Montreal - Casablanca - Bamako

Young graduate of McGill's International Development Studies leaving for her first job in her chosen profession. Destination Bamako, Mali. Dorval Airport, Montreal, Nov. 22, 2005. Go Anna!

One of the really good things about this four month internship is that all the excitement has given me something other than my job to keep me awake at night.

And yes, Anonymous, I have been slacking, but you try to get through the last half of November in Ottawa sometime. Everything is fine usually until Remembrance Day, and then it hits you - winter is inevitable and if you don't have an escape to the French West Indies planned, you're facing five months of freezing temperatures, blizzards, snowdrifts, slush, freezing rain, dull steel grey skies, salt stains on your pant cuffs, and an extra 20 minutes a day just to put your coat and boots on.

On the other had, there are some really good things about winter, like Christmas, skating on the canal, hot Drambuie toddys, and taking a sauna and finally getting to use the young birch branches I've been keeping in ziplocs in the freezer since last spring.

Hike to the Ramparts, Gatineau Park

Above Meech Lake, 3:52 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 5, 2005.

Christening in Kaszowo, July 15-18, 2005

This is the last blog with photos from our trip to Poland last summer. Our final stop was in Lower Silesia, in the village of Kaszowo.



Kaszowo is a little village near Milicz, about 50 km. north of Wrocław.



It's the home of my friends Danka and Zygmunt. Danka is JW's cousin.



They live in the same house where I spent a good part of the winter of 1973-74 with Danka's parents, learning about peasant life in Poland.



This time we had come for the baptism of Maja, the daughter of Danka's nephew Irek and his wife Daria. Danka's daughter Iza stood as godmother. Milicz, July 16, 2005.



There were quite a few relatives there for the ceremony. That's Maja's older sister Kinga in the red dress.



Afterwards Irek and Darka invited us to a reception at the Restauracja Impuls in Zduny, a little north of Milicz.



We were at the table for about six hours, just long enought to eat four meals.



Each dish was more extravagant than the one before.



There was plenty of vodka too, about one bottle per person.



In fact, there was so much food left over that Irek and Darka invited us over the next night to continue the feast.



Despite the enormous quanitities of food and drink, we didn't gain a single ounce in weight.



To stay fit, we went for a little walk around the village with Iza and her fiancé Dirk.



Kaszowo is a perfect little dorf in the Lower Silesian style.



Most of the houses were built around the beginning of the 1900's.



It was great to see Danka and her family again.



Zygmunt recovers!