So those of you who follow me on facebook (which is nearly all of you) know that there have been some recent changes in my life and also that I have had a few adventures along the way.
I will start by saying in mid May I was contacted for an interview for a position with the Department of Public Safety under the Federal Work Experience Program. The interview consisted of four questions, the first of which was "If you were to be stranded on a deserted island what are the three things you would want to have with you?" To which my response was 1. clean water/food 2. Shelter or the means to build shelter 3. a communication device.
After completing the interview I was a bit unsure of how it went.
Two days later I left for Montreal
Montreal
I decided to travel to Montreal by train because the day which I found out that I had been accepted to the masterclass on human rights at Concordia happened to also be the day that VIA had its seat sale, and I had discovered that airline tickets to Montreal were a bit expensive. So for a lower price than an airplane ticket I took a sleeper car to Montreal and economy class on the way back.
So on the way too Montreal about three hours into my trip I take a little walk down the coridor of the train to the lounge area when I bump into an adorable six year old playing with her stuffed bunny rabbit. Naturally I start playing along. After some hopping I started talking to the little girl's mom and a conversation something like this followed
Mom: I was in Halifax for my daughter's convocation.
Kirsten: Oh at Dalhousie?
Mom: Yes, my daughter was studying international...
Kirsten: ...development studies?
Mom: Yes
Kirsten: What was your daughter's name?
Mom: Stephanie...
Kirsten: Stephanie Smith...?
Mom: Yes...?
Kirsten: Oh my gosh I was your daughter's teaching assistant last year!
Mom: Really? Oh really? (Somewhat incredulous partly because I am a few years younger than her daughter and the statistical unlikelihood of this encounter occurring is astronomically high)
Enough said. On the train I also met a Sweedish woman who was also attending a conference at congress (which the masterclass was a part of) who was a forensic anthropologist) insert interesting discussion here.
I arrived in Montreal around 9 the next day and dropped my things off at the Grey Nuns, the Concordia Residence where I was staying. I then checked my email/ facebook to discover several other people I knew were also in town for congress and made plans.
I then ate brunch at eggspectation and proceeded on a walking tour of downtown Montreal guided by a guide book.
Al though it was a hot afternoon I realized I still had quite a lot of time on my hands so I decided to climb Mount Royal, Montreals Mountain. I used the stairs which are the most direct route up the mountain, however I took the winding foot path down, both of which were interesting routes.
The view from the top was quite magnificent. Also on the mountain I stopped at Lac Castor (Beaver Lake) where I was hit on in French by an icecream truck salesman. I was impressed both because the individual did not choose to switch to English while speaking me and that I understood that I was being hit on.
In the evening I met up with Matt Scribner from Carleton who was one of the people who were in town for Congress. We had a delicious meal and a restaurant whose name I can't even begin to remember. Following this I went Swing Dancing at Cat's Corner where I ran into Matt Tufts a Swing Dancing friend from Halifax and learned how to do six count swing dancing (or at least tried to).
The next day was a masterclass and WOW what an experience. If I could stretch that day over the rest of my existence I would die a happy person. There were so many people there of different ages and different backgrounds all studying issues at the graduate level on issues relating to human rights. There were two other girls with human rights degrees from Carleton and one girl who did her Masters at Dal in IDS a few years ago. The presenters included 3 women presenting on issues relating to child psychology and the rights of the child, Jane Stoyles from the Candian Center for International Justice (who responded to my paper at a conference last year, so exciting ahhh), Reza, a photo journalist from Iran who has won many awards and has deicated his life to photographing the sufferring of civillians in war (I couldn't but buy his enormous book) and finally a presentation by Kyle Matthews (who incidently went to highschool with my cousin Laura) and Frank Chalk on the will to intervene (which made me consider doing a PhD at Concordia).
That night most of the masterclass participants went out for dinner.
and then some of us went to listen to live jazz music at Upstairs which was amazing!
The next day I got up early, checked out from Grey Nuns and went to breakfast with James and Britta who were visiting a relative who was in town for the conference (I hadn't seen them in over a year!). I then went up with some of the masterclass people and went on a refugee guided bus tour of the city which was part of the life stories project and advertised at the masterclass. It was a really amazing experience to see the projects that people working on refugees in a bigger city had the resources to do.
On the anecdotal side of things for part of the bus tour we went up Mount Royal to the Oratory, where we were told if we were there for the first time we could make a wish and that it would be granted. When we first arrived there Dalbir, one of my new friends said that he wished they had icecream. At the next bus stop it was announced (fairly randomly) that there were ice cream vendors there.
In my case I found out that I got the job with public safety in Ottawa when I arrived back in Halifax the next day.
So I packed up and left town, first for Mississauga for my mom's retirement party, then on to Ottawa. The adventures never cease. But that's another story.
Tomorrow I am off to Guelph to visit Dalbir and Sarah from the masterclass!
