Dog Days Are Over

I've returned home to sweet Montreal and hit the ground running. But I get ahead of myself.

My last few days in England were magical. I had a lovely easyjet flight from Nice to London and made my way back to Oxford from Gatwick, which isn't the quickest route. Unfortunately, I hadn't planned ahead and was ill informed about buses. Instead of a direct bus from the airport to Oxford centre, I was sold a ticket from Gatwick to London to Oxford. Not quick. Not direct. But, at least I saw London!

It turned out to be well timed. The entire bus ride back, I was texting J to figure out who was going to get to Oxford first. She was taking the train from Brizzle and I was old-school bus-ing it. The race was on! I went black ops on the texting when she wrote that her train was pulling into the station. My bus ended up stopping at every possible stop to let people off. When the bus finally pulled up to Gloucester Green, I hopped off and made my way back through the familiar town that I had grown to love to the home that I had become attached to. Along Jericho St, within my first few minutes of being in Oxford, I ran into people that I knew. Love that town.

I of course stopped in at the grog shop to pick up some vino to celebrate my return and as I exited, I saw a tall, leggy platinum blonde girl walking along the other side of the road. I of course cat-called to her. It's times like that I wish I were able to whistle. It turns out that J and I had planned our arrival perfectly! After many hugs, we strolled along to our home away from home and walked in to the cozy Oxford nest. It was a really great night with lots of catching up and wine. Once we finally both admitted that we were knackered, we settled into the Canadian room and had a lovely sleep over.


The next day, we had a really slow start to the day and the finally got ourselves sorted out and headed to Portmeadow to enjoy the sun and warmth. We brought our poi and our books and had a perfect afternoon. The only thing that could have made it a little better would have been a little less goose and duck poo all over the grass. Damn foul fowl. Who do they think they are?


The rest of the day was more of the same. When we felt appropriately sunned, we headed back home and timed it with the arrival of A, N and R, just back from a friend's birthday party in London. After a brief family meeting, we decided that we were going to make a break for it and head to the country.

J and I were incredibly excited to get back to the Cotswolds. A quick 40 minute drive later, we pulled up to Calcot and settled in for a few days of lovely British countryside.

I was shocked by how much the garden had changed from when I was there a month earlier.

In just a few short weeks, there seemed to be an explosion of colours and shapes in her backyard. I could almost imagine the three fairy godmothers from Sleeping Beauty flitting around the garden and pointing their wands at the different flowers to add a splash of colour. Or... I could picture the cards from Alice in Wonderland propping up a ladder against different plants and painting the roses red. Except in this case, the roses were tulips and the red was more of a palette of colours.

Things had bloomed and grown and greened. It was GORGEOUS! That garden is A's pride and glory. I can't imagine how much work it must take to make it so beautiful. In one spot in the kitchen, you can stand and see through the four sections of the garden, all the way to the pasture in the background.

Her garden is an incredible work of art, like a living painting.

There was a great moment when we arrived. The drive to the cottage had involved a 30 minute talk about colours, during which A spent a long eloquent time telling us how much she loathed orange and yellow flowers.

This wasn't new to me. I have heard her say this before. She seems to take their colour as a personal offense. So, we get to the cottage and my first stop is the garden. I walk out and my eye is instantly drawn to a beautiful patch of orange and yellow tulips that are in direct view of the kitchen. Obviously J and I spent the next few days teasing A about this.

The garden really did blow me away.



We went on a long walk through the countryside. When we left, it was warm and sunny, by the time we returned, we had seen sun, rain, rainbows, hail and then more sun.

At the beginning of the walk, I saw an old tire swing by a pond and managed to bully a little kid off of it so that J and I could play on it! After my bullying instincts were satisfied, we continued the walk and passed by old mills, beautiful streams, lovely countryside...

LAMBS! It was lambing season. At one point, J just said "LAMBS" and started running toward a fence. Before I realized what she was talking about, I found myself running to see the absolute overwhelming cuteness of fluffy white lambs.

Newbie

Can you see the umbilical cord?

The best part is that we saw lambs that had JUST been born. One lamb and it's mom had been fenced off. Another mother and baby were in the corner of the field and as we walked up, we saw the lamb take its first few wobbly steps. The mom still had traces of the birthing sack (or whatever that bloody mess is called) on her backside and the baby still had a yellow sack covering its back. The lamb had an umbilical cord trailing from its tummy as it ran after its mom, trying to gain access to some yummy sheep's milk.

The rest of the walk was nice, except that at one point, we noticed that the cloud cover was getting quite dense. Sure enough, ten minutes later, it started raining. Then hailing. Being the troopers that we are, we kept walking. A kept telling us that there a pub just over the next hill. She was lying most of those times. By the time we got over the last hill, there was a pub. For some reason, on top of closing early, pubs also close in the afternoon. A noticed that I hadn't planned my wardrobe for rain and that my previously white shirt was no longer very opaque... Cunning woman that she is, she sent me ahead of the group to talk our way in to the pub for a drink. One round of drinks later, we had the very nice bartender call us a taxi to take us home to warm up in front of the Aga.

The next two days were spent playing Blokus, Charades and reading in the garden. The first of my tearful goodbyes happened at the train station when we dropped J off for her train back to Brizzle.

The night before my flight home, I said another tearful goodbye to A and R. (Something tells me that I'll be having a lot of these over the next two weeks.)

N drove me back to Oxford so that I could pack and get ready for my long flight. I didn't end up sleeping and got to the airport at 4:30am, 4 hours before my flight. It was wayyyy too early, but the advantage was that I was able to upgrade to first class... meaning that I got drunk the entire flight.

The stewardess came by my big comfy seat as everyone was boarding...
"Hello Miss, would you like orange juice or sparkling wine to start?"
My answer: "Yes!"

Needless to say, the 7 and a half hour flight passed by in a daze and I was the first one off, the first one through the doors where I ran to my mommy who was waiting patiently!
Home sweet home!

New beginnings

I think yesterday's sunshine and the springy tingle that was in the air was prophetic of new beginnings and changes.

It was an absolutely gorgeous, cloudless day out and I went for a two and a half hour walk around town.

I love seeing how roots can establish themselves anywhere, regardless of what obstacles are in the way... There was one cement plinth that had been completely broken through by tree roots.

I walked into an old cemetery that had beautiful ancient headstones... I'm talking 1700s on the ones that were still legible. It looked like what I imagine Godric's Hollow would be. The grassy ground was uneven and I could just imagine how many people had been in that cemetery over the years, paying their respects to their loved ones. Some of the graves had flowers or little shrubs planted  around them. The sun was streaming through the trees and framing the headstones so beautifully, it was hard not to take pictures.





I spent some time walking around, reading names, inscriptions and imagining stumbling across the grave of Ignotus Peverell. I'm hoping that only the other dorks out there will understand that reference. ;)

After the cemetery, I did my usual walk into town and then tried to get myself lost (my favourite thing to do in cities). It always allows me to discover new places. My stroll took me into a place called Christ Church Meadow, one of the big college campuses. It was such a beautiful day that I wasn't the only person out and about.

There were people practicing Lacrosse, couples walking hand-in-hand, Uni kids going for runs together and owners walking their pretty puppies.




I followed the path to the water and came across flocks of birds. Rafts of ducks. Gaggles of Geese. Bevies of swans. They were all chilling on the water and congregating on shore, posing for pictures.

I kept walking along the water and started to see people running in uniforms. Team uniforms. And unitards. I do love men in unitards. I started suspecting that something was going on further upstream. Then I heard a voice on a loudspeaker announcing the next men's race. I suddenly felt a familiar excited flutter in my stomach as I walked over a bridge and came across a regatta!  I managed to find a wall to lean on and went unnoticed amongst all the different Oxford rowing teams, cheering on their crews.

Having satisfied my nostalgia, I walked back to Warnborough road the long way, through different college campuses, past the zoology department of Oxford. I got home just in time for my 5pm skype meeting with my research supervisor to touch base on GIFTs research. After that, I read the handbook sent to me by the coordinator for my internship and I started getting REALLY excited about my next adventure!

New Buds

The next few months will be full of new beginnings, new experiences, new people and new adventures! I have no idea what to expect and am so incredibly nervous and excited about this opportunity.

I expect visitors in New Brunswick and in Cuba!
http://www.fallsbrookcentre.ca/

WOOHOOOOOO

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/

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!