Balmy Weather

I've decided to remove my msn message to all of : it's pretty much summer over here. I upset a good friend from Guelph and decided my work was done. It's like the second I stepped off of the plane onto B.C. soil and breathed in the fresh B.C. air that my cold symptoms began to clear. I haven't worn my Thermaloft North Face parka since. Today I finished off my Tuesday without a toque or a jacket (just my vest). So compared to the -16C I left behind in Ontario, the average 7C here truly is like summer, at least on the island.
Perhaps I may transition into a night owl in terms of managing my studies. I'll try out this in bed before 11/11:30, up by 5/5:30 - go for at least 6 hours a day, and no naps. No naps. At least during the school week. Okay. Maybe at least during Mon. and Tues. when classes run pretty well all day, although pretty nicely (if you choose to look at it that way) spaced out.
I think I've accepted that it really is not feasible for me to return home for family and personal affairs this weekend. So I will stop looking at flights home and focus on how to be a good person from afar. I'm starting to embrace what I did have with my lost loved one while he was here, as opposed to what I can no longer have and what will be missed.

Kicking off 2010

4 days into the New Year and I've already done a substantial amount of travelling. A flight from Toronto to Calgary to Comox on the 1st followed by a ferry ride from Comox to Powell River to visit with my cousin and the bird. Still craving my number 13 meal from the Thai Dal Zone (isn't that a clever name? I was impressed.) that I forgot to bring home with me - I always take home leftovers these days. On the 3rd, another ferry ride from Powell River to Comox, then the train from Courtenay to Victoria. My first trip on a train (The GoTrain in Hamilton and T.O., and whetever they would have called it in Germany do not count) so I was excited for this scenic tour of the island - that lasted for two hours, when the sun went down and then I took advantage of the opportunity to sleep. I think it helped to defeat most of my cold, although the cough did make me almost vomit again on my walk to the bus with Rob this morning, and did force me to leave mass on campus for a bit this afternoon.
It seems that most of my blogging will be done while eating dinner (at least until I get too messy with my food, which I usually am not). I purchased a rather healthy meal today - veggie chili in a bread bown with rice (the healthy kind from the looks of it) and fresh garden salad (yes, there is dressing). If I choose to stay healthy with my meal choices as a New Years Resolution, which I probably will torture myself with, my choices will be limited, but I know I'll feel awesome (at least that is the hope). I may have to make one exception and just limit the intake of sweet potato fries though...becuase I love them, and they are better than regular fries. The reason for eating out is the long day that every Monday will be with class at 10am and my final class ending at 9:30pm. Hopefully I will not have to purchase every week as I am a starving student - I just have only been back in Vic for less than a day and need to find the best option for purchasing fresh fruit and veggies for myself. Right now I have 20 dollars of food to live on for the week.
Which is nothing compared to the 288 I spent on textbooks today (and there may be one more to purchase) and the 620US I will somehow have to come up with for my in country expenses for Honduras. Such is life. And I hope to do a better job of living it this year.

Final Two Weeks

It's crunch time. Time to hammer out long, irregular hours of school work and money work. Trying to fit in eating and working out is hard, but I always make time for church and bible study. And knitting. Tonight I made a spectacle of myself at the Beehive Woolshop here in Vic after hours. Next steps in knitting - a felted Christmas stocking. I added stitches three times and even ended up knitting with the short end - the wrong end. I even started with not enough to cast on.
I need to be asleep in one minute if I want to clock some hours of nightime shut-eye before I begin the cycle of classes and schoolwork again.
I know. I was on a long hiatus.
Laziness. Travelling. Laziness. I'm working on getting rid of the outsets.

Shanti, Shanti, and Shanti (Peace, Peace, and Peace)

I never get as much homework as I plan to on weekends. But they are ALWAYS eventful. My room can now be a hospitable place for house guests. I can see my desk and actually work on it now. Made the complete effort to attend mass and stayed for Soup and Soul afterwards, a super intersting one for me since our guest Fr. Jai gave a talk on the Indian Yoga System. It's not just a posture practice after all. There's cleansing, focus of the mind, control of breathing, stages of consciousness, sheets of the self... so much. I'm not sure that I can really call myself a yogi anymore, not until I get the whole fascinating big picture. It takes an eternity to cook meals, which is why I only do it on the weekends, and do as much as I can to make sure I can get myself through the week. Today Mom suggested Chicken Aliozcaldo, which turned out more like Lugao, but was absoulutely delicious - and I have my housemate to vouch for that as I still cannot taste everything for what it really is with my sickness. Punctuated my constant stirring of my soup with knitting, my new, obsessive hobby that Sarah has gotten me into. I'm warming up for my Thursday night shawl-making class by working on a scarf. Got a lot done this weekend, and I have to leave it at that as it is now time for serious schoolwork.

Useless?

I wouldn't say that I am boring. In fact, I know that I am not. But it does not excuse that at times I feel pathetic for someone of my young age. Like right now. My housemate boys are at what looked like an awesome kegger from the outside, but I walked the rest of the way home and am sitting on my floor drinking my last Bud Light Lime. A year ago today I would have been kicking butt at WCURCs, and could have again this year. But I'm sticking to my decision and life has changed.
Only a four day school week, but it was rather brutal juggling all the labs, midterms, and assignments while being sick a coughing up blood, so to say I survived is a feat on its own. Allowed myself a sleep-in today. Wrote my Spinning exam (definitely got at least 40/50 minimum). Took Elizabeth to the gym. Spent an eternity with Sarah at BeeHive picking out my expensive bamboo knitting supplies and wool. And, the highlight of the day: watched Harry Potter 6 at the Cinecenta while enjoying and then spilling their awesome awesome popcorn.
This was the Ultimate Day of my sickness recovery and Day 1 of finally being back to normal again.

Three Cups of Tea

It is Thanksgiving weekend and two missed ferries and three actual ferries later, Duke Point to Tswassen, Horseshoe Bay to (wherever we were), (wherever we were) to Earl's Point, Earl's Point to Powell River. Gave me lots of time to finish the book I am now recommending to you.
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin. Fantastic story of an American man who totally changes the course of his life to build schools for children in Pakistan and Afghanistan. His story is an excellent model for the change that we each can pioneer in this world, and are called to act upon. Now one of the people I would most like to meet in the world. And I completely support the view of many others that he should one day receive the Nobel Peace Prize. I hope that my life's work and my own personal story may take this sort of direction, although I cannot yet imagine the kind of selflessness and purity of heart it would take to make the kind of sacrifices and take the kind of risks that this man has had to.
Please read it for yourself: www.threecupsoftea.com

Lady in the Making

Lola Inang and Mom are going to be so proud of me when I come home in November. I can officially multitask housekeeping and kitchen duties. After returning from my single Thursday morning class with $24 dollars worth of banana bread making groceries from Thrifty's (I only had one of the 7 required ingredients you see), I proceeded to do two loads of laundry, change my bedding, hang my posters and tidy up my room, AND bake two recipes of banana bread.

The baking was the big deal for me. Physical proof that cooking is something I can manage and enjoy. What made me do it? Our Global Medical Brigades bake sale that I am manning for one hour tomorrow. My first batch was a no sugar added because I forgot to add the 1 cup of sugar, not because I intended it (that would be cruel). So those two loaves are coming with me to Powell River this weekend for Thanksgiving with the B.C. portion of the Laquian family.

The second batch will be consumed by hungry and stressed students tomorrow, as it is the heat of midterm season right now. That one I forgot to line the pan with butter on, but it was effortless to pry out. So overall, a success. And the housemates love their share, so I feel good.

Although my homemaking self was productive, my student self was not really. I napped. Did not go to the gym due to the inability to escape certain seeking coaches and athletes. Dropped my iPod in the middle of the McKenzie intersection when I was running across over the last 10 seconds of the crosswalk. Read my Three Cups of Tea (non-academic textbook) during work. Transcribed half of my cellular physiology notes while talking to my mother and sipping my 3.00 London Fog in the biblioteque. Taking 1 hour to get to Brit's truck to get us home because we missed our second bus and walked all the way from Hillside up Shelbourne to McKenzie, with a stop at Tim Horton's on the way. I am getting better. My grades are proof of that. But this entire week has been characterized by consecutive nights of short sleep punctuated by one of decent sleep. It's the life of a student, I suppose. I've just never truly had to subject myself to it until now.