My Justification for Buying Ridiculously Expensive Rain Boots

This past semester I dropped $150.00 on a pair of shiny new Hunter rain boots. Ridiculous. I know. Needless to say, I have been very surprised by how much attention they have received (the good, the bad, and the ugly). I have heard everything from how great they look, to how stupid I am for paying that much when “you can just go to wal-mart and get a pair for like $20.00″. The thing about cheaper rain boots, in my experience, is that not only are they uncomfortable, but within a couple of months they are leaking everywhere, rendering them useless (believe me, I have gone through two pairs, and many miserable days of wet feet through out University). I reached the point where I was fed up with trying to keep my feet dry and happy, and I impulsively purchased these beauties at a time when I really could not afford to. However, I see it like  this: I do not have to invest any money in a car since I don’t have  one, and I do not have  to invest any money in a bike, since mine was stolen. No, I am a walker and a public transit frequenter, who’s shoes are their primary mode of transportation. Not only that, but I am convinced that these  boots will never leak, and never fall apart. Therefore, regardless of the flack I receive, and in appreciation of  the positive  feedback I have gotten for how good these boots look,  I am recommending  them as  a necessity to any “walker” who lives on the West  Coast.

Fernwood – Home of the Hippies!

For the last eight  months, I resided in the most  free-spirited neighbourhood that Victoria, B.C. has to offer – Fernwood. In my previous post, “No Microwave, No Cable, No  Car, No Problem!”, I shared the quirkiness and artsiness found  in my home alone! Now I want  to share the  neighbourhood my house was a part of.

I found myself going for walks through this neighbourhood for no reason other than to look around. The long walks to the bus stop, and long bus ride to the school were worth getting the chance to call this friendly place home.

Pictured above is what you might call “downtown Fernwood”, where the playhouse and the art shop reside. If  you kept walking straight  from that crosswalk, you would find a canopy where people are encouraged to leave items they no longer need, in hopes that somebody would find  a treasure to take home. Just down the  street  from the  art studio is a little park called  ”Gower Park”, where I found my favourite skirt at a  sidewalk sale for $1, and  on the opposite side of the street  is where the  ”Fernwood Inn” and “Cornerstone Cafe” are located. They are small, but always busy, businesses that offer great meals, treats, coffee, and free art shows! This is the kind of community that  is welcoming to everybody, especially those who are out of the ordinary.

In addition to the rustic looking buildings that give off the artsy vibe, Fernwood was home to a telephone pole painting event, in which residents and friends were able to share their artistry and creativity by decorating the telephone poles that lined the streets. I would estimate that there were about forty to fifty of these poles scattered  throughout the neighbourhood, bringing life and colour to the sidewalks, but I could only choose a few of my favourites to share.

               

And of course, as always, I appreciate the Japanese Cherry Blossoms every year. Here are a couple of the beauties that Fernwood had to offer.

No Microwave, No Cable, No Car, No Problem!

Ahhh the life of a starving student. Yes, it is once again a topic of my blog since moving back to Victoria and out of my parent’s house with its perks! I bet the typical thing for me to type here would be an “apology” for not posting anything during September, because maybe I was “too busy with school”, or “too busy catching up with friends”. No. The reason I am finally getting around to posting now is because I am procrastinating, and doing anything I can to put off my homework.

I did miss blogging, and I must admit that I do not really have that good of an excuse for why I haven’t posted in a month. I have been reminded of how enjoyable it is, and, if you care, I will be posting a lot more frequently from here on out!

Anyways, back to the topic of this post. Our little house that we moved into this year is a bit different than the one we occupied the last two. First, we are very close to downtown (about a 20 minute walk). Second, our house contains at least all of the colours of the rainbow, and then some. Third, we have neither a microwave nor cable this year. Finally, the house is much, much older than the town houses of our previous complex.

The closeness of downtown has made this year in Victoria an entirely different experience than the last four. I actually have learned my way around the city from the amount of walking I have done (this would come as a shock to my family and friends who are aware of how directionally challenged I am). I have been able to take in a lot more of the culture of the “Old Victoria”, as everything around the street I live is a lot less modern than the area by campus that I occupied previously. Included in this is Fernwood village, which is literally two blocks away. Here we can find telephone poles that have been painted into all kinds of different hippie creations, sidewalk sales (where I got an elephant skirt for a dollar!), coffee shops, vintage hotels and more peace and love than you could ever hope for.

Our house is essentially the definition of a paint job on drugs. We have a (multi) yellow dining room, a (multi) blue kitchen, a burgundy bathroom, a green bedroom, a red bedroom, and purple window frames. Unfortunately, I got stuck with the boring white room; however, I did get the biggest room, and I do basically have the downstairs area to myself. Our sinks are a little finicky, our drains are useless, our cupboards don’t quite shut right, our heating is good old oil heating, and our wall patches are literally paper-plates pasted onto the wall… but we have absolutely fallen in love with this house. One of the coolest features of it? Hot Hot Heat used to live here, and they got evicted for trying to turn a room (presumably mine) into a recording studio!

This year we opted out of purchasing cable, which has resulted in a lot less time wasted, a lot less Jersey Shore (see “time wasted”), and a lot more opportunity to explore the beautiful downtown area that is our backyard. It is actually quite a lot easier and freeing than I had first thought… and I may never go back to having cable (as long as I can stop by my parents house every once in a while to catch up with PVR).

Also, we showed up on moving day to discover that we had no microwave! To some college students, who rely on microwavable dinners and the necessity of defrosting meat, this may have been a nightmare… but to a health conscious, vegetarian eater such as myself, this seemed to be a push in the right direction. Microwaves actually due take nutritional value out of food, and with all the talk of radiation and cancer, I figured this was a good opportunity to cut the appliance out of my life. Again, not as hard as it may sound.

Here are some pictures of my favourite house:

This is the curtain we have in the kitchen. It was an impulsive buy from a desperate street vendor in Bali this summer. It just happened to fit the window perfectly! Also, the bright yellow, and dark yellow contrast are the colours I was indicating when I said “multi-yellow”. The purple? That is the colour of all the trim, and all of the window and door frames in the whole house.

This is one of my favourite features of the house – the crystal doorknobs. Although they are only on two of the doors in the house, I must admit ever since I was a kid I have wanted these doorknobs in my house. Other than these two, none of the doorknobs in the house match. Just another crazy feature of this gem of a house.

This is the burgundy bathroom. In the reflection of the mirror you can see the cool shower curtain that was surprisingly in very good condition when we got the house! Other cool features of the bathroom: vintage bathtub, hand-painted mural on the door, separate taps for “hot” and “cold” (which are installed on the wrong sides), and cupboards that will not stay shut! No secrets here!

 

 

These are some of the sights you may see in our kitchen should we invite you over for dinner one day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is where Alex keeps all of her jars. These jars signify why in no way do we need a microwave. The chili peppers are courtesy of Mexico, and the red cupboard is courtesy of our free-spirited Landlord. The “dining room” is basically the only communal space in the house, and is all of about 10ft by 10 ft. So far, we have used the dining room area the most of any room of the house, especially since we often have to prepare food out hear since our kitchen is all of about 4ft by 2ft.

 

 

 

 

This is the glass bottle that is randomly hanging outside our door, we aren’t quite sure what it is for, but we wouldn’t be surprised if some hippies of the past used it to catch rainwater.

Below is the sign that was already on the front door reminding us to turn the heat off before we leave. Again, we have oil heating, and yes, again, we are students.

Finally, below are pictures of my room. Since my walls are the only boring white walls in the whole house, you might notice I tried to spruce things up a little bit with some decorations. They work for me! Love this house!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The above picture, and the picture to the bottom right are my grandmother’s contributions to my room. Above, is my makeshift curtain, which was a table cloth at my Granny’s house. She insisted I have it after I told her I liked the elephants on it. The bottom right is a Norman Rockwell plate that my Nanny gave me. It was given to me when I left for university, and it is a picture of a girl leaving by herself at a train station. She told me she purchased it the day I was born and waited to give it to me when she thought it looked like an image of me. AWE!

The flower pot is a special item as well. My Dad dug it up from the ground when he was a kid, and has kept it all these years.

Little bit of love makes a lot of difference!

Preparing for the Trip of a Lifetime.

I am leaving on a trip to Australia in not even a couple of days, and I have had the daunting task of checking off the “to-do before you leave” list this week. First of all, I had to make sure I would be employed when I returned from my journey, as I will be heavily in debt upon my arrival back in Vancouver. Since the job I just got hired for was not supposed to announce its new employees for another couple of weeks, this was a challenge. Fortunately, everything worked out just in time. Secondly, I had numerous appointments to attend before my departure, and since I only had little over two weeks at home between moving back from school and leaving on a jet plane, fitting these important appointments into an already hectic schedule was not simple. Everything from hair appointments, to wisdom teeth consults, to passing my driving test to get the god-forsaken “N” off my license (third time’s a charm – I’ve had it for five years) had to be attended to; and like I suggested in my post about stress-busters, making a calendar is a very beneficial idea. Thirdly, trip necessities including travel insurance purchasing, hostel bookings, flight changes, tiny-little-travel-size toiletries scoping, visa applications, and new swimsuit shopping  were essential, not to mention trying to work out and eat healthy in order to look good in the new swimsuit. Finally, as someone who is very close with their family and friends, I spent every spare second I had over the last few weeks trying to see them. Luckily, since Mother’s day was today, I got a chance to see a lot of important people in my life.

Needless to say, even though my travel companions and I have not planned 90% of our adventure, because we are traveling with the philosophy  ”we shall see where the road takes us”, preparing for a once in a lifetime trip such as this one, or any trip for that matter, is no easy task. Budgeting time, and making sure you have a list of everything you need to accomplish before you go is absolutely essential. With that being said, I am so incredibly excited for this adventure to begin.  If anybody has any travel tips, suggestions, or recommendations, please contact me!

Over the next seven weeks, please join my friends and I as we explore a place we have never set foot in, experience all of the crazy happenings that come our way, and learn how to survive our adventures as twenty-something Australian travelers.

Moving Back in With Parents

With the end of the exam period comes the farewell parties, with the end of the farewell parties comes moving out, and with moving out comes living under your parents’ roof again for four months. Luckily for me, I quite enjoy transitioning to living under my parents’ roof again. It means that I no longer have to hand wash every dish (hopefully next year I can find a place with a dishwasher!). I also don’t have to flip through the twenty-or-so lame channels that come with the “student cable package”, expecting to find something good to watch (tip: since national geographic channel is included in these twenty-or-so channels, “Dog Whisperer” and “Alaska State Troopers” are excellent choices). Most importantly though, I don’t have to salvage the remaining toilet paper that we thought would last us the final two weeks of the exam period. It DID NOT last… and since nobody was willing to spend a dime on buying any more, we ended up turning to desperate measures (aka taking some from the cleaning trolleys on campus).

Of course the transition comes with a few set-backs that make you feel like you are in high school again, such as having to let parents know where your going, having to share a bathroom with a brother instead of clean, female roommates (ugh…) and acting more responsible in general. Suddenly, you have to watch your language, turn down your music, and tone down the drinking.

However, nothing is better than home-cooked meals from someone who actually knows how to cook, and the use of my parents car isn’t too shabby either. I can’t complain. So, my advice for those of you who are making this transition for the first time, is that an appreciation for the little things that are provided by your parents out of love goes a long way. Even though you don’t have ultimate freedom, it’s pretty sweet that they allow you to crash for free!

Clothing Swap!

Tonight my roommate and I went to our first clothing swap. Basically, everybody brings those things from their closets that are nice, but either don’t fit them very well, or are just never worn. All of the clothes are thrown into a big pile at the party, and everybody just grabs and tries to get a spot in front of the mirror to see how they fit. I brought a scarf that really isn’t my colour, a few shirts that I never wear, and a sweater that I shrunk. In return, I got an awesome pair of sandals from Venice, a bracelet, a shirt, a bottle of perfume, and a couple of things that turned out to be from my roommate’s closet. The best part about it though, was seeing how much everybody enjoyed seeing other people in their clothes. The girl that I got the sandals from was stoked that she had finally found someone who loved them as much as she did, because they had never fit her quite right; and I actually got caught starring and smiling profusely when a girl was trying on one of the shirts I contributed. She looked at me and asked “Is this one yours Shannon? I can tell.” All of the clothes that were not chosen by anybody were to be donated to local charities or thrift shops. The night was also great because the host provided us with homemade cookies, sangria, and hummus. Nothing better than a new experience that comes with homemade treats. I will definitely be hosting one of these in the near future.

Self-Defense Techniques All Women Should Know!

In light of the recent 4-person attack on a 20-year old female UVIC student, the teacher of the martial arts class I was taking provided us with some simple self-defense techniques we can use to prevent this from happening again. Here are some tips to keep in mind if you are ever attacked.

* If the attacker is coming towards you, and you still have a hand free, you can go for the attacker’s neck. Put your hand in a “C” shape, with your index finger about an inch away from your thumb, and dig your fingers into the esophagus (you can feel the outline of this on your own neck – the area where the neck and jaw meet is the most vulnerable). By squeezing this tightly you will render the attacker incapable of breathing, and he is likely to release you or back down.

* Another defense you can use if you have a hand free is to use the base of your palm to push upward into the attacker’s nose. If you push hard enough you might break it, but even if you don’t, the force would disorient the attacker at least for a few seconds.

* Another very vulnerable area is the attacker’s eyes. If you can get anywhere near them, don’t be afraid to poke, dig or punch. If you see someone coming towards you, try to hold your keys in your hand so that one is sticking out between your fingers. You can use them as a weapon!

* If the attacker grabs you from behind, and you are unable to move your arms, stomp your foot hard on the attacker’s foot. You should aim for the roof of the foot, right before where the foot meets the shin. This sensitive area is easily breakable, and if the attacker releases you, he probably would not be able to run very fast after you.

* If the attacker grabs you by the hand or the wrist, try to use your elbow to hit them in the face.

* If you are able to kick or use your knees at all, we all know the most-effective area to go for is the groin.

If nothing else, scream as loud as you can, and as long as you can. Do not stop fighting! Above all else, try to avoid getting into their car, as this is where they have you truly confined.

 

 

 

The Wonderful Things One Can Do With…. Coffee Grounds?

My roommate is studying herbal medicine, and thus has a natural solution to many health concerns; however, we have been having serious problems with the drain in our shower. Our drain was so clogged, that two rounds of drain-o did barely anything to help the problem, and we could not afford to buy a third round. So when she told me the other day that she was using a new exfoliant – coffee grounds – I was less than impressed, as I believed the coffee grounds would be the final tipping point for our shower to be completely un-drainable. As it turns out, when I went to use the shower an hour later, not only was it draining a whole lot better, but the soap scum build up on the side of the tub (from SUCH slow draining the past few weeks) was almost gone! The coffee grounds had in fact cleaned the bathtub and fixed the clogged drain after just one use! We later found out that the acidity in the coffee grounds caused a break-down of the soap scum.

After this discovery, I was curious to see what other functions coffee grounds can serve. On the “ehow with food” website, I found that there are quite a few uses for the grounds. Here are a few that I learned of:

1.) As said before, the original use of these coffee grounds was an exfoliant. Not only will they help smooth your skin, but the caffeine that they contain will help regenerate skin with new skin-cell growth.

2.) Also as stated above, they can be used to unclog the drain. I would recommend using fine coffee grounds in order to make the initial draining an easier process.

3.) Rub coffee grounds on your hands to remove undesirable scents from your hands after cooking, such as garlic or onion.

4.) Re-darken your darkest brown and black clothes by steeping about 3/4 of a cup of coffee grounds into a gallon of water. Add the mixture into the water in the washing machine right before you add your clothes, and wash them on gentle. Then rewash the clothes in clean water. Remember not to add any clothes that are not dark brown or black, as they will get stained.

5.) By mixing coffee grounds with vitamin E lotion, you can create a mixture that will reduce the look of cellulite on your skin. Massage the mixture onto the areas of skin where cellulite exists 2 or 3 times while in the shower. Apparently, the diuretic effect of the caffeine will help to dehydrate fat cells.

6.) Use coffee grounds in your garden to provide plants with vitamins and nutrients, as well as to keep the slugs away!

I do not actually drink coffee; in fact we do not even own a coffee machine in our house. However, since I used to work at Starbucks, I know that they sometimes wrap up their coffee grounds and give them away to customers for free. So if you are interested in trying out any of these nifty techniques, I suggest you try there, or another local coffee shop, as I am sure they have plenty to spare as well. Imagine how much money you can save with the free coffee grounds!

Phys. Ed. teaching Dos and Don’ts: Yoga

As a physical education student, I am often placed in school settings for opportunities to teach. The other day, a group of 10 students from my program at UVIC had to complete an assignment that was originally supposed to include teaching 100 kids for an hour, but at the last minute, we got slammed with over 150 kids. This meant that we had to add another station to our planned 8-game circuit. Our group had to think of something quick, and easy, and we decided on Yoga. Since I had been assigned the “host” job, meaning I would run the show with the timer, the microphone and the whistle, I had to step up to the plate and teach this station. I have some experience with yoga, from classes I’ve taken at UVIC and Bikram, but I have never attempted to teach it. Since I was going to have roughly 7 minutes with each group of 15-20 kids, I came up with 6 poses that I thought would be simple enough and enjoyable for these crazy kids. Here are some of them, and the experiences that came along with them.

First, I chose “Downward Dog”, which is probably the most famous yoga position. The pose begins by starting on all fours and lifting your backside into the air, with both arms and legs as straight as can be. I made a solid effort to face the kids sideways, and have my backside facing the wall, but the position still managed to give rise to a few giggles. My advice: ask the kids if they know what the position is. Since it is a fairly common position, 8 out of my 10 groups had a kid that knew how to do it. Ask them if they are willing to demonstrate instead of demonstrating yourself.

The pose that the kids liked best was “Tree”. It includes standing on one foot, bringing the other foot up to rest on your thigh, and bringing your hands together in a prayer position in front of your chest. I also had the kids attempt to bend down as far as they could once they had gained their balance, offering them the challenge of sitting down without using their hands. For some reason, they absolutely loved this pose. It also was time-consuming because they got the chance to try it on either foot.

The pose on the right is called “Locust”, and I did a slight variation of this one. Instead of the legs being extended outward, I had the kids hold onto their feet in order to stretch out their quadriceps and hips. This pose didn’t go over so well though, as it basically just resulted in a lot of whining, and kids rolling back and forth in order to smash into the person beside them.

We also did child’s pose, which is a great one to end with, as all the kids seem to be familiar with it, and they all enjoyed the simpleness of it. A lot of kids wanted to demonstrate this one, and it is nice to acknowledge skills that they have already attained in order to make them feel special.

One thing I found with all the poses was that they did not want to hold them for very long. They had been inside all day, as it was pouring rain, and when we got them, they had just come from an assembly where they were all sitting still. I found the only way to get them to focus and maintain positions was to do a countdown with them. Finally, my last piece of advice, which really doesn’t have anything to do with yoga, but is in relation to big groups: do not set up a giant game of British Bull-dogs with 150 kids in a very small gym. Chaos.

Overall, the experience was realistic, and pretty hilarious. The students were making Charlie Sheen quotes the whole time, and one of the teachers (who was more like a drill Sergent) had to break up at least five wrestling matches that ensued throughout the hour I was working with them. After this, I feel very confident that I made the right choice in choosing high school to teach over elementary school.

Crunch-Time Stress Busters!

As we all know, exam period is just around the corner, which means the most stressful time of the year is upon us. If you are a student like myself, you leave everything to the last minute, but somehow get everything done. Through my four years of University experience, I have compiled a list of stress busters that will help you survive the upcoming last week of school and the exam period.

1.) Make a calendar.

By marking down when tasks are due in order to see how much time you have until an assignment is due and how much time you have between tasks, budgeting your time becomes a lot easier. I have a calendar in my room, where all of my assignments are readily available to see. The easiest way to do this is to take all of your syllabuses that you get in the first week of school, and mark down each assignment according to class. I choose a different colour pen for each class to make this easier.

2.) Take a break.

When down to the final hours before a test, we have all found ourselves cramming like crazy in order to fit as much information as possible into our brains while we still can. However, if you don’t give yourself a break, you actually are not absorbing as much information. Your brain needs time to recover after taking things in, otherwise you will burn out. My advice is to take at least a 10 minute break every hour, or a half hour break every 2 hours.

3.) Exercise.

Not only will exercise reduce anxiety, but it releases endorphins that reduce stress and allow you to maintain focus. Endorphins are chemicals that are released in the brain, bond to neuro-receptors, and help reduce pain. Studying is depressing a l0t of the time, especially when the material is difficult to grasp. Recently, exercise is being prescribed more and more to battle depression, as it has many benefits. In addition to being a stress reducer, exercise leads to less overeating, reduces fatigue, increases self-esteem, increases energy, and increases overall happiness.

4.) Don’t spend all of your study time alone.

This can mean one of two things. Either make study groups, where you can discuss the difficulties you come across while reviewing, and vent to each other about how stressed out you are. Or, if you can only focus when you are by yourself, spend some time with a friend or a roommate while you are taking a break. Being able to share how your feeling about the work you are accomplishing, or struggling to accomplish, will most definitely help relieve some built up stress.

5.) Laugh.

Again, laughing releases endorphins. The key to making studying more bearable is to reduce stress, and laughing is the easiest and most enjoyable way to do that.

6.) Use calming techniques.

The easiest way to do this, is to lie on your bed, close your eyes, and take ten consecutive deep breaths. Side note – this is also a great way to start your day. If you are finding it difficult to get out of bed, this is a refreshing way to wake yourself up

Another technique is baoding balls. Baoding balls are also known as “harmony  balls” or “Chinese stress balls”. They are two small balls that fit in the palm of  your hand, and you simply rotate them in circles in your hand. Once getting used to them, try to rotate them without them touching each other. It is thought that the balls touch on specific stress relieving acupuncture points, as well as strengthen   the muscles that you use most when you study – your hands!

Finally, the best calming technique that I have experienced is going for a walk, especially with a friend. This includes exercise, laughing, venting, and taking a break. My roommates and I are lucky because we live so close to a Starbucks and a  711, so stops here make the walks even better.

7.) Let your anger out!

Whether you simply have to scream or blast your music, getting rid of your rage is the  quickest way to release stress. In our house, blasting the music while in the shower is the most common, but we all allow each other to scream lyrics at the top of our lungs too.

8.) Clean your room.

If this is the space where you are doing your homework, I have found that it is a lot easier to focus when the area you are in is clean. Considering the fact that my room is ALWAYS messy, I use cleaning my room as an excuse to put my homework off, and kill two birds with one stone. For some people, cleaning is relaxing in itself, so if this works for you, you’re lucky!

Overall, it is important to remember to take things one step at a time. You can only do so much at a time, and its better to make sure you spend your time making sure things are done right than rushing to get two things done at once. Remember that it is not the end of the world if you do poorly on an assignment, the absolute worst thing that can happen is a fail, and there is always room to recover from that. If nothing else, remember “D’s get degrees!”.