Where I was, and whence I shall go
Life’s going so fast these days. It’s July 5th, and I can hardly believe it. So here’s a re-cap.
I swear it was just yesterday that I was getting ready to go to the world youth forum and the world urban forum. Slightly apprehensive with the prospect of facilitating so many passionate and socially conscious-minded youth from all around the world for the weekend. But the World Youth Forum went relatively well, all in all, given our logistical limitations. If anything, the organizers were maybe a bit overambitious in what they wanted to achieve.
I was assisting in leading the environment group (one of 7 different theme groups at the world youth forum) around vancouver, and we visited the community garden where I work, as well as going sailing and kayaking at Vanier Park.
All in all, a pretty fun time! Somehow, I ended up getting relatively involved in the whole proceeding. I was a blog contributor to earthblogs.ca, which didn’t really get off the ground (unfortunately), and also somehow ended up on the drafting committee for the Youth Declaration, which is to be submitted to the United Nations. We also helped direct the content for a 3 minute speech that was read at the closing ceremonies of the world urban forum, in front of 8000 people who had gathered here from all around the world, and included high powered people in the UN, city leaders, architects, and planners. Pretty intense stuff. So that was a really interesting experience, and it definitely opened my eyes to what youth are capable of.
The people on this drafting committee were just amazing. They all had so much experience and knowledge to bring to the table. One thing that stands out in my mind is that while we were trying to choose the person to read out the youth declaration, this one guy was saying that he shouldn’t go and speak, because all of the people at the UN already knew him, and would just roll their eyes and be like “ugh, not this guy again”. But honestly? the UN? that’s so ridiculous!
But all was not just work… I was able to make a few friends throughout that week at WUF, mostly Canadians, and we hung out after all the talks were finished, and went out for dinner and such. We even went for a picnic at Stanley Park, complete with Candied Smoke Salmon and 3 bottles of wine. Simply fun!
That week really burnt me out though… waking at 7:40 every day, and getting home at 12:30am each day was pretty grueling, after a week straight. I found that I wasn’t able to really get as much out of the networking and dialogue sessions as I would have liked, what with being more prone to sleepiness and such. By thursday though, I was getting pretty burnt out, and even though I really wanted to attend the talks, it was difficult to muster the motivation. Instead, I was spurred onto go into the gauntlet known as the Exposition Hall, where all the different countries showcased their sustainability initiatives. It was pretty posh, with some places giving free books, and sweden giving away free beer! Amazing!
I actually mustered myself enough to go around and talk to people, and it ended being really helpful and interesting. I didn’t get job offers like some of the other people did, but it was just interesting to gain new perspectives, especially from people already IN urban planning, which is what I would like to get into as a life’s work.
Coming out of it, I did find that a lot of it did seem a bit like simple lip service or boasting of one’s achievements on the world stage, but at the same time, I guess it’s not all the time, that such worthy initiatives get acknowledged, so it’s important to do so, ya know? I do hope that a lot of people came out of it with brimming with great ideas, and a solid plan on making these ideas into action.
Some other World Urban Forum related activities were a living park bench art installation that EYA commissioned to a local artist to help build. Us interns helped with parts of its construction, from growing the plants, to bringing the installation to the site and assembling it. The idea behind it explores the concept of public space, and utilizing it in the form of productive food crops as a self-sustaining system, with a rain collection and irrigation system, as well as a compost system to complete the nutrient cycle.
Us interns at work were able to finish our art project, a living plant mandala (a geometric design used in meditation or for focusing attention) that we built and grew to represent the work we do in the community garden. It’s all made of edible plants: calendula, wheatgrass, lettuce, some mint plants, and a quince tree. It was a fun time actually creating something like that with our own hands, something that makes a statement on the nature of public art, and the nature WITHIN public art.
So that was what was consumed my life about 1-2 weeks ago, and it’s taken me about a week to actually settle back into a semblance of a routine.
The next thing that has been coming me now is Katie. My dear dear Katie, who i’ve been apart from for almost a year now. After graduation, we decided to tough it out, doing the long distance deal, with me in BC and her in North Carolina, and for so long, it seemed like the opportunity for us to be together would never arrive, and that we’d be stuck flying across the continent and making 1 week visits 4 times a year to somehow sustain the relationship. But she’s decided to move to Seattle to basically be closer to me, and words cannot describe how excited I am right now. It’s as if my soul can actually sense that her presence is closer than it has been for a long time, and I’m feeling more alive, in the knowledge that she’s merely 300km away! She’s actually there right now, for a job interview this morning (Good luck), to be a Science-on-the-go Outreach Educator! She gets to use an inflatable planetarium! Soooo cool!! hahaha *geeks out*
So I’m hoping that she gets this job, but if she doesn’t, she’ll be driving out from Pennsylvania all the way to Washington in less than 2 weeks at any rate! And I’ll be flying over to drive back with her!! *so excited* road trip!
We’ll hopefully be essentially retracing the Oregon Trail out west. Damn, i feel like I’m a pioneer already! And seeing Mt. rushmore, as well as a number of other ridiculous monuments! it’s going to be a blast, if all works out!
It definitely feels like the light at the end of the tunnel. And increasingly, I feel like I’m returning to the land of the living, where I don’t feel somewhat melancholy going out and seeing all the lovey dovey couples EVERYWHERE, and have to think about how my love is almost 5000 kilometres away.
And best thing yet, is that I took this thursday off, so I’m going to go visit her a day! YAY!
time for bed, cuz the i’ll be 5 more hours closer to being in her arms! *yes, i do feel like a lovesick puppy*