Sunday, November 6, 2016

First Nations and the Future

Throughout my experience in EDUC 530 I have learnt many valuable lessons about First Nations Metis and Inuit culture that I will carry with me as a teacher. I came to a better understanding of my own biased values and worldview. In contrast to Aboriginal value systems, one can summarize the value systems of Western Europeans as being linear and singular, static, and objective. The Western European concept of time is a good example of linearity. (jagged world wk2). Whereas aboriginal values are a realm of where  “All things are animate, imbued with spirit, and inconstant motion. In this realm of energy and spirit, interrelationships between all entities are of paramount importance space is a more important referent than time.” This has changed my perspective of how first nations people see the world. For all Canadians to move forward as one it’s vital to acknowledge the atrocities of the past, moving beyond cultural appropriation and developing a grassroots sense of appreciation for cultural diversity.

In 1876, the government of Canada combined the Gradual Civilization Act and the Indian Enfranchisement Act into a single piece of legislation. The Indian Act, though amended over the years in important ways, remains a central fact of life for First Nations people in Canada. “The Act reinforced the powers of Canada’s government over First Nations and extended those powers in significant ways. It regulated virtually every aspect of the lives of First Nations people in an effort to promote assimilation. The Indian Act continued to disrupt traditional forms of government. It added new regulations about who qualified as members of a band, which determined who could vote in band elections. The Indian Act had a negative impact on the roles of women and Elders in traditional First Nations. Many traditional government practices held women and men as equal participants, and Elders as respected advisors and leaders. After the Indian Act, women and Elders were effectively removed from all official processes of government. The government policy of assimilation led to the restriction of many activities that First Nations people practised in order to transmit their cultures. The Indian Act’s most significant legacy was to rule and restrict the lives of First Nations people, even though its stated intent was to protect the rights and privileges of the first peoples of Canada” (Wk8)  Residential schools were established to assimilate First Nations and Inuit children into the dominant English-speaking, Christian culture. Many of the values and morals of this culture were in conflict with traditional Aboriginal values and customs. Residential schools were put in place in the 1860s. In 1920, Canada amended the Indian Act, making it mandatory for First Nations and Inuit parents to send their children to Indian residential schools. The last residential school in Alberta closed in 1988. The last federally operated residential school in Canada closed in Saskatchewan in 1996. Five to six generations of First Nations and Inuit peoples were subjected to the residential school system. Children as young as four were removed from their families and taken to spend the majority of the year in institutions, often far away from their homes. Children were forbidden to speak their language and unable to follow their traditional customs. As a result, they often became ashamed of their language, culture and family. Some parents were forbidden to visit their children and did not see them for several years at a time. Limited funds meant overcrowding and unhealthy living conditions, and children were exposed to diseases such as tuberculosis. Deputy Superintendent Duncan Campbell Scott estimated that overall “fifty percent of the children who passed through these schools did not live to benefit from the education which they had received therein” (1913, p. 615). (wk8)The structural violence of the indian act and heinous acts of Indian Residential Schools need to be acknowledged by all Canadians for true reconciliation to occur. To not acknowledge these important factors that have plagued our first nations people and have carved out an unwilling path. The indian act and residential schools have created huge waves and the ripples will be felt for generations to come. As Canadian’s we need to become aware of the frank reality of these institutional, physical, sexual and psychological acts of injustice that way we can stand with our First Nations people to work to create a shared vision of the future in which we can all have unbridled opportunity to thrive .

During the first portion of the class we talked about when does appreciation crosses the line to appropriation. Although this seems to be a very easy thing to determine at times it’s more complex. Cultural appropriation is generally when the dominant culture takes intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions or artifacts without their permission. This was seen with the resource that I had chosen with my partner for my resource evaluation. The book that we had chosen was “ The Legend of Blue Jacket”. This book was a great example of appropriation due to the fact that it was largely focused on a white person who is adopted by an American First Nations tribe and became the most successful war chief the tribe had ever known. With a little bit of research it is largely supported by historians that the famous war Chief Blue Jacket was not a white American. The author unwilling took the tale of Blue Jacket and introjected a white character to likely appeal to the racist sensibilities of a white audience American audience for monetary gain. As a result the culture of the first nations people is trivialized and used as a vehicle to propagate the idea that white people are superior. However, appropriation isn’t always quite so easy to identify and classify. There are many instances where people use different cultural influences that can be open to subjective interpretation to whether or no they are committing an act of cultural appropriation. Even in certain circumstances where acts are vetted by an authority figure within a cultural group it can still be interpreted as appropriation instead of tasteful cultural appreciation. This is also exacerbated by how social justice is a very much on the radar of the masses. It’s in my opinion western society has been historically very oblivious, callous, racist and bigoted regarding the impact of cultural appropriation and recently there has been a reactionary realization that has caused many people to steer clear of any use of any other cultural values, artifacts or knowledge.



Within my first field experience I saw this reactionary approach in the elementary school i visited for a week. The school had adopted a policy that made it completely unacceptable to celebrate or even acknowledge any cultural holidays, celebrations or traditions in fear of excluding others, misrepresenting a culture, assimilating others or appropriating culture. I understand this precautionary approach, however I feel it is in many ways it can be counterproductive to learning to appreciate each other's difference and learning to live in harmony. I had a personal experience with this same circumstance. I was visiting Tofino, British Columbia and there was a store selling items designed by the local Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations first nations people. There was an insulated mug with a beautiful grey whale design at a First Nations owned and operated art gallery I found incredibly striking, and had a personal connection with as I had just gone on a whale watching tour where we had seen a grey whale. I thought to myself though, “is this cultural appropriation?” “am I exploiting intellectual property?”, “am I trivializing a culture?” and as a result of this internal turmoil I too adopted a precautionary approach and didn’t make the purchase in spite of my honest and well intentioned appreciation of the art. A hypersensitive precautionary approach is somehow a very Canadian means of interacting with another culture. Canada’s cultural mosaic causes Canadians regardless of their cultural affiliation to be very timid, cautious and  at times awkward when it comes to interacting or experiences other cultural practices. I see various advantages and disadvantages to this, but my hope for the future is that we as Canadians can carve out socially acceptable avenues for genuine cultural appreciation to take place.

When I spent a year abroad in New Zealand I temporarily worked at a holiday park located in the center of the North Island near Tongariro National Park. A holiday park is kind of a mix between a campground and a motel. Here I cleaned the showers, toilets and rooms in exchange for a free place to live as I looked for a job. While I was working here a school group of grade 6 students made the trip out and were staying at the holiday park as they were skiing at the nearby ski hill. After they had stayed for two nights they expressed their thanks by performing a Haka. The Haka is a type of ancient Māori war dance traditionally used on the battlefield, as well as when groups came together in peace. The dance was used to honour our work and it was a stunning example of cultural appreciation. Of the approximately 40 students and 10 supervising parents and staff only 5-10 students appeared to be of Maori descent but they were all incredibly engaged while performing the Haka. Through the performance I gained an understanding that everyone understood and appreciated the value and importance of Maori culture within the greater modern New Zealand culture. On top of this, the performance exuded a powerful and authentic sense of pride and honor to the Maori people and themselves.

(Featured in this video is a spine tingling Haka Performed by the students of Palmerston North Boys’ High School for at their beloveded PE and Math Teacher Mr.Dawson’s funeral service.)


I believe that Canadian First Nations people and the Canadian majority need to work with each other to understand one another on a level that is beyond a civil tolerance of one another. Canada could really stand to learn from New Zealand's relationship with their indigenous Maori peoples. This isn’t to say that things between New Zealand's Government and the Maori peoples are perfect but there has been a lot of progress that has benefitted their nation as a whole. The Maori have much like Canadian aboriginal populations have struggled with treaty rights, racism, abuse, assimilation land claim issues, cultural appropriation and most importantly mistrust towards one another.

In Canada there is a long history of mistrust, treaty issues, cultural turmoil but there is also a prevalent element of patronization towards indigenous peoples that needs to stop.
In 2008 our Prime Minister Stephen Harper made an apology for residential schools. In Stephen’s apology you can sense of half hearted patronizating feeling in concert with Stephen’s crocodile tears. in my intrerpritation this was initially used as a political tool to disassociated from the responsibility and to make amends to a certain degree. Despite this poorly executed apology a lot of positivity has developed as a result. The Truth and Reconciliation commission that came as a response of this apology was a call to action to help make amends to tragedies associate with the residential schools in Canada, but was concluded in December 2015. The TRC’s mission was then passed onto the University of Winnipeg to become the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. The mandate of the TRC is to put the events of the past behind us so that we can work towards a stronger and healthier future.” Although I believe this is an important step in the right direction what I feel is lacking within the Canadian cultural landscape is a grassroots bottom up, authentic sense of reconciliation. In conversations with some of my well educated friends about the residential schools they expressed that they had no idea what residential schools were and what they had done to first nations peoples. There needs to be more advocacy and activism from the people of Canada not just from an top down institutional level. A problem with top down institutional changes is that they despite their good intentions, they come off at clinical, white washed, insincere attempts to make vague connections. When individuals stand together and speak from the heart about the harsh realities of our past that is when we can discover an authentic pathway to grow together. In addition to this I think we need to follow the recommendations as mentioned in Robin DiAngelo and Özlem Sensoy article on Radical Pedagogy when working on grassroots progress :
“1.Strive for intellectual humility.
2.Recognize the difference between opinions and informed knowledge.
3.Let go of personal anecdotal evidence and look at broader societal patterns.
4.Notice your own defensive reactions and attempt to use these reactions as entry points for gaining deeper self ­knowledge.
5.Recognize how your own social positionality (such as your race, class, gender, sexuality, ability status) informs your perspectives and reactions to your instructor and those whose work you study in the course.”

Following this approach will allow for grounded conversations that inform sensible dialog about sensitive and controversial topics that can be loaded with emotion. As a future teacher I feel honored and privileged to have a position in which I can engage students in a dialogue that will promote the unification and progression of social justice of all Canadians. I felt that Alberta Educations recommendations for aboriginal students are not only valid for aboroginal students but for all students.

“Aboriginal student learning is enhanced by a safe, comfortable classroom environment—a community of learners. Aboriginal students do their best work when they experience: • a sense of belonging as respected and valued students • the spirit of mastery that comes through encouragement of their gifts and competencies • independence developed by opportunities to develop inner control and responsibility • the spirit of generosity that reflects core values of sharing and community responsibility (Brendtro, Brokenleg and Van Bockern 1990).” (wk8 our words.)

Looking to the future of Canadian cultural equity and equality I’m very optimistic. Looking at the leadership that Canadians are electing is reflective of the values that we as Canadian’s want represented. As a Calgarian we have a Muslim Mayor, a female Premier and a Prime Minister who is a self proclaimed feminist. We also live in a time where social media and technology act as an incredible catalyst for social reform and change. Even if we reflect on the past fifteen years women’s rights and roles have changed, LGBTQ populations have become much more liberated and diversity is becoming a point of interest and celebration rather than division. This is why I think Canadian First Nations populations will be the focal point of pride in the future, because people are becoming more and more aware of how important and incredibly powerful their culture and voice is in relation to Canada as a whole.

(Featured in this video clip is a band called "A Tribe Called Red" which is a Canadian music group who has received a lot of attention for their powerful fusion of musical genres. I believe it's a sound that embodies the Canadian spirit moving forward. )

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Why teach physical education?


Ultimately what value is there in physical activity and why should we teach it in schools?


Physical Health 

 It is commonly acknowledged and supported by a large body of research the claims that physical activity reduces the prevalence of a variety of different chronic diseases. This includes some of the most common diseases responsible for premature death, such as heart disease, various cancers, diabetes, high blood pressure and more
(PHAC 2016). Through regular physical activity we have the ability to reduce the chances of developing these preventable diseases. Physical activity for the purposes of disease prevention and longevity are meaningful enough reasons alone to engage in physical activity and to teach these benefits to future generations.
 
An example of how fundamental movement skills impact opportunities to become active further in life (http://www.phecanada.ca/programs/physical-literacy/what-physical-literacy/fundamental-movement-skills) 

In addition to the health benefits of physical activity, physical activity also improves your ability to carry out daily tasks and activities. It is in my belief that all children should be what is known as physically literate. Physical literacy is comprised of having a competent skill set of what are known 

as fundamental movement skills. These fundamental movement skills include running, throwing, catching, jumping, striking, kicking, agility, balance and coordination. Teachers have an opportunity to teach these skills through various activities and sports that will then shape the way in which children will interact with the world for the entirety of their lifespan. 

Mental Health
In addition to the physical benefits to physical activity there are a host or reasons to why physical activity is an important aspect of mental health. According to a study physical activity, including jogging, swimming, cycling, walking, gardening, and dancing, have been proved to reduce anxiety and depression. These improvements are proposed to be caused by exercise-induced increase in blood circulation to the brain and by an influence on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and, thus, on the physiologic reactivity to stress.(Sharma, A., Madaan, V., & Petty, F. D. 2006). There has also been some evidence to suggest that physical activity can allow people to better cope with distractions, and improve self-efficacy, mental alertness and enhance social interactions. If we want our children to have health bodies and healthy minds that can live up to their potential physical education needs to be a priority not an option.


(http://www.newmansu.org/mental-health-awareness-week.html) 


Social Literacy and Character Building 
Beyond the Mental and Physical benefits there are a host of social and culture benefits that are passed onto children through teaching physical education. Physical education places children in an environments where they develop their social skills and character through facing challenges and adversity. This can span learning how to communicate effectively, building meaningful relationships, developing real world problem solving skills and being able to think strategically (both on a team and individual level).  Physical activity also provides a safe environment to learn how to cope and manage emotions spanning the spectrum of absolute elation to misery. Physical activity requires that the participants take some form of action to achieve a particular goal. I think that working towards either a directed or self directed goal fosters the development of sound work ethics, self confidence and entrepreneurial spirit.


(https://storify.com/afterschoolAE/40-awesome-resources-how-team-sports-benefits)

Community Engagement and Unity

Physical Activity has the power to build community and minimize the persevered differences that have been socially constructed.  Sharing the common goal within a specific activity acts as a social glue that creates meaningful bonds. This can be seen in almost any physical activity whether that be an individual activity like running to a worlds most popular sport, soccer. Physical activity is a commonality that all people can all share and empathize with. As an example in 2012 the London Summer Olympics were viewed by over 4 billion people over the span of 17 days, and 205 different countries came together to peacefully participate in the games. There is a popular anonymous quote that goes to say "You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation"


(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Summer_Olympics#/media/File:2012_Olympics_opening_ceremony_fireworks_1.jpg)

Personal Achievement and Enjoyment

One big reason why everyone should be physically active is because it can be very rewarding and fun. People spend huge amounts of time and money on various physical activities merely for the enjoyment of part taking in these activities. Sir Edmund Hillary was famously asked "Why did you climb Everest?" and his answer was "because it's there". I feel that this explanation speaks to the justification to why anyone should do any physical activity. Why should anyone run in circles on a track? Why should someone should swim in lanes at a swimming pool? Why should someone ski down hills only to do it again and again? The simple act of challenging the body and mind provides enough of an inherit reward to justify the means. This is something that is very subjective but in many ways is the root to why physical activity, sports and athletics can be seen in all cultures throughout the world.
 
(http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?next=/smithsonian-institution/sixty-years-ago-edmund-hillary-reached-the-top-of-the-world-hear-him-describe-it-76861267/)

Academic Success

Various studies have looked at the relationship between physical activity and academic success. One study found that "girls obtained a small benefit from having the highest level (70–300 minutes per week) of exposure to physical education (vs the referent), but no association was observed among boys. (Coe,D., Pivarnik.C., Womack,M., Reeves.M., Mailina.R. 2006). According to another study "We found strong evidence of a significant positive relationship between physical activity and academic performance," the authors wrote. "The findings of one high-quality intervention study and one high-quality observational study suggest that being more physically active is positively related to improved academic performance in children."According to the authors, this link could be caused by many factors: increased blood and oxygen flow to the brain, boosts in hormones such as norepinephrine and endorphins which help improve mood, and "increased growth factors that help create new nerve cells and support synaptic plasticity,"( Health Science Winter 2012) 


Conclusion

As noted by Alberta Education Program of Studies " Physical activity is vital to all aspects of normal growth and development, and the benefits are widely recognized. Students do not develop automatically the requisite knowledge, skills and attitudes that lead to active, healthy lifestyles. Such learning should begin in childhood. " It is for this reason that I think we as a society shouldn't be asking the question"Why do we teach physical eduction?", we should be asking "How can we engage more students in physical education?"


References 


Alberta Education Programs of Study, Physical Education. (2000) 



Coe,D., Pivarnik.C., Womack,M., Reeves.M., Mailina.R.. (2006) Effect of Physical Education and Activity Levels on Academic Achievement in Children. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., Vol. 38, No. 8, pp. 1515–1519, 2006. http://ovidsp.ovid.com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&CSC=Y&N EWS=N&PAGE=fulltext&AN=00005768-200608000-00022&D=ovft&PDF=y

Public Health Agency of Canada. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2016, from http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/hp-ps/hl-mvs/pa-ap/index-eng.php

Sharma, A., Madaan, V., & Petty, F. D. (2006). Exercise for Mental Health.Primary Care Companion to The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 8(2), 106.

Strong evidence of link between physical activity and academic success. (2012, Winter). Health Science, 35(1), 7. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA284483507&sid=summon&v=2.1&u=ucalgary&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=32effce979d7565dce5d05bbb395a556


Thursday, July 23, 2015

Go Big or Go Home: We did both!

Note: I wrote most of this when we got back to Canada in May 2014 but obviously didn't get around to posting it until now!

Our last three weeks in New Zealand were a whirlwind of driving, hiking and exploring the South Island of New Zealand.  While we stopped in many places, these are the three major things we did.


The Routeburn Track is on of the nine Great Walks in New Zealand. We hiked the 32 km over three days. Because it's a Great Walk, it is well serviced with huts along the way. The huts included bunk beds, a nice cooking shelter (and by shelter I mean building), flushing toilets and running water. We also learned that if you were on a guided hike, you and your group stayed in your own specially built huts.  They had beds, duvets, sheets, hot showers and freshly cooked meals onsite. The food for the group was also helicoptered in regularly so that it was fresh.  So basically, you got to do the whole thing with a change of clothes and water on your back (your guide carried your snacks).  Pretty luxurious!   We chose neither of those two options and camped.  We also learned a very valuable lesson on this trip. Make sure you pack enough food. We had enough meals, but somehow managed to bring two granola bars between the two of us for snacks. Needless to say, we were both pretty hangry throughout the trip, but still really enjoyed ourselves.

Routeburn Track

Reaching the high point of the Routeburn Track. 

Descending onto the other side, the landscape changed dramatically. Definitely got the feeling we were on our way through Rohan. 

Our second night camping, we were treated to a visit from the world's only alpine parrot. He woke us up by attacking our tent, and trying to steal bits and pieces of it and our shoes! We had to store everything inside the tent and managed to chase him off, but just barely.  He also decided to grace us with his presence at the crack of dawn the next morning by doing the same thing. 


Milford Sound. Very famous natural landscape of New Zealand. For something so famous, it was surprisingly undeveloped in terms of accommodation and food. If you decide to stay here, I recommend booking WAY in advance and bringing as much food as you can. Internet here was the most expensive we'd seen in New Zealand. $50 for 500 megabytes of data. 

After getting on a giant ship and cruising through the sound, we decided to do a kayaking tour. We are all geared up and ready to go!

This is by far the best way to appreciate the tall cliffs and open waters of Milford Sound.  It really gave you a sense of scale and you didn't have to fight anyone for a nice view.  We were even graced with a pod of dolphins along the way! 

We kayaked about 7 km out into the Sound and were thankfully picked up for the return trip. 

Beauty.


We wrapped up our trip with a backcountry trip down the Abel Tasman Track - basically an easier West Coast Trail (significantly easier), with MANY exit points via water taxis, and no illegal restaurants.  I somehow didn't manage to take any pictures of our sunny first day on the track, but have plenty of pictures of us in the rain!



The first day we hiked 12km in beautiful sunny weather. We stayed in a hut and were treated to flushing toilets an the glory of not having to carry a tent or sleeping pad.  The second day we hiked 24 km in the pouring rain. It literally poured the entire day. My waterproof Goretex boots held on until kilometer 18, and thankfully my jacket held up! 


Still happy even though it's raining cats and dogs. 

To save time, we decided to skip a hut, which was why day two was 24 km. We ended up having lunch in the hut we skipped. Fortunately there was a fire going in it when we arrived. We learned from a few other hikers that the storm had washed away two water taxis over night and that all taxis off the track had been canceled due to unsafe conditions. 

Hiking on a beach is only romantic if your legs aren't being sand blasted by the 70 km/hour winds.

Time for this to stop. Only a few kilometers away from the hut we were going to stay the night in.  At the hut, we learned that the estuary we were supposed to cross the next day was extremely high due to the rain, and would be nearly impassable. After watching two very tall and very brave hikers wade across it with the water coming to their armpits we decided we needed to change our plans. 

Fortunately, Kiwis are big fans of backcountry luxury hotels.  We hiked the two kilometers to the nearest one only to learn that conditions had only worsened over night.  We couldn't go forward due to the estuary and the lack of water taxis (our exit point), and we couldn't go back because the trail had been washed out in two places.  Many of our fellow hut mates decided to wait it out and booked a room in the hotel. We were about to do the same when we heard the word "helicopter".  

Luckily for us there was a small break in the weather that would allow a helicopter to ferry us out and back to town. We were lucky enough to get to spots on the last flight out and it took about 15 minutes to fly back to our starting point. 


This helicopter was the only one approved to transport the Royal Family. 


Our South Island trip included so many other stops, it's hard to summarize it all. Our stop in Dunedin and our drive up the West Coast really sticks out in my mind, but will have to wait until another day! 

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Life in the Marlborough Sounds

Dave and I have been in the Marlborough Sounds of New Zealand for over three months now. I am so grateful we have been able to work here and be right on the water.  Being here has definitely been a nice change in lifestyle. Our commute consists of walking 30 seconds. We can't go anywhere on our breaks unless we take a boat. If we want to go walking, it will always, without fail, involve steep hills. If we are overheated, we can run and jump into the ocean to cool off.  If we're feeling ambitious, we can go fishing for some blue cod.  I like to think we took advantage of our free time to do as much as we could around the area.  One thing we didn't get to do was mountain bike the Queen Charlotte track, but who knows, it might happen yet!


The views here are fantastic, every morning we woke up to the sunrise - or rather it woke us up.  We also got acquainted with a lot of the local wildlife here, including wekas, cicadas, bellbirds, fantails (super cute birds that will follow you around on the trail), and huhu bugs.

We also get to wake up to mornings like this!


A cicada. They are everywhere during the summer and they're loud.  Almost deafening. Photo Credit: David Cassidy. 


One of the shags that live in the bay.  There is a huge colony of them about a 2 minute kayak away. Photo Credit: ME!

Wee Fantail following us around. It has such a unique way of flitting about!


We've also been fortunate to be able to work with a wonderful group of people and formed our own little Marlborough family.  Nick, one of the mangers, is even in the photo!

After our Lady Karen cruise, not everyone is in the photo unfortunately!


Panpan hugging me and lifting me up. 

"Housekeeping!!"

Cruising on the Lady Karen
As Sarah's farewell gift, most of the staff were able to go on a cruise through the sounds on the boat called Lady Karen.  It's run by a Kiwi called Gordie. He is pretty much one of the nicest, friendliest people anyone will ever meet.



We got to fish for a bit, stopped for a swim, got to shoot some skeet and mostly lounged around and drank alcohol.  The chefs at the resort also made us some lovely salads and desserts for the day.

Look at how big this blue cod is! Alex couldn't believe his eyes. 

Skeet shooting. 

General lounging.

More lounging.

Visiting Lochmara Lodge
While we were here, we also spent the day at another resort on the sounds called Lochmara Lodge. It is a hotel as well as an art studio and wildlife sanctuary.  They take care of animals (mostly birds) that are injured.  We had lunch at the cafe and then walked around the resort. There were hammocks, art work, river eels, pig feeding and bird feeding in their aviary.  They even had a rope swing but we didn't have our togs with us.





Hammocks were everywhere


It's kinda hard to get out of them, okay?

Mosaic couch. Art and functional.

Feeding birds at the aviary. 



Days Off
On our days off, we would also just relax around the resort.  We would go to a neighbouring jetty and sun bathe (summer in December..what??), go fishing, or snorkel.  I honestly couldn't believe that we could just DIVE for scallops and eat them for free! One of the chefs, Bridget, taught me how to remove them from the shells. Pretty cool process, and kind of odd actually killing your own food!  When we weren't too busy at the resort, we would go kayaking and stand up paddle boarding.  If we were feeling really ambitious, we would go walk along the Queen Charlotte track, or to the look out.  You have to understand, work consisted of walking up and down hills all day.  Walking up and down hills on days off weren't exactly at the top of our list, but we did manage to get out a few times. 



Walking from Ship's Cove to Furneaux Lodge, looking out at the Marlborough Sounds.


Snorkelling with SamSam.



Paddling to a secluded beach. 





Six Course Dinner
Before Panpan and Sam left, we also got to eat at the Foredeck, the five-star restaurant on the resort. The chefs prepared a special six course degustation (meal) for us that included just about every animal you can eat (minus chicken) and a wine to match each one.  Here they are in reverse order, descriptions are quite simple, even though the meals and flavours were quite complex.


White chocolate mouse, with a lemon curd center, blueberries and a popcorn crust.

Refresher: Freeze dried lychee, vanilla, fresh passion fruit, ginger beer ice.

Veggie side of kale and carrots. 

Beef Wellington with veggies. I was so excited, I forgot to take a picture before I dug in. 

Salmon with crusted mussels

Pork belly and scallops and potato rosti. Scallops were fried in Marmite. Mmm!

Tuna (yum!), prawns (yum!), proscuitto (yum!) and cantaloupe (yum!). 


Each course came with a delicious wine match, chosen by Stacey and Sophie. Needless to say, I was very full and very drunk by the end of the meal.  


I was lucky enough to also have a friend come visit! Benoit came and spent the day kayaking and had lunch at the resort.  Hard to believe we met seven years ago in Prague!!  Doesn't feel like it was that long ago at all.

Lunch at the Bight Cafe, open to the public, and right on the water. 


Working and living in an isolated resort has been a fantastic experience. I will never forget the people I met here and I will certainly miss them and the wonderful lifestyle we had here.  I don't seem to have any work pictures, but maybe I'll post some a little later.

PS. They pronounce Marlborough "Mall-Brah" here. Took me awhile to learn that. =)