Cash, Bucks, Moola... We got it.

So payment info came today! I was like 'whaaaat?' I suppose they said before May 15th, but I was expecting May 15th instead it came on April 29th! I checked my email this morning even though there is never anything important in there and then BAM an email from Katimavik. First thought, 'oh crap what's wrong...' but soon I realized it was about payment information. When I got the payment info I went straight to my dad and informed him that we had to pay it today. Of course he goes all "why?". Uhhm because I can? Lol. My mentality is that the sooner you pay the faster they put you in a group which is a good theory but is probably not true. But ANYWAYS I have officially paid for Katimavik so all that's left is to fill out some forms!!! (And find out where I'm goin') You know $500.00 bones for 9 months is legit. Especially when I get $350.00 back if I'm a good girl. They used to pay for kids to go back home if they wanted to leave during the program if it was too hardcore, but they stopped wanting to pay for that and I don't blame them. I've read so many blogs and pretty much 1 or more group members leave early. That = a lot of unnecessary $ for the government. The other $150.00 is for a criminal record check and insurance, so those are pretty good reasons to pay money... They say our groups will be formed by the LATEST June 15th so maybe they mean May 29th? Mwaha. (: Wouldn't that be nice?
But hey! There's officially 55 days of school left (including exams) and I know where I'm going (by the latest) in 46 days! Man alive, one month of actual classroom learning sounds way better than the 2 months it used to be. But Chem is still kickin' my butt. *Sigh*
I've been telling people if they see a crazy chick in Wagner's field attempting back flips and failing it in the week of finals, it's me, after the Chem diploma. Ooooh Katimavik you're actually gonna happen aren't you? <3

What is Katimavik?

So I suppose I've failed to let the common person actually know about what Katimavik is and what it entails.

• It's Canada's number one youth volunteering program.
• Its for 17-21 year olds
• You go away for 9 months and live with 11 teens that represent the realistic demographics of Canada.
• You go to 2 English speaking provinces and 1 French speaking province. You live in each province for 3 months at a time.
• Volunteer placements are in places such as schools, food banks, retirement homes, and other locations in the community that will help the people around us.
• You volunteer full time and every now and then you and one other person will have the week off of work to clean the house and cook all the meals for the group. You also have a week off to stay with a family in the community and learn about the community you're living in on a different level.
  
• You also get paid $3/day or $21/week and $1000.00 dollar bursary at the end.

And in a nutshell I am very excited. It is 140 days away until departure and only 55 days until I know where I'm going. As well as this it is only 2 months and 10 days until I am done highschool FOREVER!
Seriously people, I am so done with highschool right now. Chemistry is brutal. I used to think I was smart and then I met Chemistry and he was determined to teach me otherwise. I went from an 80% to a 56% from one exam, then up to 67% and just wrote a unit test I didn't study for so downward once more.
Everyone tells me I will miss highschool... they say the pressures of life are horrible and I'm wishing even worse things upon myself, but I'm ready for it. I rather have different pressures at this point in my life. I don't want to have the stresses and pressures of school and deadlines and homework due and projects, and marks and final exams and studying for unit tests and it's just so brutal and so old after 12 years or whatever of education. I rather focus of budgeting my money wisely, getting to work on time, paying the bills. Whatever.
The other day me and my mom sat down and budgeted out everything I want to buy before I go etc. It's sort of exciting to start planning things out. However a small part of me thinks that my going is not secure, as if something yet could stand in the way of me leaving. But my medical dossier was accepted the other day, that means it really is based now on my returning of a couple of forms in June, payment in May, and Criminal record check in August.
I am also waiting for them to call and quiz me and analyze where my French speaking abilities are at which I say is like a 0.5/10. I know my numbers to 30, days of the week, basic family members, seasons, months and some common body parts. Other than that.. lol. For the French speaking rotation the interviews are conducted in French for the volunteer placements. Its likely that I'll be placed the in the worst placement just because I have no idea what it is or what the job entails. :P Hahaha. Oh well, hopefully I will learn.

Telephone Call

So today I got a telephone call from a post-Katima-Victim who has gone through the program . She was calling to see if I had any questions about my application and I informed her that it had already been submitted and that I had conditional acceptance. However I did ask her about laptop useage and she said that when she went, no one in her house brought one. They all shared the main computer and no one ever complained about not having enough time. HOWEVER netbooks are super cute and I'm gonna get one regardless. (: She was super nice and honest about things. She even mentioned she didn't really get along with her group at first, because they were people she would not have normally chosen to be friends with, but she said by the end she had never felt closer to a group of people than she did to them. One's gonna wonder if maybe shes that nice/outgoing (I mean you have to be to call perfect strangers who live in a different provinces) because of Katimavik. (:

Coundown ---> Depature

So I have officially told my boss I want to work full time this summer, increase to 3 days a week instead of two, and that I will be gone early in September. Now that I've been selected, and being accepted seems extremely possible, I'm starting to get excited. All I did during spring break besides work was read Katimavik blogs. There are NOT enough of them, either they are hard to find, or not many people write them but I'm pretty sure that I have read them all. I just find it so interesting to read about everyone elses Katimavik experiences because they're all similar, all talking about their group members and job placements and Mass-O but all so different. Some go to big cities, some go to small towns, some went to the mountains, some went to the East coast. I'm so extremely excited for this program, it just seems like everything that I want to do, everything that I'm interested in doing. I just love traveling, long drives, meeting new people, going to new places, helping other people, learning French... but I am not EXPECTING anything specific from it. I'm surpised I even got selected because whenever I tell people about stuff, it doesn't happen. It's like wishes, or blowing candles out on a cake, it's as if I'm telling people my wish and it never comes true. So anything that I actually want to have happen I need to keep to myself. But I told everyone about this because I was so excited and it still happened so that's great. But whenever I expect things, it never ends up the way I saw it going. Maybe I have high expectations, I don't know but I always imagine things so much better than they are.

So if I go in expecting anything, I'll love it all.

Countdown to Sept starts now. (:

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Conditional Acceptance

They have accepted my high school ID and THEREFORE...

I have been conditionally accepted!!

My complete acceptance however depends on 3 things.

• A clean criminal record check. I suppose this is possible unless someone I don't know somewhere that has the same name as me, but who is obviously more rebellious has wracked up a horrid record for us. This could be possible because everyone I meet always say "Oh, you look like this one friend I have back home..."
  

• A healthy medical dossier. This is all clear, they just have to process it, I'm just afraid they won't be able to read it! I pretty much have no idea what the doctor scribbled in the spaces that asked him, 'any further comments?'. It doesn't look like a no, and doesn't look like a n/a it just looks like a scribble. So I hope they're good at decoding green pen.
  

• And some moola. Which is pretty much done like dinner. I've already got it you see.
  

So... I'm excited. I am basically going to Katimavik!! I will also know my group number which just makes everything feel more official + where I'm going on June 15th!! I also start exam week the next day I'm pretty sure, so it can my dedication for doing well on diplomas. Maybe I won't let myself look at where I'm going until I've written my chem final? (Yeah right lol, as if I could hold that off...)

So it's official, I am a Pre-Katima victim. I need to get me a copy of that book..

Complications

So my documents finally arrive this morning, at about a second past 8am.
This would be a good thing. Usually...
but I also received an email from them telling me that I needed more recent photo identification even though I seriously bent over backwards before I sent in my application to make sure my Citizenship card was valid!
So they sent me an 'urgent' email telling me it was def not good enough so after a minor break down, my dad and I sent a long complicated email to them discussing the mess-up and providing them with my high school ID.
Hopefully they'll say it's good enough. If not, I need to wait an entire two weeks or more to get official government ID.

Man oh man. Never before has not getting my license/learners bit me so hard in the butt. However, many people on the facebook page for Katimavik said that they've been conditionally accepted and they've been shown on their Katimaroute pages that they are in C1 and the layout has changed. So has mine, so I wonder if that means I've been 'selected' like them.

Or if really I'm drifting off in nowhere land where the people without the IDs go.

Dear Katimavik,
Why are you so complicated to get into!?
Love, Kyra.