Hello to everyone out there!
My name is Alexandra, and I am the new Katimavictim–I mean, the new Katimavik volunteer for “Them Days”! This is my second day on the job and already I have proved my vast ineptitude by not understanding how to work a cassette player and by not being able to log onto the blog. Well, since I forgot to make a New Year’s resolution, I can make one now: I resolve to improve and to do my absolute best while working here for the next three months!
As I’m sure anyone with a calendar can tell, I have the privilege of being here in Labrador in the wintertime. The sight of lots of snow is not all that unusual to me, but I have to admit that snow drifts around three times my height are a new thing. However, it’s not an unwelcome thing: Goose Bay is frankly quite gorgeous, what with all of the trees and those mountain-things masquerading as enormous hills.
I come from a little town called Zurich. When I tell people this, they usually get a crease in their brow and a strange expression on their face.
“You live in Switzerland?” they’ll say.
I do not live in Switzerland, much to my dismay. No, the Zurich that I come from is in Ontario. No one seems to have ever heard of it. Apparently, there’s also a Paris, Ontario, and I’m sure that that one causes lots of confusion too.
Zurich, Ontario is a tiny village where the most interesting things are the bowling alley, the library, and the proximity to the lake. From my house, which is actually on a farm outside of the town itself, it is only five kilometres to Lake Huron, close enough for me to bike there. Being near the lake gives us a lot of snow in wintertime, but never quite to the levels of Goose Bay. I grew up with a backyard filled with trees perfect for a scrawny little girl to climb, numerous cars abandoned on the lawn to become home to overgrown plants, and two abandoned sheds that were once home to farm animals but became clubhouses and fortresses to me and my siblings. The village may be a little boring, but that adjective could never be attributed to my house and my home.
I hope that I can find some interesting things to blog about throughout my stay here so that I don’t completely bore the people who might read this. As I am interested in journalism, it is exciting for me to get an opportunity to work in a magazine and see how they run things here! But right now I have to get back to digitizing a cassette tape, so I will see you all another time!
Live long and prosper,
Alexandra
