It's Getting Frosty!

First of all, it's looking like I'm going to stay for another semester!  The Foundation has approved my request to remain at Mount Allison for the winter 2011 semester as a Killam Fellow.

My face as I tell Mom and Dad the good news!

Of course, as soon as I got this news I have woken the past couple mornings to temperatures in the mid-20's Fahrenheit (early negatives in Celsius)...and it's only early November.  I figure cold weather is a small price to pay for how happy I am living here.  Last night there was a hard frost and the little ice particles made everything wonderfully frosty in the morning light.

Frosty view outside my bedroom window.

Halloween Weekend!

This weekend was spooky and stupendous! 

Friday night I participated in the kick-off event for Movember, a moustache growing charity event held during November each year that raises funds and awareness for prostate cancer.  Obviously, I cannot grow a mustache, but I am fully supporting my friends who can!

Check out the Mustache T-shirts!

On Saturday I started at 10 Park for a scary supper.  There was roasted cauliflower (brains) with cheese sauce (puke), roasted kale (troll's beard), chickpea dumplings with green peppers (spider bodies and legs), rice (maggots), tea (pee), and water (tears).  The other guest and I brought dessert.  She made huge cupcakes with white icing (oxen eyeballs with cataracts), and I brought a gluten-free super-chocolaty beet cake (dried, curdled blood).  It was delicious and utterly creepy!

Brains with Puke, Troll's Beard, Spider Bodies, and Tears

A Headless Bernard!

Isabel's Pumpkin

Emily the Mad Hatter taking a photo of Emily the Pixelated Image

This Halloween I went out with a group dressed as characters from Alice in Wonderland.  I was the Mad Hatter! My friend Marykate and I went to the Fine Arts Party at my favorite music venue, George's.  The costumes were amazing!  The crowd I was around takes Halloween very seriously. The emphasis was more on creative, home-made stuff (the local Salvation Army gets a lot of business).  My friend with really long dreds put wire in them and he was Pippy Longstocking, there were '70s retro dancers , there was an alligator bride, a triceratops, beetlejuice, a furbie, miss piggy, guys in drag as old ladies, a character from Life Aquatic, and an EXCELLENT Frida Kahlo that was actually a man in drag (but he looked just like her!).

The White Rabbit, Alice, the Mad Hatter, and the Queen of Hearts!

A Furbie, the White Rabbit, a Cop, Kermit, the Queen of Hearts, Alice, the Mad Hatter, a Geisha, and Miss Piggy

At George's there were awesome bands and dancing until 2:00 am...the final act was one guy with SPECTACULAR dance music that used 3D video of retro Grinch cartoons with 3D glasses, glitter, strobe lights, balloons, confetti falling from the ceiling, and audience participation. He even had one of those multi-colored parachutes from elementary school.  He spread it out in the crowd, had us shake it, then we all got underneath and danced completely packed as he passed the microphone around to the crowd.  It was so fun!  On Sunday night I went to 10 Park again for a viewing of Paranormal Activity.  I got so creeped out I ended up sleeping over!

Ah! My legs!

Friday was a baking day!  My friend Marykate and I baked an upside-down apple ginger cake to bring to a rather quick and unfortunately lame potluck.  The lameness of the potluck turned out to be okay.  There was half a cake left so we just took it home and finished it off!

Mmm caramelized apples over ginger cake!

Bright and early on Saturday morning I headed out with Isabel, Chris, and Emily on a walk to Fort Beausejour.  This turned into a 4.5 hour trek covering around 22 kilometers (13.67 miles).

The golden marshes.

Isabel and Chris

Both Emily's hay bale surfing!

Fort Beausejour

So windy!

Inside the Fort.

Cold lunch takes on new meaning!

Mini cannon!

Waiting for the train to pass.

On Sunday afternoon, I followed up this adventure with a 10 km run.  It was so fun!  The weather was perfect, cool and sunny, and we ran slowly at a conversation pace.   After the run everyone felt excellent - all of those endorphins!  Unfortunately, my Achilles tendons are a little upset with me after all of this weekend activity.

Hole-y Cow!

On Monday my Seminar in Environmental Issues class took a field trip to the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in Truro.  I can now say that I've stuck my hand in a cow's rumen.  As I picked the blue plastic glove out of the box and placed it on my hand I wondered, "How exactly does one access the rumen?"  Luckily, my hand did not have to penetrate any unpleasant bodily access points.  Instead, these cows bizarrely had large holes in their abdomens that could be opened by pulling out a plastic stopper.  The holes didn't seem to bother the cows at all; they kept about their business, eating and defecating as cows like to do.  The rumen had been sutured to the cow's outer skin and the inside edge of the hole had healed around a plastic portal.  This portal could be opened, allowing you to literally reach inside of the living cow.  I put my hand in the rumen and plucked out some of the cow's half-digested breakfast. I tried to be considerate, placing the food back in the rumen once I finished inspecting it.  After all, how would you feel if someone reached in and stole your breakfast?

ATLIS Mini-Conference

This weekend I participated in the Atlantic International Studies Organization (ATLIS) mini-conference at Mt. Allison.  Every year ATLIS publishes undergraduate essays in a peer-reviewed journal.  The mini-conference was the precursor to a larger, annual one in January.  For twenty minutes students presented their research papers to peers and professors and after the presentation there was a ten minute discussion.  The theme of the mini-conference was environment and gender issues.  I was one of four presenters and my presentation focused on wind power in North America.

The topics of the presentations were:

• “Grains, Greenhouse Gases and Government: Agricultural policy for the coming climate chaos”
• “Wind Power in North America”
• “Is Microcredit a Panacea to Women’s Empowerment?”
• “Portrayal and Representation of Women in International Humanitarian Law and its implication in armed conflicts”

All of the presenters did a wonderful job and the discussions that followed were really interesting.  Great food for thought!

Sunrises!

Over the past two weeks we have had some of the most brilliant sunrises I have ever seen.  Needless to say, I am a morning person...that is how I could possibly know this.  Anyway, this morning was the second time the sky looked exactly like Bonnie's Bora Bora in Paris, an unnatural looking uranium orange and hot pink smoothie.  The camera can't quite do it justice.

View of sunrise outside my back door.

Halifax and Canadian Thanksgiving: One Gloriously Gluttonous Weekend

Wow, I had a phenomenal long weekend!

It started off on Friday with an outstanding concert at George's Fabulous Roadhouse, a local bar and music venue.  Olenka and the Autumn Lovers (North American folk fusion with Eastern European influences), The Sheepdogs (1970s rock inspired, complete with long hair, scruffy beards, and bell bottoms), and Corey Isenor (local folk/alternative singer) combined to create a magnificent evening of live music that kept the whole place dancing until the early hours of Saturday morning! 

Four hours of sleep later, I was off to catch the bus to Halifax with Vicky, another Killam at Mt. Allison.  Vicky normally attends SUNY Plattsburgh and is a native of Buffalo, NY (Mom and Bouskills, get excited!).  I can't tell you much about the ride there since I was passed out asleep for the entire trip.  When we got to Halifax, we met up with Marty, a friend from American University who is on a Killam to Dalhousie.  Like so many AU students, Marty also has the travel itch: he spent the summer and semester before that working in Azerbaijan and backpacking through Central Asia and parts of the Middle East.  Marty was an awesome host!

We arrived in the early afternoon, had a delicious lunch in a cozy cafe and then made our way down to Halifax's waterfront.

Lunch at Wired Monk.

Yummy rum cake samples...and whiskey cake!

I tried to run up to the top of the wave, a Halifax tradition, but my shoes had no traction and I always slid down.

Marty made it to the top!

Waterfront

Waterfront

Theodore the Tug Boat

Beavertails, a Canadian tradition.

Maple and chocolate beavertail...yummm.

So tasty!

It was really nice being in a city on the water.  It reminded me a bit of Baltimore's Inner Harbor, which made me feel right at home.  After exploring the boardwalk and sampling delectable Canadian treats we decided to take the ferry across to Dartmouth.  Dartmouth used to be its own city, but now is part of the greater Halifax area.

George's Island

On the ferry with Halifax behind.

Entering Dartmouth.

Recreating Titanic...somewhat in poor taste, yes, but still fun.

Dartmouth

Very fun adult playground in Dartmouth.

Playing on the adult playground.

Petting a very friendly cat we found, Henry.

After exploring Dartmouth we decided to take the very long walk back to Halifax across the bridge.  Though very brisk and windy, the views were spectacular.

With Vicky on the bridge.

Lovely green bridge.

Back in Halifax, we headed over to the Citadel to see more spectacular views of the city.  Losing ourselves to childhood abandon, Marty and I decided to roll down the big hill.

On top of the Citadel!

View from the Citadel.

Rolling, rolling, rolling.

My face went in a ditch and I ate grass...not too pleasant.

Vicky, probably the smart one, not rolling...I'm in the back still going.

So dizzy!

View from the bottom of the hill.

Grass-stained, we made our way from the bottom of the hill to the public gardens.  These beautiful gardens are arranged in Victorian style.  I also saw disgustingly fat geese.  There are so many visitors who feed them that they have become obese and lumpy.

Across from the Public Gardens, in front of Sackville Street.

Public Gardens

Inside the Public Gardens.

I am shocked by the fattest geese ever!

After all of this walking, we got some great Thai food (NOT available in Sackville...I miss good ethnic food!).  In keeping with the maritime theme of Halifax, I got mussels for the first time, in a really spicy red curry sauce - spectacular!  We headed to a popular cafe, the Economy Shoe Shop, for a night cap and dessert (and by dessert I mean the biggest, best piece of carrot cake and cream that I've ever eaten).

The Economy Shoe Shop

That night I slept like a rock.  Luckily, Marty had an alarm clock and Vicky was very on-top of trip planning and keeping us on a schedule.  Without them, I probably would have missed a day just sleeping.  Vicky and I got breakfast; toured the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia; ate lunch (yummy salad with scallops...the seafood is wonderful in Halifax); took a Harbor Hopper tour (amphibious vehicle that drove us through the city and then out into the water); took a tour of Halifax's beloved Alexander Kieth's Brewery; and went shopping.

Art Gallery of Nova Scotia

Outside the AGNS

A fun shop, The Black Market.

Harbour Hopper Tour: Amphibious Vehicle!  Check out those tires!

A little windy out on the water!

Crazy candy store, Freak Lunchbox.

Historic Properties of Halifax

Outside Alexander Keith's Nova Scotia Brewery.

Embracing Halifax culture!

In the evening, we met a Fulbright friend, Nora, for dinner at an Irish pub (crunchy fish and chips and a HUGE piece of rhubarb pie); went on a walking ghost tour in Halifax at night (which was a chilling way to spend two hours...literally, we almost froze!); got hot drinks to warm up; met back up with Marty and his international student friends; and finally, I tried two other Atlantic Canadian traditional foods, poutine and donair.  Poutine is fresh, crispy french fries covered in cheese curds and hot gravy.  A donair is specially seasoned shaved beef wrapped in a pita with onions, tomatoes, and donair sauce.  Donair sauce is a sort of sweet and tangy creamy mixture...questionable at best, but surprisingly delicious at 1am. 

Halifax at night.

The Clock Tower, meeting place for our ghost walk.

The Five Fishermen, supposedly haunted by an aggressive male ghost.

There is a male silhouette in the upper right window, which appeared under mysterious circumstances.

Halifax's cemeteries are home to the bodies of the Titanic victims, especially those unclaimed.

Willy's, a source of award-winning poutine.

Poutine (copyright Jim Elyot)

King of Donair, across from Willy's, where I tried my first donair.

Donair from King of Donair Ad...pretty accurate portrayal.

 The following morning (Monday - Canadian Thanksgiving!!!) for breakfast I ate delicious banana and raspberry filled crepes at Anna's Cafe & Grill.  Vicky and I made our way around Halifax, taking pictures of things we missed (that's why Willy's and King of Donairs are closed and taken in the morning).  I finally got home after a packed bus-ride around five o'clock and my friends at 10 Park were generous enough to have me over for Thanksgiving supper.  It was stupendous!  They are spectacular chefs!  On the menu: vegetarian and non-vegetarian stuffing; roasted acorn squash stuffed with raisin, walnut quinoa; roasted carrots and turnips; regular and nutmeg mashed potatoes; salad; Brussels sprouts; home-made cranberry sauce; local, free-range turkey and gravy; regular and gluten-free pumpkin pie (filling made from real pumpkins) with fresh maple flavored cream.

Food left before seconds...and thirds...and picking during clean-up.

The lovely residents of 10 Park!

Crammed on the couch, uncomfortably full, we had a mini-jam session led by Bernard.

Best weekend ever?