Dealing with change

As we cross the 2 month mark since our move to Calgary, I thought I’d take stock of what has changed. In a nutshell it’s almost everything – naturally with such moves comes big changes. Apart from stating the obvious – change in routine, new friends, new colleagues (for Sharan), new city, here are my top 3 changes and top 3 new things we have started after our move (no order of preference in either category)

Changes:

• Making use of free time:
  We finally have time over weekends and some weekdays to do things. It may be small things like watching TV (yes we never watched TV in India – except when there was a tournament we follow, or bring home a DVD) or writing regular blog posts. We have also managed to walk regularly, and go on hikes over weekends, something we always wanted to do but never found time out of our errands, chores, visits, hosting, etc. Since it’s a new place, we also have time to explore the place
• Cooking:
  Since our cook did most of the cooking, cooking was limited to weekends when we didn’t go to folks’ house and had parties (and we weren’t ordering out). Even then, the cook was around to help with the preparation (cutting vegetables, grating coconut, making batter, etc) and more importantly cleaning after cooking. We are enjoying (re)learning cooking. Sharan tries a new recipe almost every weekend. I’ve been sticking to basics of Konkani and Kota Brahmin food though. We need our regular dose of regular south Indian food – sambars, rasams, dals. But that’s fine as it simple but yet scrumptious. Sharan has also been able to pack lunch which is great.
• Enjoying bland food:
  It’s true. We’ve conquered this competence (yes it is one). We’ve eaten out once a week on an average and seem to enjoy the food here. The only difference being it is bland - but flavorful, mind you. Even while cooking I have reduced green chilies (8 to 2). I also cooked with just half a chili when Sharan’s colleagues came over for dinner and the food tasted quite right. Golly! I’ve changed

New habits/ conduct

• Black coffee:
  I’ve always wanted to be able to drink any kind of coffee/tea but in vain. Nothing compared to the good old south Indian filter coffee. Initially I could have only coffee with jaggery – not even sugar coffee. Slowly I got accustomed to coffee with sugar. But that stuck on. I actually carried a filter and coffee powder from home during my UK stint a few years ago. I slowly learnt to enjoy a Cappuccino (came closest to strong milk coffee) or an occasional latte thanks to the numerous visits to coffee day, java city or barista cafes while dating Sharan.
  
  Tea was worse – I never could stand its taste. I used to have the milky tea made at someone’s house but it was more out of politeness. I used to just gulp it down and get over with it. Soon after marriage, realized Sharan and his family were obsessed with drinking tea. I had to and learnt to make tea – with lots of water and wee bit of milk. It actually tasted fine. So I got over this hurdle. I love tea now.
  
  So, the only “type” left to love was black - I’ve passed over this after coming here. It all started with our initial days here in Calgary. Since the kitchen wasn’t set up, we used to visit a diner nearby for breakfast (called Nellie’s). Just got hooked on to their black coffee – it’s brilliant. So now I not only can have but also thoroughly enjoy my black coffee (no milk, no sugar) in the morning or anytime.
• Dealing with cold/snow:
  As they say – it’s all in the mind. Honestly. I’ve been mulling over this ever since our Calgary move got finalized. Sharan said I had to deal with it – one way or another. I couldn’t reject the cold. I would be miserable and would hate the move. The whole point of learning to live in a new place would get lost. I keep telling myself that
  a) its not really that cold
  b) winter will be far worse
  I’ve managed quite decently so far. Ask Sharan. Yes I’ve felt cold no doubt. But I have just stopped making a big deal of it. Just layer myself and get on with it. Dealing with extreme dryness is another matter. Gosh – with the amount of static generated, we may have alternate means of electricity around here.
• NFL/CFL:
  We have started following NFL for 2 reasons:
  a) It’ll give us something speak about with people here.
  b) Its really interesting. Like football (or should I now start saying soccer)
  Come on Calgary Stampeders!
• Sharan’s new look:
  Those who know Sharan, know that he had a ‘virgin mush’. I always wanted to see how he looked without one and obviously I never got the privilege. In some arbit moment he had agreed to shave off his mush if we moved abroad, so that way he’d have lesser people to deal with. Haah! How could I forget such things? I promptly reminded him once we moved, and so he very sweetly obliged.
  
  Which “version” of him do I like? I must admit the resemblance to Siddhu (his brother) is more than ever now. I refused to go near Sharan initially J But frankly mush was never a/the factor for me so it was just a matter of getting used to his new look. But folks and friends have been giving feedback. His new look seems to be more popular.
  
  I know I mentioned at the beginning of this post that there will be a top 3, but can’t help having a 4 top 3s in this case.

So we have another 10 months to go. Should see what else we’ll do - Cross country skiing? Rodeo? Or fast food junkies!

First Snowfall

You’ve seen it in photos, you’ve seen it in movies, you’ve also seen it on (some) mountain tops but your first snowfall experience has to be unique. Seeing everything around you in white itself is exhilarating. You also let out your hand to catch the falling snow and then examine the structure of snow. You eventually make a snowball to throw it at something or someone. Everyone who has had a first snowfall must’ve done this. But the experience is still unique for all. 3 things took me by surprise - I really didn’t know snow was shaped and sized. Snow is extremely light weight (my science knowledge shows). The white around can hurt your eye.

Wet snow was predicted in and around Calgary for the 3-4 Oct weekend. Sharan’s office had organized an “away day” and we were to go to Rafter 6 Ranch in the Kananaskis countryside for this. The snowfall there was supposed to be heavier. So we left in anticipation, as we drove out of Calgary and neared the mountains; we saw patches of snow over the prairie grasslands. The ducks were still wading in the ponds and lakes though. So it’s not that cold to freeze we thought happily, warm that we were inside the car. As we continued driving, the snowfall started. I tried curtailing the grin on my face by looking sideways, outside the window. It was beautiful. Everything… every thing was white. It was indeed a calendar picture sight. But we couldn’t stop to take any photos as it was the highway and we were warned to take it easy on these slippery roads.

The ranch looked lovely as we approached it. Sharan and I quickly got off the car to capture the moments. The ranch had 2 main buildings and some cottages around. A chapel was to one end and horse stables at the other. There was a ring nearby for those who wanted to ride horses. Though we thought we were well dressed to embrace snow, we slowly realized the cold embracing us. We hurried indoors as we had to be up for a long day ahead.

All through the day we were busy with various sessions Sharan’s office had organized. But I was constantly staring outside the window – With the woods and mountains nearby, the horses running around, the view was very scenic anyways, the fresh and heavy snowfall just made it more magnificent.

Late afternoon Avanti and I decided we had enough of indoors and decided to go for a stroll outside. It had stopped snowing. I realized that everything was so white around me that I actually found it difficult to keep my eyes wide open. But still we played in snow, walked around the ranch, went by the ranch horse and donkey (only because the owner was with us), and took some pictures before heading back indoors – satisfied of being in/with snow. Hot coffee inside was equally tempting.

I may still be awed when I see snow again in the near future. But my true love for snow will show in Feb-Mar when winter is darkest, coldest and harshest.

Here are some moments captured:
http://picasaweb.google.ca/akshatakaranth/FirstSnowfall3Oct09#

Waterton National Park

The first thing anyone in Alberta tells you about Waterton is the wildlife spotting. So when Mujir and Avanti suggested we accompany them and Avanti’s mom, we happily agreed. Moreover Sharan colleagues let out the secret – it’s the pre-hibernation time for the bears so they’ll be out there gorging on berries before they disappear for winter. That nailed it for us. We have been fairly luckily in Bandipur and Panna in India. So definitely wanted to check what it was here.

As always we decided to leave early. Waterton is a minimum 3 hr drive (borders USA) and if wanted to make the most of the day in the place, we had to be there early. We got up late making others wait, so we were running around scampering for things. In all the early morning commotion, both Sharan and I forgot our camera – A blunder and not just a mistake we found out later.

We reached our 1st destination – a hiking trail just before Waterton Village called Bear’s Hump around 9:30. As we got off the car, we heard girls screeching and screaming. When I turned around to check what the hullabaloo was all about, it was our first bear sighting for the day. It was a fully grown black cinnamon bear 12 feet away, looking straight at us. Thanks to all the noise it scuttled away before Avanti or her mom could get the camera. That pretty much defined the rest of the day for us.

We happily started the ascent to the Bear’s hump. The board read that it was short but steep. Knowing our fitness level both Sharan and I got instantly cautious. The climb was quite sharp but we trudged along slowly. We reached the hilltop within an hour. And it was the windiest I’ve ever seen – Sharan was almost knocked off his feet, so one can imagine the plight of the rest J But it was all well worth it as the view of Waterton lakes (upper and lower) and the village was stunning. We missed our camera but 2 other point n shoots were available atleast for witness. The downhill hike was much faster as always but not as fast as it would be for the Canadians. We met several hikers who were on the way up when we were going downhill. The entire lot crossed us again and we hadn’t reached the base yet. Speaks a lot about our and their fitness and speed, huh?

We decided to have packed brunch on the banks of the river nearby. Though there weren’t appropriate seating available, we hungrily devoured the sandwiches. The mood got even better after a stomach fill. We decided to head to the village and see if we could get onto the cruise around the lake. On the way back from the river to the village, we saw that the car in front of us had stopped. We weren’t sure if it had broken down or they were lost, looking at maps. We were in the middle of nowhere – with the valley on 1 side and forrest on the other. The driver then pointed out to a nearby hillock. It was our second bear sighting for the day. It was another fully grown black cinnamon bear looking at down at the car in front of us – just 20 ft away. This time we were able to capture it on camera. Oh but there is a difference - it wasn’t our camera. Anyways, guess there was another bear nearby (we couldn’t see), so this one ran back into the jungle.

By now everyone agreed that luck WAS on our side - we reached Waterton village in time for the cruise. The cruise was quite good – the commentator was even better. But I’d not recommend it for the 2nd time. The 2 highlights of the cruise were –
A. Part of Upper Waterton Lake is in the US, so we crossed borders with NO FUSS.
B. Spotted bald eagles nesting.
The other interesting point we noted was that the 7 hour difficult hike up to Crypt Lake, the most popular hike of Waterton, started in the middle of nowhere and the only way to get to the starting point was this cruise.

Once we were off the cruise, we roamed around the main streets of the village. We spotted some wild deer roaming around just like us – that definitely was an unusual sight. It was almost 6pm and we hurriedly got to our next destination – red canyon. The drive up to the place was very scenic. But the canyon itself was disappointing because the river was almost dry. But it was definitely red – due to the color of the mud and the dusk. We headed to our last destination for the day - bison paddock. A vast space where wild bisons are found, fenced though. We saw more than a dozen of them – quite ugly creatures I must admit.

On the way back, just as we took a turn into the highway I spotted a coyote trotting along a farm fence (I thought it was a fox till I looked it up the next day). Unfortunately since it was the highway we couldn’t stop. And by the time others saw it, we had zoomed past L

We stopped at Pincher Creek Village for some gas and a quick bite. It also had gotten much cooler. We reached Calgary late evening, tired and sleepy. That was the end of a satisfying trip. All of us did have a smile as we went to sleep dreaming of bears but not bulls for a change.

More info on Waterton is available at:
http://www.watertonpark.com/
http://www.watertoninfo.com/

Photos: will be uploaded/ updated once I get the pictures from other cameras.

Johnston Canyon – Banff National Park

Sharan informed me that we would have the car over the weekend. Since the office rental car was shared between 4 colleagues, we had to wait for our turn to take the car. I suggested that we go to Lake Winniwonka (yes, sounds like it’s from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, isn’t it?). Sharan’s colleague Mujir had suggested Johnston Canyon. We finally decided to take a call after we reach Banff. We initially wanted to go on Saturday – but with all the cooking, cleaning, groceries, etc – the plan didn’t materialize. So it was Sunday, 20th Sep’09.

It was drizzling all the way through making us wonder if we chose the wrong day. It would be a good drive if not anything we agreed. We stopped at Lac De Arc (lake) – the 1st “viewpoint” you see when you approach Rockies/Banff from Calgary. After a couple of quick shots, we left to our next destination – Banff National Park gates to buy a pass. We now have a year around pass – given that we were going so often and with all the promised visits from folks n friends, we thought might as well.

On reaching Banff village we headed to the information centre. The lady said it was beautiful day to hike up the Johnston Canyon. The sun was coming up after all. So we took a map and headed for some breakfast. Once we got done with that as well, we headed to Johnston Canyon. The drive up to the trail was a long one – amidst dense coniferous forests. The sky cleared up and the sun was out in all splendor. With the fall having set in and all shades of green to yellow colors splashed across the place, it was beautiful. One could teach shading and mixing colors to aspiring artists from just here I think.

We finally made it to Johnston Canyon parking lot. Surprised to see that there were lots of hikers there, we started our ascent. The trail itself was well laid with wooden/metal railings on and off. This is something a trekker from India isn’t used to. The trail had the mountain towering on 1 side and the river down the canyon on the other. So sometimes it was great to have the railings after all.

The hikers were accommodating – followed “right of way” even while walking/hiking. Received an occasional “hi there” or “hello” (they got to be Brits – who else would say that in today’s world? But it’s great).

We saw many cascades all along the way. The water was crystal clear – well after seeing all those ads on glacier fed mineral water bottled, we can now say it could be true. In some sections the water was deep blue and in other sections it was turquoise blue – effect of the stones beneath we were once told. But Johnston Canyon has 2 main waterfalls – upper and lower. You hike longer for the upper. It’s also the bigger one. You need to walk through a cave tunnel for the lower one – very exciting. The ice-cold water just sprays at you. It actually is a welcome feeling after the hike for unfit people like us. Though the trail promised, sadly we couldn’t spot any birds except A raven.

We decided not to climb further up to Ink Pots as it would get late. So we headed back to Banff Village for a late lunch (or early dinner). We decided to try the tex-mex restaurant. It was worth it. With yummy fruitless Sangria (yes you get fruitless sangria here), quesadillas and salsa dips, it was a perfect ending to a wonderful day. A good drive, a good hike and good food definitely makes a good Sunday.

More details are available at: http://www.banff.com/hiking/johnston_canyon.shtml

Link to our picture album:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lh/sredir?uname=akshatakaranth&target=ALBUM&id=5386734871504858417&authkey=Gv1sRgCI-V5KSFlKn9OA&invite=CNvXlscN&feat=email