Hey everyone! Its been almost two weeks since I have written and it feels more like two months because so much has happened. First, there was a norovirus outbreak at the centre which is essentially a strain of norwalk. 5 out of 8 interns got it, and of course I had the worse case of it, where I puked 15 times in one night and went to the health clinic in Tatamagouche but there was no doctor on. It basically took me three days to recover and quite a few bottles of Gatorade. We were all sick at different times except for Betsy (shown in picture) were sick the same night.... the night where the power went out and we couldn't flush the toilets and had to bring a flashlight to the washroom. Worst experience ever, I guess when they say training for Guatemala they really mean it, sickness and all.

Due to illness and being quarantined in the house, we interns have really bonded and done alot of napping/recovery and missed alot of training. However, we have made up for it over the last 8 days, which have been crazy and intense. Last week we started with adult education and design workshop that was insane. We started at 8am and ended around 9:30 or 10pm. There were people from all over the Maritimes, of all ages and backgrounds, it was exciting for us to see new people other than the 8 of us that are stuck together all the time.

Laura and I moved out of the basement, when we found a cockroach and several more crickets, we had just had enough and freaked ourselves out enough that we spent a night on the couch and a weekend in the double bed together upstairs until we got the two single beds moved upstairs. The room we are in now is much smaller than a dorm room, but its cozy, warm free of puddles and bugs.

We had one afternoon off from the workshop last week, so three of us interns and two other participants went wine tasting at Jost, to a sheep farm, where I pet several sheep and one even gave me a kiss. I bought some organic knitting needles as Laura and I hope to start knitting in Guatemala, and a kit to knit socks, and then we went to the beach in a provincial park nearby. It was the most exciting day ever, haha. The workshop also had a party, on Thursday night, with participants playing live music and singing with the instruments they had brought with them, we drank wine had hummus, guacamole and let loose a bit after a 12 hour day. The picture of Betsy and I was taken at the party, the workshop was intense and there was a conflict which basically resulted in all 23 participants crying at some point in the day, needless to say it has been exhausting in many ways.

We had 24 hours off and started another workshop Saturday night, which is human rights accompaniment. They days are even longer and the breaks are shorter, but it only goes until Tuesday. Yesterday, during our 24 hours off, we went to the farmers market which is so cute, and I had the best eggs Benedict for only 6 dollars. Laura and I had a brilliant idea to go to a gift shop where they sell more yarn and knitting supplies, but we didn't have enough time so we decided to bike. I ended up having to ride a bike that had no breaks, the seat wasn't stable so I wasn't able to sit down on it, and it was obviously 2 feet too big for me, as you can see in the picture. It was ridiculous and my second near death experience after norovirus since I have been here. And we didn't even find what we were looking for!!

Thats all for now! We are still doing human rights accompaniment training until Tuesday and then we are heading to PEI for a mining workshop!