Meeting new people and making new friends

Phew! I am wiped out! Priya and I had to get up at 7 this morning so that we, along with the rest of our group, could get out the door to meet the Clerk of the House of Commons in the Centre Block at 8:15 this morning. He was very informative and I thanked him for taking the time to talk with us by presenting him with a U of M Dearborn T-Shirt. Then it was off to the office for me, but on the way I called an old friend of the family's to see if she and her family would like to make plans to meet while I am here. Hopefully things will work out (and I am sure they will)!

Everyone in the office did more secretary work today but when Jeff's 5 kids came to visit, they were a good distraction, as all of them were just darling! Even though my sisters are not quite so young and adorable anymore, it made me miss them nonetheless. After the balls of energy left, it was noticeably quiet and empty in the office but Annie and I sipped some tea and listened to Question Period, which filled the silence and it was nice. Finally, I can get onto my computer so now I can do some real, hardcore research. Some of my colleagues have talked about how their MPs have quoted research that my colleagues have looked up for them, and I can understand why they are so proud. I can only hope that the work I do within the next month will have such an influence as to be brought up within the legislative walls of the Parliament building.

Yesterday was an evening that made my heart swell with hope, hearing of how Reverend Majed el Shafie is changing the future of the world's people one by one. I spoke with him (and now wish I had spoken a bit of Arabic with him, but it didn't occur to me at the time to do so) and informed him I would like to create a group at Grand Valley dedicated to his One Free World International Organization. We'll see what happens, but he is a very special (and very, very funny) man (and I now wish I had gotten a picture with him!).

I am exhausted from waking up so early this morning and watching the intense new episode of Bones, of which I gleefully analyzed with my friend over the phone during the commercial breaks. Instead of going to bed, as I know I should have done, I instead tracked down some buddies who where playing a game called Shout! which is just like Scene It and Trivia Pursuit, only better because you bypass all of the boring parts. I highly recommend the game. Tomorrow will be a Friday, and the first week of my time here will be complete. Boy, it has been a very long week and yet with everything being new and foreign to me, the days have been a blur!