Cross-Cultural Training in Calgary

After months of planning, the adventure has finally begun! I arrived in Calgary, Canada on August 9th and spent the night there before heading to the training camp about an hour away. The organization that runs the training program leases a camp in the middle of nowhere, where I spent two weeks. The program consisted of courses on how to adapt to cultural norms in other countries, as well as other practical things, such as how to stay healthy and deal with stress in a foreign country. We took a field trip to Chinatown in Calgary for a cross-cultural experience and attended an Arabic church, which was just a little hard to understand! Overall, the past two weeks have been very informative and helpful and I loved getting to spend the time with 10 other people who will be dispersing to serve all over the world within the next year.  

Learning about stereotypes...Canadians' view of Americans.

The organization that hosts this program isn't related to Kids Alive, but there was one other girl in the training course, Neilly, who is also going to the Dominican Republic with Kids Alive. It was awesome getting to know her while we were in Canada, before we work together in the DR for a year! After we finished four classes last Monday, Neilly and I decided to explore the surrounding area a little bit. We came across this river that was beautiful. I tried out my chacos for the first time (thanks, Stef!), which was pretty embarrassing to begin with, but Neilly assured me that they are cool in the South where she's from, so I decided to embrace them...

The river that was just a short walk away from the camp.

Next step is language school in Antigua, Guatemala. I will arrive in Guatemala on August 23rd, and stay with a local family for 10 weeks. Then on to the Dominican Republic on November 1st!