Annie of Qikiqtarjuak, Nunavut, poses for a photo by fellow NYA Participant AJ at NYA’s Orientation Camp. (Photo Credit: AJ Nookiguak)

My time in Powell River has been an amazing experience, and I can’t thank the people from Northern Youth Abroad, my supervisors, or my host family enough for it. I worked in Cottage Creek Bake Shop, and it was wonderful. Janet was so nice and helpful to me, and we did so much together. Whether it was baking special orders, or going to a different island for markets, she taught me so much on how to run a successful business. All that hard work really paid off. And when she was away, I worked with Alice. She is also an incredible person to work with. I learned how to make pasta, lemonade, and roasted pecans with her, and even if it was only a few days, those few days were awesome. Working with these two has been the absolute best I could ask for. And after work, my amazing host family was there to greet me with open arms.

I loved living with Courtney, Scarlet and Kahlan. They are an awesome family who you can always have fun with. They treated us like we were there for longer than a few weeks, and I just can’t say ‘Thank You’ enough times to them. From the first time I tried McDonalds, to the time we did the Bean-Boozled Challenge, they were there to share the time with us and enjoy every moment. Courtney, Mahasi and I even went to Texada Island for a weekend for an event called Diversity. It was so much fun, and there was music 24/7 while we were there. I think there was 1500 people there. That’s about three times the population of my hometown of Qikiqtarjuaq. That is one of the many differences I noticed while being here. The other differences are the environment. There are so many trees around here, and all the different animals I’ve seen. There’s also pavement here, whereas in Qikiqtarjuaq, we have dirt and tundra. The other difference I’ve noticed was the daylight. I’m used to having 24 hour daylight during the summer, but it gets dark in the South. That really surprised me. With all those differences, there are some I’ve noticed with the culture. We’ve seen and been part of some cultural get-togethers and seeing how different they are compared to ours, it was really interesting. They wear different traditional clothing, and do things with some differences from the way we do things back home. But with those differences, there are also some similarities, like drumming, which I’ve only seen a bit of since being here.

While we’ve been in the South, I’ve got to see what it’s like living there. There’s quite a few things that I have tried, like fast food, long trips to town and back, and learned how to swim better. I was really excited when I found out two staff members were coming to check up on us and hang out for a day. Along with my placement buddy, two other NYA participants in Powell River and the staff, the six of us went to Tim Horton’s for lunch, then went for a walk in the woods (we just went on a trail and back), we went mini golfing, then we all went to a Chinese Restaurant for supper. It was a spectacular day.

I will never forget my time here in Powell River, and will always be thankful for everything that has happened over the last few weeks. I can’t wait to see all the other participants and the staff at Re-Orientation, although the goodbyes may be hard to say after. That’s about it for this entry. Bye!