Oh No Voodoo

Look what happened!?

Something went wrong in the mysterious world of codes and html and my previously very nice and fancy blog template get royally messed up.

Originally I was going to cancel everything - forget about blogging, and sink into vast recesses of the Internet - but some people have told me they actually read this thing.

Now, while I figure out codes and voodoo, I'll leave it pretty plain.


I'll be back later with a real post. Now that I've got more initiative.

While you wait, please enjoy some lovely Christmas photos that my friends and I took. We waited until Santa was off-duty at the mall and then raided his little house.

The baby is the piece de resistance.






Here I am being the ghost of Christmas past...

Tales from a family vacation...

So I went to Victoria, like I said, and I did eat at The Noodle Box. It was very delicious I promise.
I also got to spend some quality time with an entire side of my family that I never see. This included a family reunion with 18 participants.

Some highlights:

- going on a short hike to the top of Mount Erskine with a few cousins, my parents and some aunts and uncles, getting lost on the way back, hilarity, stumbling home four hours later.
- my uncle getting a rainbow pottery rock cod fish from his brother on the west coast and my mother on the east coast. Hilarity. My grandfather looking around the table and proclaiming, "This is why the call me the cod father."
- A wonderful dinner with my granny at a pub called the Canoe, getting 'the Fleet' which consisted of 6 different beers and splitting them all with her.
- Spending a lovely evening with my cousin, drinking homemade apple cider with his friends, enjoying the Fantastic Mr. Fox (which all of you should go see! Its a Cluster Cuss!)

A family tale through photos:

My Dad, on the way to Salt Spring,

Cod Father!

Mount Erskine,

Family,

I'm Alive!

I promise! I was away in beautiful Brittish Columbia for a week, and collecting myself over these past few days. I have pictures coming of course - of my trip and of my doilies. Christmas would not be the same without snowflake doilies.

So stay tuned - until about 5:00 Atlantic time when I get my act together.


Until then, please enjoy my my not so strict tradition of Tuesday's with Indonesia and I will share with you my new discoveries.


First of all: Indonesia is a go! I have finally booked my tickets through my grandmother's 'magic' travel agent, who definitly had some kind of sorcery going on to get me these prices. Flying out of Vancouver March 2 (after I train accross Canada) to Bangkok. I have no idea what I'll be doing and where I'll end up in Thailand but my goal is to be in Jakarta two weeks later. I fly out of Jakarta and back to the love of my life April 18th.


I have had to narrow down where I want to be in Indonesia, and I think Sulawesi will be my main destination.
This area includes the Togean Islands. Which among other things include a couple dozen tiny islands to explore, and apparently beautifully deserted beaches.

They also are home to this beast: the coconut crab.

I am attracted to these islands (more than the multiple other islands that have pristine beaches and barely there tourist industry) mostly because they have 'deserted resorts' and volcano islands that I could easily wander around and have some misadventures in.

Finally, I am looking into volunteering somewhere. As I am not too keen on Englishteaching (which tends to be the primary focus of many 'community development' programs...) I have been trying to find environmental organizations to help out. I originally wanted to wwoof but that seems nearly impossible given there is no national wwoofing organization.

But I found the Indonesian Wildlife Rescue (which happily operates out of northern Sulawesi). For a international volunteer program, its actually pretty inexpensive, and they clearly state how they use your donation. It seems like a pretty excellent option - I'll get to look after (aka shoveling shit)some beautiful animals...

Bentu and Is

Spotty the leopard