oops adventure

I'm into how Toronto makes you feel like a perpetual tourist. Just when you think that you know the City like the back of your hand, you find yourself on a bike on a large street you didn't even know existed. And then fast decline and an incline, you're in a bit of urban wilderness that seems so foreign. For a second you realize that you're on a derelict city bike, in quasi- mountain bike conditions. You worry about your breaks. After a brief frisbee stop, you're ready for civilization as you know it again. On the way back into your "comfort zone" you pass markers- a bridge that makes you feel like you're in the city again (your heart quickens), a one-of-a-kind department store that signals your 'hood, and finally, as the rain starts, you're riding comfortably the wrong way down a one way street and into your driveway.

Messing with Texas

Viva Cuba Libre!

Just back from Cuba. Pics up soon. Holy amazing batman.

Now for some more real life.

kate

Wherefore art thou Placement?

I have a bunch of really cool friends. For example, I just got an email from one who just climbed Mt Kilimanjaro, and in the email used this climb to describe his whole experience working in a refugee camp in Tanzania where he's been for the past 9 months. Another is set to leave for Mexico in August to document the Zapatista movement in Chiapas. Actually, I have two friends in Mexico right now: one is volunteering with Doctors without Training, and the other is doing a reciprocal language program where he learns spanish, and teaches english. Speaking of Latin America, one of my closest friends is leaving in September to spend a year volunteering and going to school in Ecuador, and another friend should be arriving back from El Salvador shortly. If you go a little more East, I have two friends in Brighton at the moment, busy discovering themselves. And then there's one who'll spend the rest of her summer treking around Turkey. But even close to home, they're doing interesting things: I have a couple friends from Victoria who will be showing up on my doorstep momentarily to spend a couple of days with me on their trip across Canada. And another who said to Jen last week "this is probably the best summer so far" because it has been filled with trips to big cities, episodes underwater, and as ever, Toronto urban adventure.

So, all this amazingness makes me sit and wonder, what does my next amazing year hold? Why don't I know what I'm doing yet? Is this a bad sign? Even with these questions, I feel confident that within the next three months I will be able to provide a post that paralells these friends of mine in their capacity to adventure. But for now, stop asking me about placement!

Victoria and area is full of lovely things to do that one doesn't do anywhere else in the same combination. I've been here for a little over a week, and I've been busy doing nice things, because that is what one does here. Today was no different, as my mum and I went up Island to some of the local wineries for a bit of a wine tour. We started at the one pictured above, where we had a delicious lunch of crab cakes and creme brulee, and a cheaky little Damascus wine. Our next stop advertised that "visitors are always welcome to ... share our salmon stream and sunlit vineyard views". Mum and I joked with the guy behind the tasting counter (who was actually their landscaper, but was for some reason leading tasting tours today) that we were actually there for the salmon stream and not the wine. He looked at us strangely, and eventually I convinced him to let us take a look at it. As it turns out, "sharing" the salmon stream involved a precarious hike down and extremely steep and slippery slope. And there were no salmon. By the end of it I was muddy and unfit for further wine touring. I should have taken the fact that the vineyard was far from sunlit as a sign. We made one more stop before we returned home via the scenic route, with no less than 12 bottles of wine. I think my current glow is less from the alcohol and more from an entirely well spent day and recent pleasant activity.

Cowichan Winery Tour

Kate and Salmon Stream

Smells like BC

In Victoria once again. This happens more than I predicted when I left for Toronto two years ago. Every time I come back there's a different emotion. This time I feel more at peace with the whole deal- I'm not trying to viciously reject my roots as much as I once did. But everything is sort of hazily and eerily familiar: I keep thinking that I"m going to run into someone I know, and that I won't recognize them, yet everyone I come across looks sort of familiar. It smells and smiles like Victoria, and the flowers and wind and water are beautiful. It would be so easy to slump into HOME LIFE, but I'm determined to take advantage of all the good things that I use to brag about the West. So, tomorrow if it's nice I'm booting it down to the beach in my spanking new bikini after a coffee and some italian pastries with my father. I am happy to be back in a large part because I am so happy in Toronto- you'd think it'd be the other way round.

If you're from Victoria, you may as well give me a call.

Mini Break

It had been so long since I'd hung out with parents...not only mine but anyone's in general. Also, I felt ridiculous when I tallied the sheer number of nights spent in my own bed since moving into this house. So I went home with Jen this weekend for a Cambridge Minibreak. My easter weekend had been diverse already, with a gallery opening, a punk show, breakie with the girls, a long downtown walk, a night at the races, and work, and the theme of diverse fun continued in the small Ontario town. I felt a little like I was in Victoria again. We parked about a block from the club, there was no line up, we could arrive in our tshirts, there were no girls in miniskirts and stillettos...none of the Toronto clubbing difficulties, like hikes to and from the club, fashion obsession (to the point of ignoring the FUN of going out). Anyway. Night one was great. The next day was even more like good old Vic because there was little to do, and so we ended up at a coffee shop, going for a run, playing some frisbee, taking pics, and dropping in on friends around the town. Very different from my life in Toronto where I can usually always think of something to do, to the detriment of my random visits to friends and physical play time. But that love has been rekindled. The highlights, of course, included portuguese shrimp, kissed lips, Jen 24/7, tequilla, B-52s, turkey dinner, fish cakes, the Newfies and seeing what Jen's life was before me...

It seems very appropriate that this quasi-spastic blog just sort of trickles out. Perhaps I will work more on content next time???

Kate

Belated Euro-Pics from Christmas 2004

B*ke

A*dam 

A*dam 

A*dam 

Where I've been is certainly not where I'm going

create your own visited country map
or check our Costa Rica travel guide

So. According to me this is completely inadequate. I've only visited 5percent of our great Earth...only 5percent of the landmass at that! 12 countries. My goal is to see red.

Gezellig

I love this country. This trip has been a study on how to force the cohesion of things I like about Holland and Canada and myself in both of these places. I like the intensity of friendships in Canada, but I like the informality and frequent going out in Holland, and the "live in the present" attitude. Perhaps it is just the friends that I have here?

I just spent a week away from my family here, first going to Doetinchem where lived three summers ago. I had new years with Joliet and Erik and the rest of the crew, and apart from the double takes, it was as though I'd never left. Then on to Groningen for a few days with Frank; it was fantastic as usual. We've all planned to meet up in Madrid in three years time. I'll keep you posted on that.

Tomorrow I'm back on the plane, ready to enable fusion of two worlds.

A'dam: Wereld Stad

Yesterday was wonderful! After three days of delightful but unknowlingly rather oppressive family, we escaped (thanks to Nederlanse Spoorwegen) to Amsterdam. First we wandered over canals to the Noord Kerk (north church), and ate apple pie (the best dutch kind) and coffee in an obviously popular cafe on the corner. We had to wait for a while with tray in hand for a space to become available. From there we walked to the Dam square (which houses the Grand Kransnapolski hotel, the Palace, the New Church, the Bijkorf, and Madam Tussads). We'd done it all before, so walked through the shopping streets to the Van Gogh Musem. We spent a few delightful hours there. Can you believe that in the two months before he killed himself, VG made 80 paintings? That's more than one a day! From there we wandered through a market, broodje kroket and patat in hand. On the other end we found a little bar from eons ago, and went on a bit of a pub crawl through all the oldest bars in A'dam. When we were feeling warm, we decided to check out Ocean's 12, and were very much pleased (especially since part of it takes place in Amsterdam). Finally, we got soarma and donerkebab for the way home (extra garlic sauce) and ran for the train.

The idea for today was to repeat in Rotterdam, but the conditions outside are slightly uncondusive to a day of wandering around the city. Instead, we'll stay inside with books and emails.

Arrived

After a three hour delay in the Toronto airport (well spent reading A House for Mr. Biswas by Naipaul), I found myself on the plane seated between to men, visible polar opposites. To my left was the tall skinny pale nervous guy, and to my right was the shorter squater darker sort of odorous guy. Turns out, from my conversations with each, that they were also internally polar opposites also. With one I spoke about the spectroscopic measurement of flames he was doing for his post doctoral research, and spoke French with him about everything else under the sun. With the other I talked about his flight squeemishness, and how he resolved it by his faith in Allah and by reading the Qu'ran during take off and landing, and later I helped him determine whether the cereal bar we were given was halal. It was interesting because both had such definite world views and hard set beliefs, but they came from extremely different places. I felt a bit like the middle ground, with my tendecy towards atheism, and my scientific skepticism.

Now I'm here in The Netherlands, reflecting on a delightful flight, and a delightful fish dinner, and a still more delightful breakfast, waiting for the rest of the delight that is in store for me.

M.Dot

Am in Montreal once again, if only for a moment. As we approached (I was driving!), I felt this wave of emotion (as it seems that all emotion comes in waves, no matter how generic that may sound) fill me with love and excitement for being back. And as we drove up St Laurent, I felt at home, and that I fit in. It's a reaction that I didn't expect, as I've been so happy in Toronto. I guess I'll just have to reserve a smidgen of my future to come back here.

Hurrah for happiness.

Ma Tante

Just back from a fabulous fabulous weekend away. I met Paulette, Philippe and Christian in Ottawa and we went from there to Mt Tremblant in Quebec for a couple of days of skiing. The chalet was full to the brim with fun frenchies, and now I feel like I've got some family out here! The mountain itself was great (very similar to Mt Washington) and the village was chic beyond belief. We went to Le Shack for an apres ski pitcher, but could have painted the town red if we'd wanted to. Spent the second day with Helene and Bill, and ran into some Torontonians as well (my hookup for future ski trips???). Back in Ottawa on Monday, we spent a pleasant day poking around the Byward Market where I visited my favourite hot sauce store and nearly bought a Persian Carpet!!! Now I'm back safe and sound, infront of my computer once again. Many thanks to those who made it possible- I'll see you at the cottage in the summer!

In other news, I went to Italian Night at the Distrikt the other day, to see Mauro Picotto. With Mel as company, we managed to avoid all the Ginos and have a mostly wicked time. Italian flags for souvenirs, and the memory of some really good music.

[Have a feeling I used a few too many cliches in that one.]

Waggwhan?

Ah. And so another one of life's weeks has come to an end. I wonder if it is good to have so much adventure crammed into one, rather than have it more evenly dispersed through the other 51 weeks in a year. This was an amazing trip because it was interesting and relaxing at the same time. While it was only a week, I think that it's prepped me for future travels more than Europe has. I think it'll prove especially useful for my IDS placement year because of what it has shown me about how I interact with people from different cultures in their setting, and also about spending time in a developing country in general. I wondered what topics were taboo, and how much people wanted to talk to an outsider, especially one disguised as an American tourist. But, I found that when I was interested, they were happy to tell me their perspective of Jamaica- and in the end I have a variety of different stories. They tell us to be aware of variability within a culture, but it had never really been concrete until this trip. I'm rambling a bit about just a couple of thoughts this trip prompted, and I'm sure more will come as I further disect my fabulous Jamaican holiday. It's not a cohesive Kate-esque blog, with events detailed consecutively, but I suppose the "no problems" attitude has taken me over.

One love.