happy halloween

I had a plan to dress up as an african for halloween this year. As you may or may not know by now the host family I am with does not celebrate halloween. But I plan on taking Deidre out anyway because they don't have halloween in South Africa ;) I am gonna be the bad white girl in the family by the end of this phase!

On our way into the library there was a crowd on the street, a man looks like he may have fallen off his bike for whatever reason and hit his head on the pavement. He is pretty old and the ambulance seemed to take forever. I hope he is okay.

Time is going pretty slowly here and I can't wait for the African phase. I love my friends though and every chance I get I am msnning them and writing emails, so if I am without a computer in Africa I don't know what I will do! I am going to try and do some more letter writing soon, just so that I can send it off before I leave here and in time for Christmas and birthdays.

Miss you all! Post a comment once in a while so I can know what you all are up to too!

breaking the habit

I got to drive yesterday. On the farm we were out in their fields and I got to drive the work truck, a huge dodge ram. I may get to drive again today seeing that we are going to be outside again, this time weighing cows. Fun huh? Not really but it is a lot better compared to being inside weighing soil :P
I had my first bout of real homesickness on Sunday. I was not great all day and then in the evening my host father was a real jerk to me after I had been using the phone to call home (my mom's birthday of course I want to talk to her!) and when I was done he only used it for a few minutes. Grr. It's not like home where I could just tell them what I think either, I am too nice.
I just miss home too, the familiar and the friends. I have never cried in public so much as the last few weeks. I have no where else to email and I keep crying in the public library and at work, people must think I am nuts, hehe. I love you all, you know who you are - basically everyone who reads this, lol!
By the way, my messenger name does not mean Lacombe is perfect so much as it means they are in a bubble here, like Pleasantville had no color and we are the ones who were sucked into the television....

behind blue eyes

Today I crossed my very first picket line. It was not really a big deal, we still got in and got to work and everyone was really nice about it. Today we cleaned beans and separated them too. It was very tedious work and we did it all day. I knew before I came that I didn't want to work on a farm, this just reaffirms that notion.
Yesterday here was more interesting, we got a tour of the crops building and weighed and measured dirt... I mean soil. And then we got to experience entomology first hand by pinning beetles. I was laughing as he explained how to do it. I normally never touch any bugs and avoid them at all cost, those who know me know I hate insects of any kind, eww. But it was worth the experience. I hope we don't have to do it again :P
It is supposed to snow sometime later on this week, though at the moment I hear (can't see, no windows, I am still at work!) it is nice out. I had a good weekend, and I hope that everyone at home had a great Thanksgiving as well :)

time after time

We are done of the part of our work placement dealing with lab work and I missed my last day because I was sick, but I am feeling much better now. Sipho and I, along with our counterparts, were invited to go to Edmonton with our "boss" from the lab, as well we were invited to go to Red Deer with another family. We are not sure we will be allowed to go with either of them since they are not our host family, but we are hopful :)

One of our participants is leaving the program. She is from South Africa and has had a hard time adjusting here and is homesick. She will be leaving fairly soon and we will have no replacement for her because of the cost to bring someone else over. It is too bad to be losing someone. Her counterpart, Genevieve, is moving in with two other girls and they live closer to me and Deidre, so that should be nice.

So I hope to be in Edmonton this weekend, but if not then it is off to Uglies Pub - this time I will remember to bring my ID!