Estoy aqui!! Estoy en Cuzco, Peru! :D

I broke a mirror while packing for this trip. Although I wouldn't admit it, I knew this did not bode well for the days to come... so when it took me two full days to get to Cuzco because my airlinethatshallnotbenamed (cough, United) had two connection cancellations, it was sorta funny in a really sad way. But! I ended up flying Ottawa-Toronto-Dallas-Lima-Cuzco and learned some cool things along the way:
1. Airport staff work really hard to help you get where you need to go. It's not their fault a flight has been cancelled, so stay calm and redirect your frustration into a nasty online review rather than the stink-eye :p
2. People staying overnight at the airport are awesome! Co-scoping out ace sleeping spots, trading travel tips, sharing adapters over life chats - it's the real deal.
3. People in the Dallas airport "honey" and "baby" every sentence, it's really sweet.
4. Most non-Canadians haven't really heard of Ottawa, surprisingly! Just stick with "I'm from Canada, Brr!"

... and FINALLY, I'M HERE! :D

Cuzco is UNREAL. Flying in from Lima over the Andes was truly ethereal.  The snow peaks break over the clouds and it's just AHHHMAGAWD! If the altitude isn't taking your breath away, they are. (I'll have to snap my own pic on the way back!)

The city: The city itself is so lively, bustling, and surrounded by mountains. Aka. beautiful. The native language is Quechua, though most speak Spanish. I am so thankful my parents encouraged me to learn Spanish when I was in high school, else I'd still be out wandering without help from the locals, who will actually watch/walk you for awhile to make sure you're going in the right direction.

Plaza de Armas

 

You can see houses all up the mountain in the background. At night, the mountains are all lit up!

Lost, but izokay.

The project: I'm volunteering at a shelter for girls who have been sexually abused in the past. They stay there for a few months - 1 year to be in a positive safe space, learn trade skills (ex. cosmotology&sewing), and slowly reintegrate into their families. I had been expecting to teach English in a formal classroom, so this was a bit of a game changer, as it's much more laid-back. But! I'm really excited since we are encouraged to help them learn crafts and skills that could benefit them in real life. During the mornings, I will lead workshops with a few other volunteers. Some ideas:
- FIRST-AID!  ...blood, guts, gore, aka. SICK. (heh.)
- Let's make PANCAKES and bad things that taste ohsogood. ie. Melted chocolate and caramel on mashmallows and graham crackers, mmm... maybe I'll throw in nuts for protein.
- Basic self-defense
- Yoga/zumba/latin dance
- Friendship bracelets
- Health/Safety/Beauty - collages
Do you have any ideas? I bet you do. And I bet they're awesome. Please send them my way!! :D

In the afternoon, I teach English. My previous roommate told me to play games games and more games to nail down concepts. I tried it today with months and numbers and it was such a hoot. Thanks Sarah!

You can see Cristo Blanco (the figure of Christ in the background!) - the white dot.

Walking towards San Pedro.

Lost again. It's dark and less okay this time :p

 The Saskatoon influence:
I loved my roommates in Saskatoon and they taught me some things for a good away from home routine.

• Day 1: Run/walk the city to get your bearings --> I drank 3 cups of coca tea then walked from home to town (1.5 hrs). The altitude hasn't hit me too hard (yet?) but I was definitely out of breath walking uphill.
• General anti-lard rule: Rooms are dark and lonely and depressing, so go outside and mingle --> Cuzco has so much to see, that won't be a problem :p
• Party rule: PARTY. If it weren't for my roommates, I wouldn't have gone out to the country bars and learned to two-step with cowboys, which would have really been a shame. Clubbing IS the way to a city's heart <3 --> I plan to salsa my way through all  most some discotheques. (lezbereal) 

  

  Sarah, Jasdeep, Michelle! :) I miss y'all heaps.

  Things to note:

• Cuzco is so cheap, it's crazy! $1 CDN = 2.5 Nuevo soles. Going for coffee is about 3 soles, a good meal is 10-15 soles, a taxi is 3 soles to anywhere in the city, and the bus is 0.7 soles. The bus also resembles a van (Volkswagen transporter) with a guy that herds you in as it moves. Awesome.
•  It is winter here and SO COLD at night. Think Ottawa Autumn, with no heating in any houses.
•  All showers have water with heating that is pressure-based. Which means, on a scale of freezing to scolding hot, I shower in a trickle of water. 
• The cars don't really use mirrors or signals. They honk to tell you they're "around" you and WILL kill you if you walk in their way. Commit and walk fast.
• **I ate a churro cause it's the closest thing to a beavertail on July 1. I AM CANADIAN. JE SUIS CANADIENNE. Brr. <3**

Till next time!

Saskatoon - Semaine II

Oui, je suis encore içi! La semaine dernière était sans doute la semaine la plus difficile, car on était tous très fatigués. Mais, on s'amuse bien! Déjà, je me sens comme il y a des années que je connais tout le monde dans le programme.C'était une semaine plein d'activités:

• L'escalade: Avec le support et l'enthousiasme de tous les membres d'équipe, chacun de nous a atteint le haut du mur (plusieurs fois!). C'est beaucoup de fun lorsqu'on s'améliore.

•  Les Misérables: On est allé voir le pièce de théâtre à un école fransaskois. C'était vraiment bon et j'ai beaucoup aimé les chansons.

•  Thrift shop: Malheureusement, on a pas rencontré Macklemore. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK8mJJJvaes

 

• Fêtons avec les fransaskois! On a marché (dans la pluie :c) jusqu'au centre communautaire pour passer un peu de temps à socialiser avec les gens francophones qui vivent à Saskatoon. J'étais très contente car j'ai appris le mot "malaise", qui signifie "awkward" en anglais (c'est un de mes mots préférés).

•  Les Mots Olympiques et la dance folkorique: On a participé aux jeux de mots en équipes de coop. C'était amusant mais très difficile! Il a même fallu savoir des expression idiomatiques en français! On a aussi appris la danse folkorique. Je l'a trouvé intéressant et similair au square dancing.

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En tout, une très bonne semaine!! :D A la prochaine!

Salut, de Saskatoon! - Semaine I

Ahoy from Saskatoon! What am I doing here?
I am participating in a 5-week intensive French immersion program, with the goal of improving my French oral and comprehension skills. The program offers bursaries to study French in most provinces in Canada, doubling as a chance to explore a different part of our country. I know it sounds silly to be studying French in Saskatoon, especially having lived in a bilingual city my entire life.  But! I'm actually really grateful to be here. It has given me the opportunity to visit an area I wouldn't have thought to otherwise. Since being here, Saskatoon has really grown on me with its small-town charms, indefinite horizons and friendly people. #prairielove.

I've been here for a week now, and am ready to embark on Week #2.

Things I am really diggin'

1. Living in our Ukranian residence
Sharing the "Boys' Lounge" with my 3 roommates makes for good laughs and many stories. Elles sont formidables! So is our homely couch and home-cooked meals.

 
 2. Workshops - la danse latine & la photographie
Who doesn't love shaking around in heels? :p With photography, I hope to leave more equipped to take better photos in Peru, next month! This week, our focus is portraits (my favourite!).

3. Coop - Les Sask-ATCHOO!
We've been placed in groups with students from different levels to compete in various activities. Everyone in the group is really encouraging and creative, so those other groups need to watch out! ksrslytho.

4. Saskatoon
IS BEAUTIFUL. Come visit! There are 7 bridges crossing its river. In our (limited) free time, it's always nice to stroll along the river or towards downtown to discover the restaurants, boutiques and pubs.

Merci beaucoup à Ana-Maria pour ces photos!

5. University of Saskatchewan
The campus is absolutely gorgeous and HUGE. There are cows on campus for research, a field of statues, an observatory for star-gazing, an indoor Geology museum, and all its buildings have the unifying traditional stone architecture. In the famous "airplane room", under the opportune air current conditions, students fly their planes into the ceiling, made of mock asbestos. During war times, parents would check for their child's name inside the fallen airplanes to see if their child had fallen in war. By fluke, there are also two chairs across the auditorium that "secretely" magnify their sounds to only each other, like you're underwater.

Merci beaucoup à Cindy! :)

The med building. Merci encore Ana-Maria!

6. THE PEOPLE.  
We see each other tout le temps, so it's a good thing we get along. Already, I feel like I've known many people here for a long time. I received many unexpected celebratory
(med school!) hugs the day I found out and classmates genuinely worry about each other when you cough or sniffle. It's truly warm&squishy feelings all the time :)

 Things I am getting used to:

1. French 24/7. 
 We speak French in class, while we eat, off-campus (mostly :p) and in our rooms. It can become brain-numbing, but it's also wonderfully awkward and really fun to find different ways of communicating, like hand gestures and doodling, and watching those around you improve, as you improve.

2. Walking everywhere. 
Our residence is within a 10 min walk from campus and 30 min walk from downtown. It's not worth using public transportation, so we walk everywhere!! Although I really do enjoy walking, I've really come to realize how much I enjoy vehicles too :p But I find walking literally grounds you, in that you became more aware of the small things in your surroundings.

3. Class 6 hrs/day
That's twice more than an average week in University. I don't know how I got through those 12 years of school, but it's definitely a challenge for me to stay focused. Luckily, most of our lessons include interactive activities.

une vire-langue francaise

 4. Gym - (like living in French) this is a foreign concept to me.
Everyone here is so active! When we're not in class, many are running or at the gym. I'm not sure I can keep up with the weight-lifting and ab work, but I am making an effort to rock the climbing wall and attend yoga and zumba classes during the week. That's a start?

Things I am excited for:
- our Banff camping trip next weekend
- potential smaller road trips to Prince Albert and Regina w/ Dan&Ana
- not yet having booked a plane ticket back = open possibilities for travel!

That`s all for now. A bientôt!!