Another chapter completed

I am in Vancouver, only two days away from the conclusion of this 'Otesha' chapter. It was a very interesting feeling, cycling from the agriculturally lush Fraser Valley slowly creeping into the suburban sprawl that is Vancouver. As our group cycled nearer and nearer to the city, I began feeling more and more overwhelmed with the traffic, the people, the big box stores that we have been far removed from for the past two months. It's interesting how a little bit of time away from these things can make you so much more aware of their presence.

We stayed for an evening at the Yarrow Ecovillage as well as a co-housing project called Windsong in Langley, and I really enjoyed learning a great deal about both of these places. We got to see, yet another way that people are living their lives together, and not separately. They share gardens and meals and they peacefully co-exist with one another on very positive grassroots levels. It is a lifestyle that I think is so greatly beneficial to the soul and spirit and development of every person who dwells within these communities.

Enter Vancouver. Still lush. Always with a chance of rain. The city impressed me instantly as we cycled in on designated bicycle routes; roads that essentially prohibit car traffic unless you are a resident (and even then can often only physically access it from one direction). The roads were beautifully covered in old trees that shine in the sun with their lush green chlorophyll-rich leaves. When you approach an intersection, there are conveniently located buttons for cyclists to push to change the light so that they can cross. And then we cycled into the University of British Columbia, where we are staying currently on their farm, which is a beautiful organic farm with a number of different projects ongoing on the site. We were in time for the farm's wonderful weekend market where we bought the fresh ingredients to take along to our potluck party. We celebrated the summer solstice on Saturday night with an Otesha O-lumni at his home in Vancouver (which is yet another eco-conscious communal house). People were amazingly friendly as we used their stove to make a dark greens/tofu stir fry, and sauteed onions and Jerusalem artichokes. We shared in laughter, enjoyed their alternative media zine wall, and even learned how to make tempeh (fermented soybean curd - a delicious less processed version of tofu, that I now know how to make!) It was a wonderful introduction into this subset of the culture in Vancouver, and was refreshing to spend some time with people in our own generation, who are all into the same things as we are.

We finished off our last performance yesterday to a very attentive grade 6 and 7 audience in Richmond after doing three hard performances to difficult and sometimes small audiences at Vancouver's Science World on the weekend. It was a sad, but really cool feeling to preform the play one last time, to do our well practiced, adapted and rehearsed lines with one more burst of energy to maybe inspire just one more person to truly take charge of their lives and treat every 24 hours like another opportunity to foster the world that they all wish to see. I am slowly getting reacquainted with a city; the busy life of some, but recognizing the slow life of others. I am easing my way back into the 'real' world, and although it will be challenging to get used to being without my 9 family members, I am excited to add all that I have learned from these beautiful people, and use the skills in my own lifestyle. Vancouver is a beautiful place to be right now.

Otesha has been a wild journey for me. One where I have learned a lot about myself through interacting with others. One where I have tried every day to be positive about society's situation and realize that we all have choices that we make every day. It has been a journey where I learned to live in an intense group situation, and where I learned about spirituality, new cooking methods, gardening methods, sustainability practices, educational tactics, and Alberta and British Columbia. It has been an adventure, upon the seat of my bicycle, living this wonderful life, playing, and sharing with others. I have planted many seeds across these two provinces, within our audiences, our hosts, the communities, my team mates, myself, and you, my readers. You have the tools to grow into whatever you so chose to; use those tools however you chose to create the beautiful world that you wish to live in.

Hope you enjoyed this Otesha chapter, the next chapter is a coming up right away! (My adventures on the coast, Southeast Asia, and beyond!)