My bags are (almost) packed... I'm (nearly) ready to go...

Well, I'm not really standing outside anyone's door either...

Hmmm, perhaps I need a new theme song for the next few days!!!

Anyways, hello folks!
Just thought a blog was needed to share my upcoming travel plans since I suppose that's what these types of technologies are good at...

For those of you that don't know the goods yet, I'm leaving Thusday evening for a 3 1/2 month trip to Nepal and Northern India. I'm meeting up with John, a friend of mine from this side of the country, in Kathmandu (the capital of Nepal) where we will travel up to a rural community called Nangi. John has spend the last month or so volunteering here. The community has set up a high school and various other community-based projects like a agricultural nursery and micro-enterprise ventures. I plan to volunteer for about 3 weeks or so and hope to learn l about the local culture as well as share any skills that I have that would be of benefit to the locals.

For those of you that are wondering, I met John through volunteering here in Halifax at the Grainery and it so turned out that he was leaving for Nepal. And well, that being a dream of mine for too long now, I was quite tempted to join him. Weighing out my adult responsibilities of work vs. travelling, and trying to come to a decision wasn't easy. In the end, I decided to go for it as travelling with a trustworthy and compatible person is a definite plus and knowing how things happen, my original plans of travelling Fall 07 could be easily bumped by any other interesting opportunity. Funny how the world turns...

Nangi is located in the Himalayas on the Anapurna circuit, which we are planning to trek once we leave from Nangi. It is relatively high up with an elevation of about 2300m and they just got a bunch of snow that has left them out of power. Though compared with Everest and the other 7 mountains in Nepal that are among the top 10 in the world, this should be a piece of cake!! (?!?)

I have elluded to trekking above, which we will spend much of our time in Nepal doing. We have read up and talked to many folks and it seems to be a great place to test out the hiking boots! Apparently, one can easily spend 21 days trekking the Anapurna circuit! It is also a transport route so there are lots of very economical accomodations available in tea houses. (yes, for my dearly loved parents and grandparents out there, I am fully imunized against too many pathogens to mention here and also am stocked with a first aid kit of medications and goodies, and a water purifying system... thank you for your concern though!! xox)

We are also hoping to travel down into the Kashmir region of India. I have been quite interested in this region of the world for a long time, coincidently, so has John, so depending on climate and accessibility, we look forward to our adventures there.

Other than this, the trip is really an open book. I'm excited to be challenged to learn about other ways of knowing and be exposed to cultures and landscapes that I have been interested in for years now.

I'm quite excited and hope to update this blog every now and then so as to keep you folks somewhat informed. I make no promises, however, as I'm not sure how accessibly internet access will be once we move on from major cities in Nepal. But please check back every now and then and I will be eager to share stories and pictures upon our return!

Much love and all that jaz! Or, perhaps "Namaste" is more appropriate! (by the way, the word Namaste apparently means "I salute the good in you"... how cool!)

Kristy :)

ps. On a slightly less interesting note, my good friend vertigo has decided to make packing and arranging last minute details a little more challenging than ideal, and is back to visit me again. I have rested now for 2 days, delaying wrapping up and sharing my goodbyes to the great folks at Environment Canada. I'm hoping that I will be 100% for my Thursday evening flight and have a few more things to arrange before then, but time will tell. In any case, I hope this blog is somewhat coherent and not as dizzy in words as I feel in real life! My appologies if clarity seems to be lacking...

Fundraising success

Hi friends and dreamers!

After a slew of fundraising activities over a busy February, I'm excited to say that about $1600 has been raised for my participation in the Maritime Otesha Cycling and Environmental Education tour this summer.

Here is a run-down of the events:
1. Valentine's Choco-gram activity at work
Organic and fair-trade chocolate with personalized greetings cards were made available for purchase and distributed through our internal mail system. It proved to be a fun way to recognize colleagues as well as an opportunity to bring home some very tasty chocolate for loved ones! At $3 a peice, it was a deal for both sides!

2. Greeting cards
I printed 6 different prints for greeting cards and sold them for $10/6. They were super popular (who knew I could draw?) and since they were environmentally-inspired, were a perfect fit for an Otesha fundraiser.

3. 1-sided recycled notebooks
Searching around for a good supply of one-sided recycled paper proved to be quite a challenge, but in the end, the books (with some of my art designs on the front) looked pretty good. They sold for $5 each and hopefully will inspire some folks to make use of the extra side before tossing used paper into the blue bin!

4. Pub night at the Celtic Corner in Dartmouth
For $15 a ticket, friends were able to enjoy a burger and beer at a local Irish Pub that has terrific service and great ambiance. 30 people showed up and we enjoyed music from two friends, Mike and Shane, who jammed it up including some Bob Marley Beats.

In addition, I sold some of my original framed artwork as well as a 50/50 at the pubnight. Cyclesmith, a local bike dealer, donated a couple of certificates for bike maintenance packages (very generous) and Mountain Equipment Co-op sponsored me by donating all sorts of goodies, including water bladders, bottles, bike bells, a reflective vest and other door prizes.

All in all, it was well worth the effort and hopefully the Otesha message will continue to spread through Halifax. Lots of people were enthusiastic about it, which is a great side-effect of fundraising!

Thanks to all the fine folks that supported and encouraged me! :) I'll definitely speak more of Otesha as the summer progresses, but now it's time to focus on my travels to Nepal and India!

Cheerios folks!
Lots of bicycle grease and smiles!

Kristy :)

Curling... who knew it was a hip thing to do!!

Greetings folks!

So, I'm slowly being introduced to the winter culture in Halifax and apparently curling is the thing to do! 40 of us colleagues took the afternoon off (hey, even federal public servants need a break once in a while!!! ;) to go to the curling rink!

It's actually a pretty tough sports (for all those that have never played), which kinda squashed my stereotyped curler of a 100 year old men sport! I kept either wipping the rock way past the circle/target thing of barely getting it 1/2 down the ice (more the former cause I'm such a strong dude!!). And try staying up without putting your knee down as you slide- impossible, I swear!! As a result, I actually came home with a bruised knee! It's hardcore this curling stuff, I tell ya!!

But in the end, our team, lead by a great skip one our game and actually scored the most points out of all the other teams!! Nice work! I think I scored 1 out of the 9 points we skored, but it's a team effort right (there are 4 to a team)! :P

So, anyways, next year I want to join a league and rip up the Halifax ice! :)

Here are some shots of action and our team!
Enjoy and definitely sign yourself up for a try!! :)

Expedition Halifax 2007

Cause isn't this the place where all extreme skiiers flock??
Well, at least Amy (my roommate and expedition partner) and I did...

We departed from the White House, our new Halifax ski-in ski-out Chalet on a sunny Sunday morning after celebrating Amy's birthday over brunch. The expedition team (Amy and I) first had a few warm up laps around the Halifax common (watch out for those baseball diamonds and pavement walking paths!) to prep for our next undertaking: Halifax's landmark, the Citadel. Dum, dum, dummmmm!




















Amy was joking that although the avalance hazard is nil, the traffic is a little daunting at the 6 way intersection, but team Halifax Extreme prevailed and we made it across to the Citadel.

After seeking out maximum vertical and snowback (about 1cm in the best of times), Amy hit the slope like a pro, with years of experience as a ski instructor in the Rockies definitely showing. I on the other hand, was a little wobbly on my cross country skiis and tango'ed a few times with a big ice batch, but despite the future bruising, we ripped up the commons inspired by the imaginary bagpipes in our heads!






The first image is Amy showin' off some skill and Kristy peeing her pants as the cars parked on the side of the road were approaching with a little too much speed...


So good times in Halifax all around... you Westcoast Whistler bums are definitely missing out on the action!!

Happy trails to you all! :)
Your Expedition Halifax team member,
Kristy