Day one hundred and two... On paper, this is just a few days after the halfway point of my six-month challenge (and it is a challenge, deciding every day to stay is getting harder as the group dynamics change), but I really consider the halfway point to be Wednesday, March 28 - travel day. On that Tuesday night, Cuisiner, B.C., Dog and I went for one last go at the microbrewery we enjoyed so much during our time in Chicoutimi. We got home just before 11 p.m. and not much more than an hour later, a bus arrived to take us to Quebec City. At 4 a.m. Wednesday morning we were at the airport there. Around 8:30 a.m. we were switching planes in the Toronto airport. Half the group (including me) landed in Calgary at 11 a.m. local time, and we had to wait until 2 for the other half of our group to show up - they took the scenic flight, touching down in Thunder Bay and Winnipeg before meeting us. From there we took a bus, stopping to drop off a group in Lethbridge, down to Medicine Hat. We met our new project leader and got settled in to our nice big house: the girls may all be sharing a room now, but it is certainly the biggest Katimahouse that we've seen or stayed in.
That Thursday we had our work place tours. All of these new placements looked interesting, and I probably wouldn't have cared at all which placement I got, if it weren't for the Esplanade/Hive placement. The Esplanade is the local art gallery and the Hive is an artist's cooperative. As we toured the two locations, I wondered if they could have been any more tailored to my interests if they were trying. After the interview process on Friday morning, I am pleased to say that I did get the artsy placement. I now work every morning at the Esplanade, doing anything from exhibit installation to helping with the school tours or working on the Public Art project (which is mostly data entry but I will also have the opportunity to travel the city taking pictures of outdoor art!). Then in the afternoons I go to the Hive, where every day of the week I work with a different artist (they all specialize in different media, from didgeridoos to photoshop) doing varied things in a laid-back atmosphere that includes a retail store but that isn't the point of the placement.
Thus far, Medicine Hat is confusing. I'm pleased that I'll be walking to and from work here, as the weather is gorgeous (no snow to be seen! It's t-shirt weather!) and it will give me an opportunity to become more comfortable with the city very quickly. The streets are mostly numbers, which I'm not very good with as I'm not used to that format. I don't even remember whether I live on a street or an avenue right now. We are a short walk from a convenience store, a liquor store, a pharmacy, and two pubs, which is pretty much all we need. Heh.
I am sorry to say that B.C. chose to leave the program. He left today while we were all at work. We saw him off last night at the bar we've adopted, and he said he'd add us all on Facebook (something he had been refusing to do before this point). It's going to be weird, being here without him. I remember what it was like to go two weeks without Barry - and that was much earlier, and I'm quite a bit closer to B.C. than Barry. We'll see how it goes I guess.
I have to say, I'm actually quite jealous that he's going home. I've decided to start searching for a job that will bring me back home, and if I find one that needs me home before the program is over - so be it. Being here is wreaking havoc on my mental health. I don't enjoy this anymore. My job is great - it's the program rules, the group living, the distance and time between myself and everything I care about that's the problem. I'm unhappy here. The few people to whom I've said this have told me I don't have much longer, surely I can stick it out. But nobody else knows exactly how I feel. I want to do what's best for myself, and I no longer believe that finishing the program is conducive to that.
I'll keep you posted (pun intended).
