Kai Abreu: 08-01-2025

Everything went wrong during the drive. Stuck behind a combine for 10 kilometres? Sure, why not? Random emergency road closure? Seems shady, but okay. Stuck waiting for a train that seems to go on forever to pass? Make it two trains — for fun. Google maps yelling at me to turn left across a four lane highway in the middle of rush hour? No problem, I’ll just turn into Dominic Toretto real quick and Fast and Furious my way through it.

It wasn’t even noon and it had already been a day. However, I am happy to report — it was all worth it. Yesterday I attended my first Swim Drink Fish Staff Fun Day event at Christie Lake Conservation Area. I’d met a couple of my coworkers before at previous events, but the majority of our team just lived on my (admittedly excessively large) computer monitor. It was wonderful to get to see everyone in person and get to know the team better. The weather seemed to forget that summer was still in full swing, and the chilly, cold vibe of the day made me question my fit (thank God my fiancee is a mastermind and shoved a pair of pants in my backpack), but the day was still one of my favourites so far this summer.

Thanks to our incredible office admin, Sandy, we had a day packed with a couple super fun team-building activities (thankfully no one asked me to share a fun fact about myself because I just don’t have any), tasty food, and lawn games that got way too competitive.

My favourite part of the day was learning a little bit of how everyone on our team ended up here, at Swim Drink Fish. We’re a small team, but every single person is driven by a fervent passion for protecting our waters, and on a larger scale, our planet. We believe in the work we do because it directly impacts something we value deeply as individuals — connecting with nature.

I’m looking forward to the next staff event!

Part of the Swim Drink Fish team at Christie Lake Conservation Area — July 31st, 2025.
(From Left to Right): Kyle, Danica, Greg, Sandy, Kai, Megan, Heather, Grace, Whadia, Krisiga.