First Days at the Coady!

So I've finally arrived for my orientation at the Coady International Institute located in St. Francis Xavier in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. And it's true, Nova Scotia is beautiful and friendly. Everyone at the Coady is always smiling and laughing together. I'm very happy to be part of such a great support network. I think most of you know that I'm going to Kenya through Coady's Youth in Partnership Program, funded by the Canadian International Development Agency. Definitely look into the program if you are interested in development work. For this post, I'm just going to share some of my best moments from the first 3 days I've been here.

The first day of orientation included introductions to oodles of people. However, there was one very special group of people that I had the pleasure to meet. The Coady also runs a Diploma program for experienced development workers from all over the world. It turned out that there are a ton of Kenyans in this year's program. As a mixer, we (the interns) and the diploma participants played Lifeboats. So we got into lifeboats with people who shared your birthday month or your favourite colour (December and Blue for the curious). When it came time to get in a lifeboat with my fellow countrymen I became an honourary Kenyan. The Kenyan participants enveloped me in a big hug to welcome me. I felt truly welcomed. Dorcas, a participant who lives near Bungoma, where my placement will be taking place, gave me a Kenyan name. She called me Nafula. Now you may think it's an arbitrary choice, but I assure you Kenyans don't just give arbitrary names. She said that they base your name on the time of year in which you were born. Since I was born in the depths of a Canadian winter, she called me Nafula, meaning rain. Of course, snow doesn't exist in Kenya so not so many words for it in her language. I suppose rain will do. I am honoured by this name because her daughter is also named Nafula. I felt so proud to already have a Kenyan name. I'll be sure to tell it to the friends I make in Kenya.

I'm not in Kenya yet though so right now I'm busy socializing with the other interns. One of them attended St. Francis Xavier as an undergraduate so she took us for a hike. We hiked through a forest up to a ridge from which we could see the ocean. The hike took us through green, mossy forests, but also through some lower swampy areas. I knew we were in Canada because we saw a beaver dam. Go Canada's national animal! I'm so happy to have experienced some of the landscape in Nova Scotia. I think Western Canada still has my heart, but it's definitely a winner on the prettiness factor.

We've started to really settle into the nitty gritty of working around here though. I'm in an Intercultural Training course for the next two and a half days. I'm enjoying having the chance to think about how to be interculturally effective rather than just diving into it whole hog. Tonight we're off to the bar to the open mic night. I've been hearing lots about Nova Scotian music so hopefully it lives up to its reputation.