videoblog

Birthday snow!

I swear its fall.
The flowers look like they are dying, there are leaves on the ground, the trees are bare, and we get early morning frost.
I can handle it though, becuase I am an adult, an almost over the hill 20 year old, who can feel the rain in her bones. For my birthday I got some very nice cards and a garden full of the fluffy white stuff ( really, it was slushy and muddy, but no one is counting specifics.) I ended up going out with a friend of a friend, and we had a pretty decent time. We played some pool, and went to a few bars. One of which where our server lived in victoria for a few years, and knew more hiking and biking trails than I did, small world? One of hte other bars had sand for a floor. Not just any old sand , pearly white tropical island sand! And the crazy part is that it was immaculate, there were a handful of drunken dirty dancing girls who must of sloshed their drink on the floor at some point.. Do they change it every night? Ship it in from Hawaii?

My birthday present to myself was a pair of new sandals and a silk sleeping liner, all from my nex favorite store- Decathalon. Same thing as MEC , but cheaper, and bigger. It is a good thing i went there with a list. If not I might have convinced myself I needed some hip waders and a kite board.

The rest of the days have been loosly filled with rendezvous. The doctor for the yellow fever shot, The train station for some tickets, the grocery store for random ingredients....

I made cinnamon buns the other day ( which were heavenly), with a yogurt icing. I couldnt find any cream cheese, and the yogurt gave it the tangy flavour. I deceided cin buns was one of my staple foods that they needed to try, and I think I have cinvinced them to add it to a favorites list.

My Itinerary is finally set. I leave for Spain on the eighth of June, and I will be staying in Barcelona for two days visiting with julia, then i train tto Malaga, and take the ferry across to Morocco. I have about a month and a half in Morocco, and I leave out of Rabat into Douala, Cameroon for late July. i am staying in cameroon, volunteering and travelling for a litle over four months, and then i fly into England, short stay there, and then back home for early December!

Rain really is a good preventative medicine.
From doing anything that is.. When it is raining cats and dogs I really don`t feel so bad sitting inside watching 3 movies in a day.

I have chosen to look at it as a good thing. I have finished ALL the episodes of Monk, watched all of M Moores documentaries, and I am caught up on all the recent movies. This will also balalnce out the close-to-zero amount of computer time I am sure to get in the near future.

To break up the weekdays I go to gymnastics, and do things that would usually not even cross my mind..
Like Gardening. Who knew it could be a stress reliever (not that I have any..)? You tug and tug at this ugly old weed, and then zinnng, it comes sailing out, roots and all. Despite being covered in a layer of dirt, and not knowing if it actually WAS a weed, it makes you feel pretty accomplished. The accomplishment dimishes a bit when you discover it was a tulip, but you carry on!
Ironing. Was entertaining for about 5 min. Then I realzied it is one of the most useless things to do in the world. I am just going to sleep on the sheet, who cares if it starts out wrinkle-less or not?

Weekends are pretty fun. We go down to the lake, and have picnics. A dozen people stay over after they go for a scenic motorbike tour, and we go to Accrobranche!!
When I am rich, I am going to have one. It is a big kid playground high in the trees, comlete with ziplines, tarzan ropes and spider nets,tightrope walking and barrel jumping. It was MADE for me.
The place has a dozen or so runs, with at least twenty different things to do. There are really easy, and special forces freaking hard. You have two carabiner lines,so when you change lines you are always attatched, and one pulley for the zip line.

JM and I did the two hardest ones. You have to ask for permission, because if you get stuck; they have to come get you :)

I thought I was going to be stuck in a tree for ever. Most of the activities are slightly up hill, so if you slip , or miss a jump, you get to slide all the way back to the beginning. I fixed this problem by cheating and clinging to trees when I needed a rest. After a while my grip was shot, and I would grab on using the inside of my elbow or knees instead. The capri pants were not such a great idea either. I have some pretty rad bruises.

Who is going to volunteer to be my favorite person and make this for my birthday? Pretty Pretty please!

Pictures- Climbling uphill on a rope, zipline!, and just letting go of a rope swing and grabbing a net.