Teresa's Waterton, Rediscovery & Compassionate Communication adventures ... AWESOME!

Teresa at Waterton Lakes National Park (May 16-19, 2008)

Hello my Dear Friends & Family,

It's been a loooooooong time since my last post ... & great to finally bust out of "office mode" ... so there's heaps to update you on ...

For the May long week-end, I went down to Waterton Lakes National Park in SW Alberta with Margaret. We had most splendid weather for our Waterton adventures & it was great to finally get a chance to explore this gorgeous & very diverse part of Alberta. I had never been down & am so pleased to finally be able to explore the grandeur of Waterton! It was great to reconnect with Margaret again as well & to enjoy an extended long week-end out on the trails of this glorious part of the Canadian Rockies :) We saw deer all over & even some bighorn sheep right in the Waterton townsite ... plus a bear cub near the road through my binoculars from our hike up above the townsite :)

gorgeous sunset over Upper Lake Waterton (May 2008)

I headed out to the west coast (west of Victoria) for the 12 day Rediscovery Leadership training & then back in Calgary for 5 days before I headed off to Santa Cruz, CA for a 6 day Summer Retreat immersed in Compassionate (Nonviolent) Communication (NVC) ... both of these were quite excellent & still much to soak in & review from all that was covered in this excellent courses.

For the Rediscovery International training ... our group was a fabulous mix of folks from First Nations & Metis communities in British Columbia (B.C.), 11 students from around the world who just finished their studies at Pearson College where our training was held, & 3 of our Ghost River Rediscovery staff plus our Ex. Director Mike, along with Serena one of the other leaders, & Thom Henley, co-founder of Rediscovery.

It was great to be back out at Pedder Bay, where Pearson College is located ... this is where my friends Laura & Christie live ... Laura teaches at Pearson & Christie teaches in Victoria. It was great to visit with them & to spend almost two weeks out in this special part of Canada's west coast.

me & Serena, our Canoe instructor at the Rediscovery International training ... Serena also helped Mike teach the Wilderness 1st Aid course during the 1st week

here I am "made up" to appear like I have a broken tibia (shin bone) & an amputated finger ... the 1st Aid students were assessed on how they dealt with myself or Lisa the other "patient" who they had to offer 1st Aid to

view across the Straight of Juan de Fuca & the Olympic mountains in Washington state

Teresa enjoying the Rediscovery outing to one of the beaches near Pearson College

some of our Rediscovery group enjoying a little time for reflection & immersing in the splendour of the west coast, as Megan plays her drum

neat sand & driftwood art made by some folks in our group while we learned more Rediscovery activities & others sang & played drums around the fire

playing the "Who's Who Hoot" Rediscovery game out at the soccer field ... the "mice" had to carefully crack open peanuts & eat them without being heard by the blindfolded "owls ... what GREAT FUN!!!

Patch & Saijai sharing some Thai dancing during one of our evening cultural sharing nights ... how very gentle & peaceful :)

Lucia, my very excellent paddling partner :)

"Food for Thought" activity ... 3 of our group of 27 dined on fine French cuisine while the rest of us were given a ration of cooked rice to eat & pitchers of treated water to drink ... plus a bonus of soya sauce to add to our rice

Patch & I peacefully accepting the meager bowl of rice & water to drink for our "Food for Thought" lunch

15 fortunate folks from our group that went out to visit Race Rocks where we saw some eagles, elephant seals, & harbour seals along the way ... we also went out further to see a big eagle nest in the trees & a rainbow on the return trip home to Pearson ... thanks heaps Chris & Erick :)

warming the drum head around the Rediscovery "Council Fire" ... one of our regular evening activities enjoyed by all ... thanks heaps to Charlie, Mike, Thom, Mutang, Serena & all our group for all the great songs, drumming, & sharing that we did in this special place everyone!!!

Darcy & Shaylene enjoying the canoe trip out to see the seals

new Spiritual Centre at Pearson College ... what a very special place

one of the many creative & lovely ways that folks in our group honoured their "Secret Friends" ... this special greeting was made for Charlie, the wonderful Elder who shared his west coast Indigenous teachings with us ... THANK YOU Charlie!!!

Teresa's 2nd jump into the COLD waters of Pedder Bay ... as part of canoe training & also our earlier Bronze Medallion certification

YES, I managed to successfully complete my Bronze Medallion REcertification ... many thanks to Mutang, our Life Saving instructor, what a treat to have Mutang teach us all that he shared ... YIPPEE!! :)

Darcy the "cougar" getting ready to pounce on Mica the white-tailed deer during "Deer Ears"

map of where our whole Rediscovery 2008 family hail from all over the world

Muji, Charlene, & Saijai trying to figure out the Native string game

our daily gathering place marked by coloured ribbons for the 4 directions plus Mother Earth & Father Sky in the middle

I'll share more pic's from the last few days of our Rediscovery training either later tonight or tomorrow ... gotta finally get outside for a walk & to get some more groceries now that I'll be back at my "Wombat Warren" here in Cow Town for awhile ...

I had the splendid pleasure to reconnect with some of my California mates ... Margaret, Kristin, Claudette, & Isabel, while I was in Santa Cruz, which was a very lovely treat indeed!! I've also gained a heap of new friends at the NVC Summer Retreat that I participated in

I also got to reconnect with my travelling Aussie Seed Mate kt ... FINALLY!!! She came down to Santa Cruz & we hung out during the day before I headed to the NVC retreat & the day before she headed off to San Luis Obispo the next day to visit with Linda Seeley. It was also most splendid to reconnect up with kt, who was on the west coast as part of her worldwide adventures. kt, I am sure you are having a great time on the east coast now kt & I look forward to seeing you up in Canada if you decide to return to Turtle Island (N. America) after you head over to Europe).

Cheryl, Gled, Aidan, Joan, & Linda, so sorry I missed catching up with this trip ... I trust you are well & I look forward to catching up with you hopefully later on this year or perhaps by next May (Joan & Linda) with the great activities I am planning with Joanna up this way!!!

Most recently, I just returned yesterday from my first full, Summer course with Ghost River Rediscovery ... I taught the Standard First Aid materials that make up the majority of the WIlderness First Aid course that folks were being certified for ... it went fairly well but I was quite nervous (big responsibility to teach things right so that people are fully prepared to do the things they need to do in a 1st aid situation) & feeling under prepared because there is SO MUCH material to cover.

All in all, I survived & I was in participant mode the rest of the time ... the highlight for me was my 24 hour solo at a spot that looked west over the whole Ghost River valley that is surrounded by the grandeur of the Canadian Rockies. Our camp is about 300m east of the Banff National Park boundary, not far from Lake Minnewanka). My solo spot was less than 100m from the park boundary & in one of the areas near our camp that could potentially have some activity of the bigger creatures ... "O zhin zha" - black bear & "Watanga" - grizzly bear. If any were nearby, they did not come through my little camp ... it was me & the big gusting winds, the wildflowers blooming around me, the butterflies, moths, ants, & spiders, & the little song birds that chirped their songs on occasion.

More pictures of the NVC Retreat & the Rediscovery Wilderness Guide Training to follow ... once I am reunited with my camera in August (or perhaps sooner, if I can figure out a way to get access to my pictures from afar. I unfortunately left it behind in Santa Cruz after the NVC Summer retreat ... the first time I've ever done that with my most important travelling gear!!! ... & once I get access to the pic's that folks took over the past 11 days out at the Ghost.

For any of you that may be interested in the work we are doing at Ghost River Rediscovery, we have a few positions for employment that are either just recently became available or will be in the Autumn. If you are having any itches to come my way, perhaps you may want to follow this up ... www.ghostriverrediscovery.com

I would LOVE to connect with any of you on Skype sometime soon ... my Skype ID is tchilkowich ... it would be great to see you, hear you laugh, & hear your stories of what you have been up to lately. Feel free to try me if you see I am on Skype or send me a note & we can set a time to connect.

Looking forward to talking with you soon & reconnecting on many levels.

Big hugs & heaps of love to all of you,

Teresa ... & SHERPA DOG!!

~~~

p.s. guess who was on my doorstep yesterday to greet me back from 11 days out in the mountains ...?

...

my little Sherpa Dog has returned back to me ... Noel (one of my dear Seed Mates from Australia) sent me a little parcel to reunite her with me ... Noel sensed that she's been missing me ... rightly so ... amid this very excellent connection & good fit for me here with Ghost River Rediscovery, I sure do wish I had more of my friends & family from up around Edmonton & my close friends & Seed Mates& their sweet heart connections closer in proximity to me here in Canada ...

do reconnect when you can, I'd love to hear from all of you & find out how you are these days :)

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