Exciting news!
Matt and I are expanding our home by two feet…
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On Sunday, July 22, I did something I’ve wanted to do for years. I ran the Tely 10!
Now for a lot of people, hoofing it across 10 miles / 16 kilometers probably isn’t all that big a deal. Heck, when I lived in Toronto I often walked to and from work and covered around nine kilometers a day.
All ready to tackle those 10 miles.
But the Tely is different.
It’s a run that all of St. John’s and surrounding communities are aware of and make note. There are running clinics that can prepare you for the big day. It’s a rite of passage for a lot of runners.
On race day, there are thousands of runners who are local participants; sometimes they’re your neighbours or co-workers. And you don’t have to look far to find people from outside of the province who are in town for the race.
Last year I wanted to do the Tely, but sloppy training left me with an angry knee and I wussed out.
This year I was determined, but probably didn’t train as much as I should have…
Words can’t really describe what we experienced yesterday.
We were having some dinner after an amazing afternoon of visiting the Lukang Temple when we heard some drums and music out in the street.
Today is Guanyin Buddha’s birthday! We had no idea that we would come across what you’re about to see. These are videos of a ceremony where other temples have sent their Buddhas to wish her happy birthday (it’s obviously more complex and spiritual than that).
Amazing!!
~Virginia
Cross-posted to our GSE blog.
St. John’s to Toronto
As I write this, I’m on the first of three flights before arriving in Taipei. The Group Study
Exchange, traveling to the other side of the world… It’s all much more real now. Yeah I know, it’s about time, right?
Thank heavens I took yesterday off from work to finalize packing and take care of some last minute things. Even with that bit of extra time, I really needed a lot more.
I didn’t really sleep last night and instead took an hour and a half nap. I’m overtired right now, but am hoping and planning to do the bulk of my sleeping on the flight from Toronto to Tokyo. We leave around 12 pm which is almost a full 12 hour difference with Taiwan. If I can sleep on the front end of that 15 hour flight, I’ll begin the challenge of resetting my biological clock on the right foot.
But obviously I’m not expecting to sleep for a solid 15 hours. I don’t think I’ve ever slept for that long… Even when I was an infant!
I’ve taken a quick look through the available movies. I’m thinking it’s been far too long since I watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit. And Amelie is still one of my favourite movies. Haven’t had a chance to see Bad Teacher yet either.
A lot has happened over the past 12-14 months for Matt and I. We considered including a little newsletter/update in our holiday cards this year, but didn’t really have time to make that happen. As a compromise, we wanted to do a quick video update that could be shared with friends and family (especially those who live in different parts of the country and beyond). But again, there’s been a lack of time to make such an endeavour happen.
Instead, I’m here to encourage everyone not feel pressured into setting goals that are driven by guilt trips. It drives me nuts that the bulk of advertising right now focuses around weight loss, kicking bad habits like smoking, and dating (did you know that eHarmony is free this weekend? After the 50th time I saw their ad, I think I got the memo…).