We are at Esprit ... and having fun

Well folks it is just a little short of a week that we have been gone and thought that it was about time to let you know what we are up . We are hang at Esprit's base camp in Davidson, Quebec. The tent that we now call home is a two person Mountainn Equipment Co-op jobbie that has two vestibules. Jay goes in one way and I come out the other. The weather has been great most of the time. Several nights have included rain which means rain tumbling onto the tin roof that covers the tent, which is also on a platform. IN total there will be 22 students and several people who will be teaching us, most of whom we've met.

Our days consist of us sitting inside, wishing that we were outside enjoying the warm, sunny afternoons. We've learned all kinds of crazy things related to first aid in a wilderness setting ... what to do when someone trips ands falls all the way up to doing CPR on unresponsive people. We've learned techniques that around taking into account having to wait a long time or having to evacuate them out. All this crazy lingo that makes sense to me but is unfamiliar to most. We get to go outdoors every hour or two for a scenario, where we are either the victim, the rescuer or the helper. This seems to be a much better way to learn.

Supper await me - the food is awesome, pretty much a BBQ each night. I"ll post this despite the fact that it isn't finished. The interenet is sporadic so I';m taking advantage while I can. Hope you like it.

Just a little more time left ...

The Spanish say it best … “Go with God.” Those are some of the final, inspiring words that have encouraged us as we prepare for our trip. Saying good bye is something that I have come to dread. How does one saying it a meaningful and hopeful way? The relationships that we’ve created are about to be changed in a dramatic way and that certainly needs to be acknowledged, but at the same time they will remain steady and unchanged. What will change is the physical distance between us and the possible limited contact that will likely exist. I struggle with saying good bye, wishing there was some way it make it easier. However there is a growing appreciation for good- byes.

Wrapping up our life here has begun with the completion of work. What an exciting day that was! The ICU has been in over drive for the last two months, with more deaths in three weeks than my entire time there. Jason’s work has been winding down over the last month with him successful meeting deadlines and achieving his goals. A job well done indeed ( his supervisor certainly confirmed that)!!!

The last weeks will be spent packing up our house, taking care of details and preparing mentally and physically for the challenges that lie ahead. We are wondering where God will be leading us. We look forward to these adventures with fear, anxiety and much excitement. In a recent conversation someone compared our preparations to that of a wedding and we are certainly looking forward to the big day.

A Visit to the Mountains

The third weekend in May ( after the long wekend) Jay and I headed up to the Adirondacks. We had never been before but had heard many things from a co-worker of Jay's. So after picking his brain for many ideas we thought we had the perfect trip planned. That is until we got there and spoke with a park ranger, who promptly explained that the spring run-off had flooded out most of the path that would take us across the mountain. This meant a detour through two rocky passes and longer days than we had expected. So our itenerary was not so good after all, our food detail was amazing however. We never even saw a bear (though secretly we were both hoping we might.) But the thrill and exhaustion at the end of our days made it all worth while. The weather cooperated with us until Sunday when we hit "Indian Pass," the second crazy pass with lots of rocks. As the rain fell the rocks got more slippery and the snow became increasingly frequent and deep, as we discovered when Jay fell through. Who would've thought!! That's a quick synopsis, but if you want details please ask. We've got an updated map that we'd be happy to lend out :0)

Here is the link with all the pictures. You need to check it out if you don't belief my story about the snow.


http://picasaweb.google.com/jason.gehrels/Adirondacks07

On-line Map

Oh the crazy stuff that Google comes up with...

now we can edit our own Google Map - so I've whipped up a little one just to try it out.  The green line is the WILD stuff, and the blue line is some of our ideas for afterwards....

Our Travelling Map

Some days I've got to admit - the office job aint that bad

So...early last week I discovered the Freestyle Kayaking World Championship Finals - the ones that I've been looking forward to since last August - were being move up to Friday instead of Saturday.  Bad news, seeing as I'm supposed to be sitting in front of a computer most Fridays.

lucky for me, I've got one of the cushiest jobs around and after informing the big-boss-man that I wouldn't be coming in Friday, I was able to scurry off and take a whack of crazy pictures of some amazing paddlers  (guess I shouldn't complain so much about the office job...)

Check 'em out: the best paddlers in the world, on one of the craziest 15ft high piles of rushing water in the world!!

Freestyle Kayaking World Championships 2007

Mexico here we come ...............

Friends and Family,

With the cool temperatures and snow around us we look forward to warmer weather (that is better for kayaking) and crazy adventures. Us having crazy adventures – imagine!

First I must set the stage for where things are currently at. Jason continues to work at General Dynamics. This is the place where he has worked the longest – which he is very proud to say in this every changing high tech. field. This company is certainly worthy of the many hours of hard work that he produces. Despite having to part with the replacement of Sea King Helicopter training simulator ( a project that he was able to be a vital part of since its’ beginnings) he has landed himself a new place. This job has taken a little bit more time to settle into because there have been so many things on his mind. He is now working on a sonar for the Swedish navy. This is a project that he jumped into part way. He began with doing “bug fixing” which is finding problems with the program and fixing how the code is written. It is not glamorous or very satisfying because it is so labour intensive and he was quite excited about the possibility of change when it was mentioned by his manager. This gave him the opportunity to share our plans with his managers, to which they responded very favourably. He has more responsibilities and is doing more designing which is more interesting.

He continues to work with various students at Carleton University. It is a busy time for them as they are making plans for the upcoming year. For Jason this means interviewing students and discussing with them what their ideas and plans are for the future. Occasionally Jay has free time which he spends rock climbing with the guys from work.

I have received my first permanent position ever. It is still at the Children’s Hospital but in the intensive care unit. I made the change to ICU at the end on Sept. The training was rigorous and draining. It is good to be able to learn so many new things. My career and personality are certainly being stretched. Instead of working with only babies I now work with big kids too. There are many things that I had to adjusted to beyond that bigger kids talk and tell you how they feel because what often brings them in to the hospital is very different then the wee ones. It has been a challenging learning curve but one that has been very rewarding. The nursing staff have a very different style of nursing so it is interesting getting to know them.

We are a part of a church and a small group, which have been a life line and a huge sense of encouragement for us. We get together with our “Honeymooners” (or newly married) group every other weekend. It is good to connect with friends and share insights as we journey through life together. Jay is teaching kindergarten and gr. 1 Sunday school. I look forward to hearing about how the kids react each time. If you want a good laugh you should ask him about it.

I’ve written a whole page of introductory ramblings but now I will get to what we think is the most exciting news. No we are not having a baby ( that is why I work with kids instead). We are planning on taking one year off and traveling in Central and South America.

Jason started to kayak three summers ago. When he sets his mind to something you never quite know where it will take you. This past summer he spent many hours on the Ottawa River playing in rapids and kayaking his way through them. Many people wonder what motivates such craziness and really all I can say is you should see for yourself. July 1 weekend he took a training course. Being very responsible he figured that since I was starting kayaking as well he wanted to know what to do if something went wrong. Well little did we know that this course and more importantly the company that ran it would create a dream. Esprit Rafting Company is known for their professional and friendly guides who have world wide renown and are highly qualified. Jason got talking to some of these friendly people and heard about their crazy adventures. When winter comes to Ottawa many of the guides head south and run trips in Mexico. The guides have many stories and a very broad knowledge base that intrigued Jason. Upon arriving home that weekend he told me about a 3 month white water training course they offer that takes in rivers from Ontario through the States to Mexico, ending up on the Pacific Ocean. Well as you may be able to guess we no longer talk about whether we should do it but rather we are preparing for how we are going to be doing it. As of Aug. 24, 2007 we will be on our way.

Once the three month training is completed we will have some great credentials to add to our name. They may not help us in the hospital or at General Dynamics but we are hoping they will be enough to lands us jobs teaching white water or guiding. We hear that Costa Rica and Chile have some very great rivers. We have begun to do research about Central/South America. Jason is currently taking Spanish lessons at Algonquin and is teaching me the basics. We love to hear from people who have been there and the things that they have experienced. We are gleaning as much info. as we can now in preparation for what lies ahead. We are also considering coming back to Canada in June 2008 and taking our white water skills up North or out West.

As you can see we are super excited about this trip. We are really looking forward to it, aside from the wedding we’ve never spent some much time planning for something :0) We are planning on renting out the house for the year so if you know of anyone who might be interested in a 3 bedroom semi-detattached home by the river on the West end of town please let them know about our home.

To learn a bit more about the white water program this is the website:
               http://www.espritrafting.com/wild.html