Around the Big Island on Two Tanks of Gas – Day 2: Volcanoes National Park

My wishlist.

After a somewhat noisy night in Hilo, I set out in the morning to Volcanoes National Park. An enjoyable winding drive through some small highways (as most of the island is connected by) took me to a larger highway, then to the parking lot of the Visitor's Centre. I presented my wishlist to the park ranger and planned my route. First stop, setting up camp in Namakanipaio Campground. As of October 1^st, they started charging for this campground, but still a great deal for camping just under 1km away from the glowing Halema`umau Crater. Pretty amazing.

Steam vent.

The first drive I did was the Crater Rim Drive. Unfortunately it’s really short now as the VOG (volcanic smog) has closed most of the drive. I made stops at the Steam Vents, Sulphur Bank, as well as the lookout at the Jaggar Museum. The last point is the closest you can get to Halema`umau at the moment.  After that, I was caught in some rain so I ate my first poke of the trip in the car, then went towards Chain of Craters road to do the Kilauea Iki hike.

This hike was one of my favourite parts of the park. For a gal who really likes rocks (I minored in Geology in Uni), this experience was just unreal! There is nothing like it that I have experienced before. Descending through lush rainforest, I got to the main part of the hike where I got to walk across the crater floor on the solidified lava lake of Kilauea Iki. There are still steam vents releasing heat from the rocks deep down below. I personally felt so connected to Mother Earth while I was in the crater and gained a whole new level of respect for the power she holds.

I'm at the edge of a crater! I couldn't get over how cool that was.

Quite literally, the end of the road.

So after that empowering experience, what else could top it? Well, the views and landscapes of driving Chain of Craters road. From seeing the most amazing rainbow ever, to the views of turquoise blue ocean waters juxtaposed against the greenish volcano slopes interrupted by old lava flows, my breath was taken away. I drove all the way down to the ocean waters, did some more walking and hiking where fairly recent lava flows cut off the road and also to a site where there were remnants of ancient petroglyphs carved into rock.

As the sunset, I drove back up the winding road and went straight back to Halema`umau Crater where once again, I connected with Mother Nature as I watched the glow of molten lava light up the current vent. If it weren’t so “cold” (it was maybe 15-ish degrees; I’m such a wuss now) I would have just sat there watching the glow. Instead, I drove back to the campsite, slowly cooked some canned soup over a gel flame thing while it started to rain and get a little breezy. Nothing could take away the fact I was camping on a volcano though! 

Most amazing rainbow I have ever seen in my life. This photo does not do it justice!

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Just a short one tonight. It's my 2nd Thanksgiving in a row away from home and it's put me in a very reminiscent mood. I cooked some chicken tonight after locating a can of cranberry sauce (which isn't too hard to find here, yay!) and a can pumpkin pie mix. As I admired my Thanksgiving creation, I couldn't help but think of the warmth of a family Thanksgiving dinner and all the smells associated with assortment of food our family has when we all get together.

I thought I had blogged about my last Thanksgiving and if I did, the post escapes me. I think I did something very similar - managed to locate a can of cranberry sauce in Colombo and cooked some chicken. :)  Here's to hoping that I can do the same for Christmas in Hong Kong this year (yes, I'm spending Christmas in Hong Kong!).

Tonight, I also sat at my computer browsing through the Facebook posts from a year ago. It's hard to believe that a year ago I had just returned to Colombo after a month abroad visiting India with a friend, wandering London, conquering Ireland, attending and working at the Isle of Man Commonwealth Youth Games, and learning at midterm in Cayman. Now I sit in Singapore, knowing that I have a plan that only goes as far as the beginning of January 2013.

Conquering Ireland! Not really, just being a dork in The Burren,  Ireland.

I'm a person who plans a lot - if you saw the spreadsheet that I had on my trip in 2007, and also last month for Hawaii, you might think I'm a little too detail-oriented. This past week in learning from two of the most amazing people I know, I really recognized that I could be a bit more spontaneous. I'm starting to think I've started this journey to do exactly that and for once in my life, not have every little step planned out. It's a little scary, but I'm going to enjoy the ride.

Speaking of this past week, I was humbled by how hard it is to facilitate rather than teach. I've been able to stand up in front of people and tell them what to do and present information, but I have never experienced what I did this week which was facilitating a participatory training session. It is incredible, that when you are specific with your instructions, the information and knowledge you can draw out of a group of people without telling them exactly what you are looking for can be so powerful. And, to be able to help them synthesize all their thoughts was such an incredible feeling. It was really hard though, and well outside my comfort zone. I'm looking forward to start exploring more about facilitation and getting opportunities to practice these techniques.

So maybe this post wasn't so short after all. =P Happy Turkey Day, Canada. I am thankful that I can do what I love and it's given me the opportunity to travel, live, and learn around the world. 

"Be curious"

Was flipping through some of my e-mails from the last month as I clean out my inbox, and came across this, from insidethegames.biz:


"Look up at the stars and not down at your feet,"

"Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist."

"Be curious."

Stephen Hawking during the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympics at the Olympic Stadium.


:) 

Singapore!

If you don't know yet, I took another placement with Commonwealth Games Canada's Capacity Support Program - this time in Singapore for three months. I got here EARLY on Saturday and have had a packed schedule since!

I had a great weekend of exploring and just getting the little things I needed to make life comfy here - some food, toiletries, my own mug, etc. The apartment is soooo luxurious. TV, garbage chute right in the apartment, plus it's serviced. Crazy to me, but pretty standard here, it seems!  Met up with a friend from Vancouver who was here to watch the F1 race (I sadly could not get a ticket to the race, nor could I afford it). I took local transport which is really well marked. The bonus is that it's so clean and it's air-conditioned. Ate some local food which I know I will enjoy immensely while I am here.

My first day at the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) was on Monday. They currently have a temporary office in the building of the Singapore Sports Council (SSC). I'm a short, sweaty 10 minute walk from the office. There are murals of national athletes all over the interior walls. I was so inspired when I walked in. The SSC has 150+ staff from marketing to sports medicine; all working together to manage sports in the country. The SNOC has 6 staff who so far have been super helpful and definitely keen to get started on Zeus. The staff go out for lunch everyday - generally at the local hawker centres close by where a lunch can be had for about 3 - 4 CAD and choices range from BBQ pork on rice to curry or laksa!

I was fortunate to have an invite extended to me to attend their London 2012 Athlete Appreciation Dinner last night. What an amazing event. In addition to the team being present, the Deputy Prime Minister who is also the President of the SNOC was the guest of honour, the super personable female Chef de Mission, and past Olympians including their first ever Olympic medallist from the 1960 Games in Rome. Probably better summed up here: http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/olympians-feted-ceremony-medallists-get-cash-20120926.

Culturally, I'm a little nervous - only because it seems so familiar at times that I'm afraid I'm overlooking something. I get the humour, many of the traditions, the work ethic, and bits and pieces of the language (aside from English, Mandarin is commonly used). I already feel so much more at ease here than my entire last year which makes me a little cautious. I guess we'll just wait and see! One of the things I do hope to accomplish is that by the end of the three months, when someone asks me what I need in Mandarin, I'll be able to understand them even if I still have to respond on English.

So I hope to get one or two more posts up this week about Hawaii, but if I don't, it's because we're preparing for a week-long Zeus workshop that's happening next week AND it's Mid-Autumn festival this weekend. I'm really excited about both things, but will write about it afterwards!

Zai jian!

Around the Big Island on Two Tanks of Gas – Day 1: Mauna Kea

To my pleasant surprise, my awesome Hotwire deal got me a Ford Escape for $240/week. Even more surprising, I actually had a lot of fun driving this vehicle – maybe the first time I’ve enjoyed driving a domestic car! I managed just over 600mi in hitting all my sites and sights! Let's start with Day 1. 

I flew into Hilo from Honolulu on a Sunday morning arriving around 9:30am. My first order of business after picking up the car was stocking up at the local Wal-Mart with some basic dry goods and some camping fuel before setting off for my first adventure of the week: Mauna Kea. After stocking up and checking into the lovely Hilo Tropical Gardens where I had a cute little campsite and set up my tent in the rain, I booked it up to Mauna Kea OnizukaVisitor’s Center to make their 1pm escorted summit tour. It’s free, but you do need a 4WD or AWD to drive up to the summit. I make it there in the nick of time where we have a 1 hour film to watch about Mauna Kea, the observatories, and its flora and fauna. It’s also where our bodies start to acclimatize to the high altitude.

After the film, we all quickly do our washroom pit stop and then we all get in line with our vehicles to drive up as a convoy. Unfortunately, I caught a really foggy and rainy day so I felt like I was driving on Mars, surrounded by red rock and gravel, while being enveloped by clouds. As we get to the top, I hop out of the car and quickly notice I was a little unsteady on my feet! The altitude had definitely kicked in; I would compare it to being drunk. Being on the escorted tour meant we got to tour one of the telescopes. They took us into one of the Keck Observatory telesopes where we got to see the telescope rotate and move around. It was so massive and so cool to see the technology. This massive telescope weighing many tonnes had hydraulics that would allow just one person pretty much move it with just their arm. Okay, instead of getting into details, watch and listen to this video:

After that, we were free to explore the summit on our own. I was pretty set on seeing if the clouds would clear for the sunset so I was one of the people who decided to stay on the summit despite the single digit (Celsius) temperatures. I made the quick hike up to the summit as marked by a United States Geological Survey Marker and then huddled in the car for the remainder of the hour and a half until the sunset where I wished with all my might I would see it. No such luck. The whole time I was up there was rain, mist, and fog. By the time I started my descent, the summit temperature had dropped to 2 degrees Celsius. So close to snow!

The official summit of Mauna Kea. Okay, I lied. I got a glimpse of blue sky.

So back to the Visitor’s Center I go as they have a stargazing program every night (also free!). They sell bowl and cup noodles and I think the bowl I had was the best bowl I ever had being so cold after being on the summit. So remember how I said the stars were amazing when I was in Martinborough last year? Well, this blows that out of the water. Being at altitude with minimal light pollution, I have NEVER EVER seen so many stars or seen the Milky Way so clearly! I felt like I could just lie there and stare at the skies all night (except that it was cold). I was truly thankful for the volunteers and staff who run that program every night so that they can share such amazing sights. I wish that were my TV every night. At 10pm, the program ended so back down to Hilo I went for the night. I would have had a great night's sleep if it wasn't for the Coqui frogs!

End of summer camps... and another adventure!

So I've spent the last 2.5 months working part-time within Volunteer Services at the City of Coquitlam. I've seen some amazing work completed by our volunteers and some incredible dedication and commitment. I've been looking throughout this time for full-time work which leads me to my next adventure - Singapore! It will again be with Commonwealth Games Canada in their Capacity Support Program.

However, we had planned that I would run a resume/professional writing type workshop for the volunteers in the fall. Now that I'm leaving, I won't get a chance to do that, but I did want to share some pointers that may help young people turn their volunteer experience into a job:

1. Make sure to include your personal information and note the position you are applying for in the body of your e-mail when you attach your resume and cover letter to an e-mail. It's unlikely we will open an e-mail that only has an attachment without a subject and/or text in the body as it looks too suspicious. 
2. Use proper grammar, words, and punctuation in your communication. Using (cellphone) texting shorthand isn't going to cut it. Yup, LOL, thx, u, r, gr8 - is unprofessional! 
3. Especially when volunteering, remember your conduct and actions reflect on what your supervisors will say when you use them as a reference or if you want to apply for a job with the organization you are volunteering for. 
4. Volunteering for an organization does not mean you will get a job with them. Sometimes the personalities just don't fit or you're not what they are looking for. Instead of being offended, ask them for feedback on what you can improve upon or a different assignment that fits you more. Better yet, if your goal is to be employed by the organization in the future, ask them when you begin to volunteer what they are looking for in their staff. 
5. Network with the staff! Attend meetings even if they are optional. 
6. Be actively engaged from the interview, orientation, subsequent meetings, and further training sessions.
7. Make every effort to go above and beyond!  
8. Lastly - parents, please please have your child do their own communication with the organization from the start. If your child is not capable of communicating individually with us, we can't expect that they will be able to take on the responsibilities of volunteering. 

If you have anything to add, or if you have anything you want to dispute, please leave a comment below! 

Cycling Safety for All!

Ok. I know. The title of this post implies a very boring post - it may be to some, but I need to raise some awareness about cycling on the road for both cyclists and drivers!

As a cyclist myself, one of my biggest pet peeves is seeing fellow cyclists breaking rules, making stupid decisions, and taking unnecessary risks on the road. For example, yesterday, I was in a left turn lane where a cyclist who was on the right of the lane, slowly drifted into the middle of the lane in front of me with no hand signals, then decided to turn left to follow the pedestrian crosswalk and onto the sidewalk. As he was very slowly riding in front of me, I gave him a little honk to signal that I was going to pass him on the right and that he was in the wrong place. As I turned left, and then stopped in yet another left turn lane, he yelled at me from the sidewalk, proceeded to swear at me and pointed to his nether region and said "suck this". I was appalled at such a rude gesture and proceeded to yell across the road that as a cyclist myself, I couldn't stand watching him ride in such a risky manner and risk killing himself. He continued to swear at me, I continued to tell him that he made the rest of us cyclists look bad and that if he kept riding that way, he will put himself in harms way. He probably didn't understand that I was a cyclist and thought I was just like every other driver who hates dealing with cyclists on the road. OH, and he wasn't wearing a helmet.

This I'm sure will be the first of a few rants this summer about cyclists riding with complete abandon for their own safety and oblivion to the traffic (street and sidewalk!) around them. So today, this is what I am going to ask of my fellow cyclists:

1. If you ride on the road, you are a vehicle. You MUST signal (remember those from your learner's handbook?) your turns and lane changes left or right at the very least. You're also supposed to signal when you're slowing down... but that's pretty unlikely.
2. If you choose to cross the road at a pedestrian crossing, (i.e. between the two white lines at a controlled intersection or a cross walk) please dismount and walk your bike across. Otherwise, you look like a vehicle who will go when the intersection is clear. Do not expect drivers to give you the right of way if you stay mounted on your bike at a pedestrian crossing. This also is courteous to pedestrians using the crossing.
3. If you are riding in a lane, whether it goes straight or turns, please stay to the right of the lane. Blocking traffic only irritates drivers more and makes them more aggressive.
4. Please use the bike routes! There's little that irks me more than a cyclist putting themselves in danger on a main road like Hastings St (from Burnaby to Downtown), when there are designated bike routes on quieter streets just two blocks away running parallel to the main road!
5. Wear a helmet. Please. 

And to my fellow drivers, it's summer time and please be patient with cyclists. Not only that, with the number of bike events increasing across the country, road cycling is becoming very popular (especially with the success of Ryder Hesjedal). Yes, I know some of them are idiots weaving in and out of traffic, hopping up onto then off sidewalks, and riding in the middle of your lane. However, there is no need for you to get aggressive and tailgate a cyclist, or see how close you can get to them as you pass them. Most importantly, if you park on the street, please please please shoulder check and make sure there are no oncoming cyclists (or cars) before you open your car door!

I would love if cyclists, once in awhile, remind themselves what it is like to be behind the wheel of car and in a rush as so many people are. I know they're supposed to share the road with us, but sometimes, it's just not worth it to fight with the powerful machines on the road.

And drivers of motor vehicles, I CHALLENGE you to get on a bike and ride on the road (of course, following the rules) at least one day this summer. If you've never done it, try exploring your neighbourhood to start. Then, try out some of the bike lanes in your area. Then, try riding from one municipality to another. See the road from our point of view and understand what it takes to make the roads safer for everyone involved. Not only that, you'll discover some amazing things you've never noticed in your city!

Looking for more? Check out http://www.bikesense.bc.ca/manual.htm.