Montreal to Vancouver

It’s Friday night and I am finally heading home, after nearly being stuck in the snowstorm in Montreal! Over the course of the day, three different flights of mine to Toronto were canceled and I was eventually rerouted to Vancouver when the Toronto Airport actually shut down.

It’s been such a long day and it’s not over yet. I still have my flight from Vancouver to Vic which I’ll be lucky to get and then the taxi home.

The great thing is that all of the transportation is covered by the organizations involved. The first 3 days was covered by CIDA who is a big funder for Uniterra. Those days I had a giant room to myself with a king size bed and a mini office. The two days in Montreal were funded by WUSC and CECI so our hotel was much more modest and I shared the room with a Vancouverite. It was good though because we hit it off right away. Her name is Clair and she is going to Malawi to do gender-related work for 15 months.

We had a fun exploring the city last night. It is a wicked city- There are lots of big skyscrapers but in juxtaposition, many of the houses are older brick houses with spiral staircases winding up the front of them. Clair and I went to Saint Catherine’s for a couple of beers and then went to meet my Quebec friend Marie-Eve who I used to live with in Whistler. On the way to Le Distillerie we were feeling a little hungry so we took a break to indulge in a little tradition and ordered up some savory crepes in a little cafe on St. Denis.

They were so tasty and had me feeling nostalgic for Europe... only the ham to cheese ratio was much better than the memorable one I had in Greece.

After the crepes, we met up with Marie- Eve in a funky little pub that brews its own beer. Although that was its claim to fame we actually had mojitos instead. It was cool because Marie-Eve is one of those people who I didn’t know really well or for a long time but the three of us got along like seaweed and rice. I told Marie-Eve that I would come again in the summer with more time!

The training was really good- most of it was in French but we had interpreters. Again, it was mostly just cool to see what everyone is doing or has done. Going away for three months looks like nothing, as many people involved are dedicating a year or more and bringing children. I’m happy with getting my feet wet though!!!

Depending on how my project goes in SL I would like to continue volunteering with Uniterra throughout my life, at least doing the 2-3 week Leave for Change every once in awhile. The training just made me feel like I have so many more countries to visit!!!