#41 Social Contacts

Greetings,

On Sunday, the heat started to pick up slowly. I started driving around 11 o'clock and it was already 28 °C. Since I felt like I was running out of time, I drove a bit faster. As a result, the fuel consumption of the truck was naturally higher and I didn't want to use the air conditioning for that reason. However, it was really hot, and at high speeds, you don't really want to have the window down all the time unless you want to get a severe earache. One thing you definitely get is a one-sided sunburn because the sun was shining on my left side the whole time 😅 I had a few errands to run in the city before going to the airport to pick up the customer. By then, it was over 30 °C and I had to use the air conditioning (also because of the fish I had in the truck by then). The customer is actually the youngest customer I have ever had at a workshop. I was really surprised 😁 She comes from eastern Canada and develops these devices that you attach to a fish or whale to track their routes. The coolest thing so far was that she developed a kind of "electric fence" for sharks for the beaches in Australia. If a shark swims through two of these transmitters, an alarm is triggered on a special app so that the owner of the app knows that they might not want to go into the water. Due to the electric impulse, it is also possible that the shark turns around on its own. I found it all very interesting. Unfortunately, we only saw one special bird. Only a deer stood by the roadside. It's probably too hot for the wildlife as well 😅 By the way, David saw a subtle eight (!) EIGHT(!!!!) bears with his customer that day. Now he makes fun of me with that.

On Monday, the real heat wave arrived. When I briefly had to drive the truck, the display showed a proud 42 °C. 🥵 It was so insanely hot and there wasn't a cloud in sight. But in the evening at the lake, I could once again enjoy the incredibly beautiful nature. Since I've been working here with David, I see nature from a completely different perspective. Every time I think to myself: Oh yes, that's a beautiful subject. The light is just perfect. Phew, now I'm going to photograph this bird ... even an ordinary seagull suddenly becomes interesting. I'm actually not sure what kind of bird it is because I always forget the name, but I think the "newest" bird here is some kind of seagull. It definitely comes from the Arctic and is supposed to be pretty rare. According to David, it is also one of the ten most beautiful flying birds. It's always funny what people are interested in, but yeah, at some point you start to judge birds based on their flying behavior. When I sat in the tent for hours in winter, I eventually knew from hundreds of meters away that there was a raven flying or that one was behind me, even though I couldn't see it, only hear it. What I have to say is: Yeah, this new bird really flies beautifully, as stupid as it may sound 😂 But the wingbeat is so elegant, I don't really know how to describe it. But maybe it's better that way, it already sounds weird enough 😅 Another subject were two male ducks chasing each other. That was also funny to watch. One male duck was always near the female duck and then another male duck approached. Suddenly, the first male duck pushed the other one under water and then they didn't resurface for a while and then BAM! Seriously, it looked like two fighter jets flying in formation. These two ducks shot out of the water and flew in a circle around me, chasing each other. With dramatic music, it would have been a really good "fight scene" 😂 The one male duck then gave up and the other male duck could relax and join his female duck again.

On Tuesday, it got really hot again during the day, but around noon, thunderclouds actually appeared. It drizzled for a proud five minutes before it not only got hot, but also temporarily quite humid. The thunderstorm brought clouds that were moving very slowly and low. At first, I thought it might be the evaporated water from the forests, but gradually I realized that it must be smoke. And so we saw the first effects of a wildfire in our area. The smoke. On Tuesday's current fire and smoke map, it could be seen that this smoke must be coming from the north. We really followed minute by minute how the landscape disappeared. On Wednesday, there was simply nothing to see. 😅 We could only see the front mountains thanks to the green trees. It had already cooled down by a good ten degrees Celsius on that day, I don't know if that would have happened without the smoke. But even though the sun doesn't shine through the smoke as strongly anymore, it was still over 30 degrees, but not over 40 degrees Celsius. What I noticed, however, is that my concentration suffers enormously from the temperatures. After noon, it becomes really difficult, and fatigue sets in. It even happened that I made two clear mistakes. Once, instead of cutting 196 inches, I cut 169 inches, and the second time, I thought it was 128 inches, but it was actually 138 inches, well ... it happens to the best of us 😁 I sat by the lake again that evening to enjoy the somewhat different sunset. However, one thing I noticed was that there was no movement in the smoke. You just couldn't see it, it stood in front of us like a wall. What we also didn't see that day was the sky, and even though it's a sad reason, the sun looks pretty cool.

On Thursday, I got up a bit earlier because I had to drive a customer to the airport. Even though I didn't have much contact with the customer, we chatted briefly when she walked through the construction site, and she always makes you laugh, she was really a very cheerful woman. So the car ride was relaxed, except that I accidentally woke her up once because I didn't see that she had dozed off 😅 One thing that I noticed after 1.5 hours was that the smoke was still there. The entire route, which is over 200 km long, was full of smoke. What kind of giant smoke cloud must that be? And it just stood there, there was absolutely no movement, neither in the trees nor anywhere in the smoke. David also asked me if I had seen any stronger smoke somewhere because we have a forest fire nearby, but no ... everything looked equally bad and I don't even see the fire. However, a fire broke out in Anahim Lake (where I was last Saturday) on Tuesday, which quickly got out of control, and there are also two out-of-control fires near Williams Lake. The fire David was referring to is under control and has "only" burned 203 hectares of forest within 13 days (so, in Galileo units, about 284 soccer fields). For comparison: the fire that broke out at Anahim Lake on Tuesday burned an area of 160 hectares within 24 hours. In the afternoon, it suddenly got windy and we could see the sky again. This wind became more and more intense, causing the smoke to move northwards. That also fits with the smoke forecast for the next few days. It's crazy to see how extensive this smoke really is.

On Friday, we actually had completely clear visibility again, only in the distance you could see that it was a bit smoky. But what came back with the disappearance of the smoke was the brutal heat. It felt like +40 °C again, although it was "only" around 35 °C. Nothing exciting happened otherwise. After work, I got picked up because we went to Tatla Lake for a sushi evening. I don't like fish and don't eat it, but there were alternatives 😁 It's really crazy how many Germans live in Tatla Lake and the surrounding area. In the end, we were more Germans than Canadians. 😅 It's really cool to get to know new people. Although I then thought again that it's a shame that I didn't get to know them earlier. However, until a few weeks ago, it was still a bit uncomfortable and before that, it was winter, and I just didn't feel like getting to know anyone. Now in the summer time, I already miss it a bit. That's why I enjoyed being in a group. We went home around 9 p.m. and now, as almost every evening, I'm sitting by the lake while "finishing" this post.

It's so beautiful. Next to me, the male Goldeneye is swimming with its hard-won female. In front of me, the almost clear mountains and about 200 meters away, the pelican on its rock. And I would never, I mean, never have thought - I didn't really inform myself about Canada before. It was only important to me that English is spoken there, that I have a beautiful landscape, and maybe see bears and moose - but I would never have thought that I would see pelicans or hummingbirds. I am incredibly grateful every day. Just today, as I sat on the bench, the hummingbirds came so close to me. Normally, these birds only eat while flying, but some feeding stations have something like a railing that the birds can sit on, and then you can watch these birds for about ten seconds. They are amazing and fascinating me again and again, just like the pelican. However, the problem that always catches up with me is that I can't really share such moments. No photo, no video, and no voice message can convey what you see. Unfortunately, I'm not very good with voice messages because I send a lot of them, just telling you how amazing it looks here 😂 To prevent that, I have now started, as stupid as it may sound, to record voice messages for myself. Like the last blog post or this section here, which I'm currently recording verbally by the lake, but will "transcribe" later in bed, so to speak. 😅 But back to the view:

It's such a shame that I can't share this moment. What I already thought during my first time here in Canada was that I would like to stand a few teachers (wherever I stood while having this thought 😁) here for ten to twenty minutes. I think it would relieve a lot of stress. Of course, I wish every one of you could experience it, but of course, that's the professional group that is close to my heart ❤️😁 I also thought a bit about my former students, especially my former eleventh graders, who are currently preparing so exemplary for the oral Abitur exam! 😅🤓 Especially since I had some really good conversations at the end. And yeah, I would currently tell them to go and travel. You are still so young (well, I'm still young too 😅), take this opportunity. But I don't mean taking three vacations a year, but rather staying in a country for a longer period of time to gain insights into different areas and at the same time get to know the language and culture. And hey, whether I start my training at 16 or 18 years old, or start my studies at 18 or 20 years old, it doesn't really matter.

But yeah, it's also a fact that at some point, I wouldn't say "boring", but somehow ... I don't know .... but I would just like to sit here with someone and chat. Well, I would be the one talking and the person would just listen while I describe this view. 😅 And that's when I really miss social contacts.

Nevertheless, I am incredibly grateful. This is an absolute gift and I know it always sounds silly when I "write" this here, but I am so incredibly grateful to my old self for taking the leap back then. 😅 That I am allowed to experience this here. The nature is so incredibly beautiful! We only have this one planet and this one nature, and we should protect it.

Your Samuel

P.S. The blog will only be published on Saturday. I actually forgot about my Wi-Fi-free cabin. 😂 Have a nice Saturday! 😊