Who doesn’t love 5:55 am alarms?
I know this morning I sure did not want to get out of bed and shower but with a 7:00 am Tai Chi session waiting, I forced myself out of bed. At MUN, our program director, Dr. Lye, offers an optional daily morning Tai Chi, and I was crazy enough to choose to commit to this.
Although the moves seem rather easy and slow, Tai Chi is great for fitness, strength and rejuvenation of the soul, and believe it or not, walking up stairs after doing a session is a very difficult task!
After breakfast we headed off to our lectures and learned about developing for Canada’s aging population (which is exactly this year's House project topic) and Appalachian geology. Both of which were very interesting subjects. Our second lecturer (a Newfoundland native) in addition to teaching us about geology, also taught us how to play the nose flute, which is a simple plastic device you play by pressing the flute firmly against your nose and mouth, and blowing only through your nose. This sounds relatively easy to play, but right now I can only master one tone. By the end of the month I plan to be a nose flute master (my mother will be so proud!).
The seminar I attended today was marketing, as I am my team’s marketer. As I headed toward the seminar I was very nervous. I volunteered to be my team’s marketer because I had never done anything like it before and thought it would be very cool, but in reality I had no clue what marketing was. As I returned back to my residence from the seminar, I was thrilled because I had learned a new subject and am now very eager to apply it.
If we skip past physical activity, dinner and our house meeting, which was exciting because we are coming up with ideas but also stressful(!!!!!) because right now the whole House Project seems very overwhelming, we will arrive at our Canada Day Celebration. Speaking of which, Happy Canada Day! In Newfoundland, Canada Day is a very exciting event, but also a day of mourning. On July 1, 1916, in Beaumont-Hamel, France, the 1st Newfoundland Regiment went over the top. Of 801 soldiers that went over the top, only 69 returned to answer roll call the next day.
After singing the “Ode to Newfoundland” and having a moment of silence in respect, we continued on with our Canada Day celebrations. To celebrate Shad style, we kicked it off with “guess the famous Canadian on your back”. After that we played non-Canadian, but still very fun Shad games, which consisted of Shadtionary and Shadrades (also known as pictionary and charades, to non-Shad people.) Who knew drawing insane pictures, acting out impossible words, and shouting much louder than necessary, could be so much fun?
To conclude our day we sang happy birthday to Canada and enjoyed a piece of Canada Day cake. What more is there to ask?
It is amazing how after only a few days of Shad I feel like I have learned a month’s worth of information, as well as gained so many friends, which I already know will last a lifetime.
So happy birthday once again Canada!
Yours truly,
Brooke Edwards, Shad Valley Memorial University of Newfoundland 2010
Hometown: Chatham, Ontario
