2020!
Wow!
It has been way too long since I have properly updated. It feels like yesterday I was arriving for the first time in Mistissini and now I am halfway through my 3rd year!
This blog post is going to be a little bit about the New Year, a little bit of updates from the fall and a lot of random little things :) I feel like I share only big things on here, so I want to share a little bit about my daily to-do's and the activities I love doing.
Winter
As you all know, I love the winter. I love the snow. I love the cold. I love everything that happens between December and April. (or June if you live in the North). November and December are actually the more difficult months to power through because the sun sets so early (3:50pm) and rises so late (7:55am). So basically, I go to school as the sun rises and leave school as the sun falls. I find that staying active is the most important thing that keeps me healthy and happy during those long dark months.
Now that it is January, most of our snow has fallen... you should see the mountain outside my house! The sun is out regularly now, and the sun is setting closer to 4:15pm so I leave school when the sky is dark blue fading to black. That's not so bad anymore!
The weather isn't even that cold yet and I probably just jinxed it! Typically the month of January hovers around -40C (-40F) but the last week or so have been closer to -15C or -20C ( 5F- -4F). This means that the students are able to enjoy their outdoor recesses and I can walk my dogs without worrying about frostbite. We even enjoyed our very first night walk in late December. I was very nervous about it because of the wolves! Of course the wolves that live in the community are not on our walking trail that is directly behind some of the newer streets, but you never know!!!
Since the walking trail is so close to the community, it is quite bright in the sky so it definitely was not as scary as I thought it would be! Good thing I had my two pups to protect me...although who really knows what would happen if those two met a wolf...
Since I am on the topic of enjoying the winter I will share some amazing pictures from the lake and our trails from the many snowshoe walks I have taken since November.
Dog Rescue
Some fun updates on my involvement with dog rescue-ing in general. My friend and I foster many puppies and dogs in the community. We have been doing this for over a year now. I love these animals so much that it is difficult to see the condition some of them are in when they are brought to us. I typically take puppies because I know that my dogs will get along with them and they are more predictable than adult dogs.
The thing with puppies... THEY ARE EXHAUSTING! Oh my goodness, I do not think I can count how many hours or days of sleep I have lost because of a foster puppy, or a litter of foster puppies!
The reality is exactly that. No sleep. Pee and Poo everywhere. And expect to lose at least 1 charging cord, many socks and possibly a corner off a piece of furniture. BUT I love them very very very much.
There is so much more I could say on the puppy matter but I will leave it with a picture of me trying to be peaceful, doing yoga, and the scene around me. Try and count how many animals are in the picture below haha!
Yoga (With Adriene)
The past few months have been the best I have ever felt. I partially owe that to the practice of Yoga.
In the last 5 years or so I have been practicing yoga on and off, trying different yoga classes and even went on a Yoga Retreat back in October.
I have finally integrated Yoga into my daily routine and it is becoming a habit. I use Yoga to stretch and strengthen my mind, body and heart. I say this literally and figuratively. I find that practicing yoga always makes me feel better no matter what has happened that day.
I am no expert, but I will share one with you all. Many of you have heard of Yoga with Adriene, and her videos are the ones that I enjoy the most. Adriene releases a new Yoga Calendar every month with a Youtube playlist to go along with it. Most of her videos are under 30 minutes and are accessible for all abilities. I have grown my practice more in the past year and I always go to her videos in the evening as I am winding down before bed.
I am sharing with you the link to her 30 days of Yoga: Home that began on January 1st 2020. I hope that sharing this with you will encourage you to try Yoga or at least look into it!
HOME Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLui6Eyny-UzzFFfpiil94CUrWKVMaqmkm
For those of you that are more interested I will link her official website to access all of the previous months' calendars of daily yoga.
Yoga with Adriene Website: https://yogawithadriene.com/
I do not have any pictures of me practicing yoga (I practice alone!) but here is what happens when I try to capture the moment...
Zumba/Piyo
Fitness has become my life in the last 2.5 years but I am not sure if I have shared with everyone that I am now a fitness instructor! I have replaced my friend Gaby as a Zumba instructor a number of times in the last year and I am now also certified as a PIYO instructor.
Officially I teach one class a week, PIYO at 5:30pm on Fridays. Piyo is a combination of Pilates and Yoga and it really is a full body workout! Since the class is on a Friday, we like to take it easy, but the workout kicks our butts every time. Again, I have no pictures of me teaching or even doing PIYO but for my next post I will do my best to get a shot.
Zumba has fueled my life as well in the last years and this month I am teaching it twice a week. So for this month I am teaching 3 classes!
Zumba is a dance fitness class that is typically Latin or African-inspired music. Every class is different, and I mean that it is taught differently everywhere you go.
For me, Zumba made me fall in love with Latin music, so I will share with you two or my favorite songs that I learned through Zumba. The first one is more up-beat and the second one is more slow.
La Gozadera by Gente de Zona: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMp55KH_3wo
Culpa al Corazon by Prince Royce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lDsqOsJL7k
ENJOY!! ( And feel free to dance your butts off!)
Love and Life
I am dating a wonderful, kind and caring person right now. I don't want to share too much here but he makes me smile and makes me very happy, not much more to ask for :)
Here is a picture of us from December in Montreal.
It has been way too long since I have properly updated. It feels like yesterday I was arriving for the first time in Mistissini and now I am halfway through my 3rd year!
This blog post is going to be a little bit about the New Year, a little bit of updates from the fall and a lot of random little things :) I feel like I share only big things on here, so I want to share a little bit about my daily to-do's and the activities I love doing.
Winter
As you all know, I love the winter. I love the snow. I love the cold. I love everything that happens between December and April. (or June if you live in the North). November and December are actually the more difficult months to power through because the sun sets so early (3:50pm) and rises so late (7:55am). So basically, I go to school as the sun rises and leave school as the sun falls. I find that staying active is the most important thing that keeps me healthy and happy during those long dark months.
Now that it is January, most of our snow has fallen... you should see the mountain outside my house! The sun is out regularly now, and the sun is setting closer to 4:15pm so I leave school when the sky is dark blue fading to black. That's not so bad anymore!
The weather isn't even that cold yet and I probably just jinxed it! Typically the month of January hovers around -40C (-40F) but the last week or so have been closer to -15C or -20C ( 5F- -4F). This means that the students are able to enjoy their outdoor recesses and I can walk my dogs without worrying about frostbite. We even enjoyed our very first night walk in late December. I was very nervous about it because of the wolves! Of course the wolves that live in the community are not on our walking trail that is directly behind some of the newer streets, but you never know!!!
Since I am on the topic of enjoying the winter I will share some amazing pictures from the lake and our trails from the many snowshoe walks I have taken since November.
The picture of Lily on the left is actually a hike we took about 20 minutes away from Val D'or!
The snow has become my happy place, I do not think I could live without it.
Dog Rescue
Some fun updates on my involvement with dog rescue-ing in general. My friend and I foster many puppies and dogs in the community. We have been doing this for over a year now. I love these animals so much that it is difficult to see the condition some of them are in when they are brought to us. I typically take puppies because I know that my dogs will get along with them and they are more predictable than adult dogs.
The thing with puppies... THEY ARE EXHAUSTING! Oh my goodness, I do not think I can count how many hours or days of sleep I have lost because of a foster puppy, or a litter of foster puppies!
The reality is exactly that. No sleep. Pee and Poo everywhere. And expect to lose at least 1 charging cord, many socks and possibly a corner off a piece of furniture. BUT I love them very very very much.
There is so much more I could say on the puppy matter but I will leave it with a picture of me trying to be peaceful, doing yoga, and the scene around me. Try and count how many animals are in the picture below haha!
Yoga (With Adriene)
The past few months have been the best I have ever felt. I partially owe that to the practice of Yoga.
In the last 5 years or so I have been practicing yoga on and off, trying different yoga classes and even went on a Yoga Retreat back in October.
I have finally integrated Yoga into my daily routine and it is becoming a habit. I use Yoga to stretch and strengthen my mind, body and heart. I say this literally and figuratively. I find that practicing yoga always makes me feel better no matter what has happened that day.
I am no expert, but I will share one with you all. Many of you have heard of Yoga with Adriene, and her videos are the ones that I enjoy the most. Adriene releases a new Yoga Calendar every month with a Youtube playlist to go along with it. Most of her videos are under 30 minutes and are accessible for all abilities. I have grown my practice more in the past year and I always go to her videos in the evening as I am winding down before bed.
I am sharing with you the link to her 30 days of Yoga: Home that began on January 1st 2020. I hope that sharing this with you will encourage you to try Yoga or at least look into it!
HOME Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLui6Eyny-UzzFFfpiil94CUrWKVMaqmkm
For those of you that are more interested I will link her official website to access all of the previous months' calendars of daily yoga.
Yoga with Adriene Website: https://yogawithadriene.com/
I do not have any pictures of me practicing yoga (I practice alone!) but here is what happens when I try to capture the moment...
Zumba/Piyo
Fitness has become my life in the last 2.5 years but I am not sure if I have shared with everyone that I am now a fitness instructor! I have replaced my friend Gaby as a Zumba instructor a number of times in the last year and I am now also certified as a PIYO instructor.
Officially I teach one class a week, PIYO at 5:30pm on Fridays. Piyo is a combination of Pilates and Yoga and it really is a full body workout! Since the class is on a Friday, we like to take it easy, but the workout kicks our butts every time. Again, I have no pictures of me teaching or even doing PIYO but for my next post I will do my best to get a shot.
Zumba has fueled my life as well in the last years and this month I am teaching it twice a week. So for this month I am teaching 3 classes!
Zumba is a dance fitness class that is typically Latin or African-inspired music. Every class is different, and I mean that it is taught differently everywhere you go.
For me, Zumba made me fall in love with Latin music, so I will share with you two or my favorite songs that I learned through Zumba. The first one is more up-beat and the second one is more slow.
La Gozadera by Gente de Zona: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMp55KH_3wo
Culpa al Corazon by Prince Royce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lDsqOsJL7k
ENJOY!! ( And feel free to dance your butts off!)
Love and Life
I am dating a wonderful, kind and caring person right now. I don't want to share too much here but he makes me smile and makes me very happy, not much more to ask for :)
Here is a picture of us from December in Montreal.
Thank you for your continued support!
Happy New Year and Namaste <3
~Vicki
Comments
Post a Comment