Marshmallow fights prove to be the ultimate conflict resolution activity!

Yes. Ho ho ho, the snows got nothing against marshmallowy goodness to the face!!! POW!!! My host family didn't see it coming!

So this week has REALLY zoomed by. I'm so freakin far behind in my journals and we're leaving in like a week!

The sweat lodge was great. It was a nice cold day, so before we got all sweaty, we went onto the ice and basked in our canadian ways. Sliding, spinning, just having fun the way you should in the winter. Except the sweating part. That was kind of odd. Although, we found it a bit daunting that we had to practically beg the Chinese to come out onto the ice and play. We had to put them on a bit of a guilt trip, saying this is one of the most Canadian things you can do. They came. And they loved it! Makes us wonder why it's so freakin hard to get them to do other things. They complained it was too cold before, which I found ironic because we would be outside in our underwear practically for a short time before sweating the cold away. We went into a short dome, covered in layers of blankets, furnished with a floor of pine needle branches. Hot rocks, or "grandfathers" were placed in the center. The door was closed, leaving us in pitch black. We would say prayers, listen to a beating drum and song or be in total silence, while hot water was put on the rocks, enveloping us in steam. We had 4 "rounds" the first three being longer and hotter then the last, but the last one was short and the most hot! The hosts were very respectable and explained things to us clearly. After each round, we could go outside for a few minutes to cool off, which was great. Cold was not even an issue, as you were steaming so much, you didn't even notice it. Cold was welcomed at that point! It was not a point of seeing who could stand the most heat either, it was participating and, as I saw it, relaxing and reflecting, which so many of us find so hard to do. I didn't find it as spiritually cleansing as I thought it would be, but it was my first one and I did feel good nevertheless. It was a potluck as well, so everyone brought food. We found out it was their custom that we couldn't leave until ALL the food was gone. We ate great soup, fruit, donuts, muffins, and drank lots of water. However, I had to leave early because a man giving me a ride had to leave early. He assured us we would all sleep so well that night. I wasn't too sure, just cause I wasn't really paying attention. It was also the night of our Super Bad party. In case you haven't watched it, I suggest it. Even the Chinese loved it! Some were, sigh, imitating the language. Even my counterpart, Gary, whipped out some wine to join in the party. It was quite the party night. Most everyone slept over and Brenda was so gracious enough to help me make breakfast, which I think everyone enjoyed.

Sunday, although not a hangover, is a blur.

Monday, however, was the best part of the program yet! I went SNOWBOARDING!!! I was so excited to go, as I haven't at all this season and almost cried every time I saw a snowboarding commercial. It really meant a lot that we went, because I love it so much and even worked on a ski hill back home. It was most of the Chinese' first time skiing, which was great for them. Another Canadian activity. It was cheaper to get a beginner package, so four of us who went boarding, Felix, Jamie, Heather and I, pretended to not be great snowboarders. We pretended to have backgrounds in surfing or skating or wakeboarding. Just fucking around on our boards on level snow, I think the trainers knew we weren't THAT bad. They sped us through our "beginner" lesson fast, especially after our second run where I said screw it, and just went. When we got on our own, it felt amazing. There was this rolling hill which was phenomenal! I got fast enough and got like 20 feet of air, although only like a foot off the ground! I refused to go inside for lunch as time went by too fast to waste on food. Speed and adrenaline kept me going all day. No, really. Even when we were done boarding, I ate very quickly and then went tubing where I was practically running up the hill. I think I amazed people and my energy. Maxime paid for a round of tubing for all of us, which was great too. Lots of speed, and they measured how fast we went too! They even gave us a few free runs! What a bunch of great guys up on Silver Star. And I get to do it all again this Sunday!!! This time on Big White with my host sister.

Despite being so close to leaving, we had one more CAD. It was a field trip of a water waste recycling plant and a fire station. Simple tours, but informative nonetheless. We were so freakin lost in the morning though. There were a lot of gellatly roads and it took us a long time just to find the wrong one! But we made it. The tour was neat actually, as I said when I took a picture of the shit (literally) collected from sewage. And the fire station was cool too. But there's no more fire poles :( They were very hospitable, showing us their equipment and letting us take lots of pictures. They even turned on the siren! Yay :p

And then there was today! It was the first day of our debriefing of our Canadian phase, which lasts 6 more days. We started with a circle check to which most people expressed their soreness but excitement from snowboarding or skiing (ie me) We also expressed how we felt about the olympic situation that happened last week when everyone got very tense and defensive about it. But we brought that up in order to get past that issue, learn and grow stronger, which is what this program is about; cultural differences and learning! We also wrote down problems we've seen with group dynamic under different categories and discussed them. We were quite behind on time, as Maxime had rightfully predicted. But there was no hostility today, which was great. Respect seemed to be the operative word. But there's plenty more reflecting for tomorrow. After so much reflecting, I went shopping with some of the girls and bought some gifts for my new host family as well as my current one. Upon getting home, I brought everyone together and unleashed hell in a frenzied fury of marshmallowy pain!!! Lots of head shots, matrix style dodging, a marshmallow down the butt, some *ahem* biting, and it all ended (kinda) after an ornament broke. I think I brought my family a bit of my family from home. They won't soon be forgetting that anytime soon! Merry Christmas! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!!