Burin Peninsula - First Road Trip in Newfoundland

In mid-October I began a research project in collaboration with the communities of the Burin Peninsula in Newfoundland to explore opportunities for working together regionally. Over the past weeks I have been exploring the region through reports and conference calls. Last week I had the opportunity to travel to the Burin Peninsula to meet with community leaders, business, and government representatives. After reading giant piles of academic literature and government reports for the past two months the opportunity to travel to the region was a welcomed change of environment.

The Burin Peninsula is located 4 hours way from St. John's by car. The region is home to approximately 10,000 people living in mostly coastal communities. Here are a few photographs from the region.

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Two Months on the Rock

It is hard to believe I have been a resident of Newfoundland for over two months. It seems like just yesterday I began the 5,114 kilometre drive to the east coast. The last two months in a nutshell can be described in three words: rain, rain, rain. In all my life I have never seen so much rain in a short period of time. Almost every day over the past two months have consisted of rain and/or fog (usually both).

Other than the rain, life on the east coast has been good. Settling into the community was fairly easy and my program at Memorial University is really good. A couple of weeks ago in the rain I was getting a bit arrogant with my ability to navigate around the city. Shortly thereafter I discovered I was at the harbour when the intended destination was my apartment - only 10 miles apart! Needless to say I have been consulting the map a little more often.

Although I have only been in St. John's for two months I have learned a few lessons:

• My vocabulary is inadequate for describing rain. Newfoundlanders have terms to describe the rain I have never heard of before.
• Newfoundland English is distinct, such as yaffle or yaffling.
• The price of bananas is outrageous - currently $1.30 per pound.
• The wind is a constant factor daily. My methods of describing the strength of the wind do not match local residents. Need to revise how I describe the wind.

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