Day in the Life.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

12:19 am - finished posting a lead-up to today's events. 

12:40 am - everything is packed for tomorrow. alarm is set at 6 am. a second one is set to ring five minutes later. aim to get to the bus pick-up area early.

5:ish am - thunder and heavy rain wake me up. not a good sign. return to sleep.

6:00 am - my alarm wakes me up. I turn it off and lay in bed for five minutes.

6:05 am - second alarm, placed on the other side of the room, goes off. I go to shut it off. Somehow fall back asleep.

6:30 am - mom wakes me up. 

6:45 am - downstairs, ready to go.

6:46 am - feed Bubble Tea

6:47 am - departure. knowing that I'm probably still a bit drowsy for driving, my mom suggests that she'll drive. I agree. 

6:59 am - arrival at Metro Square. a few people have already arrived. the bus is late, likely due to the heavy rain that's still continues to pour.

7:15 am - more people arrive. but not the bus.

7:20-ish - the bus is here. food is loaded onto the bus. then we get on. there are 41 of us in total. I am the youngest. my mom heads back home.

7:30-ish - we start heading out. announcements are made. objectives, thank yous, details, trip summary.

7:35 am - breakfast is handed out. yay sandwiches. Tuna, egg, and cucumber =).

7:54 am - I make a note that the rain has stopped and the clouds are clearing up, as we head eastwards towards Ottawa.

I don't recall anything else until around 10 am. I can safely assume I was listening to music and drifted off to sleep.

10:00-ish - I'm up. People are moving around.

10:01 am - we arrive at the first pit stop.

10:20-ish - we take group pictures with the school bus in the background. 

10:30 am - we're back on the road. sheets with lyrics are handed around. some demonstration songs are sung. I'm not great with the words, but their melodies are quite familiar. I hum along.

10:40-ish - I try reading Saramago's Seeing. the bumps on the bus make it difficult to concentrate, and if you've read his novels, you know you don't want to lose focus too often in the middle of those sentences. 

10:50-ish - After a chapter, Seeing is back in my bag. Earphones are back on.

11:29 am - I'm not hungry yet, but lunch is served. We sure can still manage to have a good meal on the bus!

12:24 pm - we left the 401 about an hour ago, and we are quickly approaching Ottawa. Lots of Canadian flags are placed out for next week's Canada Day celebrations. Our flags are being distributed on our bus.

12:30-ish - as we enter Ottawa, it seems like the weather has once again caught up to us. Oh the Westerlies. No lightning thankfully, but heavy rain.

12:45 pm - the bus stops on the west side of Parliament Hill. There is a pro-China rally on the east side of Parliament hill, while a demonstration by the Falun Dafa has been set up on the West side. 

12:46:00 - I step out of the bus.

12:46:15 - soaked. (well, quickly getting there)

12:48 pm - we are bringing the signs, banners, and flags to the centre of action. I see some other Taiwanese flags, belonging to the Taiwanese association in Ottawa.

12:50 pm - we join in. by this time, all of us are drenched. or wearing raincoats. 

1:00 pm - the anticipated arrival time of President Hu. as usual, the motorcade skips the protest zone.

waving flags in the rain. a few photos are taken, and a few media crews pass-by. the Falun Dafa has a larger presence in this demonstration. I lose track of time a bit, but waving the flag keeps me occupied. My phone (which is also my camera) is in my damp pocket - I dare not to bring it out in the rain.

the rallies continue. the east side of the Hill is filled with red flags with golden stars. it is separated from the west side of the hill by two metal fences, providing a walkway in between for the security to patrol and for the media to enter. Centennial flame lies in the middle of the walkway. on the west side, you see signs and green flags from the Taiwanese groups, and yellow banners by the Falun Dafa, with what seems like a few hundred people sitting crosslegged on the lawn. 

2:25 - the rain has lightened. finally, looking up more often, I note that the Peace tower has the time =P. Tibetan supporters begin to show up, they may be expecting the exiting motorcade.

3:00-ish - the clouds have cleared up and we actually have some sun. the raincoats are off as we try to dry up. time for some pictures.

3:30-ish - after a group meeting, we decide to pack up. there are several Tibetan protesters arriving, and quickly, the space is filled up again. 

4:10 pm - we have moved our protest gear back into the bus. Many of us are still trying to dry off.

5:00-ish - as we head back to Toronto, the Ottawa association provides us with a boxed dinner that we eat on the bus

I am more tired on the ride back. I try to read some more pages on my flag book, and fall in and out of sleep. I run through all the songs on my mp3. 

8:30 pm - we have another pit stop. back on the bus, we're greeted with dessert and blueberries. ahh so much food. it's going in my backpack. now, back to flags..

By 11, we are back at Metro Square, and courtesy of a ride from some family friends, I'm back at home at around 11:30.

11:40 pm - discover that Italy's out. haha.

11:55 pm - turn on the computer, and check email.

12:05 am - take a nice warm shower. feels good.

12:20 am - catch up on events of the day. 

1:00-ish am - start writing this post

1:56 am - finish.

soon - go to sleep.

Not a very formal post, but at least it gives me a record of what I did today once I get to writing one =).