Hello yall’ss.

There have been a few major changes for me in the program since my last post. First and foremost, my counter-part and I have been posted to work in the the Meaford Public Library. It was definitely not my first choice to spend eight hours in a Library. However, I know that I will learn alot and I will definitely do my utmost to make the best of the situation. We work 9-5 on lunes, miercoles y viernes (Spanish practice anyone???) We were supposed to start today, but were unable to because…it was closed?… It is nice to have the day off to relax!

The next piece of big news is (drum roll please) that we have changed host-families. We knew from the start that our placement with Brain and Sandra was temporary because there is another counter-part pair staying at their house. It was sad to leave because we have become accustomed to the ebb and flow in their house, and because they are such kind people. Examples of their kindness are as follows: Most nights our host father gives us English and Spanish lessons; I bought elk at the farmers market and my host mother was kind enough to make delicious hamburgers out of it; they allowed us to spontaneously have half the group over at their house one-afternoon. Our experience with them has been truly excellent!

Anyways, Jorge and I are at our new-host family. I think that it will work out very nicely here! They have one adopted daughter who is in grade 9, and a son who is going to College in pursuit of a career as a policeman. He does not live at home, but might come home on weekends from time to time. When that happens we can go to our old host family for a sleep-over! Yeah! I look forward to getting to know them better.

Up to now our time has been consumed by educational activity days, group get togethers and some volunteering. Last week, we had to do a scavenger hunt throughout Meaford. A few of our tasks were as follows: ask someone on the street about an issue that they are concerned about in Meaford (I asked a cashier in the local liquor store, he thought that Tim Hortons should have a “Timmy’s debit card” that you could load up with money. This would cut down on the time used with credit card transactions…), find out how many churches are in Meaford, buy something made in Meaford (mmm, pecan pie), find out when the next local election is… and on and on and on. It took almost two hours of adventure, espionage and speed walking to complete! As for volunteering, we have been down to the Beautiful Joe park on a few occasions to help out. On Saturday, we volunteered for the SUPER DOGS extravaganza at the park. The super dogs are a group of canines who can run moderately fast to very fast, have no hair to long hair, and can jump through steel bars to well over top many steel bars! Amazing! My job was to be tough and tell people that they were not allowed to park in the park… I also did many other misc tasks that day which would be considered volunteering… I must also tell something that I discovered on Saturday. Apparently I am charismatic! I told one of my fellow participants that I enjoy making fun of him, and he told me that I am charismatic. I really like these people. Yesterday, we had a welcoming celebration for all of the participants and the host families. It was a beautiful day, and there were really great snacks and really great people in attendance. I passed the time by playing touch football (apparently I am as good a player as the best 10 year old footballer who was there!), and making kids laugh by jumping out of trees. All in all, it was an excellent day.

Lastly, I would like to say thank you for all the support that I have received! It means so much to me.

Until Later,
Love Zach

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