Flying over BC, I began gasping at all the wonder as soon as the mountains started to show through the clouds. This province is astonishingly gorgeous and nothing has changed my mind on that yet. Everyone is so friendly too! Okay, I'll admit I have had one bummer on my commute from my flat in Toronto to O.U.R. ecovillage on Shawnigan Lake, BC. The bus drove right by! I was waiting at the airport and it didn't even stop. I couldn't believe it. So instead of paying $2.25, I payed a taxi driver $25 to get to the ferry. Luckily, I met a sweet couple that were just taking a visit from their beach home that they're lived in for 35 years. They helped me carry my stuff and even payed my ferry fair after hearing about the bus tragedy. We sat in front of the captain and talked about so many things in such a short time. Then Dolphins started jumping along side and in front of the ferry! What a warm welcome I felt from them. There were also some seals playing along the way.
Kristian from the ecovillage was waiting to pick me up when we docked. He loaded me into his Japanese right-hand-drive truck as we found out I knew his partner Blaire from the ecovillage Morning Glory in Killaloe. I met her at a women's full moon circle last Summer with my partner-at-the-time, Jay Haney. We also know many of the same people in Toronto, mostly from the Mud House, which is interesting because he's from Germany and hasn't lived in Canada very long. I set up my tent under a tree which should give me great shelter when it has leaves and warming sunshine without the leaves. I'm so glad arrived early to help set up and meet instructors and residents here before it got busy. I felt a bond forming with them very quickly in a way I'm not sure would have happened if I arrived with the crowd but it's only day 2 so in the grand scheme of things, probably won't make a difference. I got to see the newly hatched chicks from the incubator. One egg was almost 4 days later than the rest and normally the mother would have given up after 2 days but the incubator and our faith held out for its hatching. I sang it a song I made up before it even made the first crack through the shell. It chirped enthusiastically in response and began hatching later that afternoon. We're still not sure if it's going to survive but at least it hatched and got to spend some time with siblings.
Since I commuted from 11pm to 3:30pm BC time the next day. I slept from 6pm, which made me miss supper, but allowed me to sleep 16 hours until 10am. I had such a cold night, I woke up about 10 times from coldness. I remember one part of my dream which involved catching a wild black rabbit with my hand. It surrendered then I let it go. Not sure what it means yet but I think it will have relevance for me here somehow.
Today, the other sustainable food (gardening) interns and fellow natural building interns arrived. We had a welcome feast of celebration. So many wonderful people have come from all over, each with an interesting tale of how they came to love permaculture/sustainable living. There's a thread of spirituality that runs through the group here that I find very comforting and freeing. I can't wait to share the pictures and stories. I'm a few days behind on this blog but there hasn't been much time to sit with a laptop here with so many things to learn and people to form introductory bonds with. There's a professional African djembe drum and dance troupe that just started playing in the yurt. This place is a dream and it gets better every day. Love you, my loved ones. Miss you and hope you're doing well. I decided not to change my cell number since I won't get the same number when I return and I fear I'll lose contact with too many important folks. So, I'll make calls from the phone here when I have the time and the 3 hour time difference isn't ridiculous.
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