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

Fakin' it

With the Olympics front and centre in the media and the minds of the world, China is being picked over with a fine tooth comb. The following article caught my eye this morning... what's your opinion? Was China's Opening Ceremonies stunt unethical? Or is China being scrutinized too closely?

* * *

Fakery at the Olympic Games
Opening Ceremony singer lip-synched song because actual singer wasn't pretty enough while CGI fireworks added to telecast
Cam Cole, Vancouver Sun
Published: Tuesday, August 12, 2008

The skies may be clearing up over Beijing, but the face China tried to paint on the 2008 Olympic Games is breaking out in blemishes.

Main Street of Happyville turns out to be a collection of expensively-built facades, with nothing behind them. Or worse, something awful behind them: a series of very large lies - and the worst of it is that the Chinese hosts don't even appear to realize how bad they may end up looking to the rest of the world.

The Opening Ceremony we all gushed over was not what it seemed. Those blazing footprints of fireworks that "walked" in the sky from Tiananmen Square to the Bird's Nest stadium? Pre-recorded and digitally inserted into the telecast.



The "sold-out" Olympic events, every ticket gone? An illusion, exposed only when reporters began to notice the squads of identically-dressed and thunderstick-equipped cheer squads filling whole sections of seats. Even if some of those were seats designated for Olympic Family members - dignitaries and IOC members who leave seats unused at the lesser sessions is a chronic problem at all Games - using fake fans to fill them is, at best, a comical notion and at worst an attempt to create a false picture of attendance.

Any minute now, we'll find out we're really in Japan.

But the piece de resistance, the most cynical of all of the pieces of fakery at the Beijing Olympics: Agence France-Presse revealed Tuesday that the darling little girl in a red dress who charmed the audience by singing "Ode to the Motherland" - a hymn of the revolution - during the ceremony wasn't singing at all.

Lin Miaoke was lip-synching to the voice of seven-year-old Yang Peiyi, who was rejected by a senior member of the Communist Party's politburo at a rehearsal because she had a chubby face and crooked teeth.

"He told us there was a problem, that we needed to fix it, so we did," said the ceremony's musical director, well-known contemporary composer Chen Qigang, in an interview with a state broadcaster that aired Tuesday.

AFP reported that the interview with Chen appeared briefly on the news website Sina.com before it was apparently wiped from the Internet in China.

"Little Yang Peiyi's failure to be selected was mainly because of her appearance," were among the Chen comments that were made to disappear. "The reason was for the national interest. The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings, and expression. Lin Miaoke is excellent in those aspects. But in terms of voice, Yang Peiyi is perfect, each member of our team agreed."

The French news agency interviewed the director of the China Internet project at the University of California-Berkeley, former dissident Xiao Qiang, who said the substitution of the pretty girl for the unsuitable one "illustrates an important aspect of these Olympic Games. It is all about projecting the right image of China with no respect for honesty or for the audience.

"I do not think the Chinese state realizes how unethical this is, they don't understand what kind of values they are reflecting."

Defenders of these "minor misdirections" say they are hardly unique to China, and the media is just picking on the hosts.

Didn't the late Pavarotti lip-synch his signature "Nessun Dorma" aria from Turandot at the opening ceremony in Turin? Yes. But at least it was his own voice. Nobody said, "Listen, Luciano, you've kind of let yourself go, and there's not enough time for you to go on the South Beach diet. Julio Iglesias over here is still a good-looking man. We're going to have him lip-synch your song."

All kinds of artists lip-synch their performances. Okay, we understand that.

And we got over the Internet censorship. We've accepted that there's certain things on the Net that the Chinese populace is not allowed to see. We accept that a 21-point censorship plan allegedly distributed to all state media probably exists, even if the spokesperson for Games organizing committee (BOCOG) claims to know nothing about it - as he also knows nothing about plain-clothes officials reportedly shadowing some reporters, taking pictures of them, and notebooks being confiscated, or why two armoured personnel carriers suddenly appeared, parked outside the Media Centre, front and back, on Tuesday.

Fine. We're not supposed to know these things.

And maybe, in the larger sense, it's good that however bad the news is about the fakery surrounding the Games to date, at least the news is getting out. There was some question as to whether that would happen, before the Games began, and so far it has not been an issue.

So, China's defenders say, this is really no big deal.

And that's probably true, as long as you're not Yang Peiyi, who at seven years old has already discovered a hard truth about physical appearance - and had it drilled into her brain unequivocally, by her government no less, that she may be able to sing, but she's too ugly to represent her nation in public.

ccole@vancouversun.com


© Vancouver Sun

* * *

If you're still with me, here's our (brief) opinion:

• it was manipulative
• China has discrimination issues
• China has a low tolerance for self-criticism
• China is awesome at copying Gucci bags, Dior glasses, Honda (re-named Zonda) motorbikes... so, it's not surprising that they're good at faking fireworks
  

but...

• Western media takes any opportunity to criticize China
• there is anti-China sentiment in the West
• Britney Spears lip-synchs too

What do you think?

Musique du jour: Bob Dylan - Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie

Fruits and veggies

Ever wonder what pesticide-sprayed fruits and veggies are "best" for you and which are the "worst?"







According to the article Our chemical paranoia by Dan Gardner, published in The Ottawa Citizen, the "cleanest" include:

• pineapples
• mangoes
• avocadoes
• onion (the cleanest)

And the "least clean" include:

• strawberries
• apples
• celery
• peaches (the least clean)

So next time you're deliberating about where to spend your organic grocery dollars, reach for the peach!

Musique du jour: June Carter Cash - Big Yellow Peaches

Jogging

After a year away, Bob and I knew that it was inevitable that we would come back to Canada with fresh eyes and new perspectives. There are many obvious and not-so-obvious differences between Canadian and Chinese cultures... food, fashion, weather, language, people...

And jogging.

In China, when someone goes out jogging, there is no need for special jogging gear, special jogging shoes, shorts, shirts, sunglasses, bags, music players, water bottles, watter bottle carriers... you just jog. It doesn't matter if you're wearing jeans or dress shoes. You just jog. Nothing to it.

Not in Canada, right? In Canada, from what we can tell, there seems to be a lot of protocol surrounding the act of jogging. First of all, in Vancouver anyway, don't even DREAM of walking, let alone jogging on the wrong path. Yesterday Bob and I were walking on the roller blading path and got shouted at and scolded by a fast moving roller blader, who loudly pointed out that we were on the skating path, not the walking path. There's also a biking path, too. And, what we learned is, don't veer away from your designated path. Walk on the walking path. Bike on the biking path. Roller blade on the roller blading path. Phew! Just going out for a walk seems to be a complicated affair!

In Canada, it appears as though there is specific jogging apparel protocol too, that should not be deviated from. This includes spandex shorts, breathable spandex/cotton blend shirts, jogging shoes, little white socks, a clip-on iPod, a water bottle belt and 1-2 water bottles. Standard gear. You can't jog without it.












We have decided to stick to walking. It just seems simpler.

***

Other news on the home front...

We've got a place to live! It's official! Very exciting... we signed a lease yesterday afternoon for a 2 bedroom place in the Mount Pleasant area of Vancouver, right smack dab in the area that we were hoping to live. Yay! We move in this September and have signed the lease until April 30th, which is perfect... we will be relocating to Saskatoon at this time for the summer, to start our Masters of Professional Accounting programs at the U of S. And... Oliver can come with us! We're as pleased as can be.

With The Great Apartment Hunt behind us, we've now got the next month and a half to relax and enjoy our time here in Canada, stress- and worry-free. This gives us another week to ten days in Vancouver to hang out, which will be awesome. We've been enjoying our time back here immensely... yesterday we walked around Stanley Park, ate cheap and delicious pizza, stopped at a pub for a beer, took the bus (which, I tell you, is a piece of cake after maneuvering through Asia for the past year)...

Some of our favourite things about being back:

* pizza! lots of pizza!








* the Pacific ocean and clean beaches










Slowly but surely we're finding our place back in this culture... we are worlds away, it seems, from our lives in China. And we're adjusting just fine. It's definitely an experience to be back after a year away, but we're embracing the good, the bad, and the strange with as much fervor as we did in China. :)

Musique du jour: Johnny Smith - Walk, Don't Run (click here for a version done by Chet Atkins)

The experiment

I miss Chinese food. For a year, I ate Chinese food nearly every day. Now, here I am, smack dab in the middle of a land of meat and potatoes, food that I was really craving by the end of our time in China, and all I want to eat is Chinese food. So... in order to deal with this rampant craving, I am learning how to cook Chinese-style. Yep... that's right... I'm learning how to cook it. Believe me, this is an experiment and a half, that's for sure, and after a year out of the kitchen, I must admit, I'm a bit rusty. But I'm putting my nose to the grindstone and am determined to do it. It can't be that hard, right?

After a few lessons from my friend Maggie who is living in Beijing right now, I feel somewhat prepared to take on this new challenge. Last night I headed to the corner supermarket and was delighted that the owner and his daughter are from the south of China. When the owner learned that I'd just returned from a year in his home country, he immediately started jabbering at me in Chinese. I said to him, "Ting bu dong" (which means "I don't understand") and he looked at me in shock. He said (in English), "But you were there for a year!!" I laughed and nodded, and said (in Chinese) "My Chinese is bad." He nodded and said, "Yes... bu hao, bu hao" (meaning very bad, very bad). Haha, leave it to the Chinese to be brutally honest...

One of the most comforting things I've found about Vancouver thus far is the number of Chinese people out and about... it's great to not feel like we're the only "foreigners" back here in Vancouver. Among us are many, many people who are even more surprised by what Canada is all about, and it makes me feel like less of a stranger facing this new country that should really feel like home.

I think the best part so far is running down to the corner grocery store and being able to pick up typical Canadian comfort foods that Canadians usually take for granted, like real orange juice, normal milk, and lemonade... and also being able to pick up Chinese-food odds and ends, like Guilin rice noodles, snow peas, and ginger! Bob and I both agree that Vancouver is the best place that we could have come back to... it is an awesome transition between China and Canada.

So, after another run to the corner store today, we're all stocked up with Canadian treats like fresh coffee, cream, and sugar (yay!) as well as all the fixings for my first attempt at fried rice. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Maggie's advice will come in handy tonight as I do my best to replicate one of the easiest Chinese dishes around.

If you're brave, you can try it at home yourself... here's the recipe I'm going to follow:




Ingredients:


* 1 - 2 green onions, as desired
* 2 large eggs
* 1 teaspoon salt
* Pepper to taste
* 4 tablespoons oil for stir-frying, or as needed
* 4 cups cold cooked rice
* 1 - 2 tablespoons light soy sauce or oyster sauce, as desired

Preparation:
Wash and finely chop the green onion. Lightly beat the eggs with the salt and pepper.

Heat a wok or frying pan and add 2 tablespoons oil. When the oil is hot, add the eggs. Cook, stirring, until they are lightly scrambled but not too dry. Remove the eggs and clean out the pan.

Add 2 tablespoons oil. Add the rice. Stir-fry for a few minutes, using chopsticks or a wooden spoon to break it apart. Stir in the soy sauce or oyster sauce as desired.

When the rice is heated through, add the scrambled egg back into the pan. Mix thoroughly. Stir in the green onion. Serve hot.

(Serves 4-6)

Also, one more thing... last night's attempt at making chow mien was... ok. Not great, but ok. It was my first experience in dealing with fresh ginger, and I sort of improvised. In the future, I'm going to follow this short video's advice: Using Fresh Ginger. Trust me, if you're a newbie at dealing with the stuff, it makes it a bit easier to work with... I had no idea that you actually had to peel it... which would probably explain why Bob left a little pile of ginger on his plate last night... oops!

This evening we'll head out to East Vancouver, for round 2 of The Great Apartment Hunt.

Bye for now!

Musique du jour: Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young - American Dream

Becoming Canadian... again

(leaving Beijing)












Well, I can't believe it's that time already, but here we are back in Canada... after an amazing year in Asia, we have found ourselves back where we started from, in Vancouver. It's... strange to be back... at this point, neither good nor bad. I think that over the next few weeks we'll go through a bit of an emotional ride as we begin to find our place back in our home country.

After 48 hours with very limited sleep (about 4 hours in total) and 24 hours of traveling from Beijing to Tokyo to Vancouver, we arrived home yesterday afternoon and were greeted by our friends Kurt and Maureen. We were warmly welcomed by them, and they helped us to find our bearings, tow our luggage, get us to our apartment, and get food in our bellies.

(Bob and Kurt in our temporary Vancouver digs)

After a big Canadian lunch and a tall glass of beer, we were exhausted... our heads hit the pillows at 3 p.m. and, aside from a short break at 11 p.m., we slept the night away and into the morning...

This morning we roused early, headed out for cheap Canadian breakfast, then hit the road to view our first apartment. No luck. Our 2nd viewing was scheduled in the early afternoon, and in the heat, we re-familiarized ourselves with the Vancouver transit system and hiked around downtown Vancouver and North Burnaby. Our 2nd apartment viewing yielded more positive results... but we're still not sure if it's "the one" ... we're keeping our fingers crossed that the next 2 weeks will give us enough time to find something suitable before we head off on our great Western Canadian road trip. Ahhh... the joys of apartment hunting...

* * *

Coming back to Canada has been mind-boggling and bewildering. It's interesting for us to be back and to see our culture in an entirely different light... here are some of the things that have been points of discussion over the past day and a half:

- crossing the street: When we first arrived in China, we were hesitant to walk out into traffic randomly and cross the street... this meant dodging cars, bikes, and other pedestrians, and trusting that all of the above would dodge us as well. In China, the streets are extraordinarily wide coupled with huge bicycle lanes on both sides of the street. In Canada, the streets are relatively narrow and there are no bike lanes, which means the cars drive quickly right beside you as you're walking on the sidewalk... we no longer have a big buffer zone between us and the traffic. We're not used to this... we find ourselves looking over our shoulders all the time, in fear that we're going to be mowed down by a driver! And much to Bob's worry, I am constantly jaywalking... I forget that here in Canada it's illegal! Not to mention... I'm so darn good at it now! It's not something that I really want to let go of that easily... it's much more efficient than waiting for that little white man or the green hand to give me permission to cross the street...

We're also noticing that, oddly enough, pedestrians always seem to have the right of way! We forgot about this... and we think it's a lovely concept.


- tipping: Over the past year, we have come to the consensus that tipping for certain services, such as serving in restaurants, does yield positive results. For example, in China, tipping is not common practice (the waitress will run after you when you leave the restaurant if you've left anything, including tips, on the table to give it back to you!). But, in China, the service is terrible. The best way to get service in a Chinese restaurant is to yell (seriously, yell at full voice... ask Bob for a rendition): "Fu-yuaer!" ... which means "Worker!" in Chinese. We believe that there is a high correlation between tipping and good service. In Canada, servers work for tips, and therefore work hard to earn your money. In the west, we rarely have to ask for a water (or explain that we want ice in a glass with water poured inside), nor do we have to remind the server to refill our coffee, let alone bring our food. We agree that tipping in restaurants like we do in Canada is worth it... we are appreciating the prompt and friendly service we're receiving in Canada without ever having to yell!

That said... we are not really sure why it has come to be expected that we tip for other things... tipping for a cab? For a hair cut? For delivering a pizza? Hmm...


- extremely high costs: It is known that in China things are cheap. We knew that we should expect high prices when we returned to Canada... high prices for gas, for food, for rent... We understand this and (grudgingly) accept this. But... we need to draw the line somewhere...

Take a look at this lamp:



(Look familiar Marianne and Bill?)

Last night when we were walking down Denman St., we noticed this lamp in a very upscale, high-end store. We were amused... We had seen these same style of lamps in Thailand... they're made of little plastic pieces that are put together like a puzzle, in any desired shape or size. It's not hard... a kindergarten kid could do it. In Thailand, they were selling for about $5 (maximum) apiece. But... in Vancouver? We leaned in to see the item description and price of the display and were shocked... the tag said "handcrafted in Vancouver," and were priced at... brace yourself... $199 per lamp. $199!! My god. What is with selling all this cheap crap for hundreds of dollars? And... who is fickle enough to buy it? Sheesh.

- Lastly, on a more sombre note... nasty news: We are a bit taken aback by some of the violent crimes that have occurred in Western Canada over the past week. The two most stand-out ones are the decapitation on the Greyhound bus in Manitoba
and the hammer attack during the Gay Pride celebrations in Vancouver. Like everyone, Bob and I are horrified by these violent atrocities... and are left wondering what this means about our country, our people, our social systems, our safety... We hope that these two events remain isolated cases and are not symptoms of a bigger problem. That said, we can't help but notice the number of very sick people on the streets of Vancouver, suffering from mental illness and drug addiction.

Being back home is an adventure all on its own... we know there will be ups and downs associated with what is referred to as the "re-entry process" and we look forward to sharing our observations with you.


Musique du jour: Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues

Throat Singing

A few years ago, I was stopped dead in my tracks at a music festival when I saw a Canadian throat singer, Tanya Tagaq Gillis, perform. I was totally intrigued by this aspect of Canadian culture that I never even knew existed: Inuit throat singing.

I'd never heard anything like this before... it is haunting and earthy and unique... it is shocking and wild and amazing. Up until this point, little did I know that throat singing is an Inuit cultural tradition that is passed down from old women to young girls. It is generally done with 2 women facing each other, lips almost touching, in the form of friendly competition. It was banned by Christian priests for nearly 100 years.

Tanya is an amazing Canadian performer from Nunavut that has something totally different to offer the modern music scene. I don't know how she does it... take a look at how one woman can make the sounds of a multitude of string instruments just from her throat.

Kronos Quartet and Tanya Tagaq:



Tanya Tagaq and cellist Rebecca Foon at Ottawa Canada Day celebrations:



Cool eh?

Musique du jour: Tanya Tagaq Gillis - Auk/Blood (album)

Preparation...

We're still in China and, with only 5 days until we'll be walking the streets of Vancouver, I'm trying to get myself psyched about going back to Canada. I must admit, it's not easy... this Chinese way of living has been awesome and, after a year abroad, I am a bit nervous about "re-entering" the North American rat race. In the spirit of getting geared up for diggin' it down home, I thought I'd make a list of all the things I'm looking forward to about coming back:

* friends and family - It's been a year since we've seen many of you and we look forward to catching up... new babies... new homes... it will be great to hear all about your own down home adventures!

* seeing Oliver! We can't wait to see his reaction when we get back to Lemberg to pick him up... he's had an awesome year in Lemberg staying with Grampa Fowler and with Bill and Marianne. Thanks to everyone for chipping in while we've been away and opening up your hearts and homes to such a character...



Sadly, our other mini dachshund, Bailey, had to be put down a few weeks ago... thanks to Dawn, Dave, Mike, Victoria, and Sarah Beth for taking such good care of him. We're going to miss him so much.






* camping


Fortunately, Bob and I will be traveling from Vancouver to Saskatchewan and back via camper, which is one of our favourite things to do. We'll be making pit stops in Edmonton, Prince Albert, and Lemberg, to name a few. Stay tuned... we may be coming to a city near you! :)


* sunsets

* BBQs - Fire up those grills! It's been a year since we've had good down-home bbq!

* Shooting stars - be sure to check out the Perseids Meteor Shower from August 11th - August 14th... find yourselves a blanket and a patch of clear sky and wish away!

* Greek food

* guitars and campfires

* Northern lights

* perogies and macaroni salad

* complete anonymity

* our complete music collection

* great laundry facilities (washer and dryer!)

* public libraries

Mmm... but I'm going to miss a heck of a lot about Zhong Guo too... like:

* Huntun Mama's huntun and jiao zi

* Bailey and our other Chinese friends

* random craziness

* night markets

* chow mien

* living off of $10/day

* super strength coffee and Chinese checkers

* daily massages

...

Coming home is an exciting time... but truthfully, it is bittersweet. Funny enough, China has become "down home" for us too...


Musique du jour: Bonnie Raitt - Coming Home