Getting Settled

Much has happened since we last left off, and it's funny that I say "much" has happened, but in reality it's not "much". What has happened is we have grown more accustom to regular life in Katimavik. Rules have been sorted out, schedules were produced, and life is fairly consistent. Not to say it's boring (in now way is this boring) but it's orderly.

I finished my week as house manager and the whole thing was summed up by our first ever CCK meeting (or KCC). The meeting is like a board meeting with everyone, and all the committees are represent to share ideas. By Monday I was back to work, getting on the 102 bus to ride into NDG. My week consisted of various little tasks to keep me busy while my boss was on vacation in Mexico.

 One of the things I did at work was take picture of where people put their recycle bins. So, I have all these "Can you spot the bin?" pictures.

 I get off a verdome station every day and I wait for the 102 bus looking out at these cranes. I thought they looked pretty cool.

 At work I got a special tour of Concordia University were we saw the church where the choir sings. Concordia University has two campuses, this is the original one.

 These pictures are from the first activity from the activities committee (me and Andrew). This was the ouutdoor skating rink we spent a good deal of time at playing around with hockey sticks, and from most of us (except Cody) this included remembering how to skate.

Now for some up coming news, Andree-Ann will have a replacement. Her all we know is her name is Jessica, she's 21, and she's from Gatineau. Marie-France was hoping to do some facebook stalking, but it looks like we"ll have to wait until February 7th to meet her.

Katimaparty

This was a great week to be house manager and I know it. It was the first week so naturally failure would be tolerated.  It was also a great chance to get caught up with sleep, this being the sleep I was robbed of on the flight here. The all over best part was Thursday, for sure. We had a double birthday, it was Kyle's 19th and Andree-Ann's 22nd. What fun that was. Francois and I experience our first real busy day, which was honestly really fun. Usually we take a two hour break between everything we do, but Thursday, wow. We start out doing the decorations, happy birthday, bonne fete banners, streamers everywhere, and balloons all over the living room. 

 The dinner we'd planned for that night was pho soup, but we figured it's a party. I made some potato trips, and chicken wings. We also baked up some rainbow bread. With our birthday surprise, Andree-Ann had her own surprise for us, sadly not in a good way. She announced she'd be leaving the program as of Saturday (but now it looks like Friday). She's leaving for her own reasons and I don't want to pry, so we made the most of the night we had. So obviously had a cake, and we had asked Etienne to go out to get cake mix on Wednesday. The picture below is our Katimacake. The orange circle is chocolate with almond icing, the green rectangle is chocolate. Yum! The candles say 19 and 22, not 1922, because no one here was born 1922.

 Here's the birthday crew cutting the cake. That cake went pretty fast actually, and for all the right reasons.

After cake we danced to stupid music for awhile. Then everyone one of us packed up to go downtown. The beauty of this being that were all very different, and the fact that we can all go out is pretty special. The downside is that we could really find a place we all wanted to go. In fact the journey took about 2 hours, and during this journey two people were so sick, and fed up that they actually took the metro home.

Eventually we found an Irish pub with pool tables. Here I had my first beer, and in the words of Andrew (who was also having his first beer) "You people drink this? It tastes like horse piss!"

Everyone made it home before curfew and we talked long into the night as everyone slowly left for bed. We had so much fun.

Yagel Bagel and Other Tales

I"ll be honest the past few days have been incredibly lazy, I have had plenty of time to write, but little to nothing to write about! So I figured I do a brief recap of what's been going on.

Saturday: Sleep-ins and breakfast until noon when Francophones, Andree-Ann and Marie-France, left to go shopping. The remaining Anglophone were preparing for the first French lesson with our Francophone instructor, Andree-Ann. I'm not being funny, these are two different Andree-Anns. During this day we formed comities as well, I am on the Activities Comity!

Sunday: Massive confusion hit at 9:45 when Competency instructor, Julie, arrived early. Etienne left the night before and mentioned he wouldn't be back until noon, which was the time Julie was expected. Some of us felt that our sleep in time was being threatened, so Julie didn't feel all too welcome. This was straightened out when Etienne arrived.

Monday: First day of being house manager consisted of buying groceries, planning a menu, cooking dinner, and cleaning the house. Of course we have a ridiculous amount of down time, that's why I'm writing this now. I even had time to call my dear friend Sean. I opened my first letter from home, which was a most adorable card from G-ma (Thank you!!). I also went out to none other than Tim Horton's with some pals, after those donuts we went to the store across the road. Just when we were ringing up our purchases I realized that I can buy lottery tickets!! So, I bought a two dollar ticket, and the lady didn't even ask for ID! When I got home I found out I won two dollars! That means the ticket was free!!

So, that wraps up most of what been going on recently. Yagel Bagel (as seen in the title) is another one of those inside jokes I'd e happy to share with you. It's really just a bagel place next to my work, but the name is Yagel Bagel, I think that's just a joke in itself.

Speaking of food and free time, Jan, if you're reading this could you let me know where that deli you were talking about is. I have all this free time and I would appreciate a Montreal smoked meat sandwich and I have a transit pass so...

Eco-Quartier and Life in the Katimahouse

Salut! Last we left off I was going off for 9 interviews, that is far behind me now. Each interview was a little different, but all when well. It was a speed-dating style set of interviews, a buzzer would sound and we'd switch. The point is I found my soul-mate, Nicole. Okay, maybe not soul mate, but we certainly got along. She's the manager of Eco-Quartier NDG (NDG is Notre-Dame de Grace). OUr interview consisted of tales of dumpster diving and jokes between Nicoles. Thankfully she is a two 'k' Nikki, while I am a one 'k' Niki. If it weren't for this I probably wouldn't have been hired. So, yeah that's my way of saying I was hired with Eco-Quartier NDG! Yay! For those who don't want to search the blog to find the Eco-Quartier NDG, it's an environmentalist movement focusing on recycling.

After this was our last dinner with Pascal, our beloved chef, who will be missed. We did a short prayer too Katimagod. Which is the neutral god we made up so we can say grace without offending anyone. Our prayers to Katimagod (There's been about 4 so far) consisted of each person at the table saying one word. For example:

"Dear Katimagod we thank you for..."

"the"
"amazing"
"tasty"
"chicken"
"it"
"made"
"my"
"dreams"
and then some one made add something like "explode"

We have fun. The dinner was mashed potatoes, cripsy chicken legs, and steam carrots, so yummy. That was (and is) the great thing about Pascals cooking, it was simple dishes made brilliant.

That evening the house contracts were made. There are three house contracts, environmental, second language, and group living. The environmental contracted included things about shower time, turning of the lights, and ways to reduce the loads of dish water. The second language contract included, my idea, only French after 11:00pm, which is good for people who want to get some sleep. There furniture was also divided into was language to speak on each. I made some funky signs for the good of the group, we all agreed on the language so don't be offended.

 To pretty up the dent in the wall.

 Hugo the abominable snowman. Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JlVqfC8-UI

 This one was defaced shortly after it became evident that the heater behind this chair provided a consistent smell of marijuana. Our neighbour below us seems to get stoned while doing the laundry, because all you can smell in that chair is pot and bounce drier sheets. I did not deface it.

The next day was my first day of work, cool! Now here's panic time. This is a map of the Montreal Metro.

So, to understand the magnitude of this, each of those stops is roughly 4 city blocks apart. I am at Monk station on the green line. The Ville-Ray group is a  significant walk from the far end of the blue line. McGill station on the green line is basically the heart of downtown. My work placement is far west Verdome station on the orange line. I'll paint a picture for you, walking to Monk station it's cold, take the green line, make sure you're going to Honore-Beaugard and not to Avignon, get off at Lionel-Groulex station to transfer on the the orange line, make sure you're going to Cote-Vertu, and not Henri-Bourassa, get off at Verdume, find either the 102, or 104 bus, ride that for 20 minutes, THERE'S THE DOLLARAMA, RING THE BELL, QUICK!!! Thankfully I made it there fine.

My first day of work consisted mostly of going door to door around the neighbourhood giving out free recycling bags. Now when I was at Micheals and I offered someone a free coupon is was common for people to turn it down, same with the free Katimavik pins. I guess recycling bags are different because no one said no! I enjoyed starting my ramble with "... and a free recylcing bag!" that's when they wake up and realize. "That's a nice bag, I could use that for my grocery shopping!" No matter what they're thinking, they take the bag." I had a savoury poutine lunch, namely because I left my PBJ sandwich at home. I think that was a positive mistake.

That evening was fun too, I got home a little late but there was a wonderful warm dinner waiting for me. Francois made an awesome stir-fry that was quickly gobbled up after a short prayer to Katimagod. That night we walked some stand up comedy on the project because we found out that Montreals famous "Just for Laughs" only exists in the summer.

This morning I woke up so I could get to work for 10, and I did, no trouble. I was excited to get to work because it's the grand opening of the Benny Farm Community Center. A little bit about the community. The apartments in the surrounding area were originally built for veteran returning from world war II.The buildings are now low income housing, mostly for immigrants working low paying jobs. Bored teenagers spray paint every surface visible turning the neighbourhood into a seemly 'dangerous' place. The addition of this community center is going to have a huge impact on the community. Instead of community to the YMCA the location will give them the convenience, and the time, to actually attend. The kids will have an option other than vandalism. I made it to the grand opening and I meet all the local big wigs, it was such a community project and really, everyone turned out. Just as I was about to leave, Billy, my pal from work, and I followed the Mayor of Montreal out to the pool. He shook my hand we talked and I even got my picture taken with, yes, the man himself, Gerald Tremblay. As a politics hound I was really pleased. Billy will send me the picture when he figures out how, and for now I'll put it up.

When I got back to work my day consists of pleasant little office projects. The I got the early bus and made it home before Tiffany and Landen, who were making dinner. So I got to witness the creation that was mac and cheese.

This is our Geo-party wall, my idea, were gonna decorate the whole wall with quotes and inside jokes and stuff, and when we go, we'll each take a couple.

 This is our group living poster. Enjoy.

A Look into Volunteering: Part Two

The escapades of today were largely centered around the pilgrimage to the last work partners. On these journeys we visited four different volunteer places, mostly environmental organizations. While we wondered through Ville-Emard ( which must be HUGE because we walked and took the bus and the metro, and we never left Ville-Emard) I saw all kind of intriguing art. So I have a couple of my favourites here to show you:

On to the projects! We visited another Eco-Quartier location at the YMCA which was working on making a green alleyway in the community. Of course they're still a long way off actually planting it, which comes in spring, so for now it's about design and asking the residence what they want to see. The whole concept of the project is urban gardening.

Then we took the metro to McGill, same road as the Yellow Door, was the CKUT radio station. It's a not for profit independent radio station, they play up coming unknown artist and provide an alternative view for everything. The volunteer would be categorizing music, present shows, and doing pre record shows. Yeah, a chance to be on the radio, pretty cool, right?

Then we went to another environmental project which is not Eco-Quartier, but is working on some of the same projects. This organization is assisting in the Concordia Green Roof project, they're working on a different roof than Eco-Quartier. I don't remember the name of the organization because they didn't over use the name (as many of the others did). This project was interesting because they will actually be starting the seeding process in the greenhouse in only a few weeks! While the organization is "bilingual" currently all but one (bilingual) are francophones, so it's a good opportunity to learn French.

The last one we visited was another (another other) Eco-Quartier! This one was focused more on Recycling. They had me at "Dumpster Diving", they go dumpster diving to make examples of, get this, recycled crafts! Soooo Niki....

Lasagna for dinner with Pascal, very tasty. I also managed to snag some butter chicken for lunch while we were in the food court. Now were preparing for tomorrows interviews. Mum prepare to panic, I'm going to NINE interviews!

A Look into Volunteering: Part One

We all woke up early to visit the different volunteer placements. We visited five placements, each quite different. There's probably going to be one volunteer per placement, with a couple exceptions. It seems some of these places depend heavily on Katimavik volunteers, seems unfair that it's only one per placement. Naturally, we will be visiting more placements tomorrow. If your like mum, whose been texting me wanting to know everything about the volunteer placements, then check out this link (http://www.katimavik.org/calendar/partners). Selecting 'Montreal-Ville Emard' will display a whole bunch of links for the different volunteer projects. But first I will fill you in about each one.

The first we visited was a bit of a walk from our house, this was L'arche. It's a community of people living with mentally disabled people of all ages and nationalities. The place was great, they were all bilingual, one even speaks Polish, they do crafts cook soup, and they only work 9am-4pm. Of course we were all fighting over this placement like greyhounds fighting over a popsicle.

Then there was Eco-quartier, this was a walk from home aswell. It's an environmental action group aimed at city gardens, reusable energy, and wiping out invasive species. Volunteering with them in the winter seems a little odd but the aim of the project is the same. When you volunteer with them they will lend you a bike!

Then we visited the Yellow Door which was a metro ride into downtown and then a bit of a walk to McGill Universite. Just next to "Canada's Havard" there's an old heritage building with a big story. The Yellow Door is remarkable in the sense that they do a variety of volunteer work, they do visits and computer competency classes with seniors, they provide and "alcohol-free bar scene" showcasing new music, and they free starving people for cheap. These starving people are, of course, the McGill students.

Then we headed over to the YMCA, which was a metro adventure away. Families from all walks of life who need a place to stay during a tough time. Immigrants, people who've had their uninsured house burnt down, and Inuit people down from the territories for medical work. The YMCA provides housing, child care, affordable food, legal services, and language lessons. The volunteering we'd be doing is mostly with the daycare, but it varies.

The last visit of the day was the Habitat for Humanity Restore. We were a half hour early for this one so we went across the street to a coffee shop where Andrew and I played an intense game of checkers. Then we returned to Restore. They collected used of damaged furniture for restoration and the subsequent selling, the funds benefit the building of low income housing.

Each project has had a some sort of a calling to me, I could gladly enjoy everyone on of them. Knowing the people who take care of me I know you all have you ideas on which one I'd like best. I get to make a top three list tomorrow, and from there Etienne will act as the Harry Potter sorting hat.

After all this we came home of chefs training with Pascal, for those who are wondering, were not stupid, there's always more than one lesson. We made pizza, and muffins. So good. I'm growing an appreciation for home cooked food.

Montreal Juniors

Today I slept in until noon, and I was woken up in a most festive manner. On the first day we discussed the benefits of waking up to "The Circle of Life" from the Lion King. So a couple of my glorious house mates played it to wake the rest of us up. I for one jumped out of bed dancing and when they opened the door I was dancing like a gazelle. We had a good laugh. 

We were out of the house by 1pm to taking the Metro to the Montreal Juniors game. They were playing the Gatineau Olympians. We canvased the place with Katimavik buttons and info. I would have been great at this if II was certain everyone spoke English. So Marie-France, a true Francophone, and I work as a team, would pitch the concept in English and if they looked confused, I would pass it to Marie-France. The first period Gatineau dominated scoring 3 goals. Second period was Montreal's chance, with them scoring 3 goals. This made the third period pretty intense, no one was scoring until the very end where Gatineau managed to score two goals and seal up the win. It was a win for me because I had poutine in intermission.

When we returned there was some more cooking with Pascal, so there was chicken noodle soup, wraps and banana bread. Were watching "Bon Cop Bad Cop" as a good chance for all of us to be a little more bilingual. You might be wondering how we are watching a movie in a house with no tv. Luck for us, Etienne has a projector and the house is equipped with a screen, since it takes so long to set up there's no chance of us becoming couch potatoes.

Monk to McGill and Back

So, today was nice and easy. I slept in, and there was nothing planned until 12:00, which was cooking training. Yum yum yum. We cooked 5 chickens, with that we made chicken wings, chicken pasta, and chicken soup for tomorrow. For a marinade we used yesterdays honey mustard salad, and we poured that on the chicken wings and cooked them. Great chicken wings. Wow. The pasta was next, mushrooms, red pepper, goat cheese, chicken, pesto, garlic, cream, salt, and pepper. Again, fantastic. The neat thing about this food is that I watch it all being made from scratch and it tastes good. It's so simple but I'm so surprised. I watching this gourmet quality food being made, so simply, right in front of my eyes, and I actually get to eat it! I'm looking forward to the chicken soup tomorrow.




After dinner Etienne left for the night, and we left shortly after. We split up before we left, and my group went to explore downtown Montreal. We took lots of pictures and found these large inflatable spheres:

Then we stopped in at Starbucks, where I bought a round for my pals (Thanks to Dana for the Starbucks card that funded this). After this we quickly figured out that the Habs won tonights hockey game, there was a symphony of WOOOOOOOOoooOOoOoOOoooOOOOooooo!!!!!!!!!!! In the excitement we got lost and had to ask directions for to The Metro. Our home is at Monk station and the best way downtown is to get off at McGill Station. However when we got lost we had to find another station. We got home at 11:30 with plenty of time for our 2:00am curfew. All over this was a success.

The Geo-Party

Since we left off things have happened. I slept, I relearned French, I explored Ville-Emard, I learned some rules, and most recently I bought a chocolate bar. With the jet lag I haven't been able to think of things in order so this might be a little off.

Yesterday, we slept in and some fantastic members of our group made French toast. We played a lot of ice breaker games, and went over basic rules. We had some free time and a group of us walked around Ville-Emard. It's a really neat place where old culture meets new, that's why I selected the picture above, an old building with new graffiti. We walked past a burger joint called "Dilalo" or something like that. We went back there later for dinner, and it was pretty neat. Not that the burgers were incredibly amazing, but they were served upside down. That was the concept of the restaurant, upside down burgers, their logo, the pictures and the burgers themselves: upside down. But they were cheap so II give is five stars.

Today consisted mostly of orientation, lots of rules and we learned to cook. We took the Metro (which is the SkyTrain of Montreal, except it's not in the sky at all) over to the other side of town were we met the Ville-Ray group. We all went over basic rules for a few hours then we went home for a snack and some chefs training. When we got back our shirts had arrived, all but mine. In fact mine wasn't even on the list! Pascal was our instructor for how to cook, she coached us through cooking a quiche, and some nice salad dressing. When I get home I will be quite happy to cook this for you (any of you), because they tasted like a gift that was meant to be shared. Before we went to eat a knock at the door, and there were even more Katimavik people, and a shirt for me! A large portion of why I am on Katimavik is the free shirt, so this is good. I'm wearing it right now.

Etienne left for the night and he won't be back until tomorrow, four people left to go downtown and out of the six who stayed behind four of us, including me, went out for a chocolate bar. Worth it. Now were all just hanging out in the living room, which is truly the happy place of the house.

For those who are wondering why the title of this post is called "The Geo-Party", I will fill you in so that you are not feeling left out. Etienne wanted to do a trivia game with us and he said "Now we will play Geo-Party" and there was silence, with the French language barrier "Jeopardy" come out "Geo-party". Turns out the exact same thing happened to the Ville-Ray group.

The Day That Finally Came

After much waiting, I woke up at 5:30 and I was rushed t the airport to board my plane to Calgary. Free movie make the plane ride shorter. Then in Calgary airport I got off at gate 21, and got on at gate 20. Convenient. I then rode off to Montreal, and this flight felt like a million years had gone by. When I arrived in the airport I waited an eternity for my baggage, then there was announcement "To the people of flight 144, there will be a wait for your luggage." Of course that announcement came in French first. Then I found my wait to an area of Katimavik people, some were volunteers waiting to pick up, and some were other volunteers. We met some people from the Ville-Ray group, and we ll boarded two Katimavik buses. The buses first picked up the people who took a long bus ride (so mostly southern Ontario). Then we dropped off the Ville-Ray people, and drove to the other side of Montreal where our house is. The people who took a short bus ride were already at the house. Then we all "made our selves at home" so to speak, by eating snacks and deciding which spot on the couch was the best.

Our group consists of 5 Ontarians, 1 Quebecois, 2 British Columbians, 1 Albertan, and 1 Manitoban. So we have no representatives from the Maritimes, and only 10 people over all. 5 boys, 5 girls.

The house is cute, there's a computer room, a room for our Project leader, Etienne, a two person room for the girls, a three person room for the rest of the girls, a bathroom with shower, a closet with another shower, a room for all the boys, and a living room kitchen thing. It's small.

Right now were all attempting to my coffee or breakfast or anything really.

Twas The Night Before Departure

Twas the Night before Departure

Twas the night before departure, when all through the house
Not a Niki was calm, not even a close.
The socks were hung by the luggage with care,
In hopes that mum would stuff them in there.

The dogs were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of ham bones danced in their heads.
I sat on the couch, computer on my lap,
knowing this excitement gave no chance of a nap.

When out daze I thought up a thought,
“To search up my Katimahouse is what I ought!”
Away to a new window, I clicked in a flash,
Typed in the address in a just a short dash!

That house on the corner with the snow?
Or maybe the building just below?
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a Katimavan parked just by the rear.

Orange circle, green rectangle in view,
So, I took a screenshot to show you.
I'm not there yet, but I'm ready to be,
Katimavik, look out for me!