Leave Me Alone!! Go Bug the Gas Station Attenants

Well it has been a very, very long time since I have written anything for my blog; I guess this is a better time than ever. Browsing through some of the old entries and a lot has changed; I’ve finally mastered a standard car, as I bought one back in November. Her name is Marie-Michelle Tercel, and she is a pretty good car for me, even though she’s not the biggest. Our group finished Katimavik, 11 strong, something very rare. Out of all the Katimavik groups we met, they were all short at least one participant, except for one, who lost one in the final couple of months. Being done Katimavik is a different feeling; I usually miss something about it every day. I miss each town at different times, and I miss everyone so much. It’s hard to believe that there were 11 of us, it seems like a lot, but you always noticed when a person was missing from the house.

So I started at Trent this past year too, I liked it, but it was not some that I absolutely enjoyed. But it slowly started to grow on me. I’ve been also working at the Peterborough Memorial Centre and Tim Hortons once again. Sophie and I vowed to never return to Tim Hortons again, but at one point we were back there. It’s not as bad as you’d think; we always find ways to have fun. Throwing Timbits at Marie-Michelle always releases and stress I get.
But of course the prices went up at Tim Hortons last week, and the whining was unbelievable sometime. They’d pull up to the window and I would say “2.90$ please”, and the response was always followed by “You mean 2.75$, right?” “No, it’s now 2.90$ for two large coffees.” Then the dirty looks come out, “They raised prices again, why?” “ Well I think the price changes of late have been because of the cut in GST, and we did adjust some prices so hot chocolate is now the same price of coffee, which in both cases caused prices to be lower.” They then take the coffees, looking at me like I don’t even have my Grade 10 because I work at Tim Hortons. But do I care, no! Because its Peterborough, and the people complaining probably don’t even have their Grade 9. We’re helping them, so if they can no longer afford to buy an Extra Large (usually Triple Triple, or 4x4), they can settle for a Large. I can only see benefits to this, they save money, drink less cream and sugar, and in some instances coffee. They can then use that money to go buy gas, and bug the gas station attendant on why the gas prices are higher than they were last week.

The world is a changing place; we need to start watching what we are buying. I’ve noticed this even in Peterborough since I’ve come home. There are no new jobs, it just not students applying and working at Tim Hortons anymore. I support the price increase; people need to be spending their money on better things then fast food junk. It will do nothing for them, only leave them with less money in their pocket, and the amount of energy used to make the stuff is mind boggling. Let’s say you order a muffin and a coffee one morning. Your muffin is not made at the store, it’s is made in some plant far away I don’t even know where it is, and they are kept frozen in a warehouse waiting to be picked for an order. So it is then loaded onto a Tim Hortons’ truck and shipped frozen from somewhere in Toronto, to Peterborough. Once it arrives in Peterborough it sits in the freezer waiting to be baked. It is then loaded into one of the ovens (which sit on/preheated all day). Once they are baked they are thrown into a paper bag and given to you. The coffee cups are a problem alone, but how about where the coffee comes from. Tim Hortons doesn’t participate in Free Trade/Organic coffee, but prides them self on their “Sustainable Coffee” programme. It is described as “providing direct financial assistance for technical training to improve the quantity and quality of coffee produced and assist farmers in getting their coffee to market at the best time and for the best price. Assistance is also provided on environmental management, in both proper farming techniques and reforestation projects, led by Tim Hortons. (http://www.timhortons.com/en/goodwill/1521.html#6) But I can’t help but wonder if it’s the same type of training that their employees in the store go through, the importance of speed, quickness, and quality . . . . Or in other words, more profits for the big guys.

If you went to a local bakery to pick up some muffins, you probably wouldn’t find much difference in the prices, and you would receive a made fresh, not frozen muffin that actually benefits the local community. As for coffee there is a really god Canadian company named Kicking Horse Coffee, (www.kickinghorsecoffee.com), which offers fair-trade organic coffee. We bought it a time or two in Katimavik and it was really good. I saw it at Shoppers Drug Mart the other day, the only down side is that you have to grind your own beans. A lot better and fresher then the pre-packed Tim Hortons crap.

Retreating with my Billet Family

This past weekend end my Billet Family took me to a family retreat at Canterbury Hills in Ancater. It was a whole weekend of family activities and games, with a few religious things thrown in as well.

Friday night we arrived at around 6:00 and unpack the car, a Toyota Prius, which had all of its "contents under pressure". I'm still not sure how we got all of our luggage in the back of that car. There were three rooms in our cabin each containing 2 bunk beds, I got a room all to myself. It was very different because usually in the Katimavik house there are 2 bunk bed in the guys room, but they are all used. I am getting use to having my own room again since billeting started though. After we unpack we went to the main hall to meet the other families, and got our family picture taken. Then the kids went and watched a movie from the 80's called Short Circuit, it was a pretty funny movie.

The next morning we had breakfast and then started tobogganing down the hill. It was a lot of fun and many different tracks were created, such as a luge track, the speed track, and the jump track. All of them were a lot of fun. In the afternoon a a drum lady came and we played drums and other rhythm instruments for an hour, that too was a whole lot of fun. That night we watched Cat in the Hat, which wasn't as funny for younger kids, and then another 80's movie called Follow That Bird, which of course had Big Bird from Sesame Street in it. Mostly older kids stayed up for that one.

Sunday morning we ate, and pack the Prius again with its "contents under pressure" still. We then had a Sunday morning worship, and then we headed back to Shelburne and I had a nice long nap for the rest of the afternoon.

"I Wanna Drive the Zamboni"

Well our group arrived in Ontario after surviving the worst snow storm to hit Saskatchewan since 1969. It delayed us by one day, and so we had to spend an extra night at Youth Farm Bible Camp in Rosthern, SK. It wasn't that bad, we had a movie marathon (in both languages), and played a lot of floor hockey, and some of us even ventured outside into the waist deep snow. We left a -25 (-40 with windchill) Saskatoon, and said hello to +7 Toronto.

Our new house in Shelburne is much newer, and bigger compared to the house in Saskatoon, but the same moisture problems still exist in the house. The boys share a slightly bigger room with a bathroom, while the 7 girls share a room about the same size as the guys with no added benefits.

My job for this placement is at the Centre Duffren Recreational Complex (AKA the Arena). There I do the job that every Canadian dreams about, I drive the Zamboni. Well technically its an Olympia (GM model), but it does the same stuff. I use to think that riding on the Zamboni would complete my life, but driving it is a dream come true. Believe it or not I learnt the same way as the guy on the Master Card commercial did, only I practiced entirely on the Zamboni (not on his truck like he does when practicing doing the boards). When we're not working on the ice we are keeping the rink clean, and fixing anything that needs to be fixing. Its a lot like a farm, the rink is your crop so you care for it, but the rest of the time you are doing what you need to get done.

I am already into billeting, its been fun so far. I hope it contines the way it was been going. I must get to bed now.

The 12 Days of Christmas

Well I have been very busy lately and its hard to believe that its been 12 days since my last post. Christmas came and went pretty fast, but didn't feel like the real Christmas more like the 1st of December. On Christmas we opened up presents and each cooked an item for dinner. I had a lot of presents thanks to all of the people who sent stuff from home, I guess I am pretty easy to shop for as mostly everything was Toronto Maple Leafs stuff. Boxing Day I went to Saba's, my billet mum, and had dinner. The food was just as good as billeting and I didn't want to go home for 80's night at the Katima-House because the food would not compare. Sara, Rob, and Emilie also came with me. After Christmas it was back to the Salt Mines for three days with most of the Katima-gang since they didn't have work, it was a whole lot of fun working with everyone.

Then we made our way down to southern Saskatchewan for New Years. On the 30th we drove down to Moose Jaw to see the Tunnels where Al Capone hid when things where hot in Chicago, and also the Chinese one, which was even more fictional then the Capone tunnel, but gave you more insight on how rough it was for Chinese immigrants who came to Canada. Then we did a walking tour of the murals in Moose Jaw. We the piled into our van and started the 1 and a half drive to Weyburn where we would spend the night. On our way we drove through Rouleau during daylight so we stopped to visit Corner Gas. We could see the famous grain elevator and water tower from about 10 minutes away and I went crazy when we stopped. I ran around like a crazy person seeing as much as I could, Corner Gas and the Ruby, grain elevator, cop station, FOO MAR T, and the Liquor and Insurance Store (which is a real store, not just made up for the show) among other things. We finally made it to Weyburn, which had a pretty awesome house. It was the old Town Hall and it was all redone, and was massive.

The next morning we started our drive back to Moose Jaw for our New Years Eve party with 5 other groups, but we had to stop at corner gas one more time, this time I went to the bard and bought a "JACKASS" shirt (if you watch the show you'll know who its from), a sign, and season 3 DVD which is pretty cool because I bought it from the actual bar. We also stopped at Drinkwater to get a picture of us in front of the sign doing what else but drinking water.

When we got to the Moose Jaw YMCA the Katima-Olympics started. Our team didn't fare to well at such sports as Twister and the chair game, but won the combined team event of Capture the Flag to bring our record to a poor 1-3. After it was time for a Katima-Pot Luck where each group brought their best Katima-Food and we pigged out. Then it was time to dance the night away until mid-night. Each region of Canada also celebrated their area of the country's New Year along with Saskatchewan's. So I counted down at 10:59:50 PM Sask. time and at 11:59:50 as well.

The next morning we cleaned up and started a scavenger hunt in Moose Jaw, after that we visited Mac the Moose, the world's biggest moose and then started to head home to Saskatoon. Overall it was a great weekend, we saw what flat looks like down around Rouleau, Sara said it was so flat you couldn't trip and I'd believe her.

Well less then a week in the House now, we are home today doing a lot of cleaning while Sara and I do the Final Presentation for next week when we go to Rosthern for Rotation Camp. It will be a busy week, open house is coming up on Friday, something that Emilie and I are in charge of. I have lots on my plate but people are helping us out a lot.

House Managing

Being a House Manager in a Katimavik house can be very stressful at times, you have to make sure the house looks presentable for the all the guests we have, you have to prepare food that everyone can and will eat without screwing it up, and you have to complete at big list of chores by the end of the week. This week Rob and I are in charge of making sure the house doesn't fall to pieces, its been a pretty easy week as it hasn't snowed yet so there's been no shoveling. We set a record for grocery shopping yesterday, it took us just under an hour to spend about $350 of our $400 and something grocery budget, last time it seemed like we were in Super Store for hours. Super Store is what the rest of Canada calls their grocery store, its the Ontario Lobaws, Independent, and No Frills all rolled into one massive ugly green building that is overly patriotic. They have giant flags that stand so high you can see a provincial flag and the Canadian flag for kilometers, especially in Saskatoon.

Christmas is only a few days away and I haven't bought the Christmas presents for the group yet. I'll probably do it on Friday night during free time. I have sent out some Christmas cards as well for family and friends back home, I had to stand in line for 15 minutes at the post office to buy stamps, but I guess its just the time of year. Some crazy plans have been made for the Christmas break, there is a plan in the works to go to Super Store and go to the giant coupon board (its right inside of the front doors for those non Super Store people, I don't really like it there, its a grocery store version of Wal-Mart) and teams of people will pick three items off of the board and race race around the super busy Super Store on the 23rd or 24th or December dressed like elves. On Christmas we will be working for a couple of hours at a soup kitchen and having turkey dinner at home. On Boxing Day I am going to my Billet's house for the afternoon, it should be a lot of fun. New Years Weekend we are going south to Weyburn, and Moose Jaw. But what I am looking forward to the most is a small town the size of Keene between Weyburn and Moose Jaw called Rouleau where they film Corner Gas. I was able to talk them into stopping there for half and hour so we can see the Ruby and Corner Gas, and hopefully some other important landmarks like the "Foo-Mart", grain elevator, and the Liquor/Insurance Store. It should be a lot of fun! Well back the housework!

I'm a Roadhammer

This week at work I have been spending a lot of time out on the road with the Food Bank truck driver Chuck. We have mostly been going around Saskatoon to different grocery stores picking up bread, pastry, and any other close to expiring items they have. We also pick up the donor bins at the front of stores. It has been a lot of fun and I've been able to see a lot of the city. On Thursday we took a trip to Craik, Saskatchewan, a 2 hour drive south, to pick up some potatoes. It was really cool because we got to see the flatter part of Saskatchewan, you could see Craik's grain elevator from the next town away, which was around 20 KM away! It was a lot of fun even though it was a little foggy, but you could still see forever.

Also this week we finished our French lessons, I guess they helped a bit with making conversation which is pretty important. We have also been busy getting ready for Christmas, which is only 10 days away which is hard to believe. Maybe because we haven't been watching TV we don't know how close it really is.

This weekend we have Franco Noel, and the Food Bank Christmas Hamper day along with the regular weekend junk. It will be a long weekend, but I'll have a week off from work as Rob and I are House Managers.

Saskatoon - Yours To Discover

On the weekend most of the group was given the task to create a scrapbook to mail out to New Brunswick for the next group that will show up in Saskatoon in less then a month now. Sara and I, however, were given the task of creating our final presentation. It has to be 30 minutes long and show all of the things we have learnt and done in Saskatchewan. We decided that a slide show would be the best way to go as we had lots of pictures of the group, but what we didn't have was pictures of the city. So Sara, who is from Kingston, Ontario, and I set out to discover Saskatoon. We didn't really have any plans of what we would take pictures of, we just went to our favorite spots and took pictures. We found so many crazy things that we had never noticed before, like a blue pig. We also found some random things that we just had to take pictures of like the Western Beer Factory, a beer glass on a statue that some drunk left behind the night before, and a curling rink. We hung out in the curling rink for awhile watching a game as we figured it was a pretty Saskatchewan thing to do. We then asked the man in the office if we could come curl as a group sometime, he gave us the information and we went back to watch some more curling. After 10 minutes he came out and was surprised to still see us there, so he gave us some shoes and brooms and gave us a sheet of ice to throw some rocks on. It was a whole lot of fun.

Sunday we drove 80KM south to one of the only two "cut your own" Christmas tree farms in Saskatchewan. The trees were so expensive and and the cheaper ones were $22, and the best ones around $45. The cheap ones were so perfect though, they prune the trees so much that each one is perfect, so you don't have to look long to find one. They also paint the trees in August to make them look green, ours looks artificial from a distance but when you get close you can see its real. We came home and I had a package waiting from my Aunt in Maryland, it was full of goodies and decorations for the house. So now with the tree and some decorations its starting to feel more like Christmas.

Last week was a very busy week at work, that is why there aren't many blogs. Chuck, the truck driver, hurt himself and needed help out on the road. So i got to drive around Saskatoon with him for a couple of days. An 18-wheeler also came in full of oranges and I had to move them around in the trailer with a pump-cart for the forklift because we don't have any loading docks here. It was pretty cold in the -20 weather.

Tonight, those of age will be going to practice their bar tending skills to prepare for the Francophone Christmas party next Saturday night. We will be serving some drinks that are only found in Saskatchewan, so we need to know how to make them.