Author Archives: Gillian

The Children of Huang Shi

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It was a beautiful sunny afternoon yesterday when our professional development day for work ended.  I decided, since it was a nice day, to walk home.  
When walking to and from downtown Victoria, I usually try to think of alternate routes to take so as to avoid Shelbourne because that street is quite busy and boring.  I ended up detouring up Richmond then Henderson to go to UVic because I vaguely remembered that Cinecenta, the UVic theatre was playing a movie I thought looked interesting.  I ended up arriving half an hour before showtime and was able to get a student discount, so in I went.
It turned out to be one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time.  Set in China in 1937 (Massacre at Nanjing), the movie is based on the true story of British journalist George Hogg.  Hogg ends up taking care of about 50 chinese orphans at a camp north of Nanjing and eventually decides to move them all as the Japanese army draws closer.  These kids, with only push carts, walk 1000 miles to the desert in western China (200 miles past Lanzhou) to escape the approaching war.  While the story of Hogg is the main focus, one gets and idea of the three-way tensions that existed between the Communists, the Nationalists, and the Japanese.  
I thought the movie was really well done.  I found the story of this guy and the kids profoundly moving.  Shot on location in China for much of it, the scenery is absolutely spectacular.  It tugged at my heart and made me want to go back to China again.

Welcome back to the West Coast

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Two weeks ago I rejoined the Grace in Port Hardy and we left on Trip 4.  Trip 4 is the only West Coast trip I’d previously done but it is always a joy.  There was a bit of yucky weather we wished to avoid, so we headed north-ish first off, to the mainland, before ducking around Cape Scott to Allison Harbour.  We made our way through a bit of fog to Brooks Peninsula then down to Rugged Point and finally Hot Springs Cove.  Scenery on the west coast of the Island is some of the most unspoiled in the country and is simply stunning.  We were treated to humpback shows and porpoises playing.  Jordan managed to lasso a ginormous sunfish which proceeded to dive so he chose to let go rather than do for a dive of his own.  It was crazy to see him in the water with that “thing” (it doesn’t really look like a fish. It actually doesn’t really look like anything from this planet).  The last two nights of the trip were in the Broken Group just south of Ucluelet (Pacific Rim National Park).  In a bit, the water was so warm, I actually went in.  Quite the accomplishment.  We had a great group of trainees and fantastic volunteers.  My assistant cook was amazing and I couldn’t have done without him.  Two of our volunteers were offshore trainees and it was so good to have the chance to see them again and sail with them once more.  Hopefully we’ll see more of them.

For now, we rest in Ucluelet and get ready for trip 5 which starts on Wednesday.  My food arrives from the wholesale supplier tomorrow and I am petitioning crew to hang around to help me carry it onto the boat.  They don’t call the dock where we are the “54 Stairs Dock” for nothing…  I’ll have a fit bum by the end of this.

BC Day (and the last week)

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Happy BC Day! Today British Columbia celebrated 150 years. Of what, I’m not sure. Canada hasn’t even been a country for that long, but the land has been around much longer than that. I think it is 150 years of being a British Colony. Because time begins when Britain makes you a colony.

Enough of that.  Here is my week in review:

Purden Lake, where we stayed the night before driving out to Edmonton from Prince George. Colleen’s sister has a cabin here. Very nice! It would have been ever better had we had time to enjoy the things one can do there, like getting out on the lake! Next time.

On the drive… Mt Robson!

To Edmonton we go for Carlynne’s wonderful wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony and the reception was lots of fun. I had a great time catching up with people I haven’t seen in at least a year, most more.

I flew back to Victoria from Edmonton because I knew I wouldn’t have time to drive back down to Vancouver and then get over to Victoria to get in the van to drive up to Port Hardy to get back on the boat. Whew, I’m exhausted just thinking about it! This is flying into Vancouver where I had a 2 hour layover. The fact that I had to wait 2 hours wouldn’t have been too bad except for the fact that there were  approximately 5 flights for Victoria that left between the time when I landed and the time my flight was. Why they couldn’t have put me on one of those, I don’t know.  I tried to change my ticket, but I had checked luggage. Speaking of which, Air Canada has gotten even stupider and now charges you if you have more than 1 checked bag. One more good reason to fly WestJet.

Finally, Victoria! I had time last night to set up my new room.  There were a few things I still needed to pick up this morning (like hangers), and there are still a few modifications to be made, but here is where I sleep and hang out when I’m actually in town.  (Janis, if you’re reading this, yes, this is your old room!)

TV room – room you walk into from outside.  Roommate’s TV, not mine. Large collection of DVDs on left, his. Smaller amount on right, mine. The three closest to the middle on each side are the same: Lord of the Rings, Extended Edition. At least we have some similar tastes!

Kitchen, as seen from TV room.

In my celebration of coming home last night, I heard from one of my friends in town and she told me there was a sweet concert going on tonight at the Legislature.  Upon further research, I discovered there were lots of things going on at the Legislature today. So, after doing all the things that needed doing this morning, I headed down for noon to see what was going on. It seems that BC Day is a pretty big deal. Who knew? There were about 8 MPs, an MLA, a mayor, a Premier, and a Prime Minister all sitting up on the stage. I’m not sure why some of them, like Stockwell Day, were there (he needed a party to flash his grin at??), but it was fun none-the-less.  Gordon Campbell spoke first and introduced our mascots for the Olympics. A funny thing happened while he was speaking. A lady got up quite close to the front and started yelling at him for cutting down all of our forests. This old lady sitting near her apparently didn’t appreciate her comments because she got up and tried to slap the yeller. Next thing you know, there’s a full-on slap fight going on between them. It was fairly humorous.  There were a number of protestors who showed up during the speeches, but they, for the most part, got booed into silence by the crowd.

Next, our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, spoke. As bad as his french is, I liked it better when he attempted to speak french because none of the protestors seemed to understand him: they only booed when he spoke English (and I’m pretty sure I was in BC, not Quebec!).

Then, the next thing I knew, the Snowbirds are flying overhead. It was kind of freaky because I’ve never seen them fly that low before. I’ve also never seen them fly over a major city before – only over the prairies or large air fields. I was minorly hyperventilating the whole time. It was strange because they would periodically disappear behind buildings and then they’d come back for a fly over. It was quite a fun show though!

After that excitement, I wandered around town, reacquainting myself with Victoria after a 14 month absence. I got lunch, went in a few shops, visited my favorite coffee shop in town, and eventually parked myself with a book in the rose garden at the Empress.  From there, I could hear the sounds of bands playing at the Legislature – Alex Cuba, Burton Cummings… but I was comfortable in the shade.

I met up with my friend around dinner, we hit up a classic Victoria institution for dinner before heading back to the Legislature to take in the rest of the festivities. There were a couple more people there than there had been in the morning, but we managed to worm our way into the crowd and find decent spots to watch…
Sarah McLaughlan…

…and Feist.

I left before the show was done because today was a long day and the next month is going to be even longer. I head up to Port Hardy tomorrow to rejoin the boat and sail back around to Victoria. I’ll be home sometime around the end of August, beginning of September. Don’t expect to hear too much from me as there isn’t (shock, horror) Internet in the middle of the ocean. I know, its hard to believe. I don’t anticipate much cell reception either. I’m looking forward to getting back on the boat and spending time with some of my favorite people to sail to exotic places with. While this will be no Tahiti or Papua New Guinea, the west coast of the Island is some of the most beautiful and untouched landscape in all of Canada, if not the world. Maybe BC really is The Best Place on Earth.


PS – the concert will be broadcast on CBC on August 30, so you can relive all my fun then!

Good Friends

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I’ve been in Prince George for only a day and a half and already its been fantastic to see so many friends.  Church yesterday was overwhelming with the number of people I knew still; it always was such a caring community to be a part of and this was emphasized even more coming back to it for the first time in a few years.  I have some great friends.  It is so good to share and catch up on life over the past little while and just enjoy great conversations.  I guess that is one of the great things about good friends – you can always catch up where you left off and are always so happy to see each other that it doesn’t seem like years have gone by.

Moving in

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Yesterday I took the drive over to Victoria for the day.  A very Long day.  Apparently BC Ferries is now Awesome squared, what ever that is supposed to mean!
In the back of my Dad’s CRV was a lot of things – clothing, furniture, mattress (I caved and finally bought the bed), guitar, and random other things I thought I might need over the next year. Unloading went fairly smoothly, actually it went well. I have a lot of stuff. All of the kitchen stuff found a nice home in cupboards and drawers and dvds have gone into the library in the “living room.” Then it was off, with new roommate Steve, to do some shopping for various things (like tp, garbage cans, futon, etc) while I had the wheels for the day. 
After a long day of things like that, and forgetting to eat, it was back to put the bed together. Yay for Ikea’s 6 step process. A long 6 steps, but thats all it was. The futon, however, sounded like it was taking more than 6 steps. Steve did that. I heard the noises.

Next thing I knew, it was time to drive like a maniac back up to the ferry to catch the last one home for the evening.  Back in Vancouver now, but all set to move into Victoria!   
I’ve sent out an email with my new address and phone number.  If I’ve forgotten you, leave me a comment and as long as I have your email, I’ll send it off!

Thought for the day

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When you try to climb a mountain to prove how big you are, you almost never make it.  And even if you do it’s a hollow victory.  In order to sustain the victory, you have to prove yourself again and again in some other way, and again and again and again, driving forever to fill a false image, haunted by the fear that the image is not true and someone will find out.  That is not the way.

From Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig

Sunny skies and logs on beaches

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I enjoy wandering.  I love wandering even more if it is a nice day and I have a final destination but lots of time to get there.  I gave myself three hours yesterday to walk from Jericho Beach to Waterfront Station and it was fantastic.  

Vancouver Folk Fest was underway and there were hoards of people down there, but I managed to find a nice tall log on the edge of the beach that was in the shade.  I perched upon the log for a good three quarters of an hour or so reading, writing, and people watching.  I was able to survey most of the beach from the log and it was fun to pause what I was doing every so often and look up and look at people.  I would catch snippits of conversation now and again as people walked by.  It was amusing.  
It began to get cool in the shade, so I began my wander towards downtown along W 4th.  First, I zig-zagged through some residential streets and enjoyed the beautiful houses, lush gardens, and fragrant flowers that seem to be a requirement for living in this area.  I always enjoy walking along W 4th.  The street is full of quaint coffee shops, organic markets, and lots of fun shops.  
I love the ability to stop and browse when there is lots of time to get to a given destination (but the destination is essential to ensure that I don’t loose time altogether when wandering).  I stopped and grabbed a snack at one shop and munched as I walked.  Then it was time for coffee and a read outside of an organic fair trade coffee shop.  If I can ever find it again, I’ll go back.  It was great coffee and there was lots of outside seating.  Plus, there is free wireless (a rare commodity, it seems, in Vancouver) should I ever need it.  That is a downside to aimless wandering: it is often hard to find where one has been when one wants to go back.
Eventually, I crossed Burrard St Bridge into the main part of town.  It was like the whole atmosphere changed.  Suddenly I was out of the laid back, easy feel of small shops just up from beaches to CBD and tourist central with lots of large chain retailers.  Quickly, I made my way to Waterfront station, mourning the end of my wander but with eager anticipation of meeting old friends.

Epiphanies

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Today I have come to the realization that I am actually moving back to Victoria really soon! I am quite excited to be back in one of my favourite cities in the world spending time with all the friends I’ve made there over the last four years. With that realization, however, came a certain amount of dread. I hate moving. I hate having all of my things packed into boxes and freaking out about fitting them all into Dad’s car that I get to borrow for the day. I hate the fact that I don’t have any furniture and need to buy some. Correction, I have a desk that I am unsure if it will fit into the car with four totes, an assorted number of bags and boxes, an ironing board, and a guitar.

Included in today’s epiphany was yesterday’s visit to Ikea, the everything wonderstore. Ikea is dangerous. I went in to look at beds and came out in love with a new duvet. And two cutting boards for 99 cents. The wonderful thing about Ikea is everything comes in little packages that fit into little places like a stuffed car. Even the mattress is tiny when rolled tightly. The less wonderful thing about little packages is the inevitable putting together process that ends with cursing Swedish instructions and microscopic pictures.

I haven’t bought the bed yet. I’m still trying to work out if I want to spend $200 on a bed. This from the girl who spent $100 on two pairs of shoes. Go figure. I’ll probably go back and get it next week because, lets face it, I won’t find one cheaper than that and it is pretty much what I want (except for the amazingly 70’s but still cool green queen. But that is another story.)

Things are slowly coming together. I’m looking forward to not living out of boxes and borrowed space.

Confessions

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I think I’m a shoe-a-holic. Half of you are doubled over laughing and shaking your heads right now as you wonder at me only just figuring this out. It is not that I have only figured it out, its just that now I am admitting it to a larger audience. I like shoes.

When in Montreal a couple of weeks ago, I was walking along Rue Ste Catherine not wanting to shop when I fell in love with a dress. It was on sale, it was cute, and it had lots of green on it. What more could I want? Those of you in Edmonton for Carlynne’s wedding will even get to see it.

New cute dress called for cute sandals to wear with it. No clunky Birks (as much as I love them dearly) and no rubber Haviannas for me; after a year on a boat, my cute sandal collection is fairly slim: of the three or four I have, all but one definitely do not go. The sole remaining sandals have painful memories of uncomfortable feet and that was when my feet were used to heels and narrow sandals. My feet are very boat acclimatized now after a year of bare feet and flip flops and don’t fit shoes the same way they once did.
Shoe shopping I must go! I had in my head exactly what I wanted: low heel with none of that platform thing going on, open toe, but semi-enclosed sides with a strap around the heel. Ideally, the shoe would be in a fantastic shade of green, but that is negotiable. Everyone, especially me, should have a good pair of green shoes. What else would a girl wear with all her green clothing? Maybe that is just me.
Unfortunately, no one in the shoe making industry seems to agree with my green shoe sentiments. But I did find a wonderful sandal by one of my favourite shoe designers. I say a sandal because I found it at Winners and could only find one of the pair. After a very in depth search on my part, I had found another wonderful single shoe, but no sandal for me. Until, finally, I was triumphant on both accounts! I am now the proud owner of two new pairs of shoes. Don’t judge me.