Farewell to Nova Scotia!

Our last day in Nova Scotia was a good one! Today the students were at the exhibition hall from 9am until noon for public viewing. Some of our students even had visits from relatives, which was really neat! It was nice for Nicole and I to finally be able to see some of the projects. We were not allowed in the hall at all this week except to help students with set up. They have kept us very busy with delegate meetings, zone meetings, special general meetings, and more. In addition, for the 2 days of judging, nobody else besides finalists and judges are supposed to be in the hall looking. It was great to see all of the wonderful projects and to appreciate the amazing scientific thinking that went into them. It was also neat to be able to check out some of the projects that won the big awards from last night and see what they were all about.

After packing up and getting projects ready for shipping, we headed off on our charter bus to Halifax. We had a wonderful couple of hours hanging out downtown. We started at Pier 21 where many immigrants landed in Canada and chose to make it their home. We followed the harbour walk for awhile, and then we walked through the historic shopping district and the historic properties. In the sunshine it would be a beautiful city! Unfortunately for us, today was another day of heavy rain. Nevertheless, we sleuthed out some pretty terrific shops and everyone managed to find something to purchase.

After a very quick dinner at Boston Pizza, we hopped back on our charter which delivered us safely to the CEC auditorium back in Truro for our "Farewell to Nova Scotia" bash! We were treated to an absolutely fantastic performance by the Barra MacNeils. It couldn't have been a better ending to a terrific week. Everyone was dancing in front of the stage and in the aisles and the group had to do an extra long encore because everyone was having such a great time. It was pretty amazing.

Despite the wonderful adventures we have enjoyed this week, I know we are all looking forward to returning to our families (and our own comfy beds!). Please remember to meet us tomorrow at the Kamloops airport - our flight arrives from Calgary at 6:20pm. See you then!

And the award goes to.....

Today the students had a full morning of presenting their projects to members of the public and school groups who came to the Agridome. After they returned to our dorm for lunch, we had a little bit of time to get all gussied up for the awards ceremony, banquet and dance. We're a good looking group! (see photo above).

All the students can be very proud of the work that they did to get them to the Canada-Wides. It is an absolute honor for them to be here, and a testament to the hard work they put into their Science projects. Very few students from each province make it to this point. A special honor went to Isabella today. At the award ceremony she was awarded with an Honorable Mention award in her age and category. We're all very excited for her here, as I'm sure you are at home!

Our celebratory dinner banquet was great. For those who like seafood, there was a whole lobster for each person. It was kind of hilarious to watch everyone trying to figure out how to eat it most efficiently. I was having beef, so it was easy for me to sit back and laugh at the lobster eaters... :-) After dinner there was another video dance. Everyone had fun listening to music, dancing, playing cards, and acquiring various balloon hats, etc. I've included some photos of the dinner and dance on the Flickr site.

Tomorrow is the final morning of public viewing, with the fair finishing at noon. The students will then package up their projects and get them ready to store and ship out on Tuesday. We'll be leaving on the charter bus around noon for our afternoon in Halifax, then returning to Truro for the big "Farewell to Nova Scotia" bash. It doesn't go too late, thankfully, as we'll need to get back and finish packing so we can depart for the airport in the morning. A reminder that our flight should be returning to Kamloops about 6:20pm on Sunday evening. I know all the students have had a great time here, but will be anxious to get home to see everyone and share all their stories, mementos, etc. with you. I know that I'm sure missing my family. It's been a great week, but it will be nice to get home!

Touring Nova Scotia

Today was a great day touring around Nova Scotia. Nicole and I were on the same tour: the Halifax Culture tour. We started at the Citadel, went to Dalhousie University and Kings College, then off to the Art Gallery and a really cool drive/sail on the "Harbour Hopper", an amphibious vehicle that took us on a tour downtown and then right into the water! It was really cool. The kids were all on different tours from one another, but they all came back with neat things to tell us about their exciting days. I am really impressed with the tours this year - there truly was something for everyone! I hope that all of the kids phoned or emailed their families to tell details about their tours - I'm sure they'll have a lot to share with you all!

After we got back to Truro, we went out for a "night on the town". We had dinner at a restaurant called Damascus, then went shopping at the mall. I've included a couple photos on the Flickr site of us having fun at dinner.

Tomorrow the students have a morning of school and public tours. In the afternoon we have the awards ceremony, a fancy dinner, and the "grand ball" dance. On Saturday there is public viewing again until noon, and then we'll be packing up as soon as the visitors leave. The bus we've chartered with several other groups will be picking us up at 1pm to take us in to Halifax for our "field trip". Everyone is really looking forward to it.

Letting loose at the dance!

The judging is finished! Yay! Most of our students had special judging today for awards that they had self-nominated for, so they spent the day at the Agridome. A couple did not have special awards they qualified for, so they were taken on some fun tours instead. This evening they could let loose a little now that the hard part of the week is over. The Nova Scotian's planned a wonderful video dance which was lots of fun for everyone.

Tomorrow is our tour day. Everyone seems pretty pleased with what they ended up with for tours, so I think it will be a great day. Unfortunately, we are not supposed to have great weather, but if the rain at least stops we'll be happy. After we return from tours we're having a "night on the town" in Truro, with dinner out at a restaurant and some shopping time at the mall. It will be a full day!

We have found a better option than renting a vehicle for our Halifax excursion on Saturday. We are going to pool in with groups from Alberta and Sask to charter a bus to take us into the city. I think this works out to be a much safer and easier option, and we are guaranteed not to get lost! (I'm really bad with directions....). We're all looking forward to experiencing a little more of the region on our Saturday excursion.

And the judging begins....!

First of all - a quick note to parents of our students: please check your emails as I have sent you a message asking for your permission to take the kids on a special excursion. Please reply as soon as possible.

Today was the first official day of judging. Unfortunately delegates/chaperones don't get to go into the exhibition hall, so we weren't able to see the kids at their project, however, Nicole snuck upstairs to a vantage point at a window to get a really cool aerial view of the judges at all the projects (see above). In speaking to all our kids when they returned, they all seemed very happy and felt that it had gone really well.

This evening we were treated to even more entertainment. This was the first night of "Canada's Got Talent" where students at the fair get to show off their special skills. The ones that performed were very brave, amazing and talented! Even the Aussies strutted their stuff in a "way cool" dance number that had everyone whooping and hollering. It was really fun. We then were invited to a "Kitchen Ceilidh" with an amazing fiddler, a "pipes" player, guitarists, and Celtic dancers. It was fun, but unfortunately we were all so exhausted from the day many of us were finding it hard to keep our eyes open despite the totally toe-tapping tunes. We are now back at our residence and ready for bed - tomorrow is another busy judging day for students!

Touring the Campus (x 2)

We had an interesting day today touring the Nova Scotia Agriculture College in the morning. We learned about everything from salmon farming to composting to potato DNA and more. Some students and Nicole were even at a station where they got to see inside a live cow! I'll post some pictures of that on the Flickr site . In the afternoon students were treated to some special workshops at NSCC where we are staying in the dorms. Most found them pretty neat as well! This evening we took a bit of a walk after dinner and the kids had fun blowing bubbles and chatting along the way (see photo above). We were treated to two great performances tonight. One was an Acadian duo - Chuck and Albert, and the other was a hypnotist. Both acts were really fantastic and we had a lot of laughs during their performances. Now it's off to bed before judging begins tomorrow. Nobody seems really nervous, which is good to see. It's a treat to be with such easy-going, well-behaved kids. Thank you to the parents for sharing them with us this week!

A great evening....

After a little rest this afternoon, we were off to the opening ceremonies and our welcome banquet. After dinner we were treated to a spectacular live performance of the musical, "High School Musical". It was a high school cast, but extremely well-done and professional quality. Everyone gave them a standing ovation at the end of the performance! Now it's off to bed, and we'll be up early tomorrow for some local tours and sessions at Nova Scotia Community College. It sounds like it will be lots of fun!

By the way.... we found out this evening that there is an official CWSF blog put together by the local organizers here. You can get more details about the events of each day and see if you can find us in some of the "official" photos as well. If you would like to check it out, please follow this link.