Hello, my name is Rocky Oleekatalik and I’m from Taloyoak, Nunavut. I am here in Redcliff Alberta gaining some work experience and at first it was hard maintaining my sleep schedule and having the work ethic but now I’d say I’m used to it. The view here at my host parents house is amazing. Just plains for awhile before we get into town and I’ll always choose seeing the view over being on my phone while heading to work.

My host family made me feel welcomed and appreciated as soon as I got here. My host dad Bill is a firefighter and a bee keeper, as well as farmer. I’ve helped just a bit but my host buddy has been helping him way more than I do because I don’t like the bugs, out here they are many type of bugs. It grosses me out so much I flinch at every bug that comes into my view, grossest bug I’ve seen yet are beetles and spiders. My host mom, Kristi, have driven us to places and she made me feel comfortable.

So far I’m enjoying my stay here and I believe I know the surrounding areas like which route we take to my workplace, I enjoy my workplace. Sometimes I have a hard time because I’m tired but I push through it, my coworkers are very friendly and supportive of me and I very much appreciate that. Chris and Rick entertain me when I work with them, they tell me their experiences and jokes while we are working and I very much enjoy that.

We’ve gone to a powwow which was awesome, I’ve taken a lot of photos with the dancers and hearing them sing and seeing them perform is such a unique experience. Me, Ian, my host brother, and his buddy have gone golfing and that was a highlight for me to remember. Golfing in the south is so much better than golfing back at my hometown, I’m proud to say that I’ve won the golf round. We’ve also gone to a zoo, a park with a bunch of rides, an escape room, arcades, a reptile expo, I’ve got to hold a snake and that was an experience. We’ve also have gotten very close to the U.S border at a place called ‘writing on stone’ and I’ve got to see sum mountains in the distance that belonged to the U.S and I’ve also got to see the Rocky Mountains and that was amazing.

During the assignments before coming here I was very overwhelmed but the staff have encouraged me to keep going and to not give up, and my advice to others who wants to join NYA, I’d say do it! You won’t regret anything on what you signed up for, if it’s campus tours, or the Canadian program, the NYA staff is very welcoming and very kind! At least 5 to 10 times I’ve told the staff that I wanted to give up on the assignments but they’ve helped me along the way. The assignments aren’t hard if you put your mind to it and have encouragement along the way. The NYA staff to me is like a family, they make me feel at home, they feed us and take care of us. I’m very thankful for the NYA staff. If you feel like applying for NYA, do it with no looking back! It’s a very one of a kind moment to be with the staff!