Welcoming Ramya-September 30, 2012

It is the last day of September and I cannot believe the month is over. I love my placement and am learning new skills daily. I most enjoy the community resource meeting in Oshawa. It was lots of idea sharing and they are a progressive bunch. I really like them. I love travelling with Nancy the long term counsellor. She is an amazing woman and teacher. We started a new group last week and it went very well. I know many of the women now and they know me. It seems like I have been there longer. This week we have the sisters in spirit vigil, which will be a silent walk and then vigil with a speaker and reading aloud the 528 missing or murdered Aboriginal women in Canada. I went into Toronto on Friday to visit three of the Aboriginal friendship centres/womens resource centre and got to talk to the volunteer co-ordinators at two of the three and got information from the other. All in all a great day. Ramya our international student from southern India is here to stay with us this year. She is renting a room from us and going to U.O.I.T. I'm sure it will be a learning experience for everyone and I look forward to getting to know her better. I'm having a few issues with allergies. I started some Valerian Root and GABA from the health food store to help me sleep, but my mouth is swollen and sore, so I guess that is the end of that. My beautiful sista-friend is coming in the end of the week for our sisters in spirit vigil and we will be making native drums the next day. My new grandchild is due any day.  Life is good.

Placement first 2 weeks-September 16, 2012

What a few weeks I have had. I have had a wide range of experiences and feelings during this time. My first week I was frustrated and felt like I had possibly made a terrible choice. It seemed very disorganized and I was unsure of how I saw myself fitting in. I made a time to meet with my supervisor Monday morning and things have fallen into place nicely now. I have a sense of purpose and have admiration for the work that the workers do every day with little funding. I have had the opportunity to do many counselling sessions, shadowing the long term counsellor and participating in a minor way. I have experienced a group session for sexual abuse survivors that included art therapy, been to community resource meetings, helped host a lunch/activity for the Grannies, done some research. I started my Indigenous Studies at Trent last week and the Professor does not seem to be inspiring, but I will keep an open mind. We have a room for rent in our house now and have a PhD student from India going to UOIT looking at it tomorrow. I have my 2 weeks off now from cleaning, and I'm so happy to have a break from it, my body is hurting. My elbow hurts and my back has been a bit sore. Will is looking for an outside job now. Being in business for yourself does not always help pay the bills and that is the reality of it now. Hopefully he can find something that allows him to blend his skills and passion for photography, even if it's in the off hours. Despite the challenges, life is good.