Blogs By Maddie

It’s official… I’ve been in the program for 136 days… 4 months and 15 days… 11,750,400 seconds, 195,840 minutes, 3264 hours. Wow, now that’s a long time. A long time being spent with the same 9 other people from across the country, a long time to spend volunteering and earning $2 a day, a long time to be away from your family. But it’s also a long time to learn and inspire and to start a new adventure. For the past 3264 hours, I’ve learned so much about myself and others, I’ve learned about new places and new people and new cultures and languages. I’ve learned that seal liver is surprisingly not that bad, that learning French is easy when living with Francophone people, but hard when you do not try and are not motivated, and most of all, I’ve learned that everyone is different. No one feels the exact same things at the exact same times in the exact same ways. And living communally with peers going through similar but different things as me has allowed me to realize just how amazing and unique we all are. We all deal with our own problems differently and we all react with other’s problems differently. And although I’ve been living with the same 9 people for the past 195,840 minutes, I am still learning about everyone and how everyone works. But I don’t think any of us will ever fully understand how each other were built or understand how to read each other’s instruction manuals. But each of us are a piece of a machine that was built to work together, to create something new. This machine falls apart breaks and is put back together and fixed. It’s oiled and it’s screws are tightened. And in the end, this machine’s parts still work, they might be wearing down, but not one is replaced. Not one breaks so much that it needs to be taken apart so the machine can work better without it. Because every piece of the machine is necessary for the well being of each other part, the movement and the success of the machine.

Well hello there my friends!

It’s Saturday night in North West River and the weather is grooooss. It’s been raining and snowing on and off all day. Oh well! I’m spending the night at the billeting house alone and having myself a much needed girls night in. Chick flicks, painting my nails and reading hilarious Tumblr posts.

This past week since I last posted I’ve been pretty busy with work. Liz and I did manage to go to friends houses a couple times for dinner and such. But most nights we spent hanging out in the living room talking and laughing. I swear we have the exact same sense of humour! Not to mention we both think we have ADD and are constantly getting distracted during our conversations. Oh look a bird!

Last night Liz and I went to the Lake Melville school grad and helped serve the food for the dinner. I think I ate 3 bowls of 5 different kinds of trifle. Oh lordy did I ever feel full after that! This year there were only 4 grads so it was definitely a cozy ceremony and dinner, haha!

Liz woke me up at 8:30 this morning telling me we were going for an inpromptu snowshoe hike up to Muskrat Falls with a couple friends of hers, I was excited minus the fact that the rain was starting to come down. We picked up her friend Robin and made our way to the trail head and met up with their friends whose granddaughter had come to visit before heading to NL for school. I started up a conversation with her and found out that she’s my age, from Cranbrook and knows my cousins! Never thought while being in tiny North West River, LB I’d meet someone who knew my family, haha! We had a blast talking about future plans and hilarious stories about grad and such (I was at hers last year for my cousin). We didn’t get very far into the snowshoe before we decided the weather was just not going to let up. We didn’t make it out to Muskrat Falls, but I’m determined to hike it once the snow is all gone and the weather is nicer.

But now I must get back to my girly night as my toenails are looking rather bare and needing some colour.

Nighty night all!

Maddie
xoxo

Good evening from the little house on the lake! You see that “part 1” that I added in the title? Yeah, I’m hoping that it motivates me to write at least a part 2!

The sun’s starting to set over the mountains across the lake. Outside the window I can see the snow and ice, the partially frozen lake and the blue sky with whispy white clouds. It really is picturesque! I love this house, I really do! It’s just a small 2 bedroom cottage. But Liz, my billet mom, has made it so cozy! Not to mention her kitchen is the cutest thing ever! The wood stove and all of her dishware passed down from her family. Stunning.

But anyways, back to what this blog post is actually about: billeting. Some of you may know that my previous billeting experience in Winnipeg was not the best it could have been, but that’s not something I’d like to share over my public blog. Anyways, billeting here so far is amazing! I’m already trying new things and my billeting mom has even brought me along to 2 “parties!” Liz is a retired nurse who’s been living in Labrador for who knows how long, she has one son who is living elsewhere in the Maritimes. She picked me up on Friday evening from the Katimahouse and about a half hour into the evening, she said she was going to fry up some seal liver for her dinner and offered me some. Me still feeling a little hungry after the small meal I had earlier (as well as not wanting to be rude), decided to give it a try. It was fried up with onions and was surprisingly good! Not what I thought seal liver would taste like at all. Really, it just tastes like any meat fried up! During our meal, a her boyfriend’s brother’s wife (confusing, eh?) caller her up and asked if she wanted to join them for her husband’s birthday party that evening, I was also invited. We immediately said yes and not long after dinner we were off to the party (just up the road from her and her boyfriend’s houses). We spent the entire night there listening to music that the family band played (generations playing together! So very cool!) and I even recognized some of the songs from jam sessions back home and was able to sing along… or play the spoons. We snacked on chips and dip all night long! By midnight, we decided to call it a night, and I was absolutely exhausted by that point!

Saturday was spent mostly in our pjs just hanging out at the house for the morning and afternoon. But we had already been invited to yet another get-together for that evening as well! So off we were to Goose Bay for grocery shopping and a dinner and card-game with her friends. We had a blast eating homemade lasagna and rolls and playing Quiddler and Rummoli (which I’m now addicted to).

Sunday morning I slept in for a bit while Liz when to the church to play piano. That evening we invited Louie (her boyfriend) and a couple neighbours for duck dinner. Liz and Louie had just hunted the ducks on Friday before picking me up. It was pretty tasty! It was darker than I had imagined it would be.

Today I was back at work at the SSS Innu school. I hadn’t been there in 2 weeks! I didn’t realize how much I missed the kids there, it was so much fun being back there with them.

Well, I’ll definitely make sure to update again while I’m billeting!

Maddie
xoxo

Wow, so I must be the worst blogger ever. I don’t know how many times I promised the Easter weekend post and I still haven’t posted it! Well let me summarize by life since then so far as I attempt for billeting (starts tomorrow, eek!).

We’ve been dogsledding, cross country skiing and snowshoeing. All so much fun might I add! The land here is absolutely gorgeous, especially in the winter on a beautiful sunny day! We’ve gotten together with the Goose Bay group (the St Pierre-Jolys group from before) for Easter dinner and we’ve also had a hangout night with the 4 boys at CJAY (the treatment centre) which were both a ton of fun.

We’ve started planning our excursion to Cartwright as well as our CCP (collective community project). And tomorrow we all start billeting! I’m so excited. I’ll definitely be blogging about my experience with that.

The past 2 weeks I’ve been off of my regular job because they’re closed for spring break. So last week I was house manager on my own and I made it vegetarian week! I’m so proud of what I was able to accomplish cooking-wise. I made some damn delicious food, might I add! Haha! This week I’ve been helping out at the SPCA in Goose Bay with one of the guys from the other group. I’ve been having a blast. I’ve met some really cool people as well as hung out with some amazing puppies and dogs. 

Well, packing for billeting is now done so I guess I should get to bed!

Night all!

Maddie
xoxo 

I’m FaceTime-ing with Clare for the first time in about a week and a half I think and I’m having to remind her to do her homework as well as clean up the water that our dogs spilled all over the ground. I still wish I was home next month for her birthday :( However, it’s sad that the only reason she called me was because she clicked on my name accidentally instead of clicking on “Mom.” *sigh*

Maddie
xoxo 

ps- I PROMISE that the Easter weekend post will be up asap! I’m so sorry it wasn’t posted earlier. I’ve been crazy sick lately, no fun!

Dear Pepto Bismol,

I really do hate your overly sweet and powerful bubble gum taste and texture. But I do hope that you make me feel better soon because I still can’t sleep after hours of trying.

Sincerely, a girl who hopes she doesn’t have food poisoning