Update in Photos

Lots has been happening. Here's an update in photos . . .

This is a photo of the awesome Costco cake we got for the boys. Last Friday, we had a pool party for them. The idea was to give them an opportunity to say good-bye to all their school chums, as well as celebrate their upcoming birthdays now since they won't be able to do that with friends when we're on the road. They agreed to our suggestion to use this as a fundraising opportunity for Sauti Moja, since we cannot take a bunch of toys and doo-dads on the road either.

Waiting for the rope swing. The boys were allowed to invite about 12 friends each. The guys (and one little girl) had a blast. We had tunes and none was more popular than Alice Cooper's "School's Out", of course. The best part was we raised several hundred dollars for Sauti Moja!

Prior to the pool party, Mitchell had his Gr. 6 graduation. When we started this blog, he was just in Gr. 4. And here we are now. Yup, time flies. He could not be happier to be graduating. You can interpret that however you wish :) Mitchell did a reading at the ceremony and did a great job!

And Jackson was only in SK . . . now he's completed Gr. 2! And he even finished the stress-inducing castle. Actually he loved building that castle and will probably play with it for a long time to come (when we get back, that is - definitely not taking that on the road). Best of all, Jackson received something called the "Christian Spirit" award during the last week of school. As best I can figure, this is the "nice kid" award. He deserves it! We'll have to get that laminated and stick it in storage with all his other treasures :)

Settling into their bunks at camp. On Saturday, the morning after the pool party, we packed up and headed down to the Adirondack Mountains of New York. Both Mitchell and Jackson are at a "sleep-away" camp for a week. The camp is a combined Ranch and Ranger camp, offered by Word of Life. We had heard great things about it. This is Jackson's first ever time away from us for this long; Mitchell's 2nd. In June, Mitchell got to attend a camp for Gr. 6 students in Orillia, so he's an old hand at sleep-away camp now. We're glad he's there to watch out for his little brother!


Beautiful Schroon Lake, NY.


Back to reality . . .we have a week to get tons done before we go back to pick up the boys next Saturday. Does this basement look finished?? Help! Just over two weeks to go now . . .

A good news post

There is also good news. I will save the best for last.

The tiles have arrived! Phoning twice a day for a solid week clearly paid off. Squeaky wheel and all that.

Our new stove arrived! The first night I baked a casserole in it and the oven got so incredibly hot that I almost singed my eyebrows off when I reached in to remove it. I had become used to a lukewarm oven and forgot what heat feels like. So what I'm trying to say is I no longer feel like sticking my head in an oven, ha, ha.

I have a powerful new laptop! I purchased a new laptop through my employer's purchase program, so I got a bit of a deal. Now we need to get busy and load the various software we'll need for home-schooling.

And now for something quite exciting . . . I got to observe a cleft lip repair at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO)! Dr. Duncan, a well-respected pediatric plastic surgeon, graciously agreed to let me watch the two-hour surgery. There is a fabulous nurse, Sue Hunt, who is the backbone of the Cleft Palate Team at CHEO, and she got me into the OR. They gave me scrubs to put on and a mask (which I put on backwards, I felt lik a dork when one of the nurses had to fix it). The morning of the surgery I was up by 5:30am to get to the hospital very early as they start right away. Dr. Duncan even brought in one of her massive textbooks to show me the procedure she was using. It was fascinating. She narrated everything she was doing and why, so I certainly learned a great deal. I wanted to see this as I hope to volunteer with Operation Smile in either Africa or South-East Asia during our year away.

I have to say I found it tiring to stand in one spot for two hours and I was not even doing anything with my hands. I don't think I could ever be a surgeon. I also could not really differentiate what I was seeing. For example, the surgeon would point out the obicularis oris muscle that she was attaching but it looked nothing like pictures of muscle fibers in an anatomy book. The little baby was 3 months old, a very gorgeous chunky little fellow. I met his parents and you could feel how concerned they were about everything. The lip surgery went well and he will probably have his cleft palate repaired around age one year. It's hard to imagine that in many developing countries these kids grow up into adults (well, the lucky ones actually do get to grow up) with these gaping clefts unrepaired.

One amazing coincidence occurred in the Operating Room. The anesthetist actually knows my sister Lori - they went to med school together in Saskatchewan. I forget exactly how we figured this out. I think someone mentioned Sask., so I mentioned I grew up there which led the ansthetist to comment she went to med school there, to which I added "so did my sister", etc. etc. Lori, if you're reading this, Dr. Marion Gould says hi!

I also spent some time observing in the various Cleft Palate Clinics, including speech pathology of course (thank you Sussie!) as well as the dental clinic, ENT and audiology. Thanks CHEO for some great PD!

Warning: Head Explosion Coming Soon

35 days until we leave Ottawa and yes, I do feel as though my head might explode soon. Lots of good things have been happening that are bringing us closer to our goal, but here is just a quick summary of a few recent ordeals:

- someone hit our car in a parking lot - no-one was hurt and it could've been worse but still an annoyance and inconvenience that we did not need.

- we've had to replace our stove - sure why not? Why not have a major appliance break down 1 month before you leave on a major trip? Just adds to the general merriment around one's home. New stove arrives from Sears this Thursday.

- have had to replace our laptop - if you've been reading along with us for awhile, you may recall me bragging last summer that I had loaded all kinds of home-schooling curriculum onto my laptop. Programs from Nectar that parallel the Ontario curriculum in math, English and science. All for naught. Built-in obsolescence wins again and we are getting a new laptop. I will have to borrow and re-load all the same software. Good times.

- our washer and dryer are currently unhooked so work can proceed in the laundry room. I don't know how other people spend their Friday nights but I took three garbage bags full of dirty clothes to a laundromat on Bank St. and spend a fun-filled few hours doing my loads. I forgot my book and the only thing to read was the Ottawa Sun. Brutal.

- Jackson arrived home from school with 3 new assignments. Memorize and perform a poem. Complete 5 spelling worksheets. And - here's the grandaddy - construct a toy that has moving parts, using found objects and materials from home, that must make use of at least two simple machines. Oh, and complete the 7-page booklet that goes along with it. My heart sank as I took stock of this new sh**load of homework. Is the teacher aware it's now the middle of June?? Apparently not.

- still mired in the basement reno - now there's a whole other topic - despite having the services of an excellent handyman, work may stall out as bathroom tiles have not arrived. Tiles were ordered 5 weeks ago. Deposit made as required. Store estimated 3 weeks to get tiles in. Checked back a few days ago. Tiles, for some inexplicable reason, had not yet been ordered. Bit of an oops. I have been trying mightily not to freak out. I figure this is just good practice for staying calm when crises happen on the road, as they surely will from time to time. Like my mom says, "whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger". She's also fond of saying "low aim is worse than failure". My aim right now is just to keep my head from exploding.

Enough whining. I will write a happier post soon, I promise.

Servas Success

Good news. With only 47 days to go on our Countdown Clock (yikes!), we are now officially members of Servas. We had a 75-minute interview last night with a designated Servas volunteer here in Ottawa, and she deemed us to be sufficiently acceptable to be welcomed into the fold. I must say the boys were exceptionally well-behaved, notwithstanding Jackson's occasional tendency to slide off her couch and sprawl spread-eagled on her living room carpet. It was pretty boring for Jackson but Mitchell surprised us with a few excellent questions that he tossed the volunteer's way. At one point, she said something about him taking over her job. That's quite okay, we have enough on our plates right now. What happens now is another volunteer will send us the "host lists" for the countries we're planning to visit and we can gradually start contacting local families for potential homestays. Bye for now.

Mother of the Year??

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about my Mother's Day. Well, at least one person thinks I'm a pretty good mom! Check out this hilarious link my friend Joanne sent me. Apparently, as televised recently on CNNBC (whatever station that is), the National Maternity Society has chosen me to be the recipient of their annual "Mother of the Year" award (!) I especially like the tribute from Obama himself. Too funny . . Well I better run - need to finish that how-to book on motherhood.

Servas vs. Couchsurfing: Key Differences

The more I look into Servas, the organization I posted about earlier, the more I like it and the more I see what a good fit this would be for us on our trip. We have now made our application to become members and our interview is Monday evening (June 1st). We'll let you know how it goes.

Here is an article printed from the Servas Canada website. This does an excellent job of explaining some key differences between Servas and The Couchsurfing Project. Our hope is that staying with locals all over the world during our year away will go far in opening the eyes, minds and hearts of our two boys. Speaking for myself, I look forward to a day, way in the future, when I will be retired and jetting all over the world to visit my wanderlust kids. I think that would be great. Anyway, here is the article. Read and enjoy . . .

Paul and Sandi Caplan own and operate a fascinating store, 'Novacks', in London, Ont, selling outdoor, outfitter and travel-related merchandise. Although not (yet) members of Servas, Paul has submitted an article to the Free Press summarizing the differences between Servas and CouchSurfers, a distinction many ‘outsiders’ fail to make. We reproduce most of it here for the reader’s interest and information.

"This article deals with a response to a previous article about "free" accommodation. The local coordinators for Servas were concerned with my statement that the CouchSurfing project was similar to Servas. While there are similarities, both having as their mandate the promotion of tolerance and cultural understanding, it is the differences that distinguish the two.

Servas was founded in 1949 by Bob Luitweiler as a peace movement. It is the desire and intention of Servas to promote peace and understanding between people by providing opportunities for a deeper more personal contact between different cultures. Servas is primarily concerned with the promotion of peace among nations and to this extent Servas International has consultative status as a non-governmental organization with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, with representation at many of the UN’s hubs of activity. The opportunity to host and be hosted is the vehicle used to further the original goal of Servas as a peace movement.

(…) On the other hand CouchSurfing was founded "when Casey Fenton got a cheap ticket to Iceland for a long weekend. With his ticket in hand, there was one problem: he had no place to stay and no desire to book into a hotel for the weekend. So, he came up with the 'brilliant' idea of spamming over 1500 Icelandic students in Reykjavik and asking them if he could crash on one of their couches. After exchanging emails with many of the students, he had several groups of friends offer to show him 'their' Reykjavik. From that point onward, it was all about crashing on exotic couches and cultural exchange. And, thus, the CouchSurfing Project was born."

Initially founded in 2003 to provide "free" accommodation, Couchsurfing has evolved. Its mission statement reads as follows: "CouchSurfing seeks to internationally network people and places, create educational exchanges, raise collective consciousness, spread tolerance, and facilitate cultural understanding." The CouchSurfing website, however, is merely a venue for users to learn about one another and, if they wish, arrange stays with one another. There is no actual membership approved by CouchSurfing. It is a network rather than an organization and as such is not involved in the actual contact between users and therefore, has no control over the conduct of the users.

(To summarize,) the initial intent of Servas and CouchSurfing differs. Servas was founded as a peace movement and that still remains central to the organization. CouchSurfing began when someone wanted an alternative to a hotel and grew to recognize the benefits of cultural openness. Servas, as an organization, takes responsibility for their members by thoroughly interviewing and approving membership. CouchSurfing, as stated, is only a venue for those searching for a "couch" and takes no responsibility for their users. As the oldest hospitality exchange organization, Servas stands on its reputation while the reputation of CouchSurfing is evolving.”

So there you have it. I'm glad I stumbled upon the Servas site in my Internet digging. Should be interesting!

Travel Clinic Finale

We think we have had our last trip to the Travel Clinic. Yeah! The boys certainly don't want to go back. They received their final Hep A & B shots as well as Menactra. Actually all four of us were immunized for meningitis. We will still have to pick up our malaria prescriptions and prescriptions for a broad spectrum antibiotic to bring with us, such as Cipro. We were also shown a kit we could purchase with needles and syringes. Apparently it's a good idea to bring your own sterile needles and what-have-you, in case you ever have to have blood drawn for some reason in a developing country. This was not something I had ever even considered. The kit costs $14.99 so not a big deal. We will probably get one. If we buy it, we won't need it. If we don't buy it, we surely will. Isn't that always the way? So it's a little like insurance I guess.

The nurse also told us about a site called IAMAT, which stands for International Association for Medical Assistance to Travellers. This looks quite good. You can pull up a malaria risk chart and see which parts of the world are most affected, that kind of thing. You can also access a database to find an English-speaking doctor in just about any country in the world. That could also be handy. I figure I should learn how to use that so that we never need it.

One really neat thing happened at the final travel clinic appointment and that was that Mitchell discovered a book in the waiting room entitled "The Safari Companion: A Guide to Watching African Mammals including Hoofed Mammals, Carnivores and Primates" by Richard D. Estes. Now this book is not really a kid's book. The only pictures are black-and-white line drawings, no glossy action photos of lions or elephants. Nevertheless, he was completely enthralled with this book and could not put it down. His 12th birthday is coming up this week so we have a copy for him, plus his own digital camera. I will have to make sure he doesn't read this blog for the next little while.

Only 8 weeks until we leave. Work is busy, of course, and we are in full swing finishing our basement for our tenants. So it feels like time is moving at warp speed. More updates to come . . .

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all my friends who are moms and, of course, to my own Mom! Where will we be next Mother's Day? Either Japan or Australia I think. Maybe I can dress up like a geisha and my sons will bow to me :)

As Mother's Days go, this one did not start out so well for me. We went to the 9:00am service at church and Jackson was refusing to go to Sunday School. Strange. He's usually fairly go-with-the-flow and does not give us a lot of problems, but he's been a bit more challenging lately. Hopefully just a phase. He told me "you're mean" and ripped off his Sunday School nametag in front of his teacher and threw it in the garbage. Not exactly the Hallmark Mother's Day moment we all want. I said, "you're on your own, kiddo" and left. I asked Ted to pick him up after the service. I sat through the service smarting and blinking back tears and thinking, hmmm maybe we should have spanked him once in awhile when he was younger.

Later at home though, things improved. Checking my e-mail, I discovered a funny electronic Mother's Day card from Mitchell. I should have known. Jackson will do all the crafts and cards they assign in school, but Mitchell doesn't have much of a taste for arts and crafts and these things tend not to ever make their way home. They are spinning somewhere in the orbit of the black hole otherwise known as his desk. A computer card is right up his alley. It was cute, had a corny tune, and contained the words "I love you". Just what I needed.

Then, wonder of all wonders, Jackson cleaned his room completely unprompted. He wanted to show me . . . wow! He said, "from now on I'm going to hang up my clothes when I take them off, so my room stays clean". Oh. My. Goodness!! But wait, it gets better. He pulled out his Jigsaw Jones novel (okay so I use the term "novel" loosely) and started reading it this afternoon. About a half-hour later, he came to find me to show me he is now on chapter 4! And announces he's going to read the whole thing all by himself. He's in Gr. 2 and we've been doing the shared reading thing since the beginning of Gr. 1. Most of the time he balks and says "no you read it, mom". I've been waiting for this day. And to think that it happened on Mother's Day!

And now here's a funny Mother's Day video to make you smile (as long as you don't have two sons, that is) . . .

The Beauty of South-East Asia

Last week, Ted & I went to a travel talk put on by Travel Indochina, a higher-end tour company specializing in tours of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Japan, India, China & Tibet. The speaker was entertaining and we gleaned some useful info, but it was the stunning slideshow we came for. Here are some of the highlights of South-East Asia we are looking forward to:


Riding an elephant in Chiang Mai, Northen Thailand

Hanging out on the beautiful beaches of Krabi, Southern Thailand and seeing the amazing limestone cliffs

Hiking through the incomparable temple ruins of Angkor Wat in Cambodia

Spending time in the World Heritage town of Hoi An, Vietnam

Sleeping a night or two on a boat in

Halong Bay, Vietnam

Exploring the streets of Hanoi during Tet (New Years' celebration)

Seeing the young monks

collecting alms in their trademark saffron robes in Luang Prabang, Laos
We won't likely do a tour with this company, even though their reputation is very good. We just won't be able to afford them. But we can see the same sites and set our own schedule. A guy I work with is also heading to South-East Asia soon, and he and his wife were at the travel talk as well. Afterwards, we all went for a drink. It's fun to share plans with others who are as pumped about seeing these places as we are.

Airline Tickets

Easter has come and gone and it has been awhile since we posted. This blog is officially two years old (!) We started posting about our upcoming trip Easter weekend 2007. I know what you're thinking . . . what kind of nutcase family blogs for two years before even going on their trip?? Well, I guess a nut like me who loves to research and write and is hoping to create, not just a memory of the trip itself, but also of all the preparation and anticipation that led up to it.

Another big check off our To-Do list. We are ticketed, Houston. All systems go. Here's the revised itinerary, based on the best we could manage with Star Alliance and keeping within our mileage band of 34,000 miles (and narrowly dodging an inexplicable 20% price increase on RTW tickets - literally happened the day after ours were ticketed):

• Depart Toronto July 20, 2009
• New York
• Paris
• Zurich
• Nairobi (Kenya)
• Cairo (Egypt)
• Dubai (UAE)
• Bangkok (Thailand)
• Tokyo (Japan)
• Seoul (South Korea)
• Sydney (Australia)
• Auckland (New Zealand)
• Apia (Western Samoa)
• Los Angeles
• Vancouver (July 1, 2010 - Canada Day!)

So these are the 15 cities (or "segments" as the airlines call it) that we are permitted with our Round-the-World (RTW) ticket. As I mentioned in a previous post about our itinerary, many factors converge to influence your final routing. For example, we didn't really have a burning desire to visit Cairo but to go from Nairobi to Dubai or Bangkok, you must go through Cairo and like it or not, it counts as one of your segments. Another example, we have to fly through the very expensive city of Zurich as it is a hub for travel from Europe to Africa. We won't stay there long, although no doubt it's beautiful.

The cities listed don't really tell the whole story. These are just our entry and exit points. We hope to travel overland throughout South-East Asia (Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos) once we've arrived in Bangkok. We are holding off getting travel visas for these countries as there is a rumour of a "Mekong Delta" visa coming that would eliminate the need for separate visas for all these SE Asia countries.

Similarly, we fly into Nairobi but have no plans to stay there any longer than necessary. We want to see other parts of Kenya and go on safari as well as visit Longiro, our Compassion child that we sponsor. We'll travel overland to Tanzania (Arusha and Zanzibar) and spend some time visiting and helping out with Sauti Moja. We had also hoped to visit Lesotho but that is looking less likely since we would have to purchase 4 additional flights to Johannesburg and onwards to Lesotho. I am also still waiting to hear from Operation Smile about possibly participating in a mission during that time. Some things we cannot fully plan, we'll have to stay open and flexible and see what we can manage. We have booked our accommodations for New York (just 4 days), Paris (1 week), and St. Papoul, France (3 months), so the first big chunk of our trip is set.

The airlines we will fly with include Air Canada, United, Swiss Air, Egypt Air, Thai Airways, All Nippon Airways, Air Asiana, Air New Zealand, and back home via United. All are carriers with Star Alliance.

Lastly, the costs . . . for one adult ticket we paid $5406.00 and with all taxes it came to $6480.03. Children 11 years and younger were 25% less which brought it to $4055.00 and with taxes it totalled $5124.89. It is a fair chunk of the money we've been setting aside for the last 4 years but actually it's not a bad price for a full year of travel to so many places. Especially when I have to pay over $3000 for my family of four to fly to Saskatoon for a visit.

Okay, gotta run. Amazing Race is starting. My favourite TV show, go figure.

I Guess We're Really Going Now . . .

Good news - we have rented our house for the year we'll be away! This provides huge peace of mind for Ted and me, knowing our home will be in good hands and our mortgage will be covered. We used a website called Sabbatical Homes, which has an excellent reputation among the academic community. We first heard of it from some visiting professors who have been renting on our street. Our house is no longer on the site but every inquiry we received was appropriate and from good prospective tenants. We advertised in a few other places but it was Sabbatical Homes that generated the most traffic for us. Our tenants want the home fully furnished, which is again great news for us. We are doing some work in the basement now, including putting in a cedar closet in a large space under the stairs that will house all our clothes while we're away. We are also finishing the basement including another bathroom with a shower. So lots to do . . . but having our house rented is a huge check off "The List".

Interview with Jackson

We thought it would be fun to do a little interview with Jackson and share his thoughts on our upcoming year away. He's not really much of a keyboarder yet, being only 7 years old, so we did it this way instead. Here is our chat . . .

So Jackson, how are you feeling about our trip? Fine

Can you elaborate? Tell me more. Um, fine, happy.

(A man of few words, like the other men in this house).

Okay, so what are you looking forward to the most on our trip? Meeting Longiro.

(This is interesting - was not expecting this response - Longiro is a young boy we have been sponsoring for a few years through Compassion Canada. He lives in Kenya and we are trying to arrange to visit him and his family with the help of the staff at Compassion).

Wow! Meeting Longiro, that's great. Are you excited about seeing Kenya where he lives? Yup.

What other countries are you excited to see? New York . . . and . . . the USA . . . and Australia . . . and, um, France and the place where the zebras go . . . and . . . Russia and Sweden.

(Huh? We are not going to Russia and Sweden - this may be overflow from the "Hockey Heroes" book he has been reading.)

What are some things you want to do on our trip? Watch TV (stifling a giggle).

(He's trying to push my buttons here. He knows we won't be in close proximity to TVs very often).

Hmm, what else Jackson? Play on the computer! (full-blown giggling, definitely trying to push some buttons).

Okay, what do you NOT want to do on our trip? Sleep in the mud.

Sleep in the mud! Do you think you're going to be sleeping in mud?? Of course we will! Longiro does.

(Aha, starting to unravel his thought process here. A long time ago we had talked about the kind of house Longiro probably lives in and I did say something about a dirt floor - amazing the things that stick in a child's mind. We talked about this for a little bit more.)

Thanks Jackson. Is there anything you want to ask me now? Yes, will they have pizza on our trip? Absolutely. Even in Africa? Maybe. And can we go to a Japan baseball game? Um, sure, if we hear of one. Any other questions? Can I have some toast?

That's it. We hope you enjoyed this chat with Jackson! Breaking for toast . . .

Kathi's Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day

Actually make that my terrible horrible no good very bad week, apologies to author Judith Viorst. I did not fall asleep with gum in my mouth, but:

• a parent in my neighbourhood asked me many penetrating, unsolicited questions about our trip, most prefaced with insulting preambles such as "are you really doing such and such?' and "do you actually think such and such?" (subtext being we are basically insane and irresponsible for dragging our helpless dependents aroung the world).
  

• another parent - and this one is actually a friend - suggested that I speak to my kids about the upcoming trip because she thinks . . . wait for it . . . that they don't know yet . . . because they don't talk about it much (are you kidding me? they just don't talk to adults period - but maybe this trip might change that). Should I tell her that we have maps and globes all over the house, that we talk of little else, that we have been going out for ethnic food at great little restaurants around town that parallel the places we're going to, that we've been reading books about all the countries we're going to, that . . . oh never mind, all I ended up saying was "actually yeah, they do know, kind of funny you have that perception, hmmm". I later asked the boys what's the deal and they said "we don't want to brag, people might feel bad 'cause they don't get to go anywhere". Sweet.
  

• one of my boys' teachers made an offhand comment about being worried for us next year what with one of my sons being so unfocused, inattentive and all . . . ouch.

And there were a few other things but I'm probably just a little tired and overly sensitive. I guess that's better than being insensitive. Otherwise I might sound like, oh you get it. Not one of my finer posts but there it is. Bring on Monday. I need a new week.

History & Geography

I'm excited to have found a great resource for teaching history and geography. It's a series by Susan Wise Bauer called "The Story of the World". And we are talking the whole story of the whole, wide world. Haven't you always wanted to get a better grasp of world history? I know I have. I was telling Mitchell that we will probably visit Vimy Ridge in France. He asked me many questions about it, including "so what started the First World War? What was everyone fighting about?" And what did I say, "umm . . . let me think . . . .I know that . . . something to do with an Austrian prince who got shot? Was that it? Ask dad". In other words, mom has no idea. Sad, very sad.

About the only aspect of history that I have a really firm handle on is the good ol' Louis Riel Rebellion of 1885 and that is mainly because I grew up in Saskatchewan and it was pounded into our heads through a variety of projects and assignments all the way through school. In addition, my parents had a farm very near Batoche, SK. We would often take visiting relatives to see the historic sites in the Batoche area - the church with bullet holes, the trenches where Gabriel Dumont and his rebel fighters took a stand against General Middleton, and the cemetary where many of these fighters now lie. My Dad loved to drive visitors around our farm proudly pointing out things like, "See that tree? Louis Riel pissed against that tree!" How do we that Louis Riel relieved himself against said tree? We don't actually but theoretically it was certainly possible, because of the location of my Dad's land, which is where history and geography intersect. Which brings me back to . . .

This series. That I'm very excited about. I was able to borrow both the books and the audio CDs from the library and I'm very impressed. As far as homeschooling goes, I have no intention of lugging a bunch of books from country to country so the fact that I can get the entire history of the world, told in a compelling narrative way suitable for kids, on CDs is a huge bonus.

The series is organized into 4 time periods:

Volume 1 - The Ancients (5000BC to 400AD)
Volume 2 - The Middle Ages (400-1600)

Volume 3 - Early Modern Times (1600-1850)

Volume 4 - The Modern Age (1850-1994)

I guess that would bring us to the post-modern age? In any case, I can see us reading these aloud, discussing them, relating the history to the places we're seeeing and, of course, writing about it. Another curriculum item I stumbled upon on Susan Wise Bauer's site had to do with teaching writing. "The Complete Writer" I think it was called. It also looked great. Somebody stop me. I think tackling the history of the world is more than enough for now.

Servas International

Not long ago, I posted about a travel hospitality site called Couchsurfing. In this post I explained that Ted wasn't too keen about our family getting involved as members with this site and staying with complete strangers in strange lands.

Undeterred in my quest to stay with locals at least some of the time during our year away, I have gone deep down into the rabbit hole otherwise known as the Internet and stumbled upon many such sites. They include HospitalityClub.org, BeWelcome.org, GlobalFreeloaders.com, StayDontPay.net, YowTrip.com, Friendsonarrival.com, and Stay4Free.com. It seems there are many travellers who seek to avoid staying exclusively in hotels and hostels. As some of the names suggest, the purpose of a few of these sites is quite blatant: simply find a free place to stay. For most people, though, the purpose is to experience a culture and its people close up and firsthand. And, if travelling with children, to open their minds to these unfamiliar places.

Well now I think I may have stumbled upon an even better alternative in the ever-growing world of travel hospitality sites and that is Servas International. Ironically it is the oldest such organization out there, established in 1949 to promote world peace and cross-cultural understanding. Its motto is "peace through understanding". Unlike the Couchsurfing site, Servas is not web-based; rather, members find hosts either by using a printed directory or contacting the Servas co-ordinator for their country. It also seems more secure; potential members must attend an in-person interview with long-term Servas volunteers and provide references.

As a travel member with Servas, you have access to a directory listing hosts in the countries you request. After making contact and arranging a stay, you agree to stay no more than two days and to help out, joining in the host family's daily life. As a host member, you agree to open your home to a traveller (when convenient to do so) and engage in conversation with the traveller, sharing your way of life. As Servas describes it, it's a "quality cultural exchange".

As I read on Rick Steves' website, "you can learn more about the people and the culture in two days with a family than a month in a hotel. Servas is for people who want to be a part of another culture." Sounds great to me. Now I just need to sell Ted on it :)

A Post from Ted . . . Gearing Up

Kathi has been after me for a while to contribute to the writing department. So here goes.

I have been involved in some equipment acquisitions and jointly we have talked with the travel agent. I have had to return some calls to get to the bottom of some of the questions we have both had.

I started on the equipment front by buying myself a new digital camera for Christmas. It’s really for the family but I bought it a few weeks before Christmas on a great sale and put it away in the closet. I enjoyed it as a gift even though I knew what was coming.

It’s a brand new Canon Powershot SX10 IS that was just announced this past fall. It went on sale in late November. I wanted something small and have been pleased with our older Powershot A85. The grip is a nice feature and the new camera is loaded with lots of new features, e.g. 10x optical zoom, image stabilization in the lens and 10 megapixal density to the image. All the while being intuitively similar to the older model that we have. I’ve been playing with it, and took some Christmas photos and hockey pictures since.

In addition, I went looking for and buying bags (backpacks). I had my eye on various models for a while and have done some preliminary research on-line and with equipment sellers. There are many features in bags and pros and cons to each. It’s a very sophisticated market as well like much of everything these days. I came to the conclusion from most of the various sales staff I talked with that Osprey is a highly regarded brand with built in quality and lots of features.

I settled on the Osprey line of back packs for all four us with two different models, one for the kids and one for Kathi and myself. The kids’ bags were a little easier. Although they may not be loaded down with lots of gear and weight it was important that they fit well for comfort when they are wearing them (they need to carry some of the load) but that they have some adjustability for future use. And these do. I ended up buying the Osprey Sprint Jib 35 in red for Jackson and the Osprey Sprint Ace 48 in blue for Mitchell. These bags have some fine features found in some adult bags but there were a couple of things, in particular, that sold me on these. The back harness can adjust up and down to suit their torso length for appropriate fit and can be adjusted as they grow - now until we leave and in the year that we are away. In addition, the fit is a narrow one for their little bodies. They also have a bladder pocket and hole for a drinking straw to hold a water reservoir. These bags will do well for them.

The bags I settled on for Kathi and me are the Osprey Meridian 22, in burgundy for Kathi and in black for me. These come highly regarded from what I’ve read and by the store manager at the Expedition Shoppe where I bought them. (He has and travels with the similar model, the Sojourn, with wheels but without detachable day pack.) They are both 60-litre bags with wheels and detachable day packs. They are considered to be of a size that they can be carried on a plane for maximum efficiency, for us. If we can avoid ever having to check baggage, so much the better.

One of the questions for us was whether or not we needed or wanted the wheels. They add some weight but where they can be used, e.g. in an airport they add some convenience. We were told that they weren’t very useful in the Kabul airport. Strike Afghanistan from our list of places to visit with the kids. Anyway, we arrived at the inclusion of wheels because we may need to assist with carrying some little packs and it may be useful to pull the larger ones.

The inclusion of a detachable day pack is a nice option that is included in a variety of packs. It allows for separating a certain portion of the stuff to make the main bag a little smaller and certainly of the right size for stowing above. It will give us some flexibility when don’t have to lug the larger bags, and it will hold a laptop in its pocket as well. It also is a more appropriate size for adults to carry. One consideration we had was to use the kid’s packs as day packs. But their width really is designed for the smaller body.

I have a list of a few more items we may need. I will track these down and buy them as we get closer to leaving. They include the bladder option for the packs, a possible mosquito net, bed sheet and pillow covers, and a power converter for electronics that we may want to plug in.

As for the travel arrangements, we are getting closer to finalizing them. We will get it right soon, get our pricing and hope the calculations of various taxes works out in our favour. In the window of opportunity that we will be given we will close the deal. This makes things a little more exciting as the gap in time from now to departure narrows and we make commitments. It also heightens some of our mutual apprehensions and insecurities as well. There are still some loose ends to take care of, namely renting our house. Until next time.

Mitchell's Plan for Japan

Welcome to 2009! I'll say "welcome to 2009" because it's a little late in the game to still be saying "Happy New Year". We have not posted anything yet this year and here it is already January 15th. Things have been a little crazy. I have undergone many new school changes at my workplace as of January which has added to the general busy-ness of things. Excuses, excuses.

Over the Christmas break, I was organizing some of the boys' papers and school projects and came across this assignment that Mitchell did earlier in the fall. The assignment was to plan and write about a fictional two-week family holiday. Not surprisingly, he picked Japan (he likes all things Japanese, especially anything to do with Nintendo, Pokemon, etc.) To help him with this project, we borrowed a copy of the Lonely Planet guide for Japan and that is where he got some of his cost calculations. We'll have to check back in 2010 and see how much of his planned itinerary we were actually able to do. So here it is . . . and incidentally Mitchell wins the award for most links within a single post.

Two Weeks in Japan
by Mitchell Elborn

For our two-week holiday, I have decided that my family and I will visit Japan. We only have two weeks so we are going to concentrate on the Tokyo-Kyoto route (Kansai region).

For our flights, we will fly from Ottawa to Vancouver and then on to Tokyo for approximately $1000 per person (return). We would stay in the Tokyo international youth hostel. One person costs 2900 yen for three nights and a sleeping sheet costs 150 yen for three nights. That is 11, 600 yen for a family of four, plus 600 yen in total for four bedsheets. One Canadian dollar = 83 Yen.

Some sights we would like to see in Japan include:

§ Ueno Zoo in Tokyo (famous from the story Faithful Elephants)
§ The Imperial Palace (home of Japan’s Emperor)
§ The Original Nintendo Headquarters in Kyoto
§ The Super Smash Bros. Brawl Building in Kyoto (according to Mashiro Sakurai’s blog)
§ The New Research & Development Building for Nintendo in Kyoto
§ Ueno’s National Science Museum
§ Ginza shopping district in Tokyo (mostly for my mom)
§ Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art (mostly for my dad)
§ Tokyo Disney (for me and Jackson)

We will also take a bus tour of Kyoto where you can hop on and hop off at your favourite sights. According to the Lonely Planet book on Japan that we have, this costs 5000 yen per person for an all-day tour (Gray Line Kyoto Nara Bus Tours). In Kyoto, we may also stay in a ryokan. A ryokan is a traditional type of Japan dwelling where you sleep on a reed mat on the floor. If we have time, we will also travel to the country to visit hot springs.

Once we land in Tokyo and have spent a week there and are ready to move on to Kyoto, we will use our Japan Rail Pass. You must buy these before you leave Canada. You cannot buy them in Japan. We will take the JR (Japan Railways) shinkansen line between Tokyo and Kyoto. In case you are wondering, another term for the shinkansen is “bullet train”. It goes extremely fast.
For restaurants, everything in available. Even though I could eat at McDonald’s everyday if I wanted to, I will probably try some sushi.

Here’s the really exciting part: I am actually going to Japan with my family for two weeks in April or May 2010 and I cannot wait to see it.

Merry Christmas 2008!

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family! What's Christmas all about anyway? No-one says it better than Linus . . . click below for an excerpt from our favourite Christmas program of all:

Couchsurfing

A new verb has been born: couchsurfing. When I first heard of this phenomenon last year, I was intrigued. When I tell others about it, they are skeptical at best and repulsed at worst. Couchsurfing is the verb coined to describe a network of people who share free accommodations internationally. The main website is couchsurfing.com. When you peruse this site, you will read somewhat lofty explanations of their mission. The founders discuss ideals of their "Couchsurfing Project" such as creating educational exchanges, raising collective consciousness, spreading tolerance and facilitating cultural understanding. But for the majority of people, I suspect it's mostly about getting free accommodations.

It works like this: you register as a member on the site, offer some level of hospitality to other travellers (ranging from meeting for coffee or to show visitors around, all the way to offering up a room in your home to various vagabonding strangers). And then when you are the traveller in a strange land, you too can search for an available "couch" and make those international connections. I actually like the idea in theory. I think most people would have a far better and more memorable experience of a new country if staying with locals. The biggest stumbling block most people have, including my dear husband, is of course the issue of safety.

Not surprisingly, the site cautions people to use common sense, especially women travelling alone. The Couchsurfing Project has instituted some measures to help reassure people. For instance, members can be "vouched for" as well as "verified". Verification simply means the member has paid a small fee to have their physical address verified. Vouching refers to a testimonial by another couchsurfer who has met you face-to-face and deems you trustworthy.

As of today, the site reports that over 800,000 people from 230 countries are participating in couchsurfing. There are also sub-groups within the couchsurfing community and this is where it gets very interesting. I checked out the "Family Welcome Group" naturally since I reasoned one could probably feel relatively safe if staying with another family. The "RTW" group also caught my eye. But the sub-groups get incredibly specific and bizarre. For example, you can search for a free couch among "vampire lovers', "chocolate lovers", "Calvin & Hobbes" afficiandos, "Harry Potter fans", "vegan raw foodies", "people who don't need drugs or alcohol to have fun", "50+ travellers", "the David Hasselhof appreciation group", "barefooters", "SpongeBob fanatics", "single parents of many children" or how about the "people who enjoy silence" group. Better not mix those last groups together. I'm being a bit facetious. There are also plenty of perfectly normal groups like "engineers without borders" or people wanting to practice a specific language.

When I floated the idea to Ted (in truth I went a bit further and actually created a profile for us), he reacted with something close to horror. No way, no how. Oh well. That's what the delete button is for, right? Still I do hope we are able to connect with families who are native to the countries we'll be visiting, and not just other tourists. I also think it would be good for our kids to have the chance to meet international visitors staying here in our own home from time to time. And a free place to stay once in a while on our trip wouldn't hurt either . . .

Grannies a Gogo

If you've been following this blog, you will see a new addition in the Links section. I've added the website for Grannies a Gogo. My sister Sue is the founding member and chairperson of this group of "grannies" from Vernon, BC who have connected with gogos (the word for grandmother in Zulu) in Sabie, a village in rural South Africa.

From 2001 to 2005, Sue and her husband Ken lived in Sabie but have now moved back to Vernon. They continue to make regular trips back to see the friends and offer encouragement with projects they were involved in during their time there.

The gogos in Sabie have many things on the go, not the least of which is raising their AIDS-orphaned grandchildren. The Grannies website notes that there are an estimated 2.5 million AIDS-orphaned children in South Africa alone.

I have really been enjoying Sue's blog within the site and I would encourage you to check it out as well. Her posts are quick snippets of what's happening with the group, now that she's over there for a visit. I am inspired by her posts and by her writing as well. As usual, the little sister could learn a thing or two. Don't be so wordy . . . keep it short and snappy.

One Smile at a Time

One goal I have for myself in our year away is to take part in an Operation Smile medical mission. Operation Smile is a private, not-for-profit medical services organization that travels to developing countries to repair cleft lips, cleft palates, and other childhood facial deformities. I first heard of this organization years ago as a speech pathology student in Toronto. It always seemed like it would be an exciting and rewarding volunteer experience. Next year, if everything lines up as I'm hoping, this dream could become a reality.

Operation Smile was founded by Dr. Bill Magee, a plastic surgeon, and his wife, Kathy, a nurse and clinical social worker. In 1982, the Magees traveled to the Philippines with a group of medical volunteers to assess and surgically repair children's cleft lips and cleft palates. They encountered far more children suffering from facial deformities than were equipped to deal with on that trip. They were forced to turn many children away but rather than succomb to discouragement, they took stock of the enormity of the need and founded Operation Smile.

Cleft lip or cleft palates occur in approximately one out of every 700 live births. In the western world, corrective surgery would occur within months of that infant's life. But in developing countries, these children can live for years - sometimes even into adulthood - with unrepaired clefts. The consequences to their ability to eat and to speak are obviously very signficant. In some cultures, these kids will be hidden away by their families because of rejection by their villages due to a lack of understanding of the condition.

Since 1982, more than 120,000 children have been treated by thousands of volunteers in Central and South America, Africa, Middle East, Eastern Europe and Asia and thousands of healthcare professionals have been trained globally. According to their website, Operation Smile now have a presence in 51 countries. Operation Smile builds in sustainability and capacity-building by coming alongside professionals in these developing countries and offering education and training. Mission-based education ranges from full-scale medical conferences to informal workshops on a specific skill or technique.

Each medical mission is compised of a team that includes a plastic surgeon, anesthesiologist, pediatrician, pediatric intensivist, biomedical technician, speech pathologist, child life specialist, dentist and nursing staff. Each medical volunteer has to be credentialed by Operation Smile. I began this process last year and am happy to report that I have now been approved and am offically in their database as a credentialed SLP. . . aka future volunteer. The process involved a lengthy application listing courses and training in cleft palate/craniofacial anomalies, letters of reference, copies of degrees, proof of certification and licensure, and an up-to-date CV. A couple of months later I got the good news!

And so now I keep checking back to their mission schedule, waiting to see which countries are being scheduled in our timeframe of August 2009 to August 2010. Of the countries we have in our own itinerary, there are several that overlap with previous Operation Smile missions. They include in Africa the countries of Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa (and more recently Lesotho) and in South-East Asia the countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. Keep your fingers crossed that a mission will be scheduled in one of these countries that matches up with our flight path.

An international mission is usually a few weeks in length. About 300-500 children receive full medical evaluations and 100-150 children are surgically treated. Each year Operation Smile organizes about 25 international missions. I don't really know if Ted and the boys would be allowed to be on-site during that time. I hope so and I'm sure, at a minimum, it could be helpful to have extra hands available particularly during the intial screening period when hundreds of families are waiting in line to be seen. Also, the Child Life Specialist typically needs volunteers to play with the children who are waiting for their surgery and so this might be another opportunity for the boys, under Ted's supervision.

I would invite you to check out their website - the videos and mission reports are especially moving. For example, view the one below. I get goosebumps - so anxious for this time to come.

Homeschooling

One thing we have not blogged much about yet is the prospect of homeschooling. Even though I work in a school board and am surrounded by teachers all the time, I still feel a bit intimidated by the whole issue. Having said that, though, we are trying to go with our gut, trust our instincts and remember that no-one knows our kids better than us. During our trip, Mitchell will be in Gr. 7 and Jackson in Gr. 3. The Gr. 3 curriculum seems pretty straightforward. Gr. 7, a little more daunting. We are also trying to remind ourselves that they will learn a great deal simply by virtue of travelling to so many different countries, experiencing firsthand so many different cultures, and having the time and freedom to pursue their own special interests.

I have obtained, from the Board where I work, some handy software by a group called the Nectar Foundation. The software (Math Trek, Language Trek and Science Trek) parallels the Ontario curriculum and I have the specific programs for Gr. 3 and Gr. 7 already loaded on our laptop. The boys and I spent some time this summer doing some of the activities and the programs are well done and allow for tracking their progress.

My own gut tells me not to get bogged down in the minutae of every strand in the curriculum and stress oursleves in trying to cover everything. I think if we have the kids focus on reading, writing (including posts on this website), and keeping up with math, and having lots of discussions about what we're seeing and doing, then we should be okay. In fact, it might just be their best "school" year ever. They will have to let us know in about, oh, 18 months from now.

For reading, it would be great to read together some of the classics for children. Kids don't seem to get that opportunity much in school these days, but I don't see why we couldn't tackle one great novel per month. I'm hoping that's realistic. At home, we've read books like Treasure Island, Pilgrim's Progress, Tom Sawyer, and the Narnia series but there are so many to choose from. Dear readers, what classics would you recommend for boys age 7 and 11? I found this list on the Internet and it looks like an excellent starting point, but I would love some more ideas.

For writing, some type of journaling seems like a good idea. This website is like our virtual scrapbook of our year away and, although the boys have not been posting much at all yet, they know this will be a requirement during our year away. I like that the writing they will do for this blog will have a genuine purpose and an actual audience and at the same time, the topic can be of their choosing.

For math, there will be the need to continually calculate exchange rates, distances, shopping prices, etc. Real-world math but obviously we will have to go beyond just basic calculations to meet Gr. 7 expectations.

The geography, culture, history and second language learning should take care of itself. What we don't want is a stressful year with homework-related tears and frustration. What we want more than anything is for both of the boys to enjoy the year, enjoy the homeschooling experience, and come to the realization that learning is not just something confined to a brick building or a desk between 9:00am and 3:30pm Mondays to Fridays.

We have been talking with the staff at the school they attend, to help prepare, and I take great reassurance in what one teacher shared with me. She quoted Mark Twain in reminding us that "you wouldn't want school to get in the way of a great education". Thanks Tracey, for that little nugget!

Think you know Alice? . . . think again

This just in from my erudite and knowledgeable young nephew Josh. Turns out that Alice Cooper is a born-again Christian (!) Who knew?? Read the story here:

"School's In" for Alice Cooper

It's funny because I flirted, ever so briefly, with the idea of taking Mitchell to the concert just to hear our favourite song ("School's Out"). But then he made his "he's kind of scary looking" comment and I abandoned the idea. And even had he wanted to go - how exactly would I have explained it to his Sunday School teacher the next morning when it would doubtless have come up in conversation??

And lastly, Josh & Michelle, what do you think of my use of commas (not to mention my tricky manouvering with the future perfect verb tense in the final sentence of the second paragraph)? Private joke . . . in case you're wondering, click here.

A Boy Named Alice

Beautiful sunny day today, so Jackson wanted to go for a bike ride. He likes to ride around in the parking lot of a certain stadium near our house. In particular, he likes to ride up the ramp and then go screaming down at top speed with no braking. He learned this from his older brother. Fortunately, the parking lot is usually empty and it's not a bad way to kill an afternoon. Well today the parking lot was almost empty. There were a few trailers and buses unloading and I didn't think much of it. Then I saw him standing at the bus, he gave Jackson a smile as he tore down the ramp on his bike . . . and I suddenly remembered - Alice Cooper is playing here tonight. Oh my, THAT is Alice Cooper! Sans make-up and a little tired looking, but is was definitely him.

I've never been to an Alice Cooper concert and I probably never will. But you have to love the song "School's Out". Classic. What school kid doesn't just love that anthem? When I first got an MP3 player and figured out how to upload songs onto it, it was one of the first songs Mitchell requested. When I told Mitchell that we saw Alice Cooper in the parking lot, he wasn't too disappointed that he had missed out on this brush with greatness. "He's kind of scary looking", was his comment. I'm sure it will be an interesting show - pure campy theatre, he's the original "vaudevillain".

And who can forget this Staples commercial he was in - hilarious. At least the guy does not take himself too seriously:

Itinerary Excitement

Ted & I met with our travel agent this afternoon. We're pinning down our destinations and working out the timing of everything. It's a complicated business. Details like the fact that flights from Western Samoa to Los Angeles (near the final stage of our trip, in June 2010) only occur once per week and always on a Tuesday, well these details affect other decisions and plans. But it's fun and exciting - it means things are growing more imminent.

We have a great travel agent. Her name is Leah and she works out of the Adventure Travel Company. When I first started looking for a travel agent, one person I knew told me to go to the ATC because they have experience in the "whole Round-The-World thing". Duly noted. Then, I ventured into a Travel Cuts office literally down the street and around the corner from me, thinking wouldn't this be convenient? They recommended we go to ATC since they did not feel they had the expertise to do the "whole RTW thing". So that confirmed it. And so that has become our travel agency and we highly recommend them if you want to go around the world.

They are helping us with a million little details and answering all of our (possibly stupid) questions. We spent a fair bit of time today trying to find an affordable safari that accepts children as young as 7 or 8 and covers the highlights of Kenya and Tanzania. And it has to be in either November or December 2009. We talked about the best way to get to Lesotho, the best routes through South-East Asia, health insurance, and trip cancellation/interruption insurance. We also had to do the number-crunching to make sure we were below the Star Alliance limit of 34,000 miles.

Right now, it's looking like Toronto-New York-Paris-Rome-Johannesburg-Maseru-Johannesburg-Nairobi-Dubai-Bangkok-Tokyo-Sydney-Auckland-Apia(Samoa)-Los Angeles-Vancouver. Whew! Once we make the actual reservation, we'll have about a week to pay up. And the cost for all of this? Perhaps for another blog posting . . . if you really want to know?? Let us know!

Another Shot in the Arm

Yesterday we got our 2nd rabies shot, in the series of 3, plus a few others including the Typhoid one. In case you're wondering why we're doing them so far ahead of our departure, it's simply to avoid having the kids get a whole pile of shots in a short space of time.
We're trying to spread them over the next 10 months so as not to overwhelm their immune system with all this foreign material, and also not overwhelm them with pain! If you look at Jackson in this picture, the word pain pretty much summarizes the expression on his face. Mitchell seems to be taking it all in stride, though. We tried to explain to Jackson the concept behind vaccines - namely, how this little bit of pain prevents far graver illness. He then asked, "so I won't get sick again? I won't get a cold?" Ah, little one. No cure for the common cold. Adults are smart but we aren't that smart.
I found that my arm that got the typoid shot was pretty sore today - I looked like a bit of a fool in the parking lot of the school I was at today, trying to hurl my heavy suitcase of materials into the back of my car with my one good arm. But the good news is that, truly, all our vaccinations are covered! What a blessing that is. Ciao for now.

Bring Soccer to Ottawa!

Eugene Melnyk, owner of the Ottawa Senators, wants to bring soccer to Ottawa. The soccer team is going to be in the professional soccer league (Major League Soccer). He would build a $100 million, 30,000-seat soccer-specific stadium, near Scotiabank Place where the Senators play. I think that it would be good for Ottawa because we hardly have any pro league sports in Ottawa. We would also get to see alot of different sports teams play, like the Toronto FC and the LA Galaxies.

On our trip, we might get to see some International Soccer games. Here are some countries we will be visiting that have professional soccer teams: France, Italy, Spain, New Zealand, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Singapore, Cambodia, Japan, Samoa, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, and maybe even Lesotho.

Viewer Discretion Advised

This blog is not for the squeamish . . . thanks to a visit from my talented niece, Tenille. Tenille was here over the Labour Day long weekend and we took in Le Carnivale Lune Bleu (a 1930s-type carnival complete with freak shows), hiked in Gatineau Park, and played around with her make-up.

Tenille is midway through a professional make-up program that includes learning to do make-up for film, theatre, fashion, etc. She is just finishing the prosthetics course and has been doing very well, molding bald heads, wig-knotting beards, and creating bruises, welts, cuts and what have you. It is so great when someone finds their niche, their passion. I predict she will have a great career.

But back to the weekend, she offered to give the boys a black eye or cool scar but they were a bit reluctant (may have had something to do with having to sit still for an extended period of time, go figure). So I gamely volunteered. I thought a black eye might not go over too well at work, so I offered up my arm for a deep gash. Oh my.

The plan was to go for a walk in the neighbourhood with the gash and giggle at the horrified reactions, but it didn't quite work out that way. Once Tenille was finished with the mortician's wax, skin illustrator paints, and other various tools, I could hardly look at my bloody, bruised arm. I honestly felt a bit sick to my stomach so off it came in the wash. I swear my arm even hurt a bit, but I know it was just psychological. I could never be a doctor. Or a make-up artist either, apparently.

And for one more piece of horror . . . we got a call today from the Travel Health Clinic. The rabies shots have arrived. Here comes one more assault to my arm!

Canada's WonderSpeak

Last night we returned from a week at Blue Mountain Village, just outside Collingwood, which is just north of Toronto. Which is . . . just kidding . . . everyone knows where Toronto is. Although we had Internet access, it didn't function well and many blog-worthy escapades went unrecorded. Ah well, big deal. It did give me pause, however, because if Intrawest has trouble providing Internet access, how exactly will Kenya, Vietnam or Samoa fare? I do love my Internet access and can foresee I may get a bit cranky without it. I guess that will help me relate to the boys, who will no doubt be grieving for their Wii at times next year.

While trying to escape the harsh and looming reality of a return to work and school, our family had a good time at "Blue". We visited some caves, did a hike through the woods, went "gem-hunting", and ventured across a very high and long suspension bridge with gorgeous views of Georgian Bay. We had lots of time in the pool and some beach time as well. We explored the shops and restaurants of Blue Mtn. Village and the quainter downtown of Collingwood. And we spent a day at Canada's Moneyland, er, I mean, Wonderland. Ten hours to be exact. Ten migraine-inducing hours. Ted, having grown up in the Toronto area, had of course been to Wonderland before but neither the kids nor myself had. Being so close by, we thought we should go. It was fun, during those one or two minutes when you were actually on a ride, but the hour-long line-ups were truly an exercise in the development of patience and perseverance.

I don't normally eavesdrop on people and analyze their language, but maybe it was because I was trying to get my head back into work-mode, or maybe it was because when you are stuck in a long, snaking line behind an assortment of loud-talkers for upwards of an hour, what else is there to do? In any case, here are some verbatim utterances overheard from my Canada's Wonderland language sample:

- "if she don't get the pink swan, she's gonna have a frickin' fit" (mother to weary, teenage employee working the Swan Ride)
- "there's not nothin' wrong with him, he just needs some food and sh** in him and he'll be fine" (mother to another weary, teenage employee working Jimmy Neutron's Brainwasher ride, as she proceeded to load her screaming, overheated toddler into the ride car)
- "he don't know nothing, he ain't gonna be where's he says he's gonna be" (mother fretting to her adult friend as her teen-age son splits from the hopelessly long line for the Thunder Mountain ride)

In summary, I heard double negative after double negative and I started to wonder if there might be some unique Canada's Wonderland dialect of English that has yet to be fully transcribed. I heard double negatives used with such startling consistency that it made me wonder, if people can use double negatives in such a consistent, rule-governed way, why is it so hard to use the grammatically correct version? You may be thinking, who cares? From a functional point of view, the meaning is clear and the purpose of communication is to get your message across so really there is no problem. But still . . . I'm just saying. If you think it bugs me, you should watch out for your local high school English teacher. This drives them nuts.

Now I'm rambling on about grammar. I will stop. (I shall stop?) All in all, we had a great time.
The boys were remarkably patient in the lengthy lines at Canada's Wonderland - one of the beneficial by-products of their tendency to zone out from time to time.
Jackson did not get the green swan he was pining for, but he was entirely mature about it. In other words, he didn't have no frickin' fit.

Flugtag Fun

We went to watch the Red Bull Flugtag competition this afternoon. Flugtag is the German word for "flying day", the day people fly off on their holiday. (I learned this from an article in today's paper). In this event, teams of 5 people attempt to get airborne using their homemade flying contraption. Here in Ottawa, they basically ran and jumped off a tower about 7 meters high, staying airborne for a few seconds before plunging in the Ottawa River. We had planned to meet up with friends but got there a bit late and the crowds were huge. We tried calling them on their cell, but we figure they couldn't hear it with all the noise. (Either that, or they have call display. Just kidding). As we were sitting in the baking sun, unable to see much and the boys on the verge of whininess, some German tourists who had to leave early came up to us and offered us their four VIP passes (!) Okay, yes, we accept. We then got to go to a great viewing spot up on the roof of the Museum of Civilization, complete with benches, umbrellas for shade, and free Red Bull drinks. From this vantage point, it looked like a lot of fun. The teams have to perform a skit and get judged for creativity and showmanship, as well as for the distance they travel. The winners were four girls, in a yellow car with a pink surfboard on the roof ("Surf and the City"). Our favourites, though, were a Star Wars contraption called "Millenial Falcon" and a large banana hammock (peeling it produced the wings).

So anyway, our own flugtag (flying day) is now officially less than one year away. (That is my segue into making a reference to the Big Trip, since that is what this blog is supposed to be about - best I could do!) Check out our Countdown Calculator in the Links section - a bit scary to see that number now below 365 days, but exciting too! Maybe we'll find another Flugtag competition to watch somewhere along the way . . .