Project Complete!

My project is now complete! (Other than the reports, of course.) It feels good to know that I have accomplished so much in such a small amount of time. The booklet we created of participants’ quotes looks phenomenal. My original idea was simply a booklet for the participants to have as a token of appreciation, but my supervisor now wants to use it as a promotional piece because it came out so well. I worked with HIPPY Canada’s Information Management Specialist to design it, and she did an amazing job. I am so glad that it has become much more than a simple “thank you” booklet.

Front cover of the booklet we created.

A huge success was the group meeting/reception for the participants last Saturday morning. I was worried no one was going to come, I wasn’t going to make enough food, no one would want to talk or share-all kinds of worries. Luckily, everything turned out amazingly. I was even complimented on my breakfast casserole-making abilities! All of the women loved the booklets and seemed totally comfortable with getting to know the other participants. Some of the women knew each other, but others who participated in HIPPY years ago did not know many of the others. I had all of the women introduce themselves and where they immigrated from to Canada. It immediately seemed to spark conversation. The most stunning part for me was the women sharing how meeting others and reading parts of their story helped make them feel like they are not alone; that their experiences are shared experiences and they can all relate to one another. It got a bit emotional and really made me feel like I did something during this project. At the very least, I brought these women together to talk and support one another.

Inside pages of the booklet.

I am happy with the conclusion of the data collection phase of my project. There were some ups and downs, but largely I am content with the way everything went. I never expected the group meeting to go so well, and I am very happy with it- all but one participant came, several with their children. During the sharing part, one of the mothers told us about how her home visitor helped her and her family find somewhere to live after they found out they were being evicted. They had one week to find somewhere to stay or they would have to go to a shelter or be on the street. The home visitor went through several people to find a way to help the family, and they were able to move into another home. What makes this story so moving to me is that the home visitor was Beatrice, the woman who has been helping me with the project. So there they were, sitting across the table from each other, recounting this story from years ago. They both teared up and every single person in that room could feel the bond they had together. It showed me how far many of the HIPPY home visitors would go to help their families (the term they use for the families they home visit). I had been told about the impact of HIPPY outside of strictly children’s education, I had sat and listened to these same women tell me similar stories for the past month, but in that moment, it was utterly clear to me how much the existence of one little program can change an entire family’s lives.

(I pulled several sections from my recent project update for this blog post.)

interviews and transcriptions and celebrations, oh my!

So after the rainy mess of June, I feel like my time here in Vancouver is slipping away too quickly! I've been working crazily on data collection for the past couple weeks, and finally the end is in sight. I finished all of my interviews yesterday (yay!) and I luckily have some help with the 5 transcriptions I have left. After that, it's only compiling quotes for a booklet to be designed and printed by Friday and plan a group meeting, a feedback tool, and food for Saturday. Does that sound like a lot? I'm trying to tell myself I have enough time this week to get everything done. If I can pull it all together (which, undoubtedly I will do with my crazy type-A personality --I feel like a couple of you might have giggled at that...), it will all result in a lovely thank you reception for the ladies on Saturday morning. And then it will be debriefing and report writing time! Having to write reports doesn't actually sound so terrible after the frenzy of transcribing lately (I swear, this project alone has given me carpal tunnel).

While I've been busy with my project I've also tried to fit in fun stuff here and there. I've met several girls here that are around my age and have enjoyed getting to know them and go explore a bit! Here are some of the highlights:

Back in June, a colleague's son graduated from college. She is from Swaziland and made a huge African buffet to celebrate his accomplishment.

Too bad I can't remember any of the names. But all yummy!

For one of the interviews, we had to meet the participant at a community centre in Chinatown. Afterwards, she was kind enough to show us around the area!

All kinds of Chinese food staples.

Being super touristy in Dr. Sun Yat Sen Garden.

The City of Surrey hosted a Doors Open Surrey event where you could go to all kinds of buildings and churches and mosques, etc., that are typically not open to the public. It was a great experience, and thus deserving of it's own post. Coming soon!

I finally made it to Granville Island! What a fun place, can't wait to take the bf there to tour the brewery.

Beautiful view from Granville Island.

Houseboat on Granville Island.

I celebrated Canada Day with my partner's daughter and some of her friends. We went to an outdoor event and then I had my first "real" night out in Vancouver. We went to a dance club for hip hop karaoke. Yep. No one actually sang, but I did get to do a lot of dancing. And we all know how much I love dancing.

Rocking my thrifted Canada scarf at the Surrey Canada Day celebration.

Then I celebrated the Fourth of July! The host family and I took a jaunt over the border into Blaine, WA, where I had probably the most delicious burger and beer of my life. Truly American, right there.

Beautiful sunset in Blaine, WA on the Fourth of July.

One Friday night, I decided to explore the China Night Market. It was full of cheap iphone cases and ridiculous foods. It happened to be located right beside a casino, so we dipped inside for a bit. It was my first actual experience in a casino ever. I won $2.50, then lost $5.00. Womp womp. But it was a fun time. I swear there should be a how-to when you walk in the door, though.

Lights at the China Night Market in Richmond, BC.

Excited. And slightly blurry and windblown.

The weather has been absolutely beautiful lately, so we explored a bit in Stanley Park on a Saturday afternoon. I will have to go back though, because it was hot and we decided to go drink a beer instead of walk around more. Oops.

Funky twisty tree in Stanley Park.

Thanks for following my adventures- more to come soon!

So...it might be July, oops.

Hi all!

So I have already lapsed in my blog-writing for a good 3 weeks now. I just never seemed to find the time...but here I am, back with an update! I have gotten to experience a bit more of Vancouver and we are finally having good weather! All of June was very rainy, which put a damper on my exploration plans. It is very nice out today - I even put on shorts for a bit - and it's supposed to stay nice, at least for the next week. I guess I really shouldn't be complaining, what with the 100+ degree weather all over the South. I could stand for it to be a bit warmer, but not quite that warm, hah. Anywho, I will post pics of my exploring next time and concentrate on how my project is going for now.

These next couple of weeks are going to be killer busy. For most of June, I was researching, planning, and meeting with my project team, who were recruiting potential participants. Now that it is July, we are in the midst of interviews, transcribing, and trying to figure out what exactly it is we want to glean from this evaluation project. The main team ended up being myself, the project coordinator for the HIPPY Britannia site, and a woman who participated in HIPPY years ago and has been working with a program called Practicing Citizenship that HIPPY also does. They have been great- they are both immigrants themselves, so it helps me a ton during planning to have their insight.

We started interviews last week, working in pairs, and everything has largely gone very well. It has been quite amazing to hear the women's stories of immigrating to Canada. While all of them are unique, there are parallels that run true in most of the experiences I've heard so far. We are almost finished conducting the first interviews, which I am trying to transcribe as we go along. Oh my, transcribing. It makes me want to throw my computer across the room (I promise I won't). A 30 minute audio interview can end up taking 2-3 hours to transcribe. Then analyze, come up with any necessary questions, decide what other information we need to get, and then get ready for a second interview (which I will later have to transcribe, bah). It is a lot of work, but I know in the end it will be worth every hour I've spent rewinding a recording to make sure I got it all right.

We just set a date for one large group meeting with all the participants for later July, so hopefully we actually get all of the interviews done before then. I am hoping at that meeting to discuss the themes of some of the stories and let the women come up with the indicators for what it means to them to be settled in Canada. Then it will be report writing time! But let's not think about that yet.

There have been a couple hiccups along the way, but nothing that wasn't manageable. I haven't stressed much about any changes we've had to make and just gone with the flow. It has worked out quite well for me so far. However, I am stressing a bit about asking the "right" questions in the second interviews next week. I am also waiting to hear back from IRB about an amendment I submitted, which is a bit annoying. Oh IRB.

In other news, I celebrated Canada Day on July 1, then Fourth of July yesterday, and actually went out in Vancouver the other night. Going out was a good release- we went to a dance club, which, as you all know, is my fave. Got to dance a ton, so I loved it. Hope all is well in your parts of the world!!

Peace!