last weekend, and boy was it a GREAT one!

hey all,

it's been a whirlwind weekend, and yet i can say that it's been a restful one. let me share...

Friday
after work, a bunch of us got together at Sundance Lake in the Southwest of Calgary. get this...we needed special permission to gain access to this lake, and apparently this is a common thing in Calgary. most of the lakes in the city are actually man-made...and so those who live in the neighbourhood are part of the community that are able to use it and subsequently, pay for it to be maintained. one of the perks is that you can also have your friends use it. so, after a long day of work, we all trekked it out to Sundance Lake, and enjoyed a wonderful evening on the "lake". we played volleyball, "duct tape football" (the guys are duct tape and they play against the girls who don't have duct tape - i found this a little discriminatory...but played along nonetheless) and then jumped into the refreshing lake of water after a HOT day. as the lake closes at 10pm, we then all headed to Dan's house for a camp fire. this is another common thing that i find in Calgary...quite a few people just have fire pits in their backyards! so, we lit it, ate some smores, sang some songs, prayed, and enjoyed each others' company. it was a great time of fellowship, and i was truly blessed and encouraged to spend time with such great people. it's moments like these that will make me miss my time in Calgary. like my experience in Toronto...the city itself is not that impressive, but instead it's the people.

[guys in duct tape: Dan, Brendan, Mike, Rick, Brandon]

[Courtney and I at Sundance Lake...pretty eh? kinda weird that houses are so close...]

[catching a football in the lake]

[Sundance Lake]

[campfire at Dan's place: Curtis, Lee, Rick, Mike]

[Curtis..and me looking weird with a guitar!]

Saturday
Courtney, Mel and i had been looking forward to this day for a very long time...it was the Calgary Folk Festival. with our day passes in hand, along with camping chairs, LOTS of water, snacks, blankets etc...we headed to Prince's Island Park and were asked "where are you from?!" apparently we looked like tourists with our stuff that we were carrying, but we were just fine with that...as the chairs and blanket came in handy for the rest of the trip. once in, we found a place to "set up camp" and laid our stuff down amidst the myriad of blankets, coolers, and chairs. we then wandered aimlessly checking out random booths that sold jewelry, scarves, henna tattoos, percussion instruments (i bought another drum!), EVERYTHING...and of course the various music tents, and cd tents, and FOOD tents...it was such a chill day. we were there from about 2:30-12am. what a glorious day. the final show was Great Big Sea, who many had waited for. our friends Mike and Josh listened to the concert across the river from us...literally maybe 30 feet away from us...what separated us was a daypass and a few feet of river... good times.

[me and my dumbeck!]

[more dumbeck!]

[Mel, me, and our muscles...]

[Mel, me, Courtney at Prince's Island Park, Calgary Folk Festival 2007]

[seat of lawn chairs, coolers, and the like]

[Mel and I are the Elbow River, steps away from our seat at the mainstage]

[ahem, more colourful chairs, it's endless!]

Sunday
thinking it wasn't possible to have 3 great days in a row, i was wronged when i got to church and was not only challenged by the sermon, but almost felt almost "commissioned" to head back to Vancouver. they were sharing a slideshow of the youth group's recent missions trip to Vancouver, and it showed so many sights of Vancouver, the downtown eastside, and even Harbour Centre, one of SFU's campuses. i missed home watching that slideshow, and yet the dichotomy of missing Calgary too hung in my heart. got some tasty groceries from the Calgary Farmer's Market, and their famous strawberry waffles, napped, then enjoyed a lovely evening with Mike and Josh. they invited Courtney, Mel and myself over for Arabic tea. having grown up in West Africa (Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso), Josh shared a traditional Arabic tea tradition....i was fascinated! there are 3 brews of the tea that is brewed over hot coals. the first brew of the tea represents the "bitterness of life" - this was experienced thru the actual first bitter brew of the tea. then, the 2nd brew represents the "bitter sweet reality of friendship" which was felt thru the sweetness of the tea, followed by the then bitter after taste. finally, the 3rd brew represented "the sweetness of love" as the bitterness had worn away, and it was a light sweet flavour. it was an intimate time of sharing our stories, encouraging one another, and embracing this tradition. i loved every bit of it...it reminded me a lot of the Brazilian tradition of drinking yerba maté. mmm, i love tea.

[Mike, Courtney, Mel at Mike and Josh's...they have a firepit in their backyard!]

[get the charcoal ready]

[fill the pot with tea, and water]

[poke around a bit and make a "bed" of coal for the teapot]

[brew.....brew....and brew some more]

[pour from one cup to another about 5 times incorporating air and cooling down the tea slightly]

[bottoms up! think sweet thick tasty tea! MMMMMMMMMM!]

today was my last day of work...now THAT was bittersweet. said goodbye to some colleagues, and then goodbye to some guests at our Monday Night Fellowship...i will miss this bunch. no tears shed....yet.

much love,
dL

DemoCrew...again

hi everyone,

this last 4 days is the last batch of DemoCrew students for the summer. i've found this group to be the most eager and open group of the three.

Bottle Picking
as with previous groups, they were split into teams of 5-6 and were asked to hit the streets collecting $2.50 worth of bottles and cans. the highest amount this time was about $8 i think...or something like that. but the debrief part was excellent. many students had lots to say about their experiences. one group encountered a couple who reamed them out saying "you don't even respect us bottle pickers! get out of here!" i wanted to spend more time on that concept of "respect" for bottle pickers. the students really seemed to have their eyes opened as each one shared about how bottle pickers are hard workers, and how we can help make a difference. instead of taking our bottles to the bottle depot, we can bring them to The SEED, or a place like it, and bottle pickers can benefit from that. most of them actually really do use the money for food. not to mention that a large majority of bottle pickers are in that job because they are unemployable due to a mental illness, or something like epilepsy, or they are immigrants because they can't integrate into the north american culture. whatever the reason is...it's usually because society has deemed them inadequate for working despite their potential capabilities. i think it was also really eye-opening to realize that the start of each day presented bottle pickers with 2 options...you might only make $5 today...or, you might luck out and make $25 a day...either way, your ability to collect is dependent on those who decide to help.

Hunger Banquet
having had about 36 students and group leaders, this was the largest Hunger Banquet we had...and of course, to contrast, they had the least amount of rice for our "under privileged" group. after we all ate, we debriefed about why were doing this and why inequality exists in the world. it was moving to hear the students say "there's inequality in the world because people are selfish....i'm selfish, and we don't help people that clearly need help." we talked about the world's definition of "success" and how that's skewed our ability to look at the poverty which is around the world, if not in our own backyard. and finally, the group also hit a realization point that although this is the way the world is, they don't have to be like that. everyday can be a day where we make a decision NOT to buy something we don't need, and instead, invest it into something or someone who might need it more.

the students shared lots, and i pray that they have learned lots in the past 4 days here at The SEED. it's been a huge privilege to be able to help with such a project. i know i've grown as a result.

In other news... last summer i was an extra for a movie that was filmed in BC. and i saw the movie poster for it last nite at Silvercity here in Calgary! it looks like a really dumb movie, but i wanna see if i can see myself! there are scenes where he jumps by buses...i was there!



much love,
dL

Monday Night Fellowship

I’ve been able to learn a lot from a gathering that happens regularly on Monday evenings. For the past two Mondays, I’ve been able to help out at a group discussion. Basically, we watch a video that talks about some aspect of humanity – be that the topic of emotional luggage, or spiritual breathing, or this week’s topic of shame. These videos, hosted by Rob Bell, present the topics and relate them to God in a very relevant way. The MNF is usually hosted by my co-workers Lee and Curtis, but this week, both of the guys were busy with DemoCrew stuff, so Courtney and I were asked to help oversee our group. This has been one the most meaningful times of true, honest fellowship for me here at The SEED. These topics bring out a range of emotions within our guests, and our staff. Given that this week’s topic was shame, you can only imagine the stories that came out from some of our discussions.

Chit chat about so and so’s mother being raped, or struggling with a heroine addiction for years even though they want to quit. How about being thrown into a bathtub of boiling water when you were the age of 5, or having lived in a foster home after foster home since you were the age of 12? Yeah, we all live with shame alright, and some of us just keep on running but really…it’s how and when we decide to deal with it that’s the important thing. In the video, Rob shares about how shame inhibits our ability to stand before God who gives His love unconditionally. So really, the only way about it is to just be straight up about the crap in our lives. At the end of it, there’s nothing we can do that can make God love us less…that was his tagline for the video, and this tagline became a resonating truth for the people in our room during our Monday Night Fellowship tonight.

I’ve been so blessed to be in the company of people who have lived life in a way that I never have…that they would be vulnerable in sharing their experiences so that we can all learn together about this thing we call life…it’s touching. It makes that gap between “us” and “them” invisible when you begin sharing in your brokenness, our struggles, and our hearts with each other and realize that we’re all on a journey…different journeys, but we’re all travelling together.

I don’t know if I’ve already said this yet…but I’m going to miss it here.

Much love,
dL

fun-filled weekend!

hey all,

wowee, i've had a fun, busy past few days. seems that my time here in Calgary is winding down, and as it is, my calendar is getting fuller by the day! so let's start on Friday.

Ranchman's
i decided that before i leave Calgary, i had to do a very Calgarian thing...and since it wasn't going to the Calgary Stampede, i had to learn how to two-step...or as i call it, "country dance." so, i got a group of people to go to a local country club where i learned how to two-step, and had a fun nite with some wonderful people. one of the guys, Mike, has danced for years, and is really good! so, needless to say, he was our teacher for the evening:

[L-R: Courtney, Mel, Mike, Brandon, Sarah]

[me and my blondies!]

[Mike, patiently showing Courtney just how to two-step!]

[Sarah and Brandon...trying to two step]

[line dancing..i couldn't do it..too many steps involved!]

all in all, it was a positive experience, but i don't think i'll be returning again in the near future. i had to do it...i did it...done :)

Fiestaval

On Saturday, Mel and I found our way to Fiestaval, Calgary's Latin American festival. it was incredible! i felt for a moment or two like i was actually walking the streets of Quito, or Rio de Janeiro again. Fiestaval consisted of a market style set up of little jewelry stands, food stands, MUSIC, DANCING, and other ornamental things for sale. Mel was determined to get me to speak spanish, and she was successful when we came across a woman from Peru. i have to admit, it was exhilirating to be in this environment again. Mel had to leave part way, so i spent the remaining 3 hours wandering on my own, found a little grassy area, drank my guava juice, and just enjoyed the music...there was samba, flamenco, afro-cuban jazz, reggaton and more. Axé Capoeira made their way to the festival as well and performed. it was definitely one of the highlights during my time here in Calgary. because i can't just show you pics from the day, i made a few videos...watch, listen and enjoy!

[axé capoeira]



[samba]



[flamenco..note the muscians in the back, and the one guy playing...A BOX!]

[MMM, spanish paella! i was full tho, so i couldn't devour this seafood rice dish]

[cutesy little stands, just like in South America!]

Sun and Salsa Festival
by far, this is one of the most creative festivals i've been to. the idea is that you buy a bag of nacho chips...money goes to charity....then there are stands set up all along the streets with different types of salsa! from regular spicy, to mild organic, wild berry salsa, and a mango salsa, the choices were endless. a good 7-10 blocks were blocked off for this event...and interspersed the streets were musical performances, capoeira (again!), contests, magic shows, and of course, cute little stands that sold ...cute little things. i walked around in the blistering heat for a good 2 hours before being salsa-ed out!

[a steel drum band playing Jamaican music]

[more fun stands!]

[a glimpse of the variety of my salsas]

[Aché Brasil capoeira group..playing the tambourine and berimbau]

much love,

dL

eu amo meu irmao!

this is my brother...a few years ago! today, he celebrates his _ _ birthday. i'm kinda bummed that i can't be there to give him a hug, some form of a pastry, and a gift...but then again, i know he's ok with that and likes it low key anyways.

i've always wondered what my brother was like before he i was born...cos from what i've heard, his life changed when i was born...but he's always been his own. i think i have a pretty good idea of who he, but i'm always learning. i can't imagine my life without my bro. he's always been there, and if not physically there, then just a mere email/text message/phone call away. you know, he's the one that first challenged me to consider Jesus in my life? and then following that, he also challenged me to consider a number of things, including buying a laptop vs. a desktop computer, jazz music and Harry Connick Jr (i'll get there, one day), gortex jackets, and what's most relevant to where i am now - to take a moment and consider what it might be like to help someone that lives on the streets. Darrell's been an incredible example of what it means to be a leader, and a follower. his passion for life, music, people and God are just a few of the things that stand out to me. i treasure my friendship with him so much, above any other relationship that i have with anybody else. i'm excited to see what happens in the next year of his life...whether it's another trip, a new job, the completion of his thesis (!!!) or a better understanding of what it means to be a husband, and a follower of Jesus.

i think i'm one of his biggest fans...and so i say, Happy Birthday, dear friend. thanks for being born (teehee) and living life with passion and integrity.

much love,

dL

i am humbled

hi everyone,

this afternoon, the new batch of DemoCrew students were out handing out sub sandwiches and ice cream floats...mmmm! this was well received as it was a hot day in Calgary. i went down to grab a float for myself and found myself in an amazingly encouraging conversation with a fellow float drinker.

i met a gentleman who lived in a drop in shelter just up the street. he said he wanted to live at The SEED, but liked the bunk beds they had set up for him at the drop in. he's been living this way for 8 years. prior to this, he was in Manitoba...and before this, he lived on the streets in Vancouver's downtown eastside since the age of 16. it's incredible the population that i meet here who once lived in Vancouver. anyways...this guy has clearly been thru a lot. in our conversation i had mentioned how i'm looking forward to seeing the construction of The SEED's affordable housing project when i return. he asked "so, when will you return?" and i said not for awhile because i need to stay focussed on paying off a student loan that i have. now many of you will know, this loan has situated itself as somewhat of a burden to me. i began to express to him some of my concerns, but confidence that it would pay itself off in a respectable amount of time.

something wonderful happened. after i heard his story, he heard mine...my short little story...to which he responded by placing his hand on my shoulder, and proceeded to pray for me. i was incredibly overwhelmed...here is this man...with no home, and most likely not a lot of anything including meaningful friendships...i'm sitting in the parking lot with him, and he's praying for my needs? WOW. i walked away feeling like i had just encountered Jesus in disguise...or perhaps in His real form. if i remember correctly, i remember Jesus being one who moved around a lot, looked a little rough around the edges, but took the time to hear people's needs and then proceeded to pray for them.

humbled,
dL

Brazil tragedy...

Brazil jet disaster probe begins

Rescue workers and crash investigators are searching the wreckage of a Brazilian passenger jet that crashed in flames at Sao Paulo's main airport.

All 186 people on board the Airbus 320 are believed dead, as well as many as 15 people on the ground...

hi everyone,

it was a tense night yesterday evening as i read about the awful tragedy of the Brazilian plane crash that occured Monday evening in Sao Paulo. my heart is heavy for this city, and for this country as many, both passengers and ground staff, were killed in the crash. i think it hits home to me a little more as i flew several times back and forth on this same airline, making stops at Congonhas Airport. one time, my travelling partner and i remember a rougher-than-usual landing in Sao Paulo after a short flight from Salvador...our wing tipped a little too close to the ground that left us wondering what would happen next.

let's remember to pray for those who are mourning (President Lula has declared 3 days of mourning) as well as for the investigation that will take place hereafter. many people don't know yet if they have family members on that airplane...closure is so important.

below is the article, including a video on the BBC website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6904478.stm#map

stay tuned to http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/default.stm for developments.

much love,
dL

things that only make sense to Calgarians...

last Friday, someone donated some free tickets to a concert at the Saddledome (equivalent of GM Place). when asked "Hey Debbie, do you want to go to a free concert?" i exclaimed, "of course!" little did i know that it was some good ol' country music! for about four hours, i saw entertaining performances by Gretchen Wilson and Big&Rich. i enjoyed the Big&Rich show more than Gretchen Wilson, as i found many of her songs were sappy, PMSy, or boring. she does, however, have a beautiful voice. Big&Rich, on the other hand, actually put forth a show...so it was good. photos are kinda blur, but you can use your imagination as to what the concert would have looked like.

my ticket gave me free admission on to the Stampede Grounds. with that, i wandered thru a flurry of bright lights, hot air, lemonade stands and one too many people to realize that i didn't actually want to come back and officially go to "The Stampede". with no intention of watching the rodeo, chuck wagon races, or calf roping, the Stampede Grounds just looked like a ginormous version of the PNE with carnival games, mini donuts, candy apples, and over-sized stuffed animals. so...my visit to The Calgary Stampede was as involved as my running across a border and back, and being able to say "i've been there!"


this is a picture of what Calgarians call the "plus 15 walk ways". apparently, these walkways connect all over downtown for several blocks. this is handy most especially during winter time when people can walk from one end of downtown to the other undercover! what strikes me is the COWBOY hat that this little man is wearing while walking up to the plus 15....

next... 'nuff said.

yet again with the cowboy hat.

sidenote: Angie, Corrie and Krista visited this past weekend from Vancouver...and Angie got majorly burnt at the Stampede...check it out...her legs match her shirt!

later,

dL

random things

hey all,

this is sort of a scattered posting with pics from all over the week...so here goes:

Beck, Ian and I randomly found a capoeira roda last weekend on the way to dinner. there they were, Axé Brasil, "fighting" in the streets of Kensington (a trendier area of calgary), and it was beautiful to watch! thanks to Beck for catching the shots.

[for those who unaware, Capoeira is a martial art practiced in Brazil and Angola. there are schools all over the world, and i had the opportunity to train in Brazil last year while i was there, and for a semester back in Vancouver]

Sarah and I made our way to the Brookfield Properties Stampede Breakfast to take donations for The SEED. During the Clagary Stampede, companies all over the city host what they call "Stampede Breakfasts" which usually include pancakes, and sometimes fruit salad, sausages, and eggs. and all this is FREE, but not without a lineup. we timed a group and it took about 20 minutes, which isn't too bad...but still...for a not-so-stellar breakfast, im not sure that i'd wait....what am i talking about....of course i would! it's free! the lineups are insane tho...check out this video:

[my breakfast...and i didn't have to wait in line! note that everything is drenched in maple syrup! and yes, i ate those greasy sausages...ick!]

[we saw these cute little sketches on the windows...]

[and then laughed hysterically when we realized that the fiddle band there was perhaps the real version of the sketch!]

in 2004, i went on my first missions trip to Tanzania and met a wonderful girl from U de Sherbrook from Quebec, Melanie Gagné. that was the last time i saw this girl, but this past week, we were reunited when we learned that she was in Calgary for the week! it was great to catch up and learn about what God's been doing in both of our lives. here's to good friendships!

aaand, just a cute shot of Courtney and I after she bought a new cowboy hat. i like her camera.

ciao!
dL

"Resurrecting the Champ" trailer

last year, a movie crew came to Calgary to film a movie. while here, they came to The SEED to do a whole day of filming. you can see a shot of it in the trailer, but it goes by so fast that only people who are here on a regular basis would recognize it. i think Calgarians (or at least people at The SEED) are pretty excited to see it becauase the entire movie was filmed in Calgary. i would be...and i have been in the past with movies like XMEN having been filmed in Vancouver.



dL

poverty...again

hi all,

Sunday marked the beginning of DemoCrew, a four day intensive inner-city workshop/camp-like experience for youth from all over Western Canada and parts of the United States. For four days, youth sleep at a local church, volunteer in meal lineups, learn about issues such as addictions and prostitution, partake in meals with guests of The SEED, and gain a wider perspective on the topic of homelessness and poverty. I had the privilege of running a couple of interactive lessons that potentially impacted myself more than the kids.

Hit the Streets
the idea behind this game was to split our group of 32 up into groups of 5-6. they then were given garbage bags and the task of collecting $2.50 worth of bottles and cans for deposit. when they returned, we collected the bottles, and counted the highest team at $5.75. the kids were excited to learn about their accomplishment, but then reality hit. the teams managed to do this in 45 minutes with five people. "can you imagine doing this on your own for 8 hours a day" i asked? taking into consideration the soaring rates of rent in Calgary, and then food...it's no wonder people are homeless. the students soon learned that bottle pickers do this as a form of legitimate income, and that some who have mental disabilities (or subsequently, have been deemed as "unworkable" by society) or new immigrants have to resort to this as a career. many individuals who are bottle pickers are extremely capable, and clearly committed and persistent workers. for whatever reason, they have to be a bottle picker. some of the kids mentioned that "people looked at us weird and thot we were poor". or "a mother and her daughter saw us picking bottles and they immediately backed away from us." while another said "someone said 'oh my goodness, these kids are so young'". i guess they failed to notice that all of these youth were wandering around downtown in a blatant team t-shirt that said DemoCrew on it, and were clearly part of some sort of activity...it's interesting how quick we are to form opinions and judgements on people just walking down the street.

the reward were Tim Horton's gift certificates for the group that were to be given to a guest that the group decided upon. and, of course, we gave the bottles that were collected to some of our bottle pickers at The SEED.

Hunger Banquet
this activity made me gulp a couple of times. picture this. Group 1 - four people. Group 2 - nine people. Group 3 - 19 people. Group 1 was given a large spread of cookies, cupcakes, fruit, sparkling apple juice, breadsticks, and yogurt. Group 2 came in afterwards, and were given cheesebuns and some grapes tossed into a basket. Group 3 came in, and were seated on the floor, with a communal bowl of rice, and a pail of water. you can only imagine the tension that slowly developed over 15 minutes of eating fine food...and crap rice. Group 3 tended to make sarcastic comments to Group 1, while Group 1 were merely eating food that they were given. Group 1 had to eat their food while in front of them was Group 3 on the floor with their rice. Group 2 was surprisingly quiet. how did the debrief go? great. lots of talking. comments such as "i felt awkward eating all my food because Group 3 kept on looking at me" said a Group 1 participant. "i just didn't like how they got so much more food than we did, it's not fair" from Group 3 etc. discrimination happens both ways.

we then proceeded to explain that 1.2 billion children die a year. that's equivalent to 1 child dying every 3 seconds. to illustrate this more clearly, we tapped people from Group 3 on the shoulder and asked them to lie down on the ground...and one by one, each student laid down showing the staggering amounts of children who die everyday. in addition, many die for absolutely stupid reasons. the list is long but they include easily preventable diseases contracted from contaminated running water. i grabbed a bottle of street water, and held it up..."eew, what is that?!" this is someone's drinking water who has no other water to drink...it's either this, or dying from thirst. some walk miles to collect this filthy water to wash dishes in, drink from, and bath in. (and all i have to do is turn on a tap??) women are the poorest of the poor...and in some countries deemed unworthy of being educated. they stay home, serving husbands, and if they should rebel, or disobey, they are beaten, thrown hot oil on them, until they are well-behaved again, as if they were dogs. for those who are able to escape, they might discover the life of prostitution...making money so that her own child can receive an education that she herself was denied once. wonder why addiction happens? because there are so many broken people in the world who just want the numb the pain......either that, or you simply jump off a bridge.

writing this entry is getting me emotional, sad and upset. and yet, i feel so helpless despite having this opportunity to work at The SEED...or even with Out of the Cold back in Vancouver. when i first arrived in Calgary, i commented on how the water tasted gross, and very chlorine-like. i scoff at myself knowing that i have the security of turning on a tap that gives me clean water, and yet am able to complain about it. i remember when i was in Ecuador and my host family said "so...you just turn on your tap and you get drinking water?"

i still remember my first time working with youth at the Quito Dump with students from the Alliance Academy in Ecuador. it's been a couple years coming, but i'm so glad that God has slowly been softening my heart towards working with youth/children. a few years ago, my friends will remember me as wanting nothing to do with the generation younger than mine. but with each year of maturity, i'm able to appreciate the company of youth, their insight, their potential, their zealousness. it's a beautiful thing. and i thank God for this opportunity to serve at DemoCrew...i can only hope that the small role that i play in their time here makes some sort of a difference in breaking down their walls, and opening their hearts towards people that Jesus loves.

now and forever learning,
dL

Stampede BBQ

hey all,

Yesterday, The SEED held its first Annual Stampede BBQ. it was an all day affair for our department. bright an early at 8am, we were blowing balloons to create a more festive environment. we were out setting up displays, lining tables with table cloths, and for the rest of the day, i was handing out water, pop, and juice. everybody was decked out in the cowboy gear, and we had a country band play as well. the event coincided with the end of the Stampede Parade (would you believe a city that has a parade on a work day?!) and we caught a few people on the way back to their cars. all in all, it was a fun, hot day where we served beef and buns, macaroni salad, coleslaw, and a donut. the community showed up including the Calgary Herald (equivalent of Vancouver Sun).

im not joking when i say that there are crowds of people just walking down the street in cowboy hats, and plaid shirts, and some even in boots! i wanna just pull out my camera and take a shot, but i gotta wait until the right time. i guess you could say the city is "alive". i still haven't decided if i'm gonna go to the Stampede event itself... nothing about it really excites me aside from the novelty that it's Calgary's claim to fame...we'll see.

and now for some pics:

[start of the day, mine and Naomi's office...filled with balloons! that's Courtney blowing them up with the helium tank]


[Sarah, setting up our display table]


[Courtney at our display; DemoCrew display in back...which i will tell you more about next week!]

[ the Calgary Tower right above us]

[cute little pooches; they're The SEED's mascots in a local baseball league, but also the dogs of our Human Resource Coordinator. aren't they cute Dad? ]


[yeehaw!]

[a chuckwagon, apparently people race in vehicles like this in the Stampede]


[me serving water at the end of the foodline. check out my hat and shirt that i scored from a pile of donations..someone donated 7 boxes of hats and shirts to The SEED the day before the BBQ...i actually really like my shirt!]


[two of the four girls that i work with, Sarah and Courtney. i'm actually crouching so that im somewhat the same height as them cos they're both a lot smaller than me...so they asked me to crouch, haha!]


[the band...provided lots of entertainment for the crowds...and is perhaps the most country i've ever heard in my life...like the stuff they play in PE 12 when we learned how to square dance]


[food line]


[food line]

[ahhh, done! Sarah, Courtney, and I sitting and exhausted in the parking lot at the end of the day!]

much love,
dL