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i just got back from my 48 hour solo experience in the bush…well…i got back a 5, ate alot since i hadn’t eaten all weekend, showered, chilled with the roomates, then headed to work at 6.
it was a weird weekend that’s for sure. not being around people is definitely not my thing. not living by my clock is also not my thing. spending 2 days in reflection alone in the bush with only a tarp and my gear, also not my thing, although i do feel pretty confident in my skills now!
i got there friday night at about 6pm, did an activity that a classmate has designed. set up my tarp, set up my sleeping bag, went and got firewood, tried to read rich christians in an age of hunger but it was getting dark so i make a quick fire to fill my nalgene with boiling water, threw it in my sleeping bag, got dressed and headed to bed.
woke up at who knows what time, did some yoga in a clear spot on my thermarest, read, journaled, colored, went for a walk, got fire wood, read, journaled, tried to pretend i wasn’t alone, read through my dogsledding journal, heard some gun shots, went and got fire wood, wrote a letter, bla bla bla. made a fire to make a hot drink for the morning, read, made a hot boiling nalgene for sleeping, read, hopped into bed wih out a tarp under the stars, beautiful.
woke up to a super bright sun. drank some burnt brown water that i swear was the hot chocolate i made the night before, hmm, funny, did some yoga, sooo good, read, journaled, colored, wondered what the heck time it was, reflected, packed up everything, leave no trace, waited, journaled, got ready, saw paul hiking far away, got excited for human contact, raced to the meeting spot, loved being with people again, read, debriefed with kym and dan, headed home.
and now…procrastinating, what else is new. BUT my face got burnt…well…red at least! hello summer!
all in all it was a good weekend…but i don’t like being alone for that long…yikes that was hard for me!
dena is having a baby…
it’s alive in her tummy right now…
and it’s coming to see me in less than a month!!!
greg, dena, and i are very excited to bring this little one into our family, haha!
love you dena!!
this is dena and i at her bridal shower last year…which was a couple of years late…but it was fun!
p.s. the little ones favorite song is ‘jesus is the answer’…it’s too bad really…wonder how that happened?!
THANK YOU FAMILY FOR THE EASTER PACKAGE!!!!
a signed copy of martina’s latest cd, people mags, CHIP CLIPS, chocolate, white chocolate, etc….i love my life!!!!
got some more photos so here are some…
off course i didn’t catch anything…hmphfff…
yeah yeah i don’t know how to hold a gun… but this is team shake ‘n’ bake!
me and my roomate erin taking a little cat nap on the flight back to yellowknife
norris’s photo of dan’s dog’s sneaking up on him
ummm…chelsea is gullable and just wanted to hit dan in the head with a spoon
norris and his lead dogs in front of the arctic oven
worst tangle ever! pat’s sled came behind mine without her on it and of course her team didn’t stop behind me but kept going so that they could fight with my team…grrrrrrr
when we got back from the trail i was putting sussex back but he decided to leave me a present on my bag…pee!
dan (in his lawn chair) being pulled by norris after a long day of fishing and igloo building with the girls
the igloo we built around norris’s fishing hole with the help of anika and liv
and this is my head for the past week…
who said it was easy to come back to school after three weeks in the bush!
it’s been a busy week including so much morten homework (why do i take two of his classes in one semester?) and alot of catch up acc stuff. i was up today at 7 am, made coffee, drank it, chilled with naomi, responded to an add about furniture (like a 70’s basket chair), headed to the school to put up posters, headed around town with mark to promote the acc concert (coming to camrose on april 9th…so i expect to see you there!), went out for brunch with him at smitty’s (oh man, me and the country skillet, it’s been awhile!), went to the farmer’s market and saw some sweet old couple polka-ing, walked into cd plus and was pleased with the selection on the front display: emerson letters and means (what?! hey everyone…!), worked at the climbing wall for a church’s youth group, came home and did dishes while naomi made stirfry (i love my life!), and have been doing homework ever since. I listened to alot of lady antebellem today…i think i like.
today has been a weird day. alot of thoughts. some i like, some i wish would leave…
guess i’m the same as where i began.
i really don’t want to eat bacon till the year 2020. (although it is very good with peanut butter!).
I miss the olesen’s. i want their life. i want to haul my own water. i want to chop my own wood for my house that i made with my own hands and that is heated by a wood stove.
so many times this week i wonder if i actually experienced that. my life is right back to normal (my bruises are even gone)…didn’t i learn anything? can’t i change that person inside of me that likes this life so much?
side note: bedouin plays on the newest kate moss commercial…exciting for them i guess?!
I didn’t help my mood today by listening to music that made it worse. i think i just need to listen to bob marley all the time?! i am glad naomi was home today. we did homework in the newly decorated dining room.
off to solid rock with melissa in the morning, maybe make an acc announcement, wait for naomi to come home, go possible furniture shopping, then homework, then dogsledding team supper at 4pm (perhaps finally watch ‘into the wild’), then work at climbing wall at 6, then back to homework at about 9.
i am very thankful tonight…especially for bruce (augustana against AIDS 2nd president) and conversations with mark about africa.
i need to be more bold and confident with who i am in christ.
i also need to know when i have to go to bed.
so i’m off…
i hope you are all having a good weekend and i hope you are all being challenged in some way.
it was an incredible trip, both dog sledding and clbi wintercourse…
i feel bad leaving it at that, but there will be alot more to come soon.
i hate being back…
i want to pee outside…
i wish we had more snow…
i hate this culture…
i bruise easy…
here are some pictures…
all of us together with the amazing family that hosted us
top: kristen (mom), my roomate erin, alana, anika (eldest daughter), dan, candice, paul, morten, and bobbie
bottom: livy (youngest daughter), pat, me, dave (dad), and norris
good night friends
ahhhh…the trail…so unbelievable
daisy and umm…i forget
the dog yard which is run by the two daughters Anika (12yrs old) and Liv (8yrs old)
the tree line where the tundra begins
the incredible northern lights and the equally incredible arctic oven (our tent)
our fearless leader and strongest man in the world dave olesen
the hoarfrost river off the east arm of great slave lake (where the homestead is)
the dog shed where the cats live and the lard is made
morten took the ladder away before i could get down from my bed, my other option down wasn’t as smooth…oh and neither was the shotgun
norris’ 12 pound lake trout he caught ice fishing in blue fox bay. it didn’t make a good snow bat but it did get me singing ‘fish heads’. it was trying to eat the sun here i think?
the twin otter that took us to our lovely destination only about an hour and a half flight away
my boyfriend gus d’oust (one of the greatest trapper’s the north had ever seen!)
getting ready to head out on the trail = complete chaos
