After 2 and half months abroad I am now back in Montreal where I speak the languages and I don’t convert the price of things in my head before buying. ? Europe was fantastic and I dare say that it has changed me forever.?
I had been before, but when one travels while seeking deeper meaning to life, it can’t help but have a fruitful and constructive impact on the spirit, character and intellect of a person.? conversely, the other way of traveling is to kick around visiting places that you can “say that you’ve been there”.? Then all those beautiful places risk becoming mere possessions that you bring home like so many souvenirs. ? Or like accumulating nice furniture for your condo.? I know I do some of that.?
I notice it when I’m taking unncessarily large amounts of digital photos of things just to show (off to?) people back home.? When I was younger, I would travel with a 5 pound Pentax SLR from the 70’s.? Those photos were taken in a spirit of artfulness much more than the point-and-shoot digital ones of the present.? And the result is equally different.? All in all I have to say that traveling was different as a mid-30’s fellow than when I was an early 20’s kid with accute wanderlust.? It was a little more fun when you don’t mind camping everywhere you go.? In other words, I appreciated the hotels when I got them this time around.
So this trip was really great and in fact crucial for my life thus far.? I am extremely grateful for having had the opportunity to do it and also to the people who helped make it happen.
Now, back in Canada I will have fewer events to post about here but the future looks quite nice nonetheless.? I am certainly happy to be back.? Since I’ve been back I’ve already had the chance to go back to my native Manitoba and see the family.? Most notably to meet my new niece.? It really is incredible what joy, newness, sweetness and love a new baby can bring to an entire family.? Aside from having a slight cold, this was one of my sweetest homecomings.
Last weekend the good ‘ole Canadian version of the Pavaka Ensemble made it’s way to Toronto to give a short concert at a meditation workshop.? It was an intimate crowd and a sweet? experience for the group.?? We were all very happy to have gone.? Even the 6 hours there and back are nice as you have conversations with people that you wouldn’t have in any other context.? Even if you see the same people every day.? We also stopped in Kingston on the way there and back and had a meal at the awesome Lotus Heart Blossoms restaurant.
So posts may come a little less often now than they did in the last few months.? I’m also back at work of course so typing all day and typing more at night will seem less appealing to me.? I better use that time to play guitar (I missed my Telecaster!), come up with new material, and practice my new Charango that my father brought back for me from his latest trip to Peru.? I guess it may be that wanderlust is a hereditary condition – and it doesn’t seem to fade with age…