Super Sunday!

I wrote the following post last Sunday, but couldn't get it to post. So please imagine reading this on the sunday previous. :)

Today was awesome. Let me tell you about it.

Every first Sunday of the month is designated as a Fast Sunday, where the members go without two meals and dedicate their time and energy to coming closer to God and donating the money they would have spent on those two meals to the church, who in turn give the money to local families that need it. Since we’re on the road and not in a specific ward, we’ve got no where to give that money, but we still took the time to fast and had our Sacrament Meeting in our little house. It was an awesome, awesome experience; the spirit was very strong in a very intimate setting, and I won’t be forgetting my experience anytime soon.

Today I visited the Ucluelet Aquarium, and I have no idea why I didn’t take my camera! It is the pride and joy of this little town, and surprisingly enough, it was actually quite impressive. It was about the size of a U-haul truck bed, and the tanks were fairly small, but the fee was only 5 dollars and the staff were incredibly knowledgeable. They catch everything locally in the spring and let it go in the fall. Sea Cucumbers are the weirdest things. They’re massive, squishy, stretchable blobs that use their muscles to get away from sea stars that will eat them. But they were bright purple and orange a red, about a foot long. The octopus was sleeping in the corner, the crabs were all over the place, the sea stars could move two meters a minute, and the little hermit crab made me think of Jaws. I touched one in his honor. (Ask my father.) It was really awesome. I like sea creatures, as creepy and slimy as they are.

Aren't these things weird? They had probably 20 or more of them. And they're squishy. really, really squishy. It was weird, man.



An orange Sea Pen. Yes, this is an animal, not some tacky plastic aquarium object. These were my favorite because they were so bizarre.

And some of them are tasty too! We had a sushi rolling party tonight, and I rolled my first ever sushi. The first one was vegetarian, and a disaster ... I ended up eating a lot of it in a big mess with my fingers. But the next one had cooked salmon in it, and it didn’t look too bad. I liked it. (Aren’t you proud of me, Mom?) And then we had tempura, which proves the point that anything covered in a tasty batter and fried, is going to taste good. No wonder fish and chips this week have been great, and sweet potatoes, mushrooms, broccoli ... other sushi ...

A lot of food already. And then! Because today was Priscilla’s birthday, we had brownies and ice cream. That was lovely. I’m always good for ice cream.

And then!

Michelle made Samoan pancakes, and those were covered in Nutella and raspberry jam. Incredible. And have you had a nutella-filled strawberry? treat yourself tonight. amazing.

I am on the verge of liking seafood. I at least don’t turn my nose at it anymore, which is progress enough. And this whole time I’ve wanted to sail a ship or be a pirate, with all the coastal stuff around here. Oh the sea! Being such a land-lubbard my self, no wonder I am fascinated by the sounds of the ocean.

I ATE SO MUCH FOOD. and it was awesome. :) And I got a change to talk with a guy that works here and does surf lessons from the Netherlands. He’s 18 and set his heart on traveling, and we had a good time talking about our lives. And I remembered that I’m in Canada. hah.

We watched a slideshow of our best nature photography and of pictures from the trip, that was a lot fun. It was just great today, which was great timing because I was beginning to look forward a LOT towards my return destination.

Last night we had a bonfire on the beach, and that was beautiful. I’ve always wanted to do that, and now I have. This trip is just knocking off goals left and right.

The countdown begins. Less than 7 days on this venture of mine. I’ll do my best to make it worth my while!

Word of the Day: Fathom \FATH-uhm\, verb; 1. To penetrate the truth of; comprehend; understand. 2. To measure the depth of water by means of a sounding line; sound. noun: 1. A unit of length equal to six feet (1.8 meters): used chiefly in nautical measurements.

P.S. a shout out to my brother, as today (June 7th) is his birthday, and he’s taking the LSAT today. Good luck bro, you’ll be awesome. And happy birthday.

U got a Clue? Let.

This is the service I get in Canada. I laughed. :) Shout out to rogers hall, I guess.

Victoria was actually rather uninteresting, in my opinion. It felt very ... organized and compartmentalized for tourists. If that makes any sense. I didn't really have any luck with photography during our stay.

This is their Parliament building. Notice the art students behind the bush in the bottom right, learning how to use a 4x5 camera.

Victoria was our half-way point of our trip, I think everyone got hit with a wave of exhaustion. Everyone had their moment of shame during our two days there, so we are very happy to be out of that city and in this chill, relaxed area. Victoria was very tourist-centered, and our hostel was also a lounge/bar/cafe. Joe Ostraff put it best when he said, "That hostel was hostile." It was totally safe and clean, but just not comfortable. It felt like a major tourist city, without any real purpose to living there. I'm glad to be out of it.

Ucluelet has been a great change of pace. We're in Surfers Inn, and the owners also line up wetsuit/surf board rentals, and lessons. I haven't decided if I want to spend the money yet or not ... :)

This town has the same square mileage as 3 BYU campuses. We've walked around and checked it out; it is definitely small town, but very beautiful with some character. The ocean is just out the window, and there are fishermen and surfers here and there. This is the first place I've seen young people (besides Seattle ... but they were mostly inebriated.) which also has been refreshing. I'll be happy to be back on campus again with thousands of people my age.

Today we went on a nature hike along the coast, and Michelle, Laura and I explored the rocks. It felt like we were crossing over Mordor, and I was just expecting some slimy creature to crawl out of a hole. It was beautiful and adventurous, and I suggest good-natured exploring for any adult. It is an amazing stress-reliever to feel like a kid.

We went to a city about 30 kilometers from here ( I know, I've already converted to the metric system. But I usually forget and don't think about how 80 km/h is very different than 80 mph. :) and it was a cute town as well. This place is just covered with podunkness.

On the art front, Joe is having everyone in my class gather collage material that appeals to them, and then give it to me to collage with. I'm really excited to see what people give me, and what I can create.

This house we're staying in is so cute. There are several rooms with bunk beds and a kitchen, fireplace, and wrap around bench in the living room that fits probably 12-15 people comfortably. I like the cabin feeling, it makes me excited to go home to Colorado and take advantage of the nature there.

So far so good! I have to admit, I'll be ready to see my family again, and have a different choice of wardrobe. And eat real food. But things are still great.

Word of the day: ... same as the post previous.

Day 21.

Wow, it is day 21. That is crazy.

I just wanted to do a quick post tonight before I go to sleep. :) Because man, do I need sleep.

Ucluelet, BC is a tiny fisherman town. I feel like it is Boulder on a smaller, fishier scale. Lots of things to do in the wilderness, and the locals are fairly interesting.

Someday soon we'll have our third nature critique, so I'll wait until after then to post some pictures.

The weather here has been quite pleasant, considering it usually rains all the time here. But I'm loving the sun!

A few points of interest from the last few days:

1. got to feed wild seals. Literally, throwing them frozen pieces of fish into the open mouths of wild seals at the dock. That was pretty sweet.

2.In Victoria, some of us were wandering around the city and came upon a cathedral. We decided to check it out and could hear the bells ringing, and found that it was open to the public. We got to watch 9 elderly folk intensely focus on playing the bells, it was awesome!

3. Everything is so GREEN and lush. I love it.

Well, I'm slipping into unconsciousness. Time to go to bed.

Word of the Day: Manichean \man-i-KEE-uhn\, adjective; 1. Pertaining to a strongly dualistic view.