I'm only really able to post through the computer library, and i don't yet know how to add pictures through email and that. Nor do i have plenty of time on the computer. i'll try and actually make a post or two before leaving for Kenya, cause i definitely won't be able to post there (just letting you know - though i haven't been doing a stellar job of posting lately anywho :P)
ok, so what i've been up to! First week we spent at a Y camp called Camp Douglas. It was really fun, we did lots of teambuilding activities but in the end i think people were ready to leave camp and start life in Winnipeg. We did lots of group discussions on stuff, mostly just crap that had to be discussed as preliminaries. We also did some high ropes activities though, and i went for lots of walks around the camp. they say it's flat but you never really get the idea until you're here. same with how much you'll appreciate "home", whatever that may be to you. definitely more real now that i'm actually here.
on the last day at camp douglas we were told who we would be paired with! my counterpart's name is joseph, and he's awesome. He and i get along great, and have many common interests. if anything he's down to try everything i suggest, which is usually a lot so i'm grateful of his enthusiasm.
second week consisted of bussing around town with our new bus passes and going over rules and regulations, sexual health, crime, culture, blah blah blah.
Then work placements! I work at a place called Winnipeg Harvest. The Harvest (as they call it) is a huge food bank supplier, but also provides food for soup kitchens and other programs. altogether they supply food to over 325 agencies. The majority of my work consists of warehouse work - lifting, sorting, moving, sorting, sorting, lifting, sorting... no, i like it :P and Joseph loves manual work, so it works out. some of the other work placements don't seem to be pleasing the volunteers as much but i like it.we also drive around in massive trucks some days to help deliver orders. AND! they have a place downtown called the MTS center (similar to the Metro center in Hali) and sometimes if shows don't sell out, or football games, they give extra tickets to the harvest cause they work closely with one another. so Joseph and i got free tickets to a Weird-Al Yankovic concert! if anything, it was fun, and joseph enjoyed it so that's the main thing.
other developments: my host family consists of two brothers, Steve (age 31) and Matt (23). Steve's a camp director, and matt just finished uni, bachelor of politcal science - i think. They're both really cool, and since it's just the four of us it's a bachelor pad of sorts. good times, gotta say. we just finished the deck out back they've been working on for some time now, so we had pizza yesterday. on sundays they go to church, sometimes i join in, and at 2 a bunch of us play basketball. it's cool doing things within the community, i've even started noticing people that i've seen before around town. The population is only 2 times as large as Halifax, so instead of seeing EVERYONE i know, i just see people sometimes, but it's not overwhelmingly big here.
also exciting! there's a place called the bike dump downtown that takes donated parts from bikes and supervises free builds for the public - anyone can come in and take parts or even whole bikes for free. its really popular though and difficult to get one, so after asking around joseph and i found a guy at work named Greg who works at a place called the Bike CAGE, not dump :P and long story short it's a little brother of the dump and we both have free bikes and soar around town on them now! and it was good bonding for us i think haha.
ok i'll actually try to make another post soon, no promises though.
miss you all! (minus creepers reading my blog that don't really know me muhaha)
