Sevilla

Met J at the airport.
Flew to Seville.
Met C at the hostel.
Haven't stopped laughing since.
My rib is definitely going to need a rest after this.
Gorgeous city.
Pictures will be posted when I stop having so much fun.

Pretty things at Warton Organic Farm

Or the eggs?

Which came first... The chickens?

Warton

Apparently Dodos aren't extinct in the UK

Sweet Sixteen

This place is home away from home :)

Home sweet home!

Pitt Rivers

I spent the morning at Oxford's Pitt Rivers Museum (http://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/), which is possibly the coolest museum I have ever visited.

It is really well laid out, with everything anyone could possibly want. Rocks, Fossils, Corals, Bones, Dinosaurs, Birds, Plants, Insects (live, dead, fossilized)... that's only in the natural history part...

You can walk through that to get to the anthropology section, which is filled with random curios from all over the world. Basically it is an entire building filled to the brim with everything I've ever been interested in.

The exhibit outside is an incredible art installation that features tropical trees that are basically "Ambassadors of the Rainforests". Obviously I love it.

Rainforest ambassadors

The tree stumps are massive (notice the small child in the picture to the left) and raised up on concrete plinths.

The idea is to use these "Ambassadors" as a forum to discuss rain forest conservation and raise awareness about these important issues.

Plaques explain what tree species they are and how they are used locally, internationally and commercially.

I couldn't help but wonder what types of invasive bugs were brought into the country in these installations. Sigh, can't get away from my honours project. 

Polar Bear mnom mnom

Beautiful Ceiling!

Pearly Whites for my amchara!

You feel like you're in a greenhouse because the vaulted ceiling is made of glass so it lets in a beautiful amount of natural light. 

Rowr

I found Hedwig

The building itself is incredible. Each column in the museum is a different stone and topped by a different carving of some kind of plant. There are also busts and statues of famous people everywhere.

The museum doesn't seem to bother with 20th century lighting...

 I spent so long there looking around that I was almost late to meet A and her friend K for lunch. A wanted me to meet this woman because she's a mediator who also runs training here in the UK and is looking at setting up a course in the next little while. The woman is wonderful and gave me some great ideas of where to look for programs and courses that focus more on environmental conflicts.

I actually found a three week intensive course that sounds like exactly what I'm interested in learning about, but I missed the application by ~3 weeks. It starts the day after I finish my TEFL course and is run through UNESCO in the Hague. Stupid timing. It sounds fantastic. Damn.

Also, all of these courses are sooooo expensive. I need a corporate sponsor. "This sticker is dangerous and inconvenient, but I do love fig newtons." Anyone? Anyone?
HA. Maybe I can convince the enemy to sponsor me... BP? I'll pitch it to them tomorrow.

http://www.prwatch.org/node/9091

One Month Anniversary!

I graduated exactly one month ago.

Since then, I have packed up and moved out of my cozy room, packed up a bag and hit the "road'.
Life after McGill has been pretty amazing so far.

Highlights include a lovely first Christmas at my mom's new place, finally receiving my luggage after 4 days, sunset bouncing off of the Alhambra and Sierra Nevada mountains, a small flamenco show, New Years Eve in Barcelona with a best friend, a trip to a castle in the clouds at Montserrat, a cheesy retrouvaille with my wife and finally, finding some "direction".

I currently have the next three weeks of my life planned. After that, I have no idea where the wind will take me. I'll be in Oxford this week with A, touring around the city's free museums, trying to meet some profs in the water program, doing some background research for the Oxford research project and just living the life of the unemployed and unproductive. I have a flight booked for next Monday from London to Seville where I will be meeting up with some old friends from Kamp. A few days in Seville, followed by a few days in Cordoba where another friend is teaching.

I have to be back in Bristol for the 4th when my course starts.

Excited about life!

Back in Bristol

J. A. M. (right to left)

Spending the weekend in Bristol with my Ecuadorian wife (a story for another time).

Handful of chemists + 1 environmentalist + amazing artist = fun times :)

She and her Bristolian friends took me out on the town last night and I spent the evening surrounded by 11 PhD chemists, an artist and other associated stragglers.



This blog is not the place to describe a Bristolian night out. It was fun. I'll leave it at that.

Green Roof on the garage!

Today, we dragged our tired selves to the cafe at the local city farm and had an incredible brunch/lupper of locally grown delicious food and spent some time afterward looking around the farm and the eco-village.

All the houses have solar panels on them! I don't know how well they work... but the thought is there! The houses here tend to be terribly insulated against the cold. I find it strange, considering this country gets a winter every year. I not-so-secretly hope that the eco-houses incorporated insulation into their "green-design".

Solar panels :)

It's looking like Spain will be in the books for next week. I'll be booking a flight from London to Seville to meet some Montreal friends there and then head to Cordoba where another childhood friend is teaching English.






Today consisted of R&R, yummy home-cooked dinner and a decadent dessert. J invited over a girlfriend that she was set up with through a friend that I introduced J to... Does that make sense? All to say that the world is small and our generation has probably closed the gap on the 6 degrees of separation and is likely closer to 4 or 3... Ah, the joys of facebook!

Lost count of what number I'm on...

I've landed at the home-base that A has offered to all of us Canadian expats. For the first time in ... months?... I am starting to feel relaxed. I definitely have different levels of relaxed. I would place my current level of relaxed-ness somewhere on the scale between beach-relaxed (which involves my body being capable of only the basic functions of swimming, floating, eating and drinking) and country-relaxed (which involves my body still needing to absorb new information on a daily basis).

Knowing that I have this course to look forward to and the associated ability to make money afterward helped my mind calm down a little. Also, the fact that I'll have an interesting project to work on and learn new things AND have an Oxford related research project to add to my CV also helped my mind relax a little.

I have known for a while that environment related projects and initiatives have funding issues, but actually seeing it in real life and knowing that if I want to work on an envr initiative that really interests me, I'd have to either go into debt or do it part time... kinda... blows. For lack of a better word.

I have heard back from several of the paid internships and jobs that I have applied for and the main comment I get back is that they have found someone better qualified for the position. Not unexpected. I have no marketable skills. It still amazes me that I spent 3 and a half years at one of the best universities in the world, and I, like many of my peers, can't find a "decently" paid position in our field.

Yes, I know. It is only a bachelors and I'll get field experience over the next while before I do my masters and the economy, and this and that. I just think that the program could be designed better. I remember a conversation I had before finals with a friend who was also graduating at the same time. We were plotting how we could re-invent our program so that there were class credits available to students who wanted to work on projects to gain real-life experience in our field.

Anyway, all that aside, today A is meeting with a friend to ask about mediation courses for me. Have I mentioned that Environmental Mediation is my newest idea? I've been trying to find articles and papers on the subject and so far, it seems perfect for me. A is a mediator and has recently specialized in criminal mediation, called restorative justice, between offenders and victims. I would ideally specialize in environmental mediation, ideally something involving water issues.

We'll see if this is something that can actually be done. Otherwise, I'll just have to invent the field. I am waiting on an email response from a prof who was going to look into the matter for me.

Other than all that, I have tentative plans to head to France to meet up with a friend from Kamp (that is how I will always spell it, I don't care if they have changed it to a C and added YMCA, it will always remain Kamp).

A and co are plotting to kidnap me and keep me here as long as possible. :) I love them.

Does anyone know of any grants or somewhere I could find funding to write up a paper for publication, even though I'm not in school? My profs want me to publish my research, but I'm hoping I can find a way to earn some money while I'm working on it.

Cheerio!

First Steps Towards Productivity

1- Just signed up for an intensive TEFL course in Bristol for the first weekend of Feb!

2- Just accepted to volunteer for the Oxford Uni research project on North African wellness traditions!
3- Just skyped with L and am on cloud nine right now :)

Onze and Plans

Today: explored Brizzle with J.

J left early today to go for a job interview for a managing position at a cafe in Bristol. She's been looking for a job non stop for the past 2 months and every time I chatted with her, I'd reassure her that she'd find something just in time. Sure enough, down to the wire, the job offers are coming in! YAY! She deserves it. It seems to be a pattern with most people I've spoken to, foreign or local, that jobs are just non-existent right now. When I was in Barcelona, I ended up meeting a friend of B's who has a masters in linguistics and communications and hasn't been able to find work for months now. I wonder if I made the wrong choice in coming to the EU to look for projects. I was drawn here by the idea that the EU's environmental policies and sustainability initiatives just seem light-years ahead of North American ones.

Back to J. She came back to the apartment after getting this job with a huge smile and she actually looked like the weight of the world was off of her shoulders. I made her a celebratory brekkie and then we headed out to explore the city.

Suspension Bridge

This was my actual facial expression when I saw the view!

J brought me to a part of town called Clifton that is sort of the Westmount of Bristol. There's a gorgeous ravine with a suspension bridge that goes across it. J made me close my eyes until we reached the lookout point so that I would get the best view possible right away. She's some kinda wonderful. It verges on obnoxious how in love with each other we are ;)

So pretty!

Amazing!

In other news, I'm planning on signing up for an intensive TEFL course that will be given the first weekend of Feb. I figure it'll be a great way to keep traveling and not die of starvation.

In the meantime, all I have to do is figure out when I will meet up with friends from home in France and Spain, as well as determine where I want to be for my bday! Tough decisions.
Ideas?

Lucky number dix

Me in the sphere

"The Sphere", the movie?

Today was my first breakthrough in terms of potential projects. First of all, I should mention that my cousin has been amazing at sending out emails to people he knows to set me up with contacts. Wonderful. I feel so fortunate to have such a great support system of such well-connected people. I realized a long time ago how important networking is in any field, and I feel like environment is especially so. I’ve already heard back from some really interesting sounding people in Barcelona, one of whom lives on a boat in the harbour! I sent an email to another person who is working on building a straw bale house in a community garden that has been saved from development. http://www.canmasdeu.net/?lang=en

When I get back, I’d love to check it out, it has a really interesting history. According to Wikipedia (yes, I’m citing wikipedia… all my academic training went out the window as soon as I graduated), the land was a leper colony that was abandoned for over 50 years. In 2002, there was a three-day stand off between some squatters and the evictors. Today, it is used as a community garden and learning centre based on permaculture and self-sufficiency. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Can_Masdeu).

So, that’s one possibility. 

I was also referred to another place in Andalusia that looks really cool. It seems like they need ppl who can disseminate info on their projects. 

I wanted to sit and think with this dude

I was also contacted by a contact of a contact to “volunteer” for a cool project through Oxford University. A, the friend/friend of the family/family/incredibly cool woman (called A) referred me to someone she knows who does a lot of work on traditional indigenous medicine/botany, mainly in Malaysia. Apparently, his team was just hired by some prince to do research on Middle Eastern medicines, in order to create spas that use local traditional techniques (http://giftsofhealth.org/). A suggested that I email this man (I will call him B) my CV, which I did earlier in December. He got back to me relatively rapidly and explained that the project has a VERY limited budget, but that he would keep me in mind and would send my CV around.

Fast forward to today. I received an email from a woman, E, who received my CV from this man, B. E will be researching North African “wellness traditions”, as she puts it. She mentioned that my language skills would be very useful.

Language skills? I never really considered the fact that I’m bilingual a skill, but the more I travel and the more I look into internships, projects and jobs, the more I realize that it kind of is… English, French and some Spanish (which will hopefully improve). Skills. Me. I have basic skills. This was news to me!

Back to E’s project. She basically asked me if I’d be willing to volunteer on this project over the next few months. Several hours per week unpaid… but any travel that may occur would be covered. Will there be any travel? To be determined. The interesting part of this is that I could do it from anywhere, as long as I have internet access. AND it is affiliated with Oxford University. AND B, who runs the umbrella organization, is a very well respected prof/researcher/may have future projects for me to work on.

Banksy related art all over Brizzle

I haven’t responded yet, but I can’t think of reasons not to take the position. Their funding is very minimal for any of this research, and any stipend I would get, would come out of their salary…so doubtful on that front.

Basically, this would be interesting to research, wouldn't take up much time and it would look good on a CV and give me some great references and MAY turn into something more? Downsides... not paid. Anything else? Comments?

Old caves in red cliffs by the water

Tomorrow, I head to Oxford to visit A for her bday and stay for a few days. It’ll allow J to have her place back and then I may come back for the weekend to see what the Brizzle nightlife is like… Purely for research purposes of course.

A will be able to give me some leads on where I might do a course that I’m very interested in, that she did a few years ago.

Bristol is a beautiful city, but I always find the cloudiness of this country somewhat depressing… I explore the harbour and associated sights today.

I plan on looking into some other courses... like TESL type things so that if I want to stay in YURP longer, I at least have a skill to fall back on. 

p.s. if anyone is actually reading this, I'd love some feedback.

Cheers!

9

Woke up next to a gorgeous woman... how many of you can say the same?

My flight from BCN ended up being two hours late, leaving my friend waiting for me at the bus station for 3 hours with no news from me. When my airport shuttle finally pulled up to the bus station, I could see her through the window and she ran up to the bus door, which the driver was mean enough not to open. I was jumping up and down with excitement. When the door finally opened, we had one of those incredibly cheesy and oh-so gratifying hugs where we almost fell over because of the weight of my bag and the momentum of my hug. Good times.

We walked back to her house (which is gorgeous!) and popped a bottle of bubbly I had bought to celebrate everything we had missed. She cooked an amazing dinner as we both talked non-stop, trying to fill each other in on our respective lives from the past 3 months. My smile has yet to stop touching my ears.

Today we hiked up one Bristol's many hills to go watch a good ol' football game. I seem to have brought the sun to this cloudy island. We of course brought hot toddys with us so that we could enjoy the game a little better.

J has planned a dinner party to welcome me to Bristol and invited some mutual friends and a few new ones. Should be a good time.

Tomorrow, we plan on surprising A, a good friend of the family's/family/friend/incredible woman.

Cheerio!

Ocho: “Read part 5”

The 3 kings at their parade

The crowd at the 3 Kings Parade

People watching the parade from the buildings

I woke up feeling blue for the first time since I graduated. Read part 5 for more info.

Daytime

Nightime

I spent the day doing some research about potential projects, internships, jobs… basically anything.


I emailed a prof who has done research in Catalonia before and he responded immediately, saying he was in Barcelona, visiting family and trying to get funding for a project that would begin next year. I asked him if he had any ongoing projects or knew anyone who does.

I’m reaching out to as many contacts as I can. This prof responded that he didn’t have anything happening until next year. He is keeping an ear peeled. Is that the expression? It sounds/looks weird right now.

Sagrada... nuff said

I also emailed my Water: Ethics, Policies and Law prof to ask if he knew any info on the course/certificate I want to do. He sent out emails to two people in water management that were guest speakers in my class. Helpful people are wonderful. So much better than unhelpful people.

I’ve also been in touch with one of my many amazing cousins who has contacts all over the place. He was super helpful and has sent emails to some friends who work in water issues in Europe (mainly Spain, France and the Netherlands). I’ve already heard back from one person who referred me to a man in Barcelona who does work against water privatization of municipal water. I sent him a message earlier. BAM! I may not be the best planner, but I get stuff done when I want to. I also messaged my honours supervisors to ask about the next step for publishing my research. Waiting on their response.

Other than a slew of emails and research, I’ve had a lazy past two days. The three kings parade was epic. SOOOOOOO MANY PEOPLE. All the floats throw candy at the crowd... but they throw it really hard. And it's hard candy... I got hit in the face by a piece. I actually thought my glasses had broken. HAHAHAHAH. It sounds even more ridiculous written down.

Parc Guell Viaduct

Underside of the viaduct

Yesterday I spent the afternoon exploring Parc Guell again, listening to music (*L: I need that playlist from you, I’ve been really into the Yeasayer, Bombay Bicycle Club and Mystery Jets that you introduced me to!). I found a nice patch of grass in the sun and just sat and people watched. Barcelona may just be the best city for people watching that I’ve ever been to.

There are so many different accents and types of people. Also, the kids here are so incredible cute! They ALMOST compare to my adorable little cousins. This one little boy was running along the path behind me and then jumped onto the grass beside me to pose for a picture for his mom. The adorable part was that he sat down in lotus pose and pretended to meditate. So CUTE.

Kid in Parc Guell popping bubbles

Did I mention that I booked a flight for the UK to visit friends, family and family friends? I’m sitting at the airport right now, waiting for a flight to Bristol to visit one of my wives and recent travel buddy. The plan is to surprise another friend/family friend and then get some advice from her. This woman is amazing. I have known her for most of my life and have had the pleasure of traveling with her before. We recently started plotting another adventure together. She emailed a while ago to say that she had some projects to propose… I’m excited to hear what they are.

Floor stone in Santa Maria del Mar

But before that, I get to see a bestie who I haven’t seen in months… CAN’T WAIT!

8.1

I’m sitting in an airport terminal at the time when I should be on a plane. Either I’ve missed the flight, or it’s delayed. The terminal is pretty small and filled with British accents. There isn’t a single representative from EasyJet anywhere in sight and if the screens are to be trusted, my flight will be 2 hours late… approximately. If the screens aren’t to be trusted… then it’s going to be a looooong day.

Just a really cool shadow in front of the old Roman wall

My flight is basically going to be leaving when I’m supposed to be landing, leaving my friend waiting for me at a bus station in Bristol. This terminal has no phones, since cell phones are the new lifeline, landlines seem to have disappeared in the past few years. I remember a time when phone booths lined the streets. Now if you want to contact someone when you are cellphoneless, you better make friends reaalllly quickly with someone who has that lifeline.

There is a scrolling text on the bottom of the flight schedule screen saying that they won’t announce departures over the loud speaker, so we have to try and guess which door our flight leaves from. Fun. I’ve had more flight and transportation issues here than anywhere else in the world.

8.2

IN BRISTOL!!! LOOOOVVVVVEEEEEEE

Chapter Siete: “It’s a blur”

Seriously. The last few days are actually a total blur. After S and my’s marathon of Gaudi sights, I was totally inspired. I wish I’d learned about Gaudi sooner. His buildings are incredible in their use of biomimicry and green design. It actually reminded me a lot of being back at the Biosphere, talking about Bucky’s designs and inventions (Buckminster Fuller for the uninitiated ;). Bucky was obviously a lot less organic than Gaudi in his designs, but I feel like they would have gotten along.

You know that game where you have to decide who you want to have a dinner party with? I would love to have sat at a table with Buckmister Fuller and Gaudi. Their styles are so drastically different, and yet they have so much in common. Having grown up in the country, in a geodesic dome and then having worked in THE geodesic dome, I feel like I can’t get away from arches and high ceilings. I felt totally at home and at peace looking at these incredible designs that mimic nature. The design of the inside of the Sagrada with the tree-like pillars and columns reminded me of Bucky’s use of triangles in the domes… the whole “using less to support more”. I dig. Dug? Digged?

S’s last day here was the last day I was going to see her in ? how long. We had a slow start to the day. Several days of whirlwind sightseeing had worn us out more than we thought.

We finally got going and hit up the market. I love markets. I adore markets. They are my favourite part of any city, town, village, road-side shanty-town etc. Have I mentioned that I love markets? This one was possibly one of the most exciting ones I’ve been in, second maybe only to the Banana market in Tanzania. I was absolutely in heaven. I couldn’t stop taking pictures. I felt like a kid in some kind of a store. Especially since the first alley we walked down was stock full of CANDY!

SO MUCH CANDY. Drool-worthy piles of candy.

The candy aisle turned into the meat aisle, with a quick pit stop in the produce section. I could smell the fish stalls that were just around the next corner and unfortunately had to move away from it. I’m not that squeamish about the dead stuff, but the smell of fish is waayyyyy too much for me.




The meat stalls had parts of the animal that I’d never seen on display before. Everything from pig heads, feet, sweetbreads and a lot of things I couldn’t even identify. The produce stalls had the usual assortment of gorgeous looking fruits and veggies. After a cappuccino in the first stall at the entrance to the market, we bought some fresh juices and then purchased some food for our picnic lunch.

I almost had to be dragged away from the market, but I was looking forward to the next part of the day… MONTJUIC! The name is old school Catalan for “Mountain of the Jews”. Obviously we had to check it out!

We took the funicular up to the top and giggled the entire way. I think more places should have funiculars. You can’t spell funicular without FUN! HA. Sorry, I had to… But for real, I love those things! They are in my top 10 favourite modes of transport. Maybe even top 8.

We got to the top and explored the old castle. My favourite part was the water cistern. There was a narrow stone hallway and at the end of it was a window that looked onto this massive stone room with beautiful clear water. To the right of the window were two little pipes that were pouring water into the large stone room. I asked the only two people working there about the water. It turns out the water comes from the river and is pumped up through the old pipes that used to supply the castle. I had trouble understanding the next part, but they seemed to explain that the water passes through some kind of filtering system on the way up and by the time it gets stored in the cistern, it is potable and used for the gardens and drinking water.

The gardens were beautiful and I’m sure they are gorgeous when they are in full bloom during the summer. The castle itself paled in comparison to the views around it. On the far side of the hill was the more industrial, commercial/port side of Barcelona. We had a great view of the port and the container-unloading part. My favourite view was this one section where you could still see the green gardens on the mountain and then it sloped down to the containers. City meets countryside. I took some fun pics. At least I think they’re fun?

After Montjuic, we headed back down and made our way to the Miró museum. It was cool for the first 15 minutes and then I have to admit that I got kinda… bored? Disinterested may be a better word. I do believe that S felt the same. Sooooo, we left after having done a quick tour of the main pieces and made our way back downtown.

The rest of that night was a mix of shopping, tapas, cerveza and vino. S, charmer that she is, made quite the impression at the restaurant we ended up at and the waiters allowed her behind the bar. It may have had a little to do with the fact that she’s vertically challenged and may have had trouble reaching the tapas. ;) I think mainly it’s her smile that can melt the coldest of hearts and loosen the strictest of rules.

That night ended with us cutting a rug on the local dance floor. It’s always an interesting exercise in modesty when you’re a white chick dancing in a latin country. Oh well. We had fun! S had to leave the hostel around 4 to make it to the airport for her flight. A teary early morning goodbye and then… I was on my own.

My first step? Catching up on ten days worth of sleep.