Back on the scene...

Hi all,

I'm not even sure if there are any of you left out there...  if not, well, hopefully it'll just be a matter of time before we can be together again here in blog-land...  I forgot how much I missed this!!!

So, for any of you who have been out of the loop over the past year, Bob and I are still alive and well, and I can proudly say that we've adjusted back to life in Canada.  Surprisingly, the re-entry to our homeland after a year in Asia was not nearly as rough as we thought it would be, although we regularly miss huntun and lazy Chinese afternoons and all of our friends back "home" in Tianjin.  Our Asian experience is definitely one that we will carry with us for the rest of our lives, and is one that we think about every single day.  We've readjusted to life in Canada, but we're pretty sure that our longing for Chinese food and the relaxed Chinese way of life will never ever go away...

We spent the past year in Vancouver, working for a big accounting firm and doing our best to stay afloat amidst deadlines and overtime and never really knowing what we were doing!  We're continuously assured that our lost feelings are normal and that Year #2 in accounting land is definitely going to be easier.  We enjoyed our time in Vancouver very much...  the food is AMAZING and the weather is unbelievable!  I fortunately got some of the best tap dancing training I've ever had in my life and I dived into yoga and acupuncture, which was fantastic.  Truthfully, we spent a lot of time at work, but we did our best to make the most of our weekends.

We're currently living in Saskatoon and going to the U of S, taking a Master's of Professional Accounting program.  The program runs until the end of August.  We've been so busy at school with various projects, that we've had less time than we'd hoped to spend our weekends visiting with family in P.A. and Lemberg.  We do have a couple weeks off at the end of August, which we're hoping can be spent at the farm and with Bob's family.

With that, I assure you that my goal is to maintain a commitment to posting regularly...  it's nice to be back in the blog-world, which will hopefully give me an opportunity to rant on and on and on about the daily adventures that Bob and I face.  Unfortunately, the truth is that our lives aren't nearly as exciting here in Canada as they were in China.  BUT, that said, I look forward to sharing the mini-adventures that we face on a day to day basis here on our home turf!

Musique du jour:   Subterranean Homesick Blues - Bob Dylan, foxytunes.com

Kicking back

Well here we are in lovely Saskatchewan... and man, is it good to be here. Bob and I are having a really wonderful visit, with lots of time and space to catch up with friends and family. Over the past year, we acquired a new niece, Lalli, who is the sweetest baby in the world! Her big sister, Xochi, has grown up immensely and started her first day of kindergarten on Thursday. Steve and Sheri have a brand new little guy, Slate, who is the cutest little baby boy we've ever seen! Saren, Slate's big sister, is almost 2 1/2 now, and is a beautiful little bundle of energy and sweetness! We realize that, although a lot has changed for both Bob and I over the past year, more has changed with the people we love... new babies, new jobs, new homes, new dreams... it's been awesome to catch up with everyone and watch our loved ones grow.

We're in Lemberg and have been here for about a week. We're hesitant to leave, because we're having such a great time visiting with everyone! It's been heartwarming to have many of our friends come to Lemberg to visit... Dave, Sigrid, and Alex; Clair (we're waiting for new entries Clair!! ... check out her awesomely interesting and witty blog at Invincible Summer); Ron and Jenna (who, I must add, we would like to thank for keeping up with our travels along the way!); Andy; Byron, Pat, and Nikki; Uncle Rick; and of course all of the Lembergers who we love so much - Bill and Marianne; Sarah, Fabian, Xochi, and Lalli; Jim; the Eislers; Steve, Sheri, Saren, and Slate; Shayne; and Grampa Fowler. It's been fantastic!


And, we've reunited with Oliver! He's had the most amazing year here in Lemberg surrounded by people who love him so much and who are hesitant to let him go... which we understand, completely. He's got a wonderful way of winning hearts! I was stopped in the grocery store the other morning and questioned by an elderly lady I'd never met who was determined to find out if Oliver still remembered and liked me, with the underlying tone that I should not take him away with me... I had to reassure her that next time we come to Lemberg, I'll be sure to bring him over for a visit...

We're having a wonderful time here, but, like all things in life, our time here must come to a close in the near-ish future... we've got a Gramma waiting for a visit in Prince Albert, my girlfriends and their babies to see, my sister's pregnant tummy to feel for baby boy kicks, my mom to hug, and cousins to take swimming. We know we're going to have a wonderful trip! And... we're both happy to know that it won't be too long before we see everyone again... we're only a short plane ride away in Vancouver, we've got some visiting time at Xmas, AND... we'll be going to Saskatoon for 4 months next summer to start our Masters program. So, this time around it's only a maximum of 8 months before we see everyone again!

Lastly, and this is a big one, thank you so much to Steve and Sheri for being such die-hard fans of our China blog! It is so awesome to come home and chat with people who have been keeping up to date with all of our adventures... it's just like they've traveled alongside us from beginning to end. Steve and Sheri - you guys rock! :)

Well, I'm off... to kick back some more and enjoy the lazy life! :)

Musique du jour: The Kinks - Holiday

On the Road Again

After two very wonderful weeks lounging about and taking care of loose ends in Vancouver, we're off on another adventure... this time, a tour of Western Canada. We left Vancouver on Monday and made our way through the city by public transit (with all of our bags and 2 Chinese conical hats that we're bringing back with us as souvenirs... the Chinese transit riders were all eyeing us very suspiciously...). We made it to the Greyhound bus station with no wear for the worse and got our tickets to board The Dog (thanks Gary for the great name!). Little did we know that Greyhound has tightened up its baggage allowance (but surprisingly NOT its security, despite the recent bus head-chopping... scary!). This meant that Bob and I had to suddenly make our 7 bags into 2 carry-on and 2 checked. No easy feat, I tell ya... but we managed... and what we didn't manage to compress, we DID manage to sneak on... :)

The bus ride was surprisingly easy and smooth... we think that after our traveling experience in Asia, Canadian travel is a breeze. Our bus ride lasted a quick 5 hours, as opposed to the 48-hour train rides that we'd grown accustomed to in China... Plus the roads were smooth and predictable (unlike the hell death highways in Laos)... But best of all was our ability to understand everything that was said! It's amazing how easy travel can be when you actually understand where and when to get off, which stops are for bathroom breaks, etc. etc. The short little jaunt from Vancouver to Kamloops, which at one time in our cushy lives would have seemed like a royal pain in the butt is now a piece of cake!

So here we are in Sorrento, at Cousin Kenny's very cool and quiet little cabin on Hilltop Road... It's been a joy to come back here and relax, cooking Canadian food and drinking Canadian beer. Kenny was one of those brave souls who ventured halfway across the world in May to come and visit us in China, for which we are so pleased. It's awesome to be here and to reconnect with him. We also had the fun experience yesterday of going through a van-load of our belongings that we'd packed away last year before our move to Vancouver and again before our move to China... Luckily, we didn't experience the "What the hell did we keep this damn thing for?!" feeling too often, and happily packed most of our treasures back into their safe, mouse-proof plastic boxes to be sorted through again in a year... or two...

We'll be here for another day or so before we hop back into our trusty Honda Accord and hit the road for Saskatchewan. There, who knows what adventures life holds in store for us... Somehow, Saskatchewan always seems to bring us a little more fun and, uh, madness shall we say?, than we'd anticipated... ;)

Ciao from Sorrento.

Musique du jour: Willie Nelson - On the Road Again, of course!

Raccoons

Cute, right? But... what if you had one of these guys crawl through your window and into your apartment right in front of your eyes?

Sound unbelievable? Well, this is exactly what happened to our friends Danielle and John the other night, when they were enjoying a simple night at home. While talking on the phone in the kitchen with all the lights on, Danielle heard a rustling noise in the corner of her kitchen. Thinking it was her cat, Minou, she was shocked and taken aback (to say the least!) to see a big raccoon crouching by the cat food bowl, using its "creepy little hands" (as Danielle puts it) to eat Minou's cat food. No amount of shouting or frantic arm waving would get him to budge... in fact, it only served to call one of his buddies over to the window who attempted to crawl in as well! Unluckily for the raccoon, John was quicker than he and it was blocked from joining its fearless companion in the kitchen.





Last night while visiting Danielle and John, Bob raccoon-proofed the window with wire. Needless to say, John and Danielle were very grateful... they've had quite enough raccoon adventures for now!



Since coming back to Vancouver, we've seen 2 skunks crossing the road, and have had to keep our distance from 2 very fearless raccoons outside of our apartment building. We were surprised when we first arrived to see this sign in front of our building entrance:



Going out for an evening walk is proving to be somewhat dangerous... forget the concern of crime... we're doing our best to keep skunk-spray- and raccoon-attack-free!

Musique du jour: The Beatles - Rocky Raccoon

Greenwash video

Bob found this the other day and thought it was really important to share it:



For your weekly dose of environmental activism, search "Greenwash of the Week" on youtube... we think these guys have a good thing going on. We hope you do too. :)

Musique du jour: Taj Mahal - Chevrolet

Mobile Mafia

Since returning to Canada, one of the items on our to-do list that has been plaguing our minds is dealing with cell phones. From the Blackberry to the iPhone, we've considered it all. Not sure what it is ultimately going to boil down to, but in the end, Bob and I can agree on one thing: the Mobile Mafia in Canada is EVIL. They (Rogers, Fido, Bell, you name it) are sucking the money right out of Canadians' pockets. They're downright mean.


We brought home a Blackberry a few days ago and have spent the past few days learning about it and getting to know our good friend - Rogers.

The things we love about Rogers:

We love it that Rogers gives us the capability to view 6,000 web pages a month on our Blackberry, but the phone doesn't have the capability to open most web pages (we've successfully opened 2 pages in total). We love it that we are paying Rogers money for something our device can't do. We love it how they didn't tell us this when we got the damn thing.

We love it that, even though our monthly plan for one phone amounts to nearly as much as a car payment, it still only gives us 7 minutes a day of "free" local calling and incoming calls. We love it that the "evenings and weekends" time is now from 9 p.m. onwards, rather than the old standard 6 p.m. We especially love it that Rogers will charge us 30 cents a minute for long distance calls, including when people from out of town call us.

We love it when we go to the itty bitty Rogers store on Robson St. and it is jammed full of people and only 3 sales staff. We love it when the sales reps give us a sales pitch for one of their phones and don't have any in stock for us to see. We love it too when we call the office and ask for help regarding our plan and they tell us it's not their department. We really love it when we call the 1-800 number to clarify questions and we get to talk to the automated fake computer girl and then sit on hold for 20 minutes, and never get through to a real person.

We love Rogers. It's our new best friend here in Canada. We love being taken advantage of and having the money stolen right out of our pockets.

We think this is the start of a great new relationship. :)

* * *

Musique du jour: Sarah Vaughan - Mean to Me

News du jour: Newfoundland Taxi Charm in Toronto (we love the idea!)

Olympic Mascots

Meet the Beijing Olympic Babies... the mascots for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. From left to right: Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, and Nini (Beijing huanying ni - Beijing welcomes you).


However, in our opinion, they have nothing on Waldi, the Olympic mascot for the 1972 Germany Summer Olympics:

Thanks to Joey and Maggie at The Long and Short of It All for bringing this to our attention! They say: "A dachshund was chosen [as the Olympic mascot] because it represented the attributes required for athletes: resistance, tenacity, and agility." We all know that our wiener dog, Oliver, has got his share of issues, but Bob and I always knew he was Olympic quality! :)


* * *

Speaking of dachshunds and Oliver, we're counting down the days until our reunion! It's been a year since we last saw him, and 16 months since he last lived with us. He's spent a great year with our family in Saskatchewan... first with Dawn, Dave, and our nieces and nephew, Victoria, Sarah Beth, and Mike... this arrangement lasted a month or two before he bit at least one of the teenage kids, which resulted in relocation to Lemberg... Oliver lived in bliss all winter, taking care of his very own old man, Grampa Fowler (who is 94)... this lasted until the summer, when Grampa put in his garden and Oliver, who loves to dig (it's a characteristic of the breed, and we've never discouraged him from doing it), soon created a field of landmines (holes big enough to pull a badger out of)... then Oliver finally moved to Bill and Marianne's to spend the summer following Bill and Jim everywhere they go. It's been a year full of adventure for everyone, Oliver included! We're really looking forward to seeing him again! Vancouver is a very dog-friendly city, with canines of all shapes and sizes walking their owners, swimming in the ocean, fetching on the beach... we've been spending a lot of time looking longingly at others' pooches, and can't wait to have our own little dog back by our side.

It will be a bit of an adjustment to go from a 3-pet family back down to only one... as I mentioned before, Bailey had to be put down last month after we all received the shocking news that he had intestinal cancer... and old Archie has been adopted by one of my sister's co-workers. So, after 5 years of sharing, Oliver has us all to himself once again... although it won't be the same without his buddies, we have a feeling that he'll be happy about being the "only dog" once again...


Ciao for now!

Musique du jour: Ramblin' Jack Elliott - Salty Dog Blues