Soaking up the Sunshine

The weather has been beautiful, September always is. It has set a perfect backdrop for the multitude of adventures that occur on a daily basis.

Recently it was my good friend, Erik from Saskatchewan's birthday!! To celebrate we made the most delicious chocolate cake with strawberries on top, cookies, jello, and brought lots of goodies on a night hike to Matheson Lake. We left at about 10pm and got back after midnight. It was so much fun!

We tried to light some candles but it was a little too windy. Plus after walking for 45 minutes (we attempted to blindfold Erik for some of that) people were too ravenous to wait. So we devoured the cake and listened to music and huddled together under the night sky. Some crazies (including Erik) jumped into the freezing cold lake. It was a gorgeous night though.

On Saturday the 25th it was....NORTH AMERICAN REGIONAL DAY! Regional Days rotate every 2 years so it was the only N. American Regional Day I would attend and oh, it was spectacular.

It began with my reluctantly waking up early to awaken the rest of the campus. All of us North Americans grabbed our trumpets and trombones and loud yelling voices and threw open the doors of all the houses and yelled. It was magnificent. We even stood on David's lawn (David is the Director) and screamed, "HAPPY NORTH AMERICAN REGIONAL DAY!"

With the caf decked out in flags of Canada and the US we enjoyed a lovely brunch a la Quebec which included crepes, scrambled eggs, ham, fruit, and much more. I loved it . Later there was an assortment of activities including: Learn how to talk like a Canadian, eh.

For dinner, it was a Sadie Hawkin's date system (girl asks guy) and I asked my wonderful fellow BCer friend, Alistair. We were all the talk because instead of dressing all formally we donned wetsuits and masks and were a diver couple. It was quite outrageous and fun.

But the best part was the show. It began with a recorded tape and continued with an RCMP and a CIA agent on a mission (road trip style) to find culture in North America. Along the way they encountered Thriller dances, swing dancing - which I was happily a part of -, Single Ladies, story telling, poetry reading, songs.... it was wonderful. The finale was especially memorable because we all got up and danced to a Grease medley. People from Metchosin came to see the performance and I hope they liked it. After the show some of us partied it up in the barn. Or rather the student commons dressed up like a barn.

On Tuesday I'm super excited to see the city again. I'm coming to Vancouver only for a couple of hours (unfortunately) for Me to We Day. I'm so excited for all the speakers including the Dalai Lama and Jane Goodall and mostly for the motivational tone that Free the Children always manages to pull off.

I'll post some photos soon.

All my love,

Em