This week's challenge

"wherever you are, be all there"

I first heard that quote during LDP, and it's stuck with me ever since.  As things start wrapping up with first semester (we've only got 3 weeks left until Christmas break - I'm not 100% sure how that happened!), the challenge becomes not checking out too early.  It can get super hard not to start wishing to be home, surrounded by familiar faces and traditions.

This week has been challenging - dealing with tiredness, burnout and loneliness, but I also believe that it's worth it.  I love my job; I love what it allows me to do, who it allows me to be, and how it challenges and stretches me.  That doesn't make it easy.

I miss you all like crazy - and I'm so grateful for your thoughts and prayers.  Knowing that there are people back home who love and support me makes such a huge difference.

Sandy

ps. It snowed for the first time today!  Boy oh boy do the mountains look amazing when it snows :-)

The most remote place I've ever been.

If you were to travel to across Canada to the far west coast, hop on a ferry over to Vancouver Island, drive pretty much all the way up and across the island and then get on another boat for 20 minutes... you would reach Esperanza.  And that is where I just spent a week off then internet/cellphone grid - and it was fantastic.

What wasn't fantastic was our 4:00am departure time to leave Hope, BC (for Esperanza, which ironically enough means 'hope' in Spanish).  We had to be at the harbour by 6:00 to hold our reservation on the ferry... it was a hair-raising, rainy, dark drive; we arrived at 5:57.  Phew.  

And it was a looooong day of driving, including the windiest, hilliest road I've ever driven on.  But it was worth it in the end - Esperanza was breathtaking.  See?

the barge taking our luggage over

Unfortunately, I got stuck on the barge with all our luggage.  So instead of a 20 minute sheltered trip over the island, I stood in the frigid wind for an hour.  But I made friends with a little 3-year old boy out for the trip.  Which was hilarious when he was sitting on my lap that Sunday at church and we had the following conversation:

Sammy: What's that? (grabbing my necklace)

Sandy:  That's my necklace

Sammy: I have a scorpion necklace at home

Sandy: Oh wow!

Sammy:  What's that?  (grabbing the zipper on my shirt)

Sandy: A zipper

Sammy: What are those? (pulling out the zipper and looking down my shirt)

Sandy: ... 

And then I burst out laughing.  So did Christine, who was sitting beside me.  I figured out later on that he was probably looking at the writing on the shirt I was wearing underneath, but that didn't stop it from being the funniest thing I heard all day!

Sunday was actually one of the coolest days of my life.  One of our students, Laura, decided that she wanted to get baptized at Esperanza, and that she wanted me to baptize her.  I was so honoured.  And totally terrified, because, honestly, who am I to baptize anyone?!  But Steve reminded me that "God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called".  

So Laura and I headed into the Pacific Ocean on November 7th, 2010 to proclaim her faith :-)

Laura & I

 ... and it was awesome, salty and cold!  Not that that stopped some of our crazier students from jumping off the docks afterwards.

getting ready... 

 Now, when I was being briefed about Esperanza, I was told we were gonna chop wood in the rain for a week.  And we got the most beautiful week ever!  We probably got 2 inches of rain all week in a place where it's not uncommon to get 10 inches of rain in a morning.

And I discovered on that first work afternoon, that I just adore chopping wood!  We had a competition later on (Dan, Pete, Jake, Raf, Blayne, Scones and I haha) to see who could split one of those giant logs into quarters first.  I came last... big surprise, eh?  But I did it!

chopping away!

Blayne.  Mad skills.  

 We ended up chopping all the wood that first afternoon (which was a little disappointing, since I just discovered how fun it is!), but we went trail-blazing all week long.

heading off to the trail head

We were helping to clear some new portage trails... and that meant: MACHETES.  Woot. 

hardcore

 It really was in the middle of nowhere... And there was no trail to speak of when we first arrived... As you might be able to deduce from the picture below.

Pete standing at the takeout

 Funny story.  Jake and Pete were trying to remove a root ball from the trail, where it was half buried.  They'd already removed the rest of the tree and were trying to roll the stump down the hill.  Pete was pulling and Jake was pushing, when out of the dirt came a giant hidden root - right up between Jake's legs.  It flipped him up and over the stump and onto Pete and they both rolled a little ways down the hill. It was the funniest, most surprising thing that happened all day.  I thought Scones was going to pass out he was laughing so hard!

Pete & Jake - mid roll

 I've mentioned already that Esperanza was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.  The clouds hung so low over the water, between the mountainous hills on either side of the river...  And because it was the ocean, you got tides - which sometimes exposed starfish...

the docks at Esperanza

 My day off that week was gorgeous - I went kayaking, hiking, chopped some wood, went swimming...

out in the woods

 ... and fell through a tree.  There was a stream running through the compound - it was really neat actually, because it was salmon season, so you could watch them swim upstream to spawn.  I tried to find a place where I could see them jump, but instead I fell through some tree roots and got a really wet foot.

stupid salmon river... 

And that was our week.  We got some great classes on First Nation/White Man relations and colonization, played a lot of Cribbage and Dutch Blitz, cooked our own food and laughed together.  It was a lot of fun and we made some great new friends, but I don't think I could live there for a year.  

Lots of love

Sandy

Happy Halloween!

I finally did it folks... after 3 years of waiting, I was a semi-colon or Halloween!!

oh yeah :)

Just thought I'd share.

Sandy
xo

Piggy-backs, caving and deer... oh my!

Hey everyone!  Here's a bit of an update from the middle of October.  We've been hanging out at Camp Squeah in Hope, BC and it's just a beautiful place!  We're in the middle of the mountains and eating some of the best camp food I've ever had in my life!  And all that food has left us with a ton of energy... 

Rueben, Jake, Pete, Blayne, Darren and Caity present: the Ultimate Piggy Back

We had a great time relaxing at camp after our crazy Guy/Girl week - and it was really needed, because the next week we headed off on another Urban Plunge.  This time, we were going to help out in Vancouver.  But I'm getting ahead of myself here!

I spent a weekend in Langley, BC with my fantastic friend Kristy.  We had a sushi trio going on back in Waterloo - some Sundays after church we'd head off to Ye's All-you-can-eat sushi restaurant and just stuff our faces with sushi.  I always left feeling slightly ill and unable to even think about sushi until the following Thrusday.  So, since we were re-united for a weekend, Kristy and I decided that we just had to have sushi.  

We found a great place... and it turned into a bit of an adventure because 2 minutes after we showed up, the power went out!  So we had sushi by candlelight.  It was lovely!

Kristy & I

Before we took off for Vancouver, we had one last adventure waiting for us in Hope: spelunking!

Here we are showing off our fabulous caving coveralls. 

The challenges began even before we got into the caves... we had to find the entrance, and that sure wasn't easy!

Christine's feeling a little lost amongst the boulders...

Once inside, the challenges continued... we were never sure that everyone was going to make it through those teensy tiny holes

Dan's feeling a wee bit squished...

Now some of us were a... little nervous crawling around underground with no real idea where we were in space (ie. me), but others just lit up and went a little crazy crawling around.

all smiles for Christine!

I did pretty good in the caves, considering that I'm slightly claustraphobic...  But I did panic once or twice when we had to squirm through the really tight places, and when our guide casually mentioned that he always got lost in this section of the caves and once had to sit down, breathe and tell himself "it's all good, I'll get out of here eventually..."  It was about that point in time that I started to really need sunlight.

group shot in the caves; Dan missed the memo that said 'smile!'

The area we were caving in was gorgeous.  They must get a lot of rain here, because everything was covered in this intensely green moss.

Mimi & I

 See what I mean?!

Nadine & Allison

However, all that damp meant that while our clothing was clean(ish) - thanks to the coveralls - we all had rather wet rear ends...

After our caving adventure, we trekked back to camp, showered and took off for Vancouver, but I'll tell y'all about that at a later date.

We just finished up our service day at Squeah... and Steve totally jinxed us.  He mentioned that it just poured for his service day at Squeah, and what did I see when I opened my door the following morning?  Rain.  Lots and lots of rain.  And it rained all day!  But it meant that I got to wear my fantastically bright rain gear and jump in puddles.  Yay!

yay for rain!

the picnic table crew

 Now, most of the jobs were things like raking leaves, moving mulch, clearing trails.  Pete, however, managed to snag the job of helping one of the camp staff skin the deer his friend caught on the weekend.  I have never seen someone so excited for a service day before.

big smiles for the deer

And that brings you almost up to date on my life.  More to come as I get pictures!

Miss you all and love you bunches.

Sandy

Let's hear it for the Girls!

We just finished up Girls Week in Banff, BC and it was a BLAST!  We painted our nails and watched chick flicks and went to the spa... joking!

We had a fun-packed, adventurous week in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.  I've never seen the Rockies before and they just took my breath away.  I had seriously resented having to drive, because I just wanted to look out the windows.  Some of my girls got quite a chuckle out of the gasps and near falling over.

One of the adventures we went on was a hike at Lake Louise... and my goodness, the pictures don't even do it justice.

sitting by the Chateau

We were blessed with a fabulously warm and sunny day - perfect for hiking, but first!  A group shot by that turquoise lake.

Site 2!

Up we went, marvelling at the beautiful trees and the colour of the water whenever we caught a glimpse of it.  There were many stops for pictures, one here by Mirror Lake with the Big Beehive in the background.

Fearless Site 2 leaders

The whole group went up to Lake Agnes together and then had a brief break, and of course everyone went a little snap-happy.  But when it's that beautiful, can you blame us?  Not that the pictures do it any sort of justice!

Sandy & Allison

Here are all of the fearless leaders hanging out in God's beautiful outdoors

Natalie, Sandy, Myrielle, J-Fo & Ruth

Afterwards, we split into two groups - one went back down to the Chateau and the other continued to hike up to the top of the Big Beehive for a view out over Lake Louise.  Here we are hiking around the back of Lake Agnes

It was a much more intense hike, but the view from the top was TOTALLY worth it.  I have never seen water that colour before.  Stunning.

up on the Big Beehive

Our other big adventure was travelling over to the Colombia Ice Fields to take a tour on the Athabasca Glacier.  It was a bit of a drive - a good 2.5 hours, and we weren't sure if it was worth it, seeing as how we'd all done a 16 hour day just driving from Winnipeg out to Banff.  But National Geographic has the route out there listed on it's top 10 most beautiful drives in the world.  So we thought we'd give it a chance.

It was so worth it.

We stopped at Bow Lake along the way to allow everyone to get out and stretch their legs and take some pictures because it was just breathtaking.  See what I mean?

Christine, Allison, Aly, Sandy, Tessa, Melissa, Caity, Kate, Laura

We hit a bad patch of weather on the way out (and I was super un-impressed with the guy who was tailgating me) and when we got to CIF we found out that our tour had been cancelled.  I couldn't believe it.  I have wanted to visit a glacier since I was 13... and it wasn't working out.  But, as luck would have it, we waited around for 30 minutes and managed to get on another tour later that day when the snow had cleared up. 

Again, SO worth the drive out there.

hanging out on the glacier

The busses that drive you out onto the ice are crazy... they each cost a million dollars and can drive down an incline of 32 degrees.  I totally felt like I was on a really slow rollercoaster.  And the wheels are huge...

Sandy & Allison

This glacier is apparently thicker than the Eiffel Tower is tall... wowsers!

yay!  I'm on a glacier!

I totally almost bailed on the landing though...

Here's the group again!

Sandy, Myrielle, Natalie, J-Fo

Now, the drive back was a bit of a gong show to say the least.  The brakes on the van overheated on one of the long mountain roads and we had to stop to let them cool down.  Which meant that I also got to set out road flares...  that was a first, and I was so surprised when they turned out to be triangular!  Oh dear...

But everything worked out in the end and we made it safely home.  No worries.

the girls heading back to the van after we tested the brakes

All I've got to say, is if your car ever breaks down, there's no better place for it than the Rockies.  The view was fantastic!

I also stopped by the Banff Springs Hotel, because how can you leave Banff without taking a picture of it?!

That night we went to the community centre and went 'Zumba-ing'.  It's a great workout/dance, although my hips certainly weren't used to moving like that!  (there's a strong flavour of Latin dancing working it's way through it).  But we just had a blast, and got all dressed up for the occasion!

On the last day of the week, we went over to Canmore for an afternoon of hanging out and wandering around the shops.  Us leaders went out for a nice, relaxing lunch (I had one fabulous burger!) with the most spectacular view of the 'Three Sisters'.

Sandy, Natalie, Sharon, Ruth, J-Fo & Myrielle

It was a great (albeit exhausting) week, but we sure missed the guys.  It's great to be back together as full Site and heading off to Vancouver for another Urban Plunge this week.  

I'll keep you posted as my internet access allows.  

Cheers y'all!

Sandy

xox

Survey says, 6 out of 7 dwarves not Happy

Not that that has much of anything to do with my life, other than it made me chuckle.  And that's worthy of sharing isn't it?

Well, it's our last day in Winnipeg - we're meeting up bright and early tomorrow morning to drive over to Banff.  And when I say bright and early I mean it... we're meeting up at 5:30 am tomorrow.  Although, I'm not gonna lie, I do enjoy driving into the sunrise!  Unfortunately we're driving west, which means the sunrise will be behind us.  Shoot.

As to what's been happening over the last week... not too much really.  It's been super relaxing and full of laughs (as you'll see when we get to the photo section of this post... which will be, now!)

Raf, Sandy, Myrielle, Steve

We had a coffee house and it was just hilarious!  Us leaders got the ball rolling with that age-old "Is it time yet?" skit... Thank-you Town Family Reunion!

Raf, Myrielle, Joseph

Along with the funniest "Jebi Fight" I've ever seen (starting right off the bat with a typo - he meant to write 'Jedi' haha), we managed to trick a couple of guys in the second leader skit, who unknowingly got their toenails painted hot pink.  The double takes when they actually caught sight of their toes just made my day!

We've also spent some time just playing.  Ultimate Frisbee and Rugby have been the popular choices.  I have also discovered that I bruise really really really easily... I looked slightly battered at the end of the rugby game, but it was so worth it.  It's such a fantastic sport.

the boys hauling brush into the woods

Part of the deal with the camp we were at included us working with the maintenance crew for a couple service days.  We grabbed our work gloves and (well I guess I can't say this for everyone) had an absolute blast!  I just loved being outside and working hard and I even got to use a chainsaw at the end of the day!  Woohoo!

Nadine, Christine, Aly and Allison splitting firewood

We threw a couple dress-up days in there for a laugh, and I decided to show you a picture or two from "Twin Day", since I don't think the boys would have appreciated the pictures from our "Dress up as someone else" day...

Joshua, Caity, Tessa and Jake

I think the best part of this shot is that Jake taped... well I'm actually not too sure what that is, but he taped twigs (?) to his chin to make a goatee

Raf and Mimi might have won the day though...

The next entertaining event was our synchronized swimming competition... I nearly died of asphyxiation at the poolside because I was laughing SO hard!

Once again, we leaders started things off with a routine to the BeeGee's famous "Staying Alive", complete with the Dead Man's Float during the chorus.

the girls showing off their mad skills

Mike diving... I believe his sternum was the first thing to enter the water...

But the highlight of the night was the last group of boys - they spent 5 hours practising and making their own song!  It was totally weird, but just hysterical.  

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Needless to say, we all just had a blast.

group synchro shot!

And the winners got a fantastic prize: brownies and ice cream by the fire at our place!

Lots of love
Sandy