Happy Thanksgiving!

Good gosh, it is the 6th of October already, and I am back home, which is suddenly filled with university students basking in the join of 3 full days off... even if they are spent in Stratford!

Hope you all have a wonderful, pumpkin pie filled weekend!

Be Grateful. I know I am.

Love,

Nel

Couplets Late September

Couplets Late September
By: David Wevill

The geese are beginning to fly south
the snows and the canadas.

My twenty-first autumn in this house.
Their cries are the only sound

between the earth and the sun.
It is the cry with no home--

time is their wilderness
Time is this house. My home

is a direction I haven't taken, where
memory is, waits

bien e tan mesurado
With dignity and restraint

for someone else to come
who is no one and needs nothing.

I envy that man, woman, child, thing
who is without identity

whose hands play with the wind, uttering cries
that echo off nothing human.

Meaning

How To Build a Global Community

--Think of no one as "Them"
--Don't confuse your comfort with your safety
--Talk to strangers
--Imagine other cultures through their poetry and novels
--Listen to music you don't understand --Dance to it
--Act locally
--Notice the workings of power and privilege in your culture
--Question consumption
--Know how your lettuce and coffee are grown: wake up and smell the exploitation
--Look for fair trade and union labels
--Help build economies from the bottom up
--Acquire few needs
--Learn a second (or third) language
--Visit people, places and cultures... not tourist attractions
--Learn people's history --Redefine the progress
--Know physical and political geography
--Play games from other cultures
--Watch films with subtitles
--Know your heritage
--Honour everyone's holidays
--Look at the moon and image someone else, somewhere else, looking at it too
--Read the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights
--Understand the global economy in terms of people, land and water
--Know where your bank banks
--Never believe you have the right to anyone else's resources
--Refuse to wear corporate logos; defy corporate domination
--Question military/corporate connections
--Don't confuse money with wealth, or time with money
--Have a pen/email pal
--Honour indigenous culures
--Judge governance by how well it meets its people's needs
--Be skeptical about what you read
--Eat adventurously --Enjoy vegetables, beans and grains in your diet
--Choose curiousity over certainty
--Know where your water comes from and where your waste goes
-- Pledge allegiance to the earth: question nationalism
--Think South, Central, and Northern... there are many Americans
--Assume that many others share your dreams
--Know that no one is silent, though many are not heard
--Work to change this

Lab Cab Day

So another lightening-quick show/rehearsal/performance, and all went well though I felt a little hazy about my piece... odd considering I wrote it. My vote is no more white clothes. Next time all orange. Okay, maybe not, but still...

BUY A T-SHIRT!

They are awesome and you know you want one. I want one. In fact I may buy two.

Speaking of rehearsal (two paragraphs ago) I copied this down from a poster at the St. Christopher House, because I thought it was pretty fantastic. So because it took me forever to write down I may as well share it right, right?

I shall put it in a seperate entry. Bye now!

N.

Explore.Dream.Discover

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Mark Twain

Official Statement of Multiculturalism

From the House of Commons, 1971

"It was the view of the Royal Commission (Royal Commission on Bilingualism and biculturalism) shared by the government and, I am sure by all Canadians, that there cannot be one cultural policy for Canadians of British and French origin, another for the original people and yet another for all others. For although there are two official languages, there is no official culture, nor does any ethnic group take precedence over any other, no citizen or group of citizens is other than Canadian, and all should be treated fairly."

Trudeau

This quote is on display on a peculiar statue in front of Union Station. I recommend everyone go and read it-- we cannot be reminded often enough.

Cool

I´m trying to think what to write. I am uncomfortable in my clothes. For days, weeks now it has been too hot, too hot to the point of roasting, stifling, longing to curl up in a dark corner and block out the pounding sun. Now, within an hour of arriving in San Cristabal (there is an excellent chance this is not the way it is spelled at all) I have been cold and hot, warm and cool, bouncing from sun to shade and back again. The internet cafe is steamy, unventilated and filled with busily typing bodies, and I am shivering. I hope I am not gettng sick. I must write a travel update tonight or tomorrow (but probably tonight) and I am utterly uninspired. Could be my vocabulary is exhausted, as I am. I can´t quite believe I have nothing to say.

The Very Life of Life

Kalidasa

Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!
Look to this Day!
For it is Life, the very Life of Life.
In its brief course lie all the
Verities and Realities of your Existence.
The Bliss of Growth,
The Glory of Action,
The Splendor of Beauty;
For Yesterday is but a Dream,
And To-morrow is only a Vision;
But To-day well lived makes
Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,
And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.
Look well therefore to this Day!
Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!

Postcard 3

Hello (I must write in English because it makes the world seem normal again)!

The craziest thing happened to me today. And by ¨craziest¨I do mean terrifying, though I would never admit it to the-roommates-from-hell; after all, they did tell me not to go walking alone. I´m sorry, I am sending you a Belize postcard from Mexico (I´m in Mexico now, after a loooooong bus ride and wait at the border because somehow Suzie´s passport hadn´t been stamped entering Belize, therefore she couldn´t legally leave) because I never did find a post-office in Belize. Of course I was only in Belize long enough to get the worst sun-burn of my life, despite the rain. Mexico seemed like a good easy place (packed with gringos) to end up our trip, and it is. The funny thing is, I thought that would be a good thing: after all that time just us three together, and feeling somewhat adventurous being confused and trying to figure things out... it is strange being with other tourists. Are we like that? Am I like that? I don´t think so, I could not really be that irritating. Unlike the others, I refused to have my picture taken with a man with a spear dressed like an ancient Mayan on main street, no matter how drunk I was.

But the crazy thing! I went out for a walk yesterday (needed to get away from you-know-who and you-know-whom), thinking I´d go to the beach to watch the sunset. I did that (cloudy and not good at all for pictures), happy to be on my own and on a beach and... just happy. But when I started back up the hill I realized I had no idea how to get back to the hotel, and it was getting dark. All kinds of horror stories flash through my head --things that happen to foolish tourists who wander off by themselves-- and I deceide the only thing to do is pick a direction and keep moving as if I know what I'm doing. By now it is fully dark and nothing looks familiar and I am biting my lip and trying not to cry because crying doesn´t accomplish anything. Then out of nowhere this guy appears --just like in the movies-- this Mexican guy appears and steps out in front of me and I can´t help it, I just burst into tears. You think time will stop but it doesn´t and so I stop crying, and the guy is still standing there only he´s not mean-looking at all, and he hands me a Kleenex. He says something to me I don´t understand (I really must learn Spanish) and I say ¨Hotel¨which is the only word I can think of at that moment. He says something else and when I just shake my head stupidly he makes a guesture like opening a door and I think KEY, and I take out my room key and there sure enough is the name of the hotel. I gave it to the man and right away he smiles and takes my arm (but now I´m not afraid) and leads me the whole way there (I was going the right way after all). When we got there I was so thrilled I didn´t know what to do. I turned around to thank him, somehow, and he patted me on the shoulder and... walked away. I stood and watched him all the way down the street. I couldn´t tell you why, but things seemed different after that.

2 more days and I´ll be home! Missing you.

Traveller, not Tourist

Postcard 2

Hola!

So Suzie made me promise I'd start out by telling you I misspelled GUATEMALA in my last postcard. It´s nothing personal, I can barely spell Ottowa. Actually Suzie's driving me kind of crazy these days. So is Melissa. Now that we´re here and over jetlag and stuff (I didn´t have it, but both the others did) we never want to do the same things. Melissa wants to lie by the pool, or the beach, or the dock or just about anywhere so she goes home with a tan, and Suzie (who has been to Thailand and to Europe and never lets us forget it) caught some kind of stomach bug from eating street food and spends long stretches of time in the bathroom; I know it´s not very nice, but it kind of serves her right for making us feel un-worldly (is that a word?). And me? I kind of like walking around. I mean I want a tan too, but it´s kind of fun just wandering around the city and seeing what I see. Melissa says I´m crazy and going to get mugged or abducted by a drug lord, but I told her it´s not Honduras (I´m in Honduras now!) where they have drug lords, it´s Mexico or Colombia or somewhere. You know how I said it was lucky it was sunny because I lost my coat? Well now it´s raining. Like bloody tsunami rain (Suzie says they don't have tsunamis in Central America) every single day. I swear my clothes are starting to smell like mold. And guess what? I lost my journal. I have no idea what happened to it, it must have been, like, with me at the internet cafe or something and I left it behind. I thought I was going to cry, since I'd been writing in it every day for two weeks now, and... I don't know. It just seemed important. I think you're just more attached to your stuff when you have less of it. Gotta go! xoxoxox.

She of the Moldy Clothes

Postcard 1

Hola!

So, here I am-- Guatamala! I thought the trip would take us forever --especially since Melissa had to go shopping at the airport-- but now that we've got to the hotel it all seems worth it. Haven't really seen much yet, but in a few days I think we're going some place where they have a beach. I'm a little hazy on the detials, as Suzie's doing most of the organizing. I LOST MY JACKET! It was the first day too, like "I've only been away 5 minutes and already I'm losing things!" Okay, well it wasn't really me that lost it, it was that damn taxi driver. Can you believe that? I mean what do they do all day, put people's stuff in the car and drive around. I guess between Melissa, Suzie and I we had a lot of stuff sitting there on the sidewalk and the guy just didn't see my it sitting on top of my bag. I wanted to go back and look for it but Suzie said some Guatamalan person would be wearing it now. At least it's bright and sunny and too hot for coats or I'd really be mad. Still, it seems kind of a bad omen to be starting the trip with. Did I mention it was HOT?

Adios (see, I'm learning spanish!). xo.

Your Worldly Friend

The Story to Come

I have had the most thrilling, terrifying, disconcertingly wonderful day.

But I am not talking about it now.

Introduction

I'm sorry it has taken a while to get started on this blog. I have been (and am currently) travelling across Central America for the summer, and my access to computers with afforadable internet has been limited. Right now I am in Belize, after crossing over from Guatemala this afternoon. It is no hotter than the sizzling it has been for the last week or so, but that uncomfortable sticky feeling is hard to get used to. I will write more soon, but for now will share a quote I came across a few weeks ago, which I adore, and think perfectly reflects where I am in my life: questioning. But perhaps we are always questioning?

¨Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day.¨

Rainer Maria Rilke, from Letters to a Young Poet