December 2012
2 posts
How to top 2012
Can it be done? Biting my lip on this one.
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Kilimanjaro climb changing lives in Africa →
November 2012
17 posts
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(Photo via Erin Roberts)
What I was thinking as this photo was being taken:
“Holy f*@k it feels like my skin is literally peeling away from my body so it can move away from here and curl up and huddle together for warmth or some semblance of how it used to feel to be somewhat comfortable being outdoors. Take the goddamn photo Nick, please take the f’in photo.”
Chris has a really...
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A Real Hole
There is a day for everything! That’s right, today is World Toilet Day.
I also read that today is International Men’s Day. Hmmmm. Weirdly enough World Toilet Day comes after World Hand Washing Day which is in October.
Anyways, I was thinking earlier it’s unfortunate I never took a photo of the more basic toilets we used in our rural visits. I guess I never thought to do that...
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Ottawa residents trek to roof of Africa and bring... →
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It can't be that hard.
I want to and have to talk about this for just a bit because it happened again tonight and it’s aggravating.
A few times now, even before I left for Tanzania, I was met with what could be the worst kind of criticism. A kind of hopeless, faithless and uninspired criticism. I don’t know where this comes from - jealousy maybe or maybe I’m being too sensitive or others are being...
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5 Lessons Learned
A few weeks back WaterCan asked a few of us Ottawa people to put together five lessons we learnt on our trip for an Ottawa Citizen article called Kilimanjaro Climb for Life: Top 10 Lessons Learned The article should be out now although I haven’t seen it. Anyways I figure it’s ok to post mine here!
(Photo via Erin Roberts)
1. Enjoy it while you’re up there: I stayed at the...
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The all mighty ginkgo
Mount Meru Hotel was a palace in comparison to where we’d been staying in Kiteto and the Thomson tents awaiting us on Kilimanjaro. Time before leaving for the climb was spent saving energy and rearranging luggage.
Our head guides, Wilfred and Honest, from Thomson Safaris met us in the late afternoon at the hotel to give us a briefing on the climb and equipment.
I had taken my altitude...
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Mambo Engusero Primary!
Engusero Primary School in Kiteto is a true success story for WaterCan…[[MORE]]
We arrived to our afternoon hosts very late. Like three hours late. With a school of 900 children, their teachers, their families and other members of the community in attendance - that is a huge crowd to show up late to. Oops.
Just a few years ago, Engusero was slated for closure due to lack of sanitation...
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From the top
A quick night’s sleep in Arusha and WaterCan threw us into some land rovers for a bumpy nine hour drive to Kiteto. If you’d like to read about my impression of the team’s visit to a health clinic in Ngobola, take a look![[MORE]]
Most of the team arrived in Arusha quite late on Saturday (Oct. 13th). Quick dinner, quick meet and greet and we were under our mosquito nets,...
Where to start?
It’s safe to say the past few weeks have been a slow moving blur. I feel like I’ve been away for a long time but in reality…it was only about 3.5 weeks. The portion with WaterCan and Mount Kilimanjaro feels like another lifetime ago.
A story on the Kilimanjaro Climb for Life project is in what I guess is last week’s Hello! Canada (the one with Justin Timberlake’s...
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Thursday morning, 5 AM
Well, I am back on Canadian soil in my Canadian bed that was probably made in China.
Through Europe, all over Africa, back through Europe and West Jet loses my luggage somewhere between Toronto and Ottawa. But I am not complaining…My cousin and I watched a good amount of Louis CK in Amsterdam so I am not going to complain or whine because I know I will get it eventually and I got to partake...
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(Ghezal’s photo)
Yesterday a very laissez faire thing happened a little outside of Amsterdam.
It was Ghezal’s last day and she wanted very much to check out the Ajax Stadium. So we took the tram and then the train and found ourselves in a very quiet ugly area outside of the city. After a little scouting we were told the stadium was closed, no tours on Sundays.
But as fate would...
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Window women
(Steep stairs to our flat, photo taken by Ghezal)
My cousin Nick and I are both middle children. Between two brothers. We are both quiet. It makes for a quiet apartment. Quiet mornings. Quiet breakfast. Quiet walking. Quiet staring out the window. Our neighborhood is also quiet…a 5 minute walk from where the core starts. We can both see ourselves living in Amsterdam.
Last night we...
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(Photo taken by Chris Hilkene)
This feels far away!
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Stroopwafels
Have you had these? I have had 2.5 and been on Dutch soil less than 6 hours.
My roommate, for the next few days, is laughing at some people outside who have improvised moving furniture out of a 4th floor flat with a sort of pully device out the window. I don’t know what’s safer, that or using the stairs, as I can honestly say the staircase up to our apartment is very very steep and...
October 2012
10 posts
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From the cool tip of Africa
(Photo via TripAdvisor)
Since I have rein of the computer for a bit I thought I’d share our day yesterday.
I’ve officially dipped into the Indian ocean! Pretty cool and even cooler that it is actually two seconds away from the Atlantic ocean. We drove to Cape Agulhas yesterday morning, which is the Southernmost tip of the continent and the official dividing point between the...
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Hello from SA!
I guess I’m the worst blogger…although I never said I would blog while away. I don’t have an adapter or anything to load up pictures so may as well keep all the recaps for when I return to Ottawa and am actually bored (ahem…at work).
Really enjoying the rehab and relaxation in Hermanus, SA. Have seen like 10 whales. Having lots of tea and hanging out with the Hoopers is...
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Leaving on a KLM bus
(Photo via Arthur- A)
Quick post before breakfast!
I got one last great yoga in last night before spending some last minute quality time with my brother and his girlfriend (….with a 2 hour movie, eeeek) and then stayed up rearranging packing till 2 AM.
I want to thank everyone who has supported me in WaterCan’s campaign, WaterCan themselves for being an awesome charity, the Climb...
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“Oh, no, no, I have to do it. It’s a new challenge, and I like challenges. I’ve...”
– Jack Donaghy of 30 Rock
(Photos via J and bottom photo via Lululemon Westboro)
I just said goodbye to my best friend! 2 more goodbyes to go tonight. This feels real now. This time tomorrow I will be on a bus to Montreal. From there a flight to Amsterdam where the whole WaterCan team will meet and fly to Kilimanjaro.
Chris from the team will be recording audio snippets, via satelite phone,of our trek....
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Just in time...
look what arrived! I ordered this special “altitude oil” weeks ago from de Mamiel. It’s an antibacterial, antiviral and antiseptic blend of oils to support and protect the immune system and keep a clear head on airplanes or whenever needed.
I thought it would work well for hiking Mount Kili as well as on the ground in Tanzania. The higher elevation combined with the 14 hour...
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U of O grad to hike Kilimanjaro →
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Mount Mixtape
I’ve been building an inspirational “push yourself” play list with iTunes for a little while now. It’s hard because when I find a song I like I tend to over listen to it and become sick of it within a few days. I also don’t know - besides airport “touring” - when I’ll need my iPod.
I rely on music to get me moving in the morning so why not apply...
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September 2012
5 posts
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PDA and the two week itch
This is it, one more Friday (not including this one) and I’ll be on the road. A lot of feelings are flying around! People keep asking how I’m feeling and I don’t really know what to say…I’m in high spirits most of the time. Yoga helps me to relax and not constantly be listing things in my head or stressing that I haven’t trained hard enough.
Last week the Climb...
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uOttawa graduate to climb mount Kilimanjaro in... →
Insulation Nation
Woh!
Around this time on the 11th of next month I will probably be too wired to sleep.
We leave the 12th of October, where the WaterCan team will gather in Montreal for our flight to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.
With so little time left - all of my time outside of work is spent training or running errands for the trip. I’ll be gone a whole month!It’s shocking how much planning and...
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August 2012
10 posts
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Warriors for Water, Charity Yoga in the Park
Guess what?! The fundraiser went really well! It was a beautiful evening although a little cold. We really lucked out with the rain holding off. We had a good turnout of about 50 people! It was really cool to have this group of people come together in the community park down the street from where I’ve grown up.
Our instructor, Dana, did an awesome job.
I owe her and a few other key...
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Quenching thirst through yoga →
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Fundraiser to support Kilimanjaro climb →
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After a few crazy weeks and three media spots, the yoga fundraiser I’ve been working on, “Warriors for Water” is on for tomorrow!
It’s being held at a community park down my street. I go to Parliament Hill yoga every Wednesday during the summer and was inspired to do something similar!
A lot of work went into this. Emailing actually takes a lot of time! As well as...
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The Grody Factor
gro-dy [groh- dee]
Slang adjective meaning: repulsive; disgusting; nauseating.
This wasn’t intentional but I haven’t bathed since Thursday night. That’s a big stretch for a 23 year old female Westerner. It wasn’t intentional, I went away for the weekend and spent Saturday in a lake. I’m happy I saved water all weekend and I’ve also gotten a taste of what...
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Basic gear for Kilimanjaro
Please forgive the very boring title for this post. It being the long weekend I can’t spend too much time on a catchy name.
I am slowly compiling all the equipment I’ll need for Kilimanjaro. Although I still need a lot, I have two of the fundamentals: pack and boots.
No offense to Mountain Equipment Co- op, but I went in and left quickly for Expedition across the street. I spent...
“Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office...”
– Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums (via allthingsstylish)
July 2012
6 posts
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From Above →
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My Water Usage
I decided to keep track of the amount of water I use every day, to compare to what is available to people living in areas of East Africa.
Especially with the drought currently going on here the results are very interesting!
This was Tuesday July 17th, but journal- wise, a pretty typical day in my life - I shower every night and drink at least 2.5 litres of water every day.
I used the Water...
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Summer trails
Here are a few grainy Google phone pictures, taken over the last few weeks on the various hikes I’ve been on with friends.
Kilimanjaro here I come!
(Emily and I at the top of King Mountain Trail, Gatineau QC)
King Mountain trail is described on the Gatineau Park website as challenging. It was actually a really easy 1.9K with a hill leading up the Eardley Escarpment. We did this last...
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67% of the way there!
Yesterday, my work gave me a huuugee donation! I am so so grateful and thankful and much closer to my goal now. Raising the remaining $1600 by October should be easy as pie - I’m even considering raising the bar a little. Thanks work!
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“You want to be Kilimanjaro on your first date - inaccessible.”
– Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
Love! 