Eurotrip

Dear friends and lovers,

Wondering what I´ve been up to lately and what my future plans might be? Today´s your lucky day! I´ve been pretty busy these last few weeks with rare internet access, so apologies to those of you who sent personal messages and never got a response.

As many of you know, I´ve been spending the last few weeks in Europe. Here are some highlights (minus the sightseeing and general travel stresses that everyone experiences and you probably aren´t interested in hearing about):
- Got robbed in Barcelona by some goons
- Stressed out a little about having no passport / cash / bank cards / ID... luckily had Gregor by my side for support
- Saw an old man dancing in the street
- Got pooped on by a pigeon
- Saw the Magnetic Fields in concert
- Slept in until 5pm one day
- Learned that consulates are always on vacation, after having to stop by one in Barcelona, Toulouse, and finally the embassy in Paris to get a new passport. New ambition: work at a consulate.
- Miraculously met Koji on a random train platform. Koji had been lured into some stranger´s car after he missed his first train and, incredibly, was not murdered.
- Becky and Thibauts wedding in the south of France... AWESOME
- Had to make a toast in french... TERRIFYING
- Got Aunt Harriet to talk about her neighbour Anne Baldwin (``that woman would break my knees to get my husband...``)
- Reconnected with childhood friend Pau, who left Toronto in grade 3 but somehow got an invitation to Becky´s wedding
- Went hydrospeeding, IE boogie boarding down rapids with helmets and padding on
- Went to Paris with Koji, where we met up with Chessi
- Declined to participate in a treasure hunt with slimy Jacques, whose appt we were subletting
- Got a job offer and changed life plan (more on that in next section of email)
- Ate copious amounts of baguette and cheese
- Drank champagne on the Eiffel Tower
- Stayed in a themed hotel in Rotterdam (ours was South America!)
- Enjoyed the coffeeshop culture of Amsterdam

Now I´m in Cologne, Germany and will be flying home to Toronto tomorrow (the 15th). But... I´ll be leaving again the next day! This is the life plan change that I mentioned. I am especially sad that I didn´t have to opportunity to give any of you a proper goodbye, particularly the Torontonians, who I had expected to be spending the next few months with.

About two months ago I applied to a job, but withdrew mý name from consideration after I learned that there was a training period that conflicted with the wedding/travel plans I´d already made. BUT THEN, while in Paris, I got an email from them, saýing they still hadn´t found someone suitable for the position, so they´d let me begin training later. WOOT. Amy = employed!

Special thanks to Katherine, Julie, Emer, and Becky for being on team Employ Amy. I am especially grateful for your letters of reference, job tips, and resume / cover letter advice.

To be honest, I don´t know too much about the job at the moment, so I´ll let you know what it´s all about once I´ve started. But for the first few weeks I´ll be training in Victoria BC with CCEDNet (Canadian Community Economic Development Network). Then I´m off to PERU for about 6 months to work with COPEME (El Consorcio de Organizaciones Privadas de Promocion al Desarollo de la Micro y Pequena Empresa... in english more or less: the Consortium of Private Organizations Promoting the Development of Micro and Small Enterprises). My title will be either ´´Technical Support and Training Officer´´ or ´´Political and Associative Promotion and Support Officer´´. Big words!

So just for for your records, in case you want to visit/contact me, here are my plans:
July 15 - Fly to Toronto
July 16 - Fly to Victoria
August 25 (?) - Fly to Peru
February/March - Come home!

And please do visit and/or email! I´ll be lonely without any of you!

Peace and love,
Amy