Spring has arrived in Calgary!  Naturally, to those of us that live here, we know that that simply means that we have heavier and wetter snow when the blizzards hit, but fear not, the flowers are starting to peek out from the dirt, and the grass is starting to turn green. Naturally, as we get in to Spring, things get really amped up for CISV Calgary.  Leaders begin their intensive training, delegations begin to meet, the JB runs a great minicamp (May 4-6!), the staff for the camp being hosted here in Calgary continue their preparations, and everyone is getting ready for the programs that will take place in as little as three months.  This is a very exciting time, but it can also be stressful when delegations are not filled.  Some delegations need more participants, some need leaders, and all provide a great opportunity for those involved.  As such, if you can think of anyone that would be a great fit for the program, please send them to the website, and have them contact the chapter to get involved! For me personally, this is a very exciting time.  I will be participating in a Seminar Camp for the first time this summer, going out to Victoria, BC, to be a "home staff".  I am fortunate to be working with a great team, including two more individuals from Canada, as well as a staff member out of the USA, and another one from Sweden.  We have already connected over Skype, and I'm confident that working with them will be a breeze!  As an added bonus, four of us will be off to Guatemala at the end of the month for a Regional Training Forum where we, along with many other individuals, will receive our Seminar Camp Staff Training.  ...

Happy New Year to everyone!  As per usual, I have been quite busy, but want to say hi, and get the word out there: we need people! As most CISVers know, participating in a CISV program is a great opportunity for people of all ages.  If you have been to a camp, you know all about how you meet a ton of new people, and have some great experiences with your new friends.  Unfortunately, not enough people know about all of this excellence! If you look at the 2012 Programs section of this website, you can see that we have some great opportunities for people to get involved.  We need leaders and staff, as well as delegates from eleven to fifteen... and we need a lot of them!  So, this is up to YOU, the CISVers of Calgary (and the world!), to get out there, and get talking! Talk to your (cool) teachers about becoming a leader.  Talk to your friends about how much fun you had at camp.  Talk to the parents of the kids that you babysit for.  Talk to your co-workers.  Talk to your aunts and uncles, cousins and step-siblings....

Good morning from Montréal! Here, members of CISV Canada have gathered for our third day of meetings.  The National Executive had gotten started on Thursday morning, the Extended Executive met on Thursday afternoon, and then everyone got started on Thursday night.  Yesterday, there were two meetings happening concurrently: one for Canada's JB (Junior Branch), and one for the Adult Board.  As a member of the Adult Board, I think that the JB was probably having more fun, as every time I went over to see them, they were usually up on chairs, dancing around, and doing energizers.  That being said, a lot of us adults have been having fun getting to know each other better and making some important decisions that will affect CISV Canada down the road! On a complete non-business side of things, I am pleased to announce that I got some sweet new CISV Canada merchandise this weekend: a green t-shirt from the exec that can be worn forwards, backwards, inside-out forwards, and inside-out backwards, a purple "Imagine"...

Today marks a very exciting day in the CISV Canada community, as it is the beginning of our four-day National Board Meeting.  As a result, seven of us have flown from Calgary to the beautiful city of Montréal.  We have our two co-chairs from the adult board, as well as four members of the junior board, and they will be representing the chapter at both levels.  Additionally, now that I am the new National Interchange Coordinator, I also get to attend for the next couple of years!  Hooray!

A definite highlight of this weekend will be Sunday morning's "Hockey draft", where the 60+ International Programs to which Canada has been invited are split up across the twelve chapters.  Once this is over, we will officially have our invitations for the summer of 2012!  Be sure to check this website for updated information! 

Obviously, I am a terrible blogger.  I apologize to the few people who have been reading this that I have not updated things on a regular basis.  Can I make a November resolution?  If so, I resolve to blog more often! The summer was, of course, magical.  Calgary sent away many delegations and several individuals, and it was great to hear about all of their experiences at the CISV Welcome Back.  As an added bonus, this year's Welcome Back was also my birthday, and my lovely delegation surprised me with the biggest sheet cake in the world and some awesome singing. Now that the school year is well underway, us CISVers here in Calgary are gearing up for some exciting news, namely the announcement of our programs for next summer!  Of course, we don't actually know what these programs are just yet, but within a week and a half, we will! Each year over the Remembrance Day long weekend, people from CISV Canada all come together for the National Board Meeting, or NBM.  Calgary was the host city back in 2008, and...

   Today, the first of Calgary's travelling individuals / delegations headed off to their international program.  That's right... miss Alessandra W left this morning for Vaasa, Finland, where she will be a JC at a Village!    I had the pleasure of trading last-minute Facebook messages with her right before she left, as she was killing time while waiting to board the plane, and I was on a prep at school.  Her excitement was leaping off the webpage - even though she said she was nervous about switching planes in Frankfurt and in Helsinki, she was overwhelmingly upbeat and positive about going so far away and meeting so many new people.    Now, although I don't have any children of my own, I've had many CISV children over the years, and Alessandra is one of them.  I first met her back in 2006 when she attended a Village as a participant, and although she wasn't one of mine that summer, she was two years later for a long Interchange with Ecuador.   As such, she feels like one of my own, and I'm amazed to see...

A yearly tradition with CISV Calgary, tonight was the "Bon Voyage" potluck, where everyone that will be travelling for a program in the upcoming year gets a chance to be introduced to the families and friends of our chapter. This year, we have a great group of delegations and individuals that are going away.  We have one Village delegation going to London, Ontario, and another (mine!) to Seoul, Korea.  We have one Summer Camp delegation for fourteen year olds to Milan, Italy, and one for fifteen year olds to Waterloo, Ontario.  We have an Interchange delegation that is partnered up with Barcelona, Spain.  We have two Junior Counsellors for Villages, one boy that will be going to Vancouver, BC, and one girl that will be going to Vaasa, Finland.  We also have three Seminar Camp participants: one in Campinas, Brazil, one in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and one in Auckland, New Zealand.  Finally, we also have some individuals travelling to Victoria, BC, for National Camp! Hosted by the lovely Dow Linnell and Hailey Irvine, this event is one of my favourite CISV Calgary events of the year.  It's a great opportunity to visit old friends, and make new ones.  New leaders get a chance to see what it's all about, and even though they all say the same thing, it's great to see how excited all of the kids are to go away. (In case you were all wondering, 3 out of every 4 kids say that they're really excited to "meet new people!" and "experience new cultures!")...

One of the things I love the most about CISV is getting so close to the kids that I take away to various programs.  I'm forever referring to my delegates as "my kids", which can be confusing for those that don't know me well.  A former leader said it best: "We go away as a delegation, and we come home as a family".   Today, I was fortunate to attend the Kyle Shewfelt Gymnastics Festival to watch one of my four delegates compete at the U of C.  This young lady has been doing gymnastics for several years now, and dedicates hours and hours every week to training.  Getting to watch her compete was great.  Although I've got a killer head cold and had to duck out early, it was awesome to see her practice on all four apparatuses and compete on the uneven bars.  She did an awesome job! This is one of many events that I've been able to see my kids excel at.  I've seen one of my girls from my Village in Denmark and my Interchange with Ecuador compete in synchronized swimming, and another from the same two trips play...

Now that it is officially Spring, it is officially my busy time with CISV!  Those who know me know that I like to have a full schedule, so this is what I love!  What's taking up so much of my time? Local training, local activities, and of course, getting my own delegation ready for our upcoming Summer Village program in Seoul, Korea. As the Local Trainer for CISV Calgary, I get to train all of the Leaders and Junior Counsellors (JC) that will be going away for programs this summer.  This year's group is great: Shari will be leading a Summer Camp to Milan, Italy, Michelle and Dow will be leading the Interchange with Barcelona, Spain, Sarah will be leading a Village to London, Ontario, Alessandra will be a JC in Vassa, Finland, and John will be a JC in Vancouver.  We've had a couple of sessions together, and now our local crew is ready to head off to Vancouver to meet up with all of the other Leader and JCs from Western Canada for Regional Training.  The training takes place at a great camp next to the ocean,...