New wheels

Picture of Robin and Flo (Belgium and Germany) from the trip.


So I made it back to Adelaide safely. I know all my followers (mom) were extremely worried about that. It was a good thing I stayed, got to hang out with the guys for a bit after a while with the gals, but I may have already mentioned that in a previous blog. So, as ideal as it can get in a visitor to Australia, I step off the plane and am in the airport and get a text about if I got back safely, and was told that a couple friends were at the beach, so with all my stuff in tow (a book bag and a camera bag) I went down to the beach for some fun in the sun and some swimming. How amazing is that? Even in Cuba you've still gotta get on the resort before you can dive it. It was amazing. That night was pretty lack luster as I remember it, but I can't really remember what we... oh wait, I got it. After dinner on a beach side and cheap patio, we met a crazy drunk guy from Senegal, took a tram ride with him, and then met up with an Aussie and went to the bar, and him and I spent a good amount of time talking bike/swim training, and the citrus farm his family owns and the availability of work for me in July (not specifically at his farm, just period). So that was actually really fun, informative, and ended nice and early. The next day, I bought my beauty. I finally have possession of the bike I've been trying to find/get since I got down here. Unfortunately, its not a Cervélo P1 like I wanted it to be, but I'm extremely happy with it. Its a 2007 Giant Trinity Aliance 2, certainly not the top end of the scale but I think a good starter triathlon bike. I took it out for a ride after I bought it, and immediately broke a derailer cable, but thats okay, got it fix right away. We did about 20k together today and she handled beautifully, its kinda front heavy but all triathlon/TT bikes are, so thats just gonna take getting used to. I didn't really struggle on the hills too hard and coming back downhill, I was effortlessly FLYING down the street. A light turned red and I had to brake so hard (and because its front heavy) my back wheel got atleast 7 cm clearance off the road and swung out about 30 degrees to my right. It was good to know that that happens way before I'm surrounded by traffic. I woke up at 6h30 today to go for the ride, and the weather was incredible because at that time its nearly the coldest time of the day. Amazing. And I've got more and more people telling me about different rides in the area and training groups too hook up with, which is great.

School starts on Wednesday, which should be great. I was kinda hoping that maybe someone/a whole group of people would rather just go out to the cinema tonight but unfortunately, thats not the case. Oh, there's also two other things of mention before I head back down to town;
1) My friend that I met (a different but equally cool Dane) called Annette is starting this flirting this with Stuart O'grady's brother. Anyone that follows cycling (and from the people that I know read this, that's none of you) may find that incredible. It was hilarious because as soon as she told the story, someone told her to tell me because of course, I think its amazing (S. O'grady is a Tour de France rider from South Aus.)
2) Today I played squash against a former Icelandic national team player. She was good, it was fun to run around after the ball and I'm sure I impressed her a total of four times, but it was a blast. Dagny said she broke a little bit of a sweat, so that just means look out for the rest of you if you ever challenge me.

Training is getting more intense, and today I bought enough fruit for fruit salads every morning to fuel me, and five lamb shucks for $10 which was amazing deal too me (chocolate bars here are $3) and some nice stuff for salads. And laundry detergent, that was a desperate buy as I have three pairs of underwear remaining, and they're still clean only because I just don't like wearing them (yes, that means there have been some repeats). I'll leave you with that nice information.

Picture of Glenelg beach from the patio during supper.

Btw - Simon Whitfield wrote on his blog yesterday/today about Hawksley Workman (my favourite musician still making music) and how cool of a guy he is. Small world.

5 questions

I've been meaning to get to this for some time, a blog that I follow of a triathlete from BC sent me five questions pertaining to me/my blog just as he had someone do for him. Just a good way for people to get to know more about me and why I'm writing, ect. You'll catch the drift.

1) Why did you start blogging? What drew you into it?
Really it was reading Simon Whitfield's blog during the 2008 Olympics that first got me into it. After that, I started seeing more and more cool things/people that were writting just about daily life. Living in Halifax, spending summers in BC and now especially being in Australia means its hard to keep up to date with everyone, and even more so for them to keep up with me. So to make it easier on myself and for them, I decided to just start blogging, and haven't really looked back since. Its been both rewarding and well worth it all along the way.

2) What sport accomplishment are you most proud of?
Very tough one, and in the end after about four seconds of thought its not possible to pick. One thing I always pride myself on is the ability to just give it 100%. I loved practices in high school much more then I loved games, and in university as well. Ask Jeff Wagner, its not long after shooting around that I start making bets for wind sprints. I'd like to say I miss shots on purpose just so I can run 1 full, 1 three-quarter, 1 half and 1 quarter length of a basketball court for the fun of it, but most of the time thats not the case. So the accomplishment would just be constantly recognized as the hard worker, even if the fruits of my labour don't come out in games or in consistency, I still feel euphoric when sweat drips off the tip of my nose.

3) What is one thing people should know about you outside of sporting world?
Although I move around a lot and its hard to catch me in one place or thinking one mindset for very long, it in NO way means that I don't care for and appreciate the people I meet along the way. A good friend whom I've been trying to keep in touch with mentioned that it seems that I turn friendships on and off, and thats not the case. We're all busy, we're all living our lives. But, for those of you that I talk to and even those that I can't, I can't stress how much I'd be willing to drop everything if you needed me, or needed a travel partner (providing you're paying...)

4) What is your biggest sport "Weakness"?
I think a lot of people will agree struggle with this, but its consistency. Finding the time in the day. And diet. I love to eat, and feel as though if I didn't love it so much I'd be better off haha. This includes beer. But its certainly finding the time in a busy schedule to make it into the pool and onto the bike or a run or any combination of two of those. I can always find the time for one, its the multiple training days that get me.

5) I see you've read some fitness oriented books, what is you favorite sport/adventure book?

Lance Armstrong's War by Dan Coyle. Amazing - check it out.

A day in the life of...

Melbourne has been amazing. Its a huge city, but its fun to know you're being there for a couple days and you get to go around and enjoy it, and take advantage of your hostel providing you with free meals granted you show up at the right time. Today, particularly though, was an adventurous day to boot. Start off with last night, as we'll take this as 24 hours not just Wednesday the 25th. So Yesterday, Renae and I decided we didn't want to pay $100 to go to Philips Island and see the little penguin march, which granted from the picture looked like it was a pretty good time but the $100 I could just not justify to feed some roos and watch some penguins struggle up a hill. So, alternatively we had our own wildlife adventure at the Melbourne Zoo. Great zoo. Gorillas, lions, the weirdest looking wolf I've ever seen (called a Maned Wolf, pictures coming soon), African Wild Dogs, Meerkats and more. We even saw aforementioned little penguins (measuring about 1 foot in height) during their feeding. So after the zoo, we decided to go eat and both enjoyed our first bottle of wine and first taste of kangaroo at a nice restaurant on the riverside, prices weren't great but we didn't spend the hundred so we justified a fancy meal. Follow that up with two more bottles of wine back at the hostel, and my first encounter with a true Aussie ladette. This is a lady that loves to drink, loves to yell, and is really friendly. We met up with our German friend Flo at the world's most obscure bar. I, as I often do, ***I'm extremely distracted and disgusted that this old guy in the internet cafe to my right is watching porn with headphones on*** so anyways, as I often do, asked what the cheapest beer they had was. "You came to the wrong place mate," Shit. So I ask what kinda place I was in and they said we serve punch here. Punch is a jug of who knows what, about 1/3 or 1/2 liquor, throw in some strawberries, a lemon slice a bunch of cucumbers, fill the remainder of the jug with some sort of bland tasting kool-aid and voila, you have punch. Just to help you understand this bar, its in a deserted neighbourhood, across the street from the parliament building, we took an elevator to the third floor that looked like it hadn't been serviced in about 17 years, and there was maybe two tables indoors, and about a dozen outside, and no windows or doors to separate the two. But needless to say, it was a fun night.

Start this morning off with more free breakfast and move along to my adventure to the Melbourne sporting centre. An area across the river from the botanic gardens where they have olympic stadiums, rod laver arena, melbourne cricket grounds, and much much more. Because we needed to leave for our flight, I was rushed in a way. So I jumped on to it. I walked there, almost got lost but found my way again luckily, then took some photos of rod laver arena, before sneaking onto one of the courts, assisted by a errant door left unlocked. It was amazing to be on the same court that all my favourite players have played on. Then over to the cricket grounds, where again I entered, asked a nice woman if I could take some photos of the oval. She said well you see where that no access beyond that sign is, you can't go past there so - this is where I interrupted and said Yeah but if I don't go past there I'm still good, right? and she laughed and said she didn't see much of a problem with it. I went up to the velvet rope barrier, got to snap one picture before this devil of a woman asked me if I was on a tour, and quickly forced me to leave. And I mean quickly, I couldn't get a word in, and the "I've travelled all the way from Canada to see a cricket pitch" meant nothing to her. I think she ate a small piece of my soul as she pushed me through the turnstyle. After this, I jump on the train with perfect timing, but the timing was so perfect I didn't have time to buy a ticket. This was a serious problem when I arrived at the main station and you can't get in or out without punching your ticket. So I asked around, and feigned my I'm not smart enough to understand your transit system and they told me I could just go buy one at the ticket concession. I looked around a bit and had no idea where that was, so asked someone else at the enter/exit booths. Oh, its just right over there, as they point to outside of the station, and lets me through. I'm sorry for those who expected more of me, but I did not turn back once they let me out of that maze.

Flash forward through a trip to the bank and two excellent samosas and here I am, looking at my watching thinking I have ten minutes to get back to the hostel before the bus for the airport leaves. This is where triathlon training comes in useful, running to catch buses and out swimming sharks. I make it on time, go to the airport, stand in line for 40 minutes and approach the gate. Confirmation number? Nope, but here's my passport, I figured you could figure it out for me. Typing...typing...clicking...Are you sure you're on this flight and not tonight's sir? Yup! Oh, we'll have to check her then. Typing...clicking...typing. And this is what he should've said "Hey, idiot, you errantly booked your flight tomorrow like some sort of Neanderthal that's never booked a flight on the internet before" Instead, he just nicely told me that my flight was infact on the 26th, not 25th, and I said ah well, I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow. So now I've got another room in a different hostel for the night, and will be having one more night with the guys from Germany and Belgium that I've been hanging out with since I left from Adelaide. It'll be a nice change in scenery being around guys instead of three lovely but very girly ladies.

Adventurous, yes, avoidable, certainly, forgettable, never.

Roos - where can I buy one?

So last I left everyone, it was the 17th last Tuesday. Now its Monday and I don't even know where to begin after all the things I've seen and done. I took up the Canadian girls and the lone American offer to go with them on the Great Ocean Road trip from Adelaide to Melbourne and we left on Thursday morning. We got to stop at all the sites and it was all incredible. The first day was mostly driving, but the second day we started off the morning with a hike into the Grandpian Mountain ranges, where we hiked up to the Pinnacle which was this giant lookout over all the mt range (names of places and pictures to be added Thursday when I'm back in Adelaide). After that we got to see some of the limestone coastline structures that have been eroded away by the eons of ocean versus land, with the ocean it seems always winning. The 12 Apostles, the Bay of Martyrs, The London Bridge and other beach coves where the sites are just incredible. We did another hike the next day through a subtropic rain forest and and saw definitely the biggest fern plants I've ever seen, one of the things Australian rain forests are particularly known for on top of staggering amounts of Eucalyptus. We saw wild kangaroos the first night, and the last day saw some wild koalas. The trips been amazing so far, and last night we took it easy and just did a walk around the city and got to see some of the amazing architecture that Melbourne has to offer. I also went on a run yesterday morning (not the best idea after many beers, no water or food, and little sleep) and saw the Telstra Dome where they play Aussie Rules Football and the standium is amazing. I was hoping that last night a game was going to be played there but instad its was an away game, but still just seeing the stadium was amazing. Today I plan on taking a run over to the Botanical Gardens and seeing what stuff they have going on there, and the next day doing a run through the Melbourne Cricket Grounds and around Rod Laver Arena where they host the Aussie Open. Again the days feel like weeks here because I've been doing so much and I just realized as well that I was usued to 10 hours of sunlight and now I'm getting 14 so that's adding to the difference as well. Its been really cool meeting all sorts of people from different areas, and it only continued on the tour where I met people from Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, France, England and the most hilarious because he was so weird and a little creepy guy from Italy. More updates to come but that'll be later tonight, I wanna go and enjoy the weather and get some free breakfast.

Paradiso

This doesn't even seem fair to be out here while all my countrymen and living in their fair weather conditions, but I can't be too upset about it. For the past two days, I've spent a majority of my time outside, in the shade given to me from a generous tree, finishing one book and starting another. In between pages and chapters, I lie there thinking this is all surreal. Am I actually sitting in Australia with not a care but what happens next to Colin Angus, the first man to circumnavigate the world using only human power? His adventures that I read about only added to my feeling of adventure; here I read about a man that travelled from Vancouver to Alaska, then rowed across the Bering Strait. Biked across the most remote land in the world other than Antarctica in Eastern Russia, then across Europe from Moscow with his fiancée, who would then become the first woman to row across the Atlantic Ocean. This couple spent half a year at sea confined to a cabin and a rowing seat, with no other space to go on the row boat. Then the final leg from the Caribbean back to Vancouver in 720 days total, less than two years. If anyone has spare time with the coming reading week, I’d suggest picking up the book as its well worth it just for the adventures they experienced along the way, especially if you’re confined to your hometown and can’t get away for a bit of a break.

I officially moved into my dwelling for the next four and a half months,
22 Wakefield St, Apt. 201
Kent Town, SA, AUS 5067
The place will become more like home as soon as I can solve a small issue of my room smelling a little weird. I talked to the caretakers about it, and they said close the window and if the smell persists than come and tell them, but I think the fact is deniable that the smell’s not coming from the beautiful breezy outdoors. Its likely the old carpet, and nothing a spray won’t fix from some deodorizer. I picked up some sheets today and was going to make it to the grocers but may hold off on that one as I’m leaving for Melbourne on Thursday morning and buying any groceries doesn’t really seem like the smartest idea before going on a little trip. One of the girls I’ve met, Sara, took a trip a week before we all arrived with a company called Groovy Grape and she went up to Alice Springs on a week-long adventure trip. They pack you in a van or bus, and you stop along the way and do all sorts of stuff. So when she and Pam, the other Cdn, and Renae (Yank) were planning a trip to Melbourne, they found out the vans you can rent for pretty cheap only come standard. Of course, none of them can drive standard but figure to give me a call because thought I probably could (Thanks Ellen – how embarrassing is it when your girlfriend has to teach you how to drive standard). Well before they called me, they checked out the Great Ocean Road tour and decided that it was cheaper and included room and accommodation, so instead invited me along to that.

I reckon I’ll be busy enough with school and a job to do too much travelling around for the next four months when school starts at the beginning of March, so I looked at prices, and no one ever mentioned to me but flying domestic in Australia is dirt cheap. 800 km to Melbourne and I booked a flight back for less than $50 AUD. So we’re staying in Melbourne for a few days in a hostel, the four of us will split a four person room, and when I get back I’ll start searching for a job. How jealous do all you cold Canucks feel right now?

Through talking to my caretakers, I also found out that come July when schools finished and before Nash arrives near the beginning of August, I shouldn’t be hard pressed to find a job in the North where it’ll be warm and fruit picking season. They said there’s a lot of work for backpackers up in that part and the landscape is just incredible in the wet season. So that’s great news to me. I also found my bike and its currently getting all set up for when I come back from Melbourne. It’s a beautiful piece of machinery, top carbon bottom alloy frame that’ll definitely be taken 80 km south to a place called Victor Harbor, the best place to surf in South Australia, on the weekends. My class schedule (only on Wed, Thurs, Fri) is gonna be more than generous for weekend excursions to accessible places with comfortable beeches to sleep on (worried much mom?)

To make anyone feel better that thinks its all smiles and heaven down here, I did unfortunately wake up missing home this morning and I am not adjusting well to the heat what so ever, almost half the time searching for shade/water/solace from the sun, well only in peak hours or when I know I need to smell decently well in an hours time. Tomorrow, Henley Beach for swimming and fun in the sun.

Time flies

The last few days have flown by. It feels like I've been here at least a week if not two, mostly because my days have been so productive that they seem so filled. I last left you with my arrival in Adelaide, which went really well. That day was spent getting a bank account and getting more aquainted with the city, just really walking around and seeing things. Adelaide is certainly a city, by no stretch of the imagination anything else. When first built, the plan for Adelaide was set, it was to be set only with north-south and east-west streets, and they kept true to this. The actual downtown, which outside of North America is usually called the Central Business District (CBD) is surrounded by parklands, and then bordered by large four-eight lane streets respectively called North Terrace, South Tce, East Tce and West Tce. Inside and especially near the North Terrace, is downtown, and also the Uni of Adelaide and Uni of South Australia. Right now I'm living virtually on campus in temporary residence at a hospital. No, I don't have a patient next door. Its more like a dorm room, actually, exactly like a college dorm room. So within a five minute walk I can be at school, and also be at the busiest street in the city, and near the shopping centre of the city. Everything was very well thought out. Rundle mall is a girl's paradise mostly due to the fact that every fifth store is either a shoe store or a hair product store. Half of the street is completely shut down to cars and pedestrian only, where today, on Sunday, you see people performing magic. The rest of the street thats not shut down to traffic homes some other cool stores, more up my alley if I had the cash to spend. Outdoor adventure stores, a bike shop where I'll probably be buying my bike, just need to check out one other shop in the city and see what they have, and an array of restaurants with delicious beers and food. The one thing though that they do very well in Australia is making sure you pay for everything, absolutely everything. Internet, for example, is not just paying to get connected, but instead you pay for a certain amount of Gigabytes per month (I'm writting this on ms word instead of online to say minutes). I asked a girl today if because of that MSN and other chatting services aren't very popular, and she said that no, she uses MSN all the time, but also pays her partner $80/month (who knows what the partner is contributing) to do so. I'm pretty sure you can get unlimited access for like $69/month with a full two year contract from what I saw, but still, its a VERY foreign concept. But, the advantage is that you buy a little modem that sticks into your USB port, and with that, you can go onto the internet anywhere in the city and surrounding suburbs, as long as your in range. Sadly for me, my computer is too old to travel more than 2 metres from a wall, or you have to unplug it and it shuts off immediately. But its a very cool idea to be able to do something like that. I'd assume you could bring your laptop down to the beach and chat with your friends whilest there, amazing.

Friday morning I woke up way too early because of adjusting to the time change, and after going for my first run in Australia, and showering and eating breakfast, I decided to go down to the International Student Welcome Centre. I was very reluctant to do this, mostly because a Oreintation week sounded kinda weak. Well I went down, and went on the compulsory Welcome session that everyone's supposed to go on, and actually met some really cool people. Later that day after the tour was done, we arranged for everyone to meet at a bar at 8pm (it was Friday after all) and then Saturday we all went to the beach, which takes about 20 minutes via Tram to get to. Its not a GORGEOUS beach, but it is still damn nice and the water is warm. Not that I'm complaining because it does a good job of keeping you cool, but Adelaide is surprisingly quite windy, so staying in the nice warm water was alot better when you were underwater, not standing up with your body above. We also didnt make it to the beach until about 5pm and were there until 11, so that probably had good reason as to why it was chilly. It was very picturesque in that we hung out on the beach, went for a swim, got hungry and got something to eat, then found a beer store and bought some beer to take down to the beach. We were unsure about how that would go so beforehand I asked a guy from Adelaide if it was possible, and he said absolutely. While drinking on the walk down to and while sitting on the beach, not a single person looked at us cross. My do I love this country haha. Its very refreshing to be somewhere where mostly everything is easy going, except for the cost of living. But even then, I've been talking to people from Europe and they say its cheap, so I guess we're just very blessed in Canada.

Of this group of people that I hung out with, there's two other Canadians. Pam, from Calgary, and Sara, from Victoria/UBC. Then there's three people from Denmark that are all of the same exchange program from their home university in Coppenhagen; Simon, Lena and Annemette. Annemette actually lives in the same building that I'm living in for the semester, not the temporary but permanent living (signed the lease today). Then there's a girl from Rochester, NY named Renae who has an American accent which I find hilarious but only in my head and two other guys, Hannes from Germany and his roommate from Holland. I still am not even sure how to spell or say his name, but he's a really nice guy. Everyone actually that I've met so far is really cool, mostly because they're outgoing enough because we're all here in the same boat and don't know anyone.

I just moved some of my stuff into my new place, mostly all my clothes and can probably transport the rest in one more trip (its not that I have THAT much stuff, although I do recognize now that I have too much, its that I unpacked most and didnt want to pack it all up again). I had gone around with Pam and her parents apartment hunting on Friday before the bar, and had seen a lot of nice places, but everything was quite expensive. So as everyone can predict, I went for the bare minimum cheapest place. I had seen it before but didnt know neccessarily what room they were going to give me, I just knew that some were bigger than others. So when I went in to drop my stuff off today, I was actually quite surprised. Its actually a pretty sweet room, and its outside of the city just on the other sides of the parklands so that has an appeal to me as well. There's a communal kitchen thats really nice and a common area with all brand new furniture and a new flat screen tv, and two seperate patios and a place for bikes, all very secure. The rooms come furnished with your own bathroom and utilities are all payed for, all for the steep price (and remember, this is one of the cheapest) of $716/month. Now I budgeted for $1200/month with food so this is going to be VERY doable being that I won't have any other costs, except unfortunately $58/month for internet and cellular. As I said, living is not cheap in Australia (the dollar here is 0.85 of a Cdn dollar, so it sounds a little better when you do the conversions, $606/month and $50/internet+cellular).

Well thats about it for now, I'm torn between going for a run or going for supper. I need to move into my place so I can actually buy food to cook instead of buying the cheapest food a can (I had lunch for $3 today, sushi, not that great but filled you for the price of a soft drink).

Dear Adelaide, I've arrived

That had to be one of the worst and best traveling experiences of my life. I just figured out in an email that I just traveled 17820 kms in roughly 36 hours, minus the layover and sitting around. I'm sure that actual time in the air wasn't over 24 but theres a slight chance it might be. Either way, I'm here and with all my luggage. Some highlights and low points from the trip;
-Got in Toronto way too early thanks to an over cautious mother (as if there's any other kinds) and was forced to start off my trip to Australia with a two and a half hour wait around for my first flight.
-Got on the plane, and whether due to the recent change from consistent minus 20 weather to above zero or the stress of getting everything ready or being around the infectious mother, noticed a cold sore starting sometime between Toronto and LA, most likely in New York.
-Met a couple guys from Team Astana in JFK Airport. Now met is a word I'll continue to use, but "met" in this case really means first noticed about five guys atleast, walking around the airport with the same grey bookbags on, and one had a Team Astana jacket. After casual stalking while waiting for a oven-baked sandwich, I noticed that each guy had a name tag connected to his bookbag, and being as there were two Spanish speaking, Spanish looking guys in the sandwich line, I checked to see if the smaller one was Alberto Contador. I would think I'd remember his face well enough after he won the Tour de France two years ago, but you never know. It wasn't him. (Astana is the team that Lance, Contador and Leipheimer all race for - the guy I thought coulda been Contador was Daniel Navarro, and also there that I saw the names of were Tomas Vaitkus and I can't find the other guy on their website, but he was tall, tanned and I think spoke Spanish to Navarro)
-Sat next to these two cool Canadians, a couple that was also moving to Australia for six months, hoping to find jobs while coming down here. The guys name was maybe something around Greg or Craig or _________, and the girls name I think was Shirley. I felt terrible because we talked periodically during the flight and afterwards, and they definitely remembered my name and used it enough to make me paranoid they were testing me whether I remembered them. I just stuck with "have a great time, you two" "good luck finding a job, guys" and other sneaking tactics.
-When I got here, I was met by a driver from the University who looked originally like he was just born to fill the Australian stereotype for international students. Shaved head, beard with even longer moustache that curled up on the ends. Poor description, but I took one look at him and thought Australian - that is until he talked with a thick Polish accent. Nice enough guy though, he was explaining a bunch of the stuff about the city to me while two Japanese girls sat quietly in the back, probably only understanding rare words because of his accent and speaking at a normal pace, which is fast for anyone learning the language (I assume they were because when we all got together for the first time, I tried to ask them some stuff and it just flew above their heads).

Well I suppose thats enough for now about the first day, I got some stuff done and am starting to get my first impression of Adelaide. Its busier and more citiesque than I expected, especially with the campus being more downtown than Dal is. Its comparable to that school in Toronto that's like a stone throw from the Eaton's centre. Adelaide and Uni of South Australia (they kinda almost share a campus) are a block and a half from Rundle Mall, a pedestrian only street with all the bells and whistles. The business district is surrounded by parklands though which I may go explore now after a shower. I wanna go for a run around the city because I haven't excercised pretty much since I left halifax on wednesday, because skiing is not excercise, especially in Ontario.

Ole' Faithful

It was a hot day, I was working construction the summer before I left for university. This particular day was hotter then all the rest that season. A day in which sweat would more than mark the brim of my faded blue cap while I toiled beneath the hot sun, installing ten year old cedar trees along the back fence of a typical suburb yard with a very tempting pool. There was a thermometer along the fence that read that it was near 50 degrees Celsius. We all knew this couldn't be true, but recognized that it was hot enough to skew Canadian Tire's most trusted products. As the day came to a close, I put all the tools back onto the trailer and climbed into the passenger seat of the truck, and we tore off down the road, happy that another day and all the heat was behind us. I was dropped off at home, ready to go in and enjoy the air conditioning and some popsicles, when suddenly I realized something missing from the top of my head. I scoured my book bag but all that was left was empty plastic bags and a water bottle. I quickly thought to when I last had it; I'd laid it down on the trailer right before we drove off to wipe off my brow in victorious fashion for surviving the day. Oh shit I thought, and ran after the guys before they got too far. No luck. We'd driven across the city and although I could map out the route, what was the likelihood that the hat was not destroyed by the incoming Toronto workers speeding to get home? I ran in the house and called up one of my dearest friends, only a man of his calibre would be enough to give us a chance in finding my cap, plus he would've arriven home from work and had a car. So Corey quickly came by to pick me up and we set off. We went back to the dreaded house with a pristine oasis in the backyard that had tempted me to the day's end. Nothing. So we set off on a slow enough pace that had either of us seen something in the road, we'd be able to recognize between a garmet and one of the countless fallen birds with West Nile that were afflicting the area that summer.* There something was, about two kilometres from our starting point, sitting near the curb on Upper Middle Rd, at this time one of the busiest streets in Oakville. Corey made no hestitation to stop traffic completely while I got out to investigate. I held up the hat in victory. Neither crushed nor bent, it was in the same sweaty condition I'd left it in.

After that adventure, I'd quickly come to realize the importance of this hat. Admitedly for the first while, I was slightly ashamed of the emblem emblazoned onto the back, an eagle with wings wide open. But nolonger do I feel that shame, I simply recognize that this hat, and only this particular unique one, was the single greatest product this company had ever made. It was like making 1,000 batches of creeps, tearing and breaking every one, for the one perfect 1001st. Recently, I found out that the wonderful girl I was dating at the time when the cap and I found eachother, didn't care for it at all, but even she quickly recognized the connection between man and trusty bearer-of-the-sun. The hat and I had met its double only once since we'd left the store. I never much cared for the gentleman that owned its evil twin, nor the shape that his hat was in. It was displicably hardly worn, I would've believed that he had bought it just that day. Still its original colour, the fabric still taut. After years of my owning the superiour original I'd completely forgotten which hue that was, but I realized now that the aging of this hat was similar to the aging of a fine scotch; terrible in year one, more than worthy in year six, only to get better as time goes on. But, there was a benefit of meeting this knowledgable man in his all too crisp brim. He asked me, Do you know what the phrase means? I was at a lose, what phrase? What on earth is he talking about? I had bought the hat completely because of the flag behind the words, the Union Jack, during my phase where I was appreciating my own great country a little less and my ancestors' deep roots a little more. I'd never thought The Hairy Dog Pub could mean anything more then a trendy idea of American Eagle's to sell pub and surf shop inspired clothing. It was hear when he told me, as I'll explain with wikipedia's words now, "Hair of the dog is a colloguail English expression predominantly used to refer to ingestion of alcohol as treatment for a hangover...It is a shortened form of the expression 'the hair of the dog that bit you.'" As much as I hardly remember his name and never wonder what it'd be like to speak to him again, learning this from him made me more happy than any other stranger has ever made me feel. Not only did this hat hold great meaning to me, it was also hilarious.

That was four years ago during my first year of university. Though I don't know when we first found eachother, the hat and I have been together for atleast six years if not eight. I don't care to look to find out the exact time frame because it would only demean what the hat actually means to me. Its greater than a number of years spent together, its the amount of experiences we've spent together. Personally, I think high school for me was a time of self-discovery more than for others. It was the first day of grade nine, beginning at a new school, that I started spelling my name Cris, without the H. Many people, when they find out my full name is Christopher but I go by Cris, probably think that it was because I wanted to be unique, stand out and do something I thought was cool. That's simply not the case. I started spelling my name without the h as a representation of change from my former self. I had problems just as everyone else did and does, and I was nolonger going to be slave to these problems. I was going to live differently. I look back now and I think to myself of how I've changed. My closest friends probably wouldn't even have took notice of these changes, because they came from and occured within. The way the cap fits into all this is that it has been there for mostly all of these changes too. It may have arrived a little late, but I've still continued to change and to grow, and ever since I bought it its been there with me, where ever I've been and hopefully where ever I continue to go. Its been to BC treeplanting, Nova Scotia for university, Cuba and Memphis and on many other vacations, and it'll be with in Australia, worn into the country as it always is whenever I travel, out of comfort knowing it won't be crushed while on my head.

The fit of the hat is like that of my own hair and like none other cap I wear. The flag and the brim lean ever so slightly to the left, and a thread has been frayed where the brim meets the bucket for atleast three years. the u in PUB is shorter on the right than the left because of a stray thread that had to be cut off many years ago. When I wear it, sometimes I think of the significance and where we've been, sometimes I just think of how comfortable it is, and sometimes I think nothing at all. But for all the above reasons, all the others I won't tell, and all the stories we've been through together, the hat that has no name is one of my Top Ten things in this world.

*West Nile really wasn't that bad, maybe a handful of birds perished in total and I had never seen one myself.

Skiing for the last time of the winter

Its true, yesterday was the last slope I'll hit for the winter, and the winter is still in full swing. My love for skiing was renewed a bit last year and even more so this year, just due to the fact that I could actually get out there a couple times and do it. But, I must say, Ontario Skiing isn't skiing. Especially Blue Mountain, mostly because to push myself on these hills, I'd have to get some serious speed behind me, but I'm not gonna do that with so many people on the hill just out of common courtesy. So instead, I just go down, keeping my eyes fixed in front of me for anything that can send me off the ground. Luckily, Blue Mountain is in vast supplies of hidden jumps, some leaving you in the air for a sec before touching down nicely on a downhill, and regretfully a few too many where you get good air, and then realize Oh shit, that landing area is completely flat, at which point you slam into the ground and make yourself just that much shorter every time by slowly compressing your spine until its one solid column. But alas, you realize, that stung a bit, but I bet if I figure out how to time that just right, it wouldn't hurt as much. Sometimes this is true, mostly it is not.

So apart from skiing, it was a treat that I got home at all Thursday. Wednesday night, my last night in Halifax and a great showing by all, left me severely hurting in the morning. That level of hurt where as long as you don't move faster than a 90 year old with complete body arthritis, you'll be fine. I made it to the airport thanks to good friends at Gillis Transportation Ltd. and made it on my plane thanks to Dasani, Evian, and two Tim Horton's breakfast sandwiches. I got home, and was quickly passed out on the couch falling asleep to Tiësto music, which is really weird because in most conditions this is music that you can't help but move your head if not your entire soul with. Sleeping away the day helped me out huge, but I still have continued to have more dreams in the past month than I probably have had in my entire life. Every night, I'm waking up from some dream about whoever, only to go back to bed and dream about me cycling across Canada or me lost in Halifax, where I've lived for four years. Extremely strange, especially being that I haven't felt overly stressed about anything particularly, just haven't been able to shut off my brain with all the preparations for the trip and everything else thats been going on lately. If anyone knows of an easily accessible elephant seditive, let me know, I'm sure that'll zonk me out real good. Well this is all for the little recap, wanted to save some time to officially kick off the Top 10.

An explanation found

So everyone has been asking me if I'm excited about Australia, especially yesterday for all to good folks that showed up at Maxwell's. For those of you I didn't really get to sit down and talk to, thanks for understanding. For those that remember what I did, maybe help me put all the pieces together. So, as I said, many people have asked me if I'm excited to leave, and last night I was just answering completely honestly; Nope. Its not at all like I'm dreading the trip or not looking forward to it, but I guess it still hasn't really fully become a reality that I'll be on the opposite side of the world for six months. And then, I was reading a book (Beyond the Horizon - Colin Angus) and he said it perfectly for me -
It was exciting to finally leave, but at the same time I felt both sad and overwhelmed. I was saying goodbye to the familiar world I had known for so long...it was impossible to fully accept the fact that I was, in fact, on a round-the-world expedition...I felt like I was saying goodbye to everything and turning my back on a world of love and comfort and stability in exchange for a life of perpetual uncertainty...

That pretty much sums it up exactly for me. In the rush of preparations, things haven't hit me that in five days I'll be leaving all of my wonderful Canada behind for the unfamiliar. It'll certainly be a telling adventure and I'm confident I'll have an amazing time, yet I still can't help notice that I know nothing about what I'm doing, at all. Up to a point, before it becomes worrying, its actually really comical for me. But the more I think of the uncertainty, the more I think about the possibilities. Some many great things can come from this trip in so many aspects of my life.

There's one thing I have decided on for my trip. I am gonna work while I'm in Adelaide (its actually looking more and more like a necessity), and I'm gonna find out where all the runners/triathletes/cyclists hang out for coffee, and get a job there. I'm hoping this'll help to immerse myself more in the culture and therefore have more access to the collective wisdom these places have. And, who knows, maybe they'll give me free tea and sandwiches, that'd be nice.

This feels surreal

First of all, why I love Canada and why many people are deathly afraid of it; we're about to experience a week of snow in February. I suppose this shouldn't be too shocking as February, especially the beginning, is still in the heart of winter, but still. In Halifax, a week full of snow is a rarity, I'd bet more money on snow-rain-slush-ice pellets coming from the sky all in the same day. But alas, the storm has began, which makes leaving Canada all that more picturesque for the sun and the sand in Australia. It feels extremely surreal that I'm leaving in a six days for this trip, I guess I took all that time planning it that I never took time to think what would actually happen when the time came when it was time to leave. I'm not even close to regretting it, I'm still very excited, but I'm also, and I think naturally so, a little nervous about it all. Going to a new place by yourself, not at all knowing what to expect. At least they all speak some form of English, or I'd be in for a real change. So I'm still just really packing up my things, getting everything ready to go. Of course, being me and thinking way too much about way too many things, I'm going through in my mind every future minute that I'll be spending in Halifax, and how great it will be to see a whole bunch of people Wednesday night before I leave. In some regards, because I know I'll be back eventually it kinda feels like I'm only going away for a week or something along those lines, but then I remember that six and a half months is way more than a week, and how much this whole experience could offer me and change me.

I'd like to say I hope the experience is everything I'm hoping it to be (obviously), but I actually have no idea what I'm hoping from it or what to expect. Even Adelaide is such a mystery to me because you hear so many things from people that talk of their great times in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, but Adelaide, rarely do people even know where it is. The urban densities (thanks wikipedia) are roughly the same when comparing Halifax and Adelaide, so although there's a great population when you get down to the areas that I've lived, there shouldn't be too much of a shock in that regard. The pictures of the city look great enough that I'm certainly gonna have to take a advantage of taking in all the sites, and for the first month when everyone's still shut away in winter hibernation, put up as much pictures as possible to make people jealous.

One thing I do hope for from the trip is that my computer will survive. Its getting worse and worse, today was particularly quite pathetic. My only link back home. Its kinda funny but as excited as I am for the trip, I'm almost equally excited for September to come as well, even know its half a year away. I guess thats just me thinking way too far forward, so I'll do my best to stop that, but I do miss school for sure and would like to get back into the swing of things in that regard. Well, tomorrow's my last day in Halifax, so I want to get all my packing done so I can enjoy it as best I can, so I'll get back to that.

Reality sets in with eight days to go

Crazy, I know, but it didn't really set in that I was leaving and going to Australia until about Friday, when I worked my last shift at Tim Horton's. It went overall very well, I enjoyed my time at Tim's this year and the pay cheques helped me out immensely throughout the semester to not be such a prude with money, but its also really nice to be done. Then come Saturday when I moved anything thats staying in Halifax from my place now to the place I'll be coming back to in September (just in the basement) it really started to become a reality. And now the last week has dawned upon us (last week in Halifax). And although I only have a few things left, I certainly have the rest of the days already planned out, commencing tomorrow with getting my money back that I had to pay for this semester (long story) and getting everything worked out for BSc/BEngineering concurrent degree that I'm doing, apparently I was kicked out of science when I got accepted into the engineering program. And then its just saying goodbye to the good people of Halifax, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights. And picking up what money is still owed to me from past employers/people. And tying up all the loose ends and planning the few days I'll be in Toronto, so needless to say I'm feeling busy enough right now. Haven't even really been able to stay on top of what the budget was proposing or write about my wicked hat. I did watch Eastern promises and watch the Superbowl this past week, amazing movie and amazing fourth quarter. Bruce Springsteen's still got it going on too.