A thousand words

I just spent a lot of time trying to post as many pictures as possible. It took me forever, so here's a start. I will be posting some more soon...
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A picture is worth a thousand words... Or so they say.

My brother Marc & my friends Yves and Stef have now left. I am back in my apartment by myself. It's sad that they are already gone, yet after almost 2 weeks of people living with you, it's also nice to have your place to yourself again.

This means I also have a ton of new pictures. And as I have been promising recently, I will be posting several here. A break for your imagination as your eyes can now see part of what life in Banff is comprised off. Although, unless you have been here, you cannot fathom the sense of grandeur and openess that attracts so many European travellers. We are truly blessed in this corner of the world.

Having family around was great. I have kept busy acting as their tour guide, but it was nice to do that for them. I had 3 days this weekend to enjoy my time with them before they left. On Saturday, we went to Calgary and walked around town, shopped for a few hours, bought lots of new cds, and more. My friend Shane had some extra tickets for a hockey game at the Saddledome on Saturday night and Marc & Yves recharged on their masculinity while Rachel and I met up with Jason and Chris Gorsky, my friend from Ottawa who just moved to Calgary a few days ago. On Sunday, we spent the evening with friends from church and chatted for a few hours before going to bed quite late. On Monday, it was back to Calgary to bring the boys to the airport for their 11:45 flight. Rachel & I spent the rest of the day shopping (again) and were back in Canmore in the afternoon, from where we went to our 20's/30's group.

My little sister Catherine and my dad are coming up for March Break, last week of February first week of March. I can't wait to see them... I miss them both!

I am also intensely counting down the days left before I leave for Morocco. 7 days today. I am officially ready to go: I have my passport, my money, my vaccines, my travel insurance, and my water purification drops! I am actually starting to pack tonight. Nikole & I met for coffee today in order to finalize all the things we need and make sure that we are not forgetting anything important that would get us into trouble. We will be meeting her best friend Jen in Heathrow, London, where we will take a second flight to Malaga, Spain. From there, we will go down to Algeciras, the most Southern town in Spain where we will catch a ferry across the Strait of Gibraltar into Tangiers, Morocco, Africa. We will then spend the next 2 weeks visiting Morocco and taking in the sights. I will make sure to update you on our progress. Then, on Feb. 2, we are back in Spain to visit Al-Hambra and then back to Malaga, for our flight back to London. Nikole will be leaving from there to go to Norway for an extra week, while I will be staying in London for 3 days, and back to Calgary on Feb. 6th. I am starting my new work on the 9th, after enough time to de-"jetlag" and rest a little.

That's about it for the news update. Here come the pictures!