growing on me

sorry for the time between updates, but i guess ottawa isn't exactly an exotic locale. i'm finally properly settled in with a bed and a sofa and real plates...life is full of little luxeries. the best thing of all though is having my bookshelf (and adjoining alcove) stocked full of my books that i haven't been able to have for 3 years. i know it's a bit stupid, particularly with my lifestyle, to have such an attachment to loads of heavy objects that take up a lot of room, but i can't help feeling like they're part of me and immediately make my house feel like a home. i'm actually really enjoying the city as well, it's not as bad as i was expecting! the weather is starting to get sunny and i've met some really cool people to sit on patios drinking beer with. there's really only one thing..err person...who could make me feel any happier right now and he'll be making an appearance in less than a week, so sorted! the long distance thing is a hard reality of this line of work, something to get used to, but manageable by the patient and foolhardy.

i'm now in my final week of french school, the big grammar test is scheduled for monday! thank goodness! i really have a lot of respect for all of those learning from scratch. though as someone pointed out to me, we really should feel lucky to have the opportunity to learn another language (or in my case re-learn..) and get paid to do it. it's true....but that does little to relieve the day-to-day of it! i'll be sad to leave the new friends i've made there and hope they join me in the office sharpish. wish me luck for monday.

connect 4

back on the scene....have been without internet for 2 weeks after moving due to some rogers related problems. oh well, back to being connected to the world. it's amazing how these days being cut-off from the internet feels a lot like having a limb or one of your senses removed. i felt lost, disconnected and uninformed...realised i not only communicate through the internet (a lot!) but also use it all the time for things i take for granted like checking the news or the weather, listening to songs i love (i was cut off from don't stop believing for a whole two weeks!!) and using maps to find places. i guess in a modern life the internet really has become a sort of extension of our daily reality, a commodity i feel naked without....lol i hope it doesn't take this long to set up the net at my posting :)

so i've now been in ottawa for 2 weeks. not too much to report really. i'm set up in a new flat, which is pretty much entirely empty as my stuff is still in alberta due to some organisational mishaps at headquarters. i have a really fancy blowup bed though. language training is hard going....i definitely feel for those who have had to learn from scratch, i honestly don't think that i would've had the patience or perseverance to go through with it. the 4 weeks i need is excruciating enough! grammar 7 1/2 hours days a week. boo urns! then i get to move over to the CIC office and commence something i've gotten really good at/used to.....yes, more waiting. but should find out posting availabilities come summer....

all clear

yes, ladies and gentlemen, you heard right....i am finally cleared to start! and as i suspected things are going to move quite rapidly for the next bit. i'll be moving to the national capital in a week or two and starting on february 13th...which i can't believe my luck is actually a friday. i'll be taking that as a good omen...

i'm unbelievably excited and nervous....in a lot of ways i don't think i ever really believed that this would actually happen. and now i'll be starting in a few weeks and i don't really know what to expect and i still have so much to organise.

good news...should be on my first post by summer 2010. so just have to put up with one more canadian winter....

auld lang whatever

2009 already...is it just me, or did that one fly by?! i can't believe that a year ago i was on my way to move to the uk without much of a plan beyond following my heart to where it wanted to be. i never thought that a year later i would be in canada again! it isn't where i planned to be, but i guess that's what life's about..gotta roll with it :)

so new year, new adventure, new life (well coming soon), what more could a girl ask for? turns out not much lol. no resolutions for me this year...just keep on moving forward, move to ottawa and start the new job and get my arse to the uk as often as possible. oh and finish ulysses by bloomsday...

walking in a winter wonderland

i've had a visitor from the uk to brighten my enforced canadian boredom over the festive period. brlliant. and more than just making me happy with his fabulous presence and reminding me how much i miss my second home....it also reminded me that i live in a pretty cool country right now. huh, who'd of thunk it. seeing canada through the eyes of someone who had never been to canada....the snow, the mountains, the quaintness, the polite niceties...it was an eye opener. and just what i needed. i found myself marveling alongside him at how amazing it is to sit in hot springs watching big, fat snow flakes collect in our hair while looking out over the snow capped mountains. i forgot just how lucky i've been to grow up here and get to take part in the 'alberta advantage' and the gorgeous natural heritage that surrounds us here.

a bit sappy i guess....but i'm feeling very positive these days. i had decided i was going to follow through with this job a while ago and came to terms with that meaning i would have to move back to canada for a time, but i never really came around to being happy about that. now i feel like this remembered appreciation for my country will go a long way to making me excited to work for it''s government and be an integral participant in the fabric of it's society. about time i guess!! thanks d, and happy new year everyone xxxx

and another month bites the dust

oops, there goes a whole month and not a post in sight. i am the queen of laze. so much for that political blogging i suggested last month. it's not that i haven't had entirely nothing to say...i just started to think that maybe a commentary on the adventures in democracy in the country of my birth might not be in good taste from a future employee of said government. hmmmm....or else i'm just really lazy.

so instead of writing down any of my clever thoughts (haha!) i have instead been involved in the rather arduous pastime of increasing my turkey belly and catching up on american tv. so much for december.

still waiting....

sweet home alberta

So I'm home. Unfortunately nothing much more exciting to report. Taking some time adjusting to jet lag and reacquainting myself with my cat (and the rest of the family of course). Pretty much just wishing I could fast forward to Christmas and then on to starting the new job. Waiting feels a bit like purgatory...the holding area and I'm not sure if I'm on the way somewhere good, or straight on to the bad place. As I'm so often reminded, only time will tell. Really hoping being in Canada will help speed up the security bollox.

Seeing I've got nothing but time on my hands, I thought I'd try my hand at some proper political type blogging. Starting tomorrow (or whatever) of course as I am a serious procrastinator who should really be turned over to procrastinator's anonymous (ie the lazy lard arse society). Topic on my mind these days has been the relative effectiveness of aid orgs.

It's cold here. I don't like it. ;)