The early days

Might as well start writing all this down before I forget it !!
It is my 4th day in Katimavik. After 4 airports and a lot of time waiting in 2 by 2 seater planes I arrived in Thunder Bay at 12 o'clock their time.  We did some introductions etc but for the most part we haven't had to do any disgusting "get to know you" games we all learned to hate in school/any group event.  We do a lot of talking and for the most part a lot of My Province is Better Than Yours.. which can get heated at times but it's all in good nature. The group consists of 2 BCers, 1 Albertan, 1 Manitoban, 3 from Ontario, 3 from Quebec and 1 from Nova Scotia.  The first two days were largely just orientations, rules and people getting unpacked.  We stay up late almost every night.  The majority of us live in the basement, so it's a little crowded.
This weekend we have been volunteering at the "Go Green Expo", a litter-free green event held at a community complex.  There are a lot of great vendors promoting their methods of energy reduction or production reusability.  There was not a demand for the amount of volunteers at this event so for a few hours of the day we were unoccupied.  There was a great little famers market there too with lots of baking and smoked fish and natural products and crafts etc.  I sat in one workshop that explained the idea behind a rain garden - very informative just useless to me as I don't see myself doing that kind of thing for a very long time, if ever.  There were several other workshops and though no one else showed up to this bicycle one we chatted up the instructor and got some good advice, weird stories and his contact info so we can get him to fix our crappy little bikes at home.  Today is more or less the same thing, shorter thank god and the workshops look good - "Shoreline Restoration".. I'm hoping to see BP there but chances aren't likely.
Went running today.  Our house is very close to Lakehead University but though the campus is nice there does not seem to be many trails around it.  I'll just go in the opposite direction next time.
We live in Port Arthur - the North part of town, Fort William being the southern and by our assumptions and gatherings the more ghetto.  "Inner City" connects these two places and this is where the Go Green Expo is.  Thunder Bay is not as large in area as I thought.. it is 16 km from the top of Port Arthur to the bottom of Fort William, width-wise it is something like 8.5... pretty much peanuts for the amount of people living here - around 100,000.  The lone mountain this city has is less than impressive compared to our beautiful Kootenays.
My french is picking up surprisingly quickly.  I still find the conjugations learned in grade 8-10 more or less useless... thanks Mme. Bella.
More later I have to go make lunch.
xoxo P