I. Am. Exhausted. So much cool stuff has been happening recently! I'll do my best to fill you in. Since last time I posted, the snow has melted, the daffodils are flowering, there's a phytoplankton bloom in Pedder Bay, One World is done and dusted, I met a lot of parents, and I spent a week kayaking in the Broken Islands up near Tofino. I'll start with the phytoplankton bloom because I'm sure everyone is desperate to heat about that! The bay has been red for about 2 weeks now, longer than Laura (our Marine Science teacher) expected, but soon we're expecting a zooplankton bloom (zooplankton are the animal equivalent in the plankton world and the phytoplankton are the plants) which will bring more fish to the bay, and therefore more birds. How cool is nature?
One World. Wow. I've done stuff on stage before but this was so different. Partly because my costume was blue jeans and gumboots, partly because I didn't know anyone in the audience but I think mostly because it caused me to get really close to some people who I don't often cross paths with in the crazy Pearson life. I really enjoyed the whole experience, all the way from auditioning, through hours of rehearsals all the way to the McPherson Theatre in Victoria. Last Friday (15th of March) we didn't have classes, but instead the entire school loaded onto buses and headed to Victoria for our dress rehearsal. We ran it once and then did it for an audience that night. Back to school for the night and then on Saturday morning we headed off again, doing 2 shows that day, a 2pm matinee and an 8pm show. We got back to school at about midnight, and all fell into bed until the next morning when we had brunch with all the families who had come for One World. I met a lot of my friend's parents which was super cool. Then it was Monday, and we were paddling kayaks around to the maintenance docks to load them onto a trailer and drive up to Secret Beach the next day. Most of Monday was spent packing the van to go kayaking for the week, while some people went to town to buy the food for the week. On Tuesday morning we got up, had breakfast, and boarded the bus ready for the 5 hour drive. On the way up we listened to a podcast called 'Shit town' about the small-town dramas of a place called Woodstock, also known as Shit Town, Alabama. We arrived at the campsite, set up, and whipped up some trangia carbonara for dinner. On Wednesday morning we loaded boats and headed off to find ourselves a nice little island to call home for the next few days. Before we even left somebody spotted a little spray, and as it turned out we followed 3 humpback whales out towards the Pacific as we paddled out. It was a beautiful sunny day with breathtaking views, and the phrase 'Oh my gosh this is SO Canadian' was heard a few times (clear blue water, pine trees on the shore with a backdrop of snowy mountains, does it get more Canadian than that?). Lunch was on a little island called Hand Island, and we had to race the tide to get through a little passage that made our trip a tiny bit shorter (not everyone made it, some boats had to go around). We ended up camping on Turret Island for the next 3 nights doing day trips out and back each day. We watched the beautiful sunset that night, and had a small fire on the beach. On Thursday we woke up to cold fog. Wet wetsuits were dragged on and boats were launched. We headed out to explore some more islands, and it cleared up a bit as we went. We stopped on one island to appreciate the enormity (is that a word?) of some of the trees on it, so much of Vancouver Island's old growth forest has been logged so we're lucky to be able to see these few who are left. Rain was forecast for Friday but we woke up to a clear, sunny sky and headed out again, this time to some new islands. As we paddled that morning we watched the rain roll in until it eventually hit us. For lunch we landed on a steep rocky beach and had to time our landing with the waves so we didn't get sucked straight back out again. We did a little bit of exploring on that island before heading off to another one that had a bit of First Nation history. We couldn't land on that one because there were too many floating logs and not enough beach room for all of our boats. We paddled home and made dinner under some serious tarpology that had been tarpologised the day before. On our last day, Saturday, it was sunny again and we paddled back to our first campsite before driving the 5 hours home on Sunday. That was yesterday, and now I'm sitting nice and warm in my bed, after going bowling with Cherish (the elderly care place in Langford) this afternoon. Our second years are preparing for their upcoming exams next week, and first years are starting to feel the pressure of school pick up. The next big thing that I'm looking forward to is the kayak instructor course I'm doing at the end of the year to prepare for being a kayak leader next year. I hope everyone's well and happy. Lots of love to all of you. Bella x
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Hey!I'm Bella. I love writing about all sorts of things, and here are a few of them for you to read. I hope you enjoy :) Archives
April 2020
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