Hi, my name is Betsy Appaqaq and I am from Sanikiluaq, Nu. In 2016, the population was 882 and in 2019 the population is a little bit over 1000 people. I am a Participant in the 2019 Northern Youth Abroad (NYA) Canadian Program. Thank you to everyone who supported NYA. With your support, my experience with NYA would not be possible. 

My host community is in Nova Scotia, Halifax. The population is over 40,000. There are so many things you can do around the city. We don’t have that kind of things in our town, so I’m trying so hard to explore the Halifax before going home. It would take me about half an hour to my work placement through bus, and about an hour to my host mother’s house but I didn’t mind because I got used to it fast.

All summer, I have volunteered at the Discovery Centre. When I getting started, I was trained first before taking it serious. And I get to explore the centre first and see how the staff handle with visitors. On July 9th, I was trained STEAM Facilitor Assistant. I started helping with Ocean Tech Camp on July 22nd. Some of my work placement responsibilities were to support the staff members, following the schedule and help with the materials for activities. At my work placement, I have learned a lot of things like; being more patient and being open-minded.

I liked staying with my host mother Michelle Martin over the summer. She is great, loving, funny person and first of all protecting us. She have been so welcoming towards us, not trying to let us feel homesick so that we can continue our volunteer work.

Some of the fun things I did over the summer was going on a road trip to Prince Edward Island (PEI), Cape Breton and New Brunswick. We got to go Royal NS International Tattoo show, one of my favourite show was when USA Military showed up. It was like half an hour which it was 3-4 hours. We got to go Pride Parade and the weather was so HOT, it was like we could not make it because we were out for like 3 hours. We got to go different beaches and pool’s. One of my favourite activities was going to laser tag and cliff hanger in PEI.

Being a Participant for NYA has been a lot of fun. The program has helped me with things like; being more open to everyone, learning how to work as a team, learning how to speak in public and getting to know more the city of Halifax.

Thank you for reading my blog!