Bamboo Bikes

I've been hearing little whispers, and my desire to constantly reduce my impact on the enviro. made me wonder...Bamboo Bikes? Really?

Actually, they are pretty cool. You can even use them touring, which is awesome since we tend to always think that metal is structurally superior, not the case when it comes to bikes! Bamboo is also super renewable material, grows fast, is often considered a weed, so why not?! Its light, and super slick, check out a few websites of companies that are pumping these bad boys out!

Bamboo Bike Studio (they are really cool, listened to a podcast bout them, you get to build it and get real intimate with your bike!)

Calfree Design (california based, now these are sexy bikes!)

Perhaps someday I will have a bamboo day! Someday...until that day I will just keep dreaming!

Attack of the Christmas Spirit!

No I have not had a bike accident (knock on wood), its just Christmas! But don't worry, just because its starting to get cold, and there is but a dusting of snow on the ground, I keep rolling. Unfortunately, Bessy had to be put away, while Gertrude has been brought out. Gertrude is my winter bike, although she is not nearly as slick and fancy as Bessy, she is tough and rugged and ready to get dirty. Shes already facing sticky brakes and the gear shifters are freezing. I took her to Recycle Cycles (a local bike co-op in Kitchener...if you live in Kitchener you should check it out, its pretty awesome!!) and a dude said this problem is common in the winter, hence why lots of people have fixies (1 speed/gear bikes) for winter bikes. So, Gertrude it rolling, shes slow, but she does the trick!

So, now your probably wondering why I am still typing updates for this blog, considering the bike adventures are temporarily over, and the Otesha Project tour ended almost 2 months ago, well I will tell you! Adventures always seem to happen with a bike near by, and as my life continues I want to explore it with my bike and get more people to find there biking bones too! Beyond this, my Otesha experience continues and will get even more intense! This January I am moving to Ottawa for 4 months to work for the Otesha Project organizing, planning, and making the tour this coming May and June in the Maritimes AWESOME! Also, I will be going on this tour, so more excitement, drama, and angst to come!

So, stay tuned for more adventures with bikes. Sometimes there intense, sometime there humorous, and sometimes the adventures are just...well...life!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Squished Peanut Butter

Two days ago I finally found a place in Victoria that sold bulk peanut butter, however before that I was without the pb for days. Those of you that know me, know I LOVE my pb, so it was intense. But anyhow, I finally found this small health food store on Government Street that sold it. So I brought my tiny little yogurt container and filled'er up, 98 cents later I was one happy beaver.

Even more perfect?! My container fit perfectly in my water bottle holder on my bike. So off I went to meet my friend for hanging and adventuring. After she took to around Beacon Hill park, climbing cliffs my shoes weren't made for we went to get some veggies for the stir-fry we were going to make. Biking along and I hear a "Bam...Crunch"...whow what was that?! "NOOO MY PEANUT BUTTER!!!". Slam on the brakes, back up, pick up the container, it looks okay, a little was lost (due to me RUNNING OVER THE CONTAINER) but it stayed strong. So lick off the edge and away we go again! Oh peanut butter. I hope the squirrels enjoy the treat we left on the street.

Random story, but I thought you would enjoy.

My current bike challenge? I leave to go back home tomorrow and I am trying to figure out how to ship Bessy. It looks like an expensive endeavor. I don't know where to get a bike box. And to take her on WestJet, unlike AirCanada, costs $50! Bahhh....oh Bessy!

Hello Vancouver!

I am not going to lie, this past week has been a challenge. It is always a gamble opening yourself up to help strangers. As a guest into someone else's home you have to take what you get. Sometimes that get can be filled with tensions and power trips that you, as a guest, have to be present to without getting tangled up and involved in. This can be stressful, and a toxic environmental, yet it can also be a learning experience. Being on the other side of toxicity can help you put it in perspective when you are faced with moments when you want to be a real scrooge to others. Anyways, this is what I faced on the farm. I learned a lot, and enjoyed spending time with the family over thanksgiving (American that is) and other times, but it was definitely a challenge.

First dehydrating experience...wont be the last :)

Yeah to Vancouver! Now in Van, and with my bike fixed (Took it to Our Community Bikes yesterday and it was the easiest fix, 30 minutes later Bessy is cruisin the streets), I was able to ride high. Yesterday was overcast and drizzle, but today is glorious out there! So don't wait up, I am going to hit the parks, the art, the food, and cruise! I have also started spreading bike love, little cards of appreciation for bikers, so if you got one, I thought you rocked! And if you want, say why you bike here in the comments, I would love your feedback!

OK, I'm out, tomorrow I am leaving Vancouver for Victoria, it turns out it will be a fairly long biking day, 80 km, I hope my legs still know how to do that kinda distance!

Farm = Thinking and Quinces

Being in the same place, in nature, and somewhat un-busy causes one to stop and ponder a lot. Ponder what? Thats a good question, I am not really sure, I just feel like the past few days have brought a lot of thinking.

I am on a permaculture farm right now, lending a helping hand to the family that owns it...although really I just feel like I am eating there food and sleeping under their roof. There is not a lot of stuff to do outside (as one would expect being the start of winter), yet there is a lot of kitchen stuff, mostly food prep stuff concerning the large amount of quince I gathered from the tree yesterday. Whats one to do with all that quince? Some would even ask, what is quince? Quince, in my opinion is wonderful fruit in jams, crisps, etc., but one can only make so much jam. So, I am about to google those silly little quinces.

But back to thinking, I have been thinking a lot about life, why we are here living, what life brings, why we run around in circles chasing things, I don't know if I have come up with many (if any) answers, but I have become (for now) more comfortable with the presents of unanswered questions.

Oh Crap, I'm not suppose to buy anything new!

As many of you know, myself and my friend Kayla are challenging ourselves to buy nothing new for a year...however both of us have already had to break this challenge!

Before heading south on our bikes, I needed to get bike lights, since someone had stolen mine (I hope they use them!). So seeing no opportunity to get used ones, I had to purchase some, although I did get rechargable ones. If anyone has ideas how this could have been avoided, please let me know! Also, Kayla's helmet broke, so she had to buy a new one as well...we decided both of these purchases fall under the exception "safety first".

However, I also broke down the other day and bought some stickers...they are really cool! They promote veganism in a really cute way! But yes, they are new. Also, I was wondering, if you get something for free (i.e. stickers a store is giving away for free) does that count as getting something new too??

And, although we did not include food, I still feel challenged by the amount of packaging that the food industry (can you call it an industry?) produces! Just walk into Trader Joes (which I frequent for free samples) and you will see aisles and aisles of packages...and this is often the case in many other grocery stores. Anyways, just some stuff to think about.

Why do shiny new things make us feel good? If we actually thought about the bigger picture of what all of these new things are doing to the world, would they still make us feel good?

Still in portland

Don't get me wrong, I love Portland, but it starting to ware on me, being here as a bum, with no friends, no community, no job, no... But I do what I can!

I went for a run this morning, and it was glorious! I have really been missing running, but this week I have already gone on two, and its been so nice. For those of you that know me, I love running...don't give me those crazy eyes! I swear I am not crazy! Anyways, so running was great, and then I decided to head to the pearl district. I was hoping to hit some free independent galleries, however, that didn't really happen. I thought it would be like Queen St. in Toronto where you can just pop in and out of lots of little galleries...nope!

Instead it rained on and off all day (Oh Portland) leading to my currently crazy wet socks and really gross smelling bike gloves. I popped into a cafe to warm-up and felt like I had entered the movie "Gossip Girls". Everyone in the cafe looked like they had just jumped out of a fashion magazine and were drinking skinny lates and eating salads and talking about how the new boots they just bought were such a deal...only $1000! I forget that people live like this, I don't understand it, probably about as much as they don't understand how I live. We should talk, but would they be open to that?

So, I spent the day walking with Bessy, and with practice, I learned to walk with her holding the seat! To those of you that don't bike a lot, you may be thinking..."so what?!", but those bikers out there know how challenging this can be, so please join me in my excitment!

Library and Biking

Yeah, you read right, me and the Portland libraries have become tight yo. With masters funding applications, people to connect with, and blogs to update, I am always in need on internetting time, and I don't have a computer! AHHH, whats a girl to do?! Insert libraries here!

I hang at the libraries, typing with lighting speed and hanging out with the other library bums. Yes, its funny how we all congregate at the library. A lot of the people that I see here you can tell are homeless, which my journey, jumping from house to house, not always knowing where I will be sleeping the next night, has given me a superficial taste of what being homeless must be like! Its Stressful! And I dont even have to worry about food. But anyways, today I almost didn't come to library, but I decided y'all deserved an update.

Today I spent, as I do most days, a good chunk of the day with Bessy (my bike for those of you that have not been introduced to her). We cruised the east side of Portland, and visited an urban education farm called Zieger's farm. it was pretty rad. I wish I could have helped out during the work party on friday but I was not here, and wont be here this friday either. Why not? Because I am heading to my next location: a farm just outside of Mt. Vernon, WA. More on that later though.

Back to today, it started off foggy and cold but by some stroke of luck it cleared up as soon as Bessy and I got to the farm. So we spent a lovely time wantering the area, eating my lunch under an old willow tree and just enjoying the sunshine. Unfortunately Bessy was locked up to a bike rack (although she had a friend there...rairly is Bessy ever alone in Portland, she's spoiled here) during my time on the farm, so I took her out for a ride after. We cruised the city, came across other cyclists (surprise, surprise) and then came to the library! So it was good times.

I have been thinking about why Portland is so rad to cycle in and the reason is, as a cyclist (and I am sure Bessy would agree) I feel respected. There is infastructure in place that respects both cars and BIKES as vehicles that deserve to be on the road, and others (including car drivers) respect that. A little respect goes a long way. Thanks Portland, OR!

PORTLAND!

Where do I began?! Its a really yummy city and amazingly DIY and bike friendly! Everything I love is Portland, we may have started a whee affair, don't tell anyone though!

Let me just highlight a few things I have been loving: bike lanes everywhere, respect from drivers towards bikers, the saturday farmers market that is full of yummy breads, apples and samples, independent cafes everywhere, movie theatres with pizza, beer and wine for you to chow down on while watching the movie, leaves changing colours, vegan treats everywhere (scones, quiche, crepes, pie, mac and uncheese, cupcakes, etc.), bike love everywhere!!

My time is able to run out (I am at the library) so I will write more later...get excited!

Beyond the Otesha Glory

Sorry its been so long, as those of you that cycle tour know, when your on your bike its hard to find time for anything else! So I will give you a quick re-cap!

After Otesha my two friends from Otesha: the lovely Hannah and Kayla decided to continue on to Portland! So back on our bikes we went and...BAM in five days we were in Portland! But lets rewind, along the way we had quite the life!

In St. Angeles, Washington we discovered, based on a vendor at a farmers market, a cafes birthday celebration where we almost got drunk off of cider sampling! Yum! The we continued on along leaf covered paths to our first camping location!

The next day, we left not so bright and early towards Olympia. We ran into a dude who gave us a 30 min schpeal about how there was going to be crazy assassinations in USA soon...yikes! Then another guy who wanted us to befriend him on facebook...random! Then some really nice cyclist out for a day ride, and we visited a farm to buy some veggies from their farm stand and the lady ended up letting us stay there to eat our lunch and gave us AMAZING homemade pesto and banana bread! THANK YOU!!! Arrive at campsite number two. Only ones there camping...

The next day we..biked...biked...biked...and arrived in Olympia. On our way into Olympia we discovered the Blue Herring bakery which we entered and loved...the obsession of bakeries (and food in general) would soon become a theme! Then we visited the food co-op, AMAZING! And then later that day we arrived at our first warm showers host's house! Chris was our host and he, his roommates, and his girlfriend were really awesome! It was an amazing night full of good food, conversations, and laughter! You can see Chris with the three of us in the picture below before we head out the next day!

The next day Chris road out with us to the edge of Olympia and then we were set free! That night we spent at a campsite which was actually closed, which, we would learn why the next morning as we woke with frost on the ground! COLD! However, we stayed at the grounds and got water from a neighbouring house to cook our staple dinner of...lentils and rice! Yum!

Next morning...COLD! Luckily there was a cafe in the town nearby that we went to and warmed up in! Then off we went on our bikes to arrive in Longview at our second WarmShowers host, the Freeces. Another wonderful experience full of conversation, good food, and perhaps a bit too much Halloween candy! Sugar overload!

Now, onto our fifth day, we arrived, after a long day of biking in Portland, at Ken's house (our third Warm Showers host). Another great host who let us crash at his place for several days as we explored Portland. I want to tell you all about Portland too, but my fingers are tired, so I will do that in my next post! Sorry for the lack of posts, I will try to make up for it!

p.s. below is me savagely eating a vegan-peanut butter-oreo doughnut from VooDoo Doughnuts in Portland...YUM!

Buy Nothing New

Inspired by the 2 month bike trip I just completed with the Otesha Project I have decided to buy nothing new for a whole year starting today!

This is an experiment, that, I hope will make me, and the people around me, more aware of the amount that we consume and the production cycles and impacts that are associated with that stuff. This experiment excludes food items, and will evolve and change as I face different challenges!

With christmas, birthdays, and many other gift giving times coming up, I wanted to let people know so that others don't buy me new things, and so that people understand when I don't buy them new things! Thanks for putting up with my crazyness!

The End

Today was/is the last day of our tour. The Sunshine Coast 2011 Otesha tour is officially over! Its really sad, and hard to understand. Obviously it wasn't going to last forever, but where do we go from here? I am trying to figure that one out.

Awesome bathroom decorated with "garbage" at the recycle depot on Horby Island

It is really weird to no longer have 13 other beautiful, awesome, moody, passionate, hilarious females surrounding me and reminding me of why I live the way I live! Reminding me that I am not crazy for having the dreams that I have, and reminding me that anything really is possible. Its exciting to be independent again, but also hard. I didn't think it would be, but its hard to go to the grocery store and me able to choose ANYTHING to eat, because I no longer have a food mandate to obied by. Obviously I still have my values that control my choices, but I don't have 13 others to consider too. Its weird to think that tomorrow I wont wake up on the ground crammed into a small room with 13 other females sleeping head to toe all around me. Its weird.

View of the Ocean on a leisure rainy day bike ride on Hornby Island

But its part of the process. Its part of life to have ebbs and flows. So I embrace it. I am excited to have friends all over the country that I can call on when my strength falters. Who I can call on when I start to doubt myself. Who can call on me when they need someone too.

Electric Car Plug in station in Naniamo (SWEET!)

So whats next? Long term I am not sure. I have a number of things I am pondering over and will work towards making a reality, but there is nothing set in stone yet. Short term I am heading to Portland with a few other girls from the Otesha tour in a few days. I am excited, it will be a nice way to ease back into the world outside of Otesha.

On Saltspring and Loving it!

We started off our day yesterday with a little bit of group drama. We woke up thinking we were heading to saltspring island, but there were a number of people not ready (due to sickness and other reasons) to leave Naniamo...which ment a long two hour meeting set in. WE need to concensus every decision we make, so that ment 2 hours of talking to decide that we would split up with 10 of us heading to the island and the other 5 coming later. Sooo...we left late, and got into town just before dark. Unfortunately town was not were we were staying so we had to lock our bikes and hitch-hike to the farm we were staying at! Adventures!

Now its saturday, and there was an amazing farmers market we went to! It was great! I really enjoy how many artists and amazingly grounded people there are. I also really love how people hang our so inter-generationally, grandparents with parents and little kids! Its pretty cool. We also went swimming in the lake, visits some stores, and had a pretty rad picnic. I have also notices how we work together so much better with 10 instead of 15 people. Its interesting how life is so much easier when there are less opinions to take into consideration. How would one ever make any decisions if you had to consider 100s of opinions? Perhaps thats why everyone never seems to be satisfied with the government?

We also went to a wine test, and now I have insane stomach cramps from something, I think its an allergic reaction, but I don't know from what. I have never had so many issues with digestion till this trip! Soo weird. Oh Im going to miss this community I have found through this tour.

We have one more day in Saltspring, then we leave monday for Duncan. And now Im going to sign off to drink some more tea.

Thanksgiving

Our internet access has been lacking, so I apologize for the lack of blog posts. However, hopefully my double post will make up for it. I am at a school after a 70km day, so here goes!

Today is thanksgiving Monday, we FINALLY have a day off, its been a long time since our last one, so its nice to have time to chill and reflect, unfortunately its been crazy rainy all day. Actually all three of our days off have been rainy, its kinda disappointing, since we are currently on Hornby Island and its beautiful here, but we don’t really have a chance to explore it. I popped out for a short (1.5 hr) ride around the island though, so I got to check out a bit of it. I went down to an area called Ford's Cove, which was beautiful. It had all of this big leaf maple trees lining the road, and then there were pastures lined by a rocky seashore and the sea rolling away in the distance with the rainy-stormy day. It was so beautiful, and the rain almost added to it because of the fog in the air.

Yesterday was thanksgiving and now that I am reflecting on this (although I have been reflecting on this all weekend) I am aware of how lucky I am. There are so many things that I am thankful for in my life, so many things that i often forget about! First of all, its amazing that I am able to be here right now, on this trip! Its definitely challenging, I never knew how hard it is to make all decisions with consensus is, it makes me realize how impatient I am! Its amazing to be meeting all of these amazing other females, discovering passions in them, and discovering that I am not alone with my passions, and goals in life. Swimming against the norm, working towards creating a more enviro. Sustainable future, ignoring what mass media often insists we must buy and consume, tends to isolate me (and others) and cause doubts to arise. However this experience has helped me see that those doubts have no place in my life, everything will work out, all I have to do is trust myself. So I am also thankful for myself and ability to listen (sometimes) to myself.

Yesterday I also got to talk to my family on the phone, which was really special for me. It was great to chat to mom, dad, brother, and sister, and for some reason it felt really special. I really appreciate having a family that is so supportive of what I am doing, especially when my life choices tend to challenge my families norms. Its nice to know whatever happens, we are still a family that loves and values one another. Thanks family!

I could go on and on about what I am thankful for, but I will stop here because...I want to get back to reading my book ( the birth house) and play games with my tour mates! So I end here, we have an 80 km bike ride tomorrow, along with 2 ferry rides! Then we arrive in Naniamo on Wednesday (we also have 2 performances Wednesday). So stay tuned!

Thanks for listening to my ramble and I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving as well!

Sick...

The intensity of this trip makes me feel like i am living a lifetime of emotions, experiences, aches, pains, laughs, joys, and sorrows all in two months. Meaning the experience is really intense!

I have recently been feeling really sick: achy limbs (not from biking), stuffy and runny nose, sore throat and congested head! Let alone that I have been hacking up a lung! But I am not complaining! I am observing how a situation (like biking in the rain all day, being wet and cold, and having to then set up tent and cook for 14 other bikers) that is challenging but do-able is intolerable and causes exhaustion and a need for me to retreat! Living in an intentional community has caused me to sacrifice a lot of personal comforts and things that I usually rely on to define me (regular running routine, cooking, etc.) which has opened me to see the potential I have beyond these “items of definition”. However, it has also caused me to sacrifice myself, to the extent that i feel guilty if I take time for myself away from the group(like what I am doing right now). It is always a struggle to find balance between nurturing our inner and outer world, and I find that I tend to neglect my inner world, as many activists do, in hopes to find belonging, happiness, and/or fulfilment in life through my outer world. However, as one of my tour mates constantly reminds us: taking care of yourself is the most important priority and everything else comes second. This is a “rule”that we have even stated as a group during the tour, yet it still makes me feel guilty to leave the group for a warm, dry place to reflect, why?

Perhaps I feel guilty (which I think is a useless feeling, along with worry) because of how lucky I am and yet how I am still not satisfied. I may have been sick, wet, cold, and tired earlier, yet I was also fed, had friends and shelter (of one form or another), which many people would consider luxuries. Yet my luxuries still did not satisfy me, I wanted to be dry, warm, and healthy, all valid desires, yet also most likely the source of my guilt. Knowing what my needs, as an individual, where, I took it upon myself to leave (with another teammate) and act on these needs. This was not a gesture of hate or disdain towards the group, but rather an act of love towards myself, because without me there is no we.

I end with a reflection on the group and the time we have left. There is three weeks left and I am excited, I love everyone on the trip, however I am also scared that we will start to lose ourselves (due to lack of individual time) and begin to dispose the group. I am also worried that we will continue to be over stressed by the weather, biking, performing, nomadic living and group dynamics. We will see what happens, I hope for the best and will try my best to bring positive energy to the group!

Tired legs make it to Campbell River

Today (September 28th) we biked from Powell River to Campbell River. A ride that was only suppose to be 55km, however my partner and I made a few detours so it was more like 65 km (I'm guessing). My legs are tired, and my butt hurts, but it was a glorious ride. The scenery was amazing! With hills unfolding in the distance, fluffy clouds encircling mountain tops, and the sea calling our name. Last night was the first frost too, so although the day started off pretty chilly (we had to catch a ferry at 7:45am to the island, so we were up at....5 AM!!), it was lovely weather to bike in, nice and crisp!

Along the way, my bike partner and I also made the decision to stop in at cool looking roadside things, because whats the point in making the journey if you don't take advantage of it, and all the perks of going slow (biking vs driving) holds! So we stopped in at a farm produce stand, a sculptor who showed us his working area (in BC there are road signs to indicate whenever an artists, its pretty sweet....Ontario learn from BC!), and a road sign with my last name on it! The sculptor did really cool stuff! He designed and made fountains out of copper and old instruments, it was really neat. I doubt we would have seen him/his work if we were driving.

Our lunch was on the water, soo beautiful! We walked along the water checking out jellyfish and a crazy orange coral. It was really relaxing to just sit and eat and chat about what we want to do with our lives, what we foresee for our futures and all that jazz.

We don't have much else tonight, we may practice the play, we are currently making changes to it, but thats it. I am guessing we are all going to be pretty tired, I know my legs sure are! We have a performance tomorrow, and then another long (60 km) bikeride, and then my cooking group is also cooking dinner! Yikes!

So I am sitting at the library with my biking buddy using the internet!! yippee!! Anyways, I will end here. Thanks for listening, and following my ventures through stiff hip flexures, many sleep days, school presentations, and beautiful scenery!

Pictures on Facebook

Link: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.952987908657.2408966.122609925&l=8232856c36&type=1

Beyond Training week!

Sept 9/11

I biked out to the north shore of vancouver this morning and its SOO BEAUTIFUL!! I don't know what it but its so calming to be by the water. The view is beautiful, but the juxtaposition of man-made with natural is interesting. A lot of the "man-made" is destructive to the natural surroundings, like the large cargo ships. This contrast is beautiful although also scary.

Today is our day off so I biked to a cafe and had a lovely time. It was super cute and had fair-trade coffee and vegan muffins! Yippee! I love Birtish Columbia!

Sept 10/11

Today is the day for our premiere performance so I will keep it short! There is a lot of rehersing going down, so its intense but also exciting. We are still doing training week, but its the last day of training week which is sad but also exciting too.

Potluck! Everyone that came to see the performance brought food and its all vegan!! SOO nice to not have to eat rice and beans for dinner. Don't get me wrong, I love them, but....I need aq change!

Sept 11/11

Today is our official first day of the tour. The other tour group left and we are about to leave for our first "real"performance at the Science Center. Its pretty amazing thinking about all of the experiences and accompilishments I have had in the past year, and here comes another!

Sept 12/11

We are moving out of Southlands farm and going to sleep on a school gym floor.

Sept 13/11

Today was our first cloudy day. We had two performances and some workshops and they all went well. We are still in need of practicing because all of us forget our lines here and there, but we are also pretty good at improve, so most the time the audience can't tell that we are saying different lines. We do need to work on our transitions though.

Sept 14/11

Its our food day today! we have broken up our food chores into groups. so we have 5 different cooking groups and eat team does a whole day, starting with dinner (so dinner, breakfast, lunch), so we are today. We have a lot of left overs to use, we also got a lot of veggies for free by asking a few natural grocers, YES! We also are aware of the need for awesome food, people need food joy, so....lentil loaf with stir-fried veggies and I am going to make giant oatmeal choc. chip cookies for everyone and our long bike ride tomorrow. I LOVE COOKING FOR PEOPLE!!

P.s. Everyone LOVED the food!

Sept 15/11

Our first big bike ride. We are leaving vancouver (woohoo), we are biking to gibsons. Not very far, about 35 km, but it was still a challenge with all the hills and all our stuff to carry. We also had to take a ferry, which was really nice to ride at the end of our bike ride. AND the scenery is SOO BEAUTIFUL!!! We are staying at a camp. and we did a performance there, and they fed us!

Sept 16, 17, and 18 to come. I am tired of typing...sorry!!

Training Week in Full Swing!

First of all I would like to apologize for the lack of photos, I will try my best get one or two up on my next post! One more logistics note, I have taken notes in my journal every day about how the experience is going, so I will make updates from those notes and date them appropriately, now for the good stuff!!

Sept 3/11
Today is the 1st day of training week and I am super tired, although excited for it all to begin. I met everyone and we are all super interesting, although I can see where some friction may arise, hopefully it doesn't though. When there is friction I find the best solution is trying to see where the other person is coming from.

Sept 4/11
Day 2, I just snuck away for a little me and relaxation time. Its been a good day, although I underwent an emotional and energy roller-coaster. But all and all its been good. This was the first day that our tour group (sunshine coast) got to spend some time just with us (there are two tour groups training together this week). It was a really great bonding experience.

Sept 5/11
Today we start work on the food mandate. I am excited to see how it to goes, although nervous too. Its a great chance to experiment with our values, but I also don't want others to feel like I am imposing my values on them. Its sometimes hard to hold true to your own beliefs while also remaining open to others.

Sept 6/11
I am pretty tired, and I'll be honest, right now I don't really want to be here. I need some time for my batteries to recharge: to run, journal, and reflect on whats been going on so far. Surrendering control over your life is really hard, even if it for 4 days. We did do a hugging experience today though, which was amazing! Half of us closed our eyes while the other half went around and hugged the people with closed eyes and then we switched. It was fabulous, made me cry, all that love!

Sept 7/11
Biked to a coffee shop near the farm with a bunch of the girls that I am going on tour with before our day began. I had a really good conversation with one of the girls about food and making the choice to eat animal products or not to, it seems to be a topic that will forever be popping up. Its only the 5th day, but it feels like we have been here for forever already.

Sept 8/11
Day off (well, not full day, it starts at noon). We finally got through the full play this morning, I am a little concerned about it, since our first performance is on Saturday. Somehow we will make it work. I am so excited for free time too: I need to wash my clothes (and myself!), buy a few things and do a little interneting.

Well I hope you enjoyed those snap shots from my days, if you have suggestions or comments I would love to hear them!

Otesha Tour Blog

If anyone is interested, there is going to be an Otesha blog for the tour I am going on, where the participants take turns posting updates about the experience/journey. If you want to be on the mailing list for these updates go to the link and subscribe!

Aside from that, my update today is that I leave for Vancouver tomorrow! The training week starts Saturday, but since we are meeting at 8am on Saturday I am spending friday night in Vancouver. I have my paneers mostly packed up, and every time I look at them I just can't believe that my whole life for the next 2 months can fit into these two small bags that STRAP ONTO MY BIKE!! I am sure I will get over this astonishment, but right now, ever time I look at those two little bags I am in awe.

My friend, who will also be on the tour (we only became friends after finding out we are going on this tour together!), and I went on a test run, fully loaded, 2 days ago and survived quite well. Although it lacked hills, we biked 60 km, and were barely phased, although somewhat tired at the end. So some of my faith in myself and my bike has been restored.

Well, I am off to bed, next time I write I will have started (and maybe finished) training week, so stay tuned!

Questions and Answers

As part of my fundraisers for the Otesha bike trip I had the participants fill out different questions relating to biking and the environment. After reading them, I thought they were really inspiring and we could all learn from the answers. Enjoy (some are very entertaining!) :)

What is one easy change you can start doing to improve your relationship with the environment?

A: Start to compost, walk to work

A: Eat less dairy :)

If you could bike anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

A: On the road with other cyclists and no cars

A: British Columbia as well. I have family out west and I love hiking when we visit. A nice long bike tour would be awesome, I am jealous (of you)!

A: Spain, Ireland, Italy, (these places) have beautiful landscapes, weather, (and) Ireland is home.

A: Along the British Columbia coast...mmm mountains and ocean...need I say more?

What is your favorite form of active transportation and why?

A: My feet because I don't like to bike.

A: Walking.

In your opinion, what do we do that has the worst impact on the world? How can we change this?

A: Not realizing the effects of our actions - become more aware and connected.

A: We drive EVERYWHERE! Walking/biking (can change this), (it) builds community/relationships :)

A: My daughter would answer this question best. (What has the worst impact is us) not mind(ing) our Earth!

First Performance

Hey Everyone! Otesha office has past on the details for our first performance to the performers, and so I am now passing it on to all of you! If any of you will be in Vancouver you should come! If you know others in the Vancouver area, please pass on this information to them!

Saturday, Sept. 10 @ 7pm Premiere Performance

Location:
Southlands Farm
3226 West 51 Ave.
Vancouver BC

1 week!

The Otesha training week is in one week! AHH!! That means that I need to be ready in 1 week, thats really scary, I don't feel ready.

Training week is when we meet everyone, learn the play, and start to figure out how we are going to form our community. I am excited but also nervous. What are going to be peoples values? How are my values going to connect and (inevitable clash) with other peoples values?

Stay tuned!