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AIP III: TRAVELING TO MARGARITA ISLAND in 2000!!! I ushered in the non-official millennium in Margarita Island with my family. What a great place! (Did I mention warm?) Still, given the recent tragedy there - 50,000+ dead in horrible flooding - and the political instability, I was once again reminded how lucky I am to live in Canada. I guess I can deal with bundling up for 5 months since I can walk down the street at 1 in the morning and be relatively safe. Still, we met some WONDERFUL people down there such as Freddie, a Venezuelan businessman and his family who were incredibly nice to us. The New Year's celebrations were crazy! I was mucho impressed... at least from what I remember. AIP IV: CRAZY TIMES IN THE NATION'S CAPITAL with Model Parliament! As I write this, I just returned from Ottawa, Ontario where I participated in Queen's Model Parliament for third year in a row. It's a an event where 300 of us Queen's students invade the Hill and make like MPs for 4 days and 3 wacky nights. Model Parliament is fun since they always give you badges to walk (almost) anywhere around. We ran into Mike Duffy of CBC fame as well as Giles Duceppe of the Bloc Quebecois (literally - in the cafeteria line). "Speakers" for our debates in the House included Deputy Speaker of the House Peter Miliken (and MP for Kingston and the Islands) as well as a host of other MPs and figures. NDP critic for Human Rights, Svend Robinson, was also nice enough to give us a key-note address at our ending banquet. My friend Hartley even ran into Preston Manning, the Leader of the Reform Party. Not to bad for the third week of January. Oh, and just incase you have never been to Ottawa in January - I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO FREAKING COLD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!!!!! What the heck is up with you Ottawa people!?!?!?! How can you take that kind of cold? It literally would suck the air out of your lungs! I couldn't feel my knees after being outside for 4 minutes! Gah! Now I understand why it is considered the coldest capital in the world. Eat our dust (or snow) Moscow!
Imagine it - You are in a tent with a band playing wild Celtic/East Coast music. Everywhere there are people of different races, religions, languages and provinces forming a human dancing chain going crazy. You feel like you are going to collapse but there is some kind of weird energy that keeps you on your feet. Maybe it's the music. Maybe it's the people supporting your arms as you kick in rhythm. Maybe it's the moment - 300 people forgetting about their worries and dancing wildly. It happened to me this Canada Day weekend. I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to go an event called Future Trek - a week long celebration of Canada's youth from all over the country for the year 2000. It was an event designed by youth and carried out by youth. We partook debates about what we would like to see the government do for youth. Amazingly enough - 300 people reached a very similar conclusion: there are already many government programs out there - but no one knows about them! There is a need for the government to come up with an efficient and comprehensive way for youth to know about all of the programs available to them. Later, we gave our recommendations to Deputy Prime Minister Herb Grey. Future Trek, which took place in Ottawa, gave the participants the chance to spend Canada Day in the Nation's Capital - something that I have always wanted to do. It was incredible! Although I would like to make a note to the Canada Day organizers - allowing people on the lawn of Parliament Hill after the Mounties's Musical Ride is not a great idea. (Pee-yew! Those horses can foul the place something fierce.) However, it was my first time seeing the Ride in person and it was a big treat. In the evening, a lot of us went to Hull to view the fireworks. There we danced like crazy (again!) to a French/Quebecois folk group (ack! I think I forgot their name!) that had, like, 20 members. They were super - and the fireworks afterwards were defiantly something to behold! I wish to thank the organizers of Future Trek for giving me such a wonderful opportunity. It was one of the best experiences of my life - I have never had a Canada Day like it and I am not sure that I ever will again. Merci! Also I'd love to give a huge hello to all of my Future Trek friends! Make sure you drop me a line! AIP VI: Washington D.C. - The Americans certainly know how to do their capitals...
In Mid-October I went down to Washington for four days and three nights with the Queen's International Affairs Association (of which I am on the exec.) We had been planning the event for a while and it really ended up being huge success! Washington is a very cool place - it's as if you could almost feel the power coming out of the side walks. It's a place that knows how important that it is. The city is very clean and more safe than what its reputation would have you believe. Museums are everywhere and there are also a lot of universities. Our group of 40 students visited the FBI building (with a live-fire demonstration. Ai-yi-yi - you don't see those guns in Canada too often!), the Organization of American States (one of the most beautiful buildings in all of Washington), the Canadian Embassy (man is it big!), and the Pentagon. The Pentagon is a very neat place. It is one of the largest office buildings in North America. The International Affairs Association is lucky to know Lt. Col. Sam Walker, USAF, who spent time at our university, and arranged our visit. He even took the exec for a walk around the place - including the center part of the building. I didn't really know what to expect, but everyone there was very friendly. I highly recommend that anyone take a tour of it given the chance. I also got to see the Jefferson Memorial - something that I have wanted to do for quite a few years since the last time I was there and I missed it. Alas - I missed out on the "Newseum" (a museum about journalism and journalists) but I guess that will be something to see next time. On the trip we didn't meet anyone too famous - but we had a lot of fun. The staff at the OAS, and the Canadian Embassy were fantastic. Our time in Washington gave us some interesting insight into the Canadian-US relationship. I really wish that Americans knew more about us but I can see that there is definitely a "special relationship" between the two countries (despite the rhetoric of a lot of other Canadian web sites out there.) Everywhere we went we were treated with respect and kindness. I hope to make it back soon. AIP VII: Viva Las Vegas - and what the heck does this have to do with politics?
This year my parents took me down to Las Vegas before Christmas to spend time with my relatives. Okay - so this doesn't have a lot to do with politics but I like to record my visits around. It is my web page after all! I have tried to think of a way to describe Las Vegas - but really, it's something you have to experience for yourself. I have settled on the phrase "Disneyland on Crack" for now. Really - the place is larger than life. If you want to see different parts of the US all at once - this is the place for you. There are western themes, a New York Hotel (that really is like an idealized version of NY - including the skyline!), a Hollywood theme hotel, etc. Not to mention that there are hotels that will take you around the world (and time) in "to-scale" detail. I may love Canada a heck of a lot but it was nice to get away from the -16 degree weather for five days. Still, I was happy to come home to a white Christmas. There is something about Elvis-Claus that is very entertaining - but very, very weird. Viva Las Vegas! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
