Hallstatt and Salzburg, Austria

A little background before getting into the heart of this post, we discovered through planning this trip that a lot of the places we were going to were UNESCO World Heritage sites, and Hallstatt is no exception. I wanted this trip to be similar to the Amazing Race in which we would take in as much as possible in the short time we had in each place in order to see as much as possible. While looking up where to go in Austria, I discovered a Rick Steeves video on you-tube where there was an ancient salt mine. The part that caught my attention however was the big slides in the salt mine that you can slide down. It felt like an Amazing Race opportunity, so that's partly why we decided to go there...and because it's beautiful.

Hallstatt, Austria

The town of Hallstatt is a couple hour bus ride outside of Salzburg, and since our hostel was cheaper in Salzburg than what we could get in Hallstatt, we decided to visit it as a day trip from Salzburg, so it became a pretty packed day. We had to take 2 buses to get there, but we figured it out and made it to the town shortly before lunch. We wandered the streets a little to get a feel of the place and to find the information center where we could figure out how to get to the salt mine. 

The salt mine is in the mountain above Hallstatt. There is a funicular that can take you up, or there is a short-ish hike (I think about 2 hours or less) and that option is free. Naturally, we decided to get some exercise and save some cash by walking. The trouble is, we did not have much time since we had to make sure we didn't miss the last bus, and the trails were not well marked. Story of our lives, we got "lost". in quotations because we still knew where we were and how to get back, but we could not figure out which path led up the mountain. There were a lot of narrow paths and staircases, but most of them terminated at people's houses. Eventually, we gave in and walked over to the funicular to take it up the mountain. From the funicular it is about a 10 minute hike to the salt mine. 

At the salt mine, we had to put on these suits to cover our clothing before going in. Super attractive. Then the tour guide took us deep into the mountain and we learned about salt mining and its origins in Austria 2000 years ago. Crazy. Anyways, the highlight was in order to go deeper into the mountain mine, we got to take slides. It was sweet. The picture below is not super quality, but it can give a bit of a visual of what went down.

There was also a staircase for the faint of heart. This was a very unique stop on the trip and I would definitely recommend it if you're looking for something different to do. We were some of the only North Americans on the trip. It seems to be the kind of place Europeans go to on holidays. 

We spent our last day in Salzburg wandering the streets, saw the outside of Mozart's house (neither of us cared about going in), and we enjoyed the panorama views from the fortress Hohensalzburg. 

Beautiful city, beautiful weather, but many more fun times to come. Good solid start to the trip.

Fortress Hohensalzburg

The Hills Are Alive

Our next stop in the journey was in the beautiful city of Salzburg, Austria. I'll talk more about the city in another post because I want to dedicate this one to our Sound of Music adventure.

When I went to Europe the first time on the FVC music tour, I loved Salzburg, but felt robbed of one essential part of the city - the Sound of Music Tour. I remember begging Mr. Myung if we could use our free time to go on the tour. He said no, and it was at that point I decided I wanted to your Europe on my own terms. Being on a school trip at the time, I couldn't just abandon the group without severe consequences, so I pledged to myself to return one day and do the tour.

Fast forward 6 years and I am back in Salzburg Austria, but on a budget. I wanted to travel Europe as cheaply as possible, partly because I didn't have a lot of money to work with, but also because the Dutch side of me craves good deals. My sister and I noticed the different tours offered cost anywhere from 30-60 Euros, which translates to around $45-90. I decided that was too expensive, so we researched instead where the tours went, located those places to the best of our ability on our map of Salzburg and decided to rent bicycles for a few hours for under 10 Euro and show ourselves around. We both know the Sound of Music well enough to recognize the sites when we see them.

It was a super hot day, we only had a few hours, and the places were pretty far apart, so we didn't waste any time getting going. We started at Mirabell Gardens, where Maria takes the kids when they go out on the town and they sing and run through the garden, so we did precisely that.

Next, we set out to find Nonburg Abbey, which is used as Maria's abbey for parts of the film. Since it's up on the hill by the Salzburg Fortress, I figured we'd have to pay to get there because you have to pay for the fortress. Turns out you don't, but we didn't know that at the time, so we returned later when we went to see the fortress. We then biked out several kilometers to see the back view of the Von Trapp house. I was leading with the map, and the signs and directions were very misleading. It was super hot out, so we're sweating and thirsty, and we get lost. We did manage to locate it after a little arguing and discussing how if we were in the Amazing Race, this would be the leg we would lose on.  (Side note, I have always wanted to be on the Amazing Race, and my sister would want to as well, so we pretended a lot on this trip that we were on the show. It worked because the trip was pretty fast-paced, so you had to be ready each day to do as much as possible.)

Back view of Von Trapp house in the Sound of Music

After this, we biked to Helbrunn Palace where the infamous gazebo from the movie is now found. We got lost again, but the way there we were planning how we were going to dance around it and sing. When we got there, out dreams were shot down because the gazebo is locked. You can't go inside. So we just had to take pictures outside instead.

At this point, we were exhausted and our rental was almost up, so we biked back to the city to return our bikes. This was definitely the cheapest way to go see the sights. We got back to our hostel (JUFA Salzburg - good place to stay - clean, large rooms and bathrooms, $28 a night, and good continental breakfast), took cold showers, than walked around the city before heading out to watch the last Harry Potter (in English) at the local theatre.

Definitely a good way to spend a sunny day in Salzburg.

Switzerland

Do you like mountains?
Do you like to hike in the great outside?
Does gorgeous scenery catch your attention?
Do you like chocolate, watches and/or cheese?

If you answered "yes" to any or all of these questions, then Switzerland is the place for you.

Seriously, Switzerland is amazing. It happened to be our first stop on the trip around Europe, and set the bar very high for the rest of the trip. Because of the cost (Switzerland is an expensive place), we chose not to spend too much time there, so I picked out a little gem in the mountains for us to start with some good cardio and exploring. Here's just a little taste test of what we saw:

The trip started with a super long travel day. We left our house in Surrey around 9am, took a 9-hour flight from Vancouver to Amsterdam, then hopped on a series of trains that led us to Gimmelwald, Switzerland. We traveled through Utrecht, Frankfurt, Interlaken, then Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. From Lauterbrunnen, we had the option of taking a bus or walking to the gondola. Since we had been sitting on trains for so long, my sister and I decided to walk the hour-long path to the gondola since it was still light out.

Most of the walk was through farmland, but at the end we went through a forest and it was getting dark. Catherine and I were both imagining our worst fears of wild animals attacking us. We were so spooked that when a cyclist whizzed past, we jumped.

We made it to the gondola and took it up to the town where we were spending the next couple nights - Gimmelwald. We stayed at the Mountain Hostel. It wasn't much to look at, it was a little like sleeping in a cabin, but it was sweet and I would definitely recommend it as a fun  place to stay. We were beat when we got there and had the intention of going straight to bed. We put our stuff away then grabbed our toothbrushes to get ready for bed. The bathrooms were downstairs, so we had to go through the lobby area to get there. In the lobby, a bunch of travellers were hanging out and playing Bob Marley on the piano they had. Naturally, Cath and I were drawn in and it turned out they had rewritten the lyrics to the song "Is This Love" so that it was about the mountain hostel. Then, we made a video of all of us singing the song. There was one guy on the piano, I had a shaker, and there was another guy with a stick that had bottle caps attached to it that jingled when he tapped it on the ground. It was a blast. We forgot how tire we really were and totally took in the hostel atmosphere. Because we were all such good sports, the guy who orchestrated the song bought us all a big chocolate fondu. Delicious!

The next morning, Catherine and I set out for our one day of hiking. We intended to do the main hike in the Jungfrau region that goes up to Schilthorn mountain. (One of the James Bond movies...one with something about the secret service was filmed up there). We hiked up to the next town, Murren, which had a live video of the view at the top of the mountain and it was super foggy. The main drawing point of that hike it the view you get at the top. We figured it wouldn't be so nice to hike 5 hours up a mountain to see nothing, so we asked if they could recommend anything else. We ended up hiking an alpine meadow instead which had some great views as well below the clouds, and stunning wildflowers.

For the rest, we wandered, I had an American from Chicago complement me on my ability to speak English (he know I was Canadian), and we played some intense Dutch Blitz with two Dutch brothers from Maryland.

We left Gimmelwald the next day, and on the way out, we stopped at Trundelbach Falls, which is a series of 10 waterfalls inside of a mountain. It was sweet. The last picture is from the city of Interlaken, where we had a 2 hour stopover between trains. This is a beautiful city. Next stop? Salzburg...

Change

I believe change is good. I had been craving for things to change in my life, to go to new places, to meet new people, and to experience more adventure. i had gotten sick of blogging because it underlined just how boring my life actually was a few months ago. I guess maybe boring is the wrong word for it, my life was becoming too much of a routine. I am not a fan of routine, so I needed a change.

For the past year I had been working an 8-4, Monday to Friday job at Paris Orthotics, which was a great, steady job where I met fantastic people and learned a lot. But I felt a little trapped. I was struggling to see where this was going in my life. I made a decision to follow something I saw as a dream, but I can see that God has been leading me towards this for a while, I've just been avoiding it. I applied for a masters program in worship at Calvin Seminary. Long story short, they welcomed me in with my science degree and I am now sitting in my apartment in Grand Rapids, MI procrastinating homework. Nothing too new there, but before I get ahead of myself, I need to backtrack and describe my summer.

I left this blog with a bit of a downer post. I was faced with a lot of hard things in the first few months of 2011, first by having my car totaled in an accident, then by my uncle's accident only 2 days later, then by the suicide of a friend. I felt attacked. One thing I did have to look forward to was the trip I was planning with my sister to Europe for the summer. First though, I dealt with my grief by donating my hair to cancer wigs in support of a friend of mine who lost her mom to cancer a few months earlier. She had shaved her head, but I was not brave enough or bold enough to do that, but I did manage to cut off 10-inches and get a pretty drastic cut. I couldn't even put it in a pony tail really at first, which is a big deal for me. That's my 'do! :)

In early July, I left for Europe with my sister. The following blogs I write will reflect my experiences on that journey. We had where we wanted to go all mapped out and booked hostels since it was high season, but we set out open to change and spontaneity, we just wanted a safety net so we wouldn't end up going way over budget on places to stay. We carried everything on our backs for 5 weeks, did crazy amounts of walking and hiking, and had an AMAZING time. There were ups and downs of course, but nothing we couldn't handle. Word of advice: if you want to take trains around Europe, go before you're 26 and get a global train pass - best decision I made.

Our journey began in Switzerland and went in a circle all the way out to Hungary and then back to the Netherlands. In total, I think we saw 14 different countries and stayed in 8. We arrived in Amsterdam and went right away to Gimmelwald, Switzerland, then Austria, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Italy, France, and the Netherlands. We took trains through Germany, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Belgium and Monaco and we also went to Vatican City. That's 14 countries total in 5 weeks. It was fabulous. More to come on that in the foreseeable future as more procrastination comes my way.

As for now, I am in Grand Rapids, working on an MA in Worship with the hopes of being a music director in a church.

God is good.

Job

Lately I've been feeling a little like Job. As the plans start to fall into place for the coming year at least, as I intend to follow my heart and dreams, I feel my life is crumbling around me. Maybe this sounds a little over-dramatic. Maybe it is. But this is how it feels right now.

My uncle has been out of commission for 2 months now after his sudden accident that has changed his life and his family's life dramatically. The outlook is promising, but his rehab options at this point are limited since he is unable to do any weight-bearing. So we wait. And we pray for healing. And we pray for a better facility with less geriatric patients. And we ask for patience.

I figured this event, which marked the end of an emotional February, would be the end for a bit, and that I could coast by for a while. That things would get better. Everything was going well until I received notice last week that a friend and former co-worker of mine took his own life the weekend before. I have never lost anyone close to me. And this seemed like such an unfair way to die. All we were left with were questions. Why? Was there something I could have done? As coworkers, we all got together one night to talk, support each other, and spend time together. It was tough, but we also got to talk about the good times and the laughs we had spent with our friend. We said our last goodbyes on Wednesday at a memorial service at SFU. It was a time full of tears, but also laughter and pride, as we were all grateful to have known such a wonderful man.

In the week between hearing the news and attending the funeral, I coasted along in a haze, trying to get through the days at work. I was left wondering what if I had shared my faith with him. Would that have made a difference? It wasn't until the memorial service that I found out he was a Christian, and it all made sense. He emulated Christ through his actions and his love. He had a genuine heart and gave so much of himself. Maybe so much that he was left empty and ran out of care for himself. During this week, I was also searching for ways to deal with my pain. A friend of mine lost her mom to colon cancer back in November. She shaved her head on her mom's birthday in February in remembrance and donated her hair to make wigs. I had been wanting to do that for a long time (donate my hair, not shave it) so I had grown it out for a while and it was getting really long. I decided last Saturday to just go out and do it. So with everything I needed, I went to the mall and walked into a hair salon, got an appointment right away, and cut off about 9 inches of my hair. I put it in a bag and mailed it away.

It's amazing what a haircut can do. I now understand the grieving process in the Bible. I always wondered why people would dress in rags and shave their heads while in mourning. It seemed a little excessive to me. But cutting my hair to the shortest it's ever been (it's still about shoulder length) not only took physical weight off my head, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my chest. I find it hard to explain, but through supporting a friend, remembering what my mom and my family went through with her cancer, by remembering a friend, and carrying out an act of love, I was able to deal with my grief and overcome the initial stage in the grieving process. The cloud around me that was closing me off from the rest of the world evaporated as well, and I was able to carry on. And I know that's what my friend would have wanted - to remember him, but carry on.

Which leads me back to Job. The story of Job, which some scholars believe never actually happened but we wont get into that now, although much more traumatic than my life shares some similarities with what I've been going through. The people around Job were suffering and dieing, and he dealt with it by shaving his head - just as it says here in Job 1:13-22:

"One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised.”"

Even after all that he had gone through (and this is just the beginning) Job grieved his losses and was still able to praise God. Now it's up to me to do the same.

On that note, here's to better days and a sunny weekend!

February 2011 - Month of Madness

They say March comes in like a lion - would that be why my February ended like a lion as well? So many things happened, I don't even think I can give an adequate recap that would do justice to the situation.

1. My sister decided to surprise the family and drop in on her way back home to China...from India! I found out a couple days before she arrived because she made the error of contacting someone within the school community. Any of you who went to Fraser Valley would know how quickly word spreads. An administrator whom I will not mention by name, unknowingly spilled the beans at a worship team practice at the church. I didn't believe her, but the I confirmed with my sister online that night and had to keep a big secret for an entire day. My parents were so shocked when she arrived. We spent the week she was here hanging out and playing board games, which is quite the competitive experience in my house.

2. I applied to Calvin Seminary for a masters program in music there and had one of my references pending. I needed to be accepted by a certain date in order to qualify for financial aid, which is imperative. It was coming close, so I made a plea and managed to get accepted just in time for financial aid applications. My mind is not 100% made up yet, but the option is there.

3. I was in a car accident last Saturday. It was small - a lady in a minivan ran a stop sign in the snow and hit my driver's side door. My car was written off so now I have to start from square 1 again. For the time being I will be a transit rider and bicycler.

4. I was wanting February to be over because so many other things were going on as well. On the last day of February, I found out my uncle was in a really bad accident - his car was hit head-on by a semi. It took 3 hours to get him out of his vehicle, then he was air-lifted to Royal Columbian Hospital. He went through surgery right away - we all feared the worst. Miraculously, my uncle survived with a broken arm, heel, and hip, and should make a full recovery - after extensive rehab of course. He is doing really well and I am so thankful to still have him in my life.

This is just the shortened version of my month, but trust me, it was crazy. I'll go more detailed later, but I'm tired and should probably call it a night...

A Christmas Miracle?

So I've realized I haven't posted any stories lately of the random events that often occur in my life. Sometimes when I write blogs, I just cover the basics of my life and then I feel like my life is boring, since it's not always that eventful. So I plan to change this line of thought and start posting some more of those zany aspects of my life. This particular story, though not entirely Christmas related, occurred on Christmas Eve...

My parents always visit my Grandma in Abbotsford every Friday at Menno Hospital care facility. This particular Friday happened to be Christmas Eve. They usually leave around 2pm, and since both myself and my brother had to work on Christmas Eve, we decided to go meet up with them and see my Grandma and then have dinner with my Grandpa.

For a little bit of background, my car, although it works great, has a little glitch occasionally with the windshield wipers. And me, being the not-so-cautious person that I am, have not had them looked at yet by someone who knows anything about cars. What happens is that sometimes they get stuck on my windshield and stop working. No big deal, right?

Well, on the way home from my Grandparents place, it was pouring rain. I begged my brother to ride with me in my car so I wouldn't be alone. So there we were, driving down the freeway. It's dark. It's pouring. And I can't see. The window is blurry. The lines on the road are not very clear. The windshield wipers are stuck. This is just a situation for disaster. My brother rolls down his window, reaches his arm out and move the wipers with his hand. They start working again. A few moments later, they stop again, and he rolls his window down, and fixes them. This continued the entire way home. From Abbotsford to Surrey. There were times I thought we were for sure going to crash and die. I thought that would be the last time my brother would ever drive with me again. I think he was more scared than I was. At least I was laughing about it. We joked a little about what a sight we must be to the other drivers on the road, but I could tell by the hesitation in his laugh that he was very uneasy about the situation. Needless to say, we made it home, car and all, in one piece and lived to see Christmas, my brother with a very wet and cold right arm, and me with some mild anxiety and a large dose of thanks.

I think I should get those wipers looked at...

2010 Reflections

Little tidbits of 2010:

January-April:

- Rang in the New Year with some friends from church and their family. It was a little awkward though because I didn’t realize I was the only non-relative invited. They’re like family, but being the only person with no traceable family relationship was a little weird. I learned it’s not as much fun ringing in the new year with couples when you’re single. It was still good times all round.

- My parents went to Korea for a wedding. I took care of the dog. She got sick. Not as sick as she did when my parents went to China, but it still was gross.

- Got hired by VANOC to work during the Olympics – from January till March. It was a bit of a fiasco since I didn’t start until the end of January when I was really supposed to start Jan. 4, and they told me I’d be working at Athlete’s Village, which would have been AMAZING, but really I got to work at the (not so) Quality Inn in Surrey. Major letdown. But the pay and the perks were good, even though the hours were terrible.

- Played piano for a friend’s wedding on Jan. 23. I also got to perform a little at the reception with Ethan Vanderleek. We did some background music while people were coming in to sit down, and we also performed the music for the first dance and the father-daughter dance. It was a great time, and my first time singing solo in public.

- One perk of working for the Olympics – the VANOC invitational Opening Ceremonies Dress Rehearsal. I got to see everything from the opening ceremonies except the torch lighting. It was so amazing seeing it in person – way better than on the TV.

- Another perk of working for VANOC was my accreditation pass which got me into venues (I only had it for the Paralympics). I got to sit in athlete’s seating for some sledge hockey games, and they were great!

- Went to many free concerts during the Olympics: Dan Mangan, Sam Roberts Band, Hot Hot Heat, Said the Whale, Mother Mother...

- I turned 23

- Mexico Mission Trip with my church in March. I got to drive a lot of the way. Driving is the best. No joke. I also helped with leading the music in Mexico for the VBS program

May – August:

- Took summer classes to finish off my BSc degree in Kin

- Worked at The Right Shoe

- Went to Creation Fest with a group from church. Included concerts by: Switchfoot, David Crowder, Hillsong Live, Newsboys and many, many more

- Went camping with the Young Adults from church. We almost got kicked out of the campsite for being too noisy at night. We brought 3 guitars, a drum, a ukulele, and an egg shaker. We got in trouble when singing a hymn. No joke. It was Trees of the Field.

- World Cup Soccer! Need I say more. Highlight for me – The Netherlands vs. Brazil game. SO GOOD!

- Hiked Joffre Lakes with my siblings and my dad. It was not an easy hike, so I was definitely proud of my 60-year-old dad for keeping up with us... for the most part.

- Saw Michael Buble in concert!!! Actually, he walked right past me. I wanted to make this a photo highlight reel, but my old laptop died and I lost most of my photos for now, but I do have a picture for this one:



September – December:

- Got hired by Paris Orthotics – a co-op job, so I’m not officially graduating until next June (2011)

- Walked the Stanley Park Seawall with my mom on a super rainy September Saturday. We were the only walkers on the wall. There were a few die-hard runners and
cyclists as well. We felt hard core. Actually, we are hard core.

- Went to Passion Vancouver in November with some friends. Over 10,000 young adults prising God in the same place. It was simply amazing.

- Went snowshoeing with my mom and brother after Christmas. The weather was stunning. This has become a Boersma family tradition, for whoever can make it.



Well, that’s all I could come up with for this year. I’m sure I forgot a bunch of stuff, oh well. Looking forward to a fabulous 2011!!

Happy New Year!!!

Boersma

In Christ Alone

A week ago, I received a text message from a youth in my church asking for prayer for her mother, who was losing her battle to cancer. I had a hard time putting the words together to pray for this situation. Then,a song came into my head, so I sat at the piano and sang this song as my prayer, dedicating it to the Leenstra family. The cancer took Sheila's life that night. Last night was the funeral and it was beautiful - so much love and support for the family. And the same song that I had played just a week ago for a prayer was performed at the funeral. This is it...

In Christ Alone

In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! who took on flesh
Fulness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied -
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave he rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine -
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

A Change of Pace

So I've done it. I made it through my first September of not going to school since I was 4 years old. It's crazy to think of how many years of our lives are spent in the classroom. For me, it's been 1992-2010, that's 18 years of the same routine. 18 years out of 23 alive. And now it's over, and I don't know what to do with myself. Technically I'm still a University student even though my coursework is done because I used the co-op program to help find me a job, since the job market is pretty tough right now.

So, I have a contract working for Paris Orthotics until April 2011, and then I officially graduate in June. I'm working in the orthotics lab, so it's a bit of a nice break from customer service. The people I work with are tons of fun, so I enjoy that. The job in itself though is a little monotonous. All I do is take work orders for orthotics and input the information into the computer system so that the people who actually create the orthotics know what to do. The people making the orthotics have little knowledge of biomechanics or lower limb ailments, so my job is to lay out the instructions clearly for them. I also have to landmark certain points on the foot casts the clinicians send in - like the calcaneal-vertical line for example, which marks where the heel would actually line up with the rest of the leg. Sorry if that doesn't make any sense, but that's the best I can do with explaining it without a visual. Anyways, it's pretty repetitive work, so I'm glad it's short-term.

I am so looking forward to next summer because I plan to go to Europe! It's been something I've wanted to do since going to Europe in gr. 12. And I decided I would wait till I graduated, which is next year officially. I asked my sister if she would be interested in coming with me and she said yes, so right now it's the two of use. After going with a group from school, I decided I wanted to do a trip on my own terms, and go where I wanted to go, so that's what we're doing. Right now, the countries on the list are Switzerland, Italy, France, Austria, Poland, and Croatia, and of course, the Netherlands. I've been looking at sights and selecting where to go so we can figure out what to expect as far as price and timeline go, but apart from that, I kind of want to wing it and play the trip by ear.

This year (meaning September onwards, as we all know the year starts in September) is going to be legendary! Totally different from what I'm used to, which is awesome. I am stoked.

Summer Studying

I think I've been letting too much time pass between posts. It's not like nothing is happening in my life right now, but it all seems so mundane and routine to me by now. Excitement is building within me though, as only 2 finals separate me from having more letters attached to the end of my name - "Elly Boersma, BSc. in Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology". It sounds more impressive than it really is, but it's still a big deal for me. It's taken me 5 years, but I did it...almost. I'm trying to study, but it's such a gorgeous day and I just want to go outside and enjoy summer. Did I mention I hate studying?!?

I won't get to have the actual cap and gown experience until June 2011 though, because I have a co-op job lined up for September to April. Basically the school helped me find work after graduation, not a bad deal, but I get credit for it, so I have to pay course fees. I'm going to be working for Paris Orthotics at their lab where they actually make orthotics. I don't know exactly what my job entails, but I'm basically a "translator", taking what the pedorthist has prescribed and looking at patient foot molds, and putting it in words the lab workers who make the orthotics can understand, so they can make the orthotic. It's a bit confusing, I know, but I don't know exactly what it is either, so I'll enlighten you all when I know what I'm doing. :)

After April, I'm intending to travel, but exact plans are still unclear. Ever since high school, I've been wanting to travel back to Europe, but on my own terms and go where I want to go, so that is definitely an option. My sister is living in China, but there honestly isn't a whole lot else I'd want to do in China. I've always wanted to go to Australia and New Zealand, and I also want to go to Chile...so many places to see, so little money...

As for right now though, I should get back to studying so I actually can graduate. Exams suck.

Boersma

Time out?

Picture this, you're 10 years old, running across the gravel field at the back of your elementary school. It's an intense game of tag. You have been spotted as a prime target, and the "it" man is after you. You run as fast as you can, changing direction to throw them off, but the chase is on. You look down at your feet, urging them to go faster, and notice a shoelace has loosened itself and is flapping in the wind. You refocus on the task at hand, but the pursuer is gaining on you. In one last desperate attempt to escape, you decide to use your shoelace as a scape-goat. "Time out!!" you scream. You kneel down, and take your time re-tying your laces, hoping your pursuer will lose interest in you and move on to someone else, hoping also to catch your breath. As playground code-of-conduct goes, you always honour the time-out. So the "it" man waits patiently. You stand back up. Shoelaces done. You glance at your pursuer. You yell "time in!" as quickly as you can while in the process of running away, hoping for a head start. Knowing in your head, eventually you're going to get caught.

Life has been feeling a little like a game of tag lately. Coming to the end of my degree (I'll have a BSc by the end of the summer!!), the actual real world, beyond the university classroom, is in full pursuit. My life is waiting to begin a whole new journey, but the fear of being in that spot is causing me to run as hard as I can away from it. Sometimes I wish I could just have a time out. I need time to catch my breath. Gather my thoughts. Time to determine a game plan. Maybe I wish my life had a play book. Whatever life threw at me, I could have a practiced response to take on any situation. But then I think, what fun would that be? Where would the spontaneity of life be? Life is not intended to be preprogrammed responses to events. I need to just take life as it comes and learn and grow with every new experience. And I know God will be with me every step of the way.

I'm just nervous about what the future is going to bring to me. Nervous, but also excited to see in what ways will I be stretched and changed into a better and stronger person.

Frustration

It is down to crunch time. The opening ceremonies for the 2010 Olympic Games commence in under 8 hours. Mayhem has ensued. Details are not permitted because you never know who is reading this, but let's just say there's this bus company that isn't cooperating. Gameday has a system to follow and this particular company seems to be the only one that doesn't understand. It's a simple concept really.

1. schedulers outline the routes that need to be driven at what time for events and practices. Done

2. this information is passed on to the companies based on the routes their drivers have been trained on. done

3. Those company supervisors then assign their drivers to the routes. Fail for this one company.

4. Driver's schedules are then passed on to the hotels (ideally in a timely matter). Fail.

I have drivers who haven't done anything except for training since they've been here, 5 days ago. Their names just haven't made the schedule yet. Let the Games begin!

I'm not very good at keeping secrets. They consume me. Actually, it's not that I can't keep a secret, I won't tell anyone, but it takes a lot out of me because I think about it all the time. I often speak before thinking, so in order to prevent myself from blurting out a secret, I need to make sure I'm thinking. Anyways, I got to see the Opening Ceremonies dress rehearsal on Wednesday. It was a Vanoc employee/volunteer invitational and all the headlining acts were there. The hard part is keeping the secret. I am so glad it's tonight, because then it won't be a secret anymore. I'll be free.

When people ask me how it was? It was great! I thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't know how good it will be on TV because I think the live experience adds to how good a show was, but I definitely recommend watching it. And watch it from the beginning. It starts at 6.

"Is that it?"

I was sad I had to work while my friend Adana carried the Olympic torch through part of Surrey yesterday, it would have been cool to see her run it. I had to work at 4pm, and I had spent the night before at home, so I got stuck in crazy traffic on the way to work, but I thought nothing of it because I didn't think the torch was coming down that stretch of King George Highway. The closer I got to work, the more people I saw lining the street. Turns out the torch was coming down my stretch of King George. It took almost 10 minutes for me to turn into the parking lot, and then I ran to the street to watch. After the torch went by, one kid turned to his dad and asked "is that it?"...haha you gotta love kids. It's true though, there was so much hype, but when it comes down to it, it's not such a big deal. Some guy carrying the flame lights the next lady's torch, they hug and dance around, and she continues down the street. Done.

As for me, work is still crazy, disorganized, and very last-minute, but you can see things slowly coming together. I still know that once Friday comes around the chaos will become a little more organized chaos, people will be cranky pulling long hours with little rest, and bad food.

The drivers at my hotel love us. (how could you not? haha). Apparently there are issues with other RAs not doing what their supposed to and just not being very helpful at other hotels, so right now, even with a lack of amenities, the Quality Inn is the envy of all the other drivers. Most of the drivers here are recently retired, in their early 60s, and basically not much older than my dad. They bring us cookies and other snacks they stole from the bus depot, extra sandwiches they sneak from lunch, a dinner they don't want, you name it, it's great. I get a per diem for food allowance and I don't have to buy much food at all because the drivers keep feeding me. One driver went out to get me a donut along his route, said he'd surprise me, and came back with a box of 15 timbits. It's so sweet. I think some of them are just trying to butter us up. They've already been joking around about "favors" on Valentine's day - don't worry I've turned them all down. The vast majority are joking, but there's one or two that I think are not...a little creepy, but I'll just have to keep my eye on them.

That's it for now. These posts are turning into the diaries of the Vanoc employee, but really not much else is going on in my life right now, aside from planning for the mission trip to Mexico with my church youth at the end of March.

I'm not ready

When I was little, we used to play a game with my dad before bed that we appropriately named "I'm not ready". This game consisted of me and my siblings jumping on my parent's bed and my dad had to grab us, but he wasn't allowed on the bed. When he caught us, he would throw us over his shoulder and bring us to bed, one by one. Just so you know, even though I'm the youngest, I almost always "won" by being the last one left jumping on the bed. I don't really know why, but this seems like a good analogy for what's going on with the Olympics right now, so I'm going to go with it for now.

The Olympics are inevitable. They can't be postponed or negotiated, but they are set in stone, just like my childhood bedtime. Outwardly, to the untrained eye, Vanoc looks ready, just as I had my pajamas on and teeth brushed before playing the pre-bedtime game, and to anyone who wasn't my parent, I appeared ready for bed. But on the inside, I was not ready, and neither are they. This job is so disorganized. Hopefully they get their act together before the world gets here.

This job is through the co-op program at school, and although it has almost nothing to do with my degree aside from that it is connected to the transportation for the olympics, which is sports-related, and kinesiology is sports-related too. It is also designed to help us with direction for what career path we intend to take in the future. I am confirming I am not cut out for office jobs. I hate being stuck behind a desk. It is so dull and boring and I feel so sluggish. I think I get more exercise being in school, because I don't sit for a whole 8 hours in class. I've been considering the PDP program for highschool education at either SFU or UBC, but it scares me. I was a bit of a brat to teachers in highschool, and I wasn't near the worst one, and I think my antics would annoy myself, if that makes sense. Maybe I can learn to deal. I don't really know many other options with a kinesiology degree. Seeing as I graduate soon, I need to start figuring this out...

Bored

So I finally started "working" now, which is good, but everything is still so disorganized, it's driving me nuts. I put working in quotations because I'm not exactly doing anything right now.

I got hoe from a wedding reception on Saturday night, and decided to check my email because I was supposed to have heard something from Gameday regarding my start date and schedule. Sure enough, I got an email, and when I opened my schedule, it said I start 10am on Sunday, and that I needed to check in to my hotel and then wait for my supervisor to come and train me. So, I showed up and checked in without having anything because I had no time to pack. I'm staying at the Quality Inn in Surrey at least until March 5. There are 2 other RAs at my hotel, and we have to share a room, which has a main, typical hotel room, with a second bedroom with 2 beds in it, so 3 beds in total. We also have a kitchenette, with microwave, kettle, stove and fridge. It's all tiny, but functional.

So I check in, and one of the other girls showed up, and we just hung out in the room getting acquainted and waited for some direction. A manager finally showed up at around noon, but he didn't have much more information for us as he hadn't been told anything either, except that we had a few drivers showing up who needed to sign an agreement that they would behave at the hotel.

So between the 3 resident advisers at my hotel, there are 3 different shifts each day; one person covers midnight-8:30am, one person 8am-4:30pm and one 4pm-12:30am. I got lucky and scored the 8-4:30 shift, 6 days per week. The downside is, since we are all sharing a room, people are constantly coming and going at weird hours, so I think sleep will be limited. What a gong show this all is. Crazy.

As for right now, I'm sitting on a couch in my hotel room, trying to occupy myself with things to do till 4:30. There really is nothing. So I'm getting paid close to $18 per hour to hang out at a hotel.

The Truth Comes Out

Watching the Winter Olympics has been one of the highlights of my university career. I remember back in first year, winter of 2006, Torino Italy, cutting classes to watch events with Jackie. TVs were propped up around campus with crowds of people huddled around watching whatever happened to be on at the time. I don't like crowds, neither does Jackie, so we managed to discover a lecture hall in the Computer Science hallway with constant Olympics coverage projected on the wall, comfortable seating, and no one else in the room. Every chance we had, we would sit in that room and watch everything from curling to bobsleigh. When I found out the Olympics would be here in 2010, I couldn't wait for this year to come. It seemed so far off then...

When the opportunity came up to get a job with the Olympics, I jumped at it. It seemed too good to be true. For those that don't know, I was offered a job as a resident advisor. I didn't know what that was, but I was told I'd be living at Olympic Village for free, get a bunch of free clothing, and it was going to be great. I was so excited for this opportunity to rub shoulders with the athletes.

I had a training session today, and some of my dreams were shattered. Apparently I don't know how to speak Vanoc-anese - let me explain. It turns out that "Athlete's village" actually means "random hotel at some location in the lower mainland", "free clothing" translates to "black and orange coat", "athletes" means "bus drivers", and "resident advisor" is really "hotel concierge". Basically, I am going to be living at a hotel for 2 months, but they haven't told me where yet, and send bus drivers on their way to their shuttles to take them to the bus depot. I get to give out meal tickets, make sure they have their cell phones, and contact hotel front desk if a bus driver is being a tool and needs something. I get money for food. And I am going to be nowhere near Olympic venues. Not exactly what I had in mind.

Olympic Woes

Year 2010 has begun like no other in the history of my life. First off, over Christmas holidays, my mom got a herniated disc and has been a little out of commission since. That, however, has not prevented her from traveling to the other side of the world with my dad to go to Seoul Korea for a wedding. They left yesterday morning. I guess my mom is tougher than I thought. ;)

My opa fell on New Years Day, bringing him to the hospital with a broken hip. He had surgery the same day and is recovering in the hospital.

I was supposed to start work with VANOC on Jan. 4 as a resident adviser in athlete's village until after the Paralympics. VANOC hired another company, Angus One, to run the co-op students (which includes me), and the process is taking longer than they expected. So, I found out Jan. 1 that the start date would be Jan. 8 and we would get more information before then. Today came, and still no word, so I emailed Angus One asking for some info. They said they're behind schedule and training wont start till next week because nothing is up and running yet.

This has been the most stressful pre-work experience I have ever had. I really hope the job isn't this stressful. So now, I get another couple days of holidays...and I'm starting to get bored.

"Simply having a wonderful Christmas-time"

I love Christmas. Christmas movies, music, trees, the cold weather...it's great! Not much to say here about life as it is right now. I am still waiting to get more information from VANOC on a job that I am supposed to start a week from Monday. I hate the uncertainty, but I guess I could consider this a lesson in patience. Basically, what I know thus far is that I am going to be a Resident Adviser for the athletes at Olympic Village - but they still haven't told me if I'm in Vancouver or Whistler. VANOC has to be the least organised employer I have ever worked with.

Here's just the highlight reel of the Christmas holidays so far:

- worked a lot

- took my mom snowshoeing (this has become a tradition for us) and my brother came too. The sucky part was that the only day we had free was a day that it was raining on the local mountains. We still had fun though

- Went to my uncle's for dinner with the cousins on Christmas Eve. We had fondu. It was delicious.

- Went to see my Grandma and Grandpa at Menno Hospital in Abbotsford on Christmas morning after going to my Grandpa's church in Abbotsford. (My Grandma lives at Menno). It was great to see her but hard because you never know when it's going to be the last Christmas with her.

- I played piano with my Grandpa and another lady singing Christmas carols. I had never done anything like that with my Grandpa before and it was great.

- In the afternoon on Christmas, we went to my parent's church to help with a community dinner for people with nowhere to go on Christmas.

Time

...I need more...
...if only I had more....
...it would be done but I ran out of...
...there's never enough...
...life would be so much easier if I just have more...
...free...
...spare...
...leisure...
...buy some...
...kill...
...waste...

This four-letter word seems to comprise so much of our vocabulary. It also seems to be blamed for most of our misfortunes. As the end of this semester nears, there never seems to be enough time. Not enough time to study, to finish my assignments, to spend time with friends, to spend time with God, to clean my room, to do my laundry, to think about my future...

I have been asked the questions people normally get asked as they near their undergraduate career. "So Elly, what do you plan to do for the rest of your life?" The rest of my life? Really? I know I'm not much of a planner, but seriously, that's over 50 years (hopefully) that I have left. Do I really need to consider that far in advance? Now, I know that's not exactly what they mean, but it seems that way some time. Now that I'm 22, I really should know what career path I want to take and what my goals in life are - but I don't think that's realistic. Some people do know at this point what career path they want to take. I don't think God programmed me to work that way. All I know is that He will be with me every step of the way.

I had an interview today with VANOC that went really well. They "conditionally offered" me a job today which was different than the ones I was applying for. Basically, my interviewer is promoting me for the position at the end of today with the rest of the VANOC, so as long as the other VANOC staff haven't handed out a lot of offers for this position, my chances are pretty high. She thought I would be a good fit as a Resident Advisor - it would be coordinating that the people in Olympic Village get to where they need to go, that their stuff goes with them, and liase with the bus drivers. I wont know all the details until I get the formal offer, but the exciting part is I would have to live on site, which would be pretty sweet, so we'll see.

As far as graduation goes, it looks like it'll be in August, which is fine, because I have no plans aside travel for after grad, so this buys me more time before I need to apply for a "real job".

So I think I have wasted enough time. It's time to return to my homework and finish this semester strong - second-last semester of undergrad...it feels great!