Bring out the Canadianish

Monday I started back fresh and feeling great from the weekend. We started off planning for the young boys group and getting everything ready for the other groups for this week. It was pretty low key at the beginning, busy but I feel like I am more getting into a routine and know what has to happen so it is feeling less crazy. Eileen and myself went and picked up groceries for the week and and chatted with youth in the community a bit.

In the evening our first group was the last group we had been working on trying to get to show up. They are a group of fairly high risk male youth. It's interesting to see the different groups in different stages and where they are at with the program. In some of the other groups with less high risk youth it can be a struggle to get them to show up at times. With this group they always show up but seem to be the most disrespectful to the workers and the building, but these are the youth that are at highest risk of offending. It brings a lot of the same challenges as high risk youth in Edmonton. I can see some clear similarities in trying to find programs that work for these youth both in residential and community. It takes a lot of work and so much patience to get small movement out of these youth. Given chances and setting boundaries, supporting these youth to want more from themselves than what they see. Really interesting group of boys with so much potential to make a difference in their community,

With the girls group tonight it was super laid back and fun. They got together and cooked two different coddles for me to try. I decided because they wanted to cook for me I wanted to cook for them as well so I tried to think of something Canadianish that I could share with them. I emailed a co-worker back home and got them to ask one of my girls I work with in the T-SIL program to send me a recipe for Bannock. She agreed and sent it to me. It ended up turning out really well. All the girls cooked together and helped each other out. They were all excited to try the bannock and learn about the youth I work with back home. They helped me cook it and asked tons of questions about youth culture back home and Canada in general. It's wonderful to share meals, I have always thought that. Sharing a meal helps build connection. I also love when the cooking is communal, I think it brings a sense of community and brings everyone into the relationship and process of providing. The girls chatted about their families, things going on in their lives, and shared stories. I am starting to feel very conformable in this group and am already sad that that I only two weeks left with these girls. I feel like they have welcomed me in and that I would have the potential to form some good relationships and do good work here if I had more time. I think I need to trust that by even just feeling this way the girls and myself are both hopefully getting something out of my time here.. I know I am.