Rootless Tree

After having settled down for a whole 6 days, I uplifted my roots again. I was initally staying with 2 other interns (Julie and Pablo) in an apartment owned by the credit union but that was only available until this house-sit began (today). This house-sit is only for 12 days but we are already super excited because this house is literally at the base of Mount Holy-Crap-That's-A-Hugemongous-Hill. It's also very isolated and the property is 15 acres so we have plenty to explore. The people who live here are very open and even let us use their car to get into town if we don't want to bike.

Tomorrow night I'll be going to the Alpenhorn in Smithers to see Sweatshop Union and therefore, my first hip hop show. I find myself exposed and open to so many new things here, whether it's from the other interns or what this town has to offer.

Yesterday I did meditation and yoga for the first time. Each intern has to facilitate a 90 minute workshop this week and Julie chose meditation and yoga because she is a hippy at heart. I did a workshop on how to blog because I am a geek at heart. The meditation and yoga made me realize a few things:

a) I have the flexibility of a dry branch.
b) I have the attention span of a sugar-rushed 5 year old when it comes time to focus on my "Self".
c) I have much to learn in order to be more in touch with myself spiritually...and stuff...

Some of you may find the the thought of me doing meditation quite funny and to you I say: "Try sitting in a lotus position and get back to me on that." It's actually very challenging and something I need to practice because it will come in very handy once I'm in Mali.

Speaking of Mali, our probationay period ends Tuesday and I can't help but feel nervous because they have sent interns home in the past.

I went para-gliding yesterday for the first time. There wasn't much wind so I didn't get up in the air but I ran like a mofo anyway just to keep the monster kite up in the air. I had no idea what to expect but quickly realized that it's incredibly difficult and there is so much you need to know when you're flying at higher altitudes than zero feet (or meters or millimeters).

The interns have a project planning exercise this week and we have to build a wood/bike shed for One Sky because they heat with firewood in the winter and have many bikes in the back of the building for their Community Bike Program. It has been my first experience building anything beyond Lego's and card castles and I feel like I've learned so much already.

We did the Myers-Brigg's Personality Test this afternoon and apparently I fall under the category of "The Do-er" (Carol, please refrain yourself from any inappropriate comment that will most likely come to mind). The test result said that I have much difficulty, for example, with abstract ideas and elaborate plans; I would much rather figure out a problem by trial and error. If you have never tried this test, I highly recommend it because it allows you to understand how you react to stressful situations and also, how you tend to irritate others. There are 2 tests:
Test 1: www.similarminds.com/jung.html
Test 2: http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/mmdi-re/mmdi-re.htm

I will have more pictures in the next few days to give you an idea of what it's like at this new house so keep checking in.

One last thing, there's this thing called Comments. Use it. Either that or just email me because my access to the internet is limited, mostly because of time. There's so much to do around here that I don't find myself with much time to check in on MSN or Facebook or Gmail but patience is a virtue; I will write back.