my latest excursion

August 22, 2006 at 9:26 PM

There's nothing quite like watching the sun come up in the morning. Things begin dark, stars still twinkling brightly and the sky is faintly illuminated by the moonlight then gradually the stars and moon become replaced by brilliant colors on the horizon, the colors start dim, growing more intense and vibrant finally overtaken by the brilliance of the sun. So again, there's nothing quite like watching the sun come up in the morning except maybe sleep. I'm not the biggest fan of getting up before 5 in the morning, or even 6am or even 7 or 8am for that matter. I can handle the ocassional 6:30am wake up call and 7am is a reasonable time to get up but first 5:30am and then again, two days later 4:30am? That's pushing the envelope a little bit.

Well despite the early morning departure for Vancouver and then again to come home, I've made it through the weekend and what a weekend it was! I arrived just in time for a 1:30pm violin lesson which gave me a lot to think about and work on, as usual. Why must there be so much to do in learning an instrument like the violin? I will work as diligently and as hard as I can though. I've already done some good work this morning. After my lesson we made our way across the walkway to rehearsals. We worked on the Albinoni Adagio for Strings, Bach d minor keyboard concerto and the choir piece we were singing. It was as entertaining and fun as the rehearsals during YAE were! Lots of humor and fun but we still got a fair bit accomplished. The next day I got to play tourist for a couple of hours and went to the Vancouver Aquariam in Stanely park. I had never been before and got some good pictures (see below)! The afternoon was spent at the Stanley theatre in "rehearsals" for the concert. We didn't actually get to play much but it was socially a lot of fun and at times things got to be rather boring as we waited around for things to happen. At one point we were in our dressing rooms waiting to be called up to the stage for a cue check and that never happened, then dinner never arrived until half an hour before the concert began. It was an interesting project to put together. The "Peace It Together" project brought together almost 30 teens from Palestine, Israel and Canada to discuss the conflicts in the mid-east and get everyone's perspectives and experiences in the conflict. There were 7 groups of the teens paired together with representatives from each of the 3 countries and each group made a short film that interpreted the conflicts and perceptions of the crisis in the mideast. I found a website on the internet where you can actually watch some of the films that the students made. It was so exciting to perform for a packed hall and to witness the reactions to the music and the films. How often after playing something like Albinoni's Adagio for strings are you going to hear lots of cheering or after a film made in under 2 weeks by students who have never laid hands on film equipment before? It was a pretty cool experience.

On the way home from the even yesterday (yes, we did leave at close to 5 in the morning) my Mom and I stopped in Manning Park and went hiking, 2000m high in the apline meadows. I've posted a couple pictures from that here as well. It was so beautiful up there and the view.....you really feel like you are on top of the world.

In the Steveston harbor after fish and chips.

Beluga whales

A rather menacing looking fish

At 1400m

The Apline meadows view at 2000m

A view of the hiking path

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on August 23, 2006 at 2:25 AM

I don't see many sunrises. I generally don't stay up that late. I love your photos, especially the ones of the mountains.

From Sydney Menees
Posted on August 23, 2006 at 2:54 AM

Wow, those are really pretty pictures, Kelsey! The one of the path actually reminds me of the Alps... I really want to go to Canada (especially Newfoundland) because I have roots there.

From Linda Lerskier
Posted on August 23, 2006 at 2:36 PM

I admire the menacing fish.

From Kelsey Z.
Posted on August 23, 2006 at 2:53 PM

Linda, maybe you should photoshop it ;).

Sydney, the east coast is an awesome place! Last time I was there I didn't make it out to Newfoundland but in general, Canada is an awesome country.

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