look what i made!

along with my recent laptop purchase, i bought aperture, apple's photo editing software and it is so much fun!  i have been playing around with it and these are few of my favourites from my recent hiking trip.

lonesome?

things i have done alone:

• eaten in a restaurant
• visited museums
• seen a movie
• sipped coffees in cafes
• travelled on trains, planes, buses, and in cars
• ran some runs
• moved to new cities
• rode my bike
• travelled to new cities and countries on vacation

things i have not done alone:

• hiked
• gone out dancing
• attended a live music show

juan de fuca - do it!

it is sort of my style to be worried and anxious before a big event and hiking the 47km juan de fuca trail was no different.  a friend and i had planned to do it over 4 days over the august long weekend and when i was doing my researches on the interwebs, i kept coming upon sites saying 'it is really hard' or 'don't kid yourself, this hike is TOUGH,' or other doomsayers going on about how hard it would be.  this did nothing for my confidence that i could not only handle the hike, but actually enjoy it too.

but (but!), i was absolutely fine, the hike was certainly challenging at parts and there was a lot of elevation gain over the course of the 4 days, but listening to the ocean and camping at some gorgeous sites made all those heart rate rising hills worth it.

this was my itinerary (because this is what i wanted to know before i did it):

day 1 - botanical beach to little kuitche creek campground (14km)

• this day was by far, the toughest for me.  it was 14km to the campsite and i felt like i had to have a little chat with my legs each time i wanted them to take a big step up a rock.  there are a lot of boardwalks and fun bridges made out of the trees, but man, some of them are BIG steps for short legs.
• i also had a bit of a shriek when we came across a garter snake that didn't even have the courtesy to get out of my way when i nearly stepped on it, eek.

day 2 - little kuitche creek to chin beach (12km)

• this day was more challenging, but i didn't feel like i had to motivate my legs to keep moving, they just did.  camping at the beach was stunning and my hiking partner was absolutely exhausted by the end of the day (and with a sore knee after a fall on the slippery rocks) so we spent our evening sitting in the gorgeous evening sun, watching the water and staying out of the wind by sitting amongst the driftwood.
• and we saw sea lions!  and they were cute!  and rather awkward when trying to move along the rocks.
• it was so nice to wake up in the morning and take our time making coffee and breakfast over the stove before strapping our backpacks on and heading out along the beach.

day 3 - chin beach to bear beach (12km)

• listed on the government issued map as 'most difficult,' there were a lot of switchbacks and hills as you dance along the coastline, but again, i felt strong and capable of the cardiovascular and muscular fitness even though i was fretting about how difficult 'very difficult' would be.
• i have to say, we were both thrilled to see the sign for 'bear beach' when it appeared and we knew there were no more switchbacks in our future, yippee.
• out campsite on bear beach was beautiful and quite secluded, which was great.  we named our site doreen after a buoy that had washed up nearby and had a campfire as we sat by the ocean.

day 4 - bear beach to china beach (9km)

• back to 'moderate' difficulty, this day was a breeze and i felt a little disappointed when we reached the final kilometre marker.  it was the only day when we saw a lot of others, mostly day hikers, but i felt proud that we were carrying all of our gear and had the filth and dirt to go along with 4 straight days of hiking.  and we managed to reach the west coast trail bus pick up point with a few hours to spare and time to eat the remaining food that we had.  but i must say that i packed well and estimated the right amount of food.

a few other thoughts on this hike.  i wouldn't want to do it without the absolutely perfect weather that we had.  i suppose even if you couldn't have the benefit of the beautiful sunny skies that dry weather would be a minimum to make it really enjoyable.  i had hoped to see more sunsets, but we were often on the side of a point that blocked the sun setting over the water.  and besides, we were in bed before 9 each night!

there are lots of streams to collect drinking and cooking water and campsites were not over crowded and apart from one bear cache malfunction and many tries before successfully hanging out food, we had almost no issues.  a few minor blisters that 2nd skin took care of and some taped toes and we were good to go!

it was so nice to be out in the middle of 'nowhere' without mobile phone reception and not a care in the world past finding drinking water and estimating how much fuel we had left in the stove.  being sweaty, dirty, and without a shower for 4 days on end was just what i needed to gain some clarity and confidence and i am thrilled that i did this hike and can't wait for an opportunity to do something like this again.

29+5

it's goal update time again!  i am officially 29 and a half tomorrow.  and i have a few bones to pick with 29, but i have faith that it will smarten up for its final half.


1 - conquer my anxiety, or at least win a few battles against it.  i am not feeling anxious lately, which is a good thing.  more of a general frustration and without a lot of direction of what the eff i am doing.  some days, i feel confident, sure that i am on the right path, and something is just around the corner.  but then other days, i am lethargic and melancholy and resemble pig pen surrounded by a cloud of gloom.

2 - be more thoughtful of others, especially around special occasions.  i am doing ok.  not fantastically well, but ok.  and if facebook messages count, then i am on top of my game!  but sadly, that wasn't really the intention of this goal so i am not totally on the ball.  september is a big birthday month in my family though and i am already a little bit ahead of that game, so there's that.

3 - continue making visiting family and friends a priority.  south africa is certainly in the works and i have sent messages to friends in cape town to see if i can visit with them.  and lucky for me, i have two friends coming to me in august and both are friends i knew in nairobi, one who now lives in east timor and the other in darfur, so it will be grand to catch up with them.


i will also get a visit in with my dad while i am in victoria this weekend (and a ride to the trailhead, yippee!) and am planning on spending more time at my family's cabin in the month of august and even though this is not technically what i had in mind with this goal, i am looking forward to it.

4 - nail down some sort of short-term career goals.  um, yeah.  i feel as though this year so far has been the year of opportunities that were not to be, but were so damn close!  there are a few more irons in the fire that could materialise into something, but no word yet on my dream job...

5 - lay a nest egg to accompany my nest.  apparently 4 day hiking trips can be expensive.  but other than that, i am saving my pennies and will do until i have to fork out the dollars for my plane ticket to cape town.  until then though, my nest egg is coming along.  my new laptop took a chunk out of it, but full time hours, an increase in my billing rates, and freelance writing work are adding up.

6 - eat more balanced, regular meals.  i didn't even eat dinner last night.  in fact, i ate lunch and that was it.  today i didn't eat until 1 and will hopefully remember to eat dinner too.  honestly, living alone in the summer means that i a) eat out a lot or b) don't eat unless i am starving and then just open the fridge and make a meal out of whatever combination of food hasn't gone bad.  the other night it was spinach pasta with gorgonzola cheese and asparagus on the side.  that is one of the better combos i have come up with, normally they include pretzels and dill pickles.  eesh.

7 - sleep an appropriate amount.  i am sleeping well, even with some of the hot evenings we have had, and have made a point a few nights this month to get to bed early enough to read some of my book before sleeping.  this might sound like something a Normal Person who do Regularly, but i don't and typically end up watching crappy tv (go chris go!) until i am exhausted and haul my behind to my bed. 


oh, this is sort of funny and involves sleeping...  i wanted to try out my new sleeping bag and was lying in it watching more bad tv and i fell asleep only to wake up in a pool of sweat because, hey, guess what?!   my sleeping bag is good up to 10 degrees and it was hot as balls in there when i woke up.  good to know that it will keep me warm this weekend!

8 - maintain my priorities.  i think i am doing well and especially after a spring where i felt pulled in all directions simultaneously, i am approaching a state of balance where i feel i am on top of most things, including my contract positions and my health and fitness (well, apart from the sore hoof).  this applies to all parts of my life except the state of my nest...  and because of the disaster i now find myself living in and because i seem to be able to work my buns off and save my pennies, i figure a good use of those pennies would be to hire someone to keep my nest in a presentable state.  hence, i am going to hire a housekeeper.  da da dun!


i feel slightly like a glutton for this decision, but it makes sense and it will allow me to continue to find balance by being outside to enjoy the summer weather and socialising with my networks while also getting paid work done while i am at home rather than feeling guilty about watching my bad tv when i should be dusting shelves, cleaning fridges, and sweeping floors.  

9 - keep asking for what i want.  i am keeping up with this one.  i haven't asked for anything monumental lately, but i have been giving some deep thought to what it is i do want and putting that out to the universe.  i suspect that when i see something i want, i will have all the confidence to ask for it like i deserve it and that is good enough for the midpoint of 29 as far as i am concerned.

mish mash on a friday afternoon

in perusing my regular blogs (over there on the left),  i found a link to a vso study on why the images of poor, starving ethiopians during the live aid campaign have caused negative implications in the stereotype of africans.  now, this is not revolutionary in idea, but it is good to see research collected on the lasting impacts of that media campaign.  after a full read, i do think the research is biased in that it is totally poo-pooing on the media and on western views of developing countries while also saying that we have so much to learn from them (which may, or may not, be true, but it seems a bit cheeky to push that so much towards the end of the report when that wasn't the stated focus of the research).  but, it is worth a read.

and i should send it to the next person who tells me they want to go to africa to volunteer in an orphanage.

in other news, i have found a travel partner to join me in south africa, my mom!  yay.  i am even more excited about this trip now!  so much to sort out before then, but lots of time to do it.  should we visit the wineries, should we go to the district six museum, should we go up table mountain, should we go to simons point for breakfast and to see the penguins, should we visit my friends in the townships???

and speaking of trips, i am all packed and ready to go for the juan de fuca trail...  i have two sets of insoles for my hiking boots in hopes that one of them will avoid my crying due to foot pain and i bringing along a bottle of extra strength advil, which seem to do the trick.

i just need to pop out and see if i can find some 2nd skin and then i am off to victoria!  eek.

inflamed, not fractured

i spent 4 hours in the urgent care clinic yesterday and, after a kind visit from a friend who works near the clinic and utilising the wireless in the waiting area to get some work done, i finally had my foot x rayed to see if i had a stress fracture.  and the good news is that my bones are in one piece.  the bad news is that they suspect i have plantar fasciitis.

and when i googled it, the phrase 'very painful condition' came up often, great...  but it makes sense because i was hobbling around this past weekend and hadn't experienced pain that affected my mobility so drastically.  call it a learning (and humbling) experience.

and even though i am not thrilled about having an inflamed plantar fascia, i was happy to hear that i did have something wrong with me because then i felt like i wasn't wasting the time of the doctors, nurses, and emergency room staff and i was impressed with how quickly i was able to get x rays taken and read and a diagnosis made.  and it made me think that if this had gone down in the us there would be a substantial bill to pay and i might have opted against x rays because i do not have health insurance from my employer at the moment, which would mean i would have had to cancel my hike for fear of exacerbating a fracture.  scary.

my next steps are to rest my foot this week, make an appointment to see a podiatrist, and wear my birkenstocks (thank god for birkenstocks!).

have you had this or know someone who has suffered from plantar fasciitis?  any tips on what to do or not do to decrease the inflammation?    or prevent it in the future?  or how to complete a 4 day hike without pain next week??

ouch. and eek.

icy cold on a hot summer's eve

here i am again, sunday evening.  home alone.  and thrilled.  honestly.

one of my recent issues that has contributed to the wobbly moment has been the pressure i have felt to make the most of the summer months in calgary.  to take advantage of every opportunity to get outside and socialise.

and like last weekend, i feel as though i have managed quite fine.  a solid run followed by beers on the patio of one of the city's best pubs with far too many laughs between friends, a luxurious morning sitting on my own patio with coffee and a smoothie while reading my book, a saturday afternoon at the calgary folk fest listening to adorable boys play their guitars from the big rock beer gardens, and a sunday of huevos rancheros at my local breakfast spot with some mountain equipment co-op shopping in preparation for the juan de fuca trail next week and a walk in my community with an iced coffee.

but (and this is a rather large but that could alter the course of my next few weeks), i am currently sitting on my couch watching pvr'ed tv and am not cleaning my house or going for a run because i am icing my foot and ankle.  i have no idea what i have specifically done to it, but i know that it is a recurring injury that i normally keep in check with good running shoes, but wearing cowboy boots last weekend seems to have exacerbated the situation.  and standing in rubber flip flops yesterday was exceptionally painful and i am my worries continue to grow that this will not be cleared up by this friday, which is when i fly out to vancouver island.  eek.

sunday evening

normally, i detest sunday evenings.  call it a case of the sundays, but lately the thought of having to face another week while hanging out at home alone watching pvr'ed tv has made me cringe.

but this evening, i am feeling quite content with my weekend after a rather lame week.  a solid 7km run followed by drinks with an old friend on friday night accompanied by encouragement to go to law school.  breakfast and great chats on saturday morning and then my posse and i hauled ourselves to the nashville north tent at the stampede where i lasted until the wee hours and only left when my feet were too sore for anymore dancing.  then a sunday morning hike with a lovely lady and an afternoon with tours of my mom's garden and a vietnamese sub (because i have no food in my house!).

my wobbly moment continues, however, and i had to give myself permission to opt out of a work stampede party last friday without any guilt or remorse because i just was not in the mood to make merry and pretend that i was happy to be at a bar.  there is not one thing i wish i could change and if there was, i would be working my arse off to change it.

i have yet to hear back about my most perfect job and part of me just wants to the universe to show me where i need to be and what i should be doing.

but in the meantime, i continue to prepare for my hiking adventure and that means soaking my poor cowboy boot feet tonight and finding time to get my buns back up those stairs, hopefully this time without stopping.  menu planning, airport pickups, and a little mountain equipment co-op shopping and i should be ready to go.  it is nice to have something to look forward to!

ready or not, juan, here i come!

i am not sure if i have committed myself to something that is far over my head, but in three short weeks, i will be hiking the juan de fuca trail on vancouver island.  i haven't done any overnight hiking in years and haven't been running or doing much of anything too active for weeks, so this might turn out to be the stupidest decision i have ever made or the challenge that i need right now.

it is less than 42km and we will be doing it over 4 days so that is less than 12km per day, which sounds rather doable.  until, of course, i consider i will be carrying everything i need on my back!

i have expressed my anxieties about this endeavour to my friend who i am going with and he has assured me that he will carry the heavy stuff and will be there to make sure that i get up all the hills and across all the puddles.  but still, i am scared.

but considering my recent wobbles and general attitude about my life lately, maybe this is what i need?

it didn't help that when i googled the hike (on my new, as yet unnamed, but beloved) laptop, i found the following quote:

"The Juan de Fuca trail is one of the most difficult trails I've ever hiked. There's tons of mud, puddles, rain, difficult-to-negotiate exposed roots, steep up and downs, blow-downs and cobbles." He also admits, "It's one of the most beautiful regions I've hiked through, but you earn it, that's for sure."

all i am going to say is that there may be tears.

it started with a seed

over 4 years ago (and i remember this because it was just before the last world cup), i went to london with my bf at the time and my parents, who were visiting from canada.  we rented a sedan, took ourselves for a holiday of live theatre and sightseeing, and visited portobello market.  and in that lovely market, we bought some seedy bread.  and one of those seeds got stuck between my teeth.

like, really stuck.  stuck so badly that for a few days i had a constant dull ache on that side of my mouth.

eventually, with my mad skills in the flossing department, i got that seed out and there would always be a larger space between those two teeth than any of my others.

i adapted to this by carrying around my favourite kind of floss to make sure i thoroughly floss after eating anything that had a tendency to get stuck in there.  apples, beef, anything stringy.  gross, but i never got the 'floss more' lecture from the dentist because i became mildly obsessed.

and when my sis and bro-in-law and i were sitting down to a cold beer and a bite to eat in victoria last weekend before boarding our plane back to calgary, i noticed that i had a hole in my tooth.  a hole in my tooth!  i had my sister investigate it (yes, in the restaurant) and we agreed that it was most likely a cavity, which seemed inevitable.  i made sure to get in to the dentist the very next day and when they told me that my tooth was actually broken and that they suggested repairing it with a crown, i braced myself for the freezing, the drills, and the awfulness of the dentist in general and went for it.

but being frozen that evening really threw me for a loop and put me in a bit of a funk that lasted through the week.  the miserable weather and confusing text message dating certainly didn't help, but the invasion of having someone's hands in my mouth and not being able to feel half of my face for a number hours seems to have had quite a psychological impact.  and it wasn't nice.

i dug myself out of the funk that week and had a lovely weekend full of beers on patios, hikes in kananaskis, and a patio-hopping fundraising event full of food, wine, and good friends.

but that was not what was on my mind later in the evening after i was at the dentist, as i was on the phone with a call centre in india, half my face frozen, having an ugly cry because i didn't know the difference between a modem and a router.  but the nice, young fellow on the phone wasn't bothered and sorted my internets while i felt sorry for myself.  but i bet that if he were located in canada, working at midnight, and having to put up with a whiney mess like me, he would not have been nearly as patient!

a simple request

all i am asking for this week is a few more hours in each day. 

not hours that can be used for sleeping, but hours that can be used for preparing presentations for high schools, visiting with friends in from out of town, time to fit in all of my runs (and all of those hills...). 

i would really appreciate some extra time to collect my package from the post office, to attend all of the meetings i have scheduled for my day job, to mentally prepare to be on the panel discussion following both screenings of What Are We Doing Here? this week. 

i need hours for thoughtful wedding gift shopping, for shoulder season hikes, and for attending a workshop on temporary foreign workers in alberta, and for paying those parking and red light ticket.

i also wouldn't mind some time to sort out if i am interested in dating my neighbour.  it should be so simple, but it never is.

sass-travaganza: a photo essay in reverse

here are some of my favourite photos from the sass-travaganza. for some reason, i cannot reverse the order in which they appear, so just start from the bottom if you really want to get the chronological sense of the trip.

my favourite parts of the trip included:

- the retarded goat (ok, let it be known that the word 'retarded' is totally not a part of the vocabulary of either me or my sister, but there was this stupid goat that wouldn't get out of the road when we were driving up to the trailhead and it was sort of funny to use a totally politically incorrect word. and then continue to use it for the rest of the day, knowing it was so, so wrong)

- the label maker! who knew such an organisational tool could be so much fun?! oh wait, me.

- figuring out that ha ling must be the chinese translation of 'chinaman' since chinaman's peak was renamed ha ling peak (again, with the politically incorrectness)

- the no-name brand camelback, otherwise known as the teat (i know, we are such classy ladies)

- the best snow angel my sis had ever seen!

- my wipe outs and my sister killing herself laughing rather than asking if i was ok

- the best cheese burger and salad EVER

- my sister's costume change and the photos i have of her ironing her dress in her panty (which i kindly did not post!)

- the inappropriate conversations overheard by the other hikes (whoops!)

- admiring the majestic peaks in all their glory

- the best brunch buffet EVER, oh sweet jesus, that food was good eating. and that coffee. oh my, that coffee

sass-travaganza!

as i might not have time to post between now and the aftermath of the sass-travaganza that is the sisters' trip to banff for a hike in canmore, a stay at the fairmont banff springs, and the rocky mountain food and wine festival, i wanted to say that i am excited and it is going to be great!

i have never stayed at the banff springs hotel before and although i am anticipating our room will be approximately the size of a closet and/or a small pantry, i am looking forward to my first stay in the historical landmark in the town of banff.

the springs' sunday brunch has also been recommended to me, so we might have to check that out as long as we are not a) too hung over to appreciate the goodness that is a fairmont buffet or b) still too full from all the delights of the previous night's festival of wine and food.

i am hoping to get some snaps of the sass-travaganza so stay tuned!

relaxashon

(april 28, 2008)

i have been missing in action since i arrived in south africa over a week ago, but i am sure you will forgive me as i don’t think i have relaxed like this since last summer. i have seen and done so much and thought many times, ‘oh, i should write about that,’ but then life got in the way and i would end up playing scrabble with a soldier, sharing a bottle of wine with new friends, eating meat, or been touring around and to be honest, was much happier than sitting in front of my laptop.

to be brief, i have, in the past week or so:

• had a love actually-style, moderately obnoxious, very affectionate airport reunion
• gone to an old car show, drank beer, and admired old south african men’s bellies (and they are a sight to behold)
• roadtripped to the drakensberg mountains, which although i mocked, are a stunning range
• hiked up to the top of a mini mountain, where we enjoyed beer and pretzels
• kicked some irish south african butt at scrabble
• found my new favourite south african coffee shop that reminds just enough of starbies, t ho’s, and second cup
• consumed more chips than i have in the past year
• ran for half an hour in the hilliest place ever
• fought off a group of would-be muggers (not so much fought off as stood sort of clueless as you-know-who yelled and made a fuss so we could leave with all our bits)
• toured battlefields of the boer war where i hiked through cow poo and long grasses for love
• frozen my buns off and bought sheep skin slippers that are delicious
• burnt my face and shoulders in the african sun
• climbed up the voortrekker monument in pretoria and admired it in all its afrikaner-ness
• poked not-so-nice fun at someone’s newfound fear of heights
• overheard the delicious english
• laughed a lot and made myself at home with the fam

and now i am off for more south african roadtrips, food, wine, and company!

gorilla gorilla!

(march 23, 2008)

i woke up at 5:30am to meet my driver with whom the only language i shared being kiswahili. he brought me to parc national des volcanes headquarters where i wished i had someone to chat with as i waited to be assigned a group nursing my rwandan coffee and fighting off a nervous pee while everyone else chatted with the people they came with. damned travelling alone.

but a nice australian lady befriended me in the loo queue and we ended up being in the same group with our guide, a man named patience. (gender specific names are apparently not so important in rwanda.) we went through the generic platitudes of new group formations and i was happy to find out that we were just 6 people, 2 of which were fellow solo travellers.

i thought we’d get on with hiking then, but we had to drive another 30-40 minutes to the base of the volcano we would climb on some of the worst roads my bum’s experienced. but the countryside with houses constructed with mud and wooden skeletons and the women walking along the road wrapped in brightly coloured fabrics was enough to keep me distracted. it is quite a different picture than kenya, where there are always signs pointing to some ngo or evangelical organisation down each red dirt road. but the children in the villages we passed are already realising there is money to be made in the increasing numbers of tourists; pens and sweets to be collected from the foreigners passing by in their safari mobiles as they run alongside the car trying to sell you their drawing of a gorilla or a flower they just picked.

before long, we arrived at our starting point, a stone’s throw from the border with the drc, where we met out porters and were convinced we needed them to carry our things. but being the control freak that i am, i insisted i could carry my backpack. you pack it, you carry it, right? i had thought very carefully about what i would pack and had made home roasted cashews and maple granola as well as brought along 4 extra pairs of socks in ziploc bags (paranoid?!) in case my feet got wet and i wanted my stuff to hand.

the hike itself was uphill, was very muddy, was full of stinging nettles that went right through my two pairs of pants, was led by a machete-wielding porter to cut away the rainforest so we could pass through, and was chaperoned by armed rwandan soldiers because i guess they don’t like to take chances that there are still hostile poachers in the area, especially with instability in the drc.

but all of it was forgotten when we turned a corner around some forest and saw the first gorilla. there were a group of about 10-15 of them sitting in an area where they’d squished the trees and leaves and were so close the only thing keeping me from touching them was the rules not to. they regarded us as we approached and then carried on doing what they had been doing previous to our expected arrival: the baby gorillas played and turned somersaults down the hill, the silverback groomed one of the females, some sprawled on their backs and just relaxed, and the mama gorillas cradled their babies.

one gorilla, a middle aged female, was not thrilled with our presence and challenged our guide, who she knew and who grunted at her to let her know he wouldn’t back down (or she would charge) and told us to ignore her so as not to encourage her, as if he was talking about a misbehaving child. it worked, and she walked past and behind us to find some trees to swing on while we sat with the rest of the group.

how many other ways can i say amazing?

once the silverback decided it was time to move, they slowly followed him out of the nesting area and we slowly followed them through the bush. that female who had earlier been asserting her authority must have decided that she didn’t like being on her own after all and came barrelling through the bush and walked RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, which scared the living bejesus out of me and like a human with a natural fear of a wild animal twice her weight, i turned and ran right into the austrian man in our group while reminding myself not to scream. oh, i am such a natural animal trekker...

we followed them until we reached a ravine that was not human-friendly and watched them disappear into the forest.

worth $500 for the permit? in a word, yes. would i do it again? absolutely. the chance to spend more time with the gorillas would draw me back to this country even if the fried bananas don’t.

the trek to the trek to the gorillas

(march 23, 2008)

i have not been as nervous or excited for anything in a long time. the kind of childlike excitement that keeps you awake at night and makes you ever so slightly nauseous with anxiety about what is to come. i had done my last minute preparations before leaving nairobi, packing clothes suitable for hiking, bagging high energy snacks, and throwing my swiss army knife in my backpack for good measure. i had heard that trekking with the gorillas was a once in a lifetime experience not to be missed whatever the price and that it was surreal even if the hike up the volcano is tough.

to get to ruhengeri, the village close to the parc national des volcans, i took a bus from kigali (that was more like a matatu) and sat between 2 sweaty men where we had to fold our shoulders like accordions to fit 4 people across the seat. I thought at that moment that it is a good thing i don’t take up a lot of space and that rwandans tend to be thin people.

the 2 hour drive was on paved roads without potholes and with guardrails, both of which have become novelties to me. the views of the countless hills and valleys draped in all shades of green were stunning and made the numbing of my bum worthwhile.

my complimentary thoughts on rwanda and rwandans were temporarily suspended, however, when someone on the ‘taxi’ began a conversation, that soon involved everyone of the 18 passengers and driver, about the mzungu that continued for awhile in kinyarwanda with people looking in my direction every now and again without ever explaining what they all found so conversation-worthy about my existence. annoying.

but my limited kiswahili was useful in explaining where i wanted to go and soon realised that the person who bought me my ticket purchased the wrong one. makes me want to reinvigorate my swahili study, not to mention learn french once and for all. (but let me say now that the languages in rwanda are a bit of a smorgasboard of french, english, swahili, with nearly everyone speaking kinyarwanda – many of the people living in rwanda today grew up in kenya, uganda, tanzania, or further afield in the us or canada and so speak english or swahili instead of french, even though that was the official language for decades).

my guesthouse in ruhengeri was friendly and cozy enough. i was contented that it had warm water, and mosquito net (less because there were mosquitoes and more just so i could rest assure the creepy crawlies who neither creep nor crawl on my during the night), and a pillow. i’m afraid i may have offended the hotel staff though, when i didn’t eat much for dinner and wasn’t interested in indulging in friend bananas for dinner. but i managed to get to sleep in spite of my excitement and only woke about 5 times during the night worried that i had overslept.

quiet no more

i have been missing in action, i know. but more just hanging out in calgary, returning to nairobi, and resettling into the life i left for 6 weeks than missing. as kenyans say, i was being quiet.

i think i am still processing my trip home, which was evident last night when someone asked me how it went and my answer was, 'good... great... good..., no really, it was good' the good parts were really good and the other parts were tolerable (like the traffic parts and the price of eating out parts and 'i wonder if i could ever live in calgary' again parts).

because the only way i can think of to catch up is to make some lists...

things i will miss after my visit home:

• driving (and therefore NOT relying on taxi drivers like the one i had last night who was clueless)
• shopping at winner's with my mom
• lazy days at cabins with books
• internet connection at home
• a dining room table
• blueberries
• San Pellegrino sparkling water (if i was ever addicted to a drink, this is it - although it goes against my bottled water policy)
• summer evening sun
• clean streets with cars that would pass emissions tests
• lunching
• dinners at the Cattlebaron with the fam
• grasshoppers in the garage
• breakfast dates, breakfast dates, and more breakfast dates
• midweek hikes

things i was able to appreciate all over again once returning to nairobi:

• the birds in the mornings
• all of the flowers blooming
• my running route
• cooking in my kitchen
• dinner parties
• monkeys joining us for lunch (and scaring the crap out of me)
• my housekeeper
• anchor white cheddar
• kiswahili (even though i think i have forgotten everything i learned)

and a list of random things:

• i've been tattooed again and love it
• what is with strangers 'poking' me or adding me as a friend on facebook?
• speaking of the fb, i've become a facebook pusher myself
• i am on a bit of a fitness kick, or at least am planning to get on a bit of a fitness kick
• i have commited to running 10km in a race in october
• i finished the book Lullabies for Little Criminals and am recommending it (i love canadian writers)
• career trajectories, sheesh. sometimes they head where you want, sometimes they do not. today i am feeling more positive than i have been lately, let's hope it sticks
• wearing mittens to work in august is not cool, but thankfully the weather has changed and with it so has my outlook
• i have been craving beef lately
• i just found out that San Pellegrino is owned by Nestle, so i feel even more guilty about my brief, but passionate, relationship with it
• to make this the most random list of all time - i just cut my lip open eating dried mangoes, ouch

workers of the world, unite

(march 1, 2007)

today is a holiday in kenya and i couldn’t have needed it more after the past weeks i have had. working evenings and weekends has taken its toll on me, i am fighting a cold and forgot to eat on friday; sometime in the early evening i realised that i had not had a bite to eat all day and nibbled on some almonds before heading home at 8:00pm to watch grey’s anatomy and bake muffins with a friend. i’ve been busy but i have enjoyed it and i am learning heaps (finally).

to celebrate labour day i decided to go for a morning run with my trainer/friend and then hike up a volcano. i am not sure that running and hiking up a volcano on the same day was a good idea. lately, i haven’t been as active as i would like and pairing that with trying to kick this illness and being overworked, it was tough. and not tough in the good way but tough in the way where i had to give each leg a little pep talk at each step on the steep inclines. but the views of the great rift valley are always amazing and it keeps me coming back for more. something about the birthplace of humanity or great company and the opportunity to pack a picnic. i managed to make tuna, guacamole, and bake muffins before we left this morning.

my sister has posted a wee synopsis of our trip and since i have yet to do the same, i will kindly direct you there for a quick read about how fantastic the two and half weeks travelling kenya together were.

i received some distressing news recently. my friend is in the hospital in toronto, far away from family and friends, because he got hit by a bus. hit by a bus! until his broken hip heals we won’t be able to do this anytime soon:

i have got my hands on the first half of the 3rd seasons of grey’s anatomy up to the 17th episode, the one where meredith spends the entire episode under water and mcdreamy swoops in with his helmet-like hair to pluck her out of the pacific. um, ok. i just don’t know about that but i do know that i need to locate the next episode to find out what happens because that was way too intense. and i hate to devote too much brain space to television considering i don’t even own one, but i really hope that izzie is still a character next season and they agreed to give katherine heigl more money or whatever the dilemma was. and keeping in mind that i live in a vacuum of pop culture, forgive me if this is yesterday’s news.

i went on a second date with the hunter – meh.

a question to the internet – how much would you pay to see the mountain gorillas in uganda?

a) nothing, you are crazy for even considering it

b) $50

c) $100

d) $200

e) $300

f) $400

g) whatever it takes, hurry up and book your trip now before you miss the boat and the opportunity to see an endangered animal and one of human’s closest relatives in its natural habit.

but seriously, i would like to know.

mount longonot

i remember sitting in a lecture theatre in my first semestre of my first year at uni, learning about the rift valley in a physical anthropology course and never once did the thought cross my mind then that i would have the opportunity to hike up a dormant volcano and around its crater in the awe-inspiring rift valley.

the rainbow on the way down was like no other i have seen and the zebras, impala, and gazelle made me feel as though i am really in the africa of storybooks and legend. so did the bumpy 4x4 ride on a potholed, partially flooded road.

hit by a truck

as in, i feel like i have been...

although i am not sure what being hit by a truck feels like and i would imagine it hurts more than having strep throat. but i have strep throat and it is really cutting into my plans.

i had plans to go hiking, an offer to attend a film fest gala, and tickets to a flames game, all of which i had to cancel/turn down.

and i had been feeling slightly bored. timing, sheesh.

in other news, i think i found myself a place to live in nairobi, so that makes me feel slightly more settled.

even if i concurrently feel as though i have been hit by a truck.