Say It, Don't Spray It!

That HAPPY time of year....

2006-12-25T03:14:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I am back home with my family and everything's good... My sister is home from school and it's nice for us to all be together again for a while (even if I only get four days off from my crappy pizza-making job...). So far nothing too crazy has happened; we're all just waiting for New Year's Eve to party like it's... uhh... 1999?

All the best!
Heather

2006-11-11T09:39:00.000-08:00

howdy everybody! And happy Canadian Rememberance Day! For those who don't know, we celebrate Nov. 11 every year (Rememberance day) as a reminder of the courage and bravery of those Canadians who fought in the two World Wars... We all wear red poppy pins (read the poem "In Flanders Fields" if you haven't already) and go to ceremonies and stuff... Anyway, this holiday is the reason that I am sitting in front of my computer right now instead of working today, so I am very thankful! This is the first Saturday I've had off since I started working here, and I really need it today. Things have been really crazy for me lately, thus why I haven't been blogging as much as I should. Sorry about that everybody; I really should be better at keeping in touch with you all.
Anyway, I've been working the same part-time minimum wage job at the Salvation Army Thrift Store (basically it is a used clothing store, run by a Christian Social Service agency) since I moved here. It's been an okay job, but unfortunately it just doesn't pay the bills. So last week I finally found another job, a full-time gig at a "pizza cafe", paying just over minimum wage (which is $7.15 Canadian dollars here) . I started there for a couple of days last week, and it's definitely a crappy job as well. After four years of university I'm back to fast food, baby! It's kind of disheartening that I can't seem to find anything better than this at the moment, but at least this job allows me to work only Mon-Fri, from 10am- 6pm, which is really the ideal shift, very hard to find around here. No weekends or evenings for me! And it is just enough money for me to live on comfortably, so things aren't too bad. And I did get a call from a bank about working a call center job, so hopefully something more lucrative will come from that...
I've been reminded of the island a lot lately, not just from reading your blogs, but from other things as well... Do all of you know about the show "The Amazing Race"? It's an American game show where the contestants do a race around different parts of the world, and apparently one of the shows was recently shot on Mauritius... I didn't see it myself, but a friend of the family's caught it on TV, so I heard about it after... My parents advised me to watch it the next week, which I did, and indeed, they started from Mauritius!!! I was so thrilled to see even the arial shots on TV: the beaches and landscape so familiar, but yet missed so much... Unfortunately, the contestants were only in Mauritius for the first five minutes of the show, as they moved on to do their challenge in Madagascar, but even that five minutes was enough to send me reminiscing about the good old island days... They showed all the racers arriving at the airport in Mauritius, and booking their Air Mauritius flights over to Madagascar. And even seeing the airport made me teary! I had so many horrible experiences in that airport! And oh, I miss it so!
I also got an email from Seeven the other day. Apparently he has graduated from the uni of Mauritius, and has just landed a consulting job with a business magazine. Can you imagine!!! He says he doesn't see much of the other guys these days, which was kind of sad to hear. I wonder what they're all up to... ?
Outside of work, my life is still good here. As always, I'm enjoying the music and cultural scene of Halifax... Sadly though, I do feel like I have lost a lot of the spirit that I had when I got back from the island... My confidence is definitely not where it was, and as much as I struggle and try to get back to that place, I can never quite seem to do it. I guess I just need to give it some time, to build back up slowly... At the end of the year I'm hoping (as I think I've mentioned before) to do an internship in Africa somewhere, so I really think that would be good for me. I think traveling again, getting away and experiencing a different reality would be a big help. I guess I just have to wait and see. What perhaps depresses me most is that I feel like there is no way I can ever live here, in Halifax, permanently, as I think I want to. I really love this city, but Nova Scotia is one of the poorest provinces in Canada, and though it may sound strange given that Canada is a rich country, we just don't have the infrastructure and opportunities that are available in so many other Canadian cities. All the best people are taking off in droves to live on the west side of the country, where the jobs are so much better, and you can get more than double the pay for the same job. So it's a major challenge, and it gives me a better appreciation for the situation in developing countries, which face the same problems on a much bigger scale. This world is such a sad place sometimes.
Anyway, I hope you're all doing well and are happy out there. It's really nice to hear from all of you. Keep blogging.
Love and miss you all.
Heather

Home in Halifax

2006-09-09T17:08:00.001-07:00

Oh my goodness! I can't believe how much has happened since my last blog!!!! And I finally have Internet access, in my OWN HOME! Good lord, hallelujah! I can blog again! It's nice to have a telephone too...

So yes, after all my travels and wanderings I am back in good old Nova Scotia (Halifax, the province's capital city), and I will (at last) be staying put for a while. While I was on the West Coast I somehow just felt strange and out of place. It was like the bizarro world to my precious East Coast, and even in all my hopes of finding a place to settle during my little Western Canada road-trip bonanza, I eventually knew I just had to come back home, get my feet under me again, before I could do anything else. Seeing the West was nice, and it might be good to go back there sometime, but for now I'm happy to be where I am. It's the first time in a long time that I've lived so close to my parents, but now that I've been out in the world, far away and independent for so many years, I find it's kind of nice to be within driving distance of them again.

This city has so much going on that I love. I love the music here, the culture, everything. You all remember my love Joel Plaskett, right? Well he plays around here regularly (along with many of my other favorite musicians), so what more could a girl want? Still, it has been a big adjustment living in a city this big (many of you would not consider Halifax, a city of 300,000 people at best, big, but for me that is much bigger than I'm used to). I get overwhelmed and stressed and tired sometimes, but overall I'm happy to be here. There's always something cool to do! I've already found a job (though it's only part-time and minimum wage) at the Salvation Army thrift store. I don't expect it to be thrilling work, but at least it's something to start with. I'm not looking for anthing more than a crappy job to pay the bills this year anyway, so at this point it's not a big deal that I haven't landed a career-type job... I think I will have more job options soon, hopefully something full-time, but I've only been here for a week so I'm not too worried yet!

I really like my new apartment as well. I'm paying a little more than I'd like to for it, but it's in a very ideal location, close to downtown and a couple of other key areas in town. It's also in a very student-dominated area, which makes it interesting, yet it is still quite quiet and safe. My two roommates, who I didn't know before I moved in, are really nice; we get along quite well (so far at least, and I expect this will continue).

Anyway kids, I think that's all the news I've got for now. Hope all's alive and kicking with you folks (I know it is!).

Miss you all so much!

Home in Halifax

2006-09-09T17:08:00.000-07:00

Anyway kids, I think that's all the news I've got for now. Hope all's alive and kicking with you folks (I know it is!).

Miss you all so much!

The Great Retreat

2006-07-11T12:20:00.000-07:00

Howdy-ho everybody....
Here I am back in sunny and colorful New Minas, Nova Scotia, home of my parents and my cat, and me, for the moment.
Well, only for a brief moment it seems... That's right, got back from "French boot camp" as it has come to be known, last Sunday, and I'm taking off again tomorrow for even sunnier and more colorful Victoria, British Columbia (on the west coast of Canada, as I unnecessarily explained to Nachi earlier today! "I know where BC is!!!")...
Being at French camp was good, but I definitely needed a break by the end, so it's good to be home relaxing now, and will also be nice to chill with my friend Maria for a while out in BC, which has the nicest weather in Canada...
After living in Quebec for about two months, I have to say that I really really liked the lifestyle and culture there... it's really different from the rest of Canada, and I'm really starting to like speaking French. I'm thinking about moving back to Trois Rivieres in September, possibly for a whole year of immersion... (that's if I don't move to India, right Nach?) Anyway, we'll see what happens. It's all up in the air right now...
But I'm sure you'd all be interested to know that I had a dream about being back in Mauritius last night... it was very strange. I saw Havish on the street, and then some of the other guys, and realized that a lot of things had changed since I left. I was cool with that, but I also wondered what I was doing back there, and felt strange about being there and not being at the uni anymore...
I think what prompted the whole dream was the fact that I had a major craving for dholl puris last night... My parents had some people over for dinner and we were all talking about Indian food, and then I just remembered dholl puris and wanted some really bad. More than the craving was just realizing that no matter how bad I want something from Mauritius like that, I just can't ever have it... I could search far and wide on the streets of Canada for a dholl puri vendor and will never never stumble across one! It really kind of made me sad to think about. I miss the island, and I miss all of you! Jess, you HAVE to come visit me... even if we can't have dholl puris, we can at least talk about them together! :)
Anyway, I know I haven't written in a long time, and there should be more to talk about than this... but believe it or not, there isn't. Despite my jumping around from place to place, life hasn't been overly exciting these past couple of months... I'm even missing all the good concerts by leaving here so quickly! Oh well...
I hope you're all doing well out there, wherever y'all are.
Take care and I'll write soon from Victoria!

Mon ami, Gordon

2006-05-22T15:28:00.000-07:00

Heya toute la monde,

Major apolgies for missing the actual date, but know that I was thinking of you, Gordon, on Saturday, while I was walking around in the rain all day in Quebec city, wishing I was anywhere but there! Happy birthday!

I wish I could come for a visit in Tanzania to share a piece of birthday cake, but miss you lots anyway and Mauritius would not have been even close to the same without you...

Make number 27 the best ever, my friend!

Cheerio!

To My Favorite American Gal...

2006-05-10T07:11:00.000-07:00

Hey there everybody,
I just want to wish a quick (but HUGE) HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my fav American friend Jess... I wish I could be with you to celebrate again, but alas, I`m stuck here at French boot camp in Trois-Rivieres :(

Right now I`m on a short break from class, and being careful not to be caught writing in English, but Jess, I hope you have a great day and a great year. Kick some ass! I know you will.
Miss you and love you lots!

And Here I am...

2006-05-05T17:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I owe all you guys a big apology for being so aloof these days. I have such a back-log of things to report that I don't even remember it all. In the spirit of our good friend Nachi, here's a quick list of everything that's happened...
- I'm finished school! What a weird feeling to be completely finished with my university education (for now, at least). When I finished the last of my work (a couple of weeks ago), I didn't even know what to do with myself, it was so strange. I feel free, yet kind of weird and freaked out. I guess that's normal...
-I'm leaving good ol' Peterborough, Ontario, and Trent University forever tomorrow morning at 8:50 am. Where to next? Trois Rivieres, Quebec, for another five, maybe six, weeks of French schooling. I expect to learn even more this time, seeing as nobody in Trois Rivieres speaks any English. At the same time, getting the university credits is not important this time, so the classroom stuff will not be so pressuring for me. And this time I know more what to expect, so it's good in that way. So yeah, I'm catching a Greyhound Bus for a good day-long journey into the "Belle Province", so wish me luck!

-And after that? Well, at this point... who knows?! I should find out any day now if I got an internship with the Coady International Institute, which would put me in Africa somewhere for five or six months doing some type of international development work (Gordon look out!). I'm not too optimistic about my chances at getting this though, as my phone interview did not go very well at all. I totally bombed on several of the questions, and the internship positions are highly competitive... but oh well... I chalk it up to experiece (while still hoping for the best). The other (perhaps more likely option) is to head out to Victoria, British Columbia, to hang out and live with my friend Maria. If this option becomes a reality, I will look for a (normal) job in BC and basically just bum around, taking it easy, for a year. It's apparently much warmer out there, so no worries if I don't get the internship!

As of now, I've pretty much been hanging out, sitting in the sun (it's getting so warm out!) and drinking. Living the good life! I've been saying goodbye to lots of people who have already moved away for the summer, who I may not see again :( On the brighter side though, my parents came to visit me over Easter weekend, which was really nice. It was great to see them, especially since I have no idea when I'll be back in Nova Scotia again... My friend Nathan from Toronto also stayed with me in Peterborough a couple of times during the last month and a half, and we had some good times while he was around.

So that's pretty much been my life, more or less. Mostly less, but you know...

Anyway, I'll try to blog when I get to Trois-Rivieres, but don't hold your breath (you know those Frenchies and their French)...

Adios, amigos! (Au revoir, mes amis!)

Bye!

IT'S BIRTHDAY TIME...

2006-04-27T07:07:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to do a quick blog to say a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our very own NACHIKETA DAS, my best-loved Indian brother...

Nachi, I love you and miss you every day, and I still wear your heart on my wrist (in bracelet form) and think of you all of the time. Mauritius would not have been the same without you :)

I wish I was there to celebrate your b-day with you, but alas, I am stuck in Canada, unsure of where I will be even next week :)

I promise I will write a blog about my own life soon, but take this little birthday message as a small offering on your birthday.

Oh yeah, and send my love to Dr. Das and your sis as well.

Love you!

Heather

Finally

2006-03-06T15:50:00.000-08:00

Random pics from around here... I have more on my camera that I'll post sometime, but at least you've all been brought up to speed with the images of my life! I'll do a "real" blog soon, I promise!

This is Waldo, one of the cats who lives with us in our apartment.

This is Devon, one of my roommates.

My roommate Alli with her stuffed rabbit RaRa

Peavy, the other cat who lives here

More pics

2006-03-06T15:27:00.000-08:00

Pictures from my "friend" James' visit in November...

James playing classical guitar (sigh!)

That's him... (or at least it's half of his face, anyway)

More guitaring

French camp pics

2006-03-06T15:02:00.000-08:00

These pics are from the French camp I went to last summer in Moncton, New Brunswick...

This is me being "reserved" (as usual) at an amazing beer-tasting tour in the city. I may have been a little bit drunk at the time... :)

This is after a karioke session at a local bar. That's Gord in the middle of "Gordioke". I snagged a spot right next to him!

Here's what New Brunswick beaches look like... Me and some of my Frenchie friends.

Dave and I carrying our "beer baby". Not that I did any drinking during the camp :)

Pics for you

2006-03-06T14:41:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

I just realized that I have never posted photos on my blog, so I thought I should give you some visual images of what I've been up to since I left the island...

These first ones are of my friend Nathan's trip to Nova Scotia to visit me this past summer, right after I came back from Mauritius (I blogged about it back in June). My sister also had her friend Phill visiting at the same time, so the four of us had some fun times together... Pictured below is my sister (Katie), me, Nathan, and Phill (all being crazy as you can see).

Me being squashed by Nathan on the beach...Me and my sissy at the beautiful Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia...

In front of the ships at Halifax Harbour

2006-02-03T19:36:00.000-08:00

Right, I'm not going to apologize this time for not blogging in so long... 'cause that's what I do at the beginning of every entry. You should all just take it as a given by this point.

Here it is, Friday night, and I am relieved to be sitting here at my computer, doing nothing. It has been a very busy couple of weeks for me, though I can hardly think of anything that I've done. I was sick with a cold for about a week, last week, and it annoyed the hell out of me, I have to say. Normally I can tolerate a little cold, but this is the FOURTH cold I've had this winter, so needless to say, I was getting pretty sick of feeling sick. But all is better now and I plan to do everything in my power to keep healthy for the rest of the year.
School itself has been going really well for me lately. I've been getting lots of really positive feedback from my profs, and things seem to be winding down nicely. It almost makes me sad that my university career will be coming to an end shortly. Almost.
My social life has been pretty dull as of late, but I'm okay with that. I think things will pick up when the worload eases a little, and when everyone feels less stressed about everything.
Apparently my parents have decided to take a trip up here to visit me in April, which I think is great, as they'll wine and dine me, buy me groceries, help me move, take me to movies and other shows, etc. And of course it will be nice to see them before I take off (somewhere, who knows)...
Did I mention that I'm doing another French course this summer? Well, if I didn't, I am. I have to in order to graduate. This time I'm going to do it up big and live with a French family in a totally francophone community, probably in Quebec somewhere. Yeah. You better believe I'm gonna be fluent when I get out of there this time! Ha ha! That will be fantastic.
I'm not sure exactly what I plan to do after that, but I have a few possible plans in my mind at this point (to be elaborated on later).
Anyway, I really don't feel like I have much to say, so I'm going to end this now.
Abruptly.

Christmas, New Year's and Back to School...

2006-01-13T19:02:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody!
As usual, my apologies for my lateness in posting...
Anyway, it seems I have some catching up to do.
My holidays, spent at home with my family, was both good and bad. Bad, in that it was relatively unexciting and uneventful, but good, in that I got lots of much-needed rest and a great break from school work, and that I got to spend some quality time with my family before coming back here for my last semester of university.

Our family Christmas itself turned out to be very odd, and not as wonderful as I had hoped, having missed it last year (being in Mauritius with all of you!). Indeed, my grandmother and uncle showed up at our house on Christmas Eve. as they do each year, except this time the stairs to our deck were icy, and my grandmother ended up slipping and breaking her leg in two places before even getting into the house. I called 911, and we spent most of our Christmas Eve. in the emergency room at the hospital. As it turned out, she needed to have surgery on her leg, as her bones basically shattered within it, and so most of our Christmas Day was spent in the hospital as well, with her as she waited to go into the operating room... So yeah, not a super great Christmas experience, overall. The good news that I have to keep in mind, though, is that she's doing fine, and the accident could have been a lot worse.

My father, of course, also spent the Christmas holidays recovering from his heart surgery, which went really well. He is feeling much better than he has in years, and seems to have taken on a whole new attitude towards life. Needless to say, I'm very happy that everything turned out so well with that.

My sister was also home from England, and it was really nice to spend some time with her, especially since we have no idea when we'll see each other again after this. She's having a great time over there; I am so jealous of all her adventures!

Apart from the poor health of everyone at Christmas time, it went well otherwise. I got some really nice gifts, and we ate like kings and queens... oh yeah, and that reminds me, guess what? I'm not a veg-head anymore! Surprising, I know! I decided to make the switch when I first got home for the holidays, as I had been feeling really unhealthy before, and I thought it was in part because my iron was low... I do feel weird about eating animal flesh still, but I do feel so much better now that I get more protein and iron in my diet... So I actually got to enjoy the Christmas turkey this year, for the first time in ages! Yum, yum!

As for New Year's, my sister and I dropped over at our neighbourhood gathering (with our parents) for a while, before driving into Halifax to see a Joel Plaskett Emergency concert... The neighbourhood thing was surprisingly fun, and the concert was also amazing! Apart from the fact that we were driving, and thus couldn't drink, it was a really great New Year's, and probably the highlight of my time at home.

As I mentioned, the rest of my holidays were pretty boring, but I was still really sad to leave when I flew back here on Monday. I guess I was upset at saying goodbye to my family, not knowing when I'll see them again, and I was slightly depressed at the thought of returning to school and feeling completely alone here, as I don't really have any close friends or people to support me. Not to mention the constant pressure of school work...

Anyway, being back here hasn't been nearly as bad as I thought... I was happy to see and hang out with my roommates again, and I drank and went out on Wednesday night for the first time in a long time! It was a lot of fun... It's hard to believe that I only have three months left in my university life, and I'm not sure whether I'll be sad or filled with joy when I'm done. Most likely some of both...

Anyway, that's the news with me. Hope everybody's doing well out there, wherever y'all are!

Back at home

2005-12-16T12:22:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody!
Sorry if I had some of you worried with my last post... I removed it because after I wrote it I thought it was a little bit too dramatic.
The good news is that things are going a lot better for me these days: my father is out of the hospital and is doing really well recovering from his surgery, I am now back home in Nova Scotia with my family and away from the unhappy things that were happening in Peterborough, and I have recovered from my difficult goodbyes and overwhelming schoolwork.
So things are pretty happy again in my world. I did have a pretty crazy time trying to fly home last week, as there was a HUGE snowstorm here on the Friday when I was supposed to arrive. As such, my plane wasn't able to land in Halifax, as it was supposed to, but instead flew right over the city to land in St. John's, Newfoundland. I stayed there overnight in a hotel that the airline put us up in. Normally, I would have been excited at the situation, especially given that St. John's is famous for its pub scene. However, I was traveling alone and didn't really want to go out by myself, and I was tired, and worried about my mother, who I was afraid had had an accident trying to get out to the airport to pick me up in the middle of the storm (I had phoned and tried to get in touch with her several times and nobody had heard from her). So I just tried to sleep in my little hotel room, and went out again to the airport in the morning. Of course, the bad weather hit Newfoundland on Saturday, so my flight was delayed four times before I finally made it back to Nova Scotia. It was good to be home!
My sister is coming home from England on Monday, and I'm really excited to see her again. Also, I'm going to see my beloved Joel Plaskett play a show on New Year's, which should be awesome! so things are looking good for the near future, and I don't have to go back to school until January 9th. I have lots of relaxing time headed my way!
Anyway, I hope you're all doing well and enjoying yourselves whereever you are!
Talk to y'all soon!

Another Post Already... How Does She Do it?!

2005-10-17T09:44:00.000-07:00

Right... so I've actually got a little bit of free time these days. This week at school is going to be pretty light in terms of reading and assignments, and then next week I have off... So yay, more time for blogging!
One thing i forgot to mention in my last posting was my wild adeventures during the Head of Trent weekend, the party weekend at my school. On the Friday night (this was three weeks ago now, I believe) I did some drinking with my roommate, and then we went to her friends' place, where we proceeded to drink more and have some pretty hilarious discussions. We had planned to go to a big keg party that night, and by the time we left, I was pretty frickin wasted. So we arrived at the kegger, which was absolutely packed by the time we got there. We stood outside for a few minutes, at which point, I snuck away from my friends and sat on the curb in front of the house, not feeling so hot. And that's right folks, that's when the "soifer" in me struck again, and I did a good deal of puking right out there on the side of the street. Eventually, I was able to stand up, and start walking in the direction I thought would lead me home, only to realize (far later than I should have, due to my state) that I was in fact walking in the wrong direction, towards the university and not home. So I turned around, and began (again) the long walk towards home, bed, and my very own garbage can... I have no idea how long I was walking for, but it was damn cold outside and I was feeling pretty crumby, throwing up ocassionally on the sidewalk. At one point during my walk I ran into one of my roommates, Jeff, who was on his way to a party also (it was not even ten o'clock by the time I started getting sick). I tried to act like I was totally sober and together while I talked with him, but apparently I didn't succeed, as the next day he told me I hadn't "known up from down" at that point. Great.
Finally though, I did make it safely home, where I was happy to just throw up a bit more into the garbage in my room, and then pass out in my bed with the lights and all of my clothes still on... Nice! I am sooo cool!

At around 1:00am, my roommate called, wondering where I had disappeared to at the party, hoping that I had made it home okay. By that point I was feeling much more sober, and reassured her that I had made it back fine, and finally turned out the lights and got some decent sleep. The next morning I woke up feeling surprising good, not too hung over. We were having a "breakfast kegger" at our house that morning, and people began to show up around 9am to drink the kegs of beer my roommate had bought for the occasion. By noon, our house was hopping with drunk people, though I didn't drink, as I was still disgusted by alcohol from the previous night. In fact, the Friday night had pretty much ruined me for the rest of the weekend (saturday afternoon and night are supposed to be the big drunk times), and I decided to just lay low and not party for the rest of the weekend. I got some work done on Saturday afternoon while everyone was at the beer Tent at my university, and Saturday night I watched Pulp Fiction with my roommate Devon instead of going out to drink. What a lamo I am! Anyway, my bad stomach and I survived the whole ordeal, and i ended up having a pretty good time despite all the sickness involved...

But old news aside, things are pretty good here. I have been thinking a lot lately about Mauritius and the people I left behind there, and how wonderful the whole experience was. I have started to become dreadfully afraid that I will lose the confidence and happiness I gained while away, as I feel I've started to revert back to my old lifestyle a little bit too much for my liking... I just have so much school stuff to do that I don't get out much, and I start living in my own head too much, seperating myself from the outside world. I really don't want to forget what I learned in Mauritius- that I am part of the world and I can have a meaningful place in it. I'm sure it's just a temporary feeling I'm having now, but I feel like I need to careful about things... Yeah.

Anyway, my roommate (Jeff) just bought a drum kit, which he has put in the attic and plays regularly above my head. Right now he and a friend are jamming, guitars and drums. It sounds pretty good actually, and I don't really mind that it gets a bit noisy in here sometimes. But I will probably need to spend more time at the library when I really need to get work done. The good things is that both of our extra guys in the house have moved out, and now it's just the original four of us: Alli, Devon, Jeff, and myself. It makes things less crowded and quieter generally speaking (with the exception of the drums).

Yesterday I gave Alli a guitar lesson, as she really wants to learn how to play... I taught her how to play a simple version of Brown Eyed Girl and she was really happy about it; I think she will practice even more now. I kind of like teaching; I have been thinking a lot about teaching English overseas next year... I hear it's a really great experience and you can also make good money doing it, which I need considering my massive debt... We'll see.

Okay, I'm going to sign off for now, but if anything interesting happens in my life over the next couple of weeks, I'll be sure to get online anfd blog about it!

Be healthy and happy, everyone!

Love Heather

Miss you all.

Thugs and Debt, oh my!

2005-10-12T14:55:00.000-07:00

Wow... it has really been awhile since my last post and I honestly can't remember where I left off...
Lately I have been pretty bogged down with school work and have had little time for anything else... It's amazing when I think back to last year and how much partying I was doing, and having fun, whereas this year has been about a million times more boring; I'm reading, reading all of the time! I'm starting to enjoy my classes though, now that I've had a chance to get into the material a bit.
Anyway, last weekend was Canadian Thanksgiving (perhaps some of you remember celebrating American Thanksgiving last year with Jess... Ours is earlier though), a time when everybody is supposed to pig out with their families and eat a big turkey meal, etc. Unfortunately for me, I live so far away from home that I couldn't enjoy the benefits of having a Mom who is a good cook... All of my roommates went home for the weekend, except Alli, who just left Sunday to go to her Grandmother's for the big meal. So it was just me all alone for Thanksgiving :(
Really it was fine though, as I got lots of work done in the peace and quiet of having the whole house to myself, and Alli brought back the leftovers from her Thanksgiving dinner, so we feasted on it Monday night together. I consider that my Thanksgiving!
Other than that, life has been pretty boring around here. I've gone to a few social events, but nothing too spectacular... One interesting situation my roommates and I were in though, was that we had this guy (a friend of Devon, my roommate) staying with us for a few weeks, since he had gotten kicked out of his own apartment and needed a place to stay until he found a new place (this was a little sketchy to begin with, I'd say)... Yeah, so pretty much, he brought us nothing but trouble the whole time he was here: lied to us, dealing drugs from our house, starting up a conterfeit money scheme from our house, etc. One night a crack deal of his went badly, and this crazy crackhead followed him home (to our home!) and he started banging on the door in the middle of the night. And then the banging turned into trying to break the door down... yeah, not a good situation, needless to say. Somehow he managed to appease the crackhead, so the commotion ended, but not before I was given a good scare lying in my bed!
Anyway, he moved out the next day, so the menace has passed. The unfortunate thing is, though, that he still owes us money (which we'll probably never see) and still calls at weird hours and comes to hang out with Devon (who doesn't want him around either). Even better, we still get druggies coming around and phoning, looking for him, or looking for money from him.
So that teaches us for trying to be nice and taking in someone in need!
Moving on though... Jess, what's up with you? Haven't heard anything from you in ages! If I get some time this week, I'll try to send you an email...
Not next week but the one following it, I get a whole week off of school. "Reading Break" it is called. Thank goodness! I really need the time to catch up on reading and work. Plus a little free time will be greatly appreciated also.
I finally got my marks back from Mauritius. I did better than I thought/expected, so it looks like I'll be getting my scholarship again afterall... yay! It has taken forever to get things sorted out with the credit transfer and all of that fun stuff, but it has mostly worked itself out by now. There is still one last thing to be done, but I should know for sure by next week whether or not I will get the extra (greatly needed) money. I am currently $24,000 in debt! I don't even like to think about it, so I'm gonna move on...
So, I hope you're all doing well out there in the world (Gordon, I wish you the best of luck in Tanzania... watch out for those prostitutes!); hope to hear from everybody soon!

SOOOOO...

2005-09-27T15:29:00.000-07:00

Wow! It is soooo time for an update! At least no one else has been doing it, so I don't feel quite so bad.
Still, I do feel bad for neglecting you all for so long. But I've been really bad at keeping up-to-date with everyone I know, so it's not just you guys.
The truth is, I've been totally overloaded with schoolwork since I've been back. I feel like I have to be pretty much reading constantly just to keep up with the required reading. Seriously. And I haven't even had any assignments or anything due yet. I can't wait for that fun to start!

It has been very strange for me to be back at Trent after a year away, I must say. I've had all kinds of crazy adventures with my new housemates already, but I get along well with all of them. It's pretty crazy right now, as there are 6 people living in our four-bedroom place, and three of them have girlfriends who are also over all the time, so needless to say it gets pretty loud and crowded around here often. Not ideal for studying at all; maybe that's why it takes me so long to get any reading done! I think I'm going to be spending a lot of time at the library this year, though I've managed to avoid it so far...

Things should settle down soon though, as two of my roommates are moving out within two weeks, and it will then be back to the original four that it was supposed to be. Good good. And the other good news is that I have been keeping myself relatively happy socially since I've been back, when I'm not studying of course. I've run into lots of old friends, and have made some new ones too. I do miss my road-tripping buddies though, I must say, and my sister, who is leaving for Britain in less than a week. And of course I miss you all, my Mauritius buddies. Much love to all of you.

Lucky for me, I have a week-long reading break from school coming up at the end of October, which will be really nice. And I may have a special visitor coming for some of that, but I won't say much about that on here, except that it should be happy and a lot of fun.

I'm also happy to report that I get an entire month off at Christmastime, seeing as I have NO EXAMS this year! Sweet Hallelujah! Sure, I have to make up for it by doing a billion papers, presentations, projects, etc., but I get to go home so much earlier! That will be so sweet...

So all in all, I don't really feel like I have that much to report... Life is good but pretty boring at this point. Next weekend should be interesting though, as it is THE party weekend of the whole year around here; everyone gets WASTED the whole weekend. It's called Head of the Trent weekend, and it's the weekend of the big rowing rigada at my university (rowing is the biggest sport at my school and this is the weekend of the big race we host). Most people don't care about the rowing though, they pretty much just get drunk. Which is what I plan to do, of course. Should be a good time.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's all the news I have for the moment. I'll try to update again soon, but with my workload I'm not sure that it will happen. But if you don't hear from me, still know that I'm thinking about all of you and that I love and miss you all lots!

Cheerio!

Hey guys

2005-09-08T15:39:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody!
I'm so terribly sorry for not having blogged in a long time... and thanks Nachi, for always getting on my case to do it!

I think in this case I do have a reasonable excuse though... I just moved into my new place last week, and it has been CRAZY since then! I don't want to go into all of the details right now (I am far too exhausted at the moment to give anything but a half-assed version of all that has happened), but just believe me when I say that I have not had any time to write. I've had various people come visit me and at least two people sleeping on the floor of my room every night for the past week... On top of that, I have just managed to get my Internet connection working today, so I've had very little access to email and blogging recently.

Anyway, I promise promise promise to write more as soon as I get some sleep and get my school life in order... I start on Monday! Ahhh! I'm not prepared at all! I don't even have all my stuff unpacked yet, let alone books purchased, etc.
Until then,
Heather
love you all.

2005-08-24T08:56:00.000-07:00

Right, so I know I've been horrible about keeping this up-to-date... And everyone else has been making me look bad recently by updating regularly, so I guess it's about time for me to do the same...
Unfortunately, I don't have much exciting news to report since I last wrote. Mostly, I sit around at home doing nothing, and write people emails when I get bored...
But apart from that, I did get to spend some excellent time with my friend before she took off on her road trip, and I also got to meet the guy she is travelling with, which was interesting. I knew this guy in high school and wasn't super crazy about him back then, but now we've both changed a lot, and get along great! The two of them left a week ago, which has made my life around here even MORE boring, but we're going to be meeting up again soon in Toronto, as we're going to visit people there two weekends from now... They will be hitting Ontario at that time on the roadtrip, and I'll be there too on my way back to school. So that worked out really well, and if all goes according to plan, they're going to be staying with me in Peterborough (where my university is) for a while before they hit the road again... it should be tons of crazy fun; I'm going to go wild for that week before school starts! I think one of my friends from the French program is planning to come up for a visit around that time too, so it's going to be a party at my house; horray!
So even though things haven't been completely exciting or interesting around here lately, I still feel pretty happy and excited about things (unlike other summers...). I can't wait to get back to Peterborough and start seeing people again; I think it will be a really good time. At first I was having trouble seeing in my life back here, how Mauritius had changed me... but now that I've adjusted back to life in Canada and have had a chance to meet new people again and be social, it has become quite obvious that I'm much more confident and happy, and that I generally enjoy people more... So a big thanks to everyone out there who was part of my Mauritius experience; you have all helped me so much in becoming a happier person!
But enough about that... I mentioned in my last blog that my Mom had planned the "Indian-Canadian dinner" for all of her friends, for which I was supposed to cook up an Indian feast for up to thirty people... Well, that beast of a project took place last Tuesday, and was it ever something... To begin with, I had gotten really drunk the night before with my sister and my two friends who were leaving soon on the road trip... My one friend and I stayed out walking and chatting until close to 6:00am, at which point, I stumbled home and into bed. Unfortunately, I don't have any drunken pictures of myself like Gordon to prove this wild night's adventure.. but you all believe me, right? Anyway, I got up just before 11:00 the next morning, and started cooking by 11:00, after less than four hours of sleep. Thankfully, there was no hangover involved...
All in all, I cooked straight from 11:00am to 5:00pm (6 hours!), when the guests started showing up. Nobody else was around to help me, so it took quite a long time to do everything I wanted to, and I didn't even break to eat something in the middle of that time! Needless to say, by the time I had finished, I was looking forward to chowing down on the feast I had prepared... Anyway, Nachi, you would have been proud, because (in my opinion) all of the food turned out pretty well, and everybody (all 26 of them!) really liked the food. Since it was also a Canadian dinner, people brought other food as well, and we had a HUGE delicious feast. And the desserts people brought were especially amazing... Even better, I got to eat the leftovers all last week!
Anyway, yeah, so that was a success; I think everyone had a good time, and it was nice for me to see all of my family friends before I take off next week.
Speaking of that, I should post my new information, which will be good as of August 30th...
Ladies and gentlemen, my new address and phone number:

Heather MacArthur (I decided to keep the same name!)
358 Stewart Street
Peterborough, Ontario
CANADA K9H 4A8
1-705-760-9573

Don't worry though, my old address and phone number will still be good (ie my parents still live here), but this new info will just be a more direct way to reach me :) And of course, the most important things, my email address and blog, remain unchanged!

Anyway kids, I'm going to sign off now, but once I land in Peterborough, I'm sure I'll have lots more to report, so look out for me then!
Take care and keep the updates coming!

heya!

2005-08-09T18:13:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! I know it has been a super long time since I wrote… sorry about that. I just got back home from doing the French course on Saturday, and am just beginning to have some free time again after that, and am catching up on lots of lost sleep from those five weeks of intense French!
But the course overall went really well; I’m not fluent by any stretch, but my French has improved immensely nonetheless. I met lots of really great people from all over the country, some of whom I plan to be visiting with in a few weeks when I go back to University… the moving just never stops! You’ll all be glad to know that I kept my dancing in good form (as good form as it gets, anyway) while I was away, as I was lingering on too many of Moncton’s dance floors weekend evenings… Mauritius was in my mind always (Saxo!).
But now I’m back home in good old New Minas, Nova Scotia, living with my parents for (hopefully) the last time ever. It sure is boring around here, but at least I get to sleep in, which is nice. I’ve been trying to spend lots of time with my best friend before she takes off on a cross-country road trip August 17th. I don’t really know when I’ll get to see her again, as she doesn’t plan to come home for Christmas… so it could be a whole year or more before we meet again. Other than that, I’ve just today managed to secure myself a place to live for September, which is nice… I don’t really know the people I’ll be living with very well, but they are friends of my sister and according to her, they are very nice people. The location and house itself are also great, so the slightly too-high price will be worth it, I think. And, in other news, my Mom has planned a giant Indian-Canadian dinner for next week, with 30 invitees for me to cook for! Nice! Nachi, I could use your help right about now… but I know your teaching will guide me through it… should be fun though.
So I hear that our dear little Jess took off from the island on Sunday… When I woke up Sunday morning I felt a little sad and I didn’t really know why, but now I think my heart was with all the people she left behind on Mauritius. We all miss you Jess, and I miss everybody who is still there or has returned home.
I hope you’re all doing well wherever you are; keep in touch and update your blogs!
Love Heather

et puis...

2005-07-13T07:53:00.000-07:00

So, hello! I’ve now been doing this French thing for over a week now, and I must say things are going a lot better than I expected… and definitely even better than when I last wrote. Socially, things have gotten much better for me; I’ve made some pretty cool friends and I don’t feel quite so shy around people anymore… I seem to have warmed up to everyone quite a bit.And what has caused this transformation, you might ask? The answer: alcohol. Well, not JUST that, but I think it all started Thursday night when everybody was drinking in the dorm room of a few of the Frenchies (this is what I will call the people who are in my program). I decided to drop in, even though I was a little terrified to knock on the party door, because I didn’t really know who was in there, or how welcome I would be when the door was answered. But of course my anxiety was unfounded, and I drank and had good chats with a bunch of nice people. Still, I was going to end the night at that point and not go out to “Rockin’ Rodeo”, a supposedly hoppin’ country dance bar, where everyone else was headed after the drink session. However, the peer pressure eventually got to me, and I decided to go for it: to just go out and try to enjoy myself. Though it sounds totally lame, the country bar was awesome! Immediately after I walked in, I was in the mood to dance, so I pretty much took to the dance floor before anyone else had even thought about dancing… it was great! It reminded me a little of being back in Mauritius, just because of the songs they were playing, but alas, none of my Mauritius pals were among the dancers :( Still, I went nuts with the dancing all night, and as a result, the 7:00am wake-up was even more brutal than normal… Saturday night proved to be a less pleasant experience… I started off drinking with much the same crowd, and then we were all to go to “Oxygen”, a supposedly hoppin’ dance club downtown. I was very excited at the prospect of another night of dancing; however, upon getting there, decided that I wasn’t feeling the place as much as I had expected to. It was a little too trendy and a little too crowded for my liking, and I unfortunately drank a little too much at the beginning. My roommate and I decided to take off after a so-so dancing experience, and it was during the half hour walk back home that I started to really feel the alcohol I had consumed during the night. My walk was far from straight and I stopped to chat for long periods of time with random homeless people on the street, if that gives you any indication of how far I was from my normal self… By the time I got home and crawled into bed, I was starting to feel quite ill, and then it came: the vomit. Yuck. Fortunately for me at the time, I passed out before I could really go to town with the puking, but the next morning would not prove so gentle upon me. I proceeded to wretch my guts out for several painstaking hours on Sunday, until I finally started to feel better (though still hung over) around noon. Needless to say, studying for my French test the next day was pretty difficult. (Nachi: if there was any doubt as to who was president of the club before, it has now become completely clear). All in all though, I’m having a pretty good time. I like pretty much everyone here and my French continues to get better (though perhaps not as fast as I would like)… My biggest complaint is the fact that the Universite de Moncton is HORRIBLE with providing vegetarian options at the cafeteria. Almost every dish they serve has some sort of meat in it (obviously or hidden, as I’ve discovered). They sometimes have veg stuff if you ask them for it (in weak French), but suffice it to say that I’ve become very familiar with the salad bar over the past week, and I expect this trend to continue over the next four. I also don’t have any Internet access on weekends, which sucks, as Sat and Sun are the days when I have the most free time… Otherwise, I pretty much just have short breaks from class in which to do Internet stuff. And even at that, I have to rush to get down there before the whole lab fills up, which happens pretty quickly with all of us computer-addicted geeks hanging around.But in happy news, I brought my friend’s mandolin with me in lieu of my guitar, and I absolutely love it. (For those who may not know, mandolin is like a baby guitar almost, with four/eight strings, and is used in a lot of celtic and bluegrass music). I’m still learning, but I’ve made plans to jam with others on guitar, etc., which should be great fun. Umm, yeah, I think that’s all the news for now… Hope to hear from everyone soon and please keep well!I shall update again soon…

Bonjour tout la monde!

2005-07-07T10:20:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody!
Here I am at French camp, and I can still write in English! Ha ha ha... Stick it to the man!
Right now I am just on a break in between classes, so I only have time for a short entry, just to let everyone know that I do have Internet access here (though it is relatively limited) and that I can write/receive emails in English...
Things are good here so far, and generally speaking I am enjoying myself and learning lots. This is definitely better than being at home doing nothing... The 7am wake-up is killing me though!
But I`ve met lots of interesting people, and I think there will be plenty of good times to come, so watch out for that!
I`ll try to update this blog once in a while; when I can at least. So check back for more news later...
Gotta run,
talk later!

July 1st is Canada Day everybody; mark your calendars!

2005-06-29T19:46:00.000-07:00

So things around here have been pretty slow and boring as of late… slow, boring, and hot. Apparently heat records have been broken in eastern Canada over this past week; and as a result, energy consumption has also reached record levels. Turn your damn air conditioners off, Canadian wimps! For me the heat has been great; I’m no longer shivering in my bed at night… My blanket coverage has been reduced from four to two, and I’ve gone from long-sleeve sleepwear to short-sleeve. Thank goodness it’s summer, that’s all I can say…
In other local news, the Canadian Parliament just passed legislation changing the legal definition of marriage from “the lawful union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others” to “the lawful union of two persons to the exclusion of all others”. This means that Canada has joined the Netherlands and Belgium in legalizing same-sex marriage nation-wide (previously it was left up to each province to decide on the issue). According to (some) polls, two-thirds of Canadians support same-sex marriage, so I guess the decision is not as controversial as it might seem (though those opposed tend to be VERY opposed, and very vocal in their opposition). Anyway, I thought that little tidbit might interest some of you reading this…
Some of you might also be happy to know that I’ve laid my old red Sugis (the sneakers) to rest, finally. When my feet actually started coming into contact with the pavement on a regular basis (resulting in lovely blood blisters) I knew it was time to let go, and now a pair of green Powder Room’s and I are going through growing pains together… It’s early yet, but I think we’ll make it…
For Friday I’ve been recruited as a (forced) volunteer to do face-painting for kids at the Canada Day beach celebration around here, which should be interesting. I’ve done it for two or three other years in the past, and I know from experience that I’ll have some stories to tell afterwards about various weird unique things that the children request to have painted onto their faces…
Then, on Saturday I am pleased to announce that I’m headed to a Joel Plaskett Emergency show! I thought that I wasn’t going to be able to see him/them this summer at all because of my schedule, but this show was unexpectedly announced just recently, and it happens to be taking place just before I leave for New Brunswick… Yay! So that should be a lot of fun; I need to enjoy my last night of English-speaking freedom! Yup, on Sunday afternoon I’m running away to French camp, or “French boot camp”, as Gordon likes to call it. I’m slightly apprehensive about the whole ordeal, but I’m still convinced that it will be better than sticking around here for another five weeks… I’m really hoping it will be a good experience and not a horrendous French-language nightmare. I’m not exactly sure what the rules are about communication with the outside world (ie. the English world) during my time there, but if I can, I will try to post here regularly (though possibly in French if that is required of me).
Oh yes, and before I sign off, I want to make sure to recommend the website of our American friends Nate, Sarah and Bryce to everybody: check out www.chagosfilm to read about the documentary they’ve been working on.
I think that’s all I have to report for now… I will try to update once more before I leave on Sunday, but if I can’t, I’ll talk to everyone after I return, if not sooner (I hope sooner!).
Take care!

Hello World!

2005-06-21T11:05:00.000-07:00

I am officially back in blogland.
My guests have returned home, and now I am back to the boring life that I had before I ever stepped foot on Mauritian soil…
That’s right, no Green Island for me. No drinking, going out, or fun for me at all! But the good news is that I have plenty of time to write emails and update this neglected site…
Seriously though, things aren’t that bad. I’m actually pretty happy to be able to relax around here and do my own thing. Because in two weeks time, when I’m at my 5-week French immersion course, relaxing all day will definitely NOT be an option for me. So I should enjoy it while I have the chance, I think.
My friends’ visit was pretty good, though it did get pretty tiring at around the ninth day point… Still, it was fun to show the Toronto boys around good old Nova Scotia; we had lots of interesting adventures having to do with lobsters, boat playgrounds, rope museums, driving ranges, and more! I wish I could post some pictures on this site, but I don’t think that is possible, or at least I don’t know how to, given my technology-smarts handicap…
But yeah, I think you’ll all be happy (or terrified!) to know that Mauritian roads DID get to me after 10 months of traveling on the “wrong” (left) side of the road… as I was driving to pick up my sister’s friend from the airport one day, I made a very Mauritian left turn, and then wondered to myself whether or not I was in fact driving on the wrong side of the road… The answer came to me when my friend, who was sitting in the passenger seat, started to desperately signal to me to get over to the right side. Oops. There weren’t any other cars around, so it was really no big deal. Still, I found it kind of amusing that driving on the wrong side of the road felt so natural to me… Anyway, I’ve been driving lots recently, so I don’t think it will happen again.
In (other) good news, I made Indian food for my family and our Toronto guests (pav bhaji to be specific), and it was a big hit with everyone! For some unknown reason, we made way too much of it though, so there’s still a whole lot sitting in my fridge. Anyway, thanks Nachi, for making me the #1 Indian cook of my household! Yesterday at the grocery store I bought chick peas and lentils, so chhole and “rice, lentils and salad” (Jangos forever!!!) are next on my “to cook” list… Wish me luck with that…
Anyway, I hope everyone is well and happy out there; update your blogs if you have them (Gordon, I never thought I would have to say this, but I’m sick of seeing “Salvage a Wreck”! You’re getting almost as bad as me!).
Talk to y’all again soon.

back in town (soon)

2005-06-16T10:17:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody,
sorry I've been neglecting my blog and emails, etc... I currently have TWO guests from Toronto staying at my house, and it has been really difficult to get time away from showing them a good time Nova Scotia-style to catch up on correspondance. Don't worry though, by Saturday they'll be headed back to their native Ontario, and I'll be furiously responding to emails and filling everybody in on my life over the past couple of weeks... Thanks to everyone who has sent me emails; I love hearing from you all! I'll be talking to you soon!

Here She Is!

2005-06-06T08:20:00.000-07:00

So it’s now been over a week since I left Mauritius, and how does it feel?
At first it felt surprisingly normal to be back, almost as though nothing had changed… Greeting my family at the airport was not nearly as emotional as I expected; my mom didn’t even cry! It was nice to see them though, tired as we all were. I landed at just after two in the morning local time, so I came back home and went promptly to bed. I was EXHAUSTED from the flying, and also realized that I hadn’t had a decent sleep in over a week, given exams, partying, etc. And all of that is not to mention the emotional fatigue I suffered saying goodbye to everyone… Mauritius was on my mind the whole way home, or at least the part of the trip during which I was awake… most of the flight I spent in this weird half-awake state, where I was thinking/dreaming about people in Mauritius, but the sounds in the plane would add some strange twist to the dream that wouldn’t make any sense, and I would wake up disturbed and startled. By the time I reached Toronto I could hardly keep my eyes open; my body ached with fatigue. As I sat waiting for my last flight back to Halifax, I realized what a strange situation I was in… Call me crazy (or call me Dr. Das), but it occurred to me that at that time I didn’t actually exist at all. I had left my life and everything I knew behind, but I hadn’t reached where I was going yet, and I had absolutely no idea what that new life was going to be like once I arrived. As a social being I DIDN’T EXIST. So I thought about that as I sipped chocolate milk (a rather disappointing milk experience considering my expectations), and then proceeded to fall asleep in my chair as I was waiting for my flight to board. When I awoke, I found a hilarious family of Americans from North Carolina sitting across from me, discussing Jimmy Johnson and Dale Earnhart hats, and whether or not the wearer of the Jimmy Johnson hat liked Chevy. And of course, I thought of you, dear Jess, as I listened to them speak… It was entertaining, to say the least. I just desperately hoped that I wouldn’t be sitting next to any of them on the plane... The flight seemed endless, even though it was the shortest of all of them, and I was shivering pretty much the entire time. Canada is cold! I found out upon meeting my family that my friend who was also supposed to come meet me couldn’t come, but that she would call and come visit me the next day. I slept in until 1:00pm the following afternoon, and shortly after getting up I got a surprise call from Mauritius! That’s right, my dear friends Jess and Nachi called to make sure I got home okay, and I got a chance to hear their voices again for a short time. Thanks guys; you’re the greatest! I wish I could have talked longer, but maybe it’s better that didn’t happen, seeing as I was still in a stupor of fatigue… Hopefully we can talk again soon sometime. After that conversation had ended, I slowly started to unpack my room. Before long, my friend came over and we had a happy reunion. I showed my sister and her some of the more recent Mauritius photos and we caught up on each others’ life news since we had last spoken. It was really nice hanging out with them again. Then my friend’s brother dropped over too (her family is pretty much like my family) and we all chatted with him for a while. And then it was gifts time! And if I do say so myself, everyone was THRILLED with their gifts, so I guess I did a pretty good job… thanks to anyone who helped me pick out stuff! All the ladies put on the clothes and jewelry and pictures were taken; all were pleased! After the excitement had died down, I had to go to bed again, as I still felt like I had been hit by a train, even after all that sleep the night before. This time I went to bed at midnight, and woke up at noon… A good twelve hours of sleep is good for the soul, that’s what I always say! My friend (Maria) came over again and we pretty much just hung out until supper time, when I convinced my parents to take us all out to dinner, as a celebration of my return… I made sure to choose a restaurant where I could order real NACHOS (sorry Jess), and I was a very pleased little girl, despite sitting outside in the cold air. Apparently this has been the coldest spring Nova Scotia has seen in years… just my luck! Everyone else is still jumping for joy because it is starting to get “warm”; they’re out in their shorts and t-shirts, while I’m bundled in long pants and sweaters shivering my ass off! Anyway, after dinner I went to Maria’s parents’ house to say a quick hello to my “second parents” before rushing home for bed again. How lame is that? The next day (Thursday) was the most overwhelming of all… I went to the doctor’s at *GASP* 9:15am, and then went on a shopping trip to get some things I needed. I found it really strange and exhausting to be back in a mall, back to Western stores, and back to my incredibly hickish small town. And everybody is so white and pasty! I almost found it gross to see all the pale skin everywhere… it’s so sickly looking! And everyone is BIG! I went into stores and discovered the joy of being a MEDIUM again! And just looking at people walking by made me feel normal sized again, which was weird, but ultimately quite good.
I bought some groceries to make the Indian meal I promised everybody, and then came home and started preparing to cook… But then the phone rang, and when I answered it, I found with delight that it was Steevie on the other end! The reception was totally clear and there was no delay at all; he could have been calling from next door… It was really nice to hear his voice, and to know that all was well in Mauritius… Apparently he and Havish were just on their way over to Jess’s to keep her company, since Nachi had gone home for the night. I’m glad that you’re all taking care of each other over there, and keep the calls coming! I’ll have to get an international phone card sometime soon, or figure out how to use an internet calling service (Skype, perhaps?) so I can do some calling of my own… Anyway, the cooking went well, though I didn’t end up making food for as many people as I expected/hoped… it ended up, through freak circumstances, being just my mom, Maria and I eating, but they absolutely loved the food. So thanks Nachi, for teaching me well! The stuff I made wasn’t nearly as good as the stuff I practiced making in Mauritius, but I think that was mostly because the spices were a lot different (less strong) than the ones I used in Mauritius… but it didn’t matter too much, since the others didn’t know the difference anyway. My second parents came over after dinner and tried some food as well, and I got thumbs up from them too. But the best part is that after dinner I showed Maria how to light up the hookah I brought her as a gift, and we managed to convince our parents to try it! I would NEVER have expected my parents to have the nerve to try smoking the thing, let alone Maria’s parents, but they surprised us with their adventurous spirit, and my Mom took lots of pictures of everybody trying out the hookah. Lots of references to drugs and church were made; as you can imagine, the whole thing was a pretty big deal for them… In fact, Maria’s mom had never smoked ANYTHING her entire life! I was so proud to have taken her smoking virginity!
Friday morning, as I wrote on my last blog, I went to a vacation spot with my family and a friend of my sister’s… It was relatively uneventful, but good and relaxing, and I spent most of it sorting through and trying to organize my photos (as well as showing them to my family)… On Saturday night, my parents had some of their friends over for dinner at the cottage, so I had the pleasure of answering a million questions about my trip… can any of you answer the question, “what was the one best experience you had in Mauritius?”? I know I can’t… But I put together a quick slideshow to show them, and they seemed to find it interesting… but it really is impossible to get the experiences across to other people who know little about the island, little about me, and nothing of my experience there… I already get the feeling that people are sick of hearing me talk about Mauritius all the time, but it’s still on my mind! Now the process of me coming home has settled down a bit, but for me it’s still an adjustment, and with the “settling” comes even more thoughts of Mauritius, since there’s not as much excitement happening around here.
Anyway, soon things will pick up, as my friend Nathan is arriving on Thursday, and we should have lots of fun and good times while he’s here. I also need to get in to see my grandmother soon, and to hang out in Halifax with Maria, as she has a new apartment there… so there are plenty of things to look forward to coming up. I hope the same is true for everyone back on the island. Let me know what you’re up to!
So, my #1 observation since I’ve been back is this: Western culture is weird! I miss Creole (amazingly!); I miss dark skin and not hearing about stupid new TV shows and movie stars all the time; I miss not having a HUGE TV in my house; I miss Mauritian food, the sun, and of course, I miss all of you most of all!
And #1 exciting purchase since I’ve been back: a bathing suit! No more swimming in shorts and tank top for me; take that, thieves!
Umm, I think that’s all my news for the moment… This hasn’t quite been a MOTHER entry, but pretty close, I’d say… What do you think Gordon?
Hope to hear from everybody, and I’ll write again soon!

Howdy Folks

2005-06-03T05:26:00.000-07:00

So in about a half an hour I'm off to White Point Beach with my family to enjoy a (freezing cold) beach vacation... Oh, the nostalgia! Just wanted you all to know that I won't be online while I'm there, so you won't be hearing anything from me until Monday... But I plan on bringing my laptop with me to prepare a mother of a blog, so look out for that one!
Things have been good here, more details to come.
Cheers!

Back in Oh Ca-na-da!

2005-06-01T09:26:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody,
it seems that I have made it back home safe and sound at last!
I've been sleeping a lot and having nice visits with family and friends, but missing you all a lot, of course!
I'm going to keep this short, as I have a ton of stuff to do, but I just wanted to make sure to fulfill my promise to one South African bru that I will try to keep my blog up to date now that I'm home... Keep an eye out for emails from me and more blog updates in the near future! I might switch blog addresses, but if I do, I'll post the new site on here.
Love you all!
Heather

Desmond lets the children lend a hand

2005-03-22T00:39:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday we decided to go to a barbeque at the place of Des (a South African friend of Jess’s), who lives down south… It took a really long time to get there, but when we did, we found that his corner of the world is fantastic… He has the coolest home of any I’ve seen on the island. They have a medium-sized house with a very open feel and a porch, and it’s all decorated with lights and art and beachy stuff. There is a huge yard with more lights and grass, and then if you keep walking to the edge of the grass, you find that they have their own personal section of beach… AND the water is phosphoric, so it sparkles and glows when you splash around in it. There was nice music and atmosphere, and lots of new people.
But the evening ended up being really funny because Jess was the only one of us who was being social, the rest of us (Nachi, Uma and myself) pretty much ignored everyone else and hung out together on the beach. Not the best attitude to have when you travel for a long time to someone else’s social function, but we were shy and lazy… It was also hilarious because we were all really hungry when we arrived (shortly after 8:00), having not eaten for quite a while, and when we arrived we were told that the chicken currently on the grill would be ready at 9:00. Not only was that a LONG wait for our stomachs (and not even mine, since I don’t eat chicken), but we were given the impression that our chicken (or theirs, rather) could go on the grill AFTER the currently cooking stuff had finished. So the three of us were sitting on the beach talking about how hungry we were, coming up with bizarre plans as to how to acquire some food while waiting… At one point the thought of eating human flesh occurred to me, and I attempted to take a bite from Nachi’s arm. Uma, however, was thinking much more practically when she reasoned that if we were going to go cannibal, Des would be a much better choice of meat, since there is more on his bones. Nothing like good clean fun.
Eventually we herded into the kitchen and raided the bread supply, because we were so starving. Then our hosts pulled out a FANTASTIC salad for me the veg head, and I chowed down on that too. Before long, the first chicken was ready, and, contrary to our previous belief, it was shared among everyone. I was hoping that my veggie burger would be cooked shortly, but I was happy enough to have the bread and salad. We all got tired quickly and since we had a long drive back we made the decision to split once we had put in the required time after eating, so as not to be considered rude. But just when we had made the decision to leave, Des announced that he had put my veggie burger on the grill. So we had to wait for that to finish, and as we did, debated whether we should try to take back the beer and chicken we (they) brought, since hardly any of it had been used. We tried to devise ways of sneaking it out without being noticed as cheapos, but then, Des also announced as he brought me my cooked and delicious veggie burger, that he had thrown our chicken on the grill as well. Everyone groaned because they weren’t hungry anymore, and felt that we now had to stay even longer until it had finished. It also ruined the decision to take back the chicken and leave the beer…
In the end, we made consensus on just leaving everything behind and going right away, even if it meant abandoning the chicken on the grill… But of course it took us like ten years to leave; each of us kept getting stuck in conversations or obligations… And I had to play with Des’s little kittens before I left… It was hilarious how bad we were as guests!

I have a Valentine...

2005-02-12T14:42:00.000-08:00

I have a boyfriend for Valentine's Day too!
And who's the lucky man....?

------suspense-----------

.... Gordon!!! *all the ladies scream and faint*

Oh heart, be still!

And now for the good stuff

2005-02-12T14:40:00.000-08:00

I feel I’m becoming fatter by the minute.
I prepared my very own Indian delights on Wednesday (potato curry and egg curry, learned previously through the instruction of Nafiz and Nachi), and I was quite pleased with myself. For my first try, I think the results were pretty good, with the notable exception of all the oil that went into it (a necessary evil, I am told). Joel sampled some, and agreed that it was good, so it’s probably not just a case of me deluding myself.
I also finally got the lentils and rice thing almost right. This time I cooked and fried them with garlic, ginger, and onions, Joel’s suggestion. The result was a very strong tasting, but delicious meal. It was still a little too dry though, with the rice, so next time I’m going to make more of an effort to preserve the lentil juice and use that to moisten up the rice. Anyway, the point is that I’m kind of getting into this cooking thing. And further, my house is clean! I’m becoming a regular Martha Stewart, aren’t I?
In other news, I finally got my passport, safe and sound. I was a little worried that I’d miss the DHL delivery guy on Thursday, since I had class for most of the day, but just after I left the house to head to the bus stop, I got a call from the DHL guy on my cell phone, and he was on the same street as I was, trying to find me. We eventually located each other, and the package finally landed in MY HANDS! I was almost fearful of putting the thing in my bag and proceeding to school with it in there, but it was too late to go back and drop it off. Thankfully, nothing happened to it, and it’s now safely tucked in a drawer in my room. To stay, for good. And the other good thing was that they issued me a full five year passport, instead of just a one year one, like I was told initially. That’s super; it means I don’t have to go through the whole process again when I go home (nor the expense of it). This passport alone cost me around $300 CDN. Boo earns!
Everybody has talked about Tuesday, so I won’t dwell on it too much, except to say that I had a very good time hanging out with everybody, with the exception of the very end, of course. I want to write something about my feelings and reactions to social disharmony here, but I think I’ll save it for another time instead…
Wednesday was the Chinese New Year and thus ANOTHER public holiday, and no school for me. I spent the day cleaning, reading, lounging, and cooking. Then Joel came over to hang out and talk with poor alone-in-the-house me, and we ate some of the leftover Indian food as a midnight snack. He spent the night in Dan’s old room, but left before I saw him in the morning.
I really enjoyed yesterday’s literary theory class. Farhad continues to impress me by making lectures so interesting. I had just sat through two and a half tedious hours of European history and I was starving, having missed lunch, but his words still provoked all kinds of new thoughts and ideas in my head. I’m actually looking forward to writing the essay.
Yesterday I also finished reading “Life of Pi” (thanks to the fact that Nafiz left Nachi’s copy of it here when he left). I had heard lots about it before, but I didn’t realize that it was written by a Trent graduate. Yann Martel was a philosophy student in Peterborough once… small world. My university rocks! I’m glad that I read the book here, because thanks to Nachi and Indo-Mauritian culture, I was able to understand a lot more of the Hindu and Indian references made throughout the book than I would have otherwise… In any case, t’was a good read. Now onto Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” again, for Lit. Theory class.
And that brings me to today. I went to the university for eleven, and before class I went to the Faculty to ask again about my “detailed results” (ie my grades from last semester), since when I went in last week they told me to come back on Wednesday of this week (they were having a “small problem” with their computer). Well, today is Friday, and when I asked about the results, the reply was, “no, they’re not ready yet.” “Okay, so when should I come back?” “Next week.” “When next week?” “Ummm, Wednesday?” “Okay.” Wednesday again.
How much do you want to bet that when I go in next Wednesday, the results still won’t be ready?
You don’t. That’s what I thought.
Muttering in good-humoured frustration, I went to class. But the professor didn’t show up. So, naturally, I had come to the university for nothing on a Friday morning. Oh well.
So now I’m back and Claudia will be moving in within a couple of hours. And then tonight the whole extended group is meeting at “Le Bon Choix” to hang out.
And, I should also mention that the trash guys have finally come, and there is again space in our trash pit, or whatever it’s called. It smells horrid in there now though, like really old, decaying chicken. On the upside, at least I can’t be blamed for that :)

Well now, children...

2005-02-08T04:45:00.000-08:00

I originally created this blog only so that I could post comments on Jess's... but now that there are links to it from Timo's and Gordon's pages, I feel like I had better start writing and updating! Good thing I'm about to get a cheaper internet package (and thus more internet time).

So, don't worry your pretty head, Gordon, I'll make a valiant effort to post up from now on!

(but not now, I have to get ready for this "little" get-together tonight.)
See y'all there.

Wow, everyone has blogs now...

2005-02-06T10:19:00.000-08:00

I just read Gordon's blog. And I need Timo's blog address...
It's sweet that everyone can stay in touch this way.

I have nothing to say except that my washing machine appears to be malfunctioning again.
Oh brother.

Peace out, y'all.

I need something better to do with my time. Or at least a reasonable internet package...

2004-12-23T23:07:00.000-08:00

Maybe I’ll write a little on this blog sometimes too…
However, all I have to say right now is that I want to have the love child of David Bowie. Or maybe Al Pachino. You don’t think he’s too old for me, do you?

Rasty, I highly recommend Bowie’s “Hunky Dory” to cure the blues. It’s sure making me happy at the moment... Kenzybar seemed lonely last night without you :(

In conclusion, I’m the girl with the mousy hair. Spitting in the eyes of fools. Look at those cavemen go. Fuck yeah.

I’m weird.