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!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Pictures on Facebook
Link: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.952987908657.2408966.122609925&l=8232856c36&type=1
Sunday, September 18, 2011
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!!
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!!
Thursday, September 8, 2011
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!
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!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
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!
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