On the Move: Travel Time...Day 1

My Help Comes from the Lord - Psalm 121

A song of ascents.

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills-- where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot slip-- he who watches over you will not slumber; 4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The LORD watches over you-- the LORD is your shade at your right hand; 6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The LORD will keep you from all harm-- he will watch over your life; 8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. 
Psalm 121

In the busyness that defines our lives I've paused much recently to reflect on listening to God's still small voice. In many of life's highways, God will always meet me where I am-whether that be through a teaching moment with my students, an argument with a family member or friend, a timely injury (to say slow down Yee!), the sudden waking up in the middle of the night, a dream, a glance with another while on the bus, through the beauty of His creation, an encouraging word, or the words spoken through a sermon.


God continues to remind me through each of these events to humble myself and to seek Him at the throne of grace.  God wants me to pray without ceasing. He wants me and others to experience power through prayer.  He desires my daily worship to be breath breathed of words and conversation with Him. Recently, I have had several restless nights filled with unsettled sleep.  I have been suddenly awoken in the wee morning hours not knowing why...
After speaking to a dear sister, I was reminded to pray and that's exactly what I did when it occurred the second time. Just yesterday, I was suddenly struck by back pain due to a harsh sneeze.  It's forced me to cancel plans and to stay home to rest, quiet myself down and to contemplate. As I seek clarity and guidance I pray that I would continue to pray without ceasing and to grow in faithfulness in the awareness that God grants peace and mercy.
It doesn't matter how God comes to speak to you, whether with a loud and clear bang, or with the still small voice, slow down the pace of your life to listen and to seek Him. God will meet you in your corner of the world. His love is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. To God be the glory, the praise and the honour forever and ever. Amen.

Surrounded by Beauty

Beauty is defined Oxford American Dictionaries as:
beauty |ˈbyoōtē|
noun ( pl. -ties)
1 a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, esp. the sight : I was struck by her beauty | an area of outstanding natural beauty.
• a combination of qualities that pleases the intellect or moral sense.
• [as adj. ] denoting something intended to make a woman more attractive : beauty products | beauty treatment.

Don't get me wrong - it's essential to have goals and plans for the future, but too often in all the hustle and bustle people rarely take time to stop and enjoy the moment. We rarely immerse ourselves in what we're doing in that very moment, to allow all of our senses to take in our surroundings.

Canadian hurdler in the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, Women's 100m hurdles, Phylicia George

See cbc.ca article on Phylicia George




Beauty can come in the form of the many things that we encounter on a daily basis. Beauty can be experienced visually, viscerally or emotionally. Through great blessings of opportunity, God has always allowed me to see beauty through landscapes of His most glorious creations. It is through flowers, clouds, sunrises, sunsets, mountains, water, etc. that allows me to see and experience Him-to give praise and to meditate on His goodness and glory.

I'm thankful for the joy that can be experienced in the everyday mundane things of life.

Thankful indeed...

Sardinia, Basque Country and Northern Spain

Arriving in Dorgali, Sardinia

Taking a break ~ Procida Island, Italy  © 2012 Amy Lee

An amazing and wonderfully created website by the amazingly talented Amy Lee of our summer 2011 travel adventures
http://www.lurgee.ca/travel/italy_spain/ITES_Day1.html


For more photos on Sardinia:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gigglesyee/sets/72157628616418263/
For more photos of Basque Country:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gigglesyee/collections/72157629078459231/

At Pearson waiting to leave on a jetplane....destination: Roma, Italia

Summer of '08 Gone By ~ W. Europe + Morocco

Initially posted on Facebook [Notes] on December 31, 2008
Excerpts and transcripts taken directly from my personal travel journal
In late July, I departed for the "meat" part of my summer vacation & headed to W. Europe & Morocco.

My adventures included stops in:

Spain Madrid, Segovia, Valencia, Barcelona, & Malaga

Morocco Chefchaouen, Fes, & Marrakesh

Portugal Faro, Portimao, & Lisbon

Sicily Salemi, Palermo

Modes of Transportation included:

ferry, taxi, car, train, bus, tram

Some memorable highlights:

I succumbed to & became a well accomplished beach bum!

Never before have I visited so many beaches. Not being a lover of beaches, I must confess I did pretty well in going with the flow and chilling under the hot European sun!

We hit beaches in Valencia, Barcelona, the Algarve of southern Portugal and Sicily.

The mass exodus from the Spanish enclave of Meilla (which is on the Moroccean side) to the Moroccean governed territory of Nador was one thrilling, scary & nerve-wracking experience all rolled up into this multi-layered experience! First, let me start off by saying that we had started our day by leaving early from our Malaga pension to catch the ferry to Meilla (Spanish enclave on Moroccean side). The ferry ride was a few hours. I mostly slept because we had to get up early that morning & I had still felt tired. Now, picture an exodus, a "mass" exodus that is, where all you see is people!!! In fact, a sea of people carrying their many loads, bags & packages. Then, picture also cars, a huge line-up of cars with the same intentions of wanting to enter into Morocco! We lined up like all the others. The line-ups weren't too long but there was only one poor soul in the Passport Control booth! There were many other plains clothes people who looked mighty suspect. I didn't know if they were the police or something other. Some Moroccean joe came up to us and wanted to "sell" us those custom papers that you fill out before entering a country! He asked us to give him our passports so that he could fill it out for us. Then, of course, he would ask for a fee. I declined & ignored the guy by getting & staying in line. Factor in the blistering heat into all this & you can imagine that the situation gets a little heated (no pun intended). When it comes to my turn, I'm relieved & just hope the control officer (he's wearing a legit uniform - whew!) can give me clearance to go! With all the hectic action happening, people everywhere, under that unforgiving sun, I thought to myself, please, please let us just get through! I felt like a person marching in a massive crowd of refugees seeking authorization to cross the border. And, actually, this is the very way of daily life for many people!

The coveted stamp

After close to an hour or so, we finally cleared through the various checkpoints & got our valid stamp to enter Morocco.
Once we pass the solider, we were met by oodles of people wanting to sell us everything from food, gum, to taxi services. In our state of still being overwhelmed & dripping with sweat, we kindly declined all advances. We needed to figure out how to exit this place! In due time, we figured out that we needed to get to a place called Nador. This is where we could catch long distance buses travelling to different locations in Morocco. We ended up deciding to get on a packed local bus with our big packs, in the blistering heat & head to the bus terminal. At the bus terminal, we were stuck in a few predicaments. We needed to get to Fes but that was a long shot since it was further south (we were in the north) and we had already dealt with an ordeal of a day getting into Morocco! Plus, we felt famished and didn't have a place booked to stay! So, destination unknown... This was hardcore backpacking at its best because we were scrambling with ideas & possibilities. We ended up deciding to go purchase tickets to Chefchaouen which was about a 4-6 hour drive from the bus terminal. We ended up waiting for a few hours before the bus was scheduled to depart. The terminal was suspect...many little shops selling food to eat, candies, clothing, shoes, bus tickets...We didn't speak French or Arabic so we had some communication problems because we had assumed the bus was coming earlier than it was scheduled to & was wondering about the delay??? Everywhere we went, we got the customary stares - it didn't matter if it were a kid or a senior. They all liked looking at the "foreigners". Ha! Finally, we ended up boarding the bus & took 4-6 hrs. before getting to Chefchaouen at 2 am in the morning! Thankfully, we did make one stop in the middle of the night in some small town to pick-up a quick bite & have a washroom break. Thankfully, I didn't have to use the washroom in the station because behind the closed door, let's just say, the light wasn't working & you couldn't see a thing! We ate what the locals ate...some sandwich thing..not sure what it was & it tasted a little "different"...let's just leave it at that...

The long bus ride was torturous. I couldn't sleep & it was extremely uncomfortable. The bus was quite cold. The constant zigzagging of the mountain switchbacks had us swinging like bowling pins about to fall. It also didn't help that we had been on the road for the whole entire day! The only positive note was that the shimmering stars & mountainous terrain was gorgeous to watch & in fact looked like a picturesque scene right out of a Hollywood movie set! We had finally arrived in Chefchaouen in the wee morning hours. We got off the bus with 4 other Moroccean young men. They were helping us look for the hostel where we had made a reservation. We got off and gathered our packs. The direction in which we were headed had one gigantic hill going up! After one super long day, that hill angered me & I just rolled my eyes in disbelief! Without exaggerating, that was one wicked incline, with all our gear and all. We had walked around in vain for what seemed like "forever" looking for our hostal. We finally found it & discovered that it was FULL! Since we got in a later time than we anticipated, I guess we lost our room & were brought to check out another place. Thankfully, the other place had a 3-bedroom which worked out fine for us. I quickly showered, conked out & disappeared into a deep, deep abyss of sleep.

We were now in Morocco & I'm glad we went to Chefchaouen because it was such a gorgeous town in the Rif mountains!

Since we were travelling in the dead of summer, the sun was intense & the heat nearly unbearable! This was another time that the hankerchief, aka hanky, came in handy & was most especially useful after we washed our hands from using the facilities. So..one of our travel rules was to always have a hankerchief on our person! Not having one would mean busting a serious "amateur move"!

The hospitality in Sicily

AA had some relatives in Salemi, Sicily so they hosted us & opened up their summer home for us to stay in. Let's just say that although Sicily was undeniably beautiful & we had a really amazing "homestay" (as we affectionately coined it) experience, our whole time there had its fair share of "drama".

The homemade food there was fantastic and the beaches were gorgeous!

The hospitality that we received was both remarkable & memorable!

All in all, my travel experience this summer was tremendously awesome! Backpacking has its elements of fun & excitement as well as its challenges of planning, organizing, being on top of things, researching etc. I find that in traveling there is so much beauty to soak in, cultural differences to gain insight and openly embrace, languages to appreciate, and age old traditions to learn & welcome. The reward is in the journey & there is so much to gain through travelling that it makes the whole experience so worth it!

An unforgettable experience!

Visit my photo collection of my Western Europe adventures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gigglesyee/collections/72157629078563203/

Next destination: Perhaps touchdown in South America ~ Chile or Argentina?

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro - July 2007

Initially posted on Facebook [Notes] on March 21, 2009 

Excerpts and transcripts taken directly from my personal travel journal

A & C at Londrossi Gate as we prepare to head into Mt. Kilimanjaro National Park to begin our trek

On July 31, close to 9 in the morning, I made it to the rooftop of Africa by making it to Uhuru Peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro at 5,895 m. From our departure close to 11pm in the evening from Barafu base camp, it was the most difficult 8 hrs. or so of pure adrenaline, grit, determination & certainly God's grace, pushing me up to Uhuru Peak.

....Before the summit bid....I completed about 6 days of intensive hiking both in the mornings & afternoons. Our camps would be dead silent by 9 pm because everyone was busy resting and sleeping to refuel their energy & strength to continue on the next day's arduous climb...On the night of our summit bid, I didn't sleep at all probably because I was too excited anticipating the climb that lay some hours away...From around 11pm to 9am, we hiked for around 8 hrs. in the freezing alpine cold, struggling to catch our breath in the thinner air....meticulous about each step, strenuous, struggling to conquer my eternal optimism of "seeing the end"...

....After reaching the summit, I went back down to Barafu Camp (our base camp) to pack up our gear and head down to lower altitude because one of our climbing mates who didn't make it to the peak needed to get to lower altitude as he was experiencing chest pains...In the end, without resting at base camp and not being able to stomach much food, I hiked another 7-8 hrs. in total from Uhuru Peak to Mweka Camp (3,100 m) where we spent the night. I had been out hiking consistently pretty much for an excruciating 16 hrs. before we settled at Mweka Camp. My mood prior to reaching that camp was severely bent because I just wanted to reach camp and rest...maybe reflect on the monumental achievement that had just occurred hours ago...even if to capture & collect my thoughts. It seemed like an eternity before we did end up setting up camp for the night. And, to be quite frank, as we were nearing the camp, I came to a point where I almost succumbed to some "violent" tendencies and I felt like punching someone out!

I wrote this journal entry at Mweka Camp (3,100m) in the wee early morning (~5 am) hours the day after I made the summit. In my tent, I settled to chronicle my thoughts and feelings to capture the truest and most authentic moments of my climb:

Yesterday morning, God blessed me with a momentous opportunity to seek a great lifetime thrill in climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro & moreover, in the end, He helped me to accomplish that feat by making it to the summit at 5,895 m! I thank Him for the triumph and blessing.

On the morning of July 25, my adventures began with entry into Mt. Kilimanjaro at the Londrossi Gate. We were transported in safari jeeps from the town of Moshe and traveled through rough terrain & viewed beautiful landscape vistas of trees, corn & sunflower fields in order to reach that entry point. At the gate, we were met by a huge entourage of people - mostly men. Little did I know that these would be the unbelievably strong & fit individuals who would act as guides, cooks & porters for every individual outfitter group seeking to reach Africa’s rooftop. That morning, I met 2 people who I grew quite fond of and who would be my climbing mates for the next 6 or so days. Cindy and Andrew were a couple from Rochester, New York. During our six days there prior to the summit bid, we had to acclimatize our body with Diamox, a drug that should be taken to avoid or limit high altitude sickness. Each day, we walked from 6-8 hours. Put it this way, although not intensely technical, hiking up & down the mountains was not an easy task & each day I was so elated to have reached the camp because my body was clearly exhausted!

We went across many climatic zones in our daily hiking: cultivation, forest, heather, moorland, alpine desert & summit. Passing through each region was like an instant transformation into a different world - like the children’s entry from the wardrobe into Narnia! Sharp contrasts lay between vegetation, plants (flora), animals such as elephants & lions (although we didn’t see any...just big elephant dung - how nice!) & temperature.

The Day of the Summit Bid

We ate lunch at Lava Tower 4,600 m before descending back down to Barranco Camp 3,950 m for a night’s rest. This is a great example of the climb high/sleep low rule that helps people acclimatize safely. On July 30, we left at around 8 am to make our 2-3 hr. hike up to Kirenga Hut 3,963 m for lunch. This hike was arduous & difficult with steep climbs & ascents. The effect of altitude also began to take a greater strain on our bodies making us feel increasingly tired at quicker intervals. After enjoying our freshly cooked meal atop the chilly & windy Kirenga Hut, we immediately departed for Barafu camp. This would be the starting point for our summit bid. We needed to get there as early as we could so that we could organize our things, eat dinner and sleep before getting up at 11pm for the summit climb. It was a challenging 3 hr. hike to reach there. What’s more is since there were many tourists climbers in Kilimanjaro to conquer the summit, Barafu Camp 4,600m (and others along the Lemosho and Machame routes) was dotted with tents so we had to find our team. In order to do so, we had to manage to walk over huge rocks. Imagine doing this after a full day’s hike where the muscles are terribly numb and every aching step with our packs is a burning, terribly agonizing step! By the time we got there, settled down and had dinner, it was close to 7pm. Our plan was to wake-up at 11pm and depart at midnight in order to make it to the summit for the sunrise.

The Night of the Summit Bid

It was around 12:47am when we passed the last area of our campsite. As we began our sojourn up the mountain and as I struggled for energy, breath and even the courage to continue, I would occasionally look up to find a steady flow of lights that were the headlamps of those climbers who were higher up and ahead of us. The sight of that reminded us of a beautiful traffic jam against the backdrop of a black and dark mountain. The steady stream of headlamps marked everyone’s determination to take the "pole-pole" mentality (Swahili for step-by-step) up to Uhuru Peak. With hard toiling, climbing and seemingly endless switchbacks of steep ascents, we finally reached the spot where we had a clear view of the top of Stella Point. After resting for a good several minutes (we couldn’t rest for too long as it would get extremely cold keeping in mind that now we were closer towards the the peak which meant that we were in alpine conditions), I drudged up enough breath and mustered the strength to push myself onwards. Although not too far up and even within sight, perhaps 100m was Stella Point! It was “UP there” and that high depth ascent really annoyed me because although it seemed so close, it was very far.  My body was aching, fatigued and I could feel that I was really struggling at this point.  So from 12:47pm (July 30) to close to 8:45am, we experienced darkness to shimmering moonlight and then a booming, strong and glorious sunrise. Right from the starting point, I knew that I would be up for the physical fight of my life. Although I didn’t experience severe side effects from taking Diamox, I did struggle to breathe properly especially as we ventured up into thinner air. With every step, pole-pole, I was feeling the strain on my body and I was beginning to feel a tiredness in my lungs (which meant the lungs were sore & the chest felt heavy). This was most evident when we approached Stella Point. I needed to stop and catch my breath at almost every switchback turn because my breathing was beginning to feel more laboured and it was taking on a panting pattern that in truth, scared me. I needed to stop to quickly catch my breath at each turn. It was especially difficult to hike up because the switchbacks seemed never-ending and the seeming torture of going on didn’t seem to have an ending point. I was praying that I would quickly get there and with every ounce of energy, I muttered a pray of mercy to God at every turn!

After 6 days or so of heavy duty hiking and near to zero rest the night of our summit bid, I was already tired right from the start! When I reached Stella Point, I thought I could collapse. I remember distinctly that at that point my legs were getting super super sore - they were pretty tight and cramped up! I sat down to get some rest as we would stop for about 15 mins. We enjoyed the beautiful sunrise....probably the most beautiful one I’ve ever soaked in. We were given a can of Red Bull and a Mars bar for a last ditch refueling of energy and sugar before we made the final stretch towards Uhuru Peak of Kibo summit. Red Bull was nasty and I could barely stomach the chocolate bar although at that point, I still maintained the mental faculties to discern that it would be very wise to take a few bites and sips!  When it was time to get up and go again, I told myself that although there was very little strength left in me, I had to push because it was the final stretch before I would reach the highest peak of the summit! I had to reach it. This part of the mountain had snow and ice so I was especially cautious in taking my steps. After about 50 mins. of traversing the black sand, rocks, snow and ice, I finally reached the last stretch towards Uhuru Peak! As Cindy was ahead of me with Hasan, she was sitting cheering me on in my final steps. As I saw her, I was filled with emotion. These final steps filled me with unimaginable elation that I was overcome with tears. I was overwhelmed at the thought of just how difficult and physically challenging climbing this mountain was and that I was about to accomplish this most awesome and excruciating adventure! I was also near extreme exhaustion that it had begun to affect my memory at such high altitudes but more importantly, the end journey was going to be reached in a matter of minutes and a shower of emotions got the better part of me.

The high altitude had begun to affect my memory because in the movie I made shortly after making it to the peak, I recorded my climbing mate’s name incorrectly! I said, Chrissy instead of Cindy!. Once I did reach the peak, it was a sensational feeling to take my photo at the sign of the world’s tallest free standing mountain: Mount Kilimanjaro. I spent enough time to breathe in the absolute gorgeous vistas, bathe in the glory of the presence of the mountain, quickly take photos and head back down.

5,895m Uhuru Peak

Moments after reaching the peak

At high altitudes your brain cells are killed off at such a fast pace that we ended up spending only about 20 mins. at the peak before beginning our tiring journey back to base camp at Barafu....The beauty of hindsight reveals that little did I know that I would not be sitting down and resting for another 13-14 hrs.! AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

BOOMBA-MBAYA!

Mount Kili Climb journey in photos http://www.flickr.com/photos/gigglesyee/sets/72157628616233145/

Lemosho Route

Londorossi Gate to Mti Mkumbwa (2,650 m/8,692 ft)

Mti Mkubwa (2,650 m/8,692 ft) to Shira One Camp (3,609 m/11,841 ft.)

Shira One Camp (3,609 m/11,841 ft.) to Shira Two Camp (3,849 m/12,628 ft.)

Shira Two Camp (3,849 m/12,628 ft.) to Barranco Hut (3,948 m/12,956 ft.)

Barranco Hut (3,900 m/12,800 ft) to Barafu Hut (4,600 m/15,091 ft)

Barafu Camp (4,600m/15,091 ft) to The Summit (5,896 m/19,343 ft) and then to Mweka Camp (3,100 m/10,170 ft)

Lemosho Route in detail...

http://www.mtkilimanjarologue.com/lemosho-route/

For a similar account, please read the article below found on cbc.ca

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/07/14/f-travel-kilimanjaro.html

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Letters to Ms. Yee 2008-2009

Originally posted on Facebook [Notes] on June 27, 2009 

My gr. 5' students wrote letters to me at the end of the school year...here is a sampling...

Dear: Ms. Yee...

...You know, some of the facts you told me during the school year, I share it with people outside of school! The way you always added a little fun and humour to our learning really made the experience enjoyable for me. Even though you sometimes make long lectures, that shows that you really want us to learn. I remember when you also tell us stories of when you were little and about your family which a lot of us can relate to. I also sometimes look back on the time you played football at Camp Tapawingo. Wow Ms. Yee! You can sure play! A.S.

There was some funny things that happened in the walls of this class and I cant just say how nice you are to the class with all the words in the dictionary! ...and there will be one more thing I will remember for the rest of my life never settle for anything less than your best (is that how it goes?) I wish I can still be in your class. H.H.

This year was the best year in my whole life. I did have bad time but you always helped me out. For example, remember, when I got sad that my mom was in the hospital and you cheered me up. That's how you helped me out . I am very thankful for that.

Another thing I want to talk about is how caring you are Ms. Yee. You always care about everyone with a warm heart. For example, remember in camp I got a black eye, you would always ask me if I was okay with a very big warm smile...

The third thing that I want to talk about is how you are funny. How I think you are funny is how you change the topic so fast. For example, remember when we were learning about Media and H was picking her teeth and for the rest of the period you were teaching us how to FLOSS. That was so funny!!! (LOL) S.K.

Something I learned about you is you are helpful and one reason for that is in camp you helped me pack my clothes and by the way I really wanted to be in your cabin. Miss yee I will never forget everything you have done for me And of course I will never forget you. And I PROMISE I will visit you and your new grade five class. E.G.

...both of you are really funny what I really liked was at rock and chalk when you were shouting from the top that was really funny....R.I.

This was your first year as a grade 5 teacher and you handled us like a pro! You never gave up on us and always told us to do our best in everything. And here are some examples of your kindness. One example is, whenever we fail at something, you gave us a second chance. Also, you had a great sense of humour. I remember when you would fuse the humour with the work. Your jokes were always so funny! But when you were serious, you were serious. Even though the problems seemed small, they always made you angry. But in the end, you would always calm down and relax. I hope you continue to be a great teacher! R.B.