March in pictures

Apparently I’m making this a thing, posting about things that make me happy. Here’s another one.

Two years ago, I was living in Gatineau and teaching high school. I had the landlord from hell, and had to break my lease and move back in with my parents (Don’t get me wrong – I know I’m lucky to have parents I can live with. But who wants to move back home at 25?). I had just found out that my teaching contract wasn’t being renewed. It was cold. Basically, I wasn’t super happy.

So I started thinking about ways to get out of the house and cheer myself up. Somehow, I came up with a plan called Marchmywords. For the entire month of March, I would be taking one picture per day, based on my interpretation of a word. I made a blog, posted the words, and invited people to email me their pictures every day so I could post them on the blog.

The first year was great – 40 people participated in the project! The second year was a bit of a bust – I was too busy working in Moncton with Katimavik to take pictures and run the blog, and not too many other people were playing. The 2011-2012 pictures are still up on the blog, but this year I decided to take a different approach by making it a Facebook page. People can contribute directly to the page, and all I have to do is focus on taking my own pictures.

I just moved to the Coast, and once again I need a reason to get out of the house and explore, so it’s been great so far. Below are my pictures of the first week of March. Head on over to our Facebook page – like us, join us, take your own pictures. I promise you’ll have fun!

March 1 – Soft

March 2 – Joie de vivre

March 3 – Intimidation

March 4 – Clarity

March 5 – Championship

March 6 – Friend

March 7 – Energy

March 8 – White

 What other cool photo projects do you know about?

Go West, young (wo)man

“Go West, young man, go West. There is health in the country, and room away from our crowds of idlers and imbeciles.” “That,” I said, “is very frank advice, but it is medicine easier given than taken. It is a wide country, but I do not know just where to go.” “It is all room away from the pavements…” I got a job. A real live grown up one, at that. With a pension plan and all the bells and whistles. My oh my, things is changing. It all started ten years ago. *cue rewind noise* When I was 17, I heard about a program called Summer Works Student Exchange, where Canadian youth aged 16 and 17 get to go to another province for the summer to learn about different parts of Canada and improve their other official language, and they get a job and a salary and a wonderful experience. So, without telling my parents, I signed myself up. You see, this exchange involves actually swapping places with someone your age – you go to their house and they come to yours for six weeks. You never meet them, but they effectively take your place within your family for a short period of time. My parents weren’t too hot on the idea, but by the time I got accepted, somehow they ended up with two kids, even though I still don’t think they ever agreed to anything. Regardless. I went, I saw, I conquered. Imagine this: the day after graduation, 17-year-old me takes the train with 500 other 16-17 year-olds for a six day train ride across Canada. Epic, to say the least. I was placed at YMCA Camp Howdy, just outside of Vancouver, BC. I had a fantastic summer, and I made friends that I am still in touch with ten years on. The following summer, I returned as a full-fledged staff member, and then various decisions, university programs and job opportunities took me everywhere around the country and the world, but never back to BC. Which brings us to June 2012. After Katimavik’s funding got cut (see previous post), I was actively (read : desperately) looking for work, when a supervisor from Camp Howdy (where I worked 10 years ago!) told me about a summer postion that opened up at the last minute at YMCA Camp Elphinstone, on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia. Things worked in my favour and I got the job, and a great experience in a beautiful place. The summer ended, and once again I was looking for work… And once again, opportunity struck! You are now looking at (the words of) the new Coordinator for the West, for the Summer Works Student Exchange program. That’s right – the exchange that I took part in in 2002 has led me full circle to a job coordinating the very same exchange program. Sometimes, I sit back, I look at my life, and I wonder how this is all possible. And although I can’t figure out how or why it’s happening, I’m going to take everything as it happens! So here I am, roughly 48 hours from leaving home (again) to head out on a new adventure. This one doesn’t have an expiry date, and that’s equal parts scary and exciting. The idea of permanently moving across the country is also equal parts terrifying and exciting – I can’t wait to call Vancouver home, but I haven’t been settled anywhere in the last three years or so, and I’m not sure how that transition is going to go. In the meantime, before Vancouver becomes home, I will be taking a 6 day road trip across the country, but that’s a story for another blog post. Stay tuned for pictures and stories of Alex’s next great adventure!