Salt Spring

This weekend we had a girls weekend away to Salt Spring Island (Loreili, Sarah, Leah and I). This is the island where Leah spent many of her 'growing up' years so she was the best guide one could hope for. We stayed at a Forest Retreat Hostel which had tree houses and gypsy caravans available as well...although we stayed in the 'French Country' room surrounded by sunflowers. It's a beautiful island. We spent time at the local lookouts, lakes (that's me and Sarah in the water) and markets. Great getaway location. Even if it's a bit rampant with the ol' "wacky tabacky" as I quickly found out from a lady at the market trying to sell me her paraphenalia. Yes, it's a very "organic" island which is great if you're looking for gluten free/wheat free food! Yummo.

Oh and final "fact" for the day. When you buy/play Scrabble in Canada, it comes with two playing boards - one in French and one in English. Crazily cool. Oh and if anyone's interested, yes I won. :)

University of British Columbia

So far (as geeky as it sounds!) school has been great. One week of lectures already completed...and pretty interesting thus far. I'm taking courses in: Human Rights in Asia, the Legal System in Asia, Homicide and International Law. Managed to catch the bus (woah!) which is about a 45 min ride in the morning and a 30 min ride home. Plus, didn't get lost around campus which was a miraculous blessing! Haha. So yeah...that's about all there is to report there...other than the stackload of assignments to get into over the next 3/4 months - which may result in a drastic reduction of blog entries and pics (but not for too long :). No pics for this one but I'm sure you could look up the campus on the net if you were really eager!

Rodeo Roadtrip

Then there was the spontaneous, random rodeo road trip with Sarah to her sister's house in Kelowna (Okanagan). It was a BEAUTIFUL six hour drive of trees, mountains, abundance of greenery and what not. Deer on the road too. Sadly there was a bit of smoke in the air (so much that the moon was glowing red!) due to an ongoing forest fire in the States which has since crossed the border to Canada. It was a brief trip hanging out with Sarah's family (including cute 7 year old Malcolm). But the definite highlight (other than cruising through Canada in a flash car with loud country (and other) music) was the rodeo/stampede. It was one of the largest of its kind and while I couldn't capture the event on camera...it was definitely an amazing event. The shows included the littlest horses and carts racing crazily, barrel racing where these ladies on horses (they looked like Macleod's daughters) raced as fast as possible to beat times - one even crashed into the fence. Oops. And then there was the usual bucking horse and bull rides. It was an exhilirating experience. Plus there was a fair full of country bumpkin paraphenalia (animals on display, corn dogs, caramel apples, cross stitch competitions etc...) Definitely a winner of a weekend. Then a return ride home and school the next day...

Vancouver Island

Wow. It has been awhile. So I shall do the events of the last few days (has it been weeks!?) in sequence.

I went to Vancouver Island to visit a good friend Melissa and her hubby Tyler and baby Noah (Nearly 2)...plus one more on the way. It was such a lovely, relaxing time at Parksville which is a small town with a similar feel to Woodend. I was able to meet some local young mums at a mum's group as well as witness some amazing sand castle competitions. Noah was adorable (He wanted you to know that this toy train is his)! And it was great to catch up with friends of kindred spirit and discuss fun memories, mission work, YWAM, future plans, travelling, countries, how we've changed and grown, Western culture and so on. Encouraging and relaxing. Hope to return before heading home...Oh, and Tyler - so sorry, after all that talk...I never did end up getting a photo of the entire family for my blog!!! Oops. Haha. Next time!!!