Autumn is here!

Yes, it's official - our Indian summer is over and fall has set in. It's my favourite season: crisp air, snug (and getting snugger) sweaters, and root vegetables galore! We had an amazing summer. Our travels included Ocean City with my sister, Christa; Winnipeg for our dear friends, Paul and Heidi's wedding (pic of us at the wedding, with the beginnings of a baby bump!), and Paris & The Hague for a mix of business and pleasure. I was presenting a poster at the Human Development and Capabilities Association conference in The Hague. It went really well and the conference as a whole was excellent and challenging. I wrote about one of the keynote lectures in our Chab Dai team's joint blog, Along the Paths of Justice.

This fall is full of new challenges. Backaches and sore hips are among them, but perseverence is the key, because Squeege still needs to cook for about 10 more weeks! We're getting more and more excited, and learning lots about patience, in this last trimester. We want to meet this squirmy, hiccough-y little person!

I am still working in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve at the youth center. Our financial capability project is growing; this year we have twice the number of teens in the project as last year! We're also trying an adapted version of the project with a group of parents that meet at the center. We have found an amazing and talented replacement to take over the project when I go on maternity leave in December. She will work with me this fall to learn the project and facilitate a good transition and then take it on fully when I leave. I'm so excited to start working with her and, although I am sad to leave the project, I feel completely confident handing over this baby to care for my new baby!

The Adventures Continue...

... this time with a baby on board!! I graduated from SNHU in May and am now just over three months pregnant (as if travelling to malaria and dengue ridden countries weren't challenging enough already!) The picture on the left is what Squeege looks like right about now!

I am still working with Christian Direction in Montreal on the youth financial capability project. I am also now working on a contract with Making Cents International, based out of Washington, D.C. (they are - not me) and their partner organisation in Haïti, Save the Children. The project we are doing is really exciting and closely related to what I did my thesis project on here in Montreal. I get to put the "International" part of my degree to work right away!

Next week, I will leave for a first two-week trip to Haïti, and I'll be in three different cities throughout my trip. The cities are squared in red in the map below. I'll start in the north of the country, Cap-Haïtien, for a few days. That part of the trip is unrelated to my Making Cents work; I'm going down with Jacynthe, whom I spent a week with in Haïti last August at the arts and music camp. We'll be doing some training for counsellors for the second camp this summer!


After Cap-Haïtien, I'll go back to Port-au-Prince and from there spend one week in Léogâne and one week in Jacmel for the Making Cents project. We'll be testing out a curriculum on financial education for young women and girls. The project will focus on training young Haitian women to become financial mentors to others girls in their community.

And so off we go, me and Squeege (who is currently approximately the size of my fist), on our first international adventure together. Right now, I'm still coping with low energy and regular bouts of nausea, so here's hoping I'm well into the second "honeymoon" trimester by the time I leave!

Birthday Month

Happy Birthday, Charlie!!!

We really have wonderful friends and family who spoiled Charlie rotten this month! Charlie actual birthday this year fell, as usual, on a day where I had to be out of town. I had to go down to the States for class (only 2 more class weekends left!) so I packed Charlie in my suitcase and we drove down together. Don't worry, I put my suitcase on the back seat so he wouldn't freeze in the trunk. We ate his birthday dinner at the Red Arrow Dinner in Manchester, a New England greasy spoon that makes their own twinkies. It was delicious and fattening.

The weekend before his birthday, we went out to our favorite Portuguese grill, Casa Manolo, in Verdun, with all our friends.

A large number of them even trekked to Gamer's Vault that day to purchase a few Trolls to add to his army. They really do love him! (And have some stories to tell of the adventure!)

This past weekend, a week after his birthday, we went up to Trois-Rivières with my family to the Domaine de la Forêt Perdue to skate on their 11 km of iced pathways. We also did some ice fishing, a first for all of us, and to feed the farm animals (an opportunity Charlie neverpasses up!)
We finished the day with a tasty meal of trou - which was touted to be the fruit of our ice fishing, but I think 30 minutes from pond to plate is bit short to believe ;)

The final stretch

Happy 2011!!

I am ashamed that I haven't written in such a long time. Part busy-ness, part laziness, and a dash of procrastination has kept me away from our blog in the last months. I have officially begun my last semester of my Masters degree, but before I can start woohoo'ing, I have to actually get through it! The next four months will be quite a challenge and here are a few reasons why:

1. I am taking 8 credits of courses to finish up my M.Sc., 4 of which are finishing project implementation, doing the project evaluation and finishing writing my thesis. I am also doing a 2-credit Organisational Management and a 2-credit independent study, for which I will write a research paper comparing taxation and micro-insurance for community-based savings and loans groups.

2. This month I am starting a 6-month contract through CDI for World Vision Canada to design a financial capability curriculum for their youth programs across Canada, based on my thesis research. YAY! I must admit, after being turned down by WVC for funding at the very beginning of my project, it feels pretty great to be sought after - after I've gotten positive project results, of course ;)

3. Chab Dai Canada is launching the national registry project this month, with our first steering committee meeting at the end of January in Toronto. We decided to go ahead with starting the project even if we hadn't gotten funding, and so advance we shall!

Personally, I am determined to combat my usual winter blues through an active workout schedule and healthy eating. Of course, a mid-winter tropical getaway would help, but I'll manage with what I have ;)

If I neglect to write regularly, please feel free to nudge me a little. I like blogging here, not only to keep in touch, but it does me good to step back and get a little perspective on what's going on in my life. I will also continue my quest to get Charlie to write now and then!