dreaming over the ocean

I know that it has been FOREVER since I have posted... I apologize. there is not much excuse, other than the fact that the last few weeks in Malawi were busy.  I wanted to drink it in, and enjoy my time.  The final week was spent in an escape~ a place that I could just reflect on the four months, and slowly re-integrate into environments with more white people.   (seriously.  it takes a bit to get used to us again.)   but, during that last week, my computer also started acting a little fishy.  Glad it happened at that point, and not 1/2 way through my time there. I arrived back in Canada last thursday (the 22nd).  It has been nice to be home (despite not being 'home'), and spend christmas in Victoria with my new "family to be."  For the last 10 years or so, they (my beloved's parents) have spent much time working in South East Asia... so, they know what it is like to come back to North America.  To transition back into life here...

I am not going to lie.  This past week is one of those experiences where you literally have to remind yourself that what you are experiencing is actually real life.  it is also one of those experiences which plays into a "typical African stereotype"that there are wild animals running rampant. but, let me back up a bit.  A visitor's visa in Malawi is for 30 days.  You can get it extended 2x for 5000MK (which is about 25$), and then you have to either leave or get a temporary resident's permit (or, alternatively, in my case, I could also get a student permit).  Since the TRP will take forever and a day, I knew that I would have to leave.  So, I have been contemplating in the last little while:  just go to the border, eat lunch in Mozambique or Zambia, and come back?  hmmmm, nope, that would be an expensive lunch (visa for both countries are about 50$). By a plane ticket to South Africa? (hmmm, i wish!) go on a discount safari to Zambia?  SU...

Almost every day, I have experiences which kinda make me say "oh man.  I am SO far away from Canada."  Sometimes, they are very tiny things and sometimes they are monumental.  and sometimes, i even forget that that they are a little strange.  like this morning... it has so far been a relatively normal day.  Nothing too eventful.  Except for the gecko hiding on my floor that scared me. and the fact that this sign was posted on a lamp post.   Sorry for the poor photo (it was taken with my phone), but I am not sure if you can read it... it says "A night of war against satanic manipulation." oh great.  just what everyone needs. then, a fellow saw me taking the picture, and after a minute or so of conversation said "I would like to be your friend."  HA.  OK. Fine.  And, I walked into school having a little laugh... that is one of the biggest cultural differences that is hard to overcome. no matter how long you can be here, it feel...

Every once and a while, something that you read really catches you.  And, for me, that rarely happens in academic literature.  I am currently reading a lot about "participatory research"for my new research manuscript to sum-up my time here in Malawi.  and, I came across this quote.  quite fantastic, i think... " As people engage in dialogue with each other about their communities and the larger social context, their own internal though patterns and beliefs about their social world change;  their relationships to each other become strengthened; and ultimately, they enhance their capacities to reflect on their own values and to make new choices." 

Last weekend, I went up to the infamous (at least here in Malawi) Cape Maclear.  It was great to get away from the city (once again!) to be able to hit up a little bit of sun and fun.  I was also given the chance to go and do the Mulanje Cross over... But, I was questioning the chances that I might have to get up to Cape Maclear, before I leave.  In addition.... it is crunch time!  I know it seems strange to consider the fact that I am actually in school while I am here in Malawi... but the end of the semester is just around the corner.  That means that my clinical rotation is finishing up (just two more days!).  I have a clinical note due this week.  I have a concept map that I need to present during the week of December 5th.  I have a rough draft of my manuscript (... aka... my new "research project" which is a manuscript, that often feels like I am writing prose,  on establishing inter-institutional global health nursing research coll...

On wednesday, I had a day that really hit both the best and the worst parts of being in Malawi. I am not sure if I have mentioned it before, but Malawi is nick-named "the warm heart of Africa." I believe it is because of the well known warmth and friendliness of the people who live here.  I know I have mentioned previously how I find that Malawians are quite reserved (as compared to other Africans, especially West Africans that I have met);  but, with that sense of being reserved, they just seems to contain a gentleness and kindness that seeps from their personalities. Late last week, the caretaker of the hostel I am staying in came into my room.  "I want to tell you something," he said.  Yolam is an exceptionally soft spoken, gentle fellow, not prone to boughts of extreme excitement.  most likely not accustomed to extreme extroversion that is sometimes included in my personality.  "My daughter...." (silence.)   "Yes, Yolam.  tell me."  (...

Ok, yesterday I told you about Nixon, who is an artist.  These are his paintings.    They are a variety of sizes and a variety of styles, as you can see.  They are Nixon's sole source of income, and he has asked if I could bring them back to Canada to give to a friend of his to sell.  I thought I would blog them, in case YOU  might wan to buy one.  Send me an offer.  I will bring them back to Canada, via seattle.  So, they can be shipped to you (you pay shipping), or if you live in Montreal, Vancouver or Seattle-Tacoma, I can get them to you directly.   Let me know which one you like, and shoot me an offer.  I will tell you if it is appropriate, and then I will tell you how to get the Money to me, so that I can pay him for them.   He will be using the proceeds to pay for school fees for his children.

if this post works, I will be *thrilled.*  my internet is SO touch and go these days.  skype cuts in and out.  webpages just don't load. even at the college the other day, it took about 3 hours for one episode of "bones" to download.  i can't read any facebook notifications or messages, they just don't load (gasp.   what in the world am I going to do!??!   ha!)  emails may or may not load.  siiiiigh.  and, yet... I try.  I try to connect to the internet, even when the internet gods are telling me to cease and desist.   oh well. I am over my tizzy from last week.  And, I am SO glad about that.  The calm, the joy, the wonders of being here in Malawi have returned from lacking last week.  my grouchiness has past, and most days I am walking around with a little jump in my step again. except... I am sick.  I feel a little silly, because I am such a typical "muzungu" and, I automatically expect malaria.  "its ...

I just had another person ask if I could help pay for school fees for their children.  I know the solution is not to just give hand outs... as people would say, "it breeds a culture of dependancy."  but, sometimes I also wonder, as it was recently mentioned to me, if that is just an excuse for not helping. it feels awful not to help. but it feels awful to just just give out money. how?  how do I help? what is the answer here?

For the first time since being in Malawi, I have felt the pangs of homesickness.  And, it sucks.  homesickness just makes you feel sad, even if you are so happy with where you are.  I think it is due to a few factors: sean visited, and he went home last monday morning.  and, I miss him.  despite the fact that i am enjoying not cooking for myself, i am missing things like Big Ass Salads. and grapefruit. and smoothies.  and greek yogurt.  and things that are not deep fried. i am feeling like i am getting a rice gut.  and, i am getting some exercise (running 3x a week, swim 1x a week, and am starting to do yoga on the other days), but, it is just not the same.  I really really miss my bike.  riding on the back of a bicycle taxi is just not the same. i struggle with the balance of wanting people contact, but not wanting to spend all my time with ex-pats, and also not having found solid malawian friends yet.  i miss my friends. ...

This morning, I went out to the Chikela airport outside of Blantyre to drop off my beloved, after having him in Malawi for about 12 days.  It was so amazing to have him here... and, now, it is time to get back to "work."  Albeit, "work" here in Malawi seems so much different from work back in Montreal. After the 9 day holiday and a few days in Blantyre that we had together, there is lots to report on about the amazing things that we saw and experienced and people we met.  Like traveling to Likoma island.  And seeing monkeys in Monkey bay.  And seeing hippos and elephants in Liwonde national park.  And seeing fantastic rural community initiative projects.  It was a refreshing (though, somewhat tiring) time.  So, wait for the upcoming posts on those items! The boy i like was off this morning, to get back to "Real life." back to a place which is pretty much the furthest away possible from me on this earth.  back to a long distance relationsh...

Ahhhh… so, those moments in time where all of a sudden, time stands still.   I am sitting on the top deck of the Ilala Ferry, somewhere on the southern part of Lake Malawi, with Mozambique to the starboard side, and Malawi to the port.   It is HOT out, and the boy I like love is sitting beside me. Life is good.   So, I finally get to hit back on the second and third days of hiking the island in the sky, mt mulanje.   And, it seems like it was ages ago… but, still oh so good.   The second day of hiking was, physically, less challenging than the first day up boma trail.   We were heading from Libuhka hut, to Chisepo hut, which is at the base of Sawipta peak, the highest peak of Mulanje.   It was kinda cloudy, and definitely questionable as to if we would be able to succeed getting to the top of the mountain.   The distance between the two huts was approx 10km, and it took us about 4 hours.   We went down, and then up up up again....

Wow oh wow oh wow oh wow. Where do I start?  Well, maybe by saying that I do not want to not post about the 2 nd and 3 rd days of hiking mt mulanje.  They may not be as fresh in my head when I write about them, but, I am about to explode with the past couple days. Last night, I came home, and I could not stop smiling.  In the morning, I had said it outloud: this week, I have hiked a mountain , helped deliver close to 10 babies, done school work (which also included some not-so-great news about the ethics approval from University of Malawi about my project… but, at least it is something which provides at least some direction.) and have gotten to meet the archbishop of Canterbury . What the!??!? 

I love mountains.  there is just something about them that makes my heart happy, serene, and peaceful.  I love them anywhere... From the mighty Denali , to the rolling hills of West Virginia  and Vermont , to the mountains in Petra, Jordan , to the close to home Rockies.   There is just something about them that makes my heart happy.  oh right.  I already said that. so, when I found out that Malawi has the highest peak in central Africa, south of those famous ones up in tanzania and kenya, and North of the Drakensberg's, I was thrilled.   Mount Mulanje   hits a maximum peak of 3002m (9850ft), which, for those of you who need reference points:  Blackcomb mountain is 1609m, Mt Edith Cavell  3363 m  & Mt Robson is 3959m.   this " monadnock " is situated about 2hrs away (ish) (on minibus time) from Blantyre.  Long story short, I arranged with a new Australian friend of mine, that we would be able to hit up th...

It is 9:33 pm.  And, I am exhausted.  This weekend, I made it almost up to 3000m in altitude.  My effort was trumped by rain and hail, but it did include lots of moments like the two photos that follow.  More will be updated as I get less tired, but there are a few shots of the weekend adventure (with some description) on Flickr .  So, hopefully that will keep you content for now.  Until then, dream of the beauty that comes with being in the wilderness.  Dream about being on an "island in the sky," because I certainly will.

two days a week, I spend my day at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, here in Blantyre.  QECH is the largest referral hospital in Malawi, with approximently 1100 beds, spread out over a massive land area.  It is interesting, because, apparently, when they were designing this place, it must of thought it would be unwise to go "up" in building, so they just went a single story... so, it is perhaps the most sprawling hospital that I have ever been in. Have I ever mentioned how much I am a big fan of public health care?  Think what you might, but I think that health is a human right~  not something that you should have to pay for.  and, that is why it thrills me that I get to be doing my  clinical rotation in a public hospital in Malawi.  I was even a patient there, during my week of explosive diarreah.  and, I when i was brought there, I was asked "Are you scared?"  um... no? they do have qualified doctors and nurses, right? (yes) they ...

WOW...  1 month since I left Edmonton, too travel over the ocean to this strange and distant land.  To fufill something that frequently happens in my dreams. to do something that I have never done before. And, you might think... you might think that I would have the time to update my blog and tell you all about everything that is going on here and the sights i see and the food i eat and the people i talk to. and, honestly, I probably do.  but, sometimes, it is hard to decipher what I want to write.  What is meaningful, both for myself, and for my readers. (if there are still any out there!) so... where to start?  First off, to say, I guess, that I LOVE being here.  There is something that just settles so right inside of my being.  something that makes me have this deep rooted peace.  I don't know Malawi very well, and my time being here is SO different from every experience that I have had in any other African nation.  (on that note,...

There is something about African sunsets that, in my opinion, are unmatched in the world.  Now, I have never been everywhere else in the world, but, one thing I do know... sunsets here kick any Canadian sunset. I think it is probably how you can almost directly look at it and the sun is this radiant light, which, if you turn away (or blink) at the wrong moment, will suddenly disappear... when it nears that horizon... watch out.  it will disappear in seconds.    That magnificent reddy, orange, pink, purple, radiant circle of light. Tonight, as I was sitting tonight reading my book, watching the sunset, I thought about big A Africa.   you know the one.  the one where there is this continent of unknowns, and there are either wild animals running rampant, or civil wars where people are having their limbs lopped off with machetes, or people who are all the same, or disease is ravaging everyone, and every person is part...

Ohhhhhh… where to begin?!   I guess it is with the thought that being comfortable in “Africa” doesn’t necessarily feel comfortable to me.   And, I will get more to that in a bit.   I arrived in Blantyre (Malawi… if you haven’t read my recent posts) on Friday night.   School “officially” started last Thursday.   In those two days, I managed to register with the nurses council of Malawi and get my research proposal together to submission to the College of Medicine ethics review board.   And drive to Blantyre.   And. That. Is. All. One of the common things that people talk about when being in Africa, is the different concepts of time.   Time doesn’t necessarily run the same way here, but sometimes it does.   And, so, I tend to take the outlook of “be ready on time, but prepare to wait.”    Pretty much, that way of thought gets you by, and you are consistently reminded to be patient.   Moving to a new c...

It has officially been one week since I have stepped foot on this continent, and I am happy to be here.  (Sometimes, though, i just have to remember that!)  :)  It has not been a problem remembering that when I was in Stellenbosch/Cape Town, with people I know and things to do. but, when you arrive to "The real Africa" things are a little different.  Life is slower.  You arrange things as they come up.  Especially when not much has been arranged for you.  I was thinking that I would be arriving here to have a little bit more news (from McGill/our main contact at the College here) than what I actually have.  but, not really surprising, if i think about it.  How would they know more than what i would know?  So, as I got in an email yesterday: "it seems like McGill is McGill.  and Africa is Africa.  and you are in the better of the two." I was indeed reminded that I was in Africa yesterday, when i "hurried" my lunch so tha...

it is 3:25 am.  I went to bed at 10.  5hrs sleep is not enough. unfortunately, it is 7:35 in edmonton, which... is not sleeping time. ugh. so, i will write a quick update, hopefully to put myself back to sleep.  I guess I can start by saying that this blog is going to take vast turn in subject matter.  For, over the next 4 months, i will probably barely touch anything triathlon related. Oh sure, i brought my (now very old/used) running shoes.  I have my bathing suit, swim cap and goggles.  but.  as if i am going to get the chance to do anything close to training. for I have arrived.

Today, I had a *Great* day.  I swam biked and ran like it was the last race of the season.  Oh wait.  It was. the. last. race.  And, suffice it to say, i had a good ol' time racing today, despite the fact that from about 1km into the run, i wanted to die.  i wanted to throw the towel in and curse Alberta provincial parks for their challenging forest trail systems. so, i wasn't going to really write a race report.  but, as i started writing, it has just flowed.  I will also grace you with photos that my chum took, with a bit of a teaser of how each leg went. also, a link to my Garmin files.  which, btw, is the first time racing with the 310xt , which i should've gotten back in may.  I LOVED racing with it, and the super great soft heart rate strap.   however, one thing is forsure... looking at my files really shows me how much i have to work on.  UM.  hello variable heart rates throughout a race!!! i need to learn h...

soooooo..... so many things happening these past few weeks.  And, because it is impossible to blog about all of them, i will do a high low list, with some pics attached (which, btw, for credit purposes, were all stolen off their facebook pages.) Highs in the recent weeks: Jessie Vredevelt's and Christopher Shultz's wedding I mean really.  Held at  Gorge Crests Vineyards  overlooking the columbia river Valley in Oregon, and Mt Hood, how can you go wrong.  My lovely friend, Jessie, looked stunning.  I know Jessie from Mercy Ships Segue course, where she and I just spoke truth into each other's lives.  She and I made eachother cry on many occasions, she came to take care of me following my bike crash in 2007, and typical of her, she made me cry as she was walking towards her love.   and... it was a really nice occasion to be able to put on the hipster heels, and the fun black dress that i bought this spring, look fancy, and get to know new ...

surely, this cannot be true.  but, alas.  i can see the end of the summer. in a mere 4 weeks , I will be one day post my last race of the season, and 1 day pre-leaving for africa. HOLY CRAP! it feels like there is so much time left, but also so little.  Scheduling is crazy and time is ticking away.  between now and then, there are weddings to attend on the west coast, "inlaws" to visit with, training to be done, Rx's to be picked up (yup. the doc convinced me to go on malaria prophylaxis), bags to move and people to visit with, work to do, and school work to be formatted.  oh yeah.  a lot of finger crossing and god praying to be had that my trip to Malawi is not a total gongshow. Anyway, i was down in Canmore this weekend, supporting and cheering and volunteering for the boy I like love's  24 Hour of Adrenalin   corporate team.  Like last year, it was a load of fun, I had a (marginally) better volunteer position, and I...

so, the other day, I had the first conversation where training got in the way of "life."  I mean, there have been other times, but, this time was the first time I had a conversation where I realized that not everyone thinks that my way of prioritizing is "normal." the conversation went something like this, at about 10 pm: "well, I have a 2-hr bike ride for sometime tomorrow and swim practice in the morning.  And a dentist appointment.  and work.  Do you want to join me for the bike ride?" "hmmm, sure, that sounds good.  What time?" "Well, I was thinking after I get back from work." "when are you working until?" "7pm" "ummmm.  you want to ride at 7:30, for 2 hours?  when are you doing to eat dinner?" "well, after?" "errrr... isn't eating just as important as training?" "well, yes.  but, i will  eat.  just after riding." .... quizzical  stare. "i mean, it...

One of the things that I said to the boy that I like love, when I first started dating him was "Listen up, buddy.  I am flexible with a lot of things, but, one of those things is NOT living in Edmonton for the rest of my life.  I just will not do it.  SO, if you plan on this being a long-term relationship, you need to realize that you will have to eventually move out of this city."   That was 3 weeks in. and, his response?  "Eh.  Ok.  I'm good with that.  I've just been looking for an excuse to move anyway." but, all that being said, It means that I have spent the last two summers in this city.  And, I don't mind, because I get to be with him.  However, what I do mind, is the mosquitos.  They are so bad, they are covered by our national news.    and, of course, the local newspaper .  Swarmed by blood thirsty mosquitos. i hate that. however, all that being said, the summer is not that bad in this city.

so, i have been back from my holiday for about a month.  and, I have not yet written about the rest of my holiday. Not because I haven't wanted too (it has been waiting in my "edit" box).  But, this summer has been busy (HA!  as if my life is never not busy).  So, in memory, here is my Hawaii post, holiday edition.  remember, it was written quite a while ago. in arriving back to Canada, i think that edmonton weather has had me in the ultimate state of revenge.  Since getting back (last monday morning, 10 days ago) there has not been one nice day of weather until yesterday.  10 days of sunshine in hawaii.  10 dreaded days of rain in edmonton.  I even had to do my long saturday ride on the trainer!  UGH!  it is JUNE!  but, at least I am not in Saskatchewan (or north dakota, for that matter), where the rain and flooding is causing people to evacuate. so, in order to remember the sunshine, here is my post about the rest of the ho...

So, after a 1/2 ironman, and two olympic distance Events in less than a month, all I can say is..... PHEW!  my body hurts!     Honestly, I always say that I love racing so much more than training.  I mean, if there is not a goal at the end of the tunnel, why would we bother?  but honestly, at the end of the day, your body just says WHOA.  slow down there. and, it is that time.  I have a rest week this week.  I might even skip my ever-loved outdoor pool master's class.  I  will only race another two races this season.  A 10km trail run in mid-July, and a 1/2 iron on the 21st of August.  Then, it will be off to my love.  Then, it will be off to Africa. There is so much to do between now and then.  Like the getting my eyeglasses.  And the dentist appointments.  and the doctor appointment (all this week). and the waiting for my new passport. and the applying for a Malawi Student Visa.  and buying a plane ...