Josh's Canada World Youth Adventure

2011-02-03T07:44:00.001-05:00

http://webosiq.t35.com/

After a month or two.

2007-07-22T10:54:00.000-04:00

Now first off, I assume nobody will read this anyway, but thats ok because I feel I need to write it anyway. Maybe I will work on this and send it to CWY, so they can get a look at how a participant feels in a more personal way. But thats not really what this last post is about. This last post is about life back at home.

It's now late july, 4 months after my return. I no longer feel so weird as I did for the first few months and I feel that I'm actually going to start doing something with my life. In order to convey this feeling properly I will have to tell the story of my return home.

So I'm back at Singapore, this time for a few days. I have just spent 3.5 months in an all Muslim area where it would be unsightly for a girl to wear a sleeveless shirt, or anything that stopped before the knee. In Singapore it is A) very westernized, everyone speaks English and wears what they want to wear, and B) very warm (33c, but we didn't notice as we were used to it). This means short shorts, spaghetti straps, mid drifts and exposed thongs. We were taking double takes with our jaws to the floor.

At first I had this feeling to brand them 'sluts'. But then I realized, "no wait, this is what I'm supposed think is normal". Reverse culture shock? This was just the beginning. I then thought about the Indonesians. If this is how I view it after only 3 months think of how they view out country. A bunch of sluts and sinners. And people wonder why the middle east is pissed at western society. It's the same reason we think they are a bunch of overstrict prudes. I quickly decided that everybody should mind their own business about other peoples cultures, because it's nobody's fault and once you live their you can quickly adapt their opinions as your own.

I get off topic. Sluts in Singapore. I get over it, but I still, in the back of my mind have that view of the world. Every time I see a girl in the street wearing a miniskirt it bugs me a little more than it did before.

So we get to Vancouver. Yay! It's weird to be back and it feels surreal. If any CWY planner reads this, the debrief was BS. I'm not saying that because it wasn't planed well or had boring activities, it's just that nobody cared. Everyone was jazzed about getting home, seeing families and getting on with their life. The debrief just seemed like something in the way. I would suggest just filling out all the forms and being given a booklet of country specific information concerning the return process. By this I mean 'you've been in a Muslim country for a while so guess what, you may see girls as sluts'. Naturally more intelligently put than that, but you get the idea. Just a book for people to pick up if they need it. We got a booklet, I skimmed it and found it was a book for all programs and didn't hit the details I wanted. Haven't touched it since.

2nd night in Vancouver people went out drinking. This, in my opinion was a bad idea. I do not drink and as soon as I realized people were just getting drunk, I left. I got woken up to the fools in my room crashing about being loud, and continued to stay awake to make sure nobody died. One guy took a bath, he barely could stand and wouldn't listen to reason, so I was up listening making sure he moved every few minutes so I new he hadn't drown himself.

At this point in my head I'm thinking "My country is f'in stupid, a bunch of drunk idiots". Yet another example of reverse culture shock.

The next day we fly home. I'm coming down the elevator and I see my mom, dad and sister waving at me with a big welcome home balloon. This was a great feeling. My dog was pleased, she was running around like crazy. We talked about lots of stuff, shared pictures and stayed up way too late. I saw a few relatives, a few friends.

My friends. The hardest part of my return was my friends no longer being so close. Big goodbyes but little hellos, I had drifted away from their circle, and didn't get calls to 'come hang out'. It's something that happens. You have to be ready for it. Took me a few months to figure out where I belong. As of right now I have half the real friends. I haven't done anything new in order to meet new people, but school is coming up, and I have no doubt that there is where they lay. I had this grandiose entrance planed for myself where everybody was expecting me and wanted to know everything, and I would teach them all the dances and all these other things. In reality nobody cares but your immediate family. After the 3rd story people move on with their own lives. Don't expect anything. That's a big thing I would tell future participants. The book may say people will ask you lots of questions, but that's probably just going to be your mom. You may get one or two, or have to explain something. After I told my friends about the earthquake, most of them stopped caring.

I didn't do anything out of the ordinary that I hadn't done before I left. This was a mistake. You are different, you must seek different things. I felt like crud until I did. Like, the maybe I should see a counselor kind of crud. I did one thing different and bam! I felt good. So thats what I've done, changed it up a little. We had a sort of reunion planed for next week. All the Canadians. It fell through, everybody has lives, and CWY is over. Moving on from that is really important, it let me adapt better.

Thanks for reading, it's been an adventure nothing like what I expected.
Joshua Dimitri John LeBlanc, over and out.

Evac.

2007-03-08T00:41:00.000-05:00

As some of you may have heard, there was an earthquake in West Sumatera. Some of the news said that the epicenter was Padang, this is only half true. There were 2 epicenters, one halfway between Padang and Bukitingii, the other in the dead center fo Batusankar. Padang was bearly hit. Batusangkar is where my village is. Nobody in my village was hurd, but some of the houses are cracked and walls are damaged. Now for my expirience:

I dint feel the first shock, I was on the road to bukitingi and in a car and dint notice. We got to Bukitingii (where we were having our debreiff). We dint think much about the quake and went to our rooms in the hotel, mine was on the 3rd floor, and i decided to take a nap.
So sudenly there is a small rumble that brings me semi awake. It's not that big at first but were are just awake to figure out what is going on. The shaking gets bad... fast. Bad enough so that people downstais and outside start to scram. We fly out of our beds, people are yelling about getting the outside, but we have 3 flights to go down, and that taked time and it was shaking so bad you couldent get footing, and you think you spinning becase EVERYTHING is shaking and falling and scraming. We went from in our beds, down 3 floors, and out the door in about 30seconds.
By then the earthquake had stoped, but then everyone was in the streats, most crying, some fainting and everyones blood running. We call the goverment in charge of us and they say to go to Padang, because Padand is not shaking bad and is safe. So we get some cars organized somehow (in indonesia you can get people to drive you anywhere, you just got to pay them enough). But then we have to get our things, so we are running upstairs to get thing we left in the room like bags, shoes (i spent a half hour in the street with no shoes). That went ok and we got in our cars, we had to fill up on gas, we did it quickly and keept going (we also refild all fluids, just in case). We drive, hit traffic, get past it hit more, but this traffic is not moving, becasue there is a bridge down and a landslaide covering the whole road, we turn back up to the nearest comunity ish thing. We end up waiting there about 3h trying to figure out how to get to Padang, aftershoks every hour, everytime it happens people scream and shake in stress afterwards. Differnt plans come up, like riding to the landslide then trying to hike throuh it as fast as possible then getting a ride on the other side, but how dangerus is that compared to staying where we were waiting for another big earthquake that could come at any time. Eventualy the driver says there is a designated safe area near by and that he can drive us there.
We get there and it turns out to be an abandont rail station, flat so no landslide posiblilties and no buildings in the traks so they cant fall on us either. We camped out there for a bout 4 or 5h, made a big fire with the locals, tried to eat some food. A few of us were on the tracks when another smaller shake happened and the tracks vibrated and threw us up, again freaking everyone out. To top it off we were closer to the volcano, and at that point it did not seem like a good idea at all.
The road was now clear between us and padang, but there had been landlids there that demolished cars and killed people and it was likely to happen again if another quake hit. The drivers with us would not drive us, so we called people in charge and within an hour we had 2 busses come from Padang and pick us up. Everyone everwhere was sleeping outside and it was pure insanity.
We finaly got to padang at 11pm safely with all our luggage intact.
I couldent sleep for more than an hour or two at a time because every time the be jiggles a little I was remindede of running out of bed and trying to get down thoses stairs not nowing if the next step the building would crumble away under my feet.
The next day we were chaken but not to bad and set just to finish our week and a half long deebreif. Then they called a meeting at 10am that morning and there they told us that CWY decided that the area was not safe and that we are to be evacuated back to Canada, and that half of us (me) would leave 5pm... that night. Repaking a goodbyes to people we spent 6 months with and might never see again were cramed into one hell of an afternoon. More people crying, now for differnt reasons.
So I got on my flight (to Jakarta) and when we get there where did we stay? the freaking Shariton. 5stars. We went swimming and had hot showers and dint sleep all night. We could ot help but laugh at the situation, the night befor train tracks, now swimming in a bueatifull pool with turtle fountains.
We got another flight to Singapore this morninig and I am here now. I'l got to Tokyo in about 2and a half days and then bee home probably on the 13th, as loong as out last minute bookings hold.
It's been one hell of a rolercoaster ride, but I made it out while keeping a smile on my face through the whole thing, I'v never smiled so much.
At any rate; Bee home soon and I can tell you all the other helarius events that I cant fit into words. See you soon!

Last Post From Indonesia?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

2007-02-28T22:40:00.000-05:00

WHOA!!!!
So it's almost over! All our progects are basicaly done, we just spend our time prepairing for our final culture show. Most of my time is just chilling out, half packing trying to figure out how to get my stuff back home.

Pagairiun Palace Burnt down a few days ago, it's the biggist tourist spot in west sumatra, we were there the day befor it burnt down! It's super crazy, all thats left is the hardwood framing. It had metal points and it got hit by lightning, and with thatch roofing it went up in flames. We actualy could see the fire from our village.

So I'm getting home on the 17th, it's one hell of a flight from vancouver. I fly 6h to toronto, wait 2h, then fly an hour to ottawa. Plus 3 hour lag, I leave at 8am, and get home at 8pm. I seem to remember getting to vancouver in 6h, now it's 9 back. grr.

I bhout a bunch of videogames; Naruto 3, NFS underground black, Tenchu 4, Blody roar 4, Pimp My Ride the game, Guitar hero 2, and others, all for a dollar each. :P

So yeah, 6 days left in Gurun, 17 days till I'm back home.
See you soon!

Short time.

2007-02-22T01:26:00.000-05:00

HOLY COW! only 13 days left in the comunity!!!!!!! And only about 23 days till i'm sitting in my underpants in my basement!

We are finishing up our projects. We also are planning on a time capsule and coming back in 20 years and breaking it open (it's incased in cement an brick attached to our monument). I'l probably put some cranes and maby a little ninja inside. It should be fun... if we remeber.

I'v almost master all the dances. I need some work or my drum dance but thats about it.

Excited to come home soon, thats for shure. It's 22 air miles from here to my house, with 10h stopover in japan and a day or two in vancouver. I'm tiered as it is, I think i'm just going to hybernate when i get home, but I know thats not going to happen, considering it's St. Patties day, and If i spend the day with my parents by 10 i'll probably feel the urge to see frends. who knows.

This might be my last post in indonesia, if not it's my second last. Thanks for reading and see you all soon, just in case.

Finishing stuff up.

2007-02-10T21:56:00.000-05:00

As we approach the end of our program we are begging to finish our work projects. The outer road is now paved and finished. The library is a week or two from completion. We have visited most of the schools in the area.

We still have a lot of work to do to finish up everything but there is stll fun stuff to look forward too. Tomorow i'm going to be on the regency radio doing a call in show. Ridiculus. Chinese new year is comming up, so we're staying a night in bukitingii (which is where i am right now, just on a day trip, something to do). After that we have 2 weekends then we start packing. I still dont know how i'm going to get my stuff home as hokey bags dont seem to exsist unless there name brand and 700,000rp. I'm going to take a look at the market today, there should be some cheep bag somewhere.

One thing that drives me crazy is white person prices. We have to fight every time to get regular price. Little agravating. Oh well.

About a month til i'm back.

Taylor is not the name of a girl

2007-01-31T22:15:00.000-05:00

So the most intersting stuff that happened this week was fabric and tayloring. Andy and I turned some sarongs into a pair of pants and a scarf. They look good. reaaal good. Today we also sealed the deal on our kimonos. White under black ontop, hopefully it looks as good as the pants. I have to say, buying fabric and getting it made into clothing is much more satisfying than just buying clothing.

That pritty sums up all I'v done in the past few days. I also changed the rest of the us dollars I had. So i'm now up to 550,000rp, with 300,000 comming soon i'm nolonger worried about money so much, unless I go crazy and decide to buy another sword, that at this point seems unlikly. Really, the mony only has to last me till march, at wich point I can use my viza and pay it off when i'm home. That also seems somewhat unesesary.

My body has fully aclimatized, i no longer feel hot all the time. This is bad because it's going to be very cold in comparison when I get home.

My mom and sister have apparently gone swimming with dolphins and have touched a shark. Ironic how they go on a 5h plane ride, touch a shark and swim with dolphins while i'm on a 16h flight time 30 total plane ride to the other side of the world to pick up garbage and till roads. Just kidding I'm not that bitter. Only a little. :P . Our last week is actualy like hanging out doing nothing on a beach or villa, looking forward to that.

I'm thinking about getting more cloting made soon, it's super fun.

45days by my count if i remeber right? see you soon.

Bukittingi!

2007-01-28T02:22:00.000-05:00

So my host family took ut to bukitingi today for something to do, low and behold internet cafe so i figured i would update. I went to the Minag Palace yesterday, it was really cool. look it up on google, there should be some images of it, we got to go up to the top of the palace, crazy dosent even justify the coolness of it.

I also got some fabrics to make some clothing, first some pants and a scarf to mach (indonesian style) and then andy and i are trying to get some kimonos made, black outer with a white inner. Should be good.

I'm running out of money :( but i am getting 300,000 for febuary and 150,000 for March, I should survive, it's not like I need money for food or room so i'm not terribly concerned, however it means i cant buy so much clothing. oh well.

The plan is so far to get a big duffel bag to bring all the bulky stuff home, that includes puppets, unclung and the cranes (that actualy compact well, they took less than 150 sheets to make).

Things I miss from Canada (in no order):
Fast Internet
Ottawa life
Having a Job (money)
Friends and family
No wild dogs or chikens in the streets
Being able to drive (we're not allowed)
Chereoes, corn flakes, corn pops, lucky charms, and other ceareals.
snow
There are more but i cant remeber them all.
40 days till i leave gurun, 49 till i'm back.

Guns And Games

2007-01-26T01:16:00.000-05:00

Sorry i havent updated in a while, blogger was being rejected from the computers.

50 days till i'm back!!!! thats crazy, it seems so fast alredy.

I got to go to padang recently with my host family, that was fun, we were in the big plaza and got to go on computers that actualy worked, it was cool and we might be able to go back.

Almost my sister's and grandmother's birthday! again i'l be home soon, because after that it's only a month and a half.

New game in Gurun. We buy these air soft plastic pelet guns and play 'shoot each other'. Very stupid but there's not much else to do in your spare time in a village. I'v read 4 or 5 books alredy and only have 1.5 left.

Phones! We found a phone connection that has a great line and is only 1,000rp a min! super cheep! i called my family and it was nice to chat with them.

Our work progects are comming along well, the road is almost done and our library is painted. We finaly have garbage cans and are planning a comunity meeting to get everyone to help us.

I'm getting used to rice for breakfast, but man do i miss chereoes. I can cook some stuff too, i can make creps and deep fry stuff, (everything is deepfried, potatoes, bananas, chips.)

Bak-So, it's like meatball ramen, 3-4,000 a bowl, good stuff. I think it comes from the japanese culture from when they were occupying indonesia.

What else? I finnished my 1,000 cranes. It's a good feeling. We had a mid progect meeting out at a resort ish place, at one point a herd (gang? flock? pack?) of monkeys, like 50 of them came and we threw fruit at them, one actualy came inside and started rooting through the garbage.

Yeah, less things suprise me now, like a giant spider or suddenly 5 lizards on your wall gets a reaction of "oh, yeah, that thing, been there done that." It rains EVERY day. terrential downpour only get one or two a year at home kind of rain. the streets flood a bit but Gurun is on the side of a hill so the water flows down into the rice feilds.

So yeah, i'm off for now, be back soon!

Silver and Puppets

2007-01-10T22:45:00.000-05:00

We've had an interesting week here. We went to silver town where they do a lot of silverwork thats super detailed. We found one shop that sold stuff at 99% silver. Apperently indonesian silver is like indian gold and is super pure. It was pritty cool to see.

Andy and I arrainged for on of his freinds to send 4 wooden shadowpuppets (about a foot tall), and an Un-Clung (and indonesian instrument) from his hometown, it cost me like 760,000 but these are things you cant get anywhere else and you cant even find on sumatra. I also got a cheep drum to practice the dance with and a cheep ukalele, i dont know how to play the ukalele nor does anyone here, but it was cheep and i felt crazy.

More earthquakes and land slides, again none affecting me.

I'm learning more dances and stuff, we cemented a road, started our garbage project. It's starting to fall into a pattern as we approach the half way mark.

Looking forward to seeing you guys soon! Oh yeah, 800 cranes. bye!

Settled.

2007-01-04T00:15:00.000-05:00

An earthquake noked out most of the internet in indonesia last week and i dont have a lot of time this week so i sent an e-mail to everyone on my list that was a quick button press away, here is some of it with some additives:

I'v been working on community development here for a month now and learning as much culture as my brain can handle and having a general awesome time. Specificaly I'm in a small village named Gurun in central West Sumatra, where all the coffee comes from.
What's it like here? Rice patties and scooters pritty much. I wake up with the azan (call for prayer) as it is a muslim country (the most muslim of any country, with over 80 percent of the faith) then i go back to sleep, wake up with the rooster. I hate that rooster, and have chased it a few times for waking me when I did not what to be woken.

Washrooms are wet and with a basin instead of a tap, most toilets are of the squating variety but the family I live with has an upright one. My family is aweseom on that note. I dont speak Indonseian and they dont speak english so there's the mom, and dad, one dhouter and one son live at home, in there 30's, they have other children who have moved out and around, 2 grandkids. The dhouter is really nice and steals my laundry (done by hand) and does it for us, i'm like a prince.

When i'm not sleeping:
We work on clearing roads within the village
Clean and repair old soccor feilds
Teach english from grade school to university level
Plant traditional herb gardens for the comunity
Repair, clean and paint an old comunity center
Build a cement bench so people dont have to sit on the ground when watching the vollyball games.
Learn and prefom cultural dances and martial arts
Play chess, cards and sports with village youth
Setting up waste disposal systems (there are none here short of making a big pile and burning it, plastic and tieres included)
And several other things for and with the community.

On time off:
uhhh, be bored? Ha, no, we go to the market in the nearest city (20min drive) and get some wiked shopping in. I alredy have a traditional Keris- a cut stone sword, if you hadn't guessed allredy. The market is crazy, chikens getting their throat cut in the street and burlap saks with 30 duck heads poking out wondering whats going on. I'm folding paper cranes, I'm at 600 and am going at a fiery pase and will get to the targed of 1,000 by next month. EAT! the food is gross and amazing, deepfried everything and meat left right and center with no veggies to be seen. Rice EVERY meal, exluding soups, but even then sometimes there's rice. Like i said rice patties, there are feilds upon feilds surrounding my village.

Coconut trees! I have alredy seen on several occasions guys with trained monkeys on ropes that go get coconuts. Praying mantises, rinoceres beetles, buffalo, chickens in the street, and bats the size of eagles are all common place in this tropical whirlwind of a country. In the time i have been here there has been 4 disasters, earthquake, landslides, flooding and another earthquake. Lukaly my village has been mostly unaffected but it makes you wonder what living in the ring of fire is like.

I finaly feel settled here and am now beingin to take in a much as possible. se you in a week, if there's no earthquake.

Alive!! no wait.... uhhh.... yes, yes. definatly alive.

2006-12-20T21:04:00.000-05:00

HOOOOKAAYYYYYYYY, i'm frelling in Indo-freaking-nesia.
I have not posted becasue it's hard to, and the internet is slower than you would imagin, about an hour to read your e-mail.

So, earthquake, it broke someones house from a landslide 10 min away from my village, thats about it.

It's hot here, but no more hot than ottawa in the summertime. Coconut trees, bannana trees, monkeys, praying mantis, rinoceris beetle the size of my hand, flipflops and scooters, no seat belts, eating fish means eating a whole fish face still attached, rice for breakfast, or maby noodles, Deep fried everything (bannanas fried are good, but make you feel gross), Traditional market!!

I'v bhout 2 knives and a set of nun-chuks, 2 saris with a awesome pattern. Dangdut music (it's like teckno pop).

Everything is chep here, i got knives for 50,000rp each,~7$, saris for half that.

i cant get pictures here, but i can mail them to my fam and they can put them up, expect to wait till sometime in january.

YAY! so it's buisy and hot and i got to run, I can post once a week, if not a week from now then 2 weeks from now there will be a post, and as you can see my sister can post in my place becasue sending an e-mail to my family is my purpose to come to the internet cafe, and blog is if i have time.bye for now!

Indonesian Earthquake

2006-12-20T17:11:00.000-05:00

Alright, this is not Josh. You are now viewing the hopefully better spelling of his younger sister, Genna. On December 20th, 2006, there was an large earthquake in Indonesia. There were four deaths as a result of the earthquake, but Josh is not one of them, as they all happened in North Sumatra. Although we haven't been able to get in contact with him just yet, we assume that he is fine. In a previous email he said that if you want to picture what Indonesia looks like, just "think of alot of guys in flip-flops on motorcycles and chickens running around everywhere you turn."

For more information on the quake, you can visit the following link.

Happy holidays, everyone!

Airport Fun.

2006-12-01T00:27:00.000-05:00

So it was like 19h of air time yesterday, exhausting. I only has like 30 min in japan but we'll be there for a day on our return so it evens out. I'm in Singapore right now, we spent the night here and i'm getting on a plane to jakarta soon. I'l be meeting officials in 7h. lots of fun. Palm trees and bamboo. I havent had time to just go climbing up some bamboo but you better be shure i'm gonna make some time in indonesia. It looks as though there should be some internet connection there, however expensive so i'm try to post when i'm there, less grass houses more plaster town. Who knows what adveture awaits.

last day!

2006-11-28T15:58:00.000-05:00

Last day in the big C. I'm rather sick, it started as a soar throat but it recently moved into my lungs. Painful in the morning but by the afternoon I can't even feel it anymore. I think it's peaking so I should be better soon. Have to go pack, later.... maby?

2006-11-26T22:19:00.000-05:00

Quick post:
Me=in vancover at YWCA
Step=Not taken away but it dosent matter anymore (i cant get sent home for it)
Katy=I cant call you because my flight takes of wenesday, send me an e-mail about when i can call you tomorow if you read this?
Me again= both Crazy and A Ninja

Steps to Goodbye

2006-11-17T00:10:00.000-05:00

So today was my last day at the SPCA, but I'l get to that in a moment.

Yesterday (Wednesday) I got a step. A step is when you do something wrong, your supervisors give a warning, you get 2 free, on your third you go home. Now before you start freaking out imagining me running through the streets with no pants on, know that this is not that exciting and when I got it I couldent help to laugh.
Are you ready? I got it for going to Vernon, a town close by with one of the people from my work placemnt and not notifing my supervisors. Here's the kicker, Louise has told my host family (and me naturaly) that if you want to check to know how far is far enought so that they should be called is a 1h driving radius around salmon arm. Here's the kicker, Vernon is a half hour drive. Aparently Vernon became some kind of acception nobody was really aware of, and many people have been working on the concept that Vernon was A-OK.
I am going to be talking with the supervisors, and how I see it the likelyhood of the step being taken back is high. If it's not taken back there would actualy be some problems with them that I would have to bring up with the group, and I don't think that would make their day.

On the notion of steps, Margarita got her 3rd and got sent home this morning. Most people are not all that suprised. We had a little bit of a godbye party last night. She should be back home by now.

SO.... Last day at the SPCA. Sad. They got us pizza and presents. Yeah, lots of goodbyes. Too bad but I got to move on. 2 weeks to Indonesia. One week left in Salmon Arm.

NOTICE: I do not yet know of the avalability of Internet of where I'm going. It might be avalable, it might not. If it is unavalable, I'l get a message put up here saying that that is the case. Regardless, If you want to hear from me via snail mail, e-mail me your mailing address at jdjl1987@msn.com . Preferably sometime before next Wednesday so I can be shure I get it.

I got somewhat back into the cranes, almost 300 now, i could finish it in under a month if i realy went at it, but then i'd have nothing to do when i'm bored.

Working 17 Days Straight

2006-11-03T22:15:00.000-05:00

Hurrrrrrrr.......
We have actualy been working or doing something nonstop since the 15th, and yesterday was our 'rest day' that Louise gave us because we were next to dead (I stayed in my pijamas all day watching StarTrek and CSI.)
What could we have been doing?

Vancover!... not all that interesting, just another dirty city. It reminds me of Toronto except with less sewage smell and more (like 500 more) homless junkies. On our way there we drove through Hastings and Main, the poorest area code in all of Canada. Homless people tend to navigate there because it dosent get as cold as the rest of canada and your allowed to smoke marijuana legaly to a certain extent. We did go to stanley park. It was cool, they had some freakin amazing hot-chocolate there, best I'v ever had.
We did some culture shows at the Consolates house and ate repeditve Indonesian food (the same meals over and over again, I guess it's like finger food where there's only so much you can serve to fit the ocasion?) Lots of people not speaking English, you get used to it quickly.
We met the White Rock BC-Indo group... ...We are glad we are not the White Rock group... We watched some movies hung out and drove through snow on our way back (in the Kokahala mountains).

We then worked all week including Friday (means I was lucky enough to do bodies again at the SPCA.) We then had our not so mid project meeting. We just talked about our issues. I spent 2.5 hours making pancakes and eggs in the morning for everybody (I made the mistake of singing up for breakfast, it was me and one other guy. He cut grapefruit and made the eggs in the last 10 min.) Nothing realy interesting there, I scared the heck out of some people by sitting on a rope swing and balancing in a way that made me look like a hung corps at night while they were out for a smoke. They noticed a minute or two after they sat down, as they started to freak out I yelled at them, they then screamed. It was good. Keep those smokers on their toes.

Then Halloween. I was a Ninja (duh) and we were downtown volunteering. I spent an hour in a draftey cold ninja suit (my one at home was built for the cold but I had to make this on in a rush so it is only a thin layer and it was around 1-2) handing out reflective bags. I did not get any Halloween candy.

Then work, then day off yesterday, and today we volunteered at a school. They really liked us. Andy and I gave the class our e-mails and we have the schools address. No joke, they really liked us, we have certificates and pins and stuff. I'm hoping I'l be able to send the school letters or preferably e-mails from Indonesia, I think the kids would love it.

6 more days of workplacement left. It's weird. I'm probably going to get suckered into volunteering at one of the SPCAs in Ottawa when I get back, I assume only one day a week unless I can somehow get a job and afford to take the time to be there.

I hear Loblaws just singed at big ugly contract where a strike almost happened. I havent cheked my account but there was an apparent singing bonus of 750$ for ever part time employee. I'm gonna be rather put out if i dont get it becasue I'm still and employee there. At any rate it's 8.5$ an hour there now... Like thats going to keep me there with a big fat Canada World Youth job experience resume.

Anime part:
I read first two of the manga 'MAR: Marchen Awakens Romance'. Same guy who did 'Flame of Recca' a anime I watched. It's kiddy but fun, I suggest it as I read it straight through because it was a fun read. It's been made into an anime apparently, I'l have to wait till I'm home to check that out. Here: http://www.anime-source.com/banzai/modules.php?name=Anime&rop=showcontent&id=1267. God, I'm to good at finding anime to download, took me like all of 40 seconds to find... Genna could you please go here: http://www.animeyuki.org/ and get the show for me? It's listed as MAR, they have batch torrents for it. Thanks, and watch it, you'll probably like it.

I'l see you later.

Dissapointment and Anticipation

2006-10-20T23:28:00.000-04:00

So, I havent posted in a little while, I'v been buisy (again). In the past little while some interesting stuff has happened! Yay!

Andy and I planed a Indonesian culture show, the Indonesian Consolate General was there from Vancover (the guy we are staying with when we go) and he seemed to enjoy himself. Louis gave us cudos on a job well done, not that it really matters out here, people tend to forget about stuff that goes whorribly arry in a day or two.

Animal Rodeo! Wednesday I caught a bird and 3 dogs (one of wich I had to run down and tackle). Other than that SPCA is running as smooth as could be hoped. I also had to do what is called 'bodies' where we go pick up the bodies (and taked the ones we have) from the vet after they have been euthanised. Guess where? The city dump. I don't know what it's like for Ottawa, but I think paying for cremation is worth it. It will also save you local SPCA a very unpleasant job.

Calgary=Cancled
BOOO. Sheduling conflict, we have our mid project meeting (not in the middle?) so Andy and I wont ba able to go to calgary with the host family as we will be at some bible camp talking about our feelings. Lame. Big time.
Vancover trip aslo not when I thought it was, now Monday-Tuesday. I'l be home on the weekend, I think wer'e going hiking.

I have lots of money. Mainly becasue there is nothing interteing to buy in Salmon Arm I couldent have gotten easyier in Ottawa, excluding the Salmon Arm t-shirt that my host family got me for my birthday. I also don't buy stupid stuff like booz or expensive pants like the other Canadians (non of them have much money left). Andy sugests I get a gameboy in order to have something to do in indonesian and on 30h travel times. I checked prices and found after buying a game boy and 2 good games I would still have 100$ can for the last month, more than I have spent in my entire time here. It would be fun, but not nessesary and I could use all that extra money to get indonesian stuff. I tossed that idea back to Andy and he said that the Indonesain money I had was alredy more than enough, especialy in a small town becasue everything is cheep. He then went on to say that he thinks that I should definatly get one and that it's worth it becasue after the first month I'm going to be very bored. I still don't know, it would be nice to have just in case and a good homesick remidy.

In talking to Andy I found out some fun stuff about the place in Indonasia were going to! Not in Solok as originaly planed. We are going to a sub-district. Like, 100-200 people. Stuff to do there: Market maby twice a week somewhere inbetween this sub-district and other sub-districts? All the lights in the house have to be turned off in order to supply the power for an Indonesain PDA to be powered (240w), so all electronic equipment gets charged while everyone is sleeping, or when no lights need to be on. Toilet in every house!! Yay! However basic, It's still a toilet inside the house. NONE on the towns people will know english. It's gonna be fun alright, but I can see why and thinks I'm going to get bored after the honeymoon wears off.

I read some Hikaru No Go manga from the library. Childish but still good stuff.

Not much else, of intrest. I'l hopefully post again soon.

Pictures Like What!

2006-10-07T18:34:00.000-04:00

A thing was set up on photobucket, it has all the other participants pictures too, it's at http://s106.photobucket.com/albums/m273/CWYpix/

2006-09-30T14:05:00.000-04:00

So yes, I lied, no pictures. Maybe tonight, maybe not. WHO KNOWS... Oh, the excitement.

This week I ended up running around on rooftops downtown, and not because I thought it would be fun either! We got a call at the spca that there was a cat trapped in the walls of some store downtown so we went and it was in the ceiling but we couldn't find out where exactly. I eventually noticed an abandoned apartment above the shop where the only door was on a roof. So I had to check for the cat there just in case it was just trapped in the floors of the apartment. So I found a dumpster and jumped off to clime the roof, reamed in the swollen door and took a look around. I would have looked cool if anybody saw and I wasn't so lame. I never found out what happened to the cat as I decided to go home at 5:45, considering my shift ended at 4.

Friday's work placement this week was apple picking. I picked a lot of apples. We were doing a row of Spartan apples, and we picked thousands. To top it off I couldn't eat any because of fasting.

On that note I am now the only Canadian left still fasting. No intention of breaking, infact today I woke up at 4, before my alarm. I assume my body I getting used to the hours.

Trips! Were all going to Vancouver for the final breakfast at the Indonesian consulate house. Shhhh, that's a secret, Andy and I are the only ones who know we are getting to go so far because we had a conflict with a trip to Calgary our host family has been planning. That has been moved to a week later. We might go to a big dinosaur museum in Calgary, I'm looking forward to it.

That's all for now. I'l see about them pictures.

Lets go to Jiggers and see some mellons.

2006-09-24T14:03:00.000-04:00

Whooot 19.

Yeah, so I'm starting to settle in here. Biking to work makes me sleepy and I spend most of my time sleeping or folding origami. Thats my new hobby by the way. Christine (host mom) works at the library, so I have 6 or 7 books with plenty of desings. I have 100 cranes, only 900 left! If your wondering why I spend my time folding paper as oppose to updating, it's becasue using the internet here takes up the phone line and the computer is in my host family's bedroom, so the times I can get on are few, and I'm usualy sleeping. But I promise to try harder?

Andy is muslim so I'v decided to fast as well. It started yesterday and really, it's not all that hard. Did you know you can't even drink water? Were going for a light hike later on today, so I'm wondering how thats gonna work.

If you dont watch anime, dont bother reading this section.
{ Anime withdrawl! I herd another girl describing anime to her counterpart (Terin is her name) when we were going on the hike, she was describing a show she couldent rember the name too. I smothly turned around and identified the show as Last Exile. Within a week we had gone to the video store together and gotten Howels Moving Castle and GITS: Innocence. The selection is bad over all, like 5 movies. I'm going to have guilt my sister into buring all the stuff I'v missed on to one big data dvd, becasue both Terin and I have gone a month without our crack. We'v got the twitches. }

Nothing really all that new, work is fun to an extent. Covered in scratches. I'm now trained to bathe dogs, yay! Dogs are getting adopted, it's good. Cats are sick and it's kitten season, that means some kittens didn't make it. Unfortunate, but thats life.

Pictures later tonight if plans go well. No promises.

Work Placement Like What.

2006-09-06T01:01:00.000-04:00

So today I started my work placement. Lots of average cleaning and oranising type things forst, then cleaning out the cats cages for the morning, then entertaining the dogs in the afternoon. No time for detail tonight, but here;s the next round of pictures:

From The Mt. Revilstoke Hike:

This Picture reminds me of the opening to Mononoke.

The glacier lake, cold.

The veiw from the lake.

Host family, all sweaty from the hike. They are normaly not that sweaty.

The moutains, far away.

why are we in class where there are mountains here?

2006-09-05T00:35:00.000-04:00

First off, some pictures, not many, but some. Most of the pictures are rather old, however you havent seen them, so here they are.

On the plane:
-I am tiered of these ****....

...on this ****plane

From the Retreat:
-a flag for praying on top of a mountain

-the view from the lookout

-JamYang, the crazy ex-monk

In the past few days we have done that boring talking about are feelings stuff. We'v painted some pictures...bla bla bla, all that uninteresting stuff. Saturday, however, we (us and another host family) went on a canoe ride down a river. The road driving inbetween out destination and where we started was 10k, so we figured it would be a nice float. This river was not straigt, it was very windy, and we ended up stairing at these cliff we were supposed to be passing for over an hour. It ended up being about 20k. Sunday we rested our bodies. Monday (today) we climbed those cliffs we had been stairing at. It was hikeing, but it was mostly uphill and at 45degree angles. There was a lake there as well, where I found this old huck-fin style raft that I muttled around on for about 20 min, there are pictures of that somewhere but not on my camera, so it will be a few days.

Tomorow I start my work placement at the spca taking care of cats, It's a 5k bike ride and I'm sore from the hike so it's not going to be fun, I also plan to make a phone call tomorow morning. I dont have time to send e-mails tonight as it is getting late. I'l try to send some tomorow night and maby get a few more pictures up.

Whoot Salmon Arm

2006-08-29T00:32:00.000-04:00

After a GRULING 8h drive on the norther road (we stoped for a half hour is whistler for food) we finaly pulled into Salmon Arm. Andy and I met the Hutchins. Their pritty cool, on the first day it was a little awkward.

Day 2 we all volunteered at a blugrass festival, ALL DAY. I was long, I was working cash and it was rather stressfull dealing with a whole lot of people. Day 3 our family and another host family went on a hike on Mt. Revelstone, it 2h out of town. I had a snow ball fight becasue in one part of the mountain there is a area that gets little sun at a high altitude, so there was some snow. We hiked up to a very cold lake, I swam ofcourse. Then we hiked back down, it was about 15k and we were on the mountain for about 6.5h. We had some gelato icecream on the way back and then we all eneded up back at our place and had spaheti.

Today we had our Job fair. I'm not shure yet but I think I might be working at the local SPCA. I will be fun but rather dirty work, cleaning up and what not. I'm not shure when I'll know however if history repeats it will probably be friday somewhat last minute.

I got one picture up and spent a few hours only to get nothing else up becasue the internet hates me. I'm going to go to the library where there is high speed and see if I can do it there. There is however a picture of Andy up, the link is above. goodnight.

Last Day at the Retreat

2006-08-25T02:32:00.000-04:00

Tomorow I leave for Salmon Arm at 10am, it's an 8h drive on a school bus, so I assume it's going to be unpleaseant. However I'd like to give a more detailed account of my time here.

I ended up swimming twice, Andy was the only indonesian to brave the waters, Andy is, as I found out yesterday, my indonesian counterpart and he's a pritty awesome dude.

The climbing out here is amazing. There is the guy who 'works' here (no salary, only food and a place to sleep) who used to be a monk. We clicked when we went up to a cave and everyone was standing around wondering if they should go back for a flashlight when is just hoped on down and started crawling around, there was enough light from the backlight of the camera to get me to the back of the cave and out safely. Then 5 of us started climbing around on the rocks and the ex-monk was taking us arund, I was right there with him. Today we went to a bear cave and I saw him glance over at a 30ft rock formation of in the distance then he turned around to me and smiled when I said "it's very tempting". Within 5min were scraping away moss in order to get a good foothold so we didn't slip of into certain injury. I wasn't crazy enough to scale the big rock as past halfway there was nothering to stop you if you fell except rock 20ft below. We found some less dangerus rocks to go up. I found a great one that was actualy the top of the bear cave, about a 60 degree angle, flat, and covere with slippery moss. I managed to flatten myself out enough to get high enough to wedge my fingers into a small crack, then pulled myself slowley to the top. Everybody else was looking at the cave on the other side. The crazy ex-monk turned to them and said "he's a good climber". It was lots of fun, I'm really having a great time.

There is also lots of work, I only get a 3h in the day to do stuff, the rest is eating or working.

Nancy, the girl from Iqaluit is going home tomorow, she was feeling very home sick, there was a baby born at home so she decided it would be best to head back home. Were going to miss her, and we hope that someone just as cool as her gets to come.

Andy is waiting for the computer, I have like 30 pictures of this place to put up, I'l see you next from salmon arm. again, sorry for spelling, i'm in a hurry.

ALIVE

2006-08-21T21:21:00.000-04:00

Aight... so i'm alive. I managed to smuggles a rubber snake through customs and got a photo-op. I also go some great shots of the mountain rainge from the plane as well, however I wont be able to upload until i get to salmon arm.

We waited around at the airport as people filed in and began to sleep. AT ABOUT 12:45 we left for Sea to sky retreat center. You basicaly drive for 3h away from vancover into the mountains, it's about halfway from Whisler and at least 45min away from civalisation. I'l be here till friday. It freaking aweseom. It's used as a bhudist retreat so the food and scernery is great, you can clim up the side of a mountain to this cool lookout and see everything.

There is a bunch of cool people and we did activities all the first day. The indonesian participants came yesterday and it was very sweet. They are cold ALL THE TIME, it's like 80 and there wearing coats and scarves, not a joke.

On the other side, there is a glacier lake that I have had the pleasure of freezing myself in twice now. lots of fun, g2g now as people are yelling at me. bye. sorry for spelling.

-day 3

I'm so close, I can smell the snakes.

2006-08-18T23:16:00.001-04:00

so uh... boo-yeah. I leave in like no time at all. I should be sleeping now, however I just finished packing and figured I could fit a post in.

Snakes on a plane was frikin sweet. It was really fun, a good goodbye. It got a standing ovation... half way through. It happened when Sam J. said "I'm tiered of these mother ****Inc snakes on this mother ****Inc plane!" instant classic right there.

The Emma dinner was cozy. However, I would call it the group and Ms. Ripley dinner, because nobody outside the group came. Fun though, decent food as usual.

SO..... I'm not really feeling anything. no excitement or nerves. I assume it will be like my theatre jitters, 5 seconds before I step on stage, or in the case the plane, or maybe 5 before the airport doors, but I assume plane.

Attempts to bring a rubber snake in my carry-on should either make my travel through customs hard or give a good laugh to the one or two other people on the plane who will appreciate the humor.

Must sleep now. I don't know how soon I will be able to post again. I promise I'll update and answer any e-mails as soon as I get to a internet line.

- t-minus 7h to takeoff.

I got one more week!

2006-08-11T14:24:00.000-04:00

...and what a crazy week it will be. Friends of mine are supposed to come to my cottage from the 14-16, if you didn't get the e-mail send me a line and I'll hook you up, if your under 30 and I know your face then you are welcome to come and do the goodbye thing.

SNAKES ON A PLANE: Be at silver city on Aug 17, the show starts at 10pm, everyone welcome and wanted.

I got an e-mail from my project leader in Indonesia, that alone is cool, however it also means that there is access to computers where I'm going. So I'm going to be able to keep updating and replying e-mails. I wont be responding immediately naturally but I'll try to reply to e-mails and post here once a week. E-mail me your mailing address if you want a postcard.

I got myself my Indonesian moneys (rupah)! I got 1,200,000 IND$ To bad that bling is only worth 200 CAN$.

Other cool thing: My ipod was delivered yesterday. Whoot. It will come in useful in sharing Canadian culture (movies and music) as well as keeping me entertained.

2 more shifts at Loblaws. 13h total. I'm quite pleased about that.

I'll post again on the 18th, probably late at night.

-8 days

Waiting Game

2006-07-27T13:10:00.000-04:00

I now have everything I need. I've got the bag, the sun screen, the malaria medication, the sleeping, and even the underwear all set. I plan to put them through the laundry sometime today then begin my final pack (I have packed 3 times now, testing weight and space).

I also got my flight information today! I thought I would be leaving mid-day on the 18th, but it turns out that this is not the case. I am, in fact, leaving at 6:30 AM on the 19th. This leaves a whole extra day! Well, not really because since I'm leaving so early in the morning, I'll be waking up at like 3:30-4:00 AM so the 18th is basically going to be me sleeping in from the fun on the 17th (Snakes on a Plane opens midnight, you all better come to silver city and watch it with me) and then trying to fall back asleep, failing, watching some anime, playing some video games, then try to fall asleep again.

I also got myself a credit card. They gave me a 2000$ limit, a little crazy for a first card, however, it will provide to be useful if something unforeseen happens during traveling.

I found a funny little thing a few days ago. Type Josh's Canada in google, it's the first hit.

All that's left now is to work and wait.
-22 days.

Hi!

2006-07-17T21:50:00.000-04:00

Today or tomorow I'm going to be sending out e-mails to all the people on my contact list. I assume only a few people know of this site befor now so welcome to everyone else.

Also, someone mentioned concerns about internet censorship. I'v now set up blogger to automaticaly post when I send an e-mail to a specific account, so even if hotmail is blocked then I can make a new e-mail address and send from that. I am currently testing it with this post.

Internet may not be redily avalable as well. I know there is a way to set up an audio post system that works though a phone line, where I call a number, say whats shakin' and then it gets automaticaly posted as an audio file. I'm still looking into it, but hopefully i'l ba able to get an internet conection the whole trip.

32 days till departure.

Money situation thus far:

2006-07-17T11:46:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I had a family and family friends party at my house. It was fun but today I am tiered. We raised a lot of money too! Now I can afford to buy things! Yay! I did a tally of all the things I would need and their cost. It's crazy how the little things add up.
I am working till the 13 of august so I get 4 more pay cheques and if I work at least 20h a week until then I'll have another 600, and that's not including if I work Sundays where I get paid more. Realistically I'll have around 700. So the money from the party is all going to necessary supplies such as a new pack, sleeping bag, clothing ext, and I raised enough so that is all payed for.
That 700 is going to fund my spending money there. CWY suggest 400. I also broke my mp3 player and don't have time to get it repaired, so the left over 300 could go to that, I'm still not to sure on that idea though.

Basically, in the money department I'm official safe, which is a big burden off my shoulders.

A Letter from Salmon Arm

2006-07-08T22:14:00.000-04:00

No new developments had happened for a while, hence the lack of a post. However I just received a letter from my Canadian portion Project supervisor. Whooo! Her name is Louise Utting and is currently in the Shuswamp area (the geological patch where Salmon Arm is located) setting things up and preparing for our arrival.

She gave me some information, none concerning what exactly I'd be doing, however, she sent me a form for me to fill out to help place us in our specific work projects. Most breaking in the info I got was a more specific location for my Indonesia phase. I will be in the province of Solok in West Sumatra. I google earth'ed it, it was an area of low quality images, and no city names.

I also now know the names and e-mails of the other Canadians in the program. Order is a guess at a geological position right to left across the country: Terin from Halifax NS, Christian-Simon from Cantley QC, Andrea from St-Therese QC, Nancy from Iqaluit NU, Kena from Toronto ON, Amber from Calgary AB, Christian from Winnipeg MB, and Christopher from Ritchmond BC.

Crazy eh? People from all over Canada! I also noticed that there are 3 people with the short name Chris. Fun Times.

I also have my program calendar to post:

August:
18- Leave for Vancouver
19- Arrive in Vancouver and go to the orientation camp at the Sea and Sky Retreat Centre in Squamish
21- Indonesian participants arrive in Vancouver and join us at the Orientation camp.
25- Finish Camp and go to host community: Salmon Arm
28- Orientation to community

September:
1- end of Orientation to community
4- Work placement begins
16- Not related to CWY, however, it's my Birthday.

October:
13&14- Mid Project Meeting

November:
27- Begin preparations to leave Salmon Arm
30- complete preparations and leave for Indonesia

December:
1- Arrive in Indonesia and begin orientation (location not known yet)
4- compete orientation and arrive in host community (specifics also unknown), begin community Orientation
8- complete orientation to community
11- Work Placement begins

January:
20&21- Mid Project Meeting

March:
12- Final Debriefing
14- End of Debriefing, Canadians return to Vancouver, Canadians begin Hot Debriefing
16- Hot Debriefing ends, we leave for our homes
17- Home

Whooo. Yes, I am beginning to feel the excitement. It's the same feeling you get on those nights before the day you get presents, like the night before your birthday or Christmas. It's not that strong, but at this rate I'll probably wont be sleeping August 17th, either because of nerves, my mother being sentimental or the fact that Snakes on a Plane opens the 18th and it would be o-so hilarious to go see it opening night the day I leave on a Plane across the country. I assume all 3 will play their part.

Trivial Post

2006-06-16T10:41:00.000-04:00

I forgot to add this yesterday, but if you want to be on my mailing list for updates please e-mail me at jdjl1987@msn.com . Thanks.

Blog Opening!

2006-06-15T10:49:00.000-04:00

Yay! The blog is now open and is going to be usable now. I'm going to have a system where I send out a mass e-mail when I update, so that you all wont forget about me (excluding my mom, who will probably check everyday). I have yet to make this mailing list yet, but I'm in the process of accumulating e-mails. Replies to posts are welcomed and encouraged, either on the site or through e-mail, however if you using the site please leave you name so I know who you are!

As far as my preparation goes, I'm still planning stuff out and working to get money for this thing. My next payment is due July 10th, I should be able to make that deadline relatively easily. Also, the party that my parents are throwing me (all of the adult type people who've known me since I was a kid and stuff). The idea is that since I'm gone for my birthday, Christmas, Easter, thanksgiving and other family holiday type things we are mixing them to gether and instead of gifts that they bring cheques or cash moneys so I can buy stuff. I reaaaally want an SLR camera. The basic ones average around 1000$ but I can take 1000 photos, see if there good right away and have the quality of a film camera. I also need to get appropriate clothing, suitcase, knife, sunscreen, bug repellent, water purifiers and a whole slew of random junk so that I can survive for 7 months away from home, 3.5 of witch in a tropical country.

I've almost finished my injections. I have to get a Japanese encephalitis shot today and next Thursday, I also finish my typhoid pills tonight. After that I'm basically safe from disease excluding Dengue Fever (makes you sick the first time you get it, however if you get it twice it can cause internal bleeding and death) witch is carried by daytime mosquitoes. Fresh water parasites are aslo a concern (that bore through your skin and infect your body, stuff like eyeworm) that is easy to avoid by simply not going into fresh water, however the mosquitoes... most people sugest "not getting bitten twice", I'm juts going to DEET it up.

64 days till I go! I get more and more excited as time goes by.