What does mushroom hunting have to do with EWB?

Beutiful Boletus specimen

Karie and I are avid mushroom hunters. I introduced her to Mushroom hunting at this time last year; it was our first date ever. We picked boletus and had a picnic in the park afterward. On our next date we made homemade raviolis using the wild mushroom as stuffing.  But that’s another story all together.

Tango the fearless female dog

Now she is passionate about mushrooms. Last year, for the Boletus season, we went every second day or so to the park, I few minute drive from our house.  We would bring Tango and just enjoyed walking in the woods and getting some fresh air.  It may not seem like much to most people but it is a little passion that we both share an enjoy spending time with each other. Every hike we do we always involves looking out for new picking grounds and trying to identify new species. Last fall we took a trip on Vancouver Island and had a guided tour of Chanterelle picking.

You can imagine that she has been bummed out by me going away for the later part of the summer.

We didn’t expect to be able to pick Boletus together. Usually the season starts the first week of July in our regular picking ground. With all the rain and the sudden warm weather we decided to give it a try. So last night we packed a picnic basket and Tango and headed to our favourite spot, the one I took her last year.

We were pleasantly surprised with a good harvest considering how early it is in the season.  And of course we had our little picnic with a chilled glass of white wine…

What does this have to do with EWB?

It has a lot to do with me going away for a 6 months placement with EWB and Karie staying behind holding on the fort.  I am leaving her with a full house.  It was great that we could experience this once before I go. The past few months have been too busy to enjoy the many “fun things” that we usually do, we haven’t enjoyed them as much or as often.  It has been challenging to get to the start line and it’s nearing fast but there is a very long way to go and at the very least we can say that we didn’t miss the Boletus season.

Finding those few mushroom at the last minute reminded us of those little things that make our life fulfilling; our crazy culinary experiments, archery, camping on the crown land, hiking with a rifle (some call it hunting). That is what I am leaving behind for a while but this also what I am coming back to.

The tale of the One Arm Wall Paper Hanger

The One Arm Challenge:

In my last post I talked about how the human density of my house has increased in the past few months. Not to mention the critter density. I am a little eccentric when it comes to my living conditions. My place has been in a constant state of repairs (and disrepair); I am quite comfortable with the situation and Tango, the dog, doesn't seem to be complaining.

With the increase in density comes the need for space for things like beds, dressers and places to sit. Unfortunately I have been acquiring kitchen appliances for a distant kitchen renovation; a monstrous gas stove I bought at an auction, a very good dishwasher that the previous owner abandoned for a different model and a really cool range hood fan. I am still working on a kick ass fridge. I did really well in buying those appliances but they just take a lot of floor space and even the rented garage is getting crowded in a hurry.

The gas installation is lined up, the permit has been obtained from the city and the condo board approval has been finalized. All this should happen this Friday (tomorrow).

Last weekend I decided to install the range hood fan which involves moving some of the kitchen cabinet. There’s the added difficulty of venting to the outside as oppose to shooting the hot air back to the cook’s face, as the previous fan was doing. While at it, I decided to install the new dishwasher as opposed to just storing it. Of course my son was nowhere to be found.

Did I mention that I broke my collar bone? After 9 days my mobility was almost all back but there were very few movements that I could do comfortably. Lifting heavy objet over my head wasn’t one of them. Nevertheless the range hood fan is installed and so is the new dishwasher. For a few nights I had to revert back to pain killer (the good stuff) because my shoulder was very sore and swollen. I have been icing the shoulder everyday and my healing is back on track. Someone has suggested that I should heavily duct tape my right arm to my chest to make sure that I won’t use it. Karie has suggested duct taping my arm and my whole body to one of the kitchen chair until I take the plane for Toronto…

A Different Perspective:

Marielle and I have been mentored by Ashley Good who works with EWB in Toronto. She has been wonderful. It has been a very fulfilling process of discovery for the past 2 months. We both have learned so much about Foreign Aid in Africa. I think that I can speak for both of us in saying that our perspective of Foreign Aid has totally changed. Very much like other local "not for profit" organisations, not all are equal and donnations dollars are not always well used.

As we are getting closer to our formal training in Toronto we also started interfacing through emails with volunteers in Africa working on the MOFA project. The same project Marielle and I will be working with. We are reading their weekly accounts; the conditions they live in, what they are working on, their challenges and how they are feeling.

This morning I was looking at some pictures; Andrea Korney from TransCanada sent me a link of a blog her sister created while in Ghana. Follow this link if you want to have a peak: http://www.iliaphotographyblog.com/ghana-part-one-accra-and-kumasi/

Between the pictures and the email it hit me like a ton of bricks. What am I being so frantic about? Better kitchen stove and better dishwashers? I am worry for the teens to have enough dresser space? I will be in Ghana soon and yet I am so immersed in my daily life’s trivialities.

I guess I have to start letting go of the noise, leave it behind. I have to pack and bring with me only what I need; the right "actual" baggage and the right "emotional" one…

Of course I also have to avoid playing with 3 years old in the park and stop using my right arm for a while.

Cheers

The marathon to the starting line and what else can happen?

It seems that the last 3 months have just gone by in a flash. From the moment I was selected for the EWB placement things got from busy to flat out insane. Here’s a chronicle of some of the "Out of Scope" tasks that were thrown in the mix.

Let's Save the Vegetable:

Karie and I have been literally living together for a while; we were just cohabiting in two different households. We would spend as much time in her condo and in my townhouse. As the pace of things accelerated it became increasingly difficult to manage both places with 1 dog, the 2 cats and the 2 refrigerators. So I admit that I got upset one day for having to throw away spoiled vegetables from one of the refrigerator. So I guess I said something like:

“This is too crazy and we can’t keep on spoiling vegetables like this; we have to move in together”

It doesn’t sound very romantic but the “trigger” for us to move in WAS a few spoiled vegetables. In all fairness the vegetables only precipitated something that was on the verge of happening. If I had not been selected for the EWB placement or if we had managed the 2 refrigerators better, it would still have happened. It is where we were in the relationship.

Never fire a starting pistol at a racehorse:

From the time we had the “Spoiled Vegetable” talk, Karie’s condo was listed for rental on the web the next day. The lease was signed 9 hours later and the moving company was at the door 7 days after that.

Moving is difficult at best and can be challenging; moving one household into another existing one increases the difficulty exponentially. Going through the whole cycle, lock stock and barrel, in 8 days is nothing short of insanity.

I don’t want to get into too many details; just talking about it makes my neck tense up. As you will read in the “Play Nice with Big Younger Kids”, I need to keep my neck loose and relax.

Children are Priceless:

As we were going through the challenge of merging our 2 households, my favorite x-wife kicked my 19 year old son out. Without giving up too much detail, he is a good kid but he needed a kick in the behind. Our parenting approach over the years has been one of “Tag Team”.  We always had good communication and been very supportive of each other.

So now he lives with Karie and I. To recap; my townhouse has acquired in that 3 weeks period: 2 cats, 1 girlfriend and one teenage boy to join me with my dog Tango.

Beware of Past Promises:

While in Montreal last December a distant relative, a 17 years old boy finishing his high school indicated to me that he wanted to come to Calgary to learn English. I volunteered to help him out if his parents agreed to send him to Calgary. He could live with me and I would help him. It seemed that the odds where not very good since I had not heard from him in a while.

Whatever the odds were of him coming, it doesn’t matter because now he is coming. Another recap; my townhouse has acquired in less than 4 weeks: 2 cats, 1 girlfriend and one 2 teenage boys to join me with my dog Tango in my townhouse. Did I mention that I am leaving in 8 days?

Play Nice with Big Younger Kids:

They say that 50 is the new 25. Nevertheless my body is still over 50 and has a lot of mileage. I was playing with my friend’s kids in the park. While running as fast as I could possibly run, I took a tumble and landed hard on my shoulder. Now I am sporting a brand new broken collar bone. The kid I was chasing was only 3 years old but he is really big for his age.

If you thought I had a funny smile at the EWB send off party it’s because every time I shook someone’s hand it generated atrocious pain in my right shoulder. I should have been less proud and wear my arm sling.

Fortunately it has been healing very well and there is no doubt in my mind or in my physician’s mind that I will be healthy by the time I have to go.

The downside is that many items on my "to do" list involves power tools or moving large objects.

Scope Change:

This was a very challenging period and I won’t be able to do all that was on my list before leaving on the 29^th. I have to accept it. I am happy that the end result of that crazy period is Karie and I are now sharing more of our lives. I have cut down the list to a minimum and hopefully we can enjoy what’s left of our time together. I am grateful to have her at my side; without her I would not have been able to make this happen.

It has been insane but I am excited and can’t wait to finally start this adventure. Hopefully the actual adventure will be more comb than the getting there…