5.4 Kilometers

Hello everyone,

Well it has been an interesting week. I finished up a few of my work projects, including creating and updating Behind Closed Doors scenarios (Residence Life training), and resetting the lounge furniture (with no physical labor, of course!). My committee decided that we are doing a "technology" theme for training, and we have some really great ideas for that! Overall, I'm probably going to finish these up well before my departure date...which means I will have to keep adding tasks. Note to self: do not work in an occupation where you need to make your own job security...

One thing I have learned is that my disease that is procrastination hates 8am-4pm work. I was so used to getting stuff done late at night (since I'm up, might as well be productive), that having no work work to do is odd. I still have school work to do, but its not the same. I will actually enjoy being on duty again when I get back to Tech...

So the most interesting thing that happened this weekend was this cabaret thing I went to. A friend from work was talking about how she was in a performance, so I decided to go and check it out! It started at 930pm (still sunny) in a sketchy part of town (did not know this before I got there), so I thought arriving early would be a good idea. After doing my sketchy walk past several homeless people, and Chinatown, I got there, and they told me the doors did not open until 9:30pm. Odd...because the average person (maybe just Americans) would think that doors opened an hour before...not so much. Lucky for me, a few other people had the same assumption, and we hung out up front about 45 minutes (I think that is 38 Canadian minutes). Well when we got in there...it was not quite what I expected. I can't quite go into details here, but let's just say it was an eye-opening experience...and a little outside of my comfort zone. Not all of the performances were like that, but the few were scattered about the evening.

Well eventually, the night started winding down. One of the guys I talked to while waiting outside was from the U of A as well, so we decided that we would catch the train back together, as walking through the sketchy parts at night might not be smart. Mind you, I could have easily taken any gangbangers, as I would confound them with my English system knowledge and a few lies. I would start spouting about how I can run 20 miles per hour, how I made a guy lost 2 pints of blood in a fight, how I was taught to punch 3 inches into a guy, and how I can survive in 110 degree weather. They would be so confused trying to understand what I was saying, that I would take them all down. But I digress...and because having a body transported across international lines is expensive, I decided walking together would be better.

Well as you would know it, the trains stopped at 12:45am. When we looked at the clock it was 12:40am, and we would have not made it back to the train station in time. He said he would stop to get money from the ATM so we could split a taxi. While he was doing that, I tried to find out about the bus schedule. A lady informed me that the buses stopped at 1:15am, so we could still make it. Well he ran into someone he knew...or some random girl that he wanted to know, and I waited for him. It finally got to 1:05am, and I told him I was going on without him, and good luck. Well as you would know it, I still missed the bus, so those of you who know me know what I did. Yup, I walked back. I am way too cheap to pay the outrageous prices for a taxi, and I though the walk back would actually be kind of nice. Most of the bars were letting out, so sketchy gangbangers and homeless people should be distracted enough for me to get by...even though I could have taken them! Well as you may have guesses, it was a long walk from the edge of the city to the U of A. How long you ask? 5.4 kilometers...which equates to 3.4 miles. I walked by many sketchy bars, over a bridge, and by a KA house! I even met up with a lady interning from Rhode Island who is also an Education focused person, and we walked together for about a kilometer. I could probably write a book on last night...a Homeward Bound story without the animals! There is so much that won't fit here, so you'll have to ask when I get back if you're interested!

Quick update and them I'm done: I get a vacation next week, a 5-day weekend for Canada Day (July 1st). I had plans to go to Vancouver, but the people I was going to go with backed out...so I don't know what I am doing yet! Once I figure that out, you'll find out...but I'm sure it will be epic! More to come later this week!