"The only good thing to do with good advice is pass it on; it is never of any use to oneself."— Oscar Wilde

Tuesday 8 February 2011

Dog Sledding + New Schedule

Hello guys. So a new blog post it is!
Last week has been very busy, and everything started out Tuesday where Nina, a German exchange student, the two Aussies Madeleine and Amy, my Canadian friend Lindsay and I drove up to Monkton, Ontario to drive with a bus far up North in Ontario with a whole bunch of exchange students from all over the world: Norway, Germany, Austria, Holland, France, Belgium, Ecuador, Australia, Japan, Brasil, Finland, and of course Denmark which I represent. It was quite interesting to listen to so many accents. It was a long ride and we finally ended up on a hotel where we stayed for two days to have a mid year orientation and an extra dog sledding orientation where we learned how to harness a dog, pack the sled, etc. Here are some pics from the hotel where we just had fun, and we enjoyed the seldom happening of more people from countries all over the world gathering: A moment of epic awesomeness.
All the exchangees in one crowded hotel room
A stop to Mac'cies is good for a long ride to Algonquin
Thursday morning we went to the dog kennel with oh so many dogs. We got split in to two permanent teams that wouldn't see each other for the three days we were gone. My team got two guides called Adam and Adam who were really awesome and very enthusiastic. They instructed us in more dog sledding things, and then Lindsay and I got our sled which we packed easily. Then we got our dogs, and since I am not used to dogs I definitely extended my limits. And now there is no problems with me and dogs anymore. Our dogs were called Bean, Kanook, Jinny, Merv, Austin, and Suzuki. And then we went off. It was a wonderful feeling, and it wasn't as difficult as you might think. The only important words were: "Gi (Right,) Ha (Left,) Easy, Ready? Let's go, Wow (stop.) Our lead dog were Bean and Kanook, they were small but incredibly fast.


When we finally arrived at the camp we had to cut a lot of lumber and other chores. It was quite funny to cut whole trees and actually use it directly in the stove. When it got dark we had to make a camp fire, and this is where my skills as a scout comes in. First try and a huge fire was already burning without any use of paper :-) We slept 15 people in one tent; it was a big tent but it was still crowded. This lead to a warm night not worrying about freezing, but it was also very uncomfortable so I did not sleep very well.
Lindsay with our small lead dogs Bean and Kanook
Adam our guide cutting down wood
Nina (Germany) breaking through the ice so we could get water from the lake
Pierre (France) pulling the sled like a dog, Reynaldo (Brazil) enjoying
My awesome scouting skills... or not
I do realize this isn't the best picture of me, but at least you can see how crowded everything is in the tent
Next day we got up and got awesome breakfast. Well, at least a lot better than expected with pancakes and sausages and of course maple syrup. Yummy. We then started getting the dogs ready to Day two. It was a hard day for the dogs, but the land scape was amazing and I got to take some good pictures. Here are a few examples.


Here is Reynaldo eating lunch on a frozen lake
It is very nice with a few creeks that are actually not frozen.  
Some of the small trails. This is taken as you would see things from the sled.
Anyway, we got bak to the camp and I made dinner with a girl from Norway and Lindsay. After dinner we played a game the guides calles 'Man Hunt.' I really do not have the time to explain the rules, but it was funny and I made our team win the last round. It was a bit cold though, to crawl around in the snow at 10 pm. We got quite late in bed because we talked so much in the tent. When we finally decided to sleep, it did not take a long time to fall asleep. I slept much better than the night before.


The last day was almost as good as the others, the only thing annoying was the thought of getting home. We were sledding all the way back to the dog kennel, said goodbye to the dogs, and drove with the bus to the Guide's offices. We got nice chili con Carne and changed into regular clothes. It was nice and we got the chance to say 'thank you' to Adam and Adam. We also took some group pictures with them.
This is most of the students just after the last sledding
This is my seperate group with Adam and Adam. You can see now that we are not afraid of wearing t-shirts in the cold.
The trip on the bus back to Monkton went quickly, but because of snow storm (of course, we are in Canada) my host family, Nina, Yuki (Japan), Madeleine (Australia), and I had to stay in a Bed and Breakfast which was actually really cool. It turned out that it was a PERFECT B&B. It was covered with flowers, dolls, pink curtains, dresses, books, statues, etc. I can't really describe it, but it was like going in to a combination of a museum and a girl's dream. The next day (Sunday) we finally got home to Oil Springs.


And yesterday I started my new semester. My new schedule looks like this:


- Period 1: Instrumental Music. I play clarinet.
- Period 2: Grade 12 Gym mix (Girls and boys together)
Lunch
- Period 3: English grade 11 (This is the subject I fear)
- Period 4: People's Gym. (Gym with the special needs classes)


I finally joined JazzAttack, a singing group at the school, and it seems like we have a lot of concerts to perform. So I am going to be quite busy catching up with the others.
Oh and all the pictures above are taken from other exchange students, since I only brought a disposable camera for the trip.


Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends,
Mmm, gonna try with a little help from my friends
Ooh, I get high with a little help from my friends
Yes I get by with a little help from my friends,
with a little help from my friends

I have found the most awesome people in Canada. Thank you guys! And cheers for now.

4 comments:

  1. Bella, I enjoyed reading this.

    :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sounds like you had an awesome trip! Can't wait to here more when you get back to Denmark!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm in Ontario for an exchange semester as well. I really enjoyed reading about your trip! I hope to have the opportunity to go on a similar one while I'm here. Maybe with a little help from my friends...

    ReplyDelete