Mosaic!

First weekend of June we went to Regina to attend the Multicultural Mosaic Festival, it was a lot of fun. There were pavilions from 17 different countries scattered about the city. You had to catch a bus from one to the other, though a few were within walking distance of each other. As a result, we only made it to 9: Korea, where I tried a cinammon pop for the first time, it was really good! And their traditional costumes were so pretty. At the Irish pavilion there was a band, and we tried the potato cakes with a mustardy dip, and an 'Irish Rose' drink - it was interesting. At the Ukrainian pavilion they were selling all kinds of toys including matrushka dolls, which brought me a tinge of nostalgia because I remember having those as a child. They also had some nice embriodered T-shirts, and giant decorated pencils the size and shape of chair legs. Can't imagine taking one of those into an exam room! At the Italian one, there was pizza, pasta, sausage and wine, and the desserts were to die for, but all I could do was look coz they were pretty expensive. Not to mention not needed by my waistline! There was traditional dancing at most of the pavilions but the most interesting ones I thought were at the Indian pavilion where they had a combination of traditional and modern dance. There were 4 henna tattoo stations which were immensely popular - I gave into temptation and joined 2 other girls in our group to get one on my wrist, coz I've never done that before. The Greek pavilion had great food and was inexpensive, so I had dolmades, souvlaki, spanakopita and tried a new dessert called loukoumades, topped off with ouzo. We went to the Latin American plaza where there was some nice dancing, though to our disappointment only on the stage. At all the pavilions there wasn't really any audience participation in the dancing which I thought was too bad. Not even the little kids! The Carribean pavilion was jam packed when we got there, with a crazy lineup at the door so we decided to go to see the Ethiopian one instead which was close by. Mmmm, delicious injera, beef, veggies and a wonderful lentil stew were my dinner. They also had their traditional honey wine called tej which was really nice. Reminded me of my dad's homemade wine. I didn't get to try the coffee, I was busy eating and watching the traditional dancers which I was later told were from the Borenna tribe. Those girls could really move, and they were so beautiful!

Last but not least, we went back to the Carribean pavilion and this time managed to get in. There was a steel band, an amazing limbo performance by two Jamaican girls, dance performances from various islands, and the grand finale was a guy called Prince Niah from Jamaica who was a fire eating/breathing contortionist. Wow, that was one impressive show! My one disappointment is that I forgot my camera in the hotel room so I don't have any pictures of the events. I took some pics at the end with my phone, but they weren't very good.

This week we are having a tree sale, so while my compatriots are out continuing with the tree planting (in 28 degree hot weather) I am staying on the farm to sell trees in my capacity as Admin / Finance manager. Next week our first school group arrives, so that should be interesting!

From the Korean pavilion (picture not mine)



From the Greek Pavilion (picture not mine)

 

Unfortunately my tan means the henna is not too visible!

Carribean Pavilion - Prince Niah



Last week of May

So I have been here for a month. It has been eventful so far, and I am sure there is much more in store. One highlight is on my day off I got to paint my room purple! Score! Well, two of the walls at least. I've always wanted to do that. Then due to rainy conditions we had a week's break from tree planting, what a relief! So we went back and did some work in the cabin, putting up wood panels on the walls. I learned to use a table saw and an air nailgun. I helped set up the tomato seedlings in their floating nursery outside so they can adapt to the environment before they are planted. I also learned how to use the ride-on lawnmower - that was fun! Our group was taken on a tour around Weyburn to look at some of the sites where HELP has planted trees over the years. I saw black-headed seagulls around the landfill, which was interesting. We also saw a robin's nest in one of the trees. We are starting our personal garden patches, and I have planted a bunch of seeds in containers in advance. I hope my sukuma wiki grows!

We were also able to start work on our research projects, of which I have a few, all involving hybrid poplar trees. Setting them up is somewhat tedious but that's ok - it's part of the job. The soil has a fairly high clay content, which makes it a little hard to work with. But it certainly seems to have an abundance of earthworms! I was kept company by a chicken who was eating them as fast as they showed up while I was digging up soil for my experiment. Meanwhile I was being eaten by mosquitoes and biting flies in the heat!



Purple wall, purple blanket, purple lesso, purple tissue box...you get the picture! :)

 

Sawing the wainscoting to size



Nailing the panels to the wall with an airgun under Kaity's watchful eye



Yeehaw! lol :)



 

The team on tour!