When we came back from Newfoundland, we spent a few days just living the easy life in Halifax, really feeling like we were on vacation. "It's like having a hotel, but better," I said to Sam's grandma. We spent some of our time being lazy, but we also went out a few times to some FREE music venues, the buskerfest (too bad I forgot my camera both days...) and we went to the old Triangle (a bar) for some live music that looked like it was awesome until 5 minutes after we got there and they finished. :( Sam and I really enjoy Irish folk music, so we came across kitchen party Thursday at the Casino which was free, awesome and rather entertaining even though most of the crowd was older than our grandparents. What I liked about it was that they handed out instruments- ugly sticks, tambourines and bells- for the audience to play along. They also had a couple Irish dancers, a pipe band and a mixed band of middle-aged men from Cape Breton and the Halifax area. It was a really neat cultural experience!
Another day, we got to borrow the car and we took it to Lawrencetown and later, we drove around, finding a road that was Dyke road further east and we wound up finding some nice seashells there!
After a week of chillaxin' in Halifax again, Sam's grandparents happily took us to the Pictou ferry to Prince Edward Island! We couldn't believe how easy it was to get on compared to the Newfoundland ferry! It's one of the ferries you only pay one way so from Pictou you can just walk on if you're a foot passenger.
On the Wood Islands side, we met up with Sam's friend Don, who knew we were coming some time this summer. The woman that picked us up when we hitch hiked off the ferry just happened to have met him the day prior and said "Why don't I just take you to the festival?" We came the weekend they were having a reunion for all the back to the landers 30 years ago. It was called "Home Again." So sure enough, we found ourselves among the same kind of crowd we were used to back home on the farm. Unfortunately, most people were busy catching up with old friends and we didn't have much to say, so some people thought we looked tired, but we were honestly just a bit bored for a bit! That is, until we hung out in the teepee!
There's something really spectacular about Teepees, or sitting in circles that just make it impossible to ignore anyone. Feeling included is so important to me, sometimes I lose all sense of self esteem if I somehow don't feel that way. Truth is, we just weren't being very social! In the tent, we got to talk to some of the younger people, heard some old nostalgic stories and talked about a few different things. At some point, I decided to get out and wiggle a bit and ended up making a few friends doing so! The rest of the night was a great time because finally, I let loose, and eventually so did Sam :)
We stayed at Don's place for a week. One day we borrowed the car to take Don's brother and his wife to the airport, then exploring Brackley beach for a bit. (My oh my was it expensive - 7.50 each for a beach!) Then, we went to Charlottetown for an hour, listened to some live music, and to Montague to pick Don up from work. The day after we walked to Murray River and then to a beach, hitch hiking the whole way and only getting a ride from one of Don's friends. When someone mentioned that it was 4:00 I couldn't believe that at that point, we'd been walking for 3 hours since we had lunch, and probably 2 hours or more before then.
The day after, Don offered to let us borrow the car again, this time exploring more of the east coast. We went to 4 beaches that day, but our favourite was the famous singing sands beach. A less developed portion, of course. I'll have to try to download a video on this thing, but the reason they call it "singing" sands is because when it rubs together, it squeaks. The sand is also really soft and the beach was really nice! Plus, we found a pretty quiet spot. Apparently the reason why it squeaks is because there's round shapes of quartz that squeak when they rub together. Sam and I had fun trying to use the noise to make some sort of beat. We're certainly not musicians, but I'm sure someone could make music of it! Later that night, we went to the steeles on the dock in Wood Islands to try for some mackerel. I caught one the first time I casted, but nothing after that.
After a week in Iris, we figured we'd explore another region, so off to my friend Emily's place we went, even though she hadn't responded to my texts. She changed her number, of course. We walked for a few hours to an address that I honestly figured was her mom's, but she happened to be walking towards us with her two kids when we saw her. It was so nice to catch up with her, find out a little about Chisasibi since I left and realize that it's all behind me.
I'm sure I've written about it before, but I did all I could when I was there and by golly, teaching was a stressful job for me. I wanted to give these kids what they needed, but I just didn't agree with the whole messed up system. Not just up north, but school. We talked a lot about it until finally I just said "so how have your summers been?" Talking about how the system doesn't work doesn't make it better. Neither does talking about your summer, but at least that makes you feel a bit better.
Sam and I helped Emily unpack for a while, later visiting Charlottetown just to walk around in the almost-not-quite-raining weather. We looked at a map to look around for a nice cafe with good coffee and some lady stopped and said "do you need help looking for somewhere?" She told us a bunch about Charlottetown, talking endlessly and eventually taking us right to the cafe she was talking about. Beanz. It's a good spot. There, we ended up talking to a man for over an hour about some pretty deep things. "You have a gift," he said. We had been talking about television and how, by consumerism, Hollywood and many other things, our actions, beliefs and such are controlled. I had mentioned that I hated being sucked into the TV growing up, eventually realizing that my life felt much more enriched without it. Which is why he said that we have a gift. Realizing what's good for us, I suppose.
I think what many lack and what may be the key to happiness is just self awareness. Realizing what is good for you and what isn't. I suppose that might have been what he was talking about in his interesting rants about Hollywood and how it really does control our behaviour. (Particularly horror movies, as Sam has mentioned many times.)
That night, Emily, Sam and I talked over some wine and just had a blast laughing about who knows what, discussing some heavy stuff and lighter ones too, of course. Emily was always one of my favourite people from Chisasibi, and I know she'll really be missed, but I'm so proud of her for having the courage to take things into her own hands.
I was happy to take her little ones to the park the next day, but for some reason Sam was exhausted. While I pushed the kids on the swings, Sam had a nap.
Just to interrupt all this, I'm listening to Corb Lund (the brand new CD- Cabin Fever) and I love this song. Cows around, it's called. It's about how people don't really make much money off cows, but they still raise them, because "everything is better with some cows around." "It's so true," Sam said. It makes me miss the farm a bit, but I also really appreciated PEI because so much of it is rural. "It's like the prairies with ocean all around," Sam said.
Back on the subject of PEI...
Emily took us to the a campsite near the confederation bridge in Borden-Carlton. I really think we lucked out because we expected another crummy RV park, but we got a nice spot with trees, right by the confederation trail and we even made new friends! It was great enough to make us decide to stay for 2 nights! Our friends Lori and Bram are cyclists who were touring the island from Winnipeg. The weird thing is, they live on our street in Winnipeg! Also, a bonus for me, Bram teaches photography, so Lori let me borrow her bike and go with him to take pictures one day.
Our next stop was in New Brunswick. It was about a 45 minute wait for a ride across the bridge, but that ride saved us about $40 since we didn't have to pay to get across the island at all. Plus, our ride thoughtfully bought us cinnamon buns at the gas station :) Sometimes people we get rides with do funny things like texting and driving, pulling over in the lane (even though we always make sure there's lots of shoulder) speeding, smoking, ect. but it's important that the person is comfortable in their own vehicle, so we really have to learn to relax. This, I think is the real challenge of hitch hiking. Not creeps. They exist, but there are many many more bad drivers.
We stopped at Port Elgin, New Brunswick and ended up sleeping at the Fort Gaspareaux historic site. The locals were really friendly, giving us their life stories - "I have twins names Stacey and Sam!"
and "I used to fight a long time ago but I'm too old for that anymore" The men we met were really helpful and quite open too, which I appreciated. Often I feel like I talk more about myself when we talk to people in their cars because they have so many questions to ask. "where have you been, where are you from, what do you do" ect ect. Sometimes we forget to ask the same questions. I think my favourite question was from a quirky woman from Cornwall, near Charlottetown, which was "What are your hopes and dreams?" I might have gone on forever if I answered it properly. Instead I just talked about what I hope to do and such, assuming that's the most broad answer. That's a hard one to really put in a nutshell for a stranger though.
Then we got to Halifax, only missing Sam's grandparents by a couple hours. We weren't sure if they'd left or not until Sam saw the flight departure. Later, Sam's grandfather called and, as it turns out, they're still here after all. Things didn't change to much as a result of this though because luckily, they've still decided to be so generous and let us borrow their car after all!
So tomorrow, to Cabot Trail in Cape Breton!
