End of the Season

I have now just finished my season/contract with the County of Parkland, Agriculture Division.  Since May I have been fortunate to be part of a team who truly does believe in making both positive examples and differences in our community and beyond.  It has been a while since I’ve had the opportunity to work with a group of people who are health conscious (not too many donuts around this office) as well as environmentally conscious.  To end my season I was privileged to be a part of the City Slickers program offered through the Multicultural Center in Stony Plain.  This is a program that brings between 1200-1500 grades 4&5 students out to the farm.  The program is designed to teach students where their food comes from, to hear from farmers themselves as to how they take care of their land, animals and the environment in order to produce safe food and to listen to different groups and businesses involved in the processes of growing our food while at the same time being aware of the importance of conserving our environment.  

Our display and presentation was based on the importance of soil and how valuable and vital it is to our life. It was so hard to narrow the presentation to 20 minutes; there was just so much to share with these kids.  I completely enjoyed brainstorming and preparing for this event.  We had put together everything from posters, soil profiles, buckets of different soil textures complete with fake bugs to profile frames showing root developments and even a display with worms. As Friday came closer I found the thought of making approximately 10 presentations to different groups of students freaked me out more than a little. First off I don’t get extremely excited about presenting anything in front of groups of people and second, I had the idea that children who have been cooped up in the city, school and then the bus may just go a little crazy in the fresh farm air (or run around with their noses plugged as some did).  I’d be lying if the thought of calling in sick didn’t cross my mind or the hope that maybe a tornado would come and just take away my part of the presentation.  However I found myself saying over and over again “this will be good for you, this will be good for you” (thanks I Ho Chuan).  Not only was it good, it was great!  I found the more engaged I could get the kids, the more excited and passionate I became.  Yes there were the kids that I would see playing with the fake bugs in my soil piles who seemed to have tuned me out and then there were those absolutely bright whipper snappers (I know, old persons term, my grandma is laughing at me right now) who always seemed a step ahead and challenged me with questions and their ideas, it was fantastic!  And of those kids who seemed more intrigued by the fake bugs, I discovered they were paying attention all along just learned a little differently than the rest of the class.  And as for the kids going crazy on fresh farm air, I couldn’t be more wrong.  These kids were so eager to learn and take in the day that they behaved with respect and gratitude.  It was a pleasure to spend the day with them.

I am grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of this day, grateful for the I Ho Chuan words “this will be good for you” in my ear and grateful that there were no tornados taking away my soil buckets and fake bugs!  A great way to end the season of a great job!

Alana Regier

http://alanaregier.blogspot.ca

Perhaps a Little Cranky

First off I need to apologize to the team for my lack of blogging lately.  I have no good excuse.  Yes life has been busy and unpredictable and yes I have been having technological difficulties with my google plus and yes I have been a little grumpy and frustrated, but none of that excuses my lack of publicly blogging.  I have sat down to blog every week but have only left the computer with a half a dozen almost finished blogs, with none of them feeling ready to publish.  So where am I and what am I doing?  Well to answer that is tough.  I have for the last 4 months been having some nerve issues in my arms. The last couple of months have only found things to get worse.  I have limited feeling in my arms during the day and I dread the nights more than anything.  Almost 2 hours after going to bed every night I am woken up with what starts as numbness, moving to tingling and then going to shooting pains that have me in tears.  And the night continues like this. To be honest I am completely exhausted, frustrated and tired and having my own little pity party. The last week has been exceptionally bad and I have found myself getting up at 4:00am just to avoid being rudely woken up again.  On a plus note, I have discovered that while all other normal people are still asleep, my dear friend in Australia is awake!   Thanks Darlene! I have exhausted all the chiropractors, massage, accupucture, ice and sleeping with braces to find no relief.  The lack of sleep is making concentration and thought processing difficult not to mention my body more susceptible to other injuries (with my good knee now tweaked).  As of last week, out of complete desperation, I have gone to see my doctor.  I know I should have done that sooner but I am stubborn (it runs in the family) and have had a hard time finding the time to make that happen (another bad excuse).  So I find myself now waiting for EMG (I think those are the right letters) and MRI appointments to find out just exactly what I’m dealing with.  Carpal Tunnel seems to be what is suspected and to the point where surgery is the next step.  Great, 6 weeks of down time, just what I need to get further behind.  With this unreliable grip I have I find myself concentrating and trying so hard to make sure I don’t lose my escrimas.  I am leery of being too close to the mirrors and worse yet to people. If anyone sees my lips moving during demo practice it’s me telling myself repeatedly “hold onto these sticks, hold onto these sticks!” 

Now after spitting that all out and hearing the voices from our last meeting, I am trying to make every effort to continue forward in my training.  I’m not going to lie, I’m finding it hard.  Going to classes with the mindset that I will listen to my body and progress wisely isn’t going so well.  I find there is a special kind of air in the kwoon that makes it hard to feel some injuries until either they are really bad or until I get out to my car.  Sitting on the bench I know I learn tons but it’s hard to sit when you want to do, I got to work on this.  I am still logging my numbers, pushups and plank have taken a kicking (sorry Sifu Csillag on the plank) but I am still on the sit ups, leg lifts, bridge and reaches and kms.   I have learnt the importance of rest for the body and the mind.  I realize all too well that the body can not function to full potential without proper rest and that injuries need to be acknowledged and maybe taken care of at an earlier date (not 4 months later).  I guess right now I have to work more on the mental part. I need to get past the frustration, disappointment and the ‘poor me’ attitude.  I’m working on this, please be patient. I have experienced that injuries can be good for my growth and that they can provide opportunities to learn and excel in other areas but this go around I’m having a harder time seeing that, maybe it’s the lack of sleep that is making this seem impossible.  So I am taking things day by day, still with longer term goals in mind.  I am grateful for the odd nights of more than 4 hours of sleep and that my family has not kicked me out of the house yet because of cantankerousness!

Alana Regier

http:/alanaregier.blogspot.ca