Dear Twenties

Dear Twenties,
     First of all I would like to thank you for starting off so wonderfully. I still remember my 20th birthday party on the patio at some resturaunt in Hamilton. (Clearly my mind is starting to go because I don't remember the name of the resturaunt.) I remember that it was a princess themed party and that everyone who came was forced by Karmyn and Christy to wear pink princess party hats. It was fun and ridiculous and it was great to feel so loved and appreciated.
    Year 20 was one of my best years ever. It was filled with fun, friends, shenanigans, university classes, staying up late, napping because of staying up late, road trips, music, dorm life, awesome summer jobs, discovering who I am as a child of God.
     As we progressed through the years I continued to be blessed with friendships, travel across Canada, America, and Europe, my first car, the death of my first car in a cornfield in Nebraska, my first hitch-hiking adventure (in Romania), Greyhound bussing across Canada (thanks to the death of my beloved first car Cheyenne), good food, seeing new sights and learning and embracing my leadership, speaking, and teaching skills.
      I learned in my twenties that my sisters are not just sisters, but that they are valuable, wonderful, hilarious people that I count among my closest friends. To the chagrin of my sisters, I learned to play the violin. To the chagrin of my buttocks, I learned to snowboard. I learned to be content with who I am. I learned to accept my singleness. I learned how to exercise and eat right and have a smoking new body because of it.
     I worked as a bathroom cleaner, historical interpreter, museum assistant, camp counseller, pizza store manager, baby-sitter, youth pastor, waitress and teacher.
     I gained and kept many wonderful friends. I also lost friends.
     I watched almost every single one of my friends get married and/or start having children.
     I was a bridesmaid, wedding MC, life-coach, moral-compass, pastor, friend, and prayer partner.
     I vacationed on a houseboat, went to Vegas, saw the ocean for the first time, canoed part of the Bowron Chain of Lakes, climbed some mountains, floated down rivers, camped for 8 weeks straight, cliff jumped, white-water rafted, and snowboarded a black diamond.
     I paid off my student loans and am officially the proud owner of 2 very expensive pieces of paper.
     I became a big sister to a great 7 year old.
     I volunteered hundreds of hours.
     I remain close with all my people in Ontario.

Twenties, I loved you. I will look back fondly on the 10 years we spent together and although I lament your passing, and am hesitant to look toward the future, I'm praying and hoping and planning on making my 30's as awesome and epic as my 20's were. We are two weeks in already, and so far they have been pretty great.

Thank you,
Sincerely,
Nikki
    

I was "THAT" person.

On Wednesday, I was "THAT" person.
The person you look at and say, "really? Reeeeaaaallly? You're going to do that? Why? Why? Why? And HOW?"

Here's the situation. I had just spent a glorious few days on Vancouver Island visiting with some friends and family. I had seen the ocean, visited Victoria for the first time, tried some new running trails, watched some goats live on roofs, been for my first ever motorcycle ride, chilled out, laughed and just had a great, great, vacation.

Wednesday rolled around and it was finally time to finish my vacation (sigh), and return to Kamloops (bigger sigh). I aimed to get on the 4:40 ferry knowing that if I didn't catch it, that there was another one at 5:20. I was *this* close to getting on the 4:40 ferry. I ended up being the 5th car in line for the next sailing. Frustrating, but not as frustrating as it could have been. I was sitting there in my car reflecting on the great vaction I just had, about how fun Barkerville was this summer, and how sad I was to return back to Kamloops and work. The sun was shining, it was warm, a sea breeze was flowing through my open windows and I decided that since I had to wait, I was going to tip my chair back and have a nap. After all, technically I was still on vacation and I knew that I had a long drive ahead of me once the ferry docked in Vancouver.

So I tipped my chair back and promptly fell asleep.

Did the sound of the horn announcing the 5:20 ferry arrival wake me? No.
Did the sound of the speakers announcing the loading process awake me? No.
Did the sound of over 100 cars driving off the ferry wake me? No.

You know what woke me? The parking attendent knocking on my window and pointing out that all the cars ahead of me had loaded onto the ferry and that I was blocking the road for everyone else.

Embarrassing.

But, dang, it was a GREAT nap!

New Classroom Decorations

Classroom Before

 

Classroom After

 

So the newest trend in classroom decorating is to get away from all of the bulleting boards being different, and clutter and chaos. I think my new room looks sharp. You can't see it, but there are curtains and all the boarders are the same (double boarders), the shelves are all hidden behind nice fabric and the whole room is streamlined and connected together with a similar theme (lime green/silver/black/teal). It looks really great. Come visit any time!

Excited & Terrified & My DrySack Killed my iPod so now I am sad.

Despite the epic fail of my dry sack - which really only had two things to do: be a sack and keep things dry, I had a great day today.  I love days off. Don't get me wrong, work is fine. It is important to contribute to society and not milch off the government, but days off are what I live for. Days when I can do what I want, when I want, with whom I want.

Today I wanted to kayak at Bowron lake, at 11am, with myself.

So I did.

And as I drove to the lake through the mountains blasting some excellent Christian Rock, I wondered again how I can live in such an amazing place with such beauty. Blue skies, trees, mountains, rivers, creeks, wildlife, few people, little technology, little connection to the outside world. I love nature. I love being out in it, I love the sun on my face and the wind in my hair, and the water between my fingers and toes. (So long as I can see the bottom - I'm terrified of water where I can't see the bottom - snapping turtles you know). I love paddling until I don't want to paddle anymore (or until I get a blister), finding a random beach and swimming, or napping, or reading, or thinking. I like my alone time with God and nature. The peace, the quiet, the warmth and chillness of being alone on a hidden beach.

I have only one week left here in Wells/Barkerville. One week. I'm excited to leave, and yet terrified as well of the return to 'regular' life in Kamloops. I feel so alive, awake, alert, energetic, happy, relaxed, and united with myself, my community and my God here. As much as I appreciate my job, family, church, and friends in Kamloops, it doesn't provide me with the peace I get being a part of this tiny mountain community. That being said, I do get to vacation for a few days on Vancouver Island before I hit 'back-to-school' mode, and I am looking forward to being with my sisters, parents and bestie again. I miss them.

One more week.
Cheers

ArtsWellsTwo

Arts Wells.
The festival of all things art.
The festival of hippies, dreadlocks, music, mythical creatures, drama, and uniqueness.

This is a shot of where I was staying (the blue building) the night the festival started. If I were to write an entire blog about the festival and all I did, including a 'learn to beatbox' workshop, it would take forever. So instead, using the picture above, we are going to play 'where's waldo?'

The following is a list of things that I saw over the course of the weekend. None of it is made up. NONE of it. I know that I have a tendency to exaggerate, but I really, truly, am really, really, really, really, on my honour being honest about what I saw.

A mule and cart
a bicycle built for four
a rcmp in red serge
a unicorn
a marching band
5 men in booty shorts
134 men that look like Jesus
4 cavewomen
356 women that look like cave women
993 people with dreadlocks
a faun
a man dressed like a peacock
a ying ying
4 clowns
2 - 13 foot tall glow in the dark owls
Waldo
3 brides
a two legged mule
323 music bands
67 naked hippies swimming in the creek

AND YOUR BONUS:
1 norman person
(oh wait, that was me, and I was behind the camera).

And just to prove that all those things were real, I bring you Nikki and the Faun and Nikki and Waldo

 (please ignore my "craaazy eyes." I was seriously tripping out. Not on drugs, but I JUST SAW A FREAKING FAUN!!! You'd freak out too!)

Victorianized

People are always so curious about the fairy-tale-make-believe life that I live during the summer months in Wells/Barkerville. I've been thinking about this post quite a bit and wondering how I can fully convey to you the time-change that I go through every morning before I start my shift.

During "my" time (pre 10am and post 6pm) I can usually be found sporting jeans, running clothes or cute dresses. I spend my time running, biking, kayaking, hiking, visiting friends, going to church, writing letters, watching tv or frantically trying to bum the internet off my buddy so I can keep in touch with all those people out in the world that I like. 

Around 9:45 each morning I enter "The Delorian" - aka our change room, where I transform from the Nikki you all know, into this: 

 (I call this my Anne of Green Gables costme)

 (This is my 'hot-day' costume, or my 'black costume, or 'the really nice costumethat everyone likes the best')

(This is my 'cold-day costume or my 'brown costume' or my 'wow-my-waist-looks-tiny-I-wonder-if-that's-from-running-4k-every-morning-or-if-it's-from-my-corset-costume'

After changing, getting the photo-equipment ready, cleaning up the shop, going up the street to get tea and gab for a few minutes with the other historical interpreters,  I start welcoming customers into the store. I take their money, dress them up, snap photo's, edit, print, frame etc. Nothing too exiting or blog-worthy although I do enjoy it.

But the thing that I thought would be interesting to ya'll, is how when we all put on our costumes at 10am each morning, we no longer are "Nikki" or "Hayley" or "Austin" or "Jessee." No, no no. We are now "Miss. Gerrits, Miss. Archer, Reverand Raynard and Mr. Mogan." We must refer to eachother as such. Gentlemen must tip their hats to us and remove them if they come into the shop. Ladies never leave a shelter without gloves, a hat and a shawl or jacket. We may not carry around anything modern - phones (which don't work anyways), i-pods, even plastic containers, bags or car keys are a no-no. These things for me are not so difficult. What is difficult is conversation.

Conversation. Discussion. Talking with my friends. As plesant and wonderful as a good chat can be, it takes quite a bit of thinking and cleverness to spit out what it is that we are trying to say. You're wondering why? Why can't we just say what we want to say? Ahhhh... because we are in 1867. Here are some samples of how we must speak at work.

"Miss. Hodgkinson? Perchance would you like to join Miss. Archer, Mr. Morgan, Mr. Ferguson, Teacher Chow and I this evening as we take my carriage to Quesnel Forks to see that new theatrical production about the man with bat-like qualities?"

Translation: Hey! Amanda! Wanna go see Batman tonight with us?"

"Miss. Archer! This morning on my journey to work I perceived that today was going to be stifling! I know it is quite improper, but I have decided to forego on some of my more restrictive underpinnings today."

Translation: Hayley, it's ridonculously hot today, I'm not gonna wear my corset"

"Well, this past weekened, I followed the migratory paths of our southern flying friends and purchased a new carriage."

Translation: I flew to Vancouver and picked up my new car.

"Well, I'm off to see a man about a horse."

Translation: These tourists are driving me mental and I need to get away from them.

Most of the historical interpreters and staff are much quicker and wittier in their speech than I am, but I try. After a long day of being Miss. Gerrits a la 1867, I head back into the Delorian and come 6pm, I turn back into Nikki.

(p.s. 10000 points to whoever knows why we named our changeroom "the Delorian")

Visitors

These awesome people came to visit me this week:

It was very special to me to be able to share my Barkerville life with my Aunt Dianne, Aunt Marg, sister Esther and my Dad. My life is so different up here and I love that people can come visit me and see what I do and why I love it up here so much.

Feasting like civilized people

I've been in Kamloops for a few days now, a mini-vacation from my working-vacation in Barkerville. I came back for one reason: to see my granny who is visiting from Ontario. I love this lady. She has been a big part of my life from the moment I was born and despite the fact that I now live in BC, we remain in contact via snail mail and phone calls. She makes me laugh and I enjoy just sitting with her and reading Womans World Magazine (where she gets all her medical knowledge such as: Nikki is going to get brain cancer from talking on her cell phone and Nikki is going to get cancer from drinking ice water after supper), watching Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune or just sitting and having a wee little tiny coffee.

Today was Granny day. I took her for a wee little tiny coffee and two timbits at Tim Hortons and then we went to COSTCO. Where we pushed around a cart and collected free samples from every single sample station in the store. Now, most people would get a sample and eat it. That's not how Nikki and Granny roll. These samples are going to be our lunch and boy oh boy are we going to have a feast! And we are going to sit down and eat it proper, like two free loading, cheap dutch ladies. We go around with our cart and collect our free samples. They line the bottom of the cart and the seat and when we have made our way around the entire store, we find ourselves a table, unload our mish-mash of random bites of fruit snacks, granola, nuts, wieners, salad, yogurt and crackers. We sit down like civilized people, and we feast on our samples.

(yup, that's us loaded up on free samples)

Content and Happy

Sometimes, during weeks like the one I am having right now, I really can't believe that this is my life. That amazing things happen, that I get to see what I get to see, and do what I get to do. I'm in awe and baffled that I am so blessed to have this amazing life that God has give me.

The thing that brought on my awe and wonderment this week was a brief overnight trip that I took on the Bowron Chain of Lakes. This chain of lakes is world famous and is spectacularly beautiful. It takes about a week to complete the entire circuit. I was happy with my two days on the circuit, and my arms were happy that we were only on the circuit for two days. 

 Isn't the view unreal? There are four mountain ranges that the lakes surround and as you go through the circuit you travel through four different climates and ecological zones.

 (this is me looking 12)

 Vacation. Seriously. It was AMAZING. They have campsites all around the circuit, and you just pull over, set up your site and enjoy the view. And the bugs. The bugs were CRAZY! At night there was actually a steady hum of bugs like nothing I have ever heard before. It was ridiculous and disgusting at the same time. And in the morning the outside of the tent was plastered with mosquitoes. What could I do but laugh? I laughed a lot at the ridonculous of how many bugs there were. There also was a wicked-gnarly thunder/lightning storm for about an hour that was freakishly unbelievable. How does thunder work? I don't get it!

 I was really looking forward to the journey back because on the way to our campsite we had to paddle against the current, so going home was going to be  a cinch! And it was really nice going through the river, saw a moose and a beaver and just laughed and enjoyed our meandering journey through the slough. And then we hit the lake. And the wind. And a windstorm. Imagine a mixture of White Squall and the Perfect Storm. And me in a canoe. It was scary. We had to turn around and head for the safety of the slough. Eventually we did make it out to the lake, paddled close to shore and after a while of fighting with the wind pulled over on this beach:

Where I swam. And napped. And talked. And napped. And tanned. And just sat for a good hour and a half. Sitting there looking at this view I felt many things.
a. That I finally was getting a summer vacation.
b. That Canada really is the most beautiful place.
c. That the weather and activities and events of my canoe trip could not possibly have been more perfect.
d. That I love having friends, and laughing, and talking, and debating, and joking.
e. That I was perfectly content and happy.

62

QUIZ

a. This is me in Barkerville.

b. This is me after loosing 62lbs.

c. This is me in a super cute dress from VV

d. All of the above

The correct answer is d. All of the Above.

Major Pain in the Butt

What a week! I'm feeling so good and happy and healthy! Last Monday, exactly 10 minutes after discussing with a friend that our other friend was going to come visit on Thursday, the friend arrived at the door and was around for an extra couple of days. Very exciting.

Then on Saturday night, I was discussing with a different friend how I wanted to hike up to Groundhog Lake, but was skeptical about doing it myself because it is far, and there are bears, and I don't know where it is etc. Then, 10 minutes later two other friends mentioned that they were planning on hiking up to the lake - on my days off! Awesome.

So, Sunday afternoon, Conner, Sheena and I packed our bags and started the walk through Barkerville and Richfield, down the old Cariboo Waggon Road, past Summit Rock, hung a left at the creek and continued 12km uphill toward Groundhog Lake. 

 I'm sad that despite the beauty of our hike, you can't see the incredibly steep terrain that we traversed. Over the course of our 12km hike we climbed over 500m in elevation.

 Snow, ice, mountains, sunshine, warmth, all great things.

 We spent the night at a cabin that is located beside the lake. It was a beautiful ending to an intense hike.



The thing that I was most excited about doing this hike - other than checking it off my 'list of things to do' was that for the first time in years I felt incredibly fit and healthy. I was not slowing anyone down, Conner, Sheena and I took turns setting the pace, we packed everything in that we needed on our backs and took it back out again, and the minimum 3.5 hour hike - we did it in less than 2. Which means we were booking it! SO awesome. I got to the top - exhausted, with burning muscles, but feeling like I was on top of the world.

The next morning we walked down the mountain and back into town feeling energized and yet exhausted, and proud of our accomplishment.

The next morning after that, I couldn't walk. Did you know that the sides of your bum have muscles? That can hurt? A LOT? Cus I sure did learn about them this week.

Sneak Peak

Sneak Peak:
Once my final costume is done, I'll share pictures of me in all my victorian finery.

Misc. Items

I thought I should blog right now because goodness knows when I will get a chance again. I'm leaving Wednesday for my paid vacation back in time in Barkerville. I guess "technically" it's not vacation time, because I am working, but I enjoy it so much that it really is like a break for me.

Here's my misc. list for today.

1. Go to work. No work to do because I'm super efficient. And also, I didn't want to do anything extra because dagnabit school is over and the thought of planning another lesson or decorating another bulletin board makes me throw up in my mouth a bit. So I looked at ideas for next year on Pinterest for a while, then I planned the workshop I'm leading at the Western Canada Association of Christian Schools International Convention. Then I cleaned out the staffroom.

2. Library. Since internet in Wells/Barkerville is spotty at best, and cable is a new fangled notion that has yet to make it to the backwoods mountains where I will be living, I decided to take this summer to read. I found a list of 30 books everyone should read before they turn 30. I've read about 20 of them, so I feel that I'm doing good, goal 2/3 accomplished already and I haven't even cracked a spine! I had to go to 2 libraries to find the rest of the books on my list.

3. Deliver random items to people. Cupcake holders, art work, a dressmakers doll. The usual stuff people have chilling in their trunk.

4. Look unsuccessfully all over Kamloops for non-absorbent foam. I got a Kayak last week (ohhh - that's another good blog topic). It was suggested that I get some non-absorbent foam to put in the tips of it just for extra buoyancy and stability. There is not one place in town that sells what I'm looking for. Three people (including my dad, who has never kayaked, the guy at Surplus Herbies who was semi-knowledgeable, and a friend who is outdoorsy and pretty much runs Banff) suggested spray foam. So I got some. Problem: Long kayak, short arms. I have a pile or spray foam - yellow and piled up  like a dog turd about halfway down the nose of my kayak. Fail.

5. Refresh the i-pod. Downloading songs = fun, trying to sync my ipod = not fun. It was giving me crazy problems tonight. I am irritated.

6. Put away the bags of random school junk that had accummulated in my bedroom. And by 'put away' you know I actually mean 'stash in a closet.'

7. Start packing all the random things I need for the summer. I originally planned to only bring clothes - because last year I brought copious amounts of 'stuff'. Yeah... not going to happen. I already have 2 hockey bags full off 'stuff'. Haven't even started on the clothes yet.

8. Pay bills and rent.

I feel like I got quite a bit done this evening. I deserve my sleep tonight so I can finish off my list tomorrow and spend my last night in town with my family. Or part of if anyways since Mom is in Ontario, Bethany is in Cambodia, and Vanessa is working. So really just Me, Dad, Esther and the dog. Meh. At least it's the better more cuddly half of the family.

My Awesome Class

Seriously.

Best class picture EVER!

Wendy's

I just felt SO incredibly clever today! Like I had totally cheated, even though I didn't really, and that I was so much smarter than a hundred other people in Kamloops.

The situation:

Vanessa and I wanted to grab Wendy's for lunch today (Baja salad = my favourite ever). But as we drove into the parking lot it was as if every single family in Kamloops decided to eat Wendy's for lunch at the same time, at the same location. The parking lot was packed and as we drove around to the back looking for a parking spot we noticed that the line inside was ridiculously long.

But you know what line wasn't long?

The drive through. So in less than 2 minutes we had ordered and had our meals. And just as we paid a parking spot opened up right by the door. So we parked, grabbed our food, took it inside, sat down, ate, and laughed at all the people who were waiting in the really long line.

6:21pm

You know, I'm feeling good right now.

Six hours ago.... not so much. I've pretty much been on the verge of "I'm going to throttle anyone who bugs me" for the last few days. This type of attitude usually is met with me curling in a fetal position on the couch of the staff room every lunch, and dangerous items such as pencils and scissors need to be taken away from me. Don't even get me started with what I could do with a geometry set!

But right now - it's 6:13 pm. Vanessa made us supper and we sat down together like real friends and sisters and just laughed and giggled and ate. We did the dishes and the house is clean other than the creative clutter of my craft area. I'm sitting on the couch looking at the beautiful view in my backyard as a breeze washes over me. I'm on facebook looking at funny things and getting messages from my Barkerville friends who are all trying to find me a place to live this summer when I go back for another epic season.

And this afternoon it was warm. Not stifling hot as it tends to get this time of year, but warm and sunny with a breeze. I came home after an exhausting-pencils-in-my-eyeballs-and-yet-strangely-fulfilling-and-ok type of day, put a blanket on the freshly cut grass in my yard, read a novel and fell asleep.  It was relaxing and wonderful.

And then an ant crawled up my nose.

But I don't care. I'm still relaxed.

M y students
A re constantly crazy and annoying as they
Y earn for the end of the school year.

Proud FIVE

Laundry Room

One of the downsides of being poor is that I do not have my own house. I want one. So bad. And the thing that happened last Saturday made me want one even more.

If I had my own house, I'd have my own washing machine and dryer.

I wouldn't have to share. With anyone. Especially strange boys.

Normally doing laundry in our shared laundry room is not a problem for me. Sure it's annoying to walk 500 yards to the room carting bags of laundry (because lets face it, I'm not organized enough to set aside one night a week for laundry, so when I do get around to it, I have three loads to do). Making sure I have the right change is also always a challenge, but I've been doing my laundry like this since College. (I just realized that was 10 years ago. Ok, now I REALLY want my own house). USUALLY I can do my laundry, things are fine, I never run into anyone awkwardly, all is good.

If you are unaware, laundry room ettiquite means that if you do not get to your laundry as soon as your load is done, if someone else needs your machine, they are allowed to take your laundry out and put it on the counter so they can use the machine. This is normal. I accept this. And 100% of the time our laundry room is so quiet that it is never a problem.

Until last Saturday.

When it became a problem.

I was late getting to the dryer and as I walked in I saw a man removing my laundry from the dryer so he could use it. I sheepishly told him that it was mine and proceeded to load it into my laundry bag.

Sheepish?
A problem?

See... I probably wouldn't have been so awkward, embarrassed or sheepish if it was just a regular load of laundry. But this load was 100% "delicates" if you know what I'm saying.... I'm a single, quite modest, young lady and the stuff that man was touching was stuff that no one has ever seen or touched except me.

I have honestly opened up a new blog post pretty much every day for the past two weeks. But I have nothing to write.

Nothing to write. Because I'm bored. With everything related to my life. But I'm not going to get into that today. Instead, I'll share with you a few things that have been said to me, by students in my class this week.

"Pick that up woman!"
"It's not our fault you are getting old."
"School ruins a perfectly good weekend."
"And my cousin Peter is old. He was born in 1985."

Oh they make me chuckle.