!Belay

Tonight was hilarious. Ralph and I got to go the Climate-Change Project Benefit. We were so excited because Russell Peters was hosting it with my husband George Strombo!! I couldn't stop laughing. The comedians were pretty good. Except for one guy who couldn't make anyone laugh. But the rest was amazing.
If you havent watched/seen Russell Peters, you havent lived. He's so freaking funny. Even when he doesnt have a script. The way he laughs is enough to make you start to giggle. It was a great way to end a 2nd day of training. Especially since today was the most intense and depressing because Al Gore broke down the presentation for us. I dont know why but everytime I see the pictures of the Polar Bears drowning and standing on 2 meters of ice i burst into tears. Maybe its because as a kid you never think "I may never get to see a live Polar Bear. They might be dead before my 21st birthday." You never think that they're something that could stop existing.
Thinking about it now, I guess that's why they did put the comedy tonight. To relieve it all.
Tomorrow's the last day of training.
Yay!

Never Any Rain When You Want It

Our project really took on a whole other life. Because of all the work not only our group but the other groups have done, we've gotten a Environment Sustainability working group at the VSB. This working group had meetings from January till now, and we just passed one of the main days of lots of build up and work. The VSB Sustainability Summit. It was on April 28th and went on all day. Isabelle a grade 12 Byng student and I lead the summit with the main event being a world cafe. It went amazingly well with great gift bags to go along. Martin and Dejan filmed it, while we had some other classmates help with the world cafe. The day was much anticipated and long. Once over, I think everyone sort of let out a sigh of more than relief. Content that all the hard work payed off. I really hope that all this gets carried on. As of now, i'm working on the curriculum working group for next year, but that is subject to change due to prior commitments such as dance and other activities like work. All I know is, this year I felt like as a class we all grew whether we retained what we learnt about the environment or not.

=)Another Year Over

So this science year has been the most active I've ever been in a course outside of school. To be honest, I'm really exhausted.
Every time I hear Global Warming, I think "Climate Change buddy."
Every time I hear What I can do? I think "While you're asking that, turn off your lights."
Every time I see someone throw a can into the garbage I pick a can out of one.
And every time someone says whats the point? I point at them.
Because the whole reason i'm even involved isnt because I love the environment and hug every tree I see. It's because I know that what I do now, no matter how small effects what happens later on and I would like to leave this earth knowing my conscience is clean of any Global harm.
My group, we basically tought ourselves and anyone we came in contact with. Our class, we basically tought ourselves and the whole of Vancouver. I feel really confident with what our year did. As for my group, our progress is the reason I'm even confident enough to say I'm making a difference. Without them I wouldn't have gone to Montreal because I would've seen this as just another project.
I'm glad this is all over, but sad that it happened so quickly.
Hopefully everyone understands how much this project really means outside of just the average marks.

We're Almost Done

So we just ended the night. It was my birthday and the longest painful day of the training
We had no David Suzuki today, no Al Gore. We didnt even have the Comedy Night to follow. It was a long 11 hour day with people who talked about the buisness stuff, while I tried so hard not to fall asleep.
I honestly didnt see the point in today. I mean yes they sang happy birthday to me, and Ralph got me a slice of Cake with a Candle but I just felt like the training was over. I felt like it was time to go home.
All I wanted was to sleep in my bed and walk my dog, annoy my little brother, text my older brothers every few minutes when i'm bored, and even just read a book while watching stupid Big Brother with my mom.
I love Montreal, dhands down an amazingly rich city. Very different style from Vancouver. Feels a bit like a grungy version of Amsterdam without the canals.
But I feel slightly overwhelmed by all the information i've taken in these past few days. As well as I spent an hour when I was really hungry doing some self-birthday shopping.
The funny part about today was, instead of maintaining our high dining experience I chose Sushi and we ate and talked about our families and got back to the hotel about 12.
Tomorrow Ralph and I will be running out at 10 to buy the clothing we put on hold, quickly visit Saint Cathrines and Saint Denis.

Goodnight

We have landed. Roger That.

It was such an early start.. I cant even believe how easily I woke up and grabbed all my stuff and checked it all twice.
I mean, Ralph and I had to be at YVR by 7 in the morning. Meaning we both had to wake up at 5:30 to leave by 6:20.
We arrived right on time, and low and behold... Mr. Mcguire and Ms. Sorocan were late by 10 minutes.
It was okay, gave Ralph and I lots of picture time.
We checked our bags in, said goodbye to our moms and we were off.

We were like little grade 7 school girls, really excited but too "mature" to show it.
The plane was long and yet too short for what we were going for.
My seat was on the other side of the aisle and I need to be by a window or I get sick. So this guy who was with all his friends for a stag offered to switch seats with me. So I was in the midst of guys ranging from 21 to 30. It was pretty chill, one of them let me watch a movie with him and the other bought me pop. While a few others tried to keep me laughing. It was a really good plane ride because I was so worried I'd be bored without Ralph.
Me and him even got up and took pictures with random people and the pilot took a picture with me ^_^

When we arrived in Montreal, we grabbed a taxi arrived at the Hyatt. Once here, we got into our rooms and then decided to go eat out. So Ralph and I chose Pied De Couchon(Pigs feet). It was this restaurant that we had seen featured on TV. They were known for their Fois Gras. Not that I would order that, but Ralph did.
After stuffing ourselves with Medium-rare Steak, Poutine, Fois Gras burger, Fois Gras Poutine, and other food. We walked through Montreal and returned to settle in for a day of shopping and then training.

Naturally I cant sleep, so I'm on here and on MSN talking to my friends and family. Everyone I miss.
Good Night!

A day at the Mariott

Yesterday Taline, Mel, Aiko, Alex, Ramij, Ralph, Martin and I went to Innovative Interactions. It was day of motivational talks and networking by/with young adults and entreprenuers bettering their global community. We also presented what we were doing as a class. Martin, Ralph, Ramij and I talked about each groups goal and progress. We presented it to a group of students, VSB staff and other important people. It was kind of nerve wracking because we really were still in the midst of learning about our topics so when we were talking we werent sure if any of it was about to change or even 100% accurate. But its okay, I feel that that whole day was a really good experience and I got to meet a lot of like-minded people. I even joined the website takingitglobal, which the founder of, spoke to us about. He had started it at the same age as us. Towards the end however, I felt it was more catered to the adults and parents there. Especially with Ralph, Martin, Alex, Mel Taline and I all getting a fit of the giggles, the night was quite an interesting one.

Inconvenient Youth

We had Andrea Reimer come to our school a few weeks back to present to us the presentation from an Inconveint Truth. It was a really intense presentation especially sine it had to do with Canada. She had specifically created it from the original so we could relate to it on a more local level. I had seen this presentation before in An Inconvenient Truth, and it still is really eye opening. Especially the pictures used. It really made my longing to inspire and educate others about the global need for a unity of environmental sustainability, strong. When Andrea Reimer spoke about how our very west coast would be underwater in a few years causing all the maps to be re-drawn. I felt like a part of me was dieing. I live for the ocean, I live for the scenic west coast, but to have it all gone, I could never imagine it. Knowing that my kids may never get to see Stanley Park or go do highropes in Nanaimo really scared me.
Some of us tech students went and talked with Andrea after, and she was so nice. She really made me feel like she knew what she was saying but she also knew that what I was saying just as important. I hope we get to work with her on some environmental projects.
Oh, and I also remember her from when I was younger at Lord Roberts. I think she was a trustee =P

M.A.M.A.'s

Sweet!
I'm with Mel, Alex and Aiko. The Kindergarten crew. We're really excited to finally get to work on a project together.
We were thinking of maybe doing a carbon footprint of our school and comparing it with that of a big school like Byng or kits. Once we have that taking the average of every student and then comparing it again.

I think its really important to know that kind of impact your school and you as a part of that community have. We all sort of felt there was a social aspect there that could really be important seeing as we're in high school.
But we're still figuring out if that would be possible.