back to reality oop there goes gravity-you know you're a loser when you start quoting eminem..probably incorrectly too

I miss Galya and the rest of my big disfunctional CWY extended family and host family. Just thought I'd get that out of the way. The canadian government organizes things up really nicely so you're forced to get along with 14 random people from across the world. and then once you all bond and become a big disfunctional cwy extended family, they break the whole thing up. I should write a letter and complain.

I'm in Lethbridge visiting my grandparents/extended blood family at the moment. Everybody came over to my grandparents for Easter dinner, and it was delicious of course. But it was strange to see so many people I hadn't seen in so long in such a short period of time. I got made fun of for not cutting cake properly, not having a job, having holes in my socks (which clearly related to not having a job) not enjoying the sport of curling (unlike EVERYBODY else in the family), and being so messed up that I'm prolonging graduating from University. Alas, it feels good to be home. In all honesty, though, my family does keep me grounded. It's good to be around people that question what you do.. it keeps you on your feet and forces you to think about what the heck you actually are doing.

I've been reading some books my grandpa has about alternative medicines and home remedies.. it seems everybody has some sort of health issue, so while they talk about the various ailments and I reflect about my own ailments, namely caffeine addiction and insomnia (or inability to get off of PEI time), I read about what the hell causes all these things and what you can do to help.. and the one theme running throughout the entire book is to eat a healthy diet, exercise, and listen to your body. Who knew? Did anybody know this? And also keep lavender oil (but don't put it in your eyes) handy. The VERY best cure I found was called the "2 hat method" to cure colds. You sit at the table and take off your hat. Then you start drinking whiskey. Keep drinking whiskey until you see 2 hats instead of one. Once 2 hats are visible, go to your bed and sleep. If you don't have a hat handy, you could use a scarf or a salt shaker.

My aunt is taking a class in Sustainable Community Development at the U of C and it pretty much sounds like the coolest class ever and I want to take it RIGHT NOW!

Well, I'm gonna be back in Edmonton in a few days and I'm really really looking forward to seeing a bunch of folks and catching up..

goodbye east coast, hello prairies

Well, it's my last day on the program. I am physically and emotionally exhausted. I've decided that crying and laughing simultaneously is the best feeling in the world. I decided that on St. Patrick's Day in an Irish Pub after too much green beer. Everybody kept asking me why I was crying.. and I pointed to them and said "I'M CRYING FOR YOU! BECAUSE YOU CAN'T CRY!!" and "I'M CRYING FOR YOU BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO FASHION SENSE!" It was very therapeutic and not to mention fun. People are so uncomfortable with crying.. it's good to get them out of their comfort zones..

We said bye to the Russians this morning, and it's just starting to hit me. Right now, I'm supposed to be doing a resume workshop.. working on my resume.. which Cecylia sent to me.. cause I'm not as organized as I should be.. really we should all be carrying our resumes around with us at all times. What was I thinking?

Resumes/employment future aside, it's been a great last couple weeks. Toronto was a good time. Caught up with Lena and Paul which was better than I had expected. Galya and them got along devinely.. and the city provided an abundance of stimulation and entertainment.
The radio thing went awesome. It was such a rush. I got to interview lots of interesting folks. Farewell went well. On our last day we made Sushi for our host mom Kate and have been debriefing (not ripping off eachothers underwear..contrary to what you might think..) in Halifax.

I'll be back in E-town on Wednesday night.. which I am actually really looking forward to.
Hopefully I'll get some sleep before then.. get out of this funk brought on by sheer exhaustion..
High Five to Canada World Youth and to Jacques Hebert and Pierre Trudeau for starting the whole thing!

tune in on THURSDAY!!!!

CWY Participants in the field - Live from Charlottetown, PE March 16
>

>Would you like to catch up with what’s happening with current
>participants in the field? "Beyond Our Culture" Is a special
>presentation organized by this years Netcorps Kaliningrad/ PEI - Canada
>World Youth team. Join the crew on March 16th at the Confederation Court
>Mall as they broadcast live or tune in to 95.1 FM in Charlottetown. You
>can also join on the fun by web at www.ryakuga.org
> .
>>Listen to new kinds of music, learn about Russian culture and relive the
>program!
>
>For more information visit www.ryakuga.org/netcorps/index.html
Happy listening everyone!
>

fso yo

HOly schmoly!
It's been a wacky week. Just the kind I like.

Friday night, I went over to these peoples house with Galya and Masha. This couple is Russian, but the guy lived in the Congo and France for a long time, so he speaks french and Russian. I spoke only with him in French and Galya and Masha spoke only in Russian to his wife. There's something very cool about english-free parties in Canada, I have to say. Partly cause it's an indication that English hasn't quite fully dominated everything and everybody and partly because I only understand about 73% of what's actually going on, which makes it a bit more riveting.

The only problem with them being Russian.. is that they pulled out the shot glasses and the vodka.. and.. well, my month long break from alcohol which has just ended did not help me cope with this Russian style drinking tradition.
Toast after toast after toast.. left my stomach.. not a very happy camper. Plus, the russian style of this celebration meant that there was pickles, tomatoes and cheese.. which.. also wasn't a positive experience. Just looking at it all made me want to throw up.. So I decided I would throw up.. so I get up to try to find my way to the bathroom.. and suddenly I notice a police officer in the living room telling me that our partying was just too loud.. it was all very surreal, partly because I almost threw up on a police officer and partly because there was really not alot of noise at all.

Saturday we sold Russian name-tags (we wrote peoples names in the russian alphabet) at the mall. It was a fundraiser for AIDS-PEI. My days spend promoting the IKEA credit card really payed off. I convinced people at the mall that they really wanted to see their names written in Russian and that they wanted to give money to AIDS-PEI. We made a few hundred bucks and I worked on my manipulation skills. Cheslav, the Russian supervisor had some debatable tactics. When people ignored his sales pitch, he would muffle something really cruel under his breath. He called one guy a capitalist (is that really an insult though) The guy came back and thew $20 at us, without even getting a name tag.
One lady indicated very sternly that she doesn't care about Russia, and therefore wasn't interested in what we were doing.
One lady sped up and turned around to yell (in an english accent) "I'm russian" and pouted of.. she must have thought I asked "where are you from?" and not, "would you like a russian name tag and to support AIDS-PEI"
If they responded: "no thanks, I'm good, I don't want to donate" Cheslav would reply "It's nice to see that YOU'RE GOOD, but some people AREN't good!! have some compassion!!"
People watching is always very thrilling.

Last night, one of the host families hosted a turkey dinner for our entire group. It was very thanksgivinglike.. complete with grace and a everybody says something they are thankful for moment. I did my thanks in German, because I thought it would add a nice spice to the mix and everybody was very uncreative and thankful for all the same things..
including me.. so I though if I just looked at the right people at the right time and smiled appropriately, the main idea would get through..

Then, Galya and I embarked on our pathetic incessant "search for a party" quest. We found a house party that was okay, except for the latin music that just wouldn't end.. which forced us to go to another one.... with some drunken hip hoppers (one who is half-newfie even) making up some very clever depressing rhymes.. eventually we found our way home, into our beds, safe and sound.

I rose for Sunday brunch, and some fun chat about Canada.
My host family informed me that there are 2 islands near Newfoundland that are actually french! Like part of France kind of french. And there was an exchange student that went there from Mexico and was just so confused.. she thought she was traveling to Canada and she ended up in France. Somebody should have really explained that to her.

I've decided that Canada is a very cool place and when I get home, I plan on putting up a map of Canada somewhere. Maybe next to my quote wall.