hooray!

Yesterday was the last day for the surveying work that I’ve been doing as a volunteering commitment. It feels altogether surreal to be done…I can now say that I’ve knocked on hundreds of doors, and learned to put on a brave face as I was greeted with quizzical looks. Through the countless people I’ve encountered and talked with, I feel like I myself have “grown up” just a little bit. I’m not the most outgoing of people, but this frankly forced me to be, at times, shameless. Instead of “would you like to answer a few questions about your neighbourhood?”, our team eventually just began saying “we have a few questions for you…ANSWER THEM”. (scratch the last part…we weren’t THAT rude).

This is probably also the first time I’ve seen through research gathering for such a massive project from the beginning…there’s a sense of commitment and engagement that I really love. Kinda makes me excited for my honours thesis.

Mmm…and now comes the writing part. Oh how I wish this was part of my actual work.

There are a number of "Fascinating Situations" that we encountered as a team while answering doors, involving unwanted skin exposure, "sexy" posing, and mistaken identity by a group of very drunk/strung out young adults. But this topped it for me, personally.

Shirtless man answers door. We explain what we're doing while maintaining straight eye contact. Shirtless man tells us he'll go put on a shirt. Now clothed man invites us in. We are hesitant but accept nonetheless...he did after all put the care and attention into putting on a shirt. As we enter, I breathe in what I THINK is chinese medicine. I furrow my brow. We sit on the decrepit looking couch and my partner begins to ask questions. I notice a bong...that's well heated...and steaming. Ah, I wonder what this chinese medicine is!

We try and ask questions as efficiently as possible. Man starts talking about his new NIN album. I smile and try to look engaged while REALLY WANTING TO GET OUT OF THERE. Eventually, we get out, thankful that nothing TOO funky happened. We start laughing while walking down the hall and realize that we are SO LIGHTHEADED. Chinese medicine, eh?