The Rock

Hi guys! Well, I've survived a week and a bit here. Today was my first actual day of classes at Regent, which was both exciting and overwhelming. I have a lot of reading ahead of me, and I need to have memorized the Hebrew alphabet by Thursday. But the profs are very engaging and entertaining, which makes me happy. Yesterday was called technical difficulties day at my house, as Danice and I struggled with the frustrations of installing a web-based phone. At one point, due entirely to my own ignorance, I managed to completely uninstall my wireless internet card. We provided many good laughs for my dad, Danice's brother, and the tech guy from the phone company, Rhett, who we got to know quite well. The phone is still not functional, sadly. Maybe tonight... I finally got my bus pass today, so maybe today will be better all around.

What I really want to share with you is a secret place I've made my own, which I affectionately call "The Rock". You get to it by exiting my house, crossing the street, walking across some grass and hopping the fence, very carefully climbing down the cliff (yes, for you avid readers of my blog, this is the infamous site of the split pants), and hanging a right when you hit the sand. I do this every morning.

I've met quite a few creatures since I became a regular at the Rock. Usually I just sit on the Rock and watch them, sometimes taking pictures or looking through my binoculars like the geek that I am. This distracts me greatly from my true purpose for being there, which is reading my Bible and praying. It is hazardous to pray with your eyes open here (for those of you who heard my "talk"). There's so much more going on that's new and interesting to me, and it can take a lot of time to actually be aware of it all. But I think it's worth it.

Let me introduce you to some of the creatures I've met. The guy who thinks he rules the place is Martin, the Great Blue Heron. I got pretty close to him this morning to take his picture, but unfortunately my memory card malfunctioned. He's there pretty much every morning. Then there's Matthew, Mark and Luke, the mallards. Phil the killdeer (that's a kind of wading bird) and Solomon the kingfisher (that's also a bird) come around every once in a while. Two highlights for me... seeing an actual seal or sea lion (I'm not sure which) swimming in the ocean right near the Rock. They swim slowly with their heads out of the water for a minute or so, like they're showing off, then disappear completely. Another highlight is actually experiencing the phenomenon of tides. It was low tide this morning, and I was looking at Martin with my binoculars, and suddenly I realized that he was surrounded by starfish! Maybe this doesn't excite you, but the only place I've seen real starfish outside an aquarium was when I dissected one. Don't worry, I didn't name them all. I haven't named the gulls either - there's too many.

So that's a little taste of the Rock. I'll probably talk more about it as I experience new things there. Soon to come - Top 5 differences between Saskatoon and Vancouver. I'm compiling a list in my head. :)