I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't apprehensive about my position as a camp counsellor this Summer. Thinking about it, and now writing it creates an unpleasant sensation in my tummy. What has happened? I had better rewind and catch up on the past 6 days...
On Monday afternoon, I was invited to do a boot camp with Ahshad, who is also staying at the same hostel. He is studying at Royal Roads university and as we got chatting, he asked me to come along for a tough workout.
The university proudly boasts a large gymnasium, which was impressive and it felt really good to be back in a "gym environment" - dad maybe you are right, maybe I do have "gym muscles". Unfortunately the boot camp was to be held indoors due to the sporadic weather.
I got two shocks that afternoon. The first came in the form of a nasty number! 170lbs according the the scales at the uni gym. I might cut back on the PB & J.
The 40 something year old trainer, who is also a cop, came across as friendly and explained that today would be simple because he had to be at a meeting afterwords. Suicides, push ups, squats and tricep dips - easy huh? That's what I thought.
The group consisted of mainly men, older men. Actually, there was only one women. I didn't really pay much attention to the others around me. Come the end of the workout, well maybe half way through, I was huffing and puffing, I felt somewhat dizzy and was burning in places I haven't burned in months! It was a good wake up call though.
Ahshad and I post-workout.
I felt pretty masculine standing next to that guy in my pink sweater.
I'm going to blame my poor performance on the caffeine addiction I have picked up. I enjoyed another Americano that afternoon with Judith. Europeans really like to enjoy their coffee. It was noted the day before when I was out with the gay boys, that over here (and I am assuming Australia as well) people are in such a rush, they never get to enjoy their coffee, where as in Europe, people sit down and take their time with their cup of brew. I must say, it is rather enjoyable and I don't mind the Americano!
It was to be expected that I would wake up on Tuesday morning in pain, and I most certainly did! Good pain, if there is such a thing? I was to be left alone again and decided to switch over to the quieter HI hostel.
Beatrice, Judith and I
I got what I wanted and spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with myself. Come evening though, I made friends with Paolo, an Italian from Manitoba, an English girl named Amy and a giant from Lithuania named Egle (who I had met in Nanaimo). We played a few poor games of pool and it was suggested we check out the "Sooke Pot holes" in the morning.
So the next morning, Paolo recruited another fella with a car named Jack (also from England) and he drove us up there. Going by the pictures I had seen on the internet, memories of Wattamolla in the Royal National Park came to mind and I was very excited to jump off some rocks into the water. Unfortunately, it was a bit chilly and I barely got my toes wet.
Pretty and peaceful.
Raging anger!!!!
Paolo taking getting his toes wet.
Chill.
After exploring the area and eating, we piled back into Jacks hire car and he dropped us off back in Victoria, as he and Paolo headed for Tofino.
Amy was only in town for that evening before she too (right too, huh?! BOO YAH) headed for Tofino. She wanted to check out a pub, so I rallied up the troops and we invaded Big Bad Johns. I think I had one beer and probably 3 buckets of nuts, yes I did wake up with a major tummy ache.
So much for getting away from people and chilling out.
The next morning I met a somewhat lovely girl from Melbourne named Felicia. She told me that she was going to take the 10am historical walking tour. I didn't have any intention in taking part, but somehow Egle and her convinced me.
A super old school lift which was built for some obese fella... Don't ask me the details!
This used to be a horse, pig and human drinking fountain!
It was definitely a nice change of pace. And after a beautiful Vege lunch (which of course I took a photo of) I was so pumped up on tour adrenaline and historical facts that I went and joined the 1:30pm Parliament building tour with Dave from Denmark, Western Australia (I had no idea there was such a place).
Dave, myself, Carla and Aymeric at Re-Bar.
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Our tour guide with a Canadian coat of arms. I think...
Stain glassed windows.
Dave and I - Behind us it reads in Latin "splendour without diminishment". I believe they are referring to British Columbia.
The role playing got to be a bit much so Davo and I snuck out the back...
That evening was typical; pool and wine!
Where am I now? This week has been such a blur. Oh here comes the not so nice news. So on Friday morning, I woke up at 7am so I could call CIC at 8am and find out the status of my VISA application. In short, I had to apply for a new VISA because in order to work with children this Summer, I needed to get a medical exam done to ensure that I was not a risk to public health and so on and so forth (Blah blah blah). I submitted the new application and paid another fee online on the 15th of May. I was told it would take 15 working days to process, but where the hell is it?!
Apparently there has been some technical difficulties and what not at CIC and this is the new processing schedule:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/temp.asp
Ouch!
I've emailed the camp and told them the situation and basically I can not be on premises without a statement saying I can work with children. My future as a camp counsellor looks grim.
That's the reality, and I just have to accept it. I'm not much of a miracle believer, but I wouldn't mind one right about now? I am still going to head up on Tuesday with some others in a car pool and we'll see how it pans out.
If Summer Camp falls through, I think I will head over to Alberta, explore new land there and find some work in possibly Banff, or somewhere nice.
ANYWAYS, let's continue...
I went to the park and had a half assed workout, barely focusing or channelling any energy into what I was doing.
As the day went on, I started to feel better. Meditation definitely helps, along with some good food and great company. I hung out with Beatrice, who had left Victoria at the beginning of the week with Judith, heading to Tofino and had come back the day prior. We cooked up a Ratatouille (vegetables always make me feel better!) and I taught her to play chess. We also went shopping with Felia and I picked up a BRAND NEW HAT, wait til' you see this bad boy... Thift stores are the way to go. They are basically like St. Vinnies.
The evening followed with more pool and more wine. Ahhhhh the hostel life!
This brings us to yesterday. Everyone left me. So what to do?
I spent yesterday reading, meditating, playing chess against the computer, watching documentaries, reading more, meditating more, cooking, reading some more. I was in bed earlier, which was nice. I don't have any photos to show of yesterday, oh wait... yes I do! Ha ha ha, sitting up in Starbucks/Chapters this passed...
I hope they don't mind me taking their photo!
At least they are wearing helmets.
And a close up for the cold folk!
I asked the lady sitting next to me what was going on, she had no idea. A random day in downtown Victoria.
Finally, here we are today. I've checked out of HI Victoria, moving back to Ocean Island because I realised I can save a total of $5.12 over the next two evenings staying there, I'll have access to an oven where I can finally bake some yams and a chess board where I can challenge non-English speaking travellers.
I'm going to bury myself in a book shortly, go for a workout, maybe watch another documentary. Remember Vipassana? I'm still practicing, it is obviously a bit more of a challenge in the hostel environment, but I love it. If guys in a prison can do it, so can I.
Doing Time, Doing Vipassana - This doco goes inside an Indian prison to show how inmates who comes into contact with the meditation technique Vipassana are changed. Have a look for yourself.
Time to go and blow some pretty bubbles!
