Upstairs pancake house, Amsterdam.
Tea pot o rama
Trying to Rev Up – Europe 2009 April 19, 2009
Dear Friends (those who have traveled and even those who have not)
I have a desire for exploring Europe, but it isn’t really on my radar. I mean, I loved my 2007 Battlefields trip, but since then, travel dreams of visiting Europe have been tucked away.
So last December, my parents announced to me that they had inherited some money and that they would like to use that money to send me to Germany to visit my Great Aunt Edith, who is also my Godmother.
By then I was already planning my Richmond summer. I knew I was working at the Richmond Art Gallery for July/August and I was contemplating maybe doing J’Explore for May/June. Or maybe some other Canada/BC travelling.
Well, I told my parents yes, I would like to go.
I remembered that I had friends who were doing exchanges in Europe. Could I go visit them as well? My parents said no.
And did not start saying yes until just a couple of weeks ago.
This whole process of planning has taken way too long, because I have had to negotiate with them, my Aunt and now my Europe connections as well.
So what I’m trying to say is, with all of this family bureaucracy, I am finding it really hard to get excited. Maybe it’s also because there is still end-of-the-year stress (finding subletters, projects, exams…)
Nonetheless, I need your help!
Help me get excited!!!
I have about 3-7 days in each of these places, except the last.
Here is my tentative itinerary:
- Amsterdam, Netherlands (staying with roommate Hannah)
- Paris, France (Thank you Mike+Dana for hostel suggestion)
- Lyon, France (staying with U of T friend Clara)
- Cinque Terre, Italy (hostels?)
- Basel, Switzerland (staying with Maciek’s sister)
- Stuttgart, Germany (this is where my Aunt is and where I will be spending the most time)
Any help/information/advice is greatly appreciated!
My Collections, a curatorial project February 16, 2009
I made a blog for a project I am doing for my Criticism and Curatorial Practices class, “Museums, Galleries and Alternate Spaces”. The assignment was to create a collection. I am still contemplating my final presentation.
Sniff November 5, 2008
Here is what is exciting lately:
An animal/piece of horrible organic matter has made its way into our heating vents and now the whole house smells like a field of rotting cabbages. The smell has imprinted itself in my mind. Now that I’ve made this association to cabbages, I don’t think I will ever be able to eat coleslaw again.
I REALLY LIKE YOU GUYS AND WISH YOU COULD BE HERE TO JOIN IN THIS FUN.
Cookies October 11, 2008
Today I made cookies with Maciek’s Mom. We made them with almond flour because she thought Meghan might be coming for Thanksgiving. We made them in Harvest-themed shapes. We like the squirrel cutter best. Maciek’s mom always decorates things with edible healthy bits like dried fruit, seed and nuts. Maciek’s grandma asked me to call her grandma even though we can’t talk to each other due to our language barrier. She gave me a necklace with a swan pendant.
I love my second family.
Beware Bloggers! Think first, post later. August 25, 2008
There are probably all kinds of articles about this, but I liked this one because it didn’t get too technical with the cookies and the phishing and the spyware. I, for one, am going to make some adjustments.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=anatomy-of-a-social-hack
Two End of Summer Writing Challenges! August 4, 2008
Greetings to the tea sippers in your tea slippers,
As we enter into the last month of our summer vacations, I send my deepest wishes that your London Fogs are frothy and that your chai’s are spiced to perfection.
First of all, let me express my utmost concern. A handful of you have been posting dutifully during these long summer months, but unfortunately, we have not heard much or ANYTHING from some of you (and you and you). (you are forgiven because I see that you have saved a draft)
Secondly, in hopes of enticing you, I propose two challenges. Please consider at least one, though two will earn you 10 gold coins.
(1) How Have You Changed This Summer? / How has this summer changed you?
How are you different from last summer? How have your goals changed? How has your vision of the future changed? etc
If you are extra kean: Apply these questions to the entire school year. Consider where you were last August. What hopes did you have for September and how did these visions change throughout the year?
(2) Summer Reading List
What have you been reading this summer? Novels, non-fiction, magazines, blogs, whateva! I am eager to hear your recommendations.
Alright. That’s all for now. You can expect my personal reply to these questions in the upcoming couple of weeks. I hope to hear yours too!
Teacozies,
S
Banff So Far… July 5, 2008
Wow. By early next week, we will be half way through our summer jobs. At this time last year, we were just starting them. I feel as though, with 8 weeks to go, the summer is winding down. I’m filling up the last few “weekends” (I have Wednesday and Thursday off) on my calendar, and am already taking inventory of my groceries so that I won’t have left-overs by September. I’m sure that in the last week of August, my diet will consist of porridge and potatoes. There’s no way that I am going to finish that tube of wasabi.
Since my arrival 8 weeks ago, my frame of mind has been dancing all over the place. I really should have recorded those changes here, but they ended up being translated into neurotic letters (many of which got sent back to me because Canada Post thinks a sheet of legal paper folded into 6 is “too small”).
So, since this post will end up being devastatingly long, I will divide it into categories.
Home
We members of the teacollective tend to be an adventurous bunch, and as a result, most (if not all) of us have more than one place we call “home”, or at least more than one place where we “feel at home.” These places could be where we were born, where we grew up, where our extended family lives, where we go to University, where we vacationed…
So what makes a home? Familiarity? The people? Can any place be a home? Can we have more than one? Is there a limit to how many?
Upon my arrival in Banff, I felt tremendously geographically torn. Here I was, half of my life in the Lower Mainland, half in Toronto. Now I was adding a third Rocky Mountain location. I thought to myself, “What am I doing here?!” I didn’t feel any real sense of belonging. I didn’t feel at home. I vowed to avoid going anywhere on my own for long periods of time ever again. And yet, even through my tears, I was planning my next summer work destination. Ottawa? Newfoundland? Haida Gawaii?
I am a product of my paternal side’s effortless adventurousness and my Mother’s nervous homebody-ness.
Like many issues that roll around in my mind, I have deemed it acceptable to not come to a conclusion. I figure there are a few options that may apply:
- Anywhere can be my home if I spend enough time there.
- I have not yet met my geographic home. Like Georgia O’Keefe in New Mexico or Emily Carr on the West Coast, a home can have nothing to do with where you grew up. A home is a muse?
- There is no such thing?
The Bird Walk and the Banff Centre
Most of us this year, as we were forced into a vortex of meet&greets and never ending handshakes at school or at work, probably realised the curse/burden of having such high standards for friends. And though there is still time, I feel like I haven’t made any very close friends yet. There are a handful of people who I very much enjoy spending time with, though I can’t help the feeling that I am usually inviting myself along on these occasions. Instead, I have felt belonging in the familiar faces I see around town. Some of the people I like bumping into most I met at a fateful Victoria Day bird watching walk and/or at the Banff Centre. These people are mostly at least one decade older than me, but more often two or three. I know that I am building meaningful connections here and that I will see these people in the future. [Those who work at the Banff Centre are already connected to me through Sara Diamond, president at OCAD, formerly an artistic director and director of research at the Centre.]
The first time I went to the jazz club at the Banff Centre was the first time that I felt at home here in Banff. Maybe for me, “home is where the Art is!”
Anxiousness
I’m starting to feel like there isn’t enough time for everything that I want to do. There are so many government sponsored programs that I want to take advantage of. There’s all the FSWEP possibilities, and I’m really kean on J’explore. I even considered Katimavik, but I don’t think that I will be able to fit it in before I turn 21 (the age limit). So many of these opportunities are limited by age or by the requirements to be a returning students. And even though I am so desperate to cram new destinations into my summer breaks, I also want to spend time with my family. They are aging quickly and there is so much still to discover. Clocks are ticking!!!
This is my summer of Alberta. I went to Edmonton. Next is Jasper and Drumheller (trying desperately to get someone to drive me because the greyhound out there is super inefficient). I also want to make a second trip to Calgary. And hopefully Lake Louise will work out sometime. I am pretty isolated without a car. It’s frustrating. Damn.
Looking forward to coming home
There’s eight weeks left, but the seventh will be spent in Richmond. I am looking forward to it so much. I left my parents on a good note and I miss them. Suddenly, they feel so much older to me, and I’m desperate to find out as much as I can about them before it’s too late. I’m also looking forward to seeing you guys and to hear about your first extended summers. Especially if you want to eat peanuts or peanut buttery substances with me. You don’t know how badly I’ve been craving them since I found out my roommate was allergic. I saw peanut butter nanaimo bars in the IGA-equivalent here and my salivary glands went out of control.
I also want to have a Whitespot milkshake, eat a slice of sub-dollar pizza, get full at All You Can Eat sushi, go to the beach, cycle or walk the South dike. Please join me!
A Perfect Summer?
All in all, this may be an ideal summer situation. I’m exploring a new province. I’m earning enough that I don’t feel the need to take on a second job. I like my job and I feel good about working for Parks Canada. I have time to go to the Banff Centre, to volunteer, to run along the Bow River, to read. To read. I have really discovered my love of reading, and as a result, of writing. I feel like I lost it after grade 9. Maybe grade 10 enriched math sucked it out of me. From the library I have bought several seasons worth of back issues of The Walrus, a magazine I would highly recommend, especially their June publications. I have had a lot of time to think, to daydream, to self-reflect. I’m growing, I’m evolving.
But it feels really good to be looking forward to next school year. I haven’t looked forward to school in too long. Can’t wait!
Dear Abby, June 12, 2008
My roommate talks out loud to the computer when she types on msn.
Signed,
ANNOYED in Banff
p.s. http://www.pedagonet.com/blog/2007/06/dear-abby.html haha!
