A Note From Lily-Pad

To Start, A Note From My Friend Lily-Pad,
my friend lily-pad jus got bac from a trip with a group called Katimavik where she got to travel all over Canada, Prince Edward Island to Iqaluit to Quebec for like 5 months. she's got some great stories, and since she's just couch surfing round London Ontario right now I thought i'd get her to post some of her story. i'm also often interested in the uncanny feeling people get from returning home from an extended travel and realising home is now, somehow, different. i thot this gives a pretty cool look at this experience:

yo first blog post-- yee yee from yo girl here sittin to yo right.

ok enough of that.. so Katimavik was killer. Long, torturous at times but the best experience ever and I wouldn't trade it for a thing in this world. It stretched me to no ends and I can't explain how much I learned. I'll never forget the day I left for my first placement in Prince Edward Island. Leaving mom and dad at the airport. No idea what to expect. And then BAM. I'm a couple provinces over, alone... well not really but it sure felt that way. Sitting in Mass O (orientation camp) and thinking to myself-- "what the hell am I doing here? I don't fit in..." The days were long and the constant change between French and English was exhausting.

Yup- so I moved in with 10 other house mates from across the country. Everyone so different and so unique. Was I actually going to be friends with any of these people? Little did I know I wouldn't just become the best of friends with these people... I would become family with these people. 6 months went by in a flash. Looking back- it all seems so long ago. But to think about the day I left my mom and dad? Seems like yesterday. The highs and lows I had with my house mates... there were many.. definitely many. I can't even begin to narrow down experiences to talk about.

The east coast was fo sho ballin... the chill atmosphere and constant flow of friendly faces made it a complete pleasure to experience and volunteer. My job was awesome- it stretched me. Event planning and coordinating, fundraising and contacting clients for CUSO-VSO. What an experience. The fact that our group learned Michael Jackson's thriller dance to raise money for charity? Pretty much unreal... who else has done that??

3 months later our group packed up and headed to the arctic. Yeah... the arctic. It reached -57 one day and that day had winds of 76 km/h. I was caught in that blizzard and it was a hell of an adventure. The taste of raw meat; caribou, seal, whale, walrus and arctic char still finds it's way to my taste buds. And it is definitely an aquired taste... don't think i can put that any differently. Learning about the Inuit culture from my friends and through my work with the local Inuit Association came easily and quickly. I performed research and recorded documentation from surveys about the youth in Iqaluit. Learning about their struggles and the challenges they face everyday opened my eyes to something beyond my safe high school community back home. One thing I for sure learned? The Inuit have an unreal culture. They are extremely talented and constantly prove themselves worthy of what they have worked for and continue to work for. I have huge respect for the arctic and the people that call it home. I never thought I would love the arctic the way I did. I would go back in a heart beat and can't wait to see the friends I made there once again. Unfortunately the time to leave came about and we headed to Quebec for just over 3 weeks.

The time of our lives at the bars and hanging out. creating costumes and set designs for a play we presented to old folks at homes... that was hilarious and so much fun. It brought us closer as a group, forcing us to work together in a way that many of us hadn't, expecially in a second language we weren't all that familiar with.

When the day came to go home... I couldn't believe it. It was all so sureal. The excitement of seeing my family and friends back home was definitely evident. I was also pumped to put into action everything I learned through Katimavik at home. When the airport came and then the bus stations where we were all separated the fear hit. The fear of being alone once again and leaving these people you once called strangers. Those same people at Mass O I never thought I would be friends with. yet here I was, saying the hardest good byes I have ever had to do. There were many tears from all of us... constantly. It was a long day that went on and on and on. Until I was back. Sitting in my own room. Alone. No room mates, just me and all my things. What a crazy realization. What an experience to look back on.

Is this all I can say about Katimavik? Nope. I couldn't ever have the space or time to write out everything that happened or everything I thought and felt. Guess this is where I am going to leave it or else it would just get way too personal for a blog. Sorry Pete for takin up all this space. Enjoy though.