Diary of a Wandering Zoologist: Getting to know Canada: Gourmet Cookies, Beans and Book Launches

I've now been out in Canada for nine days. I've gotten over the three hour queue I had to stand in at immigration in order to get my work permit (Nb. there's no signal in the soulless immigration area so you can't tell anyone where you are, you basically vanish into immigration hyperspace or something). I've also stopped waking up at silly times of night unable to get back to sleep (silly jet-lag). In fact I feel very settled and at home here. So how do I even start to explain the past week. It's been a busy blur of new names, new smiling faces, new responsibilities, new chores, new routines, new meals, new experiences, new timezones, and now finally it is my weekend and I have time to sit and take stock of all that has happened.

I'm living on site with nine other interns, and four resident families:

My very cosy bed

Homely touches, a present from the UK

The intern accommodation

We wont all be working on the conservation project team, some of the other interns will be working on the sustainable agriculture and environmental education projects instead. I like it: we've all come here with different experiences to bring to the table and we have a lot to teach each other and a lot to learn. We spent much of this week in orientation sessions for our respective projects and learning about the day to day running of the centre. But even better than that we got the chance to learn about the projects that we wont be directly involved in. So now I understand more of what the other interns will be getting up to! During the evenings we've spent time exploring the local area, doing battle with the rats attempting to invade our house, getting to know each other better, and even venturing as far as Vancouver to support Leah Kostamo at her book launch (check out 'Planted: http://www.leahkostamo.com/planted/index.html, it's the eloquently expressed, inspiring, heart warming and hilarious tale of how A Rocha Canada was started).

It's been a beautiful week full of laughter and excitement mixed with homesickness for many of us, and we're all looking forward to the coming months, the challenges and triumphs that we will face together during our time here.