Munchkin
Shawna Manske Joined: June 13th 2005
Logged in: January 7th 2011
Logged in: January 7th 2011
Travel Blog Posts
Photo 2
It’s on most people’s minds - on their lips, in beer soaked conversations in pubs down Vancouver’s streets. It’s in the commentaries of the BBC, and the dialogues of angry Aussie’s, bitter about results and judging. It’s a hot topic on a global stage, and I am right smack dab in the middle of the context. And, to be honest, I find myself taking a stance on almost every platform, supportive of every viewpoint, unable to back up a good argument with a commitment to a position. How, exactly, do I feel about the Olympics? It’s important to acknowledge where a person comes from when considering where they are and what they stand for I think. I am not a native Vancouverite. I grew up on the snow swept prairies where issues like balmy weather in ... read more
I woke up this morning with a very unfamiliar sense of contentment, accompanied by a very familiar feeling of gratitude. Being that wonderful time of the year that a person really leans back and reflects on things (especially the year that has just passed and everything it has meant), it seems only appropriate that I fall into that place of pondering and, in typical Manske fashion, get really gushy about stuff. But the feeling I have this morning can't really be simplified as gushy either. Not like it usually can. Today it is couple with a deep stillness. A peace, perhaps. Serenity. I started this travel blog to describe my travels, and everything I thought about and wrote about was through the very specific lens of each place I was in. Every lesson to be learned, ... read more
Roses have started to bloom - “so beautiful they’re tacky” as David says. But they really are -burgeoning bouffanted blossoms in pastels and bright sunshiney yellows and sunset pinks, like art deco in South Miami Beach. And the scent is so powerful, so in-your-face, that it is as if someone has soaked them in potpourri- seemingly artificial. The rhododendrons have dropped their petals, painting the starchy grass in deep purples, like bruises on suntanned skin. The lack of rain, and abundance of blue sky weather, has left lawns dry, lacking their normal June luxuriousness. But you don’t see anyone complaining, least of all me. By reputation Vancouver is noted for its pallet of grey through almost every end of the seasonal spectrum. Early summer is generally plagued by soggy rain, or cloud and mist, or just ... read more
Molly sets her tee up on the 15th green. Above, black crows and seagulls and eagles swoop in and out of view between tall pines. The smell of lilacs and sea and cut grass wafts on the air, the breeze a forgiving pace and temperate compared to the harsh winds off the Pacific on Manly beach only a week ago. The sun is warm on my shoulders, and even the clouds seem complacent to shift and dissipate on the affable blue canopy. Framing the sky, the Rockies sink slowly into azure as the day nears dusk. My heart is quiet and still, set on listening to the sound of bees in the rododendrums. Something seems familiar about this setting, something beyond the fact that it belongs to a country I grew up in - the place ... read more
Photo 1
When I was a kid I spent a lot of time in the wilderness. Our family, living only a short 40 minute drive away from some of Canada's most spectacular scenery (the Rockies), would take our little tent trailer and drag it behind the van into this camp site or another for a couple of nights. There are bits of memory now - the scent of pine, the sound of chipmunks in the trees, creaking tree trunks, crackling fire, soot smelling clothes, crisp night air, the soft squish of moss. My brother and I would hop immediately out of the car and head for the patches of grass and needles blanketed between the scattered poles of fir trees and spread out. Make homes in our mind. Wander. The aimless wandering is something that becomes increasingly difficult ... read more
Manly Beach
It's funny, the way you move in and out of truths in life. And it's funny the impact perspective and timing can have on travel. At work the other day (Hugo's, a lovely little pizzeria and cocktail bar on the Wharf in Manly), while pouring Brut for an older couple from the UK, I had one pure moment of presence. They said something simple along the lines of "you really couldn't have chosen a more beautiful place to be" after inquiring about my accent (strangely most people guess that I am Irish or British, not Canadian...not even American...). I stopped, stood there, with setting sun beating down on the back of my neck, with the crowds of teenagers full of goon backflipping off the pier behind me, with the ocean spread out to my right, and ... read more
I have an image of a woman on a beach. The sand is soft and smooth, the sky is clear. She is wearing a floppy sun hat, and khaki shorts. Her arms are open wide, as if in dance. She is smiling. Behind the camera the sun is at an ideal angle to stimulate the color of the water, vibrant against the shore. She is glowing. Everything about this image screams "perfection". This image is from a Freedom 55 poster. It is one that is etched in my brain from childhood. It is the one I unconsciously use as an anchor of expectation; the image of the ultimate achievement. In my mind it is a perfect moment - life's beauty expressed ideally in a dance, on a beach, under the sun. Freedom. Liberation. Simplicity. This ideal, ... read more
I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but here it goes - I am bored in the Galapagos. That’s right, bored stiff, aching to get a taste of North American cartoons, or house music, or a coffee house, or ANYTHING but this stupid sand and sea. OK, that’s pushing it. But here’s the thing, traveling is still living, and part of living is boredom. It is an important part of living at that. The unfortunate (or fortunate, depending on how you look at it) thing about travel is that you no longer have the luxury of doing nothing and feeling OK about it. You must, at all times, take full advantage of your surroundings, of the people around you, of the experience of it all. The consequence of not being on full alert, of not ... read more
Adam looking over lake Austin
At this point, just past the halfway marker of 2008, I can already say that this year is one of the most epic of my life. From January to May I have spent two glorious months in Korea, months that topped all other 24 prior months spent in the country single-handedly without effort; experienced the true meaning of happiness on one of the world's best kept secrets, the romantic magical island of Gili Trawangan; found my own inner strength and the beauty of slowing down in Bali; explored religious relics and my independence in Yogyakarta; played like a 7 year old AND like a 20-something in the world's greatest playground, with the world's greatest brother, in Walt Disney World; rekindled old friendships and re-aquainted myself with my hometown; bike rode my way around the continent's center ... read more
....I wake up, once again having to shake the disorientation out of sleepy eyes, eyes that just can't seem to get enough rejuvenating sleep and are perpetually drying out, and remember that I am in fact in my parents house. This is my room, the room I wanted with all my heart at the age of 12 and was denied, unfairly, so my brother could have his "own space" in the basement. Apparently this is still a sore spot for me. Only had to wait 13 more years, and travel across the world, to get it. The floor is strewn with books...journals....receipts for more recent vaccinations that will aid the next leg of my journeys. It is evidence that I am struggling, as I always have, with simply being here...at home....content. There are adventures awaiting, and ... read more
