So it's still kinda busy and gonna get even more busy. Every day I get a couple of emails, about upcoming Educational Activity Days or Community Activity Days or volunteer opportunities. Much more busy than Katimavik. But it also seems like I don't have time to catch up mentally. I can do a lot of these activities, but when it comes to planning, I'm just gonna be "...ughhhhhhhh....huh?" Hopefully it won't be like that.
I can't remember what happened on Saturday. Oh wait, yes I can. Haha, I suck. I went to the Farmers Market with Yuchan. She had been to larger ones in Montreal, but this still seemed like a treat for her. Too bad no one else went. Oh well. I bought her a candied apple as she had never had one before. We checked out all the little shops of food or knick knacks being sold. It was a fun afternoon. Then we went to Leah's and caught up with Stephane who came with us to buy groceries for a hot pot we later cooked at Leah's house with and for about 4 other people. It was a really good hot pot, and I made tempura! Delicious. Some people drank a bit and it got kind of zany. Not bad zany, energetic, dancing, taking-off-your-shirt-in-a-funny-matter zany. But I wasn't having that good of a time later and left early. Imagine, me not having a good time when clothes are being taken off. Weird, huh? And no, I wasn't the first to take off my shirt. Again, weird. Maybe pants next time. ANYWAY!
So that was Saturday. Sunday we went for a hike with half the group up to the Kettle Valley Trestles. It was quite cold, and even snowed a faint bit up there. I had been on big trestles before, and personally, these weren't amazing. But they did have some history to them and the hike up in the mountains was appreciated, along with just hanging out with the group. Plus we got to see a big tunnel!
Monday, I spent most of the day on the computer. Believe it or not, I can actually get a lot of work done on the computer I'll have you know. I spent the morning (after emails and such) finding new work placements for Wendy and myself as the Parkinson Recreation Center didn't work for reasons I'm too lazy to describe. There was a great website with lots of places. I chose those with decent interest and phoned, left messages, or emailed about becoming a volunteer there. I had a few responses, one being Maxime. I directed calls to him as well and he was quite impressed on how busy and productive I was. He somewhat chose on our behalf for us to work at the Rotary Center for the Arts, a theatre or sorts. I'm happy about that! After the morning phone calls, I cleaned that bathroom. Brenda has this way of making me say things and then going AHA! GOTCHA! As it turns out, she got me to clean the bathroom. But I think I might as well do more then do dishes (which I do often and do a good job, I'll have you know!)
Today was a great sunny day, actually a rare sight, even though it shouldn't be. Figures. We volunteered at a community garden today. Two actually. This was right up my alley and brought back memories of working at the community garden back home. I think because of that, Maxime made me in charge of everyone. Even though there were two women there directing us, I was to direct my group. The work went well; we moved compost, bagged weeds, stringed up sun flower and corn stalks and put in a grass guard. Half of us biked to the Orchard Park Mall while the rest of us bussed. It's a good city to bike in! Biking, I found, is way the hell faster then the stupid bus! Plus, I can use some training. I had everyone go for half an hour lunch (half the people had started eating at the first garden anyway) We would meet in the front of Future Shop at 12:30. Only 3 people were on time! Most of the rest of the group were about 20 minutes late. Let me put this into perspective: Future Shop was across the street from the mall! I was not impressed. And two hadn't heard correct and were waiting for us at the second garden (which I chalk up to miscommunication; shit happens) But still. I even told people we could eat lunch at the garden as well. When I mentioned that it was kind of unnacceptable to be that late, people kind of pawned it off, not caring much about it. This may not seem like much to some people, but it struck a cord with me; I consider myself to have leadership issues. Some people consider me one, and then there's people like today. Again, some of you may only see this as, "Oh Devon, they were just busy trying to get food, get over it." I see it as, "...I tried to be as straight about this as I could, but not too bossy, and people didn't respect me. I don't appreciate this." It's not something I plan to pout about, but I strongly feel it's not something I should let slide. People should know that even something that simple, as being late, is disrespectful. We, as a group, should know that. Especially considering how hard it is to organize a group this size to begin with. So next circle check, I'm going to respectfully bring this up. But getting past that, after helping out at the second garden, we watched Sicko, by Michael Moore. As most of his movies, a bit of an eye opener, but one to be taken with a grain of salt. We had to volunteer at the casino, as per contracted by the French Cultural Center (don't ask) but only Sadie and I went! I got lost biking there, given directions to the wrong casino. I showed up just on time to do nothing. There was a guy helping us write down bingo calls. Sadie did most of the writing, to which I really appreciated. I freeze when I hear multiple numbers and couldn't write things like that without freaking out. I basically followed Sadie and that guy around. Never did get his name. But he did have a lot of stories about losing his arm, hardships of the work force and whatnot. Some were definitely worth a listen. So although they didn't even really need us, I think I lent some company tonight which was better than not showing up. Plus, the bike ride home was good.
But now I'm tired. And tomorrow, at the Food Bank, I have to give out potatoes that I picked today from the community garden. Haha, irony :P
I can't remember what happened on Saturday. Oh wait, yes I can. Haha, I suck. I went to the Farmers Market with Yuchan. She had been to larger ones in Montreal, but this still seemed like a treat for her. Too bad no one else went. Oh well. I bought her a candied apple as she had never had one before. We checked out all the little shops of food or knick knacks being sold. It was a fun afternoon. Then we went to Leah's and caught up with Stephane who came with us to buy groceries for a hot pot we later cooked at Leah's house with and for about 4 other people. It was a really good hot pot, and I made tempura! Delicious. Some people drank a bit and it got kind of zany. Not bad zany, energetic, dancing, taking-off-your-shirt-in-a-funny-matter zany. But I wasn't having that good of a time later and left early. Imagine, me not having a good time when clothes are being taken off. Weird, huh? And no, I wasn't the first to take off my shirt. Again, weird. Maybe pants next time. ANYWAY!
So that was Saturday. Sunday we went for a hike with half the group up to the Kettle Valley Trestles. It was quite cold, and even snowed a faint bit up there. I had been on big trestles before, and personally, these weren't amazing. But they did have some history to them and the hike up in the mountains was appreciated, along with just hanging out with the group. Plus we got to see a big tunnel!
Monday, I spent most of the day on the computer. Believe it or not, I can actually get a lot of work done on the computer I'll have you know. I spent the morning (after emails and such) finding new work placements for Wendy and myself as the Parkinson Recreation Center didn't work for reasons I'm too lazy to describe. There was a great website with lots of places. I chose those with decent interest and phoned, left messages, or emailed about becoming a volunteer there. I had a few responses, one being Maxime. I directed calls to him as well and he was quite impressed on how busy and productive I was. He somewhat chose on our behalf for us to work at the Rotary Center for the Arts, a theatre or sorts. I'm happy about that! After the morning phone calls, I cleaned that bathroom. Brenda has this way of making me say things and then going AHA! GOTCHA! As it turns out, she got me to clean the bathroom. But I think I might as well do more then do dishes (which I do often and do a good job, I'll have you know!)
Today was a great sunny day, actually a rare sight, even though it shouldn't be. Figures. We volunteered at a community garden today. Two actually. This was right up my alley and brought back memories of working at the community garden back home. I think because of that, Maxime made me in charge of everyone. Even though there were two women there directing us, I was to direct my group. The work went well; we moved compost, bagged weeds, stringed up sun flower and corn stalks and put in a grass guard. Half of us biked to the Orchard Park Mall while the rest of us bussed. It's a good city to bike in! Biking, I found, is way the hell faster then the stupid bus! Plus, I can use some training. I had everyone go for half an hour lunch (half the people had started eating at the first garden anyway) We would meet in the front of Future Shop at 12:30. Only 3 people were on time! Most of the rest of the group were about 20 minutes late. Let me put this into perspective: Future Shop was across the street from the mall! I was not impressed. And two hadn't heard correct and were waiting for us at the second garden (which I chalk up to miscommunication; shit happens) But still. I even told people we could eat lunch at the garden as well. When I mentioned that it was kind of unnacceptable to be that late, people kind of pawned it off, not caring much about it. This may not seem like much to some people, but it struck a cord with me; I consider myself to have leadership issues. Some people consider me one, and then there's people like today. Again, some of you may only see this as, "Oh Devon, they were just busy trying to get food, get over it." I see it as, "...I tried to be as straight about this as I could, but not too bossy, and people didn't respect me. I don't appreciate this." It's not something I plan to pout about, but I strongly feel it's not something I should let slide. People should know that even something that simple, as being late, is disrespectful. We, as a group, should know that. Especially considering how hard it is to organize a group this size to begin with. So next circle check, I'm going to respectfully bring this up. But getting past that, after helping out at the second garden, we watched Sicko, by Michael Moore. As most of his movies, a bit of an eye opener, but one to be taken with a grain of salt. We had to volunteer at the casino, as per contracted by the French Cultural Center (don't ask) but only Sadie and I went! I got lost biking there, given directions to the wrong casino. I showed up just on time to do nothing. There was a guy helping us write down bingo calls. Sadie did most of the writing, to which I really appreciated. I freeze when I hear multiple numbers and couldn't write things like that without freaking out. I basically followed Sadie and that guy around. Never did get his name. But he did have a lot of stories about losing his arm, hardships of the work force and whatnot. Some were definitely worth a listen. So although they didn't even really need us, I think I lent some company tonight which was better than not showing up. Plus, the bike ride home was good.
But now I'm tired. And tomorrow, at the Food Bank, I have to give out potatoes that I picked today from the community garden. Haha, irony :P
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