The Winners of the CIC/ICEJ Canada Young Leaders Scholarship

So this is the six of us that won the scholarship to go to Israel. From left to right: Andrea, Donna (ICEJ), Andrew, Dustin, myself, Craig and Dan. We'd met about 10 minutes before this picture was taken. Over the 2 1/2 weeks that we were in Israel I got to know these strangers and we became friends. It's been weird not spending every waking moment with them these last few days. A shout out to Dan who is on his way to Cosovo today. He's doing his internship there for school. He was a lucky duck that got to spend more time in Israel. There were a few others that stayed longer from the larger group. I wish I could have but, when do I ever want to come home?

I'm really missing being there right now or better said I'm missing being home in Saskatoon where my friends are, you know, the people that you share this stuff with. On the phone is ok but it's just not the same. They can't see the pictures and share your hummus and pita bread with you, or even listen to your Jess Cantelon cd. Ya ok, I'm getting a little melancholy but whatever...it's how I feel. It's weird that I miss my friends when I come home but not always while I'm away.

So I haven't really figured out how I'm going to blog about everything that happened yet. Perhaps I'll go day by day with stuff thrown inbetween. That's what I'm leaning towards right now...slightly structured with a smig of chaos. Sound good?

Israel rocked

Howdy all! I am back in Canada. I got into Toronto this morning at about 7:00 am. I'm now in Edmonton and will be going to Grande Prairie tomorrow with my sister.

The trip was amazing and I have many things to write. I'll be getting my pics developed and will be putting many up on my blog.

I probably won't be blogging about anything but Israel for the next 6 months...there is so much to tell. I saw so many things and learned so many things and experienced so many things and met so many great people that I don't really know where I'll begin.

I feel like I've been gone for all eternity but it's only been an extremely jam-packed 2 1/2 weeks. Hope you've all been having a good time while I was gone.

My S.M.A.R.T. Goal

So today was my last shift at work before I leave for Israel and it was a great shift. I had a training module! We learned about Starbucks (history, practices, mission statement, and tons of other stuff), and we taste-tested coffee. That was really fun. I had no idea that there were so many different kinds of coffee and YES you really can tell the difference!!

So a few weeks ago there were some partners from Edmonton who came up to Grande Prairie to help out because we are so short staffed. I noticed that some of them were wearing black aprons (ours are green) but thought nothing of it. Today I learned that not only do black aprons look so much cooler they signify that you are a coffee master. It's like having a black belt in karate but this is the black belt of coffee knowledge. My S.M.A.R.T. goal is to complete all of the modules so that I too can receive my black Coffee Master Apron!

HIIIIIIIIYYYYAAAAA

Hi friends

It been awhile since I've posted anything...sorry folks. I haven't really had anything to blog about except for my new job, which I'm still loving by the way, Starbucks is an awesome company to work for, and my trip to Israel. I thought it might get very repetative and boring. I do leave for my trip on Monday morning... that's two more sleeps.

If there was some way for me to express to you how excited I am I would but there are no words. I'm excited about the sight-seeing, the outreach, the lectures and all the awesome people that I'm going to meet.

I got a tentative schedule for the last few days that we are in Israel. The last three or four days are filled with meetings, lectures and visits to parliment. We are going to meet professors from University, politicians, lawyers, government officials, etc. They are going to talk to us about Israel, it's issues, government, and so on. We will also be learning how we here in Canada can help the people of Israel and Jewish people everywhere. It's going to be a lot of information to take in. I plan on taking notes and what not so that I can relay pertinent info to you all here.

Oh ya... I also get to ride a camel. I watched the Mummy today on tv and all I could think about was the fact that I get to ride a camel very soon.