Neener's Travel Blog

(Just a fun little writing project from my class to keep you warm on this wintry day.) Winter can be a tough time for everyone.  Days are shorter and often darker, bringing about seasonal doldrums.  The annual battle against the elements is a struggle felt by everyone, whether working out in the blizzards, driving on the icy roads, or hauling a toboggan up the slippery hill.  When the frosty grasp of winter works its way past toques and scarves and settles into the bones, the cold can seem impossible to escape.   But fear not!  There is yet a beacon of light and warmth in the vast wintry plains, a small comfort, bringing hope to even the most frozen of winter sufferers.  It is hot chocolate!  That glorious miracle of a delicious hot beverage, come to restore feeling to the extremities and joy to the heart.   In the beginning days of hot chocolate, Mayans and Aztecs believed the drink to have medicinal properties, probably du...

My last writing assignment of last semester was to write a manifesto.  The topic could be as broad or specific as we wanted - topics chosen by my classmates ranged from general advice on how to live a good life to enjoying rain to internet trolling...quite the range of characters we have in that little class. Honestly, this assignment was giving me a lot of issues, and I still am not happy with the way it turned out.  There's maybe two lines in this whole composition that I'm mildly proud of.  However, the message behind it, I am entirely supportive of (obviously, or I wouldn't have made it into a manifesto).  So, here it is, my manifesto for adventure. Manifesto for Adventure                 Nowadays, people are focussed on all the wrong things: money, status, acquiring material possessions.  People are surviving and thriving, but no one is really LIVING .  As residents of t...

The last  assignment  in my writing course was a memoir/narrative.  I honestly had such a difficult time choosing an event in my life to write about.  There was so much to choose from, but at the same time I couldn't think of anything worth putting into a story that people would want to read.  So I picked the most recent, emotionally charged event in my life.  In September I went to Edmonton Expo with a few of my very best friends. And this is the tale of what happened (cut down to approximately 800 words...it started out at 1300, and that still didn't include all the details...).  (Shout out to Alex for his pro editing skills - you da bomb diggity.) Meeting Clara                 This was it - I was going down.  My body was swaying and my vision was going dark.  It had gotten to be too much and I was seriously going to pass out.      ...

This year I'm taking a course called WRITE 298: Creative Non-Fiction Writing.  It's my favourite course this semester because I essentially get to write blog posts for school and so all the assignments are FUN.  Yes, I am describing school work as fun.  That's how great it is. So, throughout the year (it's a full year course, wonderfully enough), I'll be sharing some of my writings.  Here's our first assignment: a description of place.  Despite the short time my DTS outreach group spent in Kolkata, that city still stands out vividly in my mind - perhaps more vividly than other place I've been.  So, even though I haven't been there in a year and a half, and have hardly any pictures to look back on, it was easy to remember and write about. The Fabric of India The first glimpses of the city are overwhelming, and I’d almost be glad for the barrier of the taxi window between me and this new place, if it wasn’t for the stuffiness of the incense-choked ...

Starting over can be messy.  That’s exactly how I would describe my 2015 so far – messy.  Already this year has held a massive amount of heartbreak and change for me.  As I look back on all that’s passed, that’s really the first thing to come to mind.  How messy.  I have really made a mess of things. Life doesn’t really seem to care how much I may have going in my life at once (and I will tell you right now, that I always have a lot going on – probably at least 1.5-2 times as much as is healthy for a normal person).  Life doesn’t care – in fact it seems to enjoy constantly throwing more and more things at me.  Very often those things come completely out of the blue.  Because being prepared for something would be cheating.  As life threw new things at me, decisions needed to be made.  And as more and more things were thrown, my decision making ability decreased.  Rapidly.  Until it seemed that nearly every decision I m...

I have been home for a month and ten days now.  It feels strange.  Like I'm just stopping back at my birthplace before I head out on my next great adventure.  But at the same time I don't feel out of place here.  I've never been more happy to come home.  I've been having all sorts of mini adventures with my amazing family and friends.  2014 will be a year to remember, for a multitude of reasons. Readjusting to life in Canada was (and is) a process, but wasn't nearly as difficult as I had anticipated.  I was prepared for the absolute worst in every aspect of my life and to be completely miserable...but I haven't.  And I can't decide if that's good or bad.  I wasn't prepared for everything to go so well, and frankly, I don't know how to handle it.  I was all set to have to work incredibly hard to fit back in with Canadian culture and reconnect with my friends and find a church and discover places to serve...but it all came so natur...

South East Asia Missionary Life Some of the trivial and strange things that have come to be normal life over the past few months. That moment when: - you can't remember the last meal you had without rice - toilet paper is no longer a necessity - traffic back home will never seem bad again - you discover that it is possible to live without wifi - you run out of water - you've had more bucket showers than real showers in the past month - electricity just decides to go out sometimes - you prefer to go to the market than an actual store - you can't remember the last time you sat in the front seat of a car - it's been an even longer time since you actually drove a car - two outfits are all you need to get through three weeks - you only shower once a week (it's cold in Darjeeling!) - or you want to shower once an hour (it's HOT everywhere else!) - you can't go a day without a tea break (Morning tea - the best time of day!) - cars...