NEPAL!!!

Hello family and friends,

It has been way too long since I last wrote - so much has happened since then...including buying and renovating our cute little Vancouver East Side condo, moving to Kelowna for 8 months and catching lots of adorable babies. Just wanted to update you on the next exciting adventure Matthew and I have signed ourselves up for - in 2 weeks we are headed to Nepal for 2 months!

This opportunity came through the UBC Midwifery Program, which offers students the opportunity to do an international placement in the summer between third and fourth year. I will be going with one of my classmates Lauren to work in two maternity hospitals (in Kathmadu and Bharatpur) and Matthew has taken a leave of absence from work to join us. You can follow Lauren and me on our blog: himalayanbirth.blogspot.com, which will be devoted to posts about our placement/midwifery related work. Of course, still follow along here too for the adventure side of things, including stories about our trekking and Matthew's volunteer work :)

Ok - now it is time to go get my pack on...so much to do and so little time! And somewhere in the midst of everything I should be learning some Nepali...hmm, we'll see how that goes!

Namaste,

Yarrow

My First Midwifery Placement

It has been announced! My first midwifery placement will be at Bloom Community Midwives from February to April, 2009. I am thrilled with the placement and my preceptor, Chloe. In fact, Chloe was a 4th year midwifery student at Cook St. Community Midwives in Victoria when I worked there 2 years ago, so we already know each other!

Bloom Community Midwives is on Davies St. in downtown Vancouver, 2 blocks away from Saint Paul's Hospital and 6 blocks from where Matthew works in Yaletown. I am pleased as punch that we don't have to make our first "midwifery placement relocation" move just yet and that Bloom is about 15 minutes from our house. From what I have heard Bloom is a very socially aware and environmentally active practice which is soooo fabulous - here is the website if you want to check it out! http://www.bloommidwives.com/ I am really looking forward to not only honing my midwifery skills but also to see how a practice runs and how it fits into the community that surrounds it.

Finally having a placement to look forward too has really been a reality check for me - I am a MIDWIFERY student! Up until this point it hasn't felt like midwifery school was real. Last year felt like any other undergrad year - microbiology, anatomy, anthropology...but now it finally feels like my dream is becoming a reality. Starting in February I will be catching babies!!!

For the mean time, it's back to the books. This semester I am in pharmacology, a research methods course called Critical Appraisal of the Literature, Midwifery Ethics, and Birth and Its Meaning. In my spare time, which I thought I would have a lot more of, Matthew and I are taking Spanish class in preparation for Mexico at Christmas, I am taking a silver smithing course to take Kaya Island Designs' jewellery making to the next level and Matthew and I are a part of a wonderful small group at our church. It's a busy semester and already flying by, which just means that in no time it will be February!

To say good bye, I will leave you with a new favorite quote from the book I am currently reading, Expecting Adam, by Martha Beck.

"you'll never be hurt as much by being open as you have been hurt by remaining closed"

New Job!

Matthew here. I've made the move to join my wife and I've finally found a job! The company is FCV Technologies. FCV addresses "complex business issues with web-based technologies specializing in creative marketing solutions, social networking and online community tools, web application development, business strategy and customer insight". They make $200-500K websites for their clients. Some of their clients are Expedia, Act Now BC, Telus, and Travelocity. It's a good fit for both parties. The atmosphere is great and the boss is chill. I have no idea what the projects will be like. The office is located downtown in Yaletown. I'll be acting as a senior developer and it could lead into a project management role. The compensation is quite good. I have been holding out for a job that I'm keen about. I've run around town doing interviews with recruitment agencies and firms for the past two months. I'm hoping that it will be worth it for holding out. It's all a bit anti-climatic. I signed the papers today and I will start a month from today after our three week trip to France. The big search is over after two months of hitting my head against the job board.
Finding a job in Vancouver was not as easy as I had thought it might be. There are a lot of firms looking for a lot of people but they expect you to know how to the job as soon as you start. Very little firms are willing to invest the time training employees. They expect employees to just magically have everything that's needed to accomplish the position. There is a real black hole when it comes to applying for jobs online. You put your blood sweat and tears into a cover letter and resume and send it off. All you get back is a automated confirmation notice, if that. This is very discouraging and frustrating. Some jobs that are posted online are already filled and some don't even exist.
Most firms cannot handle the volume of applicants and some deal with this by using recruitment firms. I like to call them head hunters. A lot of positions are advertised under the recruitment company with a vague job description. As soon as the recruitment companies get a hold of your resume and they like what they see. They will invite you downtown for an interview. I personally worked hand-in-hand with many recruitment agencies. The top agencies that brought results I found was P3 Resources (small but good), Procom and Annex Consulting (they mean business and got me my current job). Don't forget to post your resume on Monster.ca. You will get a lot of attention from that.

France!

Yarrow and I have bought our tickets to France. We are both quite excited. We will be meeting Yarrow's friend Riki and spending time with her and her family. Yarrow lived in France for her 16th year on a rotary exchange and Riki was her exchange sister. This will make it quite the reunion. Riki now has a husband and two children that will be joining us.
It will be a great opportunity to see the sights and retrace Yarrow's steps of 10 years ago. We will be leaving at the end of May and traveling for 3 weeks. I better brush up on my French.

Bon Voyage!

Reunited in Rainy Vancouver

Yarrow and I have spent that last 7 months apart. So far that makes up 35% of the time we've been married. It's mostly gone by fast and but sometimes slow. We received a lot of warning in regards to living apart, the difficulty, the loneliness, etc. I reckon we weathered quite well.
Yarrow is finishing up her first year at UBC Midwifery. The journey has begun and is in full swing. It hasn't been easy for Yarrow. Just like it requires a village to raise a child, I believe also takes one to put one through University! Yarrow has done very well in her studies and is making heaps of important contacts. She has taken on a part time job with the department which makes for an excellent challenge and some extra income.
I have finished my job with the Federal Government in Victoria. I am now seeking out employment in Vancouver. There is a lot of opportunity but it really comes down to who you know. I have sent out many resumes but receive little in terms of reply. I am told there is high demand for IT staff but you wouldn't know from the response I've had from applications.
I am getting settled in our one bedroom basement suite in Vancouver. We had a lot of stuff stored in that big house on Joan Crescent. Most of the items we needed was easily loaded into two car loads and shipped over via the Yarrow Taxi service. Exercising my organizational skills I was able to keep the open look and feel to the suite while bringing in all my clothes, toys and other junk. It was a two day effort.
The climate in Vancouver is a little different than Victoria. I find Victoria to have cheery, impatient weather which brings sunny breaks and pathetic mists of rain. Vancouver has real rain and lots of it. Luckily we are going into Summer and I am looking forward to that.
Being unemployed I have taken on the role as the house-husband. I could get used to it. Staying at home, taking care of the kids... that won't be for a while yet.
Wish us luck as I hunt for a job and Yarrow as she finishes off her last course and starts a summer job with the midwifery department.

Accepted!!

The latest news in our life is that I (Yarrow) have been accepted to midwifery school at UBC! We received the news this week and I am still letting it sink in. I was one of ten women selected out of more than 60 people this year, so it's quite exciting. This great news means I will be in the business of "baby catching", I'm sooo thrilled! It also means a move to Vancouver for 4 years which will be a big change for Matthew and I as we leave our very tight knit community in Victoria. Right now we are continuing to live in the moment and enjoying our last spring/summer in Victoria for awhile...sigh, sad but with such an amazing time on the horizon we really can't complain! We are truly blessed!!

Back to School

Yarrow is currently chasing after a career in baby catching! Yarrow left on Tuesday for an interview at Seattle Midwifery School in Washington State. She is very excited. Yarrow also received a call this week from UBC Midwifery School asking her for an interview. This has really been Yarrow's heart's desire and it has been met with a lot of anxiety and prayer. We really believe that God has been leading us along this path and have really felt supported by Him and the great friends and co-workers along the way.
Yarrow has been working at the Cook Street Midwives office for sometime and has really benefit ted from being involved with them. The midwives have been a great source of encouragement and advice to her.
We have also met other midwives fresh out of school that have given Yarrow encouragement, a step up and a good look into what to expect. I feel that Yarrow has a good grasp on what to expect and is well prepared to meet the challenge.
Yarrow returns from Seattle tonight with her new friend Suzanne who is also a hopeful midwife. Suzanne is from Port Alberni.

Yarrow's preference is to go to UBC for midwifery as the 4 year program is more affordable and she can hit the pavement running right out of school where as with Seattle Midwifery School (3 year program) she would be required to take an equivalency test which is more money and can take up to a year.
Going to UBC would involve a move to Vancouver which I absolutely hate the thought of. Rent will be much more expensive than our lovely cushy house sitting situation. And we will have to live in Vancouver which means it will take 30 minutes of commuting to get anywhere no matter where you are or what you want to do. :-p
Going to Seattle would be more expensive but Yarrow would work from home and take a monthly visit to Seattle. This would mean that we could stay in Victoria with our same living situation.
I think it would be a lot harder to get a proper education via distance education and I believe that the best situation here is a 4 year term at UBC. I will just have to start getting use to the idea!