For our last week, Jessica and I continued to work with Sue, the occupational therapist. I have gained so much more confidence when working with our student, I am far more trusting of him to be capable to do things but still keeping a very close eye on him. He is such a risk taker and wants to be able to do everything in the pool, climb ropes, ride in the boat, etc. I am always a little nervous at first but he can do it. We also worked with a teenager who has a knee injury.  I admire her willingness to participate in everything, as a 15 year old I don’t think I would enjoy spending my afternoons at the pool doing exercises.  Working with Sue and watching the students make progress was so rewarding. It was my first experience working with the physically disabled and it was very eye opening. I learnt to try to balance being hands off enough but also being supportive enough. On our final day working with Sue and the students, we celebrated with an ice cream sundae party. It was a great way to celebrate their success and say goodbye.

On Wednesday, it was another beautiful day and Jessica and I trekked out to the Butze Rapids, a 5km trail just outside of Prince Rupert. We packed another delicious picnic and enjoyed the sunshine. It was lovely weather for our last two days in Rupert which was a wonderful surprise, a great note to end on for sure!

Overall my experience in Prince Rupert was overwhelmingly positive. I love the community there, everything they say about small towns is true, everyone is so friendly. We were lucky that there were many people willing to help us out when the strike happened. Because Rupert is such a tight knit community, we were quickly connected with new opportunities, something that I’m not sure would have happened somewhere like Vancouver.