January has been an interesting month. There has been the usual post-Christmas activities of exchanging clothes and buying additional things to support my journey to Nigeria. I have spent some time out in the bush cutting wood with my friend, but we have not been able to do as much as hoped. The weather has been so warm some days that we would be working fields of mud if we tried to go out. Then the temperature would drop to the point that outdoor work was too difficult. Or it has rained when it should be snowing or snowed when it should be raining. In other words the weather has been all over the map.
Despite that I was able to ride my motorcycle out to the bush a couple of days. I have to admit that it wasn't too comfortable riding when the temperature was -5 or colder. And I remember one morning when the road looked dry, but I discovered there was a bit of snow still on the road when I got out of town. It made me a bit nervous, and I have finally parked the bike for good until I come back from Nigeria.
On 25 January, I travelled to Ottawa for additional training prior to my departure for Nigeria. One of the first things I found out when I arrived at the VSO office was that there would be a delay. The paperwork from the Nigerian government that was needed in order to apply for a visa had not yet arrived so the length of the delay was not known. That was a bit discouraging, to say the least.
When I left the class on Tuesday afternoon, I suggested to the travel coordinator that maybe a miracle would happen and the papers would arrive the next day and the visas would be issued quickly. And I left for home. While travcelling home the next day, Dad received a call from VSO saying that the paperwork had in fact arrived. So now it is just a matter of waiting for government wheels to grind.
I also found out that this was not just a problem with my application but that the letters had not been issued for any of the volunteers scheduled to arrive in Nigeria in February. Apparently the change in personnel as a result of the Nigeria election in 2007 meant that new business relationships had to be forged, and that can be a slow process. Today I received an email from VSO telling me that VSO Nigeria has rescheduled all of their plans for our arrival and we are now expected to be in Nigeria for training on 03 March. That means that I will likely be leaving on 29 February.
And it is nice to have a date to work toward. The uncertainty of not knowing is hard, especially when I had to think that I might get a day or two to do all those final things once the visa had been issued. Now, though the date is still not 100% guaranteed, I do have a better idea of how much time I have to do those final things.
You will wonder about the pictures that I have included. In the training course there were three American volunteers. I was quite impressed with them because they took advantage of being in Ottawa to do "stuff". For example, I believe that all three of them went skating on the Rideau Canal, Canada's longest skating rink. If you don't know, during a couple of winter months the Rideau Canal is cleared for public skating, including periodic clearing with a Zamboni. It is a part of Winterlude, a celebration of winter. Of our group of 15, only one Canadian joined the Americans in taking advantage of this unique opportunity. I had not brought my skates with me and did not feel like spending the high price for rental skates. But I was inspired to wander about town after class one afternoon. The top picture is a statue of Terry Fox, who most have heard of. He attempted to run across Canada to raise funds for cancer research when he found out that he had cancer. What was amazing about his effort was that he had one leg amputated and was running on a prosthetic. He has inspired Terry Fix runs around the world to raise funds for cancer research and they are held in various locations around the middle of September each year. The second picture is a small portion of the Rideau skating rink. This is looking away from town and the interesting buildings of Parliament and federal government. This was about noon, as I was leaving for home, so there were not many skating. I am sure that this area would be packed in the afternoon and evening. And the real celebration (Winterlude) has not even started yet.
The final picture is looking back into town towards the impressive architecture that is a part of the Ottawa landscape. It is truly an interesting city and one that I would like to spend more time visiting. And I would like to one day visit in another season other than winter to enjoy the other aspects of life in the federal capital. 
