Don't be just a tourist

"Please be careful." My dad said before we hung up on Skype. It was in reference to my up coming Cuba trip. "Of course!" I replied, "What could I get up to? I'll be staying at a resort." 

He just gave me a knowing look and repeated, "Be careful."

About 20 minutes later, in between texting with Tara about bikini's, cameras, sunscreen, departure times, if I should bring the crib board, I threw in "Wanna be a legal mule for medical supplies?"

As it happened, a mere 5 minutes after talking to my dad I found something on the internet called Not Just Tourists. A non-profit organization that has three ways to support other countries around the world when you're traveling. Their website seemed legit and it linked me to a Not Just Tourist-Toronto branch, and within a few moments I was calling to see if I could volunteer on such short notice, my flight left in just a few days. They assured me they would try to get a suitcase together that I could pick up when I stopped in Toronto the day before my Cuba departure.

Great!

Or so I thought... until I told my partner. In a very happy-go-lucky tone I said something like, "I decided to volunteer to take medical supplies to Cuba. Yeah, I'm just going to pick up a suitcase when I land in Toronto and then drop it off somewhere in Cuba..." 
"You're what?"
"The website has pictures."

To which Dan was the voice of reason and brought up some really good points that hadn't even crossed my mind. The main ones were:

1. Cuba doesn't mess around, especially when it comes to drugs (further research after this talk found that association with drugs in Cuba is a crime punishable by death) Who is packing this suitcase?

2. I had no idea where I was going to pick up the mystery case (something I really didn't see as a problem, I knew it would be downtown and I knew I'd know before I landed in Toronto)

3. I had no idea where I was going to drop off the suitcase. To which my retort was "... the city I'm dropping it off in is called Moron." (You can't search for streets in Google maps of Cuba and there is no street view.)

4. I didn't know anyone personally who had done this before. 

I'll address #4 first, this made me see a whole other way of thinking that gave me even more conviction to follow through. Other people probably thought this way, my friends probably felt this way, and now having done it I want to encourage everyone I know to give it a try.

The address of the pick up was figured out quickly and I was explicitly told to unpack and repack the suitcase so I'd know all the contents. When I got to Tara's that evening we looked at the goods. Everything checked out, there were bandages, vitamins, syringes, pretty much a closet full of supplies.
Not knowing exactly where I would be going to drop the supplies off didn't phase me. I had four addresses of drop off clinics in a town nearby the resort Tara and I would be staying at. 

Fast forward to the Cuban customs. I was nervous, all the warnings people had given me rang in my mind, I had my paperwork handy just in case. But no one asked, no one cared, I had zero problems and easily grabbed my bag and left the airport. 

Fast forward to Moron trip, we grabbed a cab and headed to the hospital.

Hospital in Moron, Cuba

Walking with receptionist

Waiting with cockroaches in the hall

my eyes are closed but the logo is there

Now... as much as I'd like to I'm not going to sugarcoat this. We got there and looking at the outside of the hospital I thought I was making a huge mistake. The place looked great from the outside and I thought I was about to offend someone with my "gift" (I was told explicitly NOT to call it a donation and practiced saying 'Regalo' in my head over and over.) So we got inside and immediately knew we were doing the right thing. This looked more like a converted middle school than a hospital. We were taken down many corridors and eventually were asked to wait in a hall for the director. It was then I realized I wish I hadn't spoken Spanish. Wishing that I had just played dumb and handed over the suitcase and walked away. After waiting for a while, getting hot and bothered, and squeamish for watching so many people pass by a giant cockroach flailing its legs while laying on it's back as if it were a normal thing, we were finally let into the room. The director explained (in Spanish) that he was not allowed to take the gift. It had to be given to a different organization who would distribute it fairly.
My spoiled Canadian self expected him to boot up his computer, connect to the internet and give me the address, directions, and phone number for this other location. But when internet is $6/hour that was not happening. He called his reception, who then called back with a phone number. Then he called that number and surprise... no one answered. No one had another number, or address, or directions.
I was getting annoyed by this point, I wanted to do a good thing and there seemed to be some hoops to jump through. There was a lot of back and forth until I finally got into my thick skull that this man could lose his job for accepting these supplies, which moments ago the receptionist seemed so excited about. So we up and left. With the bag. There were three other clinics on my list that I had gotten from the organization.

I'm going to jump ahead through the minutia, we found the other clinic, we dropped off the supplies, and were not too worse for wear.Apparently there was a doctor coming in later that day for a clinic that only happened at certain times, the lady in pink was the receptionist. If it wasn't for the logo on the door and some randomly placed chairs slightly representing a waiting room, I would have thought it was someone's house.

It's something I would do again but give myself more time.

GUSH

Alright. WOW. Life is just a wave of pretty damn cool right now, so I wanted to share my beam of happiness. 2015 has started off with a bang. I actually submitted two things in January. A play for 10X10 and an application for Correspondence program of the Humber School for Writers. Today I just found out I got both. AND I got my Puzzometry puzzle in the mail. AND yesterday there was a huge snowfall covering Thunder Bay in an awesome blanket of hip level snow. AND I'm in an online writing class which made the whole correspondence program at Humber seem like the best way to go to school ever.
So open the pink champagne, do the work, show up, follow your dreams folks.

Questions for the New Year

It's become a new year tradition to do this list. Either on New Year's Eve or sometime in January. I review the previous year and make a list for the year to come. I've added two new questions this year. If you have new questions please send them my way! Happy New Year!

1. This year name one person that you will make the attempt to have a stronger relationship with?
2. This year what is one risk that you promise to take?
3. This year what is one aspect of your personality that you will be willing to change to make yourself a better person? (How does this question make you feel?)
4. This year, what is one daily ritual that you can commit to?
5. This year, what song could you choose to represent the year you are going to have and will you
download that song after reading these words?
6. This year, who is one civil servant that you will say hello to for the entire year?
7. This year, what is one body of water that you promise yourself you will swim in?
8. This year, name one person that you will truly thank who rarely gets thanked.
9. This year, what is an artistic experience that you promise to have?
10. This year, what is one argument that you will no longer have?
11. This year, what is one thing that you will do to give back to the world or community that you live in?
12. This year, what is one thing that you will learn?
13. This year, what is one thing you will let go of knowing you don't have the power to change it?
14. This year, where will your quiet place be?
15. This year, name three people you will surprise with a random gift?
16. This year, what is one thing that you will teach someone else?
17. This year, what is one fear that you will overcome?
18. This year, what is one food that you will eat more often?
19. This year, what is something wonderful about your personality that you promise to consciously appreciate?
20. This year, what will you do that you have always known you had to do?
21. This year, what is one book you will finally read?
22. This year, what is a completely new experience you will give a try? 

The Best Of 2014

Movie: Frank

TV show: BoJack Horseman

Graphic Novel: Saga created by writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Fiona Staples

Novel: Annabel by Kathleen Winter
(I didn't read any novels that were published in 2014, so this was my best read of 2014)

Video game: Child of Light

App: Scrabble

Coffee: Kicking Horse's Kick Ass

Tea: David's Vanilla Chai spiked with Amaretto

What is on your list for Best of 2014?

Things they say in Thunder Bay

 

Flag of Thunder Bay

Dart - At first I thought a lot of people just enjoyed the game with the bulls-eye. I started to get suspicious when you could get 'a pack of darts' from the convenience store and "go out for a dart". So Dart here means cigarette. 

Seen - "I seen it happen", "I seen that", "I seen this thing the other day." This made my eye twitch at first. Then around month 5 I started to accept it as a part of my surroundings. Then last month it happened, it became ingrained in my vocabulary and I said it... seen. Steph was the only witness but I'm fessing up, I used seen in the grammatically wrong way.

Inner-city - One of the first malls in Thunder Bay, Intercity connects Port Aurthur and Fort William. The T just gets vacuumed out, like the second T in Toronto for Toron-o Locals.

P.A. - Stands for Port Aurthur, the city although called 'Thunder Bay' is still divided in two parts.

Wes Fort - The West Fort part of Fort William... lets not go there.

Shag -  "Please come to my Shag." is something you're bound to hear every week in Thunder Bay. It's basically a Jack and Jill (for you Southern Ontario folk), a joined bachelor/bachelorette themed party to raise money to cover the expense of a wedding. They are usually themed. Because I work most every Saturday I have been saved from going to one, but I have already bought or been given many a ticket.

Persian - Not to be confused with a person's nationality, this is a type of very gross pink doughnut that people fawn over for a reason I still have not uncovered. Amazing for doughnut lovers maybe but I can't really imagine it.

Camp - Instead of the Southern Ontario word for cottage people up here in Thunder Bay say camp even though they clearly mean: a solidly formed structure on a designated plot of land (usually including a sauuu-na), not to be confused with a tent in a campground.

Right ______ - "It's right cold out there", "That's right horrible", "He's right crazy" There's a lot of 'right _____' going on in this town.

Sauuu-na - The proper way to say Sauna here in Thunder Bay is a little 'cat got your tongue' when you get to the u. The Finnish/Dutch pronunciation is rampant here.

Purple Locks

I've been adding tiny bits of purple with no real effect, really trying to mix the colour I wanted. After some strand tests it's finally here! I would give the recipe for those wanting to mix their own but unfortunately I really can't remember. I know there's some of the left over pinks I had, with some Manic Panic Ultra Violet and Bad Boy Blue. A good rule I came across is the colour in the bowl should be two shades darker than the colour you want to end up with. I left the top blond and saturated it with purple shampoo that tones the blond to get it close to a white silver, striping it of the yellow hues.

 Here are the results:

"Road Trip" Day 3, 4, 5

#ThrowbackThursday This is a recap of last Aug 2013, a continuation from Road Trip Day 2

"Road Trip" Day 3 - Disco 

I spent most of the day at a coffee shop working online. I got an awesome odd job of writing descriptions for candy and other miscellaneous items which kept me nicely occupied whenever Jenn was at work. These are my two favorites from that day:

Cupcake Toothpaste
Sweeten the mundane job of brushing your teeth with Cupcake Toothpaste! Your dentist may not want you to eat a cupcake a day, but you can get the same sweet flavour without the calories, while taking great care of your pearly whites. This great-tasting toothpaste is a mouthful of that cupcake flavour you love. If you get excited about desert, you may find your self brushing after every meal, because this toothpaste tastes just like the frosting on a cupcake!

Folding Pocket Comb/ Delinquents with Combs
In the form of a switchblade knife this plastic comb will have you looking like one of the bad boys and you may just feel like one of the characters from The Outsiders. A simple button releases the comb so you can practice fast opening techniques and get your hair slicked back the second you need to tame that pesky stray hair and keep looking cool. You'll feel ready for any hoodlum adventure with your slicked-back do. Slide into lock position to keep your comb safe when not in use. Pomade, white tank top, and leather jacket not included.  

It was a really fun job. If anyone out there needs any writing related work. I'm happy to take a look!

Anyway... Later that evening it was time for the Rafters Guide Wednesday Night Disco Party. Everyone dressed up in the best disco outfits they could get their hands on. A few of us without costumes piled into Mikes car and were brought to a locked room in the rafting headquarters. Two giant dress up boxes (some called them tickle trunks) were at our disposal. We tried on all sorts of clothes from the 60's, 70's and 80's until we were each fashioned with the most ridiculous patterns.

Everyone looked amazing in their sequins, spandex, neon, and general random garb. It was off to The Lariat Bar, where Disco Night has become a summer tradition in Buena Vista. Lots of dancing and drinking had us stumbling back to Jenn's rafting trailer to get some sleep before the road trip to Boulder we were to journey to the following day.


"Road Trip" Day 4 - Meet the Family

Gary

We woke up early to pack up Gary (Jenn's car) and secure the kayak for our short voyage North. In the car Jenn found some beautiful 'Bon Voyage' white daisies waiting for her, which stayed with us the whole way (See pic left). After saying farewells to the rafting summer Gary got revved up for the first leg of our journey.

It was a scenic Colorado drive to Jenn's parents house, where I was finally going to get to meet her folks! After hearing so much about each other and having already virtually met via skype it was a warm welcome and so neat to see where Jenn had grown up after moving from Alaska. We only stayed for one night but I got a snapshot of Jenn I hadn't seen before. I helped her get all her things organized for her Oregon life to come. I even got a few glimpses of the Inspiration Books Jenn has kept regularly; filled with awesome quotes, pictures, and good vibes. 

"Road Trip" Day 5 - I heart WY

In the morning we jumped on 287, not to be confused with The 287, apparently only Canadians say 'The' before their highways, and crossed over to Wyoming. We quickly encountered camels as soon as we crossed the border, that's right camels!! We also saw some prong horns, which I had never seen before and as we searched for a rest stop we mistakenly thought "Siam Cafe" would have some coffee.Decaffeinated and grumpy, I was pretty haughty about a place calling themselves "Cafe" in huge letters when in fact they had no coffee or even tea to speak of. Thankfully Old Town Coffee was just up the street where we picked up some expensive java and paused to take a look the works of a Mother and Daughter who were debuting an art show together just that day.
We got back in the car and headed North West thinking our destination was Targhee. However while we were in the car I happened to be flipping through a travel magazine where there was a big picture of the Teton mountain range. "We can go there!!" Jenn exclaimed and promptly changed our route for the detour. By the time we got to a look out point the sun was setting and we only caught the purple clouds, the mountain range hardly visible. We jumped back in Gary and searched in the darkness for a campground close to the Grand Teton National Park. We were lucky to find one and snuck our way in, finding a secluded spot. The air was cool and I was in bliss to find a complete absence of bugs. We felt no need to set up a tent, we just laid out sleeping bags on the ground and peered up at the sky through the trees and of course pulled out the crib board. We went to sleep already excited about waking up before the sun to catch the Tetons at sunrise.

Spastic Chicken

Today I decided to tackle the frozen whole chicken that was in our freezer. Since becoming not Vegan I thought I should handle the carcase of of the animal I'm about to eat. Really get face to face with my dietary choice. One of the many reasons I became vegan was partially being afraid of not being able to cook meat properly. The only time I remember actually helping to make a chicken breast was when I was 12 and I made it in the toaster oven. I put in some red wine and was only slightly turned off when the chicken came out discolored. That was my only memory of ever cooking chicken on my own, I just never do it. Salmonella, botulism, and other ways of giving myself food poisoning have kept me far away from cooking my own meat. Nothing bad will happen to you if you cook tofu and vegetables wrong!

A few weeks ago Dan and I made Albondigas, my grandmother's recipe for meatballs, that I've been really wanting to make but couldn't muster up the courage on my own. So with all my trust placed in him, Dan and I made them together. Then last week I had my first experience cooking them alone and didn't poison either of us (yay! whoo! I was half terrified, half excited.) My grandmothers recipes are primarily responsible for getting me off the vegan train and I want to prepare them all and make a legible recipe book of them before committing again to the meatless way of life.

Which brings me back to today where I thought, "Hey why not tackle that whole chicken?" So after much texting with Dan, that I in fact could do this and the steps it would take to get said chicken unfrozen, I filled the sink with cold water and started to become slightly frantic when the Ziploc freezer bags kept it afloat. Over the course of about four and a half hours I rotated it in the water and tried to find odd things to weigh it down with, to no avail.

Then it was time to take it out of the bag...

With a sour look on my face and trying not throw up, I handled the cold carcass to rinse it off with cold water and to look inside for the giblet. Not knowing what I was looking for I had to wiki Giblets and confessed to Dan that I didn't know where the the hell giblets would be. Fun Fact: "If the heart and kidneys might be loose in the cavity, they'll be obvious". Well there was definitely nothing obvious loose inside so I went back to rinsing as I whispered tender "I'm Sorry"'s after having immersed my hand into the animal. That's when I started to remember the video I had stumbled upon hours after taking the bird from the freezer:




The video is about a slaughterhouse with some foul practices and is narrated by Sam Simon, who is pretty awesome; Co-creator of the Simpsons he's donating money and the time he has left, (after being diagnosed with terminal cancer) to animal welfare. So as I dried off the cold wrinkly skin and whispered "Sorry" again to this fowl, I sincerely hoped that enough reiki and salt would cure any trauma this chicken incurred under my hands and the hands before it.

Then I really got spastic. It was time to actually put the thing in the crock pot. I was determined to use the slow cooker to make something, and had Googled: Crock pot whole chicken. I found a few recipes but none that I had all the ingredients for so I meddled them all together. This is the recipie I came up with:

Step 1: Unfreeze the chicken. Keep it in the bag and immerse that in very cold water for a few hours (Aprox. 4.5)

Step 2: Run around the kitchen picking out herbs. I had salt, pepper, ginger, cayenne pepper, and fresh basil.

Step 3: One recipe from Wellness Mama said: I’ve also heard of stuffing the chicken with an onion, apple or orange for more moistness and great flavor. So I did it, I shoved an apple inside this poor chicken. I also cut the apple to make it fit... The same recipe also called for butter at the bottom of the crock pot, so in went half a stick.

Step 4: Now clearly thinking I was overcompensating for not having any celery or rosemary and that maybe all these ingredients were not going to work, I thought it was time to open a Fat Squirrel Beer. A beer that Dan and I got in Wisconsin at a very dimly lit bar/liquor store called the Hammond. A few sips got my nerves down and I squeezed a lemon over the chicken, then slathered the skin in all the seasonings, and placed it breast down into the crock pot.

Step 5: Adding 3 large cloves of garlic, chopped onions, and carrots the bird was pretty covered up when I thought I might as well add some of the beer to the mix as well.

Step 6: Cover and turn on high for 6hrs.... and wait...

I finished the last sip of beer and opened another as I hoped I hadn't overdone it with the seasoning...

UPDATE: It turned out awesome! When the 6 hours were up the meat fell smoothly off the bone and tasted delicious. The sauce at the bottom with the carrots and onions was really nice on rice beside the chicken. Looking forward to sandwiches and soup all week!

Surprise Getaway

Duluth, Minnesota

I was whisked away this weekend by my lovely boyfriend to celebrate a year of being together. I know... "Awwww's" all around! This was a huge deal for me, and it made me so happy. A significant other actually planning a trip for us to take together, and across the border! Dan even went through the rigmarole of getting our passports renewed (which for some reason took 5 visits to the passport office). I've never traveled with a boyfriend and it felt pretty lucky to use our new passports together. Dan was also the first bf I've traveled on an airplane with (last Dec), I think this means good things.

Unapologetic & Outlander

I have been awesomely and brutally reminded recently how I MUST stop apologizing, especially when someone is taking offense.

One woman encouraged me after I confessed I had deeply offended someone and was worried about it, "That's their problem," she said, "if they're very offended you can say 'I'm sorry you feel that way', but don't apologize for you."

"Finally Sam!" Was another response when I fought back instead of being complacent.

When I worked with Johno in Paris, he did his best to verbally beat the reflexive "sorry" out of me and that same "sorry" has weaseled it's way back into my life in an over abundant way. As a server I feel like I have to apologize a lot during a shift. Sorry about this and Sorry about that, when really I could get by with saying it less because these days I say sorry for EVERYTHING!

Soooorry: 'Excuse me, I need to pass'

Sorry?: 'I didn't hear you'

Sorry: a knee jerk reaction to basically anything that causes anyone discomfort. 

So with these extra forces re-affirming me that the "sorry" has got to go, I also recently read a novel with an unapologetic female lead, who takes 600 pages before her first "I'm sorry"!! That was a big eye opener for me.

If you're looking for a nice big book to keep you warm for the winter, Outlander heats up quite quickly. It mostly takes place in 1743, but don't be deceived, it's fun and adventure, not someone droning on about history. There are fun facts about history sprinkled into the book but it's more about a strongly opinionated woman from the 1940's living in the 1740's. It's a lighter read than most of the books chosen for book club which made it seem like a vacation to journey with Clair. 

On the author's website in the description of the book Diana Gabaldon says:

"What I used to say to people who saw me sitting outside a store with a pile of books and asked (reasonably enough), “What sort of book is this?”, was, “I tell you what. Pick it up, open it anywhere, and read three pages.  If you can put it down again, I’ll pay you a dollar.” I’ve never lost any money on that bet"

I found that to be true. I was hesitant to read the book, despite hearing it was fun and having a whole 600+ pages to read for book club, but once I opened and read the first pages I was drawn in. 

I think what I found most disappointing in the book are the actors on the cover. I actually took a better look at the faces a few chapters in, still wondering who the people on the front were supposed to represent and laughed. "Nope, that's not Clair and Jamie." went through my head and I probably rolled my eyes at the possibility. No chance.

If you miss reading Game of Thrones, miss having a page turner in your hands, and aren't afraid of some sex scenes, then take the leap and try this out. *I also think this would make a good gift* I don't want to give any spoilers so I'll just end by saying I think the lead, Clair, is pretty kick-ass.

International Festival Of Authors

On Thursday I attended the IFOA volunteering to sell books for the Northern Woman's Bookstore and wow, was I inspired. Three authors read from their works at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery.

Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer - All The Broken Things
Alison Pick - Between Gods
Michael Winter - Into The Blizzard: Walking The Fields Of The Newfoundland Dead

I got to the gallery early and had a chance to look around at the special juried exhibition on display showcasing the talented works of Northern Ontario artists.  I learned that it has been ten years since the last juried exhibition where instead of one artist the room held numerous styles and a taste of each artist's works. I was especially happy to recognize some art that I had seen at other spots in Thunder Bay, now hanging upon gallery walls.

As Katja, Gillian, and I set up books from local authors and a variety of books from the three authors that would be speaking that night, we were joined by Margaret Phillips, who is the strong force behind The Northern Woman's Bookstore. Everyone was happy to see Margaret out at the event and made a point to say hello and see how she's recovering from this tough year of health issues.

When it was time to listen to the speakers the event started rolling with CBC's Lisa Laco as the host. Each author gave a brief synopsis of their book and read for ten riveting minutes. My favorite part was the Q&A, specifically the question about each writers process.

Writing as a daily activity could not be stressed enough.

Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer and Alison Pick were surprised that they had the same writing style: To get everything on paper first with an old school pen and then transcribe onto the computer, making that their first edit.

Micheal Winters was really funny, he made a good distinction about the internet. The computer that he writes on does not have the internet and he likened it to having two rooms. In one room there is a puppy, in the other room there is a dead dog, a 5 day dead, very smelly, dog. Now the dead dog room is your novel and the puppy is the internet. It's better to have separate rooms, because naturally everyone wants to play with puppies.  

Happy Silly Hallowe'en

I really did not want to be anything sexy, cutesy, or girly for this hallowe'en. [One friend tried to convince me to dress up by saying, "It'll probably be good for tips" which made me cringe.]

Have you seen this vid yet?

SO, after much debate the night before to even dress up, I've decided to go as a hipster dude, which kinda ended up looking more like a french farmer...
 

My reasoning for this costume and why it won out... Well, I recently got suspenders from a clothing swap and really wanted to wear them and a mustache. BUT ALSO because working at a bar/pub/restaurant I knew I'd be inviting certain attention had I dressed up as say... a catholic school girl just because I have the skirt.

It was suggested to me to be a Goth because that's pretty opposite my personality but it still holds sex appeal. If anyone deems this Hipster Dude/French Farmer costume sexy throughout the night it will be my personality, not my body on display. We don't live in a time yet where a woman dressing in a revealing outfit wont get you a certain kind of attention from certain kinds of people. Knowing full well that certain kinds of people are gonna be intoxicated and not necessarily on their best behavior and I wont be in control of the kind of people I'll be in contact with, I'm going for the most androgynous and let face it silly costume.

Happy Hallowe'en, have a safe and fun night!