Time Off

Since I have returned home(to Canada) the end of March I have done a lot of travelling and sightseeing. My first trip was after being home for only a couple short weeks. It was a great trip to Canada's beautiful Rocky Mountains! I was invited to join an all women trip to the mountains with my mom, grandma, anut,cousin and good family friend. We had a great time in our cute luxury cabin, making gourmet meals, drinking lots of wine, playing cards and talking about men! During that trip I even managed to slip away to Revelstoke, to pick up some stuff I left there. I also organized a slideshow presentation for the host families who had taken in my participants during the program. It was great to reconnect with them and share with them our experiences overseas in Namibia.

Mid April I went to visit my friend Mat in Ottawa for a few days. That was good fun, as he had just finihsed his first year of grad school along with his fellow students and there was a lot of end of term partying. Apart from that we toured parliament, walked around the canal, did a little shopping and drank a lot of sangria!

After Ottawa I travelled to Montreal to meet up with all my fellow project supervisors who completed a program this year as well. We travelled off into the countryside to a cute little B&B for "debriefing" aka a time to reflect, share and process the intense experiences we all had as project supervisors this past year and to prepare for wherever life may guide us to next- whether it be another contract or life after the program. It was a lot of fun to listen to everyone's stories, hear strategies of what worked best with for improving group dynamics, teambuilding activities as well as other fun stuff I can use next time around.All and all we had a lot of fun, the dinning area turned into a disco at night and we all played music from our respective program countries.

After debriefing I stayed a couple extra days to explore Montreal solo- I stayed at a funky hostel in Old Montreal, and explored all the interesting and beautiful quartiers of Montreal. As well I got the chance to meet up with 3 of my participants who live in the area!

Back in Edmonton I continued to hang out with old friends and family, but quickly decided to plan another couple side trips before my contract would start in June. I found myself organizing a Rural Roots/CWY Outreach tour to Northern Alberta. This tour took place mid May where I travelled for 4 days to Fort MacMurray and Athabasca areas with 4 youth to engage rural students in global social justice issues and promote Rurual Roots and Canada World Youth.

As well in May I travelled to Penticton, BC to visit my good pal and fellow project supervisor Michelle. In the beautiful location where she is doing her project I went for daily walks, swam in the Okanagon Lake, got a great massage, did some amazing Yoga, cooked gourmet meals with Michelle and helped her a little to get her project going and on its feet!

Finally before starting my contract in June, I managed to get some professional development done and took an interesting course in Calgary put on through the Justice Institute- where I learned about how to better communicate in times of conflict.While in Calgary I stayed with a good friend Teresa and also managed to meet up with my Auntie Colleen and got my chart read- I love astrology it always seems to find an answer for events in your life- even when it seems there is no possible explanation for things that happen in our lives.