oi to the world and everybody wins

on monday i volunteered at the bissell drop-in centre from 8 a.m. until 11 a.m. i felt frustrated because the other volunteers and i haven't gotten any training, and therefore don't know where to refer clients when they ask for certain services. i went to cree class at 2, and then had an appointment with my naturopath at 3:30. i came home for a bit and then went to my first ever popping and locking course at the u of a. it's REALLY hard. it's mostly hard because i get so unbearably shy and nervous when people are trying to teach me dance moves, and i stiffen up so much that it hurts my muscles. i really, really like when my timidity becomes physically overwhelming. however, it doesn't really help me learn dance moves very well. it seems really strange to me, too, because i feel really free when i am dancing otherwise. whatevs.

on tuesday i had all my regular classes, as well as a cree quiz.

on wednesday i met up with a lady from the u of a administration, because she has recruited me to do something for her in the spring, when the university has a day especially for recruiting rural students. it sounds like fun. after that, i had cree, and then CSL. in CSL i had to do a short presentation on an article about white students' experiences as they become aware of their socioeconomic privilege. although i've learned a lot about my own privilege and status over the last couple of years, the article was really informative and interesting to read and present on. afterwards i met becky and claire and kaylin and jessica at steeps to craft for a couple of hours.

thursday was full, full, full of class. i was irritated when one of my professors told the class that 17 first nations people in fort simpson died in the first week of the residential school payouts, due to the government's decision to "kill off the indians" by doing the payouts in one lump sum (the actual statistic was 4 deaths in one month, and i very much doubt that the government plotted to kill off people by giving them thousands of dollars), and then told us that the government had also plotted to kill off first nations by feeding them junk food to ensure they all got diabetes. certainly some things have been done incorrectly and unfairly, but i'm PREEEETY sure that neither of those plots were any kind of priority for anyone in government. come on.

this friday i worked at the elementary school from 11:30 until 12:30. since it was so cold outside, we had noonhour recess inside. my favorite kid, taylor, was sitting on the steps leading to the office, looking pretty bummed out because he loves playing outside so much. i sat down next to him, and he told me that he really wanted to play "guess who?" but couldn't find it. we checked all the classrooms together, and then i went upstairs and found that some of the older kids were playing it. i came back down to tell taylor the bad news. he was still pretty bummed, but he asked me if i wanted to play monopoly. i said sure, so he ran to get the box. it was just junior monopoly, but since i hardly ever play board games, i didn't know how to play it. i told taylor that one of us would have to read the directions while the other sorted the money, and he exclaimed that he would deal with the directions. he just ended up making up new rules, so i got him and another boy who joined us to sort the money while i figured the game out. we played the whole noon hour, and it ended up being super fun. taylor just loves to play so much, so he's always a blast to be around, and the boy who joined us is always kind of grumpy, so it's funny being around him too. after work i went home, packed up some stuff, stopped at rutherford library to pick up some books, and LRT'd downtown (skipping my cree lab) so i could catch the greyhound to calgary at 2:00. i ended up sitting next to some girl who gabbed on her cell phone for half of the trip. yeesh. i mostly just listened to my ipod.

kelsey picked me up at the bus station at about 6:00, and we drove to some crazy steakhouse for meat and potatoes. kelsey bought. what a nice date. then we drove across the street to michael's to buy some crafting supplies, and stopped at a movie place to rent "eagle vs. shark." we watched the movie at kelsey's, and it was terrible. it just felt like a cheap, pathetic knock-off of "napoleon dynamite." we ate some corn chips and then went to bed grumpy because the movie was so bad. (i should mention that the reason that we rented it was because the shark costume on the cover was adorable).

on saturday we got up around 10 or so and went to the farmers' market so kelsey could order some custom leather boots. she had her feet measured in different ways so that the shoes would fit her exactly, and that made her ridiculously happy. we also saw some stingrays in a tank, which was nice because i have decided that they are my new favorite animal. the market wasn't as good as edmonton's, i think. then we went to some health foods store so i could buy some stevia (natural sweetener), because my naturopath put me on a 3-week no-sugar diet. boo. i am nearly going crazy. i am basically just replacing any sugary snacks with super carbohydrate-y snacks. then we went back to michael's to buy a glue gun and some glue sticks and white thread. we stopped at the movie place and rented the first season of "flight of the conchords," and then came home. we made tacos because that seems to be our thing or something. then we watched the whole first season of "flight of the conchords," and worked on making some decorations for her wall. basically, we took some of her old shirts (red with white polka dots) and cut them up so that the fabric would fit inside some little wooden embroidery hoops. we glue gunned the fabric to the hoops so that it would permanently stay. then we used yellow buttons and light yellow thread and sewed cute designs on the hoops. i made a couple with some swirls and a tall vase and some flowers made out of buttons. i think they all turned out really well, and will look super cute when kelsey hangs them on her wall. i think that saturday was also the day we tried making some sculpey creations. kaylin is amazing with that stuff, but i guess kelsey and i aren't really. kelsey made some cute trees that broke when we put them in the oven, and i made a brown duck with yellow wings and some things that look like a cross between a lollipop and a kind of seuss-esque tree. mid-crafting and mid-conchording, we drove to 17th ave. to stop at american apparel, because that's the other thing we always do when we hang out. tacos and american apparel. anyway, i bought a green t-shirt and a purple long-sleeved shirt, and 3 pairs of underwear for $25! what a good deal! i might have to go buy more underwear this week from the a.a. here. we stopped at steeps on the way home, and i bought a tin of pear green tea, while kelsey bought a tin of lemon meringue pie tea. when we came home we watched more "conchords" and shared our tea and crafted. those teas are so good! i also taught kelsey how to make bannock, so we made a couple of batches and fried them on the stove. mmm. after "conchords," i started watching "eternal sunshine of a spotless mind," but got too sleepy to finish it. i slept on the couch.

this morning i woke up at 11:00, showered, made some soup for the two of us, and made a cd from kelsey's itunes while i packed. kelsey drove me to the calgary bus stop at 10:00, and my bus left at 11:00. i got in to edmonton at about 2:30, LRT'd home, worked a bit on my NS 390 homework, went for tea with emery at leva at 4:30, and came home and worked on my NS 211 homework for the rest of the night.