Taking a thousand little steps to lead...

Last night I was in the communal kitchen of the Clearwater Bible Camp, which is home base for two White Water Kayaking courses that are part of the Adventure Guide Program at TRU right now. One of my students was cooking rice and heating beef stroganoff out of cans, when he confessed that in terms of cooking this was a stretch for him. In fact, as he closely monitored the rice and managed two pots he said it was the most stressful thing he had done in a while. This student happens to be an incredibly talented boater with over 120 days in his Kayak this year alone, who runs 60 foot waterfalls and steep creeks! I told him that when I was a student in the Adventure Program I made a lot of meals that go on bread. I've come a long way in my cooking and it's taken a lot of little steps.
I've had an incredible week here in Clearwater, teaching the Kayak III course. In my evolution as a teacher I've taken a lot of little steps as well. It has been wonderfully rewarding to teach this course, which is a Kayak Instructor course. I've been challenged in so many ways, I have learned a lot and yet it also feels like an accomplishment to be here. I always enjoy working with Sharman, our friendship has grown over the years and in terms of kayaking and teaching he's been both a teacher and a mentor to me. So working with him and being able to contribute to the course is great.
But I was talking about food and cooking. Sharman and I have been eating an incredibly healthy diet this week and in a way that's felt like an accomplishment as well. First of all I wondered if I'd be able to keep up eating healthy on this courses as the field course season approached. And I was grateful when Sharman told me he was on board with eating "the way I do", which is mostly vegetarian (one salmon dish this week) and quite different from the BBQ'ed meat with a salad every night that had been the norm on these courses. And that has also felt like a bit of an accomplishment, the fact that I've inspired a friend to try my food and then to have planned and cooked meals that have been filling, healthy and incredibly delicious.
Once I am back I have some catching up to do, in terms of blog posts, so get ready for some recipes!