Freddy Beach

Still in love with the province of New Brunswick!! For the Thanksgiving weekend, with my family, I went to the capital of the province, Fredricton. Fredricton is a beautiful city with a rich downtown, full of local restaurants, Coffee shops, and stores. I spent the two days living with my host mother's, Stacey, parents. As well Stacey's sisters joined us for thanksgiving dinner. In Freddy Beach we also did a little Geo Caching and sight seeing.

The weekend after our group of 19 went to a little city called Murray Corner. There we spent the weekend at camp Ta-Wa-Si doing our "Mid Project." Since we are halfway through our Canadian Phase, we spent the weekend debriefing and reflecting on our trip so far. The camp itself was very cold, as none of the buildings were insulated, and only the main hall had heating. Location wise, it was beautiful camp. The camp was right on the coast, where the confederation bridge was visible. As well, on clear days and clear nights, we were able to see Prince Edward Island across the ocean. The three days spent at the camp was a lot fun where we were able to spend time around a camp fire, eating, and playing a little soccer.

So far the highlight of my trip has been my amazing host family. Every night, My counterpart Ernest and I stay up considerably late talking to our host parents, or playing cards, or watching movies with them. They have been alot fun and have really gone out of their way to make us feel part of the family. This year we are part of their Christmas card photo and their Pumpkin carving party photo invitation. As well they convinced Ernest to apply for school in New Brunswick. Ernest just recently got accepted into Mount Allison University, which is in Sackville New Brunswick, about 30 mins from Moncton. As well I am really enjoying spending time with the kids. Last Monday I went to the fire hall with Eli and his grade one class, and spent the afternoon volunteering in his class. It was alot of fun spending the day with a bunch of 6 year olds.

Canada World Youth, The Soap Opera!

This has been a crazy week. As of now, we are one less supervisor, one less particpant, and one less host family. Jeff, our one and only supervisor, has been stressed out of his mind, first with his Ghanaian counterpart being sent home. Jingles, the Ghanaian supervisor, had been sent home due to sexual harrassment accusations. As well he had made some poor decisions with a certain female particpant, thus leading to his de - selection. We will be getting a replacment within the next 3 week to a month but till then we have Jeff and Beth, a fill in when Jeff is away. Just to add more to the mixture one of the Canadian Participant, had decided to go home, and left on a plane back to Alberta. After all of this, when we think that we can not add more to the drama, two of the particpants got fed up with their host family, and left, and are currently staying at Beth's house until another host family can be found. They left after they had come home to a house full of people they didn't know and after they realized someone had been going through their personal belongings. As well they had been living in house with 2 dogs, 3 cats, and 4 other people who constantly had other people over.

Besides that, things have been great. :) My counterpart, Ernest, and I having been spending alot of time with our host family. It has been so great living with them as they have been very open, flexible, and wanting to learn new things. Over the weekend we went apple picking with the family. It was an interesting expierence, seeing probably about 400 - 500 people at the orchard. After a 45 min wait we got onto a tractor where it took us to the picking sight where we propped the kids up on our shoulders as they picked apples. It was great fun!!

We just celebrated my counterparts, ernest's Birthday. On his actual birthday, we had dinner with our host family, Rissoto and Chicken, followed by vegan chocolate cupcakes! Then on the Friday afterwards we had a birthday party for Ernest and, another particpant, Simon, where we dressed up and enjoyed a potluck dinner. The food we had was quite a broad spectrum. It varied from kraft dinner with hot dogs, poutine, to fufu (A Cassava food) with soup, and a roasted chicken. As well people dressed up with Ghanain styled clothing. It was a fun night of dancing, eating, and talking.