The Updates Continue

Gosh, I barely even know where to start. 

I flew back from the Balkans at the end of June 2022 in time to head down to Minnesota with Attiya and Hayley to attend Kim and Mike's wonderful (KG themed!) cottage wedding, and then to fly back from there in time to take part and Laura and Mo's lovely wedding here. It was there that I got a call from Mariya asking if I wanted to join an OSUN project working in the education sector in refugee camps. 

Despite knowing that I was burnt out and really should give myself a break, I felt like I really couldn't give up a chance to work on something that united all of my knowledge and expertise (anthropology, international relations, disaster management, ESL teaching, and education development) in such a useful and fundamentally good way so I ended up agreeing to take on not one, but two projects (after first dashing off for a quick Manitoulin camping trip with Robb). The first, my main project, involved developing the initial sections of a new (primarily online) bridging curriculum for refugee students in Kenya, Jordan and Bangladesh who were looking to apply to English-language universities, whether online from their camps or abroad as part of their resettlement, and needed to upgrade their English language, writing, general academic and study skills in order to do so. The second project had me working as a teacher trainer in the Cox's Bazar camps in Bangladesh, helping to build the mentoring skills of local and refugee senior teachers and administrators responsible for the ultimate rollout of and teacher training on the new curriculum for the Rohingya refugees (who had at that point been without schooling beyond the grade 3 level for almost 5 years). This built of work I had been doing at AUCA helping to mentor our trainee teachers from our Master's of Teaching program, and later to help mentor and advise other mentors working with the program. The work itself was interesting, but the practical, administrative and (most of all) bureaucratic hurdles just made everything so challenging. This was especially devastating and frustrating when I was working directly with our refugee students or trainees in camp whether to gather data in order to improve the programs or to conduct sessions, because the limitations on their lives and what exactly it was actually possible for us to accomplish in trying to help were just so, so unavoidably glaringly obvious. And there is nothing worse than seeing people suffer and being quite literally powerless to offer anything more than a bandaid solution when you know that the only thing prolonging their suffering is quite simply politics and the lack of will to actually implement a solution on the part of other people because of optics, and yes, more politics. It's gut wrenching and awful even just as an observer and it really should not be that way. 

Needless to say, last year was not really a break of any kind. I learned a lot, made some good friends, got to enjoy many a lovely Cox's Bazar sunset and cheap seafood dinner (in the few hours I wasn't working) while in Bangladesh for most of the fall and some of January, and got to visit the giraffes on a brief fall trip to Kenya. I was also extremely fortunate that I was able to organize some stopovers in London in order to visit Lisa (and Jo! and other Jo!) in Cambridge, as well as attend the Arch & Anth dinner at Ox while Lisa was still with us. Sadly, we lost Lisa on Nov 3rd. Cancer is awful. I am still so devastated (though I guess marginally less angry) that we lost her at such a young age. She really was the best of us and I was always so grateful that I got to follow along on her journey from the sidelines as she became the badass archaeologist and academic she was always meant to be, championing equality and open access the entire way <3. She was just such an incredible person and her determination - even when she was younger and doubted herself - was always incredible to watch. I loved watching her grow into herself and was so, so proud of her and all she had accomplished. I told her years ago that I used her as an example of what could be accomplished through determination when I was encouraging my students to follow their dreams and she kind of scoffed at me then, but she just went on accomplishing more and more as the years went on and I still can't really believe she is gone. We got way too short a time after she was told the cancer had returned, but I will forever be grateful that the universe conspired to organize things so that I got any time at all <3. And I am so, so glad you had (your) Jo with you throughout. Love you Lisa. And I will now forever mispronounce the word dahlia in your honour ;).

So fall was busy times. I was home for a grand total of 6 days, during which I moved from Zia J's where I had been staying for the second half of the summer (I had been staying with Emily B in between Nonno's and my time back in KG, but she very sensibly acquired a new roommate while I was gone) to my condo. Thankfully, the majority of my stuff had been in my storage locker in the basement here for the last 10 years, so I didn't have to move it too far. I also lucked out and was able to source most of my furniture from castoffs from friends and fam as well as from previous tenants. So that made coming home for x-mas much more pleasant! That said, I am still sleeping on a mattress on the floor nearly 10 months later (it's perfectly comfy! and I am much too lazy to source another bed), so... shrug. Ma and John ended up deciding to sell their place up here in Jan, so they are now also in the condo (sleeping on my actual bed) when they are not down in Costa Rica, which means I now have far too many plates or cutlery for one place, having also inherited theirs, but at least don't have to carry all of the costs of living here :P.

It was back to Bangladesh for me in Jan to (I thought) wrap up the teacher training project (turns out we are running another round of training and I have somehow agreed to head back this fall?), and then over to Kenya in Feb to meet with our students in Kakuma and Dadaab and run some in person classes as well as do data collection in order to assess and re-work some bits of the curriculum. From Kenya, I popped on down to Zimbabwe to visit Shahnaz, Avi and Azhar in Harare and to travel around and explore (and dip back across the SA border to finally see Mapungubwe!). I got to meet and become friends with the awesome Mzi while I was there and had an absolutely lovely time travelling around the country. Definitely one of my favourite places in Africa. Despite the horrendous economic and political situation, everyone is well educated, curious, independent and interested in the world around them. It was a really great place to just go and hang out with the people. It also doesn't hurt that the landscape is gorgeous and the history/archaeology phenomenal.  

From Zim, it was back to Toronto to implement the findings from my data collection and to wrap up the curriculum design process. As well as to continue my other job editing academic and policy papers for the Bishkek branch of the OSCE and the OSCE Academy (which I had been continuing to do throughout as well) and to drop back into my other, other job substitute teaching circus here in Toronto at Artists' Play. Finishing the OSUN project was such a relief. Guys. Three jobs (not even counting the sub-teaching) is too many - especially when you are already burnt out! 

Wrapping up the major projects also gave me some time to finish working on addressing some major health issues that I had been trying to fix for years but hadn't had the energy/time to adequately dedicate to (not to mention had been constrained by the slow, sloowww process of getting in to see specialists in Ontario and the limited access to medical care caused by covid prior to that). Turns out a lot of the more physical issues were down to my having (had) a twisted coccyx (for the last 20 + years!) that had gotten worse in the last few years due to my compensating for an ankle I had sprained (again) playing soccer (in 2017!) and in which the ligaments and tendons were now so overstretched that the bones have a (continued) tendency to shift and dislocate (thanks hypermobility disorder)... and which I had been dancing, circus-ing, hiking and back country skiing on (I knew it wasn't right, I just didn't know how not right...). Whoops. Anyway... the coccyx was essentially squishing my colon as well as causing a whole bunch of structural and musculoskeletal knock-on effects in my pelvis and core and spine and legs and... yeah. The impacts on my digestion (from having my colon squished, which, for the record, is not fun) were also exacerbated by the fungal infection I had had in my intestines back in 2019 AND the helicobacter infection I got sometime around late 2020/early 2021, as well as the decision by my digestive sphincters (but especially my gal bladder and duodenal sphincters) to dysfunction (since, you know, they are also connective tissue and therefore... felt left out? by not having previously been implicated by my hypermobility disorder?). Anyway... all of that is cleared up now - minus the ankle, which doesn't like it when I drive and thus gets grumpy and agitates the coccyx, but those are relatively easy fixes now that we know what is going on - and the fact that apparently my exhaustion was not just a result of general burnout and my body dealing with constant pain and the inability to digest a bunch of foods while everything was dysfunctional, but also a lovely side effect of the 2019 fungal infection having essentially thrown my adrenal system off kilter (causing adrenal insufficiency - it was BAD) and, now, the lingering effects of that. Fun. But, happily, that is also getting better and I am now starting to feel a (bit) more and more like my old self.  

After wrapping up the projects at the end of May, I took off to Europe to visit friends and fam and get some travel in. First stop was England to visit Jo, and Charlotte(ish), and Jo and Lisa in her lovely wildflower meadow, and Alex and Erika for Alex's bday. Then it was across the channel to Dieppe to visit the cousins in Caen, see Tante Jeanine's final resting place on the beaches of Normandy, and visit Mont St Michel (thanks to Suzelle for hosting me!). Next it was down to Paris to visit Iselin and to catch up with Jawad and Gahzal, and then on to Lyon to finally visit Caroline down there (guys, Lyon is LOVELY!). From Lyon, I headed over to Zurich (via a wonderful stopover in Bern!) to collect Vanessa who was joining me for the next whirlwind leg of the trip trough Lucerne, Liechtenstein, Feldkirch, Innsbruck, Bolzano (where we met up with Pablo!), Cortina d'Ampezzo and the Dolomites, Trento, Venice (where we met up with Stephen!), Bologna, Rimini and Milan. While we were moving really quickly overall, we took 5 days to fully enjoy the Dolomites, renting a car and camping out in Cortina so that we could have enough time to get in some amazing hikes and even take Vanessa on her first ever via ferrata :D. After Vanessa flew out to Milan, I headed down to Genoa to visit the palazzos and hike Cinque Terre, then over to Savona to visit the Gareri side of the fam :), and then across to Nice, Monaco and Marseilles before flying home myself.

Since then I have just been here, trying to catch up on all my posts and updates, seeing/hanging with friends and fam, enjoying having access to a rooftop pool, working on editing projects, and teaching summer camp at the circus school :). 

Not sure what I will get up to next. It seems like I am headed back to Bangladesh in September (and possibly again in October/November), and then... who knows? For now I am just trying to take a little break enjoying life as it comes :).

Whoops?

Wow... so... uh... it's been a while...

I did, in fact, end up staying in Kyrgyzstan for that second year I mentioned when we last parted ways... and then also decided to stay for another 5 more ;). Needless to say, I really liked it there (understatement of the century :P) and it very much became home.

So many people have asked me over the years what I love so much about Kyrgyzstan. And really, there is just so much. It's nearly impossible to put into words. It's magic. The people are amazing. I have so many colleagues and ex-students and friends who have become like family. There are complex cultural and historical interplays. Linguistically, I had two languages to learn. It sits in a fascinating location economically and geopolitically. And, of course, the country itself is absolutely wonderful. There are just so many stunning landscapes to explore and phenomenal mountains (I had 5000ers (that's meters!) a 45 min drive from my apartment!) to climb (and ski!). It really is a nature lover's ultimate playground. It was also amazing to be there at a time when the country was developing in so many ways - in terms of tourism and outdoor pursuits and education and true community oriented entrepreneurship - and to get to be a part of that in some very real ways, from teaching business and environmental risk management at the university (alongside English and communication), to leading students on excursions and introducing them to the outdoors as a place of adventure, to essentially setting up a circus school and working on route finding projects and improving risk management in the tourism industry. 

There is an amazing energy to the country, so much potential and room for growth, as though everything is new and possible. I'm not sure if it's because the country itself is still so young, only really coming into its own with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1992, or if it is because over half of the country is under 25, with over a third between the ages of 14-25, lending the whole nation an un-jaded air of possibility. The feeling comes across in all the new enterprises people are eager to try and create, the scrapy nature of the economy, and even the fact that the country has implemented elections almost immediately after each of its three political revolutions. It's an air of hope. One that perseveres despite the barely sufficient domestic economy, continued social inequality and corruption, failing pension system and precarious financial state of much of the population. I felt it among the youth that I worked with at the university, but also among those who were middle aged and older working in the tourism industries. This spirit has been somewhat tamped down by the unfortunate dual economic effects of the pandemic and Russia's war on Ukraine in the last few years, but it is still there, under it all. And really, that is impossible not to love. 

Deciding to stay in Kyrgyzstan was continuously one of the easiest decisions of my life. I loved my work, I loved the people and I loved the place. I am so glad I got to spend nearly 7 magical years there, and was absolutely devastated when it was time to leave (but more on that later), even though I knew that time would come sooner or later.

Working in KG also meant I got in plenty of time for adventures - both within the country and without. There's a running joke among many of my local and non-local friends, particularly those in the tourism industry, that I have explored more of Kyrgyzstan than anyone else they know. I doubt it's true. I have so much more left to explore. But it might not be entirely inaccurate either ;). 

Packing in loads of extra work (and hikes!) during the school year also meant that I had much of my summers off, Christmas holidays, and occasionally fall and spring breaks to explore further afield. And explore I did.

After hitting up South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland the Christmas of my first year, and then heading to eastern and northern Kazakhstan to explore more there during spring break, I decided to spend that summer in the mountains, travelling Tajikistan for a month after a brief trip home before looping back up to Bishkek via the Pamir highway and Osh and being joined by Emily B so that we could head south the long way via Naryn, Tash Rabat and Kazarman to the Alay Valley and the Irkeshtam Pass. After crossing the pass into China, we got to thoroughly explore Xinjiang province, getting to see it in 2016 before the situation began to seriously deteriorate the following year, before making our way up to Qinghai, and from there, to Tibet, making our way all the way to Everest Base Camp before heading back to Lhasa and catching a flight to Kathmandu (the road across the boarder was still washed out from the earthquake the previous year). After exploring the Kathmandu region and taking a brief 4-5 day trip over to Bhutan, it was time for us to part ways. Em heading home, and me heading over to Pokhara to hike the Anapurna Circuit + extensions Trek before heading back (via a brief stop in Delhi) for the start of the semester and the second ever World Nomad Games, held in Cholpon Ata, Kyrgyzstan. 

 That fall, I continued the explorations, visiting Gwanju and Seoul in South Korea to get in some dance classes and see Minjung, So Jung & the fam, as well as past friends and colleagues. For the x-mas/new year holiday, I was off to Myanmar on an excellent trip, even getting to explore Rakhine state in the brief period it was open prior to the escalation of the Rohingya crisis (Not to make light of the awful situation that has and continues to displace a million refugees, but why do I feel like I am giving the impression that my presence is a catalyst of doom. It's not. I swear! ... at least I don't think it is? Yikes. That would be dark... I think the world is just (sadly) in a very rough place.). The 2017 spring break saw me exploring more of Kazakhstan, visiting the mountainous southeast and Turkestan in the south this time. Summer 2017 continued this trend, with me exploring Central Asia and the Caucasus. Ma joined me in Bishkek, and we headed off through Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan (where we visited all of the major sites, including the Aral Sea in Karakalpakistan) via the Fergana Valley border, and then into Turkmenistan where I spent an amazing evening/night staring at the Gates of Hell (an ever-burning gas crater) and we wandered through the ruins of Nissa, Merv and Gonur (as well as the modern day city of Ashgabat). From there, it was home for Ma and onwards for me. I crossed the border into Iran on an epic 35 day overland journey with a mission to see as many archaeological sites and become as familiar with the culture as I could (thankfully armed with some Persian taught to me by my amazing Afghan students back in Bishkek). I also got in some amazing hiking in Rasht and the Alamut valley, and summited Damavand, at 5670m asl. From Iran I crossed into Armenia, and then into Georgia (and Abkhazia), getting in loads of wonderful hiking, food and exploration there before I had to head back for the start of term.

Fall 2017 saw me exploring ever farther reaches of Kyrgyzstan with a trip to Kel Suu (now a popular tourism destination for locals and foreigners alike!) before I headed over to Bangladesh to visit Bethany and explore the country during fall break. Since I hadn't been home in over 18 months by that point, it was Toronto for Christmas that year, while spring break saw me heading to western Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, the two bits of Central Asia and the Caucasus I had missed the summer before. Summer 2018 saw me revisiting some old haunts and exploring them more thoroughly as I headed to England for Mark & Jess' wedding and turning that into a country-wide trip, visiting uni friends and exploring all the bits of England I had somehow failed to visit while I lived there. From there, it was back to Bishkek and onward to China. But not before 10 days spent up at Ratsek Hut at 3,350m asl in Ala Archa National Park learning how to trad climb and perform glacier rescues from Yaroslav (and summitting Peak Uchitel!). While I passed through Xinjiang on my way into China, the ongoing issues made it impossible (and me unwilling) to stay, and instead I visited a number of locations in my month long journey there that I had missed on previous trips. From China, I made my way to Indonesia, for what was probably one of my favourite trips of all time. I had so many crazy adventures, met up with and made so many excellent friends, hiked so many mountains, saw so many things, ate so much good food and had so many new experiences. almost two months was not nearly long enough and I definitely need to get back to Indonesia one day! 

Once again made it back to Bishkek in time for the start of term - and in time to get in a quick multi-day trek up to Ala Kul lake with Emma before the start of the 3rd Nomad Games. Such epic times. I remain devastated that they got handed off to Turkey and will now rotate hosts. I feel like there was so much epic tourism potential that the Kyrgyz government could have built off of.  I also managed to get in a summitting of Peak Boks, the second of my Ak Sai summits. For fall break, I was off to Norway (to visit Jawad), Sweden (to serendipitously see Em & Alex! I hilariously only learned they had landed there the day after I booked my flights!) and Finland (to see Sarah). It was a great trip in many ways, but I somehow always seemed to be in the wrong place to ever see the northern lights (despite the fact that I spent most of my trip in the far north)! Kept up the visiting trend over x-mas/new year's break, heading to New Zealand to see Ching for an epic North Island camping trip with her and Anne before I hitched and bussed my way down south to Wellington and ferried over to the South Island where I picked up my rental car and camped my way around. On the way home, I managed to stop off in Vietnam for just under a week, visiting Chris & Annie and the fam in Dalat! 

For the 2019 spring break, Emma, Emma Claire and I were headed to Oman, having brough a trusty tent and rented a 4x4. All in all it was a pretty amazing trip. We got in sun, sand, sea, desert (okay so that's sand), mountain, and loads of archaeology and history. I also managed a stopover in Dubai to see Janae and her growing family as well as Mafiz and family. Three months later, I was back in Dubai for another visit, this time on route to Africa :). First stop was Ethiopia, where I got spend a month exploring the country and got to visit Shahnaz and Avi, and later Stuart as well (including on a detour to Somaliland), from Ethiopia I crossed south into Kenya, exploring the north before meeting up with Ma (and Jonathan for a brief reunion!) in Nairobi and headed off to explore Mombasa and the coast before heading westward to the Masai Mara to stay with the Masai and onward to Uganda. Uganda was incredible. So many amazing people, many met through Ma's rotary connections. And getting up close and personal with the chimps in Kibale and gorillas in Bwindi is something I will never forget. From there, it was south to Rwanda, with a brief detour into the DRC to hike the Nyiragongo Volcano (the lava lake of which I almost didn't get to see due to the weather!) for me. From Rwanda, we headed into Tanzania for an amazing safari through the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater, with a stop to visit Olduvai Gorge in there as well! We also passed through Arusha on our way to Zanzibar and, rather predictably, the glance I got of Kili saw me trying to figure out a way to hike it without breaking my ethics or my budget. After some lovely relaxing days spent on Zanz (complete with a blue bottle jellyfish sting for me while learning how to kite surf) and Ma's return home. I headed back to Arusha, this time with the intent to hike. Summitting Kili was very cool, but it was the hike up that was truly beautiful. All in all, it's a fairly easy walk. Especially for those who, unlike me, do not stubbornly insist on carrying their own pack the whole way ;). From Kili, I headed straight south and into northern Zambia, this time to stay with Adam and Liane who were rurally based as Peace Corps volunteers. I got to spend a lovely relaxing week in the village with them disconnected from modern life before it was time to hitch my way back up to Dar (stopping at archaeological sites on the way of course) and my flight out. Managed to sneak in a few weeks back home in Toronto to see friends and fam and attend Joseph's wedding before it was time to head back for the start of term. 

For fall 2019, I got in a quick trip to Lithuania, Kaliningrad, Latvia and Estonia, visiting Jordan while I was there. While Christmas/new year's break saw Hilary and I seek the sun in Sri Lanka! We also got in loads of hiking and archaeology on the bits that we saw together, before I continued north to Jaffna. Early 2020 saw me getting this strange cold-flu illness that completely wiped my energy levels (gee, hmm, I wonder what that was :P). And that combined with the residual effects of a 2019 fungal infection and general exhaustion from having worked multiple jobs and travelling non-stop (not to mention circus-ing and hiking everything within sight) for the 5 years prior had me contemplating doing nothing but sleeping for my entire spring break. 

I managed to get enough energy up to book a trip to Cyprus to visit Electra in March when... well... we all know what happened. Basically I spent the day before my birthday up in the mountains ski touring and learning avalanche safety from Yaroslav, only to come down to an uncertain world. My birthday marked my last day of in person work (yes, it was THAT Friday the 13th) and the cancelation of all travel (and thus my trip to Cyprus the next day). Kyrgyzstan didn't go into a hard lockdown until the week after (by which point nearly all of the expat foreigners bar a select few had left). 

I can't lie. Those first few weeks (months) of lockdown did me a lot of good. I desperately needed the slow down they entailed, and they gave me an excuse to get the rest I so desperately needed. Although Bishkek was slammed hard by both Covid (with July 2020 now referred to as Black July) and economic decline once the economic situation became unsustainable (especially as none of those working abroad were able to work either, effectively eliminating the 30% of the economy supported by remittance payments) and people had to return to work and many of the workers were sent home from other countries, bringing new strains with them, the early Covid era marked a period of much needed rest for me. That is not to say, of course, that I was doing nothing :P. I spent a lot of time working on handstands and, once the borders of the city reopened, summitting new mountains, going on treks, and camping. I even got in a trek up to the Enilchek glacier with Daniyar and Stephen. All in all it was a wonderful summer for me. Although one filled in many ways with uncertainty. I will forever be grateful that the world wide slowdown meant I was forced to spend a whole summer in the beauty of Kyrgyzstan - and that the suspension of OHIP residency requirements in Ontario meant that I could stay in KG for longer than otherwise would have been possible.

Fall 2020 saw me continuing the trend set in the late Spring, running my classes from online, getting in circus training time, and spending loads of time in the mountains - shifting to back country skiing (with the newly arrived Jo!) once the snow got to be too much for hiking. I wound up deciding to move home to Toronto in Jan 2021 to continue my teaching online from Nonno's basement while that was still possible. We ended up losing Nonna to Alzheimer's + Covid just after I landed while I was still in quarantine, but I am so glad that I got to spend time with her while she was still in so many ways her. Nonno, surprising us all after a number of medical misadventures is still alive and well at 95. And when I was staying with him (back when he was a youthful 93), I would frequently even find him up a tree or on the roof working on some project or another. After a spring spent teaching nights online in a basement, I was itching for some nature. Thankfully, I was able to join Hilary on a one-month road trip across the US starting from DC and heading through Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, a tiny corner of Utah, and Colorado (visiting Safia, Niamh, Cristina and Ross along the way), before flying to Calgary (to see Melody and fam!) and heading back this way on a road trip with Robb via Kananaskis, Banff, Jasper, Edmonton, Saskatoon (& Outlook!), Riding Mountain, Winnipeg and the North Shore of Lake Superior (and visiting Kim and CaitlynAnn, as well as the fam in Outlook along the way), making it home just in time for Nico's wedding. Robb, Anne and I also managed to sneak in a quick east coast road trip over Thanksgiving 2021 stopping off in Ottawa to see Reb and her fam and then heading out through Quebec and along the Gaspe, across NB and into NS to visit Natasha and fam and hit up Cape Breton before looping back to Toronto.

Although I had planned to take the next year off and figure out what I wanted to do next, the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan meant that many of our students got stuck there, and I wound up agreeing to teach the incoming cohort online until we could get them out. That turned into me heading back to Kyrgyzstan for the Spring of 2022 (Yay!), but not until after I had gotten in a trip to Costa Rica with Emily to see Ma and John in early 2022. 

Getting back to KG meant a re-settling into my normal life there and me questioning why the heck I had ever been willing to leave. It's amazing how many friends you make when you build a life somewhere - and what a beautiful place that is to build a life.

After sticking around for all of spring break and all of May to get in some more hikes and trips and adventures around the country, it was time for me to say a final farewell and to head off on yet another adventure - this time to the Southern Balkans, hitting up Northern Greece (where I met Veronika!), Albania, Kosovo, and Macedonia by way of Thracian Turkey. Such a blast. Definitely one of my favourite parts of the world. The mountains, the history, the food, the slow laidback culture, they all speak to me on the level of my soul :).

Sigh... and that brings us... not to now... but to... this year? And is also all I can type for the moment. So, lets end this here and I can bring you all up to date in another post. This is already fairly long... though I suppose not tooo long given that it represents near seven years of catching up :P.

A Long Overdue Accounting of What Ally's Been Up To

*clears throat in an attempt to subtly gain attention without calling any to the fact that she in no way deserves it*

Wow, so if I thought 19 months without updating was bad the last time, what am I to make of the 29 that have passed since then? Twenty-nine!!! And I don't even have the excuse that I had last time of having spent my time updating my travel blog. I haven't touched that one in nearly just as long! Yikes.

Well... okay, how about starting where I left off... assuming, of course, that I remember what's happened since then! (It's the old age you know? I just can't keep things straight anymore...). Spent the remainder of 2013 and much of the early part of 2014 re-acquainting myself with Toronto, re-settling into the bosom of my family (read as: house sitting for my parents and working 3-4 jobs :P), hanging out with friends, and getting back into circus and dance shape after my travel time off. All-in-all it was a pretty excellent time and I really enjoyed being home and seeing everyone. Managed to do the CN Tower climb, check out a bunch of shows (including Once), and some incredible ballets (particularly Being and Nothingness and Innovation). I had a particular blast with one of my jobs which involved leading dessert tours around Toronto and also survived Toronto's apocalyptic Ice Storm of 2013 before running off on another adventure - this one around the southern end of South America.

Beginning in Santiago, Chile, I headed south through Patagonia, hitting up the Pucon region, Peurto Mont and Punta Varas on my way down around the tip to Punta Arenas and Torres del Paine (stunning!) for some amazing treks. From there, it was up through the Argentinian side of Patagonia via Fitzroy (such good treks!), El Calafate (OMG Perito Moreno Glacier), the thousands of painted hands in Ceuvas de los Manos, a short dip back into Chile for the Marble Caves and Caratera Austral (o.m.g. just... wow.), and the penguins of Punta Tombo (all too awesome for words) to visit the family in Beunos Aires (yay!). From there, I pressed on northward through Uruguay (beaches!) and up the coast of Brazil (with a brief stop in Florianopolis!) to meet up with Paolo in Rio/Ilha Grande (so. much. fun.) before heading back inland to the Pantanal (animals! and tasty piranha and cayman!) and down to Iguazu/Iguacu Fall (Omg. Amazing. Just incredible). From there it was across Paraguay (<3! Also amazing!) where I was adopted by an incredible family in Conception and got to stay on their farm before heading up through the Chaco Dessrt (very cool!) and a crazy "middle of the night wait here by the side of the dirt road for the mail bus" border crossing into Boliva at Santa Cruz. Got to visit the Ruins at Samaipata from there before heading to Cochambaba to hitch a ride down to Parque National Torotoro to see the DINOSAURS (or rather, their footprints) - seriously, this may be one of my favourite places of all time. From there, it was up (and I do mean up!) to La Paz, Tiwanaku and Lake Titicaca (<3). Then, rather than doing the sane thing and catching a ride, I rode a bicycle down death road, decending 2000m along a dirt trail witch sheer cliffs and drops lining the sides (because, why not?), before catching an arguably even more terrifying night bus down the remainder of the way into the Amazon. After exploring the Amazon and Pampas, it was back up to La Paz and onward to Sucre and Potosi (with it's death trap of a silver mine) before heading toward the Salar de Uyuni (SOOO Amazing) on a semi-insane journey that involved running one of Bolivia's infamous strike blockades and almost getting stuck in the desert. From there, it was back into Chile via San Pedro and the Atacama Desert (Actually one of the most incredible places on the planet), where I crazily decided I would explore by bike - necessitating multiple 50-80km days through the sand (Amazing, but not necessarily recommended!). Next was back down south via stops at the Calama Copper mine (Biggest open-pit copper mine in the world!) and Antofagasta on route to Val Paraiso for some chill vibes/circus time (teaching circus for free room & board? Yes please!). From there it was back to Santiago for some more cousin time (OMG, does our family ever breed true!) and SKIING :D! Before hoping on my flight out to Easter Island/Rapa Nui (So. Cool. If ridiculously expensive) for a crazy solo camping/biking trip around the Island before heading back to the mainland and home!

Still, even with all my adventuring, I made it back in plenty of time to do my duties at both Nal's and Langan's weddings and to soak up the remainder of the summer tour guiding, picking up some market research work, circusing and dancing in T.O before having to buckle down (well, sort of) and head back to - that's right, you guessed it - school!

Strangely enough, at some point during my travels (while living internetless and hiking in Toro toro, naturally) I decided that I did, in fact, want to attend the Master (yes, another one :P ) of Disaster and Emergency Management Program I'd applied to before running off - and which I had turned down the offer to only a few days earlier... whoops. Happily, they hadn't really processed my rejection yet, so I was able to change my mind once back in civilization and re-connected a few days later without the loss of my funding package *phew*. Hilariously, however, the online pre-program started while I was living in a tent on Rapa Nui, requiring me to do some interesting work-arounds.

Had a great school year meeting some absolutely excellent people, continuing to lead tours, hanging out with friends and family, circusing, dancing and just generally being in Toronto. The program wasn't super difficult, but the people very much made it worth it, and I really enjoyed myself overall.  I also managed to catch a few more excellent ballets (Carousel!) and saw Cirque's Kurious (Loved it! So good! That straps act! Wow!). Although the program was meant to last 18 months starting from September, I began to get antsy to hit the road again almost even before it had started, so I decided to double up on courses and get everything done ASAP. Fortunately, by the end of June, I was done my Internship (BCM and Corporate Security at one of the big banks, not my usual cup of tea, but experience worth having) and ready to pack it all up.

After a few weeks holiday, I was once again off, this time to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where I am currently still sitting as I type this. I've been here nearly 8 months now teaching English at one of the universities and I absolutely love it. I've been getting some travelling in too :). I met up with Winnie and Ollie across the border in Almaty on their way through to China when I first arrived, and then I ran off to South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland (incredible, all of them!) for a month over x-mas to visit Laurianne, Saachi and Lorhren. Am off to Kazakhstan for another short trip next week, and then planning some more trips over the summer. Plan at the moment is to make a brief visit home and then stick around here for another year (yay!), before heading off on another long 6-8 month overland journey. Hopefully it all works out for the best :).

I think that's all for now!
Lots of love! 

Home Again

Yikes... so I'm not even going to start on the apologies... Even with my previous track record, nearly 19 months is a long time not to have posted any updates! In my defence, updates were going up regularly (for a while there anyhow :P) on my travel blog at Ally Around the World. That said, I have now been home for nearly 2 months and have thus far still failed at updating... and now I have no idea where to start...

Korea was an awesomely fun amazing experience. Much as I may have occasionally hated the tedium of doing the same thing day in and day out at work, my colleagues were pretty great and  the kids were hilarious. They never once failed to brighten my day with some antic or another. I am so glad I got to work at Hanam, I am not sure my experience would have been half so awesome anywhere else. That, combined with the chance to go hiking nearly every weekend (seriously amazing - check it out); the wonderful friends I made at work; my fellow expats and all the climbers at the rock climbing gym (I MISS YOU GUYS SO MUCH! 정말 보고 싶어요 ㅠ.ㅠ); the chance to hang out with Min Jung and her family; and, of course, the food; meant that I never once regretted my decision to go. Even though I only managed to get up to Seoul for dance once every couple of months, I managed to have a seriously fun year (especially once I decided to use my excess prep time to pick up some Korean) exploring, learning and eating my way through a new country and culture. It didn't hurt of course that I managed to save enough money to send myself over to China and North Korea for my summer holiday (definitely an experience! Anyone interested in the latter should check out YPT for the best tours at the best prices), Japan for winter break (where I got to visit Ayumi and Erika and Tommy and Jack!!! And go skiing in the most awesome powder ever!!!) and still have enough left over for a 6 month-long overland trek beginning in Cambodia and finishing up in France (hitting Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia (including Borneo), Brunei, Singapore, China, Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Transnistria, Ukraine, England and Belgium along the way (okay, so there may have been some flying in there towards the very end)). And now, I'm back. And not entirely sure what to make of that... except that, as much as I desperately want to leave again, I am now stuck here for the foreseeable future - both for happy reasons and for bureaucratic ones. The most pressing at the moment is the need for me to stay in the general region of home for the next 4 months in order to retain my provincial health coverage. More excitingly, however, is the need to be around for my sister's wedding next summer and that of one of my best friends next fall. After that, all bets are off ;).

Much love,
Ally

Korea!

Wow, just think, if I'd have waited until now rather than posting in December I could have made it seem as though I never left Asia ;)!

I did though, and good thing too if you consider just how much I managed to cram into my 6 months at home! *shakes head* I still can't quite believe my fall and winter were as busy as they were! Everything just went by so fast! And now, here I am, sitting on my bed in my new apartment in Gwangju, South Korea.

Well then, starting up where I left off, we did actually manage to get in some decent skiing over New Years (although only for a day - I wanted more!) and the Chalet-time with the gifties was as awesome as ever. I think at the height we had nearly 30 people up there! Sadly,cousin Joseph and I managed to miss each other on the hill once again - one day, one day we'll make it!

After that it was back to school for a short while as I worked to finish an entire first year online bio course in under a month while still working at Indigo, sorting out travel documents, tutoring, dancing and circusing. This turned out to be great fun as I often used home labs as an excuse to bake. Fermentation lab using yeast? Bread please! Banana DNA extraction - clearly calls for banana, hazelnut chocchip muffins *grins*. I also managed to work in seeing friends before I ran off, chilling with both sides of the family, Twice! And going out with the cousins to see One for the Money - which was actually a lot better than we expected. I'm super glad that even with Katherine Heigl's atrocious jersey accent they managed to really keep to the flavour of the books :). I didn't manage to see too many shows this year (though I did see the National Ballet's preparations for Sleeping Beauty!) but Jess, Em and I did make it out to American Idiot, the musical based on Green Day's music. It was enjoyable but not my favourite (maybe if I was just a more dissatisfied person in general?)

The end of January/beginning of February saw me not only finishing up with tutoring, bio and working at Indigo - farewell! I'll miss you! (but promise to return) - but the end of living on the lake front with Julianne as we both moved into our parents places to prepare for our respective departures (hers to London, mine to Korea).

Of course, no February is ever complete without the event that is Kat's bday and this one was fun as per usual. Similarly, flights out were scheduled for the 15th so as not to miss Em B's bday on Valentines :). Packing also took place around this time - *shakes head* I'd forgotten how annoying it is to pack when you are moving to another country for an entire year. So much stuff! Everything made crazier by the fact that Ma and John were heading off to Costa Rica only a few days prior to my departure. Nevertheless, everything got packed - though now that I'm here I'm wondering if some things couldn't have been left behind and others brought instead... Oh well!

Getting all that stuff to my hostel in Seoul on my first night was definitely a trek. I'm so glad I ran into Lauren, a nice Seoul-ite who offered to help me! I'm also really glad that I had my friend Minjung, her sister Sojung and their dad to help me get my stuff to their place while I stayed with them, and then from there to the bus stop! (lol, I'm making it sound like I brought far more than I did. I had my travel backpack, rolling suitcase, rolling carry-on and laptop bag. Perfectly possible for one person to transport but quite unwieldy down busy city lanes).

I spent my first night in the Hongdae University area and my first morning exploring (read: getting lost until I figured out the street sign system (which no Koreans ever actually use)) on my way to ballet class (yes, in true me fashion, I went to ballet the morning after arriving - it was so hard not to go, knowing it was there... having spent all that time on the plane ;) ). The flight itself, by the way, was incredible. I went Toronto to Newark, Newark to Beijing and then Beijing to Seoul. Seems a bit zig-zaggy until you realise that it's actually the shortest flight path because... You get to fly over the North Pole!!! Oh my gosh! So beautiful! I don't think I can even begin to describe watching the sun set and rise over the curve of the globe. So colourful despite the black sky and white snow underneath! Loved it. Sadly, I was so busy watching this that I took no pictures...
Another thing I failed to photograph as we passed over it was the Gobi Desert. As the sun had risen, Siberia was mostly cloud covered, and people were still asleep, I had politely closed my window when asked to. When I clued in what we were about to fly over however, I quickly flung it back up (the people were all awake and being fed at this point) - just in time to catch the last of Siberia and the first of the Gobi. Soo gorgeous. Wind and snow swept sand dunes make for incredible landscape. It was just so barren! and the sky was so clear! I was devastated however, when I clued in that our flight path meant that we'd also flown over Lake Baikal in Siberia - and I'd missed it! I'm now trying to convince myself that it's okay as it was likely covered by clouds but I think I'll just have to find a way to pass over that area again some day ;).

That afternoon I met up with Minjung and her sister for some Seoul sight seeing which included dressing me up in hanbok, traditional Korean clothing. I also got to have hotpot while sitting on my first heated floor :).

My stay with Minjung's family in Seoul was delightful. She and her sister are great company (SoJung knows so much history!) and their family wonderful hosts! Their mother kept me excellently fed on traditional dishes such as Bulgolgi and Ddeok guk (usually eaten during the lunar new year) and even had us make Kimbap (Korean-style sushi). Minjung, Sojung and I also braved the cold (it was -13C! This is apparently the coldest Korean winter since 1951!) to go check out Geoyonbuk Palace, the 14th century palace destroyed by the Japanese in the 16th century and then rebuilt in 1865. It's located right in the centre of Seoul and it's absolutely gorgeous. Seoul, and Korea as a whole, is made breathtaking by (no, not the pollution coming over from China) the fact that there are mountains everywhere. I'm not kidding, they are literally all around. No exaggeration. Yup, so Seoul? Very pretty. Very cold at the moment though. From there we went to Insadong, the traditional market area, to check out the shops and try out some snacks. There was the traditional court desert made from honey and corn starch (and filled with nuts) - omg! the guys making it were hilarious, they sang out all of their actions in order to get peoples attention. so funny! and hoduk, dough pockets fillet with warm honey and nuts, and the walnut treats! Mmmm hoduk. They just ooze deliciousness.

From Minjung's it was back off to the airport for me. From there I was to be transported to my orientation site in Jeonju. Hmm... I just realised I never actually explained what I was doing here... I am a guest native English teacher placed in the public system as part of EPIK, the Korean government's English Program in Korea. I personally am located in a Middle School on the outskirts of the City of Gwangju in the Southern Jeolla-do province in the Southwest of the peninsula. EPIK brings in teachers twice a year and the orientation for all those headed to the south of the country was held at Jeonju University. Orientation itself was great. Made so many friends from all over the world, many of whom, including my orientation roommate Tracy are not located in Gwangju - providing me with a great excuse to go traipsing around Korea on weekends. This is completely possible as Korea, despite it's huge population, is a tiny country requiring only 5 hours to cross :). Training itself was fairly intense, but there was still time to learn some basic Korean and some Taekwondo (We had the Jeonju University Team, many of whom are members of the Korean National Team, do a demo at our opening ceremony. They were Phenomenal! Just incredible. Their coach coaches the national team and had everything choreographed to music with comedic breaks in between for stage cleanup. I called it Taekwon-dance. These guys (and girls) were breaking boards while flipping 7 feet in the air!),  as well as to head out on a field trip to check out Jeonju's famed traditional Hanok Village and try their take on Jeolla-do's bibimbap (verdict? I like Gwangju's seafood-based ones better :) ).

After training, it was time to say goodbye to those headed to other cities and hop on a bus to our own :). So far I quite like Gwangju, I am living out in the suburbs to the West. It takes about 45 mins to get into down town by bus (half that when it's not rush hour) but it seems to take that long to get around even for those who are closer! Thus far I've managed to head into town twice, the first for exploratory purposes (people claim that Gwangju is too unwieldly to be walkable, so far I've found that this is not at all the case... then again, I really like wandering :) ) and the second to get my back account. I really like the down town area, there are lots of cute narrow streets, a decorated canal and good cheap food. My area is also really cute and easily navigable, it's like a tiny little city in it's own right. It's an industrial park so it's not the richest area but friends who lived here previously have said that it's up and coming. My future co-teachers have all told me similar things in addition to warning me to expect some trouble makers (Which, of course, being me, made me very happy :).). My co-teachers all seem really nice, we were all in school for a meeting and to clean our desks yesterday. Afterwards, the eldest took us all to lunch as a welcome to the year. We had deliciously spicy octopus bibimbap :).

And that brings us up to now. Teaching doesn't start until tomorrow because today was a national holiday. Although I originally planned to head out for some more exploration, I somehow wound up staying home and sending out updates like this one (as well as lesson planning of course). Anyhow, I think I might head out for a walk now while it is still nice and warm (Gwangju on the whole is so much warmer than Seoul!). Until next time!

Updates :)

... ... ... lol, I'm not really sure where to start on this one, I've been meaning to do an update for quite some time now, but somehow the time to do so just keeps slipping away - leaving me sitting here typing, of course, at 1am on a night where I might actually have had the opportunity to catch up on some sleep :P. Ah well, no time like the present :)

So as many of you have probably guessed or are aware, I am no longer in Asia and have not been for quite some time now (several months at least). The trip was amazingly lovely and I definitely recommend checking out the links posted below for more detailed updates on what I got up to while I was gone. Suffice it to say that I had an incredible host family (thank you so much!) and made tons of new friends from all around the globe. Also, the food was absolutely unforgettably delicious *grins* I could definitely go back just too eat. The cultural monuments and breathtaking scenery was nothing to scoff at either - but the food? Mmmmm. Just so good.

I managed to extend my trip into early September before I had to come home and begin sorting out plans for the future. Spent the rest of that month working at Indigo, catching up with friends in the city, continuing to enjoy my pool and returning to dance and circus classes - boy was that return a bit painful. As a note, I don't recommend picking the hardest class in the city as your first one after a month off, but then, I've never been known for my smarts ;).

Towards the end of the month I somehow managed to squeeze an entire 150hour TESOL course into a week and a half while continuing to work and catch up with friends. Good thing too, as shortly thereafter I wound up with not one or two, but three part time jobs! Needless to say, the next two months were spent largely running from one job to another with the odd dance or circus class thrown in  as I was working nearly full time on a market research project, part time at the bookstore and tutoring students on the side. I can't really complain too much. I chose to keep all three jobs and, while working 84hrs over 7 days a week does get tiring, I thoroughly enjoyed working all three of them *smiles contentedly*.

Somehow I also managed to fit in Rosh Hashanah with Jess's family which was as delicious and festive as events with her family always are (thank you for inviting me!), the CNTower stair climb with the Brat, Tri, Robert and Zia Diana which was great, Opera Atelier's production of Don Giovanni with Devon and Jess - verdict? Hilariously awesome. The production was phenomenally done. The score itself beautiful - Mozart always is. I loved the way they fit the comedic lines into the music. The plot however... well... it was an opera, let's leave it at that, Cirque du Soleil's Totem (also with Jess) - soo good! The double trapeze act was unbelievable and I loved the clowns!!!. I also saw the National's production of Ratmansky's new Romeo and Juliet with Papa - it was absolutely fantastic! I may even prefer it to Cranko's version. Scratch that, I do! Loved it. Especially the end. We had Greta and Aleksander dancing and Papa couldn't believe that they were as old as they were. So beautifully done. I also managed to somehow graduate during that time (on November 11th too) and finally managed to get tickets for Ma, Papa, Nonna and Nonno which was great! There was also yummy food involved in that as my graduation gift from my Nonni included jewlery, half a coffee cake and a homemade Salami - I love being half Italian!  Akk! And how could I have almost forgotten!    That day was made extra special by the fact that I managed to get last minute tickets for Em H, Linna, Jen and myself to go see the Alberta Ballet's production of Love Lies Bleeding based on the music and life of Elton John. OMG, soo unbelievably good!!!!! Very very very unabashedly gay, and sooo sooo sooo good! The dancing, as always, was spectacular, and I just love Jean Grand-Maitre's choreography! It makes you just want to get up there on stage and dance with them, such great lines. The highlight though, was definitely Yukichi Hattori's portrayal of the Elton Fan *shakes head in disbelief* He is one incredible, incredible dancer.

Things started to wind down mid December when most of my market research work came to an end and I was able to return to the more relaxed pace of Indigo at Christmas-time, several dance and circus classes a week and some tutoring work ;). *Contented sigh* Aw, Christmas. Totally my favourite time of year. I don't know how anyone can dislike Christmas music and all the lights and decorations everywhere. It's just so happy. And the food! There's always food at Christmas. And baking! I love baking. I made so many pumpkin/squash muffins this fall - and ate most of them too! Same goes for the apple-cranberry muffins I debuted (several times) earlier this month. Thankfully I can't say the same about all of my x-mas cookies 'cause I'm pretty sure I'd be a giant beach ball if I could. Baking was a little quieter this year with only my mom and Em B helping out. That's okay though 'cause I'd already managed to catch up with most everyone else and Em had lots to share having just returned from her 'round the world trip (so jealous)! December also included a great visit to Toronto by Henry W and his girlfriend Erika, over from England to visit with her fam. Had a great two days catching up and wandering about the city. I miss all you guys! More of you need to visit!!!

Christmas itself was great. Finally got to see the cousins again - on both sides! Papa was in Mexico for the actual event, but we went to brunch just before so all is good. and I guess that brings us up to now. Future plans include a woburn gifty reunion dinner tomorrow (or, rather, later today now that it's 2am) and then off to Blue with the lot of them for some skiing (hopefully... not too sure about that part, what, with the lack of snow :P) over the new years weekend!

Right so, time to get some of that sleep! A Happy New Year to all and to all a good night!
xo


PS. Did I mention that I'm moving to Korea to teach in February? Well, I am. Also. I need to finish (read start and complete) a Bio course with Athabasca before then... ah well, that's what the new year's for ;)

Taiwan!

Ally is in Taiwan, you can follow her adventures here:
SayTaiwan
or here:

Ally Around the World

And We're Off!

I guess it's about time for a post eh? lol, that having been said, I think I'm still doing pretty well frequency wise :P.

Updates, updates... nothing too crazy to report since last postage.  The World Archaeological Congress was fun - presentation went well, met loads of great people (including some I would have met much earlier had I actually been on campus at all this year *looks shiftily innocent*, as well as experts in the field and, Vince, who I actually met a few years ago when he was in Oxford organising a Haida visit and repatriation!), had an awesome roommate (Yay, Athena!) and had a great time talking archaeology & ethics with museum people, archaeologists and indigenous communities members. Indianapolis is a cute little town (okay so it's technically a city but it's small and adorable so I'm calling it a town *wrinkles nose*. It's sleepy enough that the idea of a Saturday evening out entails driving in circles around the downtown core in old cars :P). Indianapolis is built around the White River. It oddly reminds me of Calgary actually - the centrality of the river, the largely flatness of the city, the 'skywalks' connecting all the buildings and - most wonderfully - the sheer amount of public art prettifying all the street corners :)!. It made me very happy - as did the Eiteljorg (pronounce Idle-georg) Museum. I definitely think the prettiest part of the city though was the canal walk area near the eiteljorg, and my favourite view was that looking along the canals toward the factory that dominates the skyline in one direction - weird I know but it's an oddly charming picture. In addition to getting to chill & go out (I forgot how much archaeologists liked to party :P) with great people, we also got free admission to the Indian Market festival, which was fun to see. And, because I stuck around for an extra morning, I managed to make it out to the Brickyard to check out the Indy 500 Motor Speedway - it's huge, there's even a golf course in the middle of it!!! The museum there is really cool, they have the chassis of all the former winners there so you can see the evolution of the Indy cars :). As it was a sleepy Sunday morning, I and a couple got to not only go on a 20 mile/hr (let me tell you how exciting that speed is, I swear I walk faster :P) ride around the track but, to check out the control tower, private event booth, garages and press room - control room was definitely my fav :).  After that it was a hop over to the airport (thank you hotel driver guy from the other hotel who wasn't supposed to drive me anywhere without payment but who, not only picked me up from the Brickyard, but drove me out to the airport for free!! You rock and deserve only good things in your life :)!) and back on over to Toronto - omg, possibly the best discovery of the trip??? How nicely they've done up the Detroit airport! So unexpected! Favourite part was the crazy psychedelic light-and-sound show in the kilometre long tunnel that you have to cross to switch terminals. Sooo Trippy!

Got about 4 days back in Toronto to get in some circus, dance, work and Spanish speech writing before it was off again to Mexico City with Papa for his wedding. It was lovely. The house there is stunning - so awesomely laid out! I also loved the way they did the banquet hall - so colourful!! And the food? To die for! it was soooo yummy. The Tamales, the empenadas, the tortillas, the meat, the chili, the dried mangoes in chili,  that cacao-y sauce they put on chicken that I can only remember the name of half the time :) Mmmm soooo good! Esperanza's family are all lovely as well, and it was fun to try and re-learn some Spanish while I was there - thank you so much Ximena for helping sort out that speech & being Papa's official wedding translator - You are so awesome! Also, so happy that all of Esperanza's family can and love to dance :D! Esperanza also took some time away from the preparations to take us out to see Teotihuacan. Soooo happy-making :D! I got to climb the pyramids of the moon and sun and just generally roam around for a morning - unfortunately it started to rain and Papa was getting hungry so I didn't make it over to the temple of the Quetzal, but that can be for next time *grins*. Also, it meant we got to eat in a cave and check out a traditional dancing performance that Ximena recomended :). Definitely a fun trip. I'd love to go back and see Mexico City proper. It just reminded me so much of northern Peru and the (loosely termed) house we lived in there. Weird how I feel so much more at home in those types of places than in hotels or nice houses... lol, probably scared that my natural clumsiness will cause me to break something if I'm in a place that's too nice ;).

After that it was once again back to good old T.O for some time spent enjoying the city and earning some form of income. Managed to finish up the last of my MRP and get moved into my place down on the harbourfront with Ju - we have an outdoor pool! It makes me so happy! and fell into the daily routine of dance-pool-work. Met up with the gifted girls as well as some of the scarborough crew. Saw Captain America which was awesome, went to the midnight opening of HP7.2  post-work with Jon, Emma & Jess - also awesome, so weird to think that an era which has pretty much spanned a good part of my life is over... *semi-sad face*... what else? Mostly I worked and danced a lot :P. I did get out to a few fringe shows this year and they were all awesome! Saw the one Alan was in which was hilarious, went along with Alan to see Through the Tulips which was excellent and managed to get tickets (after lining up an hour early on only the second night) to Kim's Convenience which was absolutely FANTASTIC - just impeccably written, timed and delivered, it was simultaneously incredibly moving while being laugh-out-load, bottom of the belly, gasping for breath funny. Soo good. I don't think I can emphasize how good it was but, basically, if you ever hear that it's being re-staged: Go! Oh, and let me know so that I can get tickets too :).

Saw Dream in High Park's Winter's Tale a few weeks ago while being background support for em during the launching of her non-for-profit Intermission... it was okay, there were good and bad parts. Not bad over all but not excellent either. An absolutely fantastic show was Billy Elliot, which Jess, Spaghetti, Tri, Robert, Nal and I all saw last night. Soo good. A bit slow in the beginning, but boy did it pick up. Something I would definitely go see again :). The kids, especially the little boy and the one that plays Michael, are just phenomenal! The one who played Billy was excellent too - our Billy was more of a dancer than a singer, still excellent though! Many of the girls are also wonderful dancers - they don't necessarily get to show it on stage but the ones I've seen in class have all been really good! It's on for four more weeks and there are loads of discount codes floating about, so for those interested I recommend you go :).

And that brings us up to now! Which leads me back to the title of this blog post - I'm running off again :D! This time to Taiwan for the(ir/ Republic of China's) Centennial Celebrations. It's all very exciting. I get to do a homestay, travel around taiwan, blog about what I see and eat and then meet the President/attend the formal celebrations. Long story as to why and how, I am sure I will get into it at some point but yeah, for now you can follow my trip here (there will be pictures!):

LINK TO ALLY'S ADVENTURES IN TAIWAN :)!

Hope you enjoy, updates will come once I am back. For now, I am off to pack - I leave tomorrow morning so I really need to get on that ;)!

 Addendum:
In a brief (long) break from packing Ju and I watched Transformers 2. This reminded me that I also recently saw Transformers 3 - henceforth known as The Film Which Does Not Exist (TFWDNE). What the heck were they thinking??? On what planet would the movie Sam and McKayla break up??? Having just rewatched the second one, I'm pretty sure she loved him for him :P. I realise that they break up in the original cannon, but let's face it, they changed enough for the movies that they didn't need to be worried about that. I might not resent it quite so much if the new female could act, was anywhere near as hot as Megan Fox or had some personality, but she fails in all three points - ugh! She's just such a useless female. And the banter sucked! the whole point of those movies were the explosions, transformations, awesome banter and the hotness of Megan Fox doing traditionally male things - not having a wimpering useless female who does nothing but look spotless. Urgh. She didn't do anything helpful!!! and she was horrible for Sam's character! He's always been pathetic, but now he was both pathetic and pugnacious - it was almost as though with McKayla gone they had to find someone to fill in those shoes. *wrinkles nose in extreme displeasure*. As you can tell this upset me greatly. To the point where her lack of a character ruined the movie to such a degree that not even the ridiculousness of sector 7 guy could dig it out. Hence the fact that it is TFWDNE. okay... I'm done now...

Tales of Posting and Alice

Wow! This must be some kind of record! Three - no, wait! - four posts from me in almost as many days is a frequency of postage unheard of since my earliest years as a blogger - I must be getting young again ;P!

Anyhow, I figured as I have the time (not really :P) and the desire (more of the reason) I should do my post on Alice now :). WOW! is all I have to say. I'm not usually the biggest fan of Alice in Wonderland. I don't particularly like the story, the movies or anything else related to it. It's just a bit too weird, darkly undertoned and drug trip-y for my tastes. I also saw the English National Ballet perform the Derek Deane's version a few years ago and wasn't that impressed. The new version choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon for the Britain's Royal Ballet and our National though - Stunning! So well done. The story arc he worked out with Nicholas Wright was perfect, linking all the pieces together and allowing everything to really come to life. The sets and costumes were often just right, with an interesting use of the digital projection (funny, while I really liked the mixed media sets in Fumbling toward Ecstasy and Ma really liked their use here, I found it oddly distracting at times, though understandably necessary in portraying falls down holes...). Mostly though, I think it was the story, linking the real Alice from the 1800s and Lewis Carroll to the characters in the story, and further to the readers who enjoy it even today, that made me happiest. That being said. The dancing was phenomenal! I really enjoyed the choreography, but Jillian Vanstone really brought it to life as Alice (I was so impressed with her!! That role must have been exhausting. She never got to stop!! She is quickly becoming my favourite of the newer crop of girls), and Greta Hodgkinson just did a perfect job as the red queen - she managed to be regal, terrifying and hilarious all rolled into one. you could tell how much she was enjoying herself there. So great. Jiri Jelinek also did a wonderful job as the caterpillar and Aleksander Antonjevic was brilliant as the white rabbit! Rex Harrington also did a great job coming out of retirement briefly to play the foppish king of hearts :). Favourite male role though? Hands down Robert Stephen as the Mad Hatter. I definitely lied when I said we had no incomming males. I'd forgotten a number of them had made an impression in Russian Seasons. Robert also caught my eye as Sancho Panza in Don Q - he was such a character. In Alice though, he proved that not only can he act and do ballet, but he is an excellent tapper! Yes, that's right, Tapper :D. Sooo much fun! overall verdict? A no brainer Go See It!!! It's on in Toronto until the 25th :).

Yupyup, other'n the fantastic-ness of that I haven't got much else to report (unsurprisingly ;) ). Though I did have a very dance-y weekend, spending Saturday out at Jess and Sophie's recital - which was great for the record! I think their tap numbers where my favourites of the show!

I also seem to be being assulted by Oxstalgia from all sides. Yuka's show, which apparently went well was last weekend, X-men was filmed in Hertford and, the setting for Alice - Christ Church of course! It didn't really hit me hard at the beginning, when it was 1862 Oxford, but the end made me miss it for sure!

Anyhow, plans for the next little bit consist of getting a bunch of stuff done before heading off to Indianapolis for the WAC congress next week and then Mexico the week after. More posting to come when I actually have something to report again. Much love!

Calgary Continued

After playing about in Drumheller on the Friday,  we decided to stick around in Calgary on the Saturday and take in the Glenbow Museum before catching the matinee of the Alberta Ballet's production of Fumbling Toward Ecstasy (the new ballet choreographed by Jean Grand-Maitre to the music of Sarah McLachlan)  - such a great day! I'm not usually the biggest fan of any museum that's not of the natural history variety (i.e. ones that do not contain mostly bones and stones) but the Glenbow has got to be one of the best I have ever seen!!! I was told by a number of people I had to go, and boy were they right! The layout is well thought out, the displays tasteful, engaging and informative in a fun way that allows you to actually experience what they are trying to portray rather than just see it in a blank case. Loved the Canadian History and Indigenous sections. Honestly, why could we not just have spent our youth in there learning history rather than in class??? :P Seriously though. So well done :). Fumbling Toward Ecstasy was also excellent. Many of the pieces were mostly made up of variations on a theme, but the steps just looked like so much fun and the movements so athletic that you wanted to see them again and again! Definitely worth seeing if they take it on tour!

Sunday was a bit more of a relaxed day (as is fitting for mother's day - though in our case ma took advantage of our lazy morning to get work done *shakes head*). Went out for a bit of a wander to see more of the city - did you know that Calgary has foot placings on their air vents so that you don't get your heels stuck?? Such a good idea! They look like these jumbo massive foot prints :D - Before heading off to the Saddle Dome to catch the Stars on Ice tour. Omg, it was soooo good. Kurt Browning was there (of course!), Jeffery Buttle (He's so adorable - definitely the next Kurt Browning ;) ), Shawn Sawyer (and his inimitable standing centre splits), Sasha Cohen, Jamie Sale and David Pelletier (they were so in synch! It's so hard to believe they are no longer a couple), Joannie Rochette, Evan Lysachek, Kyoko Ina and last, but not least, Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir!!!! We got the tickets not knowing they were going to be there (worlds were the week before after all) and then found out they'd joined the tour the show before. Sooo happy I got to see them live!!! Scott looked a little worn but all in all they were just breathtakingly amazingly ... there are just no words, they were so good!!! They did a slightly altered version of their long program from worlds and another of their gala piece and let me tell you, if they'd skated like that the week before they might have beat Davis & White even with it having been their first comp this season. <3<3<3! I just love them all so much!!! and the group piece was a bunch of Jive numbers! Never been happier!! (How is Tessa such a phenomenal dancer??? I mean I'm glad she stuck with skating but the dance world is missing out! and Scott! *shakes head*). And Sasha, Kurt and David also did this wonderful clowning piece with a balloon. Love. Needless to say, I was on cloud nine for the rest of the day (week) and still am whenever I think about it :). My mom may have gotten slightly sick of hearing me repeat 'they were just sooo good!' after the 20thousandth time... she started to respond with 'I know, I was there too...' ;). *sighs happily* I also got to try bison pastrami that night, which is delicious btw, before heading off back to T.O in the morning so I could make it to circus on time.

After that it was a week to sort my self out before heading back to the grind of writing. At that point Devon had moved out (I miss you!), So I fell into my lovely writing, dance, work, writing rhythym and managed to get a great deal done before moving to my parents floor on the last weekend in May. The last weekend in May also happened to be the circus student show (which I was not in, but did get to see), Brokeh. It was fantastic! John's rope act was wonderful despite my having seen it repeatedly by that point (any time he started to practice I'd stop whatever I was doing and watch no matter what position I was in). Libby and Mary Margaret's hoop act was also lovely, but I think the kids my have stolen the show! there was a triple trapeze act and one with three on separate trapezes. The best though were five young girls on the mobile together which was just incredible. So in synch and visually stunning!!!

And that brings us up to now. Gotta run, have tickets to see Alice with ma tonight and don't wanna miss the talk! More on that later I am sure!

And so comes the crash... (with more updates included ;) )

ugh, you know that exhausted, worn feeling you get after... well, exhausting yourself? *nods* yup.

 I definitely need more sleep than I've been getting. I think my body is rebelling at the absence of adrenaline, sooo tired *yawns*. Speaking of Adrenaline, did you know it was the first hormone to be identified? Way back in 1895? Yupyup. Strange how the body works, I was so excited coming off the post-finishing/finding out I was going to Taiwan high that I began planning extra side trips left, right and centre... now I'm just feeling so drawn that I'm too tired to make attempts to sort everything through and stressed that they won't pan out! Enough about that tho - more on updates instead :). 

Right, so *does a quick peek backwards to see where see left off in terms of actual proper updates * what? March? Oh dear, sorry about that one! (lol. Not that, I'm sure, anyone is suffering too much from not having been updated on the mundanities (nope, not a word. yes, it's staying right where it is ;) ) of my life over the last few months). *Quickly runs to grab calendar to remind herself what she's been up to. yes. she is that old* I did wind up seeing Onegin with Linna and her mum. It was lovely. The new sets and costumes were rather neat and the second and third acts were just amazing! In terms of comparison with the old one, I have to say that while I loved the costumes and thought the set for the first act was really interesting (in a good way!), there is something to be said for the simple romantic country feel of the old one. I also saw Rex Harrington the last time (though Aleksander Antonjevic and Piotr Stanczyk did a phenomenal job, particularly in the third act) so that was a lot to live up to. His ballet talk before this performance was just adorable too! The Mixed Russian Program was also quite lovely... well barring Apollo which, while danced quite well and choreographed by my favourite choreographer, remains my least favourite ballet of all time. Symphony in C was well done (though, of course, did not quite match up to the Bolshoi's rendering of it ;) - I'm not sure how I feel about a number of the younger female dancers who are being promoted in the company... hmmm... I will have to keep watching. And what's up with our huge lack of incoming males? ) *sighs happily* I  just love Balanchine's choreography though. It was Devon's first ever ballet and she quite liked it too I am happy to report :D. Russian Seasons by Alexi Ratmansky was really good. I loved the colours (minus the little box hats all the women were wearing... very odd...) and choreography. So well done. A nice blend of modern balletic styles with the feeling of classical. I was initially worried when I heard that the National was putting on new modern-style Romeo & Juliet next season but now that I know Ratmansky's the choreographer I'm really excited to see it. This one was very contemporary without feeling in anyway disjointed. Loved it :).

Hmmm... what else have I seen lately? Ooh, got tickets to Calendar Girls with Jess, Devon and Tacha for Jess' birthday. Thoroughly enjoyable :).Some of the accents slipped a few times but overall very well done and highly recommended. Also saw Alan Shonfield int the Scarborough Players Production of Much Ado - I love that play! Definitely my fav Shakespeare comedy. It was well done and definitely good value for money. Also Alan, you make a wonderful drunk ;). Other than that, spent most of April dancing, circus-ing, seeing the fam for Easter, working at Indigo and marking papers - with a little bit of writing fitted in on the side. I will not mention the election other than to say... well... it'll be interesting to see how well our country's reputation survives. Just remembering what 8 years of Bush jr did to that of the States makes me shudder.  

Best part of April though was definitely the visit from the French branch of the family. I got to host the girls at my place and the rest at my parents just across town. It was loads of fun to have them here :). Also, the return to full fledged French immersion for the week was great mental exercise for my brain - completely shot my ability to speak english at work the day after they left though! Got Ma to help me take them on a tour of the old parts of the city - which by their standards was brand spanking new of course. Went up the CNTower, explored ChinaTown and Queen street, headed out to Niagara for the day - where we not only got to go behind the falls - Thank you Fabien - and stay for the light show in the evening but, met up with a troop of Star Wars re-enactors who had a real working R2 unit with them!!! So awesome!!!. Met up with the rest of the family for the day on the Sunday and had a blast playing bop-it and introducing the French cousins to Rummy-cube (to which our family is addicted and at which we are uber competitive). Apparently they are now training so we can have a real tournament next time they come back to visit ;). And just generally had a great time :D. Can't wait until either they come back or I make it over to Normandy for a visit.

Had a crazy few weeks there as I went back to work for two days right after they left before I took off to visit Ma in Calgary for mother's day. This was my first time back there when it wasn't winter in about 12-15yrs so it was rather nice to get to see the city again. It really is beautiful and there are so many art and culture initiatives that it's hard not to get jealous - Mayor Rob Ford take note, you can be conservative and cultured - who knew?! So many awesome things got packed into that weekend that I couldn't even choose a best part to that trip if I had to! Headed out to Drumheller and the badlands on the Friday (the town looks exactly like the one in Pixar's Cars. No joke. I couldn't stop laughing) to see the dinosaur museum - Dinosaurs :D!!! The collections at the Royal Tyrell Museum are incredible and soo well presented. I loved all of the displays and the fact that many were interactive. Plus, Dinosaurs! The badlands themselves are pretty awesome too. We got to go for a wander and the geology is just wonderful. Multicolored layers of chalk, ironstone, coal and shale set against the backdrop of a cotton-puff cloud sky. The drive up to it is really impressive too. It looks this massive rend in the patchwork quilt of the prairies that just comes out of nowhere. So cool to see. We also went on a bit of a hunt and managed to track down some mini-hoodoos. Nothing like the size of those in the Grand Canyon or Cappadocia but very cute all the same!

Uh oh! Time to head off to ballet. More on Calgary later!

DONE!!! :D - And the Promised Update

Guess what??? Guess what???  (you know what the best part of this moment right here is??? That I have so much to say and so many updates to do that I could put nearly anything right here *grins* and so many exciting ones too!... hmmm... I suppose I could start every paragraph of this post off with a wondrous thing I have to tell... but that seems overly complicated... and I don't think I could possibly decide what should come first! ... also, as it's getting pretty late and I'm pretty low on sleep (thank you crazy-writing adrenaline!... also sleeping on a mattress on my parents floor in a (teeny-tiny, I might add) room which, in addition to having an absolutely stunning view of the city & lake Ontario (sooo gorgeous!), gets the early morning sun *shakes head*), I'm not sure how coherent this post would wind up actually being. Example, my brain just got very excited about the fact that I used brackets, in brackets, inside brackets! And then proceeded to view my sentence like the math equation it isn't. See, clearly time for bed. :P. ... but not before some updates of course (wouldn't want to leave you hanging! I now how nasty cliffhangers can be ;) ) <--- Oooh, more brackets! <--- teehee! on a complete and utter side note, until last year I'd never realised just how fun putting in footnotes could be. Nor how addicting... I totally just spent a good number of seconds trying to figure out where the footnote button was so I could put the previous comment as one *shakes head* clearly writing has gotten to me... also, I am such a nerd!  - right! definitely bed time! not only has this digression taken on a terrifyingly expansive life of it's own, but I'm sure anyone reading it right now is pitying themselves horribly. Or they stopped reading it. Either way, I sound like I'm fourteen again - not a bad prospect to be sure - ahh, to be as young as once we were and smell the flowers of youth! - okay then... I'm not even gonna pretend I know where that one came from *shakes head and takes a moment to allow the slightly more lucid portion of her brain to regain control* )


I finished writing :D!!!! Well, I still have to edit, and write the presentation for the conference later this month. But those shouldn't take too long and other than that I am good and finished *grins widely*. lol, you'd think I had been writing for far longer than a month and a bit with the amount of weight that feels like it's been lifted off my shoulders! Still though, I did spend nearly every waking hour (and many of the sleeping ones) not spent at work or at dance typing non-stop (and my hand keeps spasming because of it too! Funny, one would think circus-ing on it right after having broken it would cause it to react far more than would typing... that having been said, I have been doing an awful lot of it :P!) But it was soo worth it :). I just love it when something wants out of your head so badly that it basically writes itself (oh, great, now I sound like I have an alien occupying my skull...). All 20,000words/80pgs of itself that is - phew! Seriously though, I'd forgotten how calming it was to wake up absurdly early in the morning type until noon, dance, shower, work, come home type until two, sleep for a few hours and repeat... such a soothing rhythm... until of course you crash... but that is totally allowed once you've finished ;). *Sighs* I love living. ... I hafta say, writing at my parents place up on the 17th floor (really 16th... what is up with people's total fear of the number 13 anyhow? It's just such a lovely number! and good luck too. Not to mention my birth date :D - yeah, yeah, I know. Not helping :P) with all the windows/sliding glass doors open and the sounds of the city floating in is in no way bad either!

But yeah, all of this self directed learning has definitely made me pine for Oxford. That and the nice weather. Oh how I'd love to be a-lounging on the quad lawn! (With all of my England people of course!) That way I might have a tan too :P. Sooo pasty (for me) due to an extended & rainy spring and my sequestering during this productive time. Speaking of Oxstalgia (yes that's a word. no you wont find it in a dictionary. yes I made it up...), you know what else brings it on? X-men! Saw it on Sat with Devon, Tacha & Jess and I have to say it was pretty good. I still prefer Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart of course. But they are a little hard to beat ;). *shakes head* If only I'd know that door into NBQuad from under the bridge that was forever locked was locked because it contained a space-time portal leading into a KA-like pub! Just think of the potential for study! Also... darnit! Why weren't the mutants there when I was??? ;)

Possibly more exciting than x-men though (what could be more exciting than x-men you ask? well.. I have to admit I'm kinda excited for Transformers 3.. no Megan Fox though so... oh... that wasn't what you were asking...), and arguably more exciting that the fact that I've finished writing (if you are anyone but me that is), is that I AM GOING TO TAIWAN IN AUGUST :D!!!!! I'm one of two Canadian youth, joining two youths from another approximately 124 countries, headed to the RoC to participate in a Homestay celebrating their Centennial - soo excited!!! You can bet I will be Blogging about and uploading loads of photos of  my experiences there :). More details to come but I will definitely have a (non-rambling) travel blog up and running before I go in which will be documented all of the adventures, cultural forays and food discoveries that come my way. Prominently placed link will go up sometime soon, so keep an eye out for that!


And with that, I am off to bed!
Until the morning, when I will endeavor to provide some actual, and possibly even coherent, updates ;).
'Night'night!

So much for that...

lol! Well then, looks like I'm not hiatus-ing in order to finish up my master's research project-writing after all. Unfortunately, while I would love to do an update, writing that particular paper is still top priority... which means this is more just a short break during which I allow the hyperactive part of my brain to ponder some inanities so that the other half of my brain can actually get to work sorting out what I am meant to be doing ;)....
 ...wow ...
who knew that was all I had to type for it to work? and to think I was about to go on a long flowery digression about how I can't seem to focus when its raining out... hmmm... right. mental note, next time there is no work being done, type a sentence about dividing your mind and discussing inanities :P.
 And back to work we go!
much love.

Too much to Write, So little Time!

Akkk! Sorry guys! I know I said I'd do an update but I've been working on finishing up my thesis/at indigo non-stop since the family left/I got back from Calgary! I promise I will do an update as soon as I get this finished (which hopefully means sometime in the very not-too-distant future :D). Keep well until then :)!

Spring Reawakenings

My apologies for the constantly shifting state of the blog at the moment! I figured that after 8 years it was probably time to update the formatting (I know it's a bit cluttered, I'll be playing around and working on fixing that whenever I have time in between work,work,dance and school over the next few months) ...  Spring just always seems to awaken a cleaning-organizational frenzy in me that knows no bounds! Finding ways to avoid thesis-work has nothing to do with it, I assure you ;).

Truly though, it seems to happen with the first appearance of a warm summer sun (which admittedly disappeared again somewhere in amongst the snow, hail and rain that mysteriously returned this past weekend :P). I suddenly need to be even tidier than my normally-OCD-ish habits. I scrub down the house, have an overwhelming urge to get rid of anything superfluous - an urge which usually runs afoul of my equally strong tendency toward pack-rat-ishness - I go through all my emails, clean out my computer files and, now, apparently revamp my blog!
 
It's actually rather funny to sit back and watch the two parts of myself fight it out. There's just something incredibly satisfying about shedding all those unnecessary gizmo's, gadgets, old clothes and unused objects. It's lightening and relaxing in a way I can't quite describe. It's almost as though you're somehow magically relieved of any unwanted burdens. Living with the very basic stuff you need and one or two keepsakes is just so freeing - part of what I love about backpacking I suppose. And yet, at the same time, there's something so heartbreaking about giving up something that's been with you through experience after experience, holding all the memories that have somehow become buried under the weight of fresh info in your brain... loosing that can just be so devastating. Particularly when whatever gets lost is gone before you're ready - before you've come to terms with those memories or found some other vessel to contain them (yes mother, I'm looking at you and that time you threw out my yellow duck when I was 5)...

That was one of the great things about living abroad for so long. Having only what I needed there with me but knowing that all of my other stuff, my memories and my childhood keepsakes were held back here in Canada for me. At the same time it's funny how much stuff you can accrue without even intending to. Moving back from England I had that problem. I seem to be having it again now that I'm moving to a new place in a few months time (more on that later!). It's funny too how when you do come back, you realise that you don't really want all of that stuff. The memory of it is enough... that and knowing that it will continue to be loved elsewhere by someone else, or at least be put to use in some other way. In many ways having my parents move (again) while I was in Europe this past summer was hard because I felt like, once again, I was losing my base and my tether to who I was (there is definitely something to be said for having all of your stuff in one place or within easy access!) and, yet, when I came home and sorted through my stuff to determine what was staying with me downtown and what I would send up north, I realised that almost all of it was going to go up north, And, more importantly, that I didn't really want to have it here (with the exception of my books of course - those I always want nearby!). I wonder sometimes how much of my wanting to keep things is the archaeologist in me. Wanting to preserve things for future generations, so that my potential future kids and kids' kids can get an idea of what it was like to be me, to live in this time... silly really, my room up north almost already feels like a museum... and I'm wondering now if I should change it to be more in sync with me. Or should I leave it as a monument. There have actually been many times where the fact that I've kept things has proved useful. Still, something tells me I'm leaning more toward the former. Being me though, it's likely I'll find a way to combine both options ;). At any rate, I definitely want to do a clean out and sort through of all of my stuff when I move in the summer. Something to do with closing the academic chapter of my life? Certainly not the childhood one as I've no plans to grow up - nor the educational one as I've no plans to stop learning!

Strange... that's basically what this blog has become for me... A place where I can unload all of my experiences, unclutter my mind and leave it open and airy to make way for new things without losing any of the old. It's also in many ways just as much a monument to nostalgia as is my museum of a room up north. Reading back over previous blog posts is great not only because it reminds me of what I've done, but how I thought, who I was, and how I've become who I've become. It's great to see the ways in which I and my perspectives have changed, not changed, reverted and fluctuated over the years (a bit vain I realise, but also very humbling in that it shows both the good and the bad).

I'm sorry, not sure what prompted the philosophical leanings and introspection of this post (ugh! but looking at the language you can tell I've been in the academic world for far too long! Hopefully the next post wont be so bad!). I do seem to go off like this whenever I encounter a milestone event (and yes, by that I do mean yet another graduation :P) don't I?  I guess it just means that change prompts introspection in the same way that spring prompts cleaning ;).

From a practical perspective, in addition to rearranging the furniture (so to speak) and changing the background, I updated the links on my side bar - they're all fantastic sites and you should check them out if you haven't already!
I do have some life updates to post about (such as the move mentioned in passing above). Nothing too exciting though as I've now been in the country doing the same thing for approximately a year (can you believe that this time last year I was on my way back over to Europe? *sighs* Not that I don't love Toronto, because I do. I love nearly everything about it, from the uber polite and friendly people to those somewhat grumpy ones who still apologize, from the charming little pockets of downtown, to the lake, the sky scrapers and our wonderful parks. Still, I'm just not the type to stay in one place forever... and ten months is beginning to feel nearly that long! Fortunately I'm off to Calgary in a few weeks to visit ma who is working out that way and then off to Indianapolis (of all places) in late June for a conference, so I suppose I can't really complain ;P)  Anyhow, boring or not, I will do an update all the same ;)! That being said, I am, unfortunately, going to be late for work (in addition to having a very burnt omelet for lunch) if I don't stop blogging soon!

More updates to come, I promise!
Happy Passover/Easter/any other holidays I am missing!

Happy Birthday to me :)

Akk! well I believe I now officially qualify as old... 23? really? Where has all of the time gone??? lol. no really... I can't possibly have been on this planet for 23 years and *glances at clock* 146minutes already... longer really if you consider the time between me typing this and when it gets posted... longer too if you consider the approximately nine months I spent in utero (I really don't want to think about when exactly that would have started - blech). Of course then you get into all those existential debates over when someone becomes a person... not that it matters but surely in our society, given the emphasis placed on individualism this can't possibly be considered to have happened until after a child develops theory of mind (the corollary of this being of course that not only would abortion, but infanticide prior to such an event, be considered perfectly acceptable under current societal mores - ah, how right those Spartans were) Yikes! For a birthday post this has certainly taken a rather rapid morbid turn... It's probably fortunate there is little likelihood of children in my near future ;)

*shakes head* On to less socially awkward topics perhaps?? lol. let's see, what have I been up to since last posting? I should probably wish my Blog a very Happy 8th Birthday to start off with! I would share some of my birthday cake with it, but as it is... inanimate? can something which doesn't even exist outside of the neural circutry of of a computer system be considered inanimate?...I really do think the best solution for all is for me to just eat an extra piece in it's honour ;).

Right, and back to updates! Spent New Years Eve on my couch reading a teen novel and watching the CNTower do nothing particularly exciting. Best evening ever. After the craziness of last term it was wonderful to just relax and unwind and not have to be anywhere! (sorry to the four parties I skipped out on... ;) ), after that it was off to spend time with the family and finally get to visit with the newest addition - she's so cute! and has the best middle name to boot! Not that I'm biased in that opinion of course ;P - before getting a whole week off!!! lol. In truth January as a whole was fairly tame. A bit of going out here and there, time spent hanging out with friends :D, Ma's b-day. Got to spend some of my x-mas money on my annual shopping trip with Kat, did a lot of dance, decided to take up the static trapeze again alongside the silks (although only once a week - downsview is just too far away!), started playing soccer again... broke my hand... yes, I realise you are meant to play soccer with your feet :P. Last I checked however, people were also meant to kick the ball toward the net, not toward the defensive player standing right in front of them *wrinkles nose*. It was pretty funny really. I kept playing of course, but my hand ended up swelling up to three times its normal size (a bunch of the blood vessels on the back broke) and no one figured out it was broken until approximately 3 weeks later - well... I kinda suspected when it didn't hurt enough to be a sprain except for when it was vibrated slightly while on the streetcar or subway (yes, these are classic diagnostic tools :P) - but nothing showed up on the first x-ray and when I went to ask for a second a few days later, the doctor accidentally realigned everything while manipulating it, which made everything feel so much nicer! When I finally did end up getting the second set done it showed a break clear accros the waist of my scaphoid (in my right hand of course). Got a CT scan done which not only confirmed that one, but showed that I had also broken my 4th metacarpal... but that's okay because everything was in near perfect alignment with no bone loss *grins*. This was fortunate of course since by then it had already been about 5 weeks (the results accidentally got sent to London, On...) and I never bothered to get it casted.... still haven't... I went back to doing circus the week after I injured it, have gone on two skiing weekends and have been playing soccer and dancing throughout! *grins even wider* I can even do pushups! (with my hands in fists) though handstands and cartwheels and kneehangs on the silks with only my right hand holding are still out of the question.

lol, but yeah. February was fun. I had initially booked most of it off work in order to get my MRP done for early graduation but ended up using the time off to dance, play soccer, actually go out clubbing, attend doc's appts and organise skiing trips instead. Kat's bday was fun, apparently I've been in a relationship for quite some time and only just found out about it? *raises eyebrows inquiringly* Omg, lol. we did two skiing long weekends up at the chalet with a bunch of the old woburn crew. Sooo much fun! *shakes head* the first one was all boys plus amy and i. the second was a bit more rounded out (and by that I mean 4 girls 15 guys...) so you can imagine how that went :D. *shakes head* Soo great. We will definitely do another get-together in the summer :). On the second trip up I even survived four days straight of langan's company ;P - thanks for driving!... and carrying my poles ;) and I got to see Evan, and Alan, and em :D:D:D! :D. I forgot how much I'd missed you guys- all of you guys, not just the aforementioned ones!!! It was great, the conditions were amazing and even some who weren't skiing came up just to hang out so it was pretty awesome!!! Ooh! I also got to see the Ballet Trokadero de Monte Carlo (the all male troupe that performs on pointe) with em and Ju which was hilarious! It was also in the Winter Garden Theatre which I'd never been to before and is absolutely stunning!!! I'd love to go back! I seemingly also (wow, that's a lot of 'also's in one paragraph! ) used the time to become addicted to the BBC version of Merlin and watched the entire three seasons over the span of about a week. Sooo adorable *grins* merlin-aurthur interaction makes me so happy. I've decided Devon's Merlin and I'm Arthur. Minus the fact that I like to do most of the cleaning... but that's only a minor detail... as is the fact that Devon has still not used her magical powers in my presence (she claims it's because I can't yet know she has said magical powers) but one step at a time. And no, we are not crazy :P. Living in our house is just a special kind of adventure :D. March has also been pretty good to me, some interesting weather lately, but I got to see El while she was in town last weekend, and went for cake with David on Thursday while he was here *coughs* though I'm still wondering how he was in the country for two weeks and I only saw him once *looks around suspiciously* Saw the Kirov/Mariinsky perform Swan Lake with Papa and Esperanza last week - it was phenomenal!!! So incredibly good. The whole company was nearly impeccably in time and Uliana Lopatkina was dazzling (not that you'd expect anything else!) But yeah, stunning!!! I really can't decide between them and the Bolshoi. Then only solution clearly is to just see more of both ;)! Then yesterday was Linna's welcome home party (Yay! Linna's back :D!) Where I got to see everyone (with a few added and some taken away ;) ) again! and Mrs B even convinced Mrs Mo to come for a surprise visit :D!!! This week was Don Q with ma. Fortunately casting was changed at the last minute and we got Sonia Rodrigues. She was so dead on, particularly in the last act. It was so lovely and breathtaking to see! Though not the awkwardly long 16count balance in attitude. What was that about? That was just mean! So, yeah, I suppose that brings us up to now :P

I Suppose I'd have to say 2011 has been pretty good so far. Started out slow, but it has definitely picked up. It's also been really interesting to be able to watch all of the uprisings in the middle east through the lens of my friends who are there - I am very glad all of you are still safe! Hopefully it will stay on in this vein? Aiming to see Onegin with Linna next week, and then it's Russian mixed program with Devon the week after :). Hopefully I'll be able to get decently priced tickets to Billy Elliot, ooh! and cirque's Totem when it comes!

I'm sure there's more and that I'm forgetting but it's just reached 1 am and I am starting to yawn so it should probably off to bed with me! Muchos love to all and to all a good night/year/life! A la prochaine!