PWRDF Meeting and Winnipeg!

Well, it was cold, very cold in Winnipeg and there is snow... at the end of March; Kamloops has flowers growing but I guess the rest of the country hasn't got that message. I've been in Winnipeg since Friday afternoon and it's been wonderful, and the weather has really not been as bad as it could have been. Currently I am sitting in the Calgary airport awaiting my flight to Kamloops. My adventure began on Friday at 4:30AM when I got up to depart to the airport, I was all organized and all ready to go and got there perfectly on time, no issues at all (this is always a very good thing) and my mom came into Kamloops to drive me there, which is always wonderful, especially since it meant that she had to leave Savona at 4:30AM to get me there for 5AM. Got to love mothers!! So, I get on the plane and we are flying along and I realize that the folder with all the stuff that the Youth Leadership Team was going to need for youth group and a bunch of stuff that had to go to church on Sunday is still in my room in residence, I forgot to give it to my mom. And it's not like my mom can just walk into my residence room and get it, so I went into planning mode as I tried to figure out how she was going to get this file. And me with my brilliant 6AM brain decided that I'd email my roommate (way too early to phone) while waiting for my next flight in the Vancouver airport, text her so she knew I emailed her, and see if she can take it to the front desk for my mom to pick up. Then I phoned my mom to tell her my crazy but organized plan, and it all worked out in the end, thank goodness for my amazing roommate and mom!! I successfully made it to Winnipeg in one piece with all my stuff and I didn't get lost, my pick-up at the airport found me and the rest of us without any issue at all, I love smaller airports!

It was amazing catching up with the PWRDF Youth Council once again, having not seen each other since November. They are an amazing group of young adults from all across Canada and we always enjoy one another's company. Great stories, wonderful planning, exchange of experiences, and really just a whole lot of fun. It's quite a shame that we only get to see each other about twice a year. (No significance with the picture of the church, it was just really pretty!)

We met together all day Saturday and then Sunday until just after lunch. It was a productive meeting with lots discussed and achieved, everything from the recent Burundi delegation trip to the diversity of our council. I acted as secretary for the meeting, and wow, what a lot of typing that was... now the task of reading over and fixing it up comes! We celebrated Earth Hour with a worship service and discussion about our carbon usage and such; and all by candle light, which made it that much better. Oddly enough though, Winnipeg saw a gain in energy usage during that time, we all decided that it was directly caused by the Beyoncie concert, but who knows. 

We were privileged enough to get to meet in the Canadian Food Grains Bank's office space, and had a presentation from them, so we got to learn about their

program and what they do. The CFGB is an organization that I didn't know too much about until this weekend but I definitely am excited to learn lots more, their presentation intrigued me!

Winnipeg is quite nice, really, the buildings were built forever ago so they are beautiful structures with lots of bricks. I got lots of opportunities to walk around with different people and see a bit of the city which was exciting, it doesn't always happen when I am somewhere for a meeting just for the weekend, after all, it's just for a weekend which turns out to be a rather short period of time filled with lots of meetings. Because I'm from Kamloops which has an incredibly small airport compared to most others the flights coming in and out are few and far, and never when you really want them. So, even though our meeting ended Sunday after lunch I couldn't fly out until Monday morning. (Don't worry, I will still be making it for the afternoons class, as long as getting out of Calgary goes well.) But the extra night meant that I got to go to Matt and Jenn's place and visit some more, which was very nice.

The buildings in Winnipeg are very tall and very, very flat. Some had odd angles that made it look like there wasn't even another side to it.  At one point we were walking around looking for a place to have lunch and there was this sign that said, "Caution falling ice" I was then 

informed that large amounts of ice fall off the top of these building and it can be very dangerous, which totally makes sense. But really, what am I supposed to do?? Walk with my head faced towards the roof of the buildings watching for ice? I think not!

The metal detectors you walk through while going through security seem to pick up everything this last trip, normally I get through with no issues but now my watch, necklace, button on my jeans, underwire in my bra, and zipper on my sweater all set it off, crazy! I guess it means that it will be a very safe flight! This whole time change thing never easily allows me to figure anything out. I thought I had an hour wait in the Calgary airport but it's a three hour wait... I just don't understand how I can't wrap my head around this time change stuff. 

It's been a great weekend though but it seems that a lot has happened in APCI and in my family since I left on Friday morning super early, so I'm a bit frazzled and not too sure about much of anything. Not sure about what to think or what exactly is going on... all that great stuff. I guess I will find out soon enough, then it's back to the books for a two week stretch of classes bef

ore the semester is over, exams, then finally summer!