Last week...: Brooks, Alberta

Howard's Run up to the Yukon Adventure: Brooks Alberta

I don’t normally give blog space to my holiday experiences, but I truly feel the last week is worthy of this space.
The vision of Susan Mitchell, a teacher from the Brooks Junior High School, has resulted in me having a truly amazing experience in the unlikely cowboy town of Brooks, Alberta some 200km east of Calgary.



Susan and Howard


In 2010, Susan used my North Pole expedition as a teaching opportunity for here special English class of immigrant teenagers, for who English is a second language. The kids are from a diverse range of countries, including Ethiopia, Sudan, Yemen, Cuba, China, Egypt, and Pakistan. Most have been in Canada for less than two years, and arrived unable to speak a word of English. A group of about 28 kids, who form a special needs group within the almost 400 pupils of the broader Junior High School. These kids are on their own extreme adventure, and the similarity with my North Pole expedition is not insignificant in its adventure challenge, but obviously differing in the specifics. Herein lay the basis of a mutually rewarding sharing journey, that resulted in me visiting the school over the past week, and sharing in three days of truly inspirational cultural sharing. Having followed my expedition closely through my blog (www.canadatothenorthpoleblogspot.com) these kids had virtually lived my experience, and meeting last them was an emotional connection, full of concern, care, and a multitude of question and answers which demonstrated a deep understanding of my expedition and its trial and tribulations. We shared many hours together both in the classroom and out in the special outdoor attractions nearby Brooks. (The Dinosaur Park, is a Unesco World Heritage site, being the largest collection of dinosaur bones found anywhere in the world.)



The time together with the school kids, culminated in a ‘Life as a series of Adventures’ presentation by myself to the whole school, ending with me presenting Susan’s class with one of my North Pole snow shoes, and in return some of the kids presenting me with a few very special mementos. Not embarrassed to admit, the whole experience was amazing bring open tears to my eyes as the extent of sharing of a very special journey became apparent.




Outside of school I was a guest to Susan and her husband Loren for the full stay in Brooks, and experienced their amazing warmth and full on Alberta hospitality. Immersing oneself in a small community town like Brooks, makes one really understand how the big cities in their competitive hustle and bustle have lost some very key human and cultural preservation element. My visit coincided with the annual Rodeo weekend festivities, which were absolutely amazing in the cultural uniqueness. Saturday was a community parade through the town, and the evening was a full on Rodeo experience. This place is a real cowboy town, and so first stop was a liquor store to load up with beers for the weekend ahead.



The hat I am wearing was a free gift from the liquor store on condition I wore it out the whole weekend! This not being enough to fit in, Susan ended up buying me a checked, long sleeve cowboy shirt, all of which helped at the rodeo, but couldn’t disguise my ‘strange’ accent!

All in all a fantastic experience, another adventure. I feel many hearts were touched, new friendships were formed, and I came away a richer person from the unique human interactions and cultural experiences.

Many ask me why I do the North Pole and other crazy things, well mostly the answers aren’t at the destinations! I just love the richness of this wandering adventure life, and another one starts in a few hours, when I meet up with Imi.

I am feeling a little apprehensive, the type of feeling I have learnt to understand before an adventure. This one is totally new for me, and that's what is causing the turmoil within... This adventure has another new dimension, one that will require supreme team effort, and one that is going to draw on me like I have never experienced before. I couldn't have trained for this, and its all about working closely with someone who will need my support...... I will need to manage myself so I have the capacity to take on more, and this is this Yukon adventure challenge for me. For Imi he will have his own unique set of adventure challenges and we will talk through these and I will be relying on him to deal with them within as best he can.... All this provides the excitement of the unknown....

When we initially discussed this adventure, Imi asked me why I wanted to do it? I said firstly, I wanted to do it for me, as with our team challenges, I'd find my challenge something I really valued and wanted. Secondly, I wanted to help him achieve his dream. Based on my answer he was happy to step forward together, as we both know, to do something like this, we must both have a strong personal reason, it can't just be about helping the other....That wouldn't work, when the going gets tough!

That's it for now, it's time to head off to the dreaded Greyhound bus station.... Imi will help brighten it up, and then the adventure begins!

More soon