| Friday, May 19, 2006 |
| It's my bizniss my biznasssss |
Inside the TEMBEC sawmill- Taschereau
I heart Co-ops!!! Even the French ones!
Our flippin sweet dorm!
Lac Duparquet
Covered bridge, near Rouyn-Noranda
Parliament Hill
Nellie McClung: see below
Up in the Peace Tower, clock face
The Famous Five: chillin with the ladies
Okay, so those were some of my pics from my Quebec trip- I am a litte behind on my bidness, I had to get them off the camera so I'd have room for England pics! We leave Monday afternoon and I have no clean gitchies, among other items of clothing, so guess what I'm doing this weekend.....
I just got back from training for Co-op Camp, which was at Strasbourg Bible Camp, on Last Mountain Lake. It was a gorgeous place! I love that lake- probably because it's like home- gorgeous sunsets, and no trees blocking them. I loved the vistas across the lake, and hearing all the birds while we sat around the camfire at night. That's the prairie in my blood. If I can't see the horizon I get a little rattled....
Anyway, training was so much fun. It made me do a lot of things that I would normally not do around a bunch of adults. We had dance-offs, sang camp songs, played co-op games like shuffle but and co-op juggle, and gave out lots of warm fuzzies! Ask me what they are and I'll give you one!
We also had the opportunity to purchase the SWEETEST t-shirts ever! I am not going to burst the surprise, but if you know me well, you'll figure it out!
While training was fun, I am super beat. I don't do well sleeping in narrow beds with a bunch of other people ( I almost let this sentence go before I realized it sounded bad- to correct, other people in my room). Also, I've been trying to do what I can on my thesis so I don't have a mountain of shizzle to do Sunday. So, I did a bunch of re-formatting and some other easy stuff. I still have to make one map and look through some identity articles to flesh out my discussion.
On that note, I got word from Brett that I can go ahead with my defense. It is scheduled for June 21, 2006 at 9 am. And you may have noticed that it is on Carlson's birthday- one day before mine!!!! C-note, you better not have any bad juju following you around that day, cause I'll need all the luck I can get.
I doubt I'll post again before I leave for England so I'll just say YAY Co-ops! |
posted by angelina @ 9:44 PM  |
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| Saturday, May 13, 2006 |
| Hellooooooo Ghana!!!!! |
Friday morning I found out that I was offered an internship position in Ghana through the Canadian Co-operative Association. I will be working in Kpandai, a town in the northern region of the country, near one arm of Lake Volta, and close to the Togo border. Apparently it's one of the more isolated positions in the program- it's hard to communicate in and out of the region- but I'm more than up to the task!
The group I will be working for is SEND, and I will be a reproductive health officer. I am helping them do a baseline survey on reproductive health among young male and female artisans in the region. I'm going to be rooming with a family in Kpandai so that is somewhat of a relief!
I leave for Ottawa for five days of training at the beginning of September, then fly out from there. The pay is not exorbitant- but when my rent is about 30 dollars a month, I think I'll get by!
Right now it's still sinking in- there's so much going on right now that I am a little distracted. I'm sure once the summer starts to wind down I'll get a little more revved up. My mom is less than pleased though. I told her about it yesterday as soon as I got off the phone with Erin and she was kind of bringing me down! But Moms is pretty protective- she cried when I went on my trip to Italy in high school- which was only 10 days long!
So a note to all of you: there will be copious amounts of beer and good times before I leave in September. If I defend in June I'll have the whole summer to carouse and get into hijinks! I expect to have the shakes the day after I arrive in Ottawa! So be warned, and be prepared.....
This evening I had an international experience of another kind: my friend Rui had me, Amy, Chris and Mat over for traditional Chinese food. It was soooooo good and I am so full right now. We had bok choy and mushrooms, mussels, chicken wings, sushi, lotus with some vegetables I can't remember the name of, and another type of vegetable I can't remember the name of that reminded me of asparagus. I made the attempt to use chopsticks, but I can't seem to get past my feeble hand-eye coordination, and my left-handedness. I resorted to the fork at times throughout the meal- but the food still tasted awesome!
This weekend I'm busy preparing my meeting agendas for Co-op Camp training which starts Wednesday and goes to Friday. I don't know what the hell I was thinking- saying I'd be the staff co-ordinator. I feel a little over my head with this, and a little worried that I'll have the final say on any disciplinary action for any bad co-op youth- and be solely responsible if anything goes bad with the kids, like food poisoning or injury. Jeez louise. At least the training days are just planning out the seminar agendas for July, and deciding who does what- there I get to use my authoritaaaaah and tell them staff beotches that they'll like what they're assigned to do! ahaha! Just kidding! Then I've got the rest of the summer to develop an ulcer over the actual camp! But I've got V-Dawg and BruceChen to help me out here and they're old pros at this shite!
I thought that I'd have enough piss and vinegar in me to read some more of the Co-op manuals but I am tappin out. It's been a long day. I was up around 5 to get my face on to go down to Regina for 10am. Nicky had a fitting that morning and I had to pick up my dress. It's really sweet and actually too big! I was a bit worried there for a while that the opposite would be the case.
So after we did some more shizzle in the Queen city we headed back up to Saskatoon, where I had the ultimate search for a Mother's Day gift for me Mammy. I got her the creamer decanter for her china set. She'll have a full set-one piece of china at a time! Then after some wedding earring shopping, and getting some drinky-poos for the ultimate feast tonight, and getting my Good Food Box from Rebeka, I only had about and hour to read Co-op stuff before I had to go over to Rui's.
So, sweet dreams y'all! |
| posted by angelina @ 9:16 PM |
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| Friday, May 12, 2006 |
| A post of some substance |
I've started working out at the College this week, and we were doing surveys on youth lifestyles among grades 8 to 12 in the region's school division. On Wednesday we went to three towns and surveyed approximately 80 kids. Over the course of two weeks we were supposed to be surveying over 300 kids.
The questionnaire, asked youth about a range of lifestyle choices including physical activity, eating habits, and mental health. Some of the more sensitive items on the survey asked youth about drugs and alcohol, sexual activity, and carrying weapons.
Parents had to give consent before their children could participate in the survey. They were told the content of the questionnaire and given a sample of the questions on it to read. If the kids felt vulnerable or if the questionnaire brought up some bad memories, they were given the names and numbers of their school counsellors and other services they could use. The development of this research has been going on for over four months- my boss met with the superintendent of the school divison, the principals, school boards, and permission was given to begin the research. The questionnaire and methods were cleared by ethics. Up to date, it's cost about 25,000 dollars with the work time, meetings, printing of questionnaires, and so on- and this is funded by Health Canada.
Yesterday we were going to begin the second day of the surveying. We left at 7 to drive to a community about an hour north of here. Just outside of the town we got a cel phone call from my boss, saying she recieved an email from the superintendant of the school division. He apparently withdrew his permission to do the survey in the schools. No explanation was given other than some of the items in the survey were sensitive. He sent the email the night before. My boss offered to send him the questionnaire to read through before we began but he declined. He was at the presentations regarding the research. What this translates to: An angry parent spouted off to him and he pulled the survey. What is particularly disappointing is that in the schools that we were going to be doing in the following week, there was over a 60% return on the consent forms in the schools that already distributed them. Most of the principals that the admin. assistant spoke to yesterday were on board and very supportive of the research. So it's the will of the minority that wins in this case.
This whole fiasco is a great example of what I loosely call the 'Catholic' mentality. Stick your head in the sand, pretend all is fine and wonderful, and ignore what's really happening around you. The office here recieved so many complaints from parents regarding the content of the survey, particularly the drugs, sex and alcohol questions. Apparently their children are the Stepford children. Please! Unless I had a more liberal upbringing (which I scarcely believe), I knew what pot, sex, blow jobs and condoms were by the time I was 10. I, like almost all small town kids, was boozed for the first time when I was 14, at my freshie party. I knew of girls in other towns nearby that were getting abortions when they were in Grade 11. There were people in grades below me that were contracting venereal diseases. I doubt that there was a sudden turnaround in adolescent behaviour in this area in the time between I went to school and the present date.
There are more graphic and disturbing things on primetime television than were in this survey. The aim of these surveys was to help develop more relevant education and awareness programs and services for rural youth. Wouldn't it be a useful exercise to truly understand what the problems are before spending another couple million dollars on the 'crystal meth epidemic' in our prairie communities? And, for those idiots that believe that their children are unaware of the activities/issues that are brought up in the questionnaire, there were consent forms- don't sign it suhsuhstupid!
I guess blind ignorance helps parents sleep at night while their kids are out booze cruising and 'playing doctor'. |
| posted by angelina @ 7:19 AM |
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| Monday, May 08, 2006 |
| It's in! |
I got my thesis into my committee this morning! Wooohooo! I only got about 3 hours of sleep last night, but I am glad that the ball seems to be rolling. My supervisor scheduled a tentative defense date for the 20th of June. I'll find out if that's possible after I meet with my committee early next week.
If I can indeed defend on the 20th- watch out! With my birthday two days later, there's a 55% chance I'll have alcohol poisoning by the end of the week..... |
| posted by angelina @ 7:46 PM |
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| Friday, May 05, 2006 |
| I've got the revisions blues |
Three and a half chapters down, two and a half to go before Monday. With all the unpacking, work on OCAI plots, budgeting for England, and revisions, I am feeling a little bummed out right now. It's so nice out that I want to be at home in Viscount hanging out with my family, or sitting on a deck somewhere. But I am in my bedroom with my clothes still in bags around me, my floors and bathroom are filthy (this is my Howard Hughes tendency kicking in), and I am playing five million games of Mah Jong while I daydream about how my summer will be if I defend in June (the irony is not lost on me, trust me).
I am also in a weird frame of mind, and have been all week. I want to talk to people, but I don't want to talk to people at the same time. At the same time I am sick of being by myself, I don't have the energy or inclination to do social things....If people want to call me, cool, but I don't really feel like reaching out to touch someone!
Methinks my treat for myself if I get this stuff done for Monday will be to take in a round of golf or go to the driving range, and maybe see if 'the knitters' are available for some deck action. I haven't seen that crew in so long, it would be good to catch up with them.
Well, I shall keep plodding on. I have no choice- I am sick of playing Mah Jong...... |
| posted by angelina @ 5:13 PM |
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| Wednesday, May 03, 2006 |
| Comment vous dites 'I want a beer' en francais? |
I got back from Quebec Monday night and since then have been going non-stop. The trip was good, quick but good. We basically flew in late Thursday night, headed out to the Forestry research station in the morning and got in around 5:30 after a 7 hour drive. Then had meetings into the evening, the next day was meetings from 8:30 till 5:30. Then we went into the town Taschereau, had a tour of the sawmill there, then dinner, then we saw this home-based business where they make motorcycle trailers (to haul luggage and other stuff in behind your bike). The whole time I was lost because I don't speak that much French. The next day we had more meetings, then some free time in the afternoon where I was able to walk around the lake a bit. The forestry research station was about 20 minutes away from the closest town so it was quite secluded. It's funny the things you notice. I realized that the scenery looked a lot like northern Saskatchewan, albeit a bit more rocky. Also, their farmland around the area was so strange looking. At regular spaced intervals they would have drainage gullies for water, and their furrows in the fields were so deep and chunky looking, it was quite something to see, being a small town prairie girl. The architecture of the houses was interesting too, the houses had roofs that would not come straight down from the peak, but would curve out at the bottom. It made the houses in that region look very saucy, like 'look at me, I am a saucy French house'! lol
The other thing that struck me was that I very badly need to work on my French. I felt really helpless not being able to communicate, simply, that I wanted a beer. On the trip back into Ottawa we stopped at a Tim Hortons' and I went into panic mode when I realized that I just couldn't say 'extra large double double'. After a series of hand gestures and mumbles, I was able to get what I want, but I don't feel comfortable with sounding like an ape to a bunch of French people.....
Anyway, back to my trip, after our free time we went to another town whose name escapes me, but it was on the mouth of Lake Abitibi, and we went to a fancy pants restaurant for dinner. The cheapest thing on the menu was $22, but thanks to the NRE and SSHRC, I didn't have to pay a dime, haha. The next day we headed out for Ottawa really really early so I could have time to see the Parliament buildings. We went downtown, ate at this seafood market near Parliament Hill, and then headed over to the buildings. It was quite exciting, and I could see how people would get full of themselves by simply working there, the buildings themselves give off this aura of being something way bigger than just being buildings, they seem so grand. We got to go up the Peace Tower, and I got some pretty cool pics of Ottawa from the viewing deck. We then went into the House of Commons and there was a session going on. That made made me a little disappointed with our elected leaders though. There was maybe eight MP's in da house that day. They were probably the weiners that the 'cool' MP's didn't like, and they weren't told about the awesome kegger in the PM's office. lol So they were stuck with actually working.....On the way back to the airport we drove along the Rideau Canal, which is beautiful at this time of year. I really hope to get back to the city some day and really explore.
So needless to say, I was a really grumpy grumpy girl yesterday. I didn't have my bed set up yet after moving, so I had to crash on the couch when I got in, and didn't get a good rest. Then I got a little overwhelmed with all that is happening this month, revisions, unpacking, trip to England, possibly a defense date for june, AND I STILL HAVEN'T HEARD ABOUT THE INTERNSHIP!!!!
I am giving the CCA until Monday to let me know or else I am going to lose my mind!
On a better note, the house is pretty much unpacked. My room is set up and mostly organized so it is starting to feel more like home.
I'll post trip pics when I can get them off the camera. |
| posted by angelina @ 9:55 PM |
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| Me, Myself, and I |
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Alias: angelina
Where I'm at: Kpandai, Northern Region, Ghana
In 500 words or less: I am now done my schoolin' and you may all call me Master! I'm currently livin it up in a small town in Northern Ghana, and it's a blast being the only 'obruni' (white) in town!
Step into my mind, if you dare
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