Chapter... Lost count

So, after an incredible week in the British countryside, I am now back in my cozy nest in Oxford.

The Colne River

The country was more lovely than I could have imagined, and this coming from a Laurentian kid who grew up surrounded by forests and pristine lakes.

The Cotswolds are actually designated an "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty". Don't believe me? Check out my sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cotswolds
Yes, I am citing wikipedia.

Only in England would you find an entire region designated as AONB. I had some semantic issues with the designation though. From a Canadian wilderness perspective, it's not exactly "natural" by any means. It's been tilled, cultivated, managed and pretty-fied for eons. In my opinion, what makes it so beautiful is the fact that it has been so carefully groomed and manicured.

There are incredible stone walls along all of the roads and around every property. The animals (sheep and horses mainly) graze on these lovely rolling green hills that are dotted with carefully placed trees that have been lovingly preened so that they are pleasing to the eye.

It seems as though the British have as many names for types of forests as the Inuit have for types of snow. Copse, Wood, Spiney, Brush, Thicket, Scrub, Weald, Grove... I could go on. Really. I had a conversation with N, the man of the family about all of these words.
N: "Don't you have those same descriptions back home?"
Me: "No, we only have forests."
Ah, good old Canada.

I was taken for some scenic walks through the Cotswolds on the public footpath that winds through different estates and farms. The Cotswold Way is a public footpath of over 150km that goes through private land. Landowners are required to keep it clear and provide a way to scale any fence that blocks the path.





The Cottage, called Pigeon Close (all of these old houses have names!) was built in the 1600s and the "newer" part was built around the mid 1700s. The ceiling is criss-crossed with big old dark wooden beams that likely came from deconstructed ships.

It kept dawning on my that I was in a building that was older than... a lot of things... like... my country, my province, my city, the industrial revolution... I'm sure history buffs could find some better examples.

The garden that A has created for herself at the back of the house is incredible. Remember "The Secret Garden"? This is better. The weather wasn't great while we there, but we did get out into the garden a fair bit.

Nettles by the water

The sassy 12 year old and I picked nettles to make soup in the garden and when we had exhausted those resources, we headed to the stream to pick these prickly plants by the water. I quickly realized why they are called stinging nettles. I only pricked myself once, but DAMN did it hurt! I found out the the reason why it hurts so much is that the prickles are hollow and when you touch them, they act like hypodermic needles and inject histamines into your skin. Mean little buggers.

That being said, they have a long history of use in traditional medicine and were used for a range of ailments, including heart problems, rheumatism, anemia, allergies, prostate problems, kidney problems... etc. We brought back a huge bag-full and made soup with onion, potato, rosemary and nettle! All of this from the garden!

Aside from frolicking in the countryside, I was also hard at work, sending out applications for jobs through language schools, internships, looked into various short courses around Europe and faced the usual dilemmas of "where do I want to go", "what do I want to do", "what the f*ck am I dooiiiinnnngggg". You know, the usual.

While chatting with my friend J, I made a SHORT list of the things I am interested in. This list is my no means exhaustive and just covers my recent interests.








Here is my list of things that I could see myself working in, studying, pursuing as a career or volunteering for:
conflict mediation (interpersonal, water, environment)
land management (erosion control)
sustainable policy initiatives
welding
carpentry
medicinal botany
brownfield remediation
estuary rehabilitation
flood management
drought management
teaching (envr, english ... etc)
biomimicry
groundwater management
agricultural policies

Her response?
J: "what you need is a place that has an environmental program in the desert next to a rainforest by the ocean, close to an estuary with medicinal plants and a re-greening program where everyone speaks a different language and needs to be taught English and needs you to build them furniture."
I thought that was perfect. Now I just have to find that place.

I finally started hearing back from some of the places I've applied to. I heard back from South Korea immediately, asking me when I could start and offering to fly me out, train me more, give me a furnished apartment and pay me a lot of money. Hmmmm. If only that area of the world interested me more right now. I understand what a good career move it would be to gain experience in Asia, but I can't muster up the interest right now. Maybe it's the thought of the crowds, the cities... I don't know. I responded explaining that I am currently pursuing a research opportunity and to keep my CV on file. Which is not untrue.

I heard back from a language school based in Berlin that offers online tutoring, but the catch is that I need a private land line and I'm nowhere near settled enough to have one of those. A school in Italy contacted my in broken English to say that they need a teacher asap. I answered them with times to call me on Skype for an interview so I'm waiting on that. In a desperate attempt to have something in my future that would give me an income, I emailed my old job to see if there might be a contract available for me. I love that job and Montreal during the summer could be a hoot! Then I could clear my debts and save up to go abroad and get a full time teaching post.

The most positive news yet is that I heard back from an internship saying that I've been shortlisted for an interview that will be happening this week. I don't want to mention too much yet, in case I fail the interview miserably, or in case it actually doesn't suit me at all. I think just the interview part will be great practice. I'll talk about it after it happens. But, good news nonetheless, no matter what happens.

Yesterday, I went swimming outside at A's local sportscentre. This morning I went for a pilates class and now I'm planning on spending the rest of the afternoon researching for GIFTs... which I haven't done in a while.

In travel news, it's looking like Syria is happening, even with the political unrest in surrounding countries, apparently it's nice and calm there. Mom, don't kill me! I haven't yet heard back from my contact in Greece about possible accommodation so I'll see if I still do that. Other options are Zagreb, Croatia. Paris is still a go! I might just spend more time in France and then head straight to Syria. It's C's bday mid March so I might fix it so that I can be with her then.

Time to get to work!

p.s. movies I want to see:
http://www.wastelandmovie.com/
http://www.dirtthemovie.org/
http://www.crudethemovie.com/trailer-and-photos/

Just a post

I know I haven't actually written anything about my job searching in a bit, but I'm getting tired of thinking about it right now. For the record, I haven't slowed down the job hunt. Job offer in South Korea.

I want this post to be a little different.

Just random stuff. My favourite sites for example.
I just checked my top visited websites.
1. Facebook (obvi...)
2. Gmail
3. Treehugger (.com)
4. Enn (.com)
5. Ted (.com)
6. Environmental-Expert (.com)
7. youtube (.com)
8. Dear blank, please blank (.com)
9.watch-series (.com)
10. cheapoair (.com)

For those of you looking to get away after graduation, I recommend these sites:
http://www.workaway.info/
http://helpx.com/
http://www.eslbase.com/jobs/
http://www.wwoof.com/

Things I want to do before I go home
1. Everything?
2. Get a lesson in G's glider (lightweight, engine-less plane)
3. Get to a few other countries
4. Go see the eden project (http://www.edenproject.com/)
5. Get a job/internship etc

Some interesting things I've seen or read recently:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12507714
Ted Talk by Michael Pawlyn: Using nature's genius
http://www.bbc.co.uk/humanplanet

Gotta go walk around the countryside now!

Itchy feet!

I'll get to what an amazing time I've been having in the english coutry side, but I have news!

Travel plans are afoot.

It's looking like the next month will be a series of 3 very different trips. I figure if I'm going to be in debt, I might as well go all out. Then I'll be really desperate to find a job and anything will seem like a good deal!

Pre-trip-trip: North England for a friend's bday!

Trip #1: Paris, France
Purpose: Check out language schools and gauge the possibility of working in the water scene there.
Advantages: Place to stay, could lead to a paid job, or interesting internship in the water field.

Trip #2: Sparta, Greece
Purpose: Find scantily dressed men à la Gerard Butler
Advantage: Place to stay, could lead to a paid job, scantily dressed men...

Trip #3: Damascus and Aleppo, Syria
Purpose: Meet up with my pops in a random country and get into a little trouble (not too much... the middle east is f*cked up right now)
Advantage: Place to stay, possibility of a research grant through my GIFTS project participation

Disadvantages to any of these... aside from money? none?
Except for the possibility of terrible things happening in Syria by the time we get there.

Soooo, that should take me until April.

I don't want to write about serious work stuff right now...

Random pictures

She gets hungry...

We were on a boat

Old bread oven

My tour guide in the Cotswolds

Wonder why they call it English Ivy?

"Tree house" ;)

Going off course

...
I want to be a carpenter

It's my secret dream job

Now not so secret

New career path, as of 3:36am, local time... (can't sleep, have just sent out +30 cvs to language schools and envr internships) -- I become a carpenter and live in the forest and make beautiful furniture from found wood.

The tortoise without the hare

The mad hatter

Cute couple ;)

Slow and steady...? Not so much. The past few days have been a marathon of CVs, letters of motivation, applications, research deadlines etc.

 Bristol with J and friends has been lovely. Highlights include my birthday Bristol style and two theme dinner nights: Japanese, Turkish. :)

Ze german!

Cute couple!

Other than some lovely evenings in Bristol with my wife, I've been working away at trying to find a job or a project. 

How is that I'm unemployed and feel like I have a full time job?

Shark attaaaaaack!

Allow me to explain. I was given my first deadline by my research supervisor for the GIFTs research project. She flies to Doha, Qatar tomorrow and I needed to start by sending her an annotated bibliography of the research subject. Being me, I started with a "meager" list of 5 pages of books, articles, journals and associated texts that are all related to our project. That in itself has taken a few days to look up and sift through. I also received an urgent email from the head of the project, asking me to sign an NDA. NDA? Eh? Wassat? Apparently an NDA is a non-disclosure agreement that I had to sign to confirm that anything I am sent from them remains confidential. Speaking with my supervisor, we began plotting different ways for me to get a grant or funding. She will be meeting with the man behind the mission to discuss possibilities of setting me up with a small stipend or something. That would be very nice.


Other than the project that I can't talk about, I've been applying for more jobs all over the world. So far, I've received a positive response from only one language school. A well-renowned school in Quito sent me an email asking me about my teaching experience, methods and philosophies. I obviously explained that I hate teaching, dislike people and like my classroom to live in constant fear of physical harm. I should get the job offer tomorrow ;) As of today, I believe I have applied to (alphabetically) Colombia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy and Spain. That is just for language schools. Most of the applications were cold calls of me sending CVs to language schools that are in cities where there seems to be some interesting environmental issues happening.

Nelefunt hugs

On the environmental track, I spent most of today sending out applications for internships with big organizations... internships that I am severely under-qualified for. The problem with a lot of the really interesting ones is that you need to be enrolled in a university program to even qualify. bummer. I applied for a few that sounds fascinating... one with the World Resources Institute, that would be a dream! I'm also looking into some that are outside of the direct environment field and more in the women's rights realm. The organization that would be funding A's Nepal documentary has some fascinating projects all over the world.

Last week, I felt like I was starting to narrow down what I want to do over the next little while... the problem is that the more I think about it, the more I want to do!

I sent in my application for the Media Plus job, after having V look it over and give me the go ahead. I sent it to the recruiter that she had set me up with. The recruiter emailed me back yesterday saying that he had looked over my resume and was sending it off to the next level... don't really know what that means, but it sounded positive.

Other than the serious stuff, life is good. I'm doing all of this from a very cozy Oxford nest, where I'm able to feel useful by helping out with very fun "babysitting" duties, that basically involve hanging out with a sassy 12 year old. Heading to Bristol for the weekend for a show at a club on a boat.

I just received a phone call from the love of my life! Gotta go!

... Now what?

So, I've completed the TEFL course.
I loved it! Anyone thinking about doing a TEFL? I would definitely recommend it. I'm sure a longer course would be even better. The one I did was only a 20 hour intensive, but I feel like I learned a lot from it and the professor was fantastic.
To be honest though, if I didn't have some experience in dealing with groups, I don't know if I would feel completely prepared to stand in front of a classroom tomorrow. The other people in my class seemed to feel pretty confident though, and everyone seemed really happy with the course. I'm excited about all the job possibilities now.

I was really happy to get my little certificate and I got extremely excited when I realized that I was finished and had just acquired new marketable skills.
...
Then panic hit me.
Now what?
...

http://irishlawforum.blogspot.com/2010/09/funny-eu-maps.html

The past few days have consisted of job searches, soul searches and generally trying to figure out what I want to do/can do now. And WHERE? The EU seems like a great place in terms of environmental projects.

Ideally, I would find a TEFL job in a city that has some interesting environmental projects/water projects going on. That way I could support myself by teaching and then volunteer with an organization and gain some field experience, without going into too much debt.

http://irishlawforum.blogspot.com/2010/09/funny-eu-maps.html

The problem with the cities that have the most interesting water projects (i.e. Berlin and Paris) is the whole... "I don't have an EU passport" hiccup.
France and Quebec are supposed to have easy-ish-to-get working holiday visas. The problem would be that I'd likely have to go home to get ther visa at the embassy.
With Germany, it seems that Canadians have an easier time getting working holiday visas and you can get one after you arrive.



As for finding work in other places, like say... the coast of Italy for the summer ;) Italy has tons of complicated red tape and language schools are very hesitant to hire people who don't have their visas already. Spain as well seems to be a difficult place to get a working visa for.
Spain also has a ~40% unemployment rate for people my age. France isn't far from that either.

Friends and family keep telling me to just take a break and enjoy being on vacation. I don't know if I can... I'm too excited about the next step! All I know right now is that I'm heading to Oxford on Saturday for A's belated birthday celebration.

I've started research on the GIFTS (http://giftsofhealth.org/) related project, which, it turns out is confidential and I can't actually talk about. Top secret and all that jazz. I'm on a need to know basis ;)
Bond, Jane Bond.

So, here is my list of priorities/wants
1- Live in a different country than Canada
2- Gain field experience in Environment, preferably something water or food related
3- Make money
4- Teach english somewhere warm and sunny where I can chill
5- Teach english to support myself while working on environmental projects in my spare time
6- Keep enjoying life

I just have to figure out how to go about getting what I want...

A cool woman I met on the TEFL course, V, has set me up with a recruiter for a company that seems ideal for people who have just graduated and don't know what they want to do and want to make money.

For anyone out there looking into an interesting sounding job after University where you can live abroad and work, check this out: http://www.mediaplusapplicant.com/
It's definitely not for everyone, but V worked there for 2 years after she graduated and said I have the personality for it. I took that to be a good thing!

I think I'll apply for it as an exercise in interviewing skills. I still don't really understand what they do, but it might be a good way to make some money over the course of a few months.  It would also allow me to meet some government officials in a professional environment and gain more skills.

OY.
Decisions. Decisions. Decisions.

TEFL

I LOVE LEEEAAAAARRRRNNNNIIIIINNNNGGG!!!!!!!!!!

Madrid to Bristol

I am currently in Bristol, two hours before my TEFL course starts and I have yet to bring myself to do the pre-course homework. This is going to be a loooooooooong weekend!
I'm excited and nervous! WOOOT

Giddy in Granada

So, our goal of doing a hike in Ronda didn't work out due to time constraints and lack of frequent bus routes.

It was decided that Granada would be our destination instead.

Granada may be my favourite city in the world. It is just so damn beautiful!


After a solid week of Spanish cuisine, in which an ensalada is basically pork products and bread... I was craving some vegetarian cuisine and we found the perfect place. I had two entire plates of delicious middle eastern food to myself and the three of us split a chai-style tea. Most amazing tea ever. I had to commemorate the momentous occasion with pictures!


We arrived in the early afternoon and had time to walk around the old cobblestone streets in the daylight.

The itinerary was similar to what I had done with S my first time there. We went to go see a flamenco show on the Sunday night. It was a wonderful way to start off my birthday! The show was fantastic. I've never seen or heard anything like flamenco. The music, the passion the dancing... all of it. I'm sure I'm repeating myself.

My birthday was definitely off to a great start!
















We woke up early and headed up to the Alhambra just in time to visit the Palace of the Nasrids, which I had missed last time. It was spectacular.

Crazy in Cordoba

From Seville, we headed to Cordoba to visit our friend A, who is living there, teaching English as part of a Spanish government program. She was an amazing host and accommodated the three of us in her teeny room. We instantly took over her room and she put up with having our stuff all over the place. Lovely person! She showed us the beautiful sights and took us out for fun nights.

Muslim next to Christian

Cordoba has its own equivalent of Seville's Alcazar: The Mezquita.

We dragged ourselves out of A's cozy room and went to visit the beautiful building.

It is a weird mishmash of several different places of worship. On one side is the Muslim design and right next to it is the typical christian cathedral style.










We were also lucky enough to be in Cordoba for its annual Medieval Festival, held in the main Plaza.

It was like stepping through a time machine. There were huge grills of meat everywhere and people were walking around with horns filled with mead and mulled wine. People were dressed in chain mail and carried around swords.

Birthday celebrations in Cordoba!