When time flies...

{For one minute, walk outside, stand there in silence, look up at the sky and contemplate how amazing life is}

Photo credit: Petr Holub

It's been a month since I've published my last post.. a month! Can you believe that? I guess time really does fly when you're having fun. A little shy of four months I boarded an airplane to Canada not knowing what was ahead of me...excited, but scared shitless. Today I'm still super excited, but no longer scared. Being in this beautiful environment, surrounded by mountains, always there but never the same, and having met so many amazing people really makes you realise how freakin' amazing life is. 

The past few weeks have been filled with some fun and/or active adventures! I guess I would be really pushing it if I tried to catch up on the entire month, so I'll stick to the highlights. Obviously I'll leave out the parts where I'm doing groceries, laundry or cleaning, because that would make me, and this post for that matter ;), a whole lot less interesting. 

Highlight of the highlights was an early AM hike up Ha Ling last week. On Saturday morning at 5.15 AM Petr, Petr, Eva and I went up the mountain to see the sunrise. #czechparty Headlamp on! Pancho, Jorge's beautiful black Lab, joined us on our adventure and we had a blast. Conditions were amazing, if you take the short slippery icy part of the trail out of the equation, and the sunrise was just plain beauty. Besides.. I cannot think of a better excuse to eat chocolate at 08.30 am than hiking up a mountain. What has been your favourite adventure lately? 

Photo credits: Petr Holub

The hiking in the greater Canmore area is just so good. Besides Ha Ling I also went up the Centennial Ridge Trail with Annie. Super steep, but amazing views! We didn't quite make it to the summit of Mount Allan due to sketchy, slippery and snowy conditions, but we had fun nonetheless and let's be honest there's not a whole lot in life that beats eating your lunch on top of a mountain! Our way down was far from graceful though.. oops..bum sliding! 

For those whom have seen The Revenant, that award winning movie with Leo, these surroundings might seem familiar, because part of the movie was shot in Canmore.. although..I just recently saw the movie and did not recognise a single peak. I didn't like the movie in general I guess.. haha.. so violent! Way, way, way funnier is the movie "A line across the sky" about the Fitz Traverse in Patagonia by Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold. Eva, Lada, Romca and I made our way to the Banff centre to see this movie as part of a re-screening of Banff Film Festival 2015 movies. #czechparty The night featured three mountain movies all well worth your time watching them; K2 - touching the sky, Operation Moffat and A line across the sky. And even though I'd already seen the latter on the Reel Rock 10 tour I was happy to see it again. Alex never disappoints you, because they don't sponsor failure. This movie makes me more and more eager to make it out to Patagonia one day! One day...

Also super stoked that I've been able to go climbing more the past few weeks. I've been hitting the gym a couple of times with Annie and Jorge, my buddy in crime, and we are really making some progress here. Recently climbed my first 6a without takes and my first 6b with a couple of takes on top rope. Yay! Spring has definitely sprung in Alberta and many climbing areas are good to go. Really excited to go outdoors soon and get back into climbing on real rock and some leading. Also a big shout out to the incredible India for her first climbing experience! Hope to see you more of you out there soon, sweetie :). 

Climbing the Incredible India!

Besides climbing I've been keeping myself busy riding my bike to Banff on the Legacy Trail and hiking Tunnel Mountain with Jana, slacklining in the park with Eva & Jennifer and running the trails of Canmore with or without Pancho. I can tell you one thing.. slacklining is hard! Me and that fine tree in Riverside Park are real besties now, that's for sure. #highfive 

 Run Pancho, run!

On a more cultural note I went to a concert, played Settlers of Catan and partied the night away with real good tequila at Jorge's birthday party (flip cup is never a good idea no matter what they tell you ;)). 

Jordan Klassen performed at Communitea Cafe last week and I really enjoyed the fairy folk music paired with a warm cozy cup of tea. Good vibe, good tunes, good tea. #lifeisgood 

Megan, Jenn and I teamed up for a Canmore Uncorked experience at Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co. and a game of Settlers of Catan. Canmore Uncorked is a food festival; 12 days of special set-price menus, culinary events, progressive dinners & cooking classes. RMF offered a $20 set-price menu and I really enjoyed my smoked salmon flatbread pizza. Yummy!! The game of Catan was so much fun that we'll have another games night this Friday. Add tea, wine and some Taylor Swift and we've got ourselves a good good night. #lifeisgoodpart2

At mountain Mercato we also participated in the Canmore Uncorked festival. We offered a set-price lunch featuring an amazing grilled cheese sandwich with homemade ketchup and a small butterleaf salad. A real treat..especially that ketchup ;).. a real piece of art from a Czech-Dutch collaboration and lots of love! Mountain Mercato also had the pleasure of welcoming the guests of the Lady MacDonald Progressive Dinner tour in her cafe.
For a short impression of the progressive dinners click here (extra kudos for those spotting me in the clip ;))

Recently all staff at Mountain Mercato went on a little road trip into the city (red. Calgary) for some coffee training at Phil & Sebastian and a delicious lunch at SideWalk Citizen. Aimee, head of training at P&S and 2014 Soy Latte Art Champion, showed us the ropes! We got some refreshers on grinding and brewing espressos, steaming milk and the baby steps of latte art. Be aware: the best coffee in town has become even better and definitely prettier! Come by to say hi and experience it yourself.

That's it for now cuties! I'll try really hard not to have you wait yet another month for a new update on life in the Rockies.

<3 Talk soon!

p.s. Did you know that Mountain Mercato is active on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter. I'm giving our social media a little boost and would love for you to follow us on either, or all for that matter, of these social media platforms. I'll keep you updated on our featured products, events & menu options or advise to kick off your day:

Life is meant for living!

Note before reading: I was listening to some GBTTZ tunes on Spotify while writing this blog. This may or may not have had some influence on my somewhat over-enthusiastic ranting! *Beam me up*

 

First things first! I simply CANNOT believe that 1/6-th of my time in Canada has passed already. Feb 29 is a sad day that's for sure...although... I did just make myself an amazing dinner, pasta aioli for the win (Sorry Canmorians, a smelly garlic breath is guaranteed these next few days!) and had a fun day at work learning how to do milk (for coffees I mean.. you pervs!). 
 
Nonetheless since arriving in Canada my motto has more or less been "Life is meant for living"! A "friend", whom ironically is a retirement investment adviser, stated "it's all about having as much fun as you can now, because that's what's really important!" as I was contemplating whether or not I'd ever save enough money to retire at all.

And in the spirit of "Life is meant for living" I am celebrating my "week of firsts!" on this blog! Some of these "firsts" may have changed life as I knew it, but all significantly contributed to me having a great time in Canmore, Alberta (No!! @Jeroen N./Vincent I did not.. repeat did not check this with a statistical analysis.. 'significantly' is chosen as a subjective adverb ;))!

As I received some complaints with regards to the length of my previous blog posts (#iknoemgeennamenmaarbedanktpap) I hereby present you with the shortlist of my recent "firsts":

• Cross country skiing,
• Roller derby, 
• Hiking up Grassi Lakes, The Highline Trail & Lady MacDonald,
• Restore & Repair Yoga session by Lydia Zamorano @ The Yoga Lounge,
• Bowling night in Banff,
• Brewing espresso's and coffee shots according to Phil & Sebastian standards

If you're more visually enticed you can skip the text and scroll your way through the pictures in this blog post, else I invite you to continue reading my memoirs of these very exciting events.   

I was really excited to go cross country skiing (or XC skiing), because everyone seems to be really into it here. Besides, the Nordic Centre, with over a 100 trails and recently the stage of the world cup biathlon games, is located in Canmore. My cute colleague Eva goes there all the time and she was willing to take this newbie for her first ride. It's a serious full body workout with the gorgeous scenery as a bonus. We lucked out with the weather and I only missed one turn ("uh oohh.. !!").. The biggest success in my honest opinion! I'm thinking of getting me some skies to go out there way way way more. *zwoefzwoef!* 

 Good times XC skiing @Nordic Centre Canmore with this Czechy ;)!

That very same day I had planned on going to the climbing gym, but ended up going to a roller derby practice instead. I mentioned this sport in my previous blog post not knowing I was going to experience it myself. The Lady Mac's, Bow Valley's Roller Derby team from Canmore, Banff and Exshaw, have their weekly practice on Thursday night and Jenn invited me to join. I borrowed a pair of skates and protection gear from one of the ladies and skated away.. well.. more or less..more less than more..anyway..SKATING IS HARD! Megan showed me how to fall (and told me how NOT to fall..even with crash pants falling on your ass can be seriously unpleasant), showed me some skating moves and I watched the Ladies practice their laps, stops and turns for the upcoming benchmarks. So much fun, but I was very pooped at the end of the night. 

 

Show-up picture of the Lady Mac's roller derby practice Thursday February 25th 2016 

The next day I met up with Julie for a hike up Mount Lady MacDonald. Julie is also a member of the Alberta Adventure Girls and we connected through the Facebook page. Such a great way to meet new people and adventure together. In this case I'd have to agree with "A picture says more than a thousand words", because THOSE VIEWS!! Thank you Julie and Jenga for the fun hike, the great company and conversations along the way and our little picknick at the heli-platform. I had a blast! 

 

Canmore from up above!

 

Speaking of the Alberta Adventure Girls.. remember I mentioned those half marathons in Canmore and Banff? Well.. as it turns out I kinda have some issues going out on the trails for a run. Luckily for me Amanda reached out on the AAG page in search of a running buddy in Canmore, because her solo sessions were cut short by cayote encounters, and I opted to give it a try! Next weekend will be our first session. Definitely super stoked!

Besides Lady Mac I also went up to Grassi Lakes and the Highline Trail for the first time last week. Jana and I planned on going up Ha Ling, but decided to take it a little slower. We had a great time exploring these other trails and even took a little sneak-peak of the climbing routes near Grassi. Very promising for summertime!! 

 

Grassi lakes!

 

Left to right: Mount Lady MacDonald, [Unknown], Grotto Mountain

 Selfie-time!

After hiking up Lady Mac I had the best restoring yoga session. Lydia, a good friend of Maja, my Airbnb host, teaches these Restore and Repair yoga-classes at the Yoga Lounge in Canmore. The target of this session was the psoas muscle. This muscle runs from the lower vertebrae to the pelvis and is part of the group of muscles that form our hip flexors. Fun fact: the psoas muscle is equivalent to the tenderloin (beef or pork ;)). A bit of googling mixed in with some personal experience tells me that these hip flexors become short and tight if you spend most of your waking hours sitting. Therefore I was thrilled to notice part of this tightness to be relieved after the session. I'll definitely be back for some more repairing and restoring!! Tuesday Jenny and I are going to Yin Yoga where we will be targeting our connective tissue. Siked!

On Saturday night part of (or previously part of) the Mountain Mercato crew headed to Banff for some much deserved bowling and pizza at the new 10 pin bowling alley! Who knew kale and maple syrup on pizza would work this well! Although.. maple syrup basically goes with anything. Again.. pictures versus words? In short: fun, crazy, banana and ending on a high! Our next outing will be a potluck-style dinner and games night playing 'Cards against Humanity!'..[try having anusses for eyes]!

 10-pin bowling whatup?!! 

At work Natasha recently thought me how to brew espresso's and shots for our latte's, dulces, hot chocolates and mocha's. Phil and Sebastian, our coffee supplier, put a lot of effort in providing bean-specific instructions on how to properly brew their coffee. It's amazing how much influence the type of coffee bean, time of day, humidity, weather and skills of the barista influence the brewing time and the perfect coffee output. It's a challenge, but a fun one for sure! Today I was shown how to steam milk to the desired temperature and texture and took some baby steps in the world of latte art! So excited to improve my skills over the next few weeks. My goal is to avoid making any fallus-like latte art on our customer's coffees. Apparently this is easier said than done ;). Time will tell I guess.
 
Tell me, tell me! I'd most definitely like to hear all about your recent firsts! I'm pretty allround when it comes to communication. You name it..blog comments, whatsapp, facebook, instagram, twitter, skype, a (quick) call or a good old postcards.. I've got it! #enthusiastinlife Would love to hear from you!

Now I'm off munching raisins.. They're my new favorite snack and I favor them over chocolate.. now that's a first!!!

<3