First Week Overview

Sorry I didn't get around to starting a blog until the end of the first week. I'm going to review what I've said in emails and publish something like it here. If you've read my emails, feel free to skip ahead.

I misread the travel-guide Katimavik sent me. They told me to show up and hour and a half before my flight, 8:45 AM. I took that to mean that that was my flight time, and they wanted me to show up an hour and a half before that. Unfortunately, that was the time that I should show up to be an hour and a half early. So I wound up getting up at 5:15 AM and showing up three hours early. I even tried to board the wrong plane.

Katimavik didn't send me my package with stickers, a pin, a badge, and luggage tags. I managed to get my luggage across, and later on I would get my pin and stickers (plus French versions) but I never got a badge.

I met that Mathew guy the guide said I'd be traveling with. When I showed up in Halifax from Toronto, where I'd catch another plane to Charlottetown, me and Mat met up and traveled with five other people heading to Katimavik.

This was my first plane trip since I was three. The takeoff was cool. You feel the suction from the motion of the plane, it rocks a bit, and the view is pretty cool until you get above cloud level. Once you get above cloud level it steadies, and once you get over the novelty of being above the clouds, you realize all that means is that there's no view anymore.

When I arrived in Charlottetown, we met up with all the members of all the groups stationed in Prince Edward Island. There are four in total, with ten members apiece. These four groups are all taking the Cultural Discovery and Civic Engagement program, and together they are considered a "cluster". That means that, while we would divide into four eventually, these groups would still interact with each other occasionally.

The entire cluster moved into a big house in Charlottetown for a three-day orientation. At this location I saw the ocean for the first time in my life. I think I accidentally saw it the moment I walked in, because there's a pretty good view of it from the main window of the main room, and the Project Coordinator pointed and said the ocean was in that direction. I looked, but didn't recognize it. A more dramatic encounter would happen on the second or third day, when we all hiked out to look at it. It's pretty neat to have nothing obstruct your vision, and wonder exactly how far out you're seeing. That's something I don't think I've ever seen in my life.

We were the only group with a gender imbalance: 4 guys and 6 girls.

I learned that I was wrong about my original assumption that I would spend two months at each location. Instead it's three months in Summerside, two months in Thunder Bay, and one month in Chisasibi. A little disappointing, if I'm being honest.

Turns out the probation period just means that, while there's usually a four-strikes-you're-out policy, in the three week probation, there's only one strike.

After arriving in Summerside, my group would face off against the Special Olympics in a floor hockey competition. They beat us 8-4.

We did job interviews to see where I'd be placed for my 9-5 job, and I got Community Connections, a place for people with mental and physical disabilities. I thought that meant I'd be like a male nurse. Laugh if you want, but that's the position I was angling for. I'm not here to do what I already know. I want to learn and have experiences.

From my first day of work, it looks more like I'm more of a supervisor with a specialty in the woodworking division. Woodworking supervisor sounds so much more manly than nurse.