So I'm Ottawa on a training session for my new job. It's only been the first day, and in all honesty, it wasn't too bad. On a completely random note, I had to buy new shoes, since I discovered a pretty massive hole in one of my casual sneakers. Which hurt. PST sucks. But what can you do?

I was hoping to meet some friends for dinner and such while I was here - it hasn't worked out as of yet. M and I were hoping to meet tonight, but he's all governmenty and important and such, and had to work late... P and M and I will hopefully all get together tomorrow night - bit of a reunion (P was my boss 6 years ago when I was still in school, and M was her boss... we all worked in the residences).

Anywho, back to the training. We did the MBTI (Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator) test, learned about each other, and generally sort of discussed leadership in the most general sense possible (how's that for a redundant sentence?).

It was all good, until we hit the last little bit of the day, and they handed us our journals. Our journals have a name. It's Latin for faithful. The journal has an introduction written in 1st person. As in, "Hi, I'm your journal! Write in me because...". And there's a page just inside the cover for us to colour. Seriously.

However, in the interests of participation, here goes nothing - I've written this in my actual paper journal as well, but it's always interesting to hear feedback on what others have to say or what others think about me and my experiences and their experiences.

1. Following the ice-breaker activity and after meeting my colleagues, what remarks affected me the most? What am I feeling right now?
After meeting my colleagues, and learning about their backgrounds and situations, their assignments, and motivations, I am feeling less alone than I was going into this. There are many similar experiences, questions, logistical nightmares, etc.

2. Who in the group caught my attention? Who am I eager to speak with? Why?
I am excited to speak with the other candidates that are closer to my age. My supervisors are not quite the same age as my parents, but they are certainly getting there - definitely boomers or very early gen Xers rather than gen Yers or millenials (for which I'm thankful, seriously). While they are certainly friendly, helpful, and kind, they are at a very different place in their lives than I am, and I'm glad to have some people also just out of school, also trying to figure out what they want from life, that I could see becoming my friends.
I am also quite glad to meet some francophones. It's been too long since I used my French on a regular basis.

3. I would use the following words to describe my cohort.

• Fun
• Outgoing
• Intelligent
• Motivated
• Helpful
• Enthusiastic

4. Am I ready to achieve greater balance in my life? What commitments should I make to ensure personal wellness?

Yes -

• I will ask questions when in doubt.
• I will do my best to leave work at work.
• I will maintain my extra-curricular interests
• I will take time to hang out with friends
• I will take that couple of days off at Christmas.

Further thoughts...

At this point, I'm just glad that people are friendly. When I was attending the interviews for this position, there were a few people that seemed friendly and nice, but they were difficult to approach or to come by. I am quite happy that my cohort is so open, friendly, accepting of differences. Coming into this trip, it felt like going back to school. It was like... wondering if your classmates are going to like you. Wondering who's going to be your friend. Wondering if the classes are going to be too hard (so far the homework was pretty easy!). Now that I'm here, I think I'm going to be all right.