Sunday, September 7, 2008

A journey of 1000 miles...

This journey of approximately 800km began on Sept. 4th with a single step in the direction of the Pyrenees that border France & Spain. Vince & I have until Sept. 29th to complete our journey to Santiago as we walk the Camino de Santiago de Compostela... Now, I have to admit, I have put off the beginning of my blog as I am intimidated to no end about putting my thoughts out there on the internet, because I know that I obsess over the tiny details that would make a blog magnificent (what if I make a spelling mistake? what if I can´t figure out how to get the formatting - font just right?) and because spending time on a computer tinkering with these fine details is not one of the priorities I have set for myself as I take leave of my job as a teacher for one year...

So... why am I on here? I am on here because one of my priorities is learning new things and I am grateful to my pal Hunter for sharing her insights into the blogging world with me (god knows I would never have figured this out with a manual!) I also think it serves as an interesting personal record of my thoughts and the thoughts of others (so please comment!!) So I am going to give it a shot... with some parameters... It seems in the Albergues we are staying in that 1 Euro will buy you about 20 minutes of time... so I will limit my observations to whatever will fit within this timeline!
To begin.. a couple of thoughts on why I´ve chosen to make this journey... Everyone seems to ask this question on the camino, its an instant conversation starter and the answers inevitably lead to fascinating stories. For me, I read about this pilgrimmage in the Globe and Mail about 5 years ago when I signed up for my 4 over 5 and I have been mulling it over ever since. Coming up on 10 years of teaching as the time got closer, the idea of beginning my year with a very long walk, one that would be challenging, spiritual and nomadic (Shawn from Ireland calls us the 'mobile community') and also provide a chance to quiet my mind and give me an opportunity to spend some wonderful time with my soon to be husband, Vince.
I´m coming up on my 25 minutes... so stay tuned... I´ll fill you in on what the camino actually IS next!
Buen Camino,
A.

3 comments:

Gord said...

ACR - Glad to hear you are both there and the journey has begun! I'm looking forward to your future posts and hearing about all your adventures along the way.

Suerte!

Gord(o)

Alison Hunter said...

Welcome to the world of the blog, ACR ...

I'll be very interested to hear about what parts of your journey are as you thought they would be, and what others are complete surprises. What parts you find challenging and what parts you find uplifting (and if they are in fact, the same parts!) Don't forget to keep the blog up to date, because we are all back here in Canada missing you and thinking about you!

Buen Camino.

Anonymous said...

Hey Al and Vince! We're back from Tanzania. Sorry to have missed you, but you two sound in love and you're on a great spiritual journey. What a beautiful way to explore yourselves and each other before your soulful union.
LOVE YOU BOTH!!xoxoJem and Martin
p.s. Have you read The Alchemist?