Post by Request

You both seem to be on a posting spree and I just can’t keep up. I don’t know if it’s because I have nothing “important” to contribute or if I’m just lazy. 

Both of your posts make me so happy! I’m glad that you’re both having amazing summer adventures and are anxious for the upcoming fall. I expect very in depth posts when you finally arrive at your destinations (including photos).

So this past week I’ve been off sick because of my stupid ankle. I was going stir crazy the past 3 days laying in bed. You know how when you have a flu you’re semi happy to be spending time in bed because you’re actually ill? With my ankle it was the most frustrating thing because the rest of my body was fine.

The events of this past weekend really got me to thinking about friendship (you both know what I’m talking about). The way “two” of our friends act really bothers me and makes me question why I’m in the friendship to begin with. Why do I put myself in situations that eventually lead to my unhappiness? I think we always want to think the best of people, especially those we call close friends. 

Do the people we choose as friends reflect something back on us? If we are friends with individuals who are selfish, or offensive, or rude are we being true to ourselves? It makes me think that I don’t respect or care enough about myself to find new friends who align with my way of thinking or interacting.

At the same time, are people being shitty because they know they are being shitty or are they just unaware they are being shitty? We all deserve to hear from our friends when they don’t like our behaviour because we all deserve the chance to correct it. On the flipside how many times do you have to tell a person about their hurtful behaviour before you can say fuck it and end the friendship? 

Ending any sort of friendship is hard but, why waste the little time we have being unhappy or feeling shitty? The world is horrible enough as it is for us to consciously hang out with people people who consistently disappoint us.

Farewells:

Saying goodbye to Anna almost felt unreal. A year is such a long time that I actually can’t comprehend not being in your prescience for that long. It’s scary to think that soon not hanging out with the both of you will be routine (insert sobs here). What did it feel like when we all lived so close? I can barely remember. When we are all reunited in the fall of 2015 will we even be the same people? Will enough of our old selves be left to continue our friendships the way we left them?

These are just some interesting thoughts and I would love to hear what you both think.

Until the next time one of you requests a post…

THIRTY MORE DAYS

Syd, your post about camp makes me miss camp!!! I am so so glad you are having the greatest time!

In exactly one month, I will be on the plane heading to exchange — ahhhh!!!!
That is so soon…what do I pack? How much money do I bring? One suitcase or two? Yesterday after finishing my exam for my summer course, I went to the mall. I ran into a bunch of people that I know (?) and they keep asking me if I’m actually going on exchange because of the situation going on in Israel. It’s hard to describe, but it’s making me want to go there more. I’ve been working on really understanding the situation through different lenses and perspectives, looking at actions with emotion and without. I’ve asked hard questions to my dad who is very military oriented and my mom who is very emotional and in-tune to the needs of civilians. It is all really numbing — and a few days ago was the first day I didn’t cry about the situation. This has really hit home for me. I have mutual friends with the soldier that have died for their country, and my heart hurts for Palestinian civilians living under the rule of Hamas terrorism. I’m sure the conflict will be done in a few days, but damage and PTSD is something that doesn’t go away. I am planning on volunteering with action groups when I’m there. Sonia is in Jerusalem right now on a history trip and said she saw my university a few days ago and it looks amazing. THIRTY MORE DAYS!!!

Alexa and I were in Toronto last weekend, and I don’t really think the trip met our expectations (sorry Alexa to generalize for the both of us). The typical people were being assholes and just didn’t care for our needs. Honesty moment: Alexa and Naomi were the only ones I was sad to say goodbye to. Is that mean to say? (Just being honest…). My mom was saying that we may come back from exchange feeling empty — like we have nothing in common with the people who didn’t go on exchange, and we may feel so so bored. That kind of scares me.

The other day I found my Black Eyed Peas CD haha. I played it in the car, and skipped to song number 3 “Let’s Get Retarded”. My sister Ronnie, who’s 11 was SHOCKED. Her jaw dropped at the language. She was saying that NO ONE uses the word “retarded” in a casual sense because it is so offensive. I totally agree! When we were her age we sang along to that song! It’s so interesting how language and what is accepted in language changes over the years.

The summer is zoooming by, but I am glad we have a blog to keep us in tune with each other’s plans! Love you babes!

The joy of camp

Hey ladies! Sorry that it’s been a while. Anna, the conflicts going on are very scary, especially from your very personal perspective. It better be safe for you when you’re over there. It seems there’s just one terrible news story after another these days.

My life has been all camp and only camp. I love it more than words can do justice to so I’ll leave it at this: I have the best job in the world. I get to see kids grow and flourish. I get to spend my days with the best colleagues I could imagine. We are three weeks into camp and I have enjoyed every moment I have been there.

I am also ridiculously tired every second I’m not at camp. I fell asleep at 8 last night and slept until 9 this morning. I work 12 hours a normal day, with a few added hours if we have an evening event. On Tuesday, we had a staff soccer game and on Wednesday we had “Christmas in July” in which everyone on staff dressed in Christmas clothing, brought Christmas food, and had a big Christmas tree with Secret Santa gifts beneath it. It was remarkable. I love my job.

I’m also prepping for the fall! My mother is determined that I travel with a tour rather than on my own, so right now I am looking into a two-week Eastern European tour, including several concentration camp stops. I figure I can hit most of the main tourist destinations (London, Paris, Amsterdam, etc.) on weekends and in my fall reading week, so I would love to spend pre-school in the East. My mother is also all over me about booking my flights and planning all the things. Stress!!

Tonight, my dear friend Marysa is finally going to be in London. I haven’t seen her since Christmas so WOW I’M EXCITED. There’s a big staff party tonight, so Marysa is going to come over to my place and then we’re going to go to the party and surprise everyone. We all miss her around here so it should be awesome!

Every session at camp we do something called an “All Camp Game” or ACG that the kids don’t know about in advance. It usually goes something like the counsellors disappear and come back in costumes (safari, aliens, etc.) and the kids have to play games with them to win camp back. The ACG is part of my domain as Program Coordinator, and so I’m raising the stakes this session and have spent the past couple of weeks planning a Harry Potter ACG. Every session I also have two program staff members, or “Perogies” who help with all the programming (they are counsellors the rest of the summer-this session it’s Nick and Haley), so we’ve been going all out this week on Harry Potter. I chose Nick and Haley due to their Harry Potter love. Every staff member has a role for the ACG, and the kids have to defeat the death eaters, avoid the dementors, find the horcruxes and basilisk fangs to destroy the horcruxes with, and get the hallows to Harry. This whole thing will take place on Tuesday and I am spending the weekend with Nick and Haley to hash out all remaining details. We are in the process of building the sword of Gryffindor so Neville can kill Nagini. Can you tell how absurdly excited I am?

Through all of this I’ve hardly had time to stress over course selection. My appt was yesterday at 11, but Queen’s won’t let me register for anything, even History courses. So while that gets fixed and my courses fill, I’ll invest all of myself to camp! Hopefully you’ve both gotten into the courses you wanted and I can live vicariously through you. I’m counting on Warwick to have a better system than Solus.

Sorry for the ridiculously long post! I can’t wait to read about all your lives and happenings. Love love love!

Syd xx

Uneasiness in the Air

Alexa, I think it’s so cool that you are actually getting involved and gaining experience with a political party!!

I don’t know if y’all have been reading the news about what is going on in the Middle East — but it is kind of crazy right now. When finding out if I was going on exchange, my main goal was to stay up-to-date on political and humanitarian situations in the Middle East because I’m going to be there is less than 8 weeks. So, when I was in Israel a few weeks ago, I decided to follow a news story which happened when I was there. On June 12th, three Israeli boys were hitchhiking home from school in the West Bank (a normal activity apparently), and they were abducted by two Palestinian men part of a terrorist organization, Hamas. When I was in Israel, I could feel the uneasiness in the air. More checkpoints were created checking suspicious cars, and everyone was worried for the safety of these boys. I left Israel on the 18th, and there was still no sign of the boys. I kept on checking the news — there was nothing. Meanwhile in Ottawa I was attending weddings, events and meetings at work. Everyone was giving speeches and talking about this kidnapping and everyone was really shaken up. “Why does everyone care so much?” I thought. The thing is as the days passed, the more I researched..the more I started to care. I knew everything about these boys. One of them was even a dual American citizen, sharing the same last name as me. Everything mattered. Obama didn’t condemn this kidnapping. A “Bring Back our Boys” campaign was started. I was getting anxious.

This week, the bodies of these three boys were found near the location of their abduction. So much of me was invested in this case, that I had to take a break at work. My hands were shaking. I literally have no connection to these boys, why did I care?

The next day, a Palestinian boy was kidnapped by Israeli extremists and killed. The whole city was shut-down and this event happened 20 mins from my university.

I attended a memorial for the boys in Ottawa, and I cried. I’ve read more about the conflict and am disappointed in both sides. I don’t care if there’s hate — but murder?? This really opened my eyes to some of the issues that will be relevant to me when I go on exchange.

I just posted an article that really gave me hope. The families of the murdered teenagers, both Israelis and Palestinian, met up and..just spoke, and found comfort in conversation.

I believe in democracy. I believe in safety. I believe in a two-state solution. Though, I feel like a fan in the sidelines having an opinion but no direct influence. Hopefully next year I will have the chance to explore more and see things in a different perspective.

Let me know if you guys want me to tell you more, I hope this shed light and was a bit interesting!

Love both of you ❤ ❤

Week ??????: Participation and Appreciation

Hello all,

Long time no post, so kinda sorry about that. I’m back though with this semi decent boring addition to our otherwise top notch blog. I’m just going to do a mini recap of the two only noteworthy things that have happened since my last post.

A few weeks ago I volunteered with my local Liberal party and actually had a great time! Initially as I think both of you know I was really hesitant to go through with it because I thought it would be super awkward and uncomfortable talking POLS (something I have limited knowledge about) with old people who were experts in the election circle. Basically I went to the head office for my local Liberal candidate and they placed me in one of the random home-bases in my riding, not before of course I got to see all the food they had. If there’s any reason to volunteer during election time is the endless buffet of delicious food donated by local restaurants. Since I didn’t have a car this really sweet lady volunteered to bring to one of the mini offices. We actually had such cool things to talk about, she’s on all of these really cool boards and heads a volunteer team who builds houses every year in the Global South.

THE SCIENCE OF ELECTIONS

So essentially I spent the afternoon driving around with this random guy going door-to-door reminding specific individuals that today was election day. At first I was like why are we just going to only certain doors and then my co-worker??? explained that they actually canvas each neighbourhood in their riding to see which individuals are more likely a) to actually go out and vote  b) likely to vote for the Liberal party and c) have supported the Liberal party before.  I learned all this super cool election lingo and more about the actual calculations that went into canvassing and how a party can actually predict if they’re going to win hours before the polls actually come in. I wish I could explain it more to you in person because I don’t feel like the details that I want are coming through. All in all however it was such a nice experience to get involved and I actually enjoyed interacting with the random strangers I met throughout the day.

Foxy Shazaming it

As you both know Miley was really my only actual concert experience. I enjoyed going to see Miley but not to the extent that I would really want to go see her or someone like her again. Maybe it was because the venue was huge or her music wasn’t really my scene regardless it wasn’t my favourite. Originally I thought maybe concerts just weren’t my scene, I really hate when the music is too loud for me to talk but after this last concert my feelings have changed.

Last Sunday I went to go see this indie rock band with two of my friends and had the most amazing time! I’ve never been to a concert where it was only standing and I guess I wasn’t really truly prepared for what it would bring. Unbeknownst to me, my friends and I were at the centre of the future mosh pit. You could imagine how shocked my face was when they opening band’s song reached it peak and all these tall boys started thrashing around me and jabbing all their arm and legs into my body. My internal monologue was basically like  WHAT THE FUCK !!! I compleltely didn’t know how to act and was just standing their in the centre of the pit shocked. Thankfully my friend grabbed my arm and rescued me. After my initial shock, I really started to enjoy the experience of everyone showing their appreciation for the music in their own way. I loved seeing the crowd moving as one, enjoying and appreciating the music in the mix up of thrusting and jamming  of body parts. It was actually so amazing! It was definitely and exhilarating experience that I can’t wait to have again.

I wish for the millionth time that you were both here in person so that I could explain my experiences in more detail. I find that to be one of the hardest parts about being so far away from you. Not being able to come home and tell you all the cool and interesting things that happened to me or the thoughts/ideas I had. Do you all feel the same?

Love you both crazy amounts and I can’t wait until we’re together again!

 

******************fuck half of this draft didn’t save and I had to rewrite it. my apologies