Quarterly Review #1, Part 1: June 2010

It's been three months since I moved to Halifax. Can you believe it? I can't. It seems like it was just yesterday that I was travelling across Canada on a train. That's not the case though, and so it's time then to take a look back on the summer of '010 that was and remember some of my favourite festivals, points of interest, and statues that made me glad to have moved here, and you think "dang, I wish I was in Halifax too."

June 2010:

June was the month of my favourite summer festival to date, the 400th Anniversary of the baptism of Grand Chief "Henry" (renamed after King Henry) Membertou. The Mi'kmaq people and the Acadians shared 150 years of peace and friendship after this until the British came along and messed everything up for the next 250. This festival included the largest pow-wow ever in Atlantic Canada and a free concert by Buffy St. Marie. It was deemed a huge success by everyone involved, and I felt very happy for the Mi'kmaq people who had organized such a great event.

June also played host to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's Royal Visit to Halifax. If I never travel again in my life (not likely), I will at least always be able to impress my grandchildren or nephews (who likely won't care) with the story of how I waited in the rain for two hours to see the Queen's hat.

My favourite Interesting Person of June was definitely Chang-geun Lee. Using a second hand bike he purchased from a seller on Kijiji, this Korean ESL student, who had been studying in Toronto, rode on a 59 day journey from Toronto, through Quebec, around the Maritimes, and then down through New England and back to Toronto via New York. He later went on a tour with his friends of the western US, including Yellowstone National Park. We still keep in contact, and I feel it's safe to say that Chang-geun's trip was the inspiration for my own EP Bike trip series that would appear in July.