Journal entry #1 - A Thousand Splendid Suns

"[S]ome things I can teach you. Some you learn from books. But there are things that, well, you just have to see and feel."(page 134)
This quote was said by Babi, to Laila when they were atop the Budha. After a pretty long hike up a narrow trail, they made it to the top and were admiring the view. I feel strongly about this statement. I love traveling and camping, I love the feeling of exhilaration when you have reached the top. I have often read about certain mountains and how beautiful they are, but it's not the same as experiencing them yourself. I was visiting my realtives in Scotland, and have heard a lot about the munros. ( They are a series of mountains all over Scotland that are above a certain altitude.) While my family was there, we hiked up two munros. The ascending climb was difficult but the senery was amazing! After a few hours, we made it to the top and I was estatic. The weather was super windy and foggy, however, I was indifferent. I was experiencing something I had only read about and can relate Laila's feeling.
I have sympathy towards individuals who only learn from books. Not having the joy of seeing or feeling would be very unfourtunate. I believe witnessing events developes your ideals on certain topics or issues. If you only learn from books or other individuals, your learning about someone elses opinion instead of creating your own. This is similar to another part in this novel; when Nana had given her attitude of Jalil, and Jalil had given his notion about Nana to Mariam. She thought Jalil was a caring man and would never do anything to harm Mariam. She was questioning Nana's assessment of him, until he left her to sleep outside the gate and wouldn't see her around his life, she saw and felt. She experienced the true side of Jalil and created her own impression of him.

Farnham Glacier

I just recently arrived from Farnham Glacier, located by Radium. It was one of the most exciting summer ski camps I have been to. In order to get up to the camp, you have to load up all your belongings into a large truck while we ride an old school bus. On the bus we have to drive for two hours on a bumpy and narrow logging road, untill it gets too steep for the bus to transport us any further. Then we have to hike for another hour up an arduous hill just to reach Camp Green (base camp). Camp Green is consisted of several dome-shaped huts, varying in size. There are several sleeper ones that have enough beds for five people, one for washroom facilities, one filled with gym equipment, and one for dining in. You're completely secluded in the mountains with no distractions, so you can truely focus on your skiing. A tipical day would be as follows:
Arise at 6 AM (which is really feels like 5 with the hour time change),
Do a warm up eat breakfast at 6:30 and get prepared for the rest of the day
Load the passenger cats at 7:30 and ride for 15min to the base of the galcier, unload your packs and continue scaling mountain
Once at the top, the sky is just starting to wake from its darkness, you do your warm up while you watch the amazing sunrise
You train for 6 hours, then return back to Camp Green. Once you're back you do an hour dryland and a video session; to analize your skiing
Get ready for dinner, and head down to the kitchen tent and eat a delicious meal
Then you have 3 hours of 'quiet time' in which you have to attempt your homework, get your skis tunned for the next day and have a team meeting so that you know what to bring for the next day
Then repeat.
The weather is unreliable so you have to be prepared for all conditions. When I was there it changed from icy cold and clear, to windy and foggy, to a foot af fresh powder.
This camp was by far my favourite because of the beautiful scenery, intense setting and it was virtually distraction-free. However, it was nice to get back to society and sleep in my own bed.

The Perlis of Indifference

Another way to word the title could be: The Dangers of Not Caring

In "The Lottery", the villagers stone a woman to death. The whole village participates, even though they don't know how or why the 'black box' originated; they are just doing it becaue everyone is and it is considered tradtion. What intrigues me the most is the fact that the little boy could had the heart to kill his mother, even after she demanded a re-vote so that her son wasn't the one to be stoned. This situation is similar to the Holocaust, where Hitler manipulated thousands of people to slaughter millions of Jewsih citizens. The Nazi's were similar to the villagers; they were killing people just because thats what Hitler commanded them to do. Some Germans are similar to the little boy, they were forced to join the Nazi's and kill their family, so that they can stay alive. Not all the villagers, and not all the Nazi's were crazy, most of them were considered 'normal'.

Wiesel's speech "The Perils of Indifference" can be related to "The Lottery". He is grateful that the Americans freed him from the concentration camp, but his speech is focused on the carlessness of countries. While he was in the concentration camp, all the prisoners thought that the camps and what was happening to them were "secrets". So once the Americans rescued them, they were eternally grateful until they found out most of the world knew what was happening to them. Everyone knew millions of innocent people were being killed, but no-one was bold enough to confront them. This is smilar to "The Lottery", where all the villagers are being witnesses to the death of their family or community member. Everyone was 'not caring' and not putting the effort in to stop an immoral deed. Not caring may not be dangerous to yourself, but is dangerous to individuals or societies. Many people probably don't know that they are being careless in the first place, which makes indifference even more menacing.

My top 3 ways to look like a gorb

We've all seen them, maybe even had a few laughs; they are the gorbs of the mountain. I don't know how that name originated but the gorbs are the individuals that usually can't ski or snowboard and wear questionable outfits. I'm not going to rate my top 3 on ability, but simpily by what they wear (or shouldn't).

Number one.
Goggles. Goggles should be worn without any forehead showing. Gorbs either have the "gorby gap", where they leave an enormous space between their helmet and the goggles themselves, have them dangling off the back of their helmet, or go 'sans' goggles and wear sunglasses instead. How they can wear them like that is beyond my knowledge. With your forehead exposed to the cold elements, I cannot comprehend why they would let their head freeze and look silly in the process.

Number two.
Pants. Jeans are not meant for the snow. There is a reason why they call them snowpants. Jeans freeze easily when wet, are not bendable when they are frozen, and are not practical. If you get a pair of snowpants, your will be a lot warmer and you will be able to get better performance from your skis or snowboard with your muscles warm. Tucking your jeans or snowpants into the cuff of your boots will let snow get inside your liners resulting in cold feet and also make you look like a gorb.

Number three.
One piece suits. I know they tried to make a comeback, but the one-piece suit tends to make even the best skiers look gorbish. There may be a few exceptions, but I find the worst suits are the ones with floral prints, outdated colours, and either elastic waistbands or the elastic legs with puffed out tops. The all elastic suits make you look like your ready to scuba dive, not ski or snowboard.

Hopefully we all know what I was talking about, and if you don't, there is a great chance you are the gorb.

What to blog?

I think open-ended topics are easier to write about. However, extremely open-ended ones leave me confused and questioning what to write about. I think we should write about our interests, that way everyone can write about something they are passionate about.

No time wasted

Out of all the superpowers, I would want to be able to teleport myself. Being able to travel where-ever I need to go in a matter of seconds, would save incredible amounts of time and money. The cost of planes, trains and automobiles is increasing, and are not always reliable forms of transportation. On a trip to Norway, my family had to wait three hours due to a plane delay, and once on the plane had to wait another hour for technical problems. After a really long flight, our bags were left at another airport! This wasted an enormous amount of time; time we should have spent visiting our family, not the bagage claim attendants. Not only would you save time and money, you would have more energy. You could sleep until ten minutes before your work shift, or school, therefore being more energized everyday. With your new found time, money and energy, you would be able to enjoy life and live everyday to the fullest with no time wasted.