Saying goodbye to 2012 in style

I'm sitting at Mom and Dad's computer right now. I've been home for Christmas for almost a week now. It's been so nice to be home, even if I came down with a cold about 18 hours before I got on the plane in Vancouver.
It's been a relaxing time - hanging around the house, puzzling, card games, dog walks, visiting with friends. It's been good. And of course Christmas, that was good too. We had Christmas Eve at Robin's house this year. So the annual family photo is there, rather than at home and it is missing Emmy (she is not a big fan of car rides). But here we are in all our festive glory.

We also played Milles Bornes (Mom's not so favourite game).

Christmas Day started in the usual fashion with stockings and pet gifts. Peggy got a snazzy new sweater. She doesn't love it. But I do.

Emmy got catnip toys and honeysuckle toys. They just turn her right into a kitten (for a brief moment of time, she is 16).

The afternoon was spent playing Dutch Blitz and Mom and Robin doing dinner prep stuff. Our usual family friends were over for dinner and of course that meant B-52s by Bryan.

(The first on the left was just a practice - they got much better as he continued to pour)

Christmas was really good.

So tomorrow, it's back to Calgary. But this time heading somewhere warmer than Vancouver (at least briefly). First stop, Buenos Aires for New Years. I'm pretty excited. And then on to Ushuaia at the very southern point of South America. From there - on to Antarctica! Yahoo!!!!

I am going to try to get some blogs in while away, but no promises as I'm not sure how reliable/expensive internet will be. So if not, I will keep blogs ready to be posted for when I am back from the "Nice Icy Land" (as per Tacky the Penguin - a favourite book). Wishing you all the very best of the new year and hopefully catch up with you all soon.

Saying thanks

You know when you are working on something on your computer and something interrupts you, a phone call, dinner, whatever, but you leave the computer for a bit and then come back and your screen saver is on? Well, like many people my screen saver scans through my pictures. Usually I get back to my desk, tap the mouse and start working on whatever again. But this evening, after grabbing something out of the oven and serving up some dinner, I stopped for a minute. The picture, it was a picture of me, with 3 of my favourite people. I'm not going to say who. But the photo made me stop. I stopped to watch some of the photos scan past. I have to say, I may be one of the luckiest people in the world. I mean, not that I need photos to tell me this. I know this. But sometimes a little reminder is helpful.

The oldest photo on my computer is from Christmas 2000. It's me, with 3 of my favourite people - Mom, Dad and Robin. It's our usual Christmas photo, post-church, in front of the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. I have 10 others like it on my computer (there isn't one from Christmas 2 years ago). There are also 17 others like it in boxes in Mom and Dad's basement. But that one makes me smile. It was a big year. My last year living at home. It marked, in many ways, my last year as an official kid.

As the pictures go by, there are many of my pets - Peggy and Emmy, Ginny, Smokey and Boots. There are my cousins - from when some of them were little to others getting married. There are my friends - my UVic ladies - when we were 20 and now that we aren't 20. There is law school, nights out celebrating whatever we decided needed celebrating that night, even if we were just celebrating another Thursday. Ottawa. Oh Ottawa. My friends back home and their weddings and babies. And now out on the coast where many of those friends from the past are again part of my everyday life.

And obviously, there are many of the pictures that you all are used to seeing on here. My travels. From Australia to Zambia. I have pictures on 6 continents. With new friends and old friends. Andre, Johann and Deiter. Sometimes when the photos scan past, it takes me a moment to identify where a particular one was taken. But don't worry, I can always figure it out.

I'm so lucky. I have an amazing life and amazing people to share it with. I have been so lucky to have such great adventures. The adventures away and the adventures at home.

The most recent picture on my computer, it's a picture of me and Mom and Dad at the top of the Chief a few weeks ago when they were out visiting. It's a beautiful setting and we all look very happy to have made it up to that wonderful place. Unfortunately the guy who took the photo, he didn't frame it very well (he cut us off at the knees), but it is still a great photo, because of what it reminds me of when it scans by. Beautiful places with people I love.

As some of you have heard, and some of you have guessed, I will be writing about an adventure again in the not to distant future. My goal for a long while has been to travel to 7 continents before I am 30. I had kinda given up as 30 has been approaching quickly and I seem to have stalled out at 6 continents awhile ago (4 and a half years ago if I can calculate properly). But, come January, with a month to spare, I will be off on an adventure to the seventh continent. I am off to see the big penguins and to step foot on Antarctica. I am super excited, but until that time, I'm going to try to let the pictures scan by a few more times and take in again what a great life I have.

Much love to you all.

A year ago...to new adventures!

A year ago I was settling in. Kinda. Settling into my adventure in Durban. Ellie and I were still trying to find a place to live. We were watching world cup rugby a lot (do the bok jive!) The newest Canadian interns are arriving in SA sometime around now, and I am having moments of wishing I was back on the start of that adventure. But at the same time, the current adventure is pretty good. It may not be as exotic, but things are going pretty well.
I moved out to the west coast at the end of July. Squamish is my new home. I'm working at a firm in both Whistler and Squamish. Things are good. And I continue to have moments of thinking how beautiful it is here. Whether at lunch today in the bright sunshine, looking at the Chief. Or the beautiful drive back and forth to Whistler, or on some days back and forth to Vancouver. Pretty lucky.
I have two adventures that I should have shared awhile back. The first was my family's trip to London for the Olympics. It was a whirlwind, with a few emotional ups and downs. But I'm not going to write about it. Check out my pics on facebook (there is kinda a story that goes along with them). Instead, today is about my recent connection with my South Africa life.
I spent the September long weekend with Christie my law school roomate. Christie is a hot shot lawyer in Vancouver now. We also met up with Steph, another hot shot lawyer, but in Victoria. Funny story about Steph and a boat right before meeting us. Sucks when you live on a boat sometimes. Anyways. In addition to these wonderful ladies, we were joined by their almost as wonderful boyfriends, Kevin and Jeff. We were off to the Island - and over to the very west coast.
In all the years I spend living in Victoria, I had never made it to Tofino, the mecca of Canadian surfing. There was probably good reason for this - I'm not a huge fan of cold water - but I figured on the beautiful long weekend, I may as well meet the ladies over there. So, after a crazy rush to catch the ferry and a twisty turny drive, I arrived at the campsite where Kevin and Christie had a fire going and a beer ready. Steph and Jeff arrived just after me.
Day 1 surfing - I didn't surf.

Kevin surfed. Everybody watched him. 

Day 2 surfing - I tried to surf. The waves were kicking my butt trying to get out into the water. I made it out a few times, but man it was tiring.

Dal reunion

Getting wet wetsuits back on, also tiring. 

We had a great time with our lunch on the beach.

And then Christie, Kevin and Matt decided to go back out. Getting Christie's wet suit back on was a team effort.

Back at camp, we had a hobo dinner and played with fire.

Steph's ode to our waves that day. 

My skills. 

Christie's skills

A great weekend with these ladies (and their boys). Here's to adventures on the west coast!

My Arranged Marriage

Ellie at her classiest...

We met for the first time in July 2011. Nobody told us about the other. We just happened to be sitting next to each other chatting when we realized – we were about to embark on an experience that neither of us could have predicted – we were entering an arranged marriage. I mean, I grew up in a small city in South Alberta (insert joke about the religious leanings of my home town here). She grew up in Eastern Europe (insert joke about mail order brides from Eastern Europe here) and came to Canada as a teenager. Neither of us thought that we would succumb to the life of an arranged marriage, but here we were. 

I was bound and determined to teach Ellie the basics of rugby.
I realised this past weekend, I only partially succeeded. 

Sitting in that room in Gatineau, chatting, we realized that Ian, not my parents, not her parents, but Ian of the CBA had set us up. The next time we would see each other, after only having spend a handful of hours together, the next time we met, would be it. That would be the day it would become official. We would be sent away to Durban, South Africa. And there was not much we could do about it. I think we both left Ottawa hoping that things would work out for the best. I mean really, who knows how such an arrangement could end up? From bliss to disaster really I guess. And so we were on our way…our experience in an arranged marriage.

Hiking the the Berg.

Ok, all joking aside, this is my little “Ode to Ellie”. If you’ve been following my blog since September, you will have noticed the constant companion in my life for the past seven months. Ellie and I met, like I said above, on the first day of training in Ottawa last July. We just happened to sit next to each other. She promptly asked where I was going, I said I didn’t know for sure, but it looked like Durban. She said she was going to Durban. In reality I think she was still in the slight state of flux waiting for her placement to be confirmed, but whether the CBA liked it or not, Ellie was going to Durban.

By mid-internship, we had perfected the jumping. 

I arrived on the plane from Dubai three days after Ellie had arrived via Washington and Dakar. When I came out of the arrivals gate, it took me a minute before I saw this girl waving her arms and saying, “Oh, I’m so glad you are here!” I didn’t recognize her at first. When we had met before she had blond hair, now it was brown. But we made our way back to the place we were ‘temporarily’ staying (this turned into our long term residence). I have to say, Ellie’s sentiments that first day, the I’m so glad you are here, were the emotions repeated on numerous occasions; the good and the bad.

This was our first dinner together in Durban.

We’ve been through a lot together in the past seven months. Ellie has joined an eclectic group of people – Fede and Naama, Melanie and Simon, Tristan and Siobhan, Halina and the Wloka family, John and Jim, Jake and Katherine, and my mom and dad. If you’ve followed my travels before, you will recognize some of these names. Some were friends long before we shared an adventure, others have become life-long friends after sharing these adventures; and others will always be part of the memories I have of my adventures even if we don’t really keep in touch now. But, each of these people have shared an adventure with me; have shared a love of mine; have shared part of my life. And now there is Ellie.

LHR Christmas Party

I have to say, some of my favourite memories of my time here in South Africa with Ellie are the mundane - getting through the entire series of Sex and the City and almost up to the end of season 4 of Grey’s Anatomy or our trips down to Suncoast for fitness classes and our daily bus rides to and from work discussing what had happened that day or what was going to happen that day. But there are also those moments that will be forever special – climbing the ladders to the top of Tugela Falls; going on safari; adventuring into Lesotho; or learning to 'surf'. Like my many other travel partners, we have had moments that will always connect the two of us and will always be treasured.

Ladder up to the source of the Tugela Falls

The Amphitheatre in the Drakensberg

Chilling in Lesotho

At the top of Sani Pass with our mini Lesotho Hats

Beware of Lions, but still get the pose right. 

Our last SA adventure

We’ve also been through the not so great times – helping each other deal with our mugging, managing the fears of being in such a crime-ridden country, mourning the death of a family pet while so far away from home, and just missing our families and friends. Although we didn’t know each other hardly at all when we arrived in Durban in September, through the good and the bad we have really gotten to know each other, the good and the bad.

Christmas decorating in the Durban heat.

Celebrating birthdays far from home.

But what this is really about is saying thank you to Ellie. There are a million reasons that I need to thank this girl, but here are just a few. First, trying to explain my phobia of the legless creatures to others is sometimes a bit of a problem. Some people don’t seem to get what a phobia really is and how debilitating it can be. Ellie didn’t once question how bad it is and I know for a fact on at least one occasion was able to distract me when she saw an enemy species and ensure that I didn’t have a break down then and there (I had already had one earlier in the day when some jerk thought it would be funny to make comments about the animal just outside the door of the lodge). I feel like I reciprocated this care on a few occasions when creatures of many-legs made appearances at our apartment, my favourite incident being the jumpy bug. Second, Ellie made me eat much better than I ever would have had I been left to my own devices. Whether chicken stirfry, chicken drumsticks or spaghetti, we actually ate really well and that is all on account of Ellie. Finally, I want to say thanks for making my time in South Africa a wonderful experience despite some of our setbacks. It was so wonderful to have a flatmate who was so ready to adventure with me and anxious to experience what we could during our time here. And now maybe people here in Durban will stop talking about Gagan and start talking about the great adventures of Ali and Ellie.

King Shaka Day Festival

The sad/happy news is that although our arranged marriage worked out very well (I think we are in the running for the best CBA couple), our marriage will be coming to an end very soon. I think it will be official the moment her wonderful fiancee arrives in Ottawa on Friday. Cesar and Ellie, I wish you guys the very best with your upcoming wedding and even better in your lives together. Ellie, I will greatly miss you I'm sure over the coming months, but you will always hold an important spot in my adventures. And you never know, this may not be our last adventure together. Thanks for a wonderful seven months!

Cape of Good Hope

A perfect way to say goodbye to SA

After leaving the LRC on Tuesday, Ellie and I were getting ready for our last South African adventure. We had been told on numerous occasions that the Wild Coast was beautiful and that we should try to get down there, so on Wednesday morning, we were off to Chintsa. It was a long drive that turned out to be so incredibly worth it. We drove through Mandela's home town and got to experience some of the beauty of the Transkei. We arrived at the hostel around 3 and were pleased to see that we would have a cottage to ourselves for our 4 nights there.

Some of you will know that I had full intentions of learning to surf while I was in SA. Well, I didn't really meet that goal, but on Thursday morning, we were signed up for surfing lessons. We met our instructor and made our way to the beautiful beach. It was an absolutely wonderful morning for learning to surf - bright beautiful sunshine and waves that were small enough for beginners. We went through the safety briefing, had a few good laughs, and carefully listened to the instructions on how exactly we were supposed to go from beside the board, to on the board, to standing on the board. I think we were both pretty skeptical that this was going to work. So, with our shorty wetsuits on (the water there is much colder than the Durban water), we were out into the ocean. I was first - up onto the board, with our instructor holding the board to help me get lined up with a wave, then he lets go and says, up up. And, I never would have guessed this could happen - I was standing on the surf board. Crazy! I was pretty proud of myself. Once off the board (not particularly gracefully), I turned around just in time to see Ellie standing on her board. Yeah us! So the rest of the lesson wasn't quite as successful, but still a ton of fun. After an hour and a bit, Ellie and I were both exhausted and decided we would do the second half of our lesson the next day. We spent the rest of the day really enjoying being in such a beautiful place - a walk on the beach, lunch by the pool, and lots of time sitting reading in the sun. Late Thursday night, some more of the crew arrived - Mat and Carolyn from Grahamstown and Gloria from Windhoek.

Friday morning, we were up again for more 'surfing'. For me this second day went so much better. Ellie and I were sent right out while Gloria and Mat got their safety talk and instructions. It was a lot harder to do everything yourself without the help of somebody with a lot more experience, but I had a few moments of success and was actually able to catch a wave and get up on a few occasions. Again after about an hour, I was exhausted and had more than a few bruises forming, but had a ton of fun.

Lots of laughs while learning

Ok, so not the most beautiful thing - but I am standing (barely). 

And she wasn't sure she wanted to try surfing. 

Not really on a wave, but standing and in enough control to smile at Ellie. 

So very very tired. 

Next day, Mat and Gloria surfed again. My body was too sore.

Mat working on his paddling skills. 

Like Gloria, I found body surfing quite fun when the standing up wasn't working so well. 

That is one happy surfing girl 

Just had to throw this photo in - I may not be much of a surfer, but I can build a card castle. 

Anyways, the rest of the extra long weekend was spent at the beach, having a few drinks, and just enjoying getting to be with some of my South Africa people. It was the perfect way to end my time here. Gloria, Ellie and I drove back to Durban yesterday and the next day and a half will be spent finishing up (or maybe more starting and finishing) packing, saying some good byes and do last minute errands to get everything ready for the trip home. Thanks so much to all of you for following me along with my adventures while here in South Africa. I will have a few more SA postings before I let this trip go, but I guess this is the last one about an adventure. Sad. So, until the next adventure...

And thanks Ellie for most of these pictures.

For my LRC family

Although I haven't written a great deal about my actual time at the Legal Resources Centre (for a variety of reasons, but primarily an issue of confidentiality in the legal profession), through a number of posts you will have been introduced to some of my colleagues at the LRC. In the past six and a half months I was given a wonderful opportunity to work with one of the most prominent legal NGOs in South Africa. An NGO who has been involved in some of the most important human rights cases in the new South Africa. But beyond all the organizational stuff, I have also been given the opportunity to work with an amazing group of people who are dedicated to making South Africa a really great place. So, here is my little blurb about my colleagues.

Sorry for the blur - this is right after my camera took a tumble.
But this is part of our office celebrating 30 years of the LRC in Durban. 

First, I have to start with Mahendra. Mahen is our office director and has a rich history with the LRC in both the Jo'berg and Durban offices. He has great stories about times at the LRC with some of the eminent alumni - George Bizos, Arthur Chaskalson, and Chris Nicholson. He is a wealth of information about the struggle for human rights in South Africa, particularly under the 1996 Constitution. But Mahen also makes me laugh on a regular basis. We have great chats... sometimes about the differences between our countries (Mahen has been to Calgary before), where the law is going on a certain issue, the position we should be taking on a certain case, but also the more mundane chats (fish tanks and mobile phones to name a few). I think it took us a little while to figure each other out, but I think we ended up working very well together, being able to challenge each other on strategic decisions in some cases, or working to reason out a strategy in others. So Mahendra, thank you so much for my time here at the LRC and for helping to make me a better lawyer.

Second, to Asha. Those of you who follow my blog will remember Asha from previous posts and my complete and utter admiration for her. Asha is our office manager, but more importantly I think she is also our strongest connection to the past struggles for human rights in South Africa. Asha is a woman who has committed her life to making South Africa the kind of place that it is capable of being. This commitment has, at times, absolutely consumed her life. She is the kind of person who makes change happen and I have so much respect for her. Like Mahendra, Asha and I have had some wonderful chats, particularly during tea time (where we generally seem to be the first people there). She has taught me so much about what it means to be South African, but also what it means to be truly engaged in the society you live in, no matter where it is, and how important this engagement is. Of everything I have learned from Asha, I think this will be the most important.

Celeste, Sbahle and Asha

Willene is an attorney at the office. She is also someone who took Ellie and I in like family (particularly for Ellie at Christmas). Her areas of work are vast and she has provided me with some of the most interesting work that I have done during my time at the LRC. Willene is selflessly committed to her clients and working to ensure that the most vulnerable people in society are taken care of - whether it is young women being kidnapped and forced into marriages, disabled persons who should be recieving adequate housing from the state, or elderly persons who are not being given their proper pensions. I like to think that in many ways, Willene and I are very similar people. We like the tough questions, grappling trying to find an answer. We both realise that the answer is not always a legal answer, and sometimes a policy answer is more appropriate.  Willene, thank you so much for taking me in and becoming part of my South African family.

My office neighbour, Celeste, is one of the most bubbley and wonderfully full of life lawyers I have ever met. This is probably a really horrible thing to say, but the thing I will remember most about Celeste is the news coverage of a double murder. It's a long story, but the case involved the murder of a couple by two of their children and their daughter's boyfriend (they were found guilty just last week and sentenced yesterday). Anyways, the story is quite sensational, but Celeste and I were always quick to open the paper at tea time to see the latest about the crazy Lotter kids and the 'third son of God' (although we were having difficulty identifying who the second son was...). Anyways, Celeste, I have had such a great time working with you and will miss hearing the latest adventures of Migelle. Can't wait 'till you come visit! Or maybe I will meet you some place exciting!

This would be a regular thing at morning tea time.
Celeste is clearly shocked at some story in The Mercury.

Thandeka is, in many ways, the closest to me experience-wise. We were both admitted to the practice in 2011 and are still working with our training wheels a bit. That being said, the work that Thandeka does really helps so many people in their everyday. The most time I spent with Thandeka was on our recent school visits. Long hours in the car chatting about all kinds of things. Thandeka's time at the LRC is also coming to an end fairly soon, so we have both been dealing with the job hunt and commiserating on how much we hate Skype and telephone interviews (the worst). So Thandeka, wherever you end up, I am sure you are going to be a great attorney. Good luck!

Thandeka on a school visit

Our paralegal Ma Cathy is, like Asha, a wealth of knowledge and experience. She is the woman in our office who helps more people on a day to day basis than anyone else. Cathy is from Lesotho and I knew that if the people of her country were anything like her, I would absolutely love Lesotho (and I did). Cathy is always the first person into the office in the morning and always welcomes me with a wonderful smile and good morning. There just must be something about women named Cathy, with a C or a K, they seem to have constant smiles on their faces and make the world a much brighter place.

Zooh, Thandeka and Cathy

The Candidate Attorneys - Emma. Like Willene, Emma and her family have very much adopted Ellie and me. Whether shopping (and she is a terrible influence on me and my pocket book) or having a lovely meal somewhere, Emma and I have shared lots of work and non-work adventures alike. It was really the COP17 March case that brought Emma and I together in the work context. Spending a great deal of time at meetings with the Metro Police and the Municipality, being yelled at by police officers over the phone (we learned that sometimes being the one with the accent seems to help you out when you are telling people something they don't want to hear, but sometimes that is just because they don't understand you) or struggling to get all of the annexures in the right place along with the proper pagination. Anyways Emma, I'm sure this will not be the last I see of you. Who knows, maybe someday I will meet up with you guys in Paris.

Thabile. Oh my goodness. I have to say, Thabile is probably the person at the office who made me feel the most welcome, right from the start. In the first couple weeks we seemed to take a lot of adventures trying to serve documents on people or pick things up in Pietermaritzberg. During this time I got to know a lot about Thabile and also about the differences in culture that we have experienced. Thabile regularly makes me laugh with her latest comparison between the newest technologies, whether cars, phones or laptops. And we have had more than one discussion on the pluses and minuses of working at a corporate firm. So Thabile, wherever you end up and whatever you end up doing, I wish you the very best and hope that you finally decide on a new phone.

During my time with the LRC, there have been four other interns - Catherine, MK, Daniel and Thinn. Catherine was here for most of the first half of my internship, heading back to the States after the holidays. MK is from the East Cape, but an LLM student at UKZN and has been around my entire time here. Daniel, a native Durbanite (or should I say Pinetownian?) arrived from Michigan in February and will continue on for a month after I head home. Thinn is a very recent addition from the UK, having only arrived at the LRC the first full week of March. Each of these interns has brought something important to the LRC. I think working with other interns made me realise the important role that interns play at this office. We are not only here to research and write, but we are also expected to bring our different backgrounds to the discussions; to bring lessons learned. South Africa is a place that in the legal realm seems very willing to take lessons learned from other jurisdictions and that is probably where our role as foreign interns is the most important. I like to think that we also make the office a little more exciting.

Sbahle...I don't know what her exact title would be, but I will tell you she is one of those people that makes our office run so much better. Everyday Sbahle will quietly pass by your door and announce that tea is ready in the boardroom. And as you may have figured out, I really like tea time (even if I don't really drink tea). Sbahle and I also shared some laughs and frustrations when my office had a little waterfall in it. The smell was terrible and, as the water was coming through the light fixture, the room was probably not particularly safe, but Sbahle and I got the buckets out and tried to get the smell out of the room. For all the little things you do around the office (and obviously the big things too), thanks so much.

And to our receptionist - Zooh. One day Daniel and Emma asked me who I would miss most in the office. Knowing that they were actually asking which one of them I liked more, I said, in all honesty, that on a day to day basis the person that I wish I could take with me to any office I worked at in the future would be Zuziwe. She always has the brightest smile and a laugh to go along with it. She is one of those people who carries with her a love for life at all times and shares it with the people around her. She also has a wicked sense of style. Zooh, I will miss you a ton!

My time at the LRC has been a learning experience that I am so grateful for. I will be a better lawyer because of my time here. I also think that I will be a better person because of my time here. So, to everybody at the LRC, thanks so much for everything.