Safranbolu

I have a funny tale to tell. It started (and ended) in Safranbolu, Turkey.

Safranbolu is a neat little place, a UNESCO world heritage site made famous for its well preserved Ottoman houses. To learn more about Safranbolu, click here

Anyways. I visited Safranbolu with my friends Tim and Myza. It was a freezing cold day, much too cold for such adventures, yet we went anyways. Whilst wandering the cobblestone streets of old Safranbolu, a tin smith hailed us.


"Where are you from?" he asked
"We're from Canada."
"OH, I love Canadians. Come in to my shop."

And so we did.

"Sit down, sit down" said he. "Read my guestbook."

While uninterestedly yet politely turning the pages of said guestbook, Myza's hands were suddenly grabbed. What followed was very interesting.

The pages of the guestbook read something like this "Beware. If you are reading this, you are in this man's shop. He will grab your hands. He will start massaging your hands, your face, your arms..." As we read this, the massage gained in momentum. The guestbook continued "Be prepared for the grand finale". Suddenly, Myza was turned around so that she was back to back with this man. He locked his arms with hers, bent over and hoisted her on his back, bending so far over that she was upside down. It was rather uncomfortable looking and awkward to be sure. I collapsed in a fit of giggles.



When he attempted my massage I'll admit that I made my excuses and escaped quickly. Meanwhile, Tim was nowhere to be seen - so much for manly protector.


The next day I was talking with some friends and it turned out that they experienced the same thing on their visit to Safranbolu. So I say this: go to Safranbolu, visit this man and experience his infamous massage.

Royal Roads University

Beautiful Hatley Castle

I'm back at school. I decided to do a Master's degree since, really, everyone and their dog has a Bachelor's degree today and finding a job is quite difficult. After much deliberating, soul searching and hair pulling, I set my sights on a Master's of Professional Communication at Royal Roads. So far I am very happy.

The program is online which is convenient as it allows me the flexibility to live wherever I want. There are two residency periods for the whole two years and each one is three weeks long. I am, in fact, writing this from my dorm room at Royal Roads during residency number one in lieu of doing work.



Royal Roads University is situated on the stunning grounds of Hatley Park and smack in the middle of this park is Hatley Castle, a 100 year old (haunted) 15th century inspired castle. Surrounding this castle are carefully tended gardens inhabited by peacocks, rabbits, raccoons, Canada geese and massively obese squirrels. There are also countless trails through the surrounding gardens and forests, the most impressive of which is Charlie's Trail, a beautiful stroll revealing small waterfalls and massive felled trees. I'm sad that I don't get to spend more time here.

Tiny waterfall off Charlie's Way

Victoria itself is fantastic (well, the little of seen of it anyways). There are some great restaurants and shops as well as a beautiful harbor surrounded by unaffordable, elegant hotels. Oh to be rich.

Sadly, the beauty of this place is marred by the fact that it never stops raining. My dorm room provides a view of the ocean and a mountain range located in Washington, however, I have only managed to have glimpses of this amazing view since it is generally too cloudy to see anything but grey. Sadness.

New friends

I have one more week in residency and so far I am impressed with Royal Roads. The profs are fantastic, very knowledgeable and all able to provide real-world application for concepts learned. Engaging assignments provide motivation for learning, especially one entitled "The Communications Challenge" where, as a team, we examine a communication problem from a real organization and provide an anaylsis and solution. I've also met some fantastic people and learned a lot from them. And the best part: the raccoon family that nightly resides in the doorway of my dorm building. I love them.

The raccoons

So far, so good.