exagerate, Aaron's inability to understand time and of course, my slow walking. It was like we hadn't been apart! Also Michelle and Trevor came to Steph's New Year's eve party so I got to see them too. Yahoo. My friend Jen and I went to Toronto for the day and went to MEC. It was great and I got a thermarest and a compression sack.

The last exciting thing that happened over the holidays was that my cousin Jon got married. The wedding was on the 30th and it was great fun. My sister got SMASHED and it was really funny to watch (and listen. she gets really loud). I also had a rather significant amount to drink. I couldn't really figure out how the massive bottle of red wine from which I was the only one drinking got so empty. Then my cousin Mike admitted to filling my glass behind my back. Even without his help I drank alot.

So, now you are all caught up on my holidays! I will try to post more regularily now that the craziness is past!