well i am on my second part of my exchange now and in a much different location.  I went from puebla, mexico to tofield, alberta.  it’s quite different but i am very much enjoying my time there.  i am with an amazing family that are so full of life and energy and i am having so much fun with them!  paco and i are the only exchange students in tofield, so after being all together for 2.5 months in the same town, now we are all split up through out alberta.  it has been an adjustment but not necessarily a bad one…i’ve been learning to adjust to having my own room and being able to speak english with my family.  unfortunately the spanish in tofield is muchly absent…which is not helping my studies, but hopefully i will be able to figure something out.  

while we are here in tofield we are working with an organization called busy bee which is the ultimate second hand store ever!  they have three locations in tofield and we mostly have been working with number three organizing, cleaning, and turning it from a disaster into ikea, haha!  we will be researching the organization and looking into the community’s economic and social benefit of having busy bee in tofield.  we are quickly becoming involved in community events and have found our own little areas to involve ourselves in more extracurricular activities.  i am helping coach volleyball for gr 4-6ers and also helping with the senior girls in the high school.  i also am playing rec nights with the mormon church and will be a a tourny with them in a few weeks.  it’s been so long since i’ve played volleyball but it should be fun!

two weeks ago i was able to go visit regina for a few days and it was so great…even though we watched the worst football game ever!  it made me really excited to go home for christmas and to do nothing but go out for coffee with friends, visit family, and sleep in amy’s pajama pants!

went to the big city of edmonton lat night with paco, racheal, and justin (host siblings) and went to the cheesecake cafe and the imax of eagle eye.  it was a fun night, but very late so i am feeling the effects of that today.  paco and i came to camrose today and will be spending the night.  we are going to a scott cook concert that danielle organized for the bike co-op tonight and then tomorrow i get to go to resurrection for church!!!  i am enjoying lounging on my oversized sofa while my roommates are gone (sad day) and am thinking how much i am excited to live here again next semester (no more ben in my room, haha)!

well, i’m off and will really try to update more often!

peace and bike grease…

thursday we headed to udla (the mexican university we are working through) and had a class and a video call back to canada.  it was pretty neat and great for us to see and hear the canadian peeps.  after that it went down hill.  i became suddenly ill after a quick drama explaining our program to recruit mexican students for next year.  after hours at the school, while being very ill, we finally made our way back to liz’s house not far from the school.  i stayed home that night with the worst cramps in my stomach from who knows what.  when everyone else stumbled through he doors at 1:30 am i got worse.  non stop trips to the washroom.  high high fever.  you get the picture.  i was taken to the clinic the next afternoon at noon, got hooked up to an iv, got blood taken, and all that fun stuff.  the problem was that i was technically not a student of udla so me being there was sort of a problem.  after we figured that all out it was more iv, more bathroom, more drugs, more spanish speaking nurses, and then mark came in (another student on the exchange).  so for the next litle while we shard a nice little corridor in the clinic until i fell asleep.  when i woke mark was gone and my mexican prof was there.  mark had been rushed the the hosptial b/c they couldn’t control his fever.

i am now in the hospital restaurant with mark…5 days later…he finally got his iv out and is feeling much better so we came done to use the internet.  i have been keeping him company here in the hospital while everyone else resumes classes and work placements in santa lucia.  it’s been very weird to be away from the town and our families for so long and are very excited to go back.  we are both on a strict diet, although i have been cheating a couple times, ooops!

other than this eventful week the program has been very good.  i am sorry i never update…it’s hard enough to send emails from my computer in our favored internet joint.

alot has happened back home while i have been away.  i wish i could be there for all these changes but i know where i am is where i am and where i am more than happy to be.

news:

- hello world i am an auntie!!!!  (the most exciting thing in my life!  it’s name is chief (well that is my name for it) and it is due to arrive the end of january!!!  i am the most excited person in the world and am so excited to smother this baby with my love!!

- parents have moved to white rock, bc.  up and left regina yesterday i think. i am very excited about this change in their life and hope that i will see them and their new digs sometime within the next year?!  (fingers crossed)

- sheena and conrad and chief and moses and now cullen are one big happy family at 35 mitchell cres.

- sonja and nathan are married!!!!!!

- amy is about to leave on her amazing europe adventure with book…pretty jealous!

there is more…but i am beginning to tire.

my spanish is getting better although it’s been weird not speaking it in the last few days here.  it is very frustrating at times but i am learning to deal with it better.

i love my host family!  they are the most beautiful family in the world!  Dona Ana is my mom, Anjelica is my 18 year old sister and Lupe is my 9 year old sister.  they are so patient with us and are so eager to share their culture with us.

well, my food has arrived so i am out.  hope you are all doing well and enjoying the back to school/fall/and whatever the else season it might be for you.

no more tortillas please!

here i am in mexico…things are going great!  there have been some challenges but then there have been even more exciting happenings, encouraging moments, and crazy stories!  i have put all my photos up on facebook (easier that than this), so for auntie sandra you are either going to have to get facebook or make sheena show you, haha!

i miss my family.

i miss my friends.

but i am slowly getting a pretty sweet farmer’s tan to show off when i return!

mark and i will be working with the clinic and we are so excited!  we worked a bit with doctor griz today and made a sign for the wednesday afternoon nutritional awareness events.  i am excited to take this approach in my relationship with santa lucia because not only will i be able to work with the clinic, but alos the school, and the moms, and in an area i love!

so far i have been the first to puke, the first to bleed, and the first to drink to much tequila…it’s been fun!  the heat is crazy, especially coming from the yukon, but i love it.yesterday i was able to help a farmer out in his cilantro/bean field weeding.  it’s very educative learning the farmer techniques here, and sure has allowed me to think in a different way about food and where it comes from and how we get it.

i must run, we are going to hit the market before our last bus back to santa lucia.

adios amigos!

i am not talking to skinne!!!

chelsea:

well i’ve left the yukon and now it is two days in camrose running around like crazy and trying to get things together for the trip to mexico for a couple months for an exchange through my school.  after i get back from that it is off to a rural community in alberta for the second half of the exchange.  The first half of the exchange focuses on initiatives in rural mexico aimed at community vitality. In the second half, we are transported to rural alberta to complete the comparative study of community sustainability in rural contexts.  I am really excited yet a bit nervous since it’s been awhile since i’ve been in a spanish speaking country..oih…will be a tough transition…but one i am looking forward to.  one thing i am looking forward to is some sun…hot dang…my skin still screams winter chelsea.   it’s been the coldest winter in the yukon for a long time apparently…needless to say no burns this summer…not even a tan…so good thing i am headed to mexico not even being able to handle the heat in camrose!

i am sad to say goodbye to the north though…wish i could go back next summer.  it was a great experience and i recommend everyone to spend some time, if not lots of time, in northern canada.  i wish i could have experienced so much more, but hopefully i’ll be back one day and maybe get in a little bit of festivals in atlin or dawson city!

naomi, i hope you have an awesome august at mukluk’s…wish i could be there for the rush that august brings…(fingers crossed!).  any new roomates?

for those of you that haven’t heard yet…i have joined facebook…(curses i know).  it’s been a big decision because i hate the idea of cheapening relationships however i have weighed my options and have decided that it is a great way to keep in contact with people…especially the yukon peeps…’suckas’!

well…i will keep updating as much as i can from the mexico side…hope you all have a great rest of your summer…and enjoy all the music festivals in your town (especially edmonton and regina!).

ciao bellas!

chelsea

today is noni’s birthday…happy birthday to you!

we had a virgin-drink party last night that included pina coladas, martinis, and 8 bags of chips!  by the end of the night we felt sick…from way to much eating!  if anyone wants to come visit we’ll have lots of snacks!  today noni is on her way to atlin then later tonight we might watch the bucket list.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NONI!

-       Less then a month when Chelsea leaves for camrose then to mexico.  She is excited for some warm weather since she’s been getting none out here!

-       Noni’s parents (Cheryl and jon) are officially coming from july 219 till the 23^rd when they take Chelsea home.  This is exciting news because it is always nice to have new blood around!

-       We spent yesterday together in Whitehorse and had an amazing time that included absolutely NO grocery shopping!  We picked up stuff we needed, bought stuff we probably didn’t, and got tattoos.  (just joking about the tattoos!  Those are waiting till January semester).  We ate at this fabulous Mexican restaurant for supper…guess who still has heart burn, haha!  Yup it’s Chelsea…but she’s trying to prepare herself.

-       Noni’s birthday is coming up.  Any ideas?

-       Watched Indiana jones: raiders of the lost ark last night.  Gee has acting sure improved since then!

-       In 5 days all of us staff plus more of the Kramer family are spending a night in Skagway, Alaska for Canada day…funny…why are we going to the states?!  It should be a good time and probably guaranteed to get a bit out of hand…if you know what I mean…but it will be a good break for all of us from the restaurant!

-       Last week we had a lunch that included two busues and a caravan…all at 11:30…it was insane!  Chelsea has become the official bus greeter (oh boy…)  so she was running around with her head cut off all morning/early afternoon!  She did pretty good for tips that day…approx 70 bucks…which is really good for mukluk’s!

-       We always love mail…box 101 teslin, yk, Y0A 1E0

-       Till next time…eat some salmon!

an update:

- chelsea caught a fish when we went fishing to the mud line about a week ago…saving it for the solstice party this saturday…sure to be a good time!

- this past monday was chelsea’s birthday and she has never had a birthday so incredible!  the staff arranged a scavenger hunt around the property which included her favorite things such as hot dogs and beans, snow, all dressed chips, cheese whiz, dogsledding book, a bush pie maker, and of course shots of who knows what that she couldn’t refuse!  to end the scavenger hunt we all had a campfire which included smores…amazing!

- looking forward to staff party in skagway on july one

- gotta go

- p.s. it snowed last saturday…2 inches…love it!