Crossing the Border

Well Tuesday was a pretty busy day. I had a vocational visit with the Sisikyou Economic Development Council. They are sort of like the Barbados Small Business Development Corporation (a part of BIDC) which houses starts up business under the business incubator scheme. I think what most struck me about this company is that well in Barbados we have about 5 different entities doing this job.. They are more resourceful here - and they are a small county so it is comparable to Barbados and the Caribbean. I got to tour the facility and see some of the work being done as well as the kitchen where manufacturing of jams, jellies and catering takes place since there are strict laws in California about where food preparation should take place even on a small scale for a wedding etc.

(Things have gotten so busy I started this blog back on Tuesday it is now Friday morning, early and I am now finishing let's see what we can fill you in on...)

On the Tuesday went to the Museum also and then had our first presentation at Montague Club...there were four clubs in total who joined us there but it was hosted by Montague...Yreka, Scott Valley, Shasta Valley and Montague - so exchanged banners...



Wednesday morning was an early start driving as we left Bob and Vinnie McNeil (my lovely host family...there's a picture of Bob with Melissa below!)



So Vinnie was a doll and drove us all form Scott Valley - absolutely one of the most beautiful places I have ever been and we headed over to Ashland...where we met up with Greg, Nerys' host and our handover...we did manage to walk around Lithia Park for a bit though...our first day in Ashland we got rain, sun, hail...yup all on the first day! Awesome!!!!



We had a meet and greet where we met up with some of the Rotarians who had picked us up from the airport when we arrived - seems so long ago, then I met Sam my host dad for this leg of the visit...came home to meet Lisa...and get settled in my new home...

Bye bye Scott Valley - home of vampires, Clark Kent and everything quaint...

Welcome Medford/Ashland...so far Ashland reminds me of Brighton...and Stratford upon Avon...or I guess...if Shakespeare was born in Brighton it would be Ashland hahaha! But I will try to wake up early tomorrow and blog about the 29th April...no special reason...

Vocational Visits & Va-va-voom!

So today was my first vocational visit - Melissa, Olivier and I went to the Public Broadcasting Station in Yreka. Although television is not specifically in my field of interest, I was able to pick up some ideas for one of my passions (making a short film some day)



After this we went to Mount Shasta, which is believed by some to be the path to the centre of the earth - very beautiful!



Our hosts Vinnie and Diane are such good sports in Big Red (our truck) to take us around the place especially with a storm approaching! We had such a lovely day even stopping in a town called Weed! You know we bought a lot of stuff there - postcards and other such souvenirs of course!

The highlight for my trip today though would have to be the Senior Project at Etna High School. I wish we had something like this in the Caribbean. The senior year students had 6-8 months to work on something they had never done before and present it in the school hall. The support by the community who came out tonight was overwhelming. Me, I just got kicks from walking down an American High School Hall (hey, too much Dawson's Creek, Glee, Popular) for me. It was so cool seeing the auditions up on the notice board - just like High School Musical!) Anyways the projects displayed were AMAZING! From gunsmithing, to nail acrylics, to baking, to organising a fun run, to website design! And to hear these students present on their topic...wow wow wow!



This student restored these two guns - on the right is Gary, one of the hosts for Melissa from Trinidad!



This student's project was awarded most ambitious - as she created a show, had rehearsals, wrote a script, and then executed the performance!

O! O! O!

Well it has been a while - but peer pressure really does a number on me! So after being bombarded by my really good friends that "You should blog" I have succumbed again. This is still my old blog from 2005 but boy have I grown :) My high definition blog will now focus on the travels I have undertaken and my journey ... I have a whole month of Ghana blogging to do but that will have to be back dated. There is no place to start like these present so come with me to Northern California and Southern Oregon for the Group Study Exchange 2010 program

My teammates also have some blogs going for this purpose and hopefully you will be able to track our progress in the wild, wild, west in the upcoming month from April 23 to May 24, 2010.

Getting here was full of adventure for me - I had just returned from Ghana less than 2 weeks before, was helping my parents move into their newly bought house (woop! so happy for them!), earning some money doing French tours, writing for TotallyBarbados etc. Our flight was 4am - I went to the CHUM-FM Breakfast in Barbados Concert the night before to see Bare Naked Ladies (I love you!), New Kids on the Block (I love you Donni Wahlbeg!) and Jaicko ... got home around midnight, wrote the article for the website, packed and headed to the airport...

Barbados, Miami, Los Angeles (saw a celebrity on the plane but cannot for the life of me remember his name but I am sure he was in a film with like Vivica Fox or something), Medford - after a looooooooong time of traveling we made it! Greeted at the airport by a group of way too energetic group of Rotarians! Banner and all! My suitcase decided to go on a separate adventure so didn't bother coming down as yet. Got into the red mobile and headed to Northern California - Scott's Valley - a cross between where Clark Kent grew up in Smallville, and where Edward from Twilight could roam!

It is so beautiful! The first few days I have been eating for the country! Meeting Rotarians who are all so friendly and want to know everything about our region. Today the vocational visits start and soon the presentations will start! Eeek! Yes it is cold but not as cold as I thought it would be!

I did get my suitcase and a little treat also...but now it's time to get up and get ready...my hosts Bob and Vinnie McNeil are the bestest! They are sooooooooooo funny!
And Pumpkin ad Buddy (the cat and dog) have the best life ever!!!!

So welcome back to my new blog - I hope I can drop in often enough to keep you posted! And I promise I will go back and fill in a bit about Ghana...and then I have a trip to Washington and Connecticut coming up also! So pack your bags...