The Journey of a Friendly Giant

  An old tradition for the Pro-Bosque ( Pro-Forest ) foundation employees is an annual camping trip. It is probably the only time where all of the employees from the different departments, as well as the interns are at the same place, at the same time without their serious work faces on. This past weekend, I happily joined the rest of the team at the Cerro Blanco dry tropical forest at 5pm for our camping adventure. When I arrived, they were preparing what I consider a gourmet meal for camping. They had shish kabobs with beef, chicken and sausage, a big pot of rice, avocado, a garden salad and maduro , which translates as: ripe . It’s sweet cooked ripe plantain bananas. Everyone contributed to the cooking, while laughing, singing and taking pictures. Okay.... so we had a kitchen for some of the stuff :) Outdoor bbq Dig in everyone! The "young people" table :) After some great conversations about family, friends, and traveling, the food was all gone, and we we...

When I woke up in Ecuador, everything felt like a dream. I was surprised to see that I wasn’t waking up in my little apartment in Canada. My “ dream ” was real, and I was really gone from home .   The first night I arrived In Guayaquil I’ve never felt so tired! The hot and humid temperature, mixed with my long 12 hour Journey made me want to dedicate a full day to sleep. But that was most definitely out of the question. I had things to learn, places to go, people to meet, and houses to seek. My morning had an early start and it was go go go. With the light of the day, I noticed how beautiful my hotel room was. Manso boutique is half hostel, half art gallery, and half heaven if you ask me.     View from door                                                   View from table The service was wonderful and the food was 1...

When I’m asked to describe myself in a few words, “confident” is usually one of the words I choose without hesitation. I say that with confidence because I’m usually not the nervous type, I’m very comfortable in front of crowds, love public speaking, networking, and spreading the laughter.  However, during the CIDA International youth internship program interview, I don’t think I’ve never been more nervous in my whole entire life. I felt genuine fear because I really wanted to be chosen for this amazing opportunity, I wanted to be exposed and immersed into another country for 6 full months. The position was entitled “Economic Development Officer” with details that varied from country to country and the interns would be working with different CIDA’s partner organizations. To me, it was an opportunity of a lifetime, being a new graduate from a International Commerce and Global development Degree program, I knew finding a job would not be an easy task. And despite all of the classes...