How Time Flies!

My favourite view: Snow and a ski track before me!

My, my, how time flies. 
Seems like only a few weeks ago that I was moving up here, (oh wait it was) and now I only have a few weeks remaining. 

I have been making the most of my time here and not spending much time writing about my life on this blog. (My gain and your loss.) I have enjoyed a cozy night at a friends cabin (sorry "camp" to the northerners.) I stared at the stars hanging over a frozen Lake Superior and stoked the wood fire in the morning. I have frolicked over fields and ice with my snowshoes on my feet and friend by my side. I have spent an evening with friends enjoying good beer and great live music at a local pub.I have seen movies, had excellent conversations and taken late night trips to Dairy Queen. I have enjoyed several after church/ just because potlucks or sushi lunches. I am frequently found dancing while baking in our kitchen much to the amusement of my housemates. Good friends and Great food are such a delightful combination! I have gone skating on an outdoor rink and only fell once!

Mockingbird hill- photos never do a hill justice

Also I have been making the most of my purchased ski pass and have definitely put it too good use. Even with my late start to the ski season and having to pay the full rate since I missed the early bird price; I have been able to ski more than enough to make it worthwhile. Gliding over the snow and working up a sweat even though it is below -20 C is one of my favourite things. Recently I conquered a large hill I had previously been avoiding, and have been skiing 18km/ week on average.







I hope my adventures will continue just a little longer. I hear rumours of /have made plans for such exciting activities as an evening of traditional Canadian dancing, consuming vast quantities of maple syrup, and having a wine and cheese party. And if the weather will permit I hope to get in a couple more good days of skiing. Who knows how long I, or the snow, will stay. So in the meantime lets squeeze every ounce of enjoyment or excitement our of life that we can! And when the pressures of an uncertain job future or the sadness of melting snow threaten to get me down I have a new distraction....

PRETTY SHOES!!!

PRETTY SHOES!!!!!!!

Be it Ever So Humble...

Recent events in my life have made me a semi-nomad. I move so much that when I say, “I am going home,” I don’t really know where I am referring to anymore. Currently I am staying with a friend and looking for a place of my own- it is really hard to find an apartment in this city with only 4 days notice. This means I have some of my stuff at my friend’s place, some stuff at my parent’s place and a lot of my stuff in the back of my car.

I consider myself to be an environmentalist and consider it important to care for the atmosphere and try to use alternative or public transportation. I also believe that it is important to cultivate a sense of place and put down roots in a home and community. That is why I find it ironic that, in the past year, the place I could most truly call my home is my gas-guzzling, 4- wheel drive, bright yellow, Ford Escape. I would consider public transportation however I grew up in a rural area where public transportation is not a viable option, and I tend to find myself living in small cities where public transportation exists, but is impractical. I used to have a more fuel efficient car however it was getting old, and it was not so good with winter driving. This one time it ran over a piece of debris on the highway and it put the car out of commission for a few weeks. I live in Northern Ontario, we get snow- lots of snow, and our roads get icy-very icy. My wallet really misses that car when I am filling up my tank, but my parents feel much better about me driving a more rugged vehicle.

So I am living out of my gas-guzzling SUV which I named “The Bumblebee.” Currently you will find my office located in the backseat next to my lawnchair and snowshoes. In the back you will find my pantry, linen cupboard and miscellaneous kitchen supplies. My cutlery drawer has been relocated to the front passenger seat because I needed some utensils for lunch the other day. I would be very happy to find a place so I can stop living out of my vehicle. I would be even happier if I could stay in that place for more than 6 months- at least two years would be preferred.

One downside to my semi-nomadic lifestyle is that I frequently feel like all my friendships have ticking timers counting down the time until I once again load up my vehicle and move away. I would really like to have the luxury of setting down roots and developing friendships with a sense of permanence and commitment. Modern communication does provide a means to continue friendships after I have moved out of an area, but I am not particularly good at keeping up a long-distance friendship. I have been blessed with a few friends who don’t accept that excuse and stick with me anyway, and a few other friends with who I don’t have as regular of contact, but readily accept me back when we happen to be in the same geographical area. I guess that is all this semi-nomadic girl can ask for- I AM BLESSED!!

It's a Job!

Hurray I have a job again!
I got a phone call on Wednesday- a job offer working for my old boss doing basically the same thing I did last time. (Unfortunately winter is approaching and they don't do any field work in the winter- only office and lab work but a job is a job and I am glad to have one.) Apparently they found some money in the budget to hire me back- it's only a 4 month contract but A Job is a Job!- Hurray!


Honestly, I danced around in circles and jumped around like a little girl after getting the news.

I am excited to be going back to work and moving back to my old city and being near my friends again. However moving has it's challenges- it is really tough to find a place to live in only 3 days. It is also tough to move in that amount of time. (Have I mentioned?- I hate moving!) Fortunately I have friends who are willing to help me out and offer me a place to stay until I can find something more permanent.

The transition is so fast- going from no job and kinda discouraged about the whole situation- to having a job again. It still hasn't really sunk in, and probably won't until my vehicle is packed once more and headed down the laneway, and until I walk into work again on Monday morning.

Thanksgiving Pt. 3

Finally the final post in the thanksgiving series. I know Thanksgiving (the Canadian one at least) has come and gone but hey- perhaps this will be a good reminder to be thankful all year round. And for all the Americans hopefully it will serve as a nice prequel to your own Thanksgiving celebrations.
 

I had a tough second year of university. Organic Chemistry can be a very humbling experience. That, combined with some other issues in my life, made it a very stressful year. It was all too easy to get sucked into a dark black hole of morose complaining and depression.

However I had a fantastic roommate. When our chaplain mentioned a story about an old Jewish man who daily made a practice of praying 100 thanksgivings, my roommate suggested we do this as well. We actually never made it to 100 a day. We started with 5 each and worked our way up to 20 each. It was a little difficult and some days I definitely didn’t feel like doing it. However my magnificent roommie always reminded and encouraged me and together we found the practice encouraging and uplifting. We recited our thankfulnesses twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays and found that we were happier on those days since the whole day we were looking for things to remember to be thankful for that night. I definitely think that is a lesson to remember and taking time to give thanks, be it scheduled or spontaneous, should be an important part of everyone’s life. So in honour of my fantastic roommie from second year and for the Thanksgiving holiday, here is a list of thankfulnesses I came up with.

1. Thankful for laughter and for good times with family

2. Thankful for good weather

3. Thankful for beautiful scenery- may I remind you that I spent most of Thanksgiving Day at Point Farms Provincial Park beach with my family.

4. Thankful for good food- yummy turkey, and stuffing, and gravy, and pumpkin pie!!!

5. Thankful for a marvelous trip to Sault Ste. Marie where I was able to reconnect with friends

6. Thankful for the fantastic things happening in my friends lives- weddings, birthdays, new relationships, new jobs, exciting opportunities, and more

7. Thankful for music- the kind I make and the kind I enjoy

8. Thankful for a supportive, loving family and a wonderful home

9. Thankful for good health and strength and the ability to do things like kayak, roll around in the sand and play Frisbee

10.Thankful for all the people that have touched my life- I may be terrible at keeping in touch but that doesn't mean I don't frequently think of them and how incredibly blessed I am to have known them.

ShariAnn does an Independent Thing.

Once upon a time there was a young female scientist named ShariAnn. She set off into the world to have adventures and explore. She moved to a small city where she had a wonderful job and made many marvelous friends. She played in the river and forests and fens. Sadly her adventures were cut short when her job finished earlier than expected. Not wishing to drain all her financial resources while unemployed the sensible ShariAnn decided to move back home where her parents welcomed her with open arms. Home was nice and familiar and warm and safe but the young adventurous scientist longed for adventure. For a brief time she satiated her desire for something new by keeping herself occupied- she read books, watched tv, went for walks and got the mail. However as her siblings returned home, for similar reasons, home began to feel smaller and smaller, and she missed her friends from that far away small city. Eventually the urge to be independent and do something became to strong. Trips the the grocery store and the post office were not enough to satisfy the young scientists need for adventure. So she packed up her bags and loaded up her shiny yellow vehicle and set out on the long drive to the small city to visit her friends, because she was lonely and she missed them and she needed to do something independent. She had a lovely visit with them, talking, laughing, meeting new people, doing all the things she missed and wishing she still lived in the small city with many friends. At the end of the week she would return home to her loving parents and family, and not much would have changed but she would find it a little easier to wait patiently for her next adventure.

The End 

(for now)

This photo is from another time the young scientist did an independent thing: when she hopped in her yellow vehicle and drove to explore Lake Superior Provincial Park and enjoy the beach by herself one fine summer's day.

Small Towns

Small Towns are great, I love them, they are the perfect size for this introverted blogger. I grew up in a small town, made even smaller since within that small town I was part of an ethnic enclave of dutch immigrant farmers which made up my school and church community.
I love the small town I grew up in.
I love that I don't need google maps to figure out where I am going.
I love that the streets are in a grid pattern rather than a confusing twisting subdivision so if I miss a turn I just have to go around the block.
I love that I know where to go if I need groceries, clothes, medicine, dutch treats or a good bakery.
I love that I know where the good hiking trails are if I want to go for a walk, and that the beach is only 20 mins away.
I love that my Grandma and cousins and family are close by.
I love that the streets aren't crowded and people actually know how to drive.
I love that I don't feel claustrophobic, or overwhelmed or intimidated by the streets, people or driving.
I like that I don't feel self conscious about going for a jog when the inspiration strikes.  
I even don't mind waiting behind a tractor, or the smell of freshly spread manure.

There are many things I love about the small town and community I grew up in yet for some reason I still am not very excited about moving back there at the end of the week.
Maybe it is because I like the independence of living on my own.
Maybe it is because I feel a little like a failure having to move back in with my parents since I don't have a job.
Maybe it is because I hate moving and packing.

Or maybe it is because my hometown isn't really home anymore. I grew up there and I love the place, but I haven't lived there for 5 years. I have been there for visits but I haven't lived there. I have roots there, but I also have branches that reach far beyond my hometown and small community. I have friends scattered all over the country and even the world but I don't have any close friends back home. The people back home know my family, they watched me grow up, some of them went to school with me, others taught me or changed my diapers. But they don't know me as I am now. They may have known grade school or high school me. But they do not know me- an independent, intelligent, individual young woman. Instead they know me as "one of the Kuiper girls" or "Mark and Alice's daughter." They know me as the nerdy girl from school, or the goody-goody who actually loved catechism class, only listened to Christian music, and never drank or danced. They don't know the me that likes kayaking, swimming, hiking, camping, drinking wine, listening to good music and dancing on occasion. They don't know that I make delicious lasagna, homemade bread, and strawberry pie. They don't know that even though I am terrible at it I would love to play a game of soccer, Frisbee or volleyball. They don't know me and I don't know them (I am sure they have changed in the past 5 years as well.)

I am scared/ hesitant/ unexcited about moving home since I am afraid I will be really lonely.

It should be easy to go home and strike up a conversation and  get to know them once more- after all we have a shared history. Yet something inside me feels that it would be way easier to move somewhere else, where no one knows me and start over. It is easier getting to know someone when there isn't a pile of shared history, past impressions and old memories to climb over before you get to who they are now. Getting re-acquainted with someone involves overcoming all that- which is much harder than getting over a stereotype, bad first impression or misjudgement. When they already have an idea of who you were it is much harder to introduce them to who you are. Yes, moving somewhere else and starting fresh would be a whole lot easier. But my present circumstances do not afford me that luxury.