10 days ago....

... I left India and came back to Canada. It's been fun, so far:

I went running - 3km barefoot

I like staring at my adorable kitty while he's sleeping.

I spent a week (and a weekend) in London and we talked while sitting on the hood of a car

Played pool at a friend's house. I'm still working on my Break

When I was in India, I especially missed the variety of foods and choices that I enjoyed in Canada. I missed the convenience of a supermarket that stocks EVERYTHING. I missed the freedom to cook  for myself and enjoy non-spicy food. So I was very excited to come back and COOK for myself! Even the grocery shopping trip was fun :)

I restocked my seaweed supply and made vegetarian sushi.

I eat A LOT of stirfrys because they are super easy and yummy

We don't eat the greatest in London... but it works occasionally! Fried mushrooms with peppers and onions, and garlic bread.

And that's a few pictures from my time back. I want to get a long(ish) barefoot run in this weekend and I'll come back with a recap (or excuses) for that. I've also been biking and have plans, hopes and aspirations, to do a 50k ride sometime in the near future. 

I can stand on each foot with my eyes closed for over 45 seconds! Can you? (This indicates balance and whether you should work on it.)

Return to Real Life

Okay, a quick recap of my 2 months in India, and I'll try and keep it brief and in order:
(I stole some of the pictures from two other interns, Analucia and Emily. They're very nice and I doubt they'll mind.)

We arrived and had to adjust to crazy traffic.

We ate a lot of food, with a lot of new friends.

We went to the AIESEC June National Conference (JNC) and made even more friends.

I even met someone I knew before! 

As it was an internship at a school, I spend a lot of time with kids.

Sometimes it was too much time, and sometimes there were too many kids.

I worked on learning the alphabet and I can now spell my name in Gujarati.

There were 5 of us working at the school from AIESEC, and I left India knowing that I had 4 amazing new friends that I could count on in the world.

We went travelling together.

We jumped together.

We sat on the road together (I'm not sure why).

And we experienced a new culture together.

I tried to fit in a bit of exercise when I wasn't busy travelling, playing with the girls or helping judge sports competitions. 

I went running along the riverside a few times.

I got blisters from rowing at Nakki Lake.

And we walked a few times... when our rickshaw's engines stopped working... in the middle of a rainstorm :)

And now I'm back in Canada after 4 very long flights. I've spent a lot of time thinking about all the things I've learnt this summer, and how I can incorporate these things into my life and my work placement, to be a better person and a better social worker.  I've got a couple of weeks before school starts and I plan on getting a head start on the new semester. I'd like to be a lot more organised this year, as well as be a lot stricter with my time.

I thought I would start running as soon as I got back - the weather is GORGEOUS! - but my bag with my running shoes got lost between Toronto and Windsor and I'll be separated from it until Friday. And for some reason, sitting in a seat for 18 hours on a plane isn't comfortable for my knees and I seem to have problems with them after a flight.

No worries - I plan to bike a lot and swim often and take an easy, but consistent, approach to running. No fixed races for the near future (because it's a lot of pressure) but I'd like to see some progress before it starts snowing :)