Jambo from Africa!

Jambo from Africa! We are happy to be here and, most particularly, happy to be out of Zurich. That may sound strange – what’s wrong with Zurich you ask? Nothing against the city itself. We were only there one day and night, en route from France to Kenya, but managed to see the older, historic section of this very clean, organized, efficient city. It’s an outrageously expensive city but we had relatively inexpensive, basic accommodations at a hostel (with our own bathroom I might add).

No, the problem was at the airport. After checking in and receiving our boarding passes, we had to go through passport control. The over-zealous agent scrutinized our visa from France and then quizzed us about a few things. I was thinking to myself, c’mon buddy, we still have to get through baggage security, then catch a shuttle to a different terminal, then find our gate. Instead, gestapo-agent man got on the phone and called the police because of a “visa violation”. A police officer, complete with gun in holster and handcuffs dangling from his belt, approached us and we were taken to a waiting room. A locked waiting room. It seems we were 12 days over the 90-day visitor visa limit. It’s now called a Schengen visa and applies to 15 countries including France, Spain and Switzerland (the only three we spent any time in). We had understood (or misunderstood, I should say) that if you left one country in Europe and entered another, the 90 days started over. Apparently not so.

We were given paperwork to fill out, detailing our identity, the identity of our parents, our home address in Canada, etc. We were asked to pay a fine of 560 Swiss francs per person, which felt like a kick in the gut. I basically pleaded, would it be possible for him to just give us a warning? We were terribly sorry, we had not worked or done anything illegal, etc. We had misunderstood the terms of the visa. The police officer actually laughed and said, “no, no, there must be a penalty, it is not possible”. Not an evil mwa-ha-ha laugh, though, just a regular laugh. Small comfort.

The kids, meanwhile, got very quiet and very scared. Jackson teared up and asked if we were going to jail. Ted, who had been pacing around the waiting room, took this opportunity to stop and face the kids and inform them grimly that this was probably not the worst thing that was going to happen to us on our trip, so they should get used to it. Whaaaat?? Jackson started to cry for real. I thanked Ted for his helpful and comforting comment and proceeded to start sobbing myself. I felt a tightness in my chest, no doubt just stress, but in the moment I thought, sure why not have a heart attack right now? Fall down dead right in front of my children just to complete their trauma.

The officer left again, leaving us to wonder, what happens now? Will we make the flight to Nairobi? Will they confiscate our passports? Should we get a lawyer? About 15 minutes later, he returned with more papers (in German) that we were required to sign in order to leave. If we did not sign, then as the “accused”, we were entitled to a “legal hearing” (his words). Of course we asked what it all meant given that it was typed up in German. He told us it was an acknowledgement that we had over-stayed the Schengen visa and an acknowledgement that we understood that an additional penalty would be administered, that being that we are not allowed to enter any of the 15 Schengen countries for the next two years. Apparently we will receive the “written judgment” in the mail. Like I will ever set foot in Switzerland again in my life! Not bloody likely after this. (No offense to any Swiss individuals I may know, nothing personal).

Anyway, to make a long story even longer, we signed the statement and raced to catch our flight. We have been in Nairobi since Tuesday and everything has been great. A driver from the AIC Hospital in Kijabe is coming to pick us up on Saturday and we will spend the next three weeks there. We have spent the last few days in Nairobi doing comparison-shopping for a safari and booked one today for the beginning of December. We went to the city center market, took in the atmosphere and looked at all the handicrafts. We went to a large, modern shopping mall with a rooftop Masai Market and bought a few supplies. Mitchell and Jackson have especially enjoyed the pool here at our Nairobi hotel.

If someone had asked me what do you think will be the scariest place on your trip, I would have guessed Nairobi. If someone had asked me, what do you think will be the safest, easiest place, I would have guessed Zurich. Wrong. Live and learn.

Farewell to France

Today is our last day in St. Papoul. Ted is breathing down my neck because he needs to disconnect the Internet and return this modem. Three months have gone by quickly. This PhotoStory was put together by Ted, with many of the photos he's taken over time here. You can see he especially likes the old buildings and the countryside. The two songs you'll hear are songs we heard in heavy rotation on the radio while we were here, so they will always remind us of this special place. The songs are Mon Petit Village (Ulysses Ridan)and Chupee by Cocoon (Arms Akimbo friends take note, this is the song I was singing to you when you were here!)

I don't have time to write some big, all-encompassing summary of our time in France. My only regret is I didn't sudy the language more in order to communicate better with the people I've met. On the plus side, I have a renewed appreciation for what I do, helping kids communicate better. Without a shared language, people cannot truly connect. I know helping kids acquire a basic vocabulary of nouns and verbs can go a long, long way to getting them connected to the people in their worlds. Au revoir, France! Karibisha Africa!

Update from DJ and What's Next

Just before we left Ottawa, my friend Darlene gave me her fleece jacket to take on this trip - heretofore known as DJ (Darlene's Jacket). I promised to send updates once in awhile but I've been a bit negligent with that. Truth is, until this past month of October, DJ basically just hung around (on a hook that is) waiting for the weather to chill.

I remember we actually went swimming on Sept. 30th at Narbonne-plage. Unbelievably, my mom reported snow in Saskatoon not long after! In early October, the weather here started to turn and DJ has been at my side (actually on my back) ever since. DJ would like everyone to know how exciting her life has been this part month . . . galavanting all over Carcassonne with Arms Akimbo, checking out the paleolithic cave paintings at Grotte de Niaux, browsing the early-morning market in nearby Revel, or even just strolling around St. Papoul. The mornings here are especially chilly right now and DJ is the first thing I grab to throw on over my PJ's before I stumble downstairs to put some coffee on. One of my favourite activities that I will miss is walking along the Canal du Midi all the way from St. Martin Lalande to Castelnaudary (takes about 60-70 minutes). Right now the fall colours are spectacular. I could not do that these days without DJ!

Who needs a coat like this when I have DJ? Please note, I have had my hair cut since this photo!

But alas, DJ may have to hang around unused again for awhile, now that we are preparing to head to Africa. Here's what is coming next for us:

-depart St. Papoul and drive to Paris this Sunday
-fly to Nairobi, Kenya via Zurich (just one night in Zurich)
-arrive in Nairobi on Tues., Nov. 3rd

One of my dreams is coming true! I will get to participate on a cleft palate mission in Kijabe, Kenya for 3 weeks in November. It's a long story how this came to be. Here's the condensed version. I had credentialled as a volunteer with Operation Smile and applied to several of their missions. However, I never "got the call" (at least not yet anyway - there is still Vietnam and Cambodia ahead). I decided to contact Smile Train, an organization with a similar mission of repairing cleft lip/ palate in developing countries. One key difference with Smile Train is you more or less set up your own mission and they provide support. They give you a stipend for certain expenses and put you in touch with their medical partners around the world.

One of the names on the list jumped out at me - Dr. Dan Poenaru in Kijabe. He is from Kingston and he and his family had visited our church back in Ottawa a couple of years ago. Just before we left Ottawa, I had coffee with a wonderful woman named Zeta from my church. She had encouraged me to contact Dr. Dan when we got to Africa and to be sure to visit Kijabe if we could. Dr. Dan has been a pediatric surgeon at the AIC Hospital and the adjoining Bethany Relief and Rehab wing in Kijabe for about 6 or 7 years, I think. And there was his name, at the top of the list given to me by Smile Train. Coincidence?? After contacting him, things just really fell into place. We will be in Kijabe until Nov. 28th. They are hiring a local Kenyan women who has shown some potential to be a "speech assistant". In addition to assisting with a visiting cleft palate team of ENTs and plastic surgeons from Canada and the US for the first two weeks, she will be shadowing me and I will spend the third week intensively training her to carry on basic speech therapy after I leave.

After Kijabe, it will be safari time (Rift Valley Lakes plus Masai Mara) and then off to Tanzania. Our plans for Tanzania are not completely firm yet although we know we will spend 2 weeks in Longido helping Corey Wright from Sauti Moja. The plan is to build and paint bunk-beds for their Child-Mother project. Ted will be our lead man with that project! We hope to visit the famous Ngorongoro Crater and Zanzibar as well.

I've been doing a bit of research on the Swahili language. (Here's an aside - ever wonder what the difference between Kiswahili and Swahili is? Now I know. Kiswahili is the language for most of East Africa while Swahili refers to the culture as a whole including the language. So to say someone speaks Kiswahili or Swahili is really the same thing). Another thing I learned is that Kijabe means "place of the wind" in Kiswahili, not surprising given that it sits along the Rift Valley escarpment at an elevation of over 7000 feet. I mention this because maybe - just maybe - DJ will see some action in Kijabe after all . . .

Wild boar, wine, apples, castles and Arms Akimbo

Arms Akimbo (a.k.a. the Book Club) has left the building and I am sad. What a great week we had! Not only did they enrich the economy of Carcassonne through their unflagging shopping and fine dining (okay, so I was not-so-reluctantly dragged along), but they managed to squeeze more into one week than most tourists would in a month. I guess your first clue of that would be the title of this post . . .

First things first, some history. Our Book Club meets monthly in a small pub in our neighbourhood. Most of met 12 years ago when we attended "Mommy & Me" classes with our first-born children at the local community centre. We had come across the term arms akimbo more than once in novels we had read so one evening we digressed into a conversation about the meaning of this term. Was it crazy arms, waving and all bent out of shape? Or was it a stance with one's hands planted firmly on one's hips? And what did it signify? Annoyance? Impatience? Determination? Somehow the name stuck. Besides living in the same neighbourhood with kids the same age, we also share a love for all words weird and wonderful.

And, apparently, we also share a love for good food and drink. A couple of things I learned about my book club friends this week. (1) They can hold their vin rouge, no question (2) They are committed carnivores - all the way from head to trotter and the tripe inside, and (3) their remarkable facility in the French language puts the Elborns to absolute shame. Ah well. I like to explain this by saying I grew up in Saskatchewan where the second language is Ukrainian not French - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

My five book club friends arrived last Wed., Oct. 14th and stayed one week. Three arrived after one week in Paris and two came via Marseilles. They rented an apartment in Carcassonne, right in the heart of the town overlooking the city square and a short drive from our base in St. Papoul. As luck would have it, the annual Fete du Vin (wine festival, celebrating the grape harvest) was just commencing. Other highlights included exploring La Cite, the monumental castle in Carcassonne; the Fete du Pommes (apple festival) in Mirepoix; a short visit to another medieval town (Foix); a visit to Montolieu (village du livres - if you've heard of Hay-on-Wye in Wales, this is the French equivalent); checking out local outdoor markets; and plenty of restaurant sampling.

Sometimes we broke into smaller groups to pursue separate activities. One day, Ted and the boys along with Sherry and Frances drove to Chateau Peyrepertuse to climb and explore this historic Cathar castle. Another group rented bikes and cycled through a tunnel of plane trees along the scenic Canal du Midi.



Three of us had birthdays that very week. My birthday last Monday was truly memorable. With our vintner friend Gerard, and his family, all of us dined at a restaurant called 6eme Sens (Sixth Sense). Two birthday cakes followed - a mango mousse and a chocolate mousse.

But the most memorable feast had to be the wild boar meal (sanglier) right here in St. Papoul. Recently, Ted was given the gift of a hunk of wild boar meat, hunted and shot in the woods near Gerard's vineyard. We carefully wrapped it up and tucked it into the freezer awaiting the arrival of Arms Akimbo. Sylvie, the proprietor of Le Recantou (St. Papoul's local restaurant), marinated it in red wine and onions for two days and then slow-cooked it with potatoes, carrots and other vegetables. Along with her trademark delicious salad and chunks of bread, we imagined we were dining like the Cathar peasants we'd been reading about.

So what I say about this past week? I'll close with a phrase my French-speaking book club friends taught me a few days ago. J'ai bien manger! Beh oui.

Half of Arms Akimbo arrives in Carcassonne via train from Paris

A toast to everyone's safe arrival

Sante, the Fete du Vin has begun!

Sabine overseeing the action in Place Carnot, city square of Carcassonne

View of La Cite from the pedestrian bridge in Carcassonne

Exploring La Cite, historic castle village in Carcassonne

Kerry and Jenny exploring the book village of Montolieu

Kerry on the hunt for unusual cookbooks in the antiquarian bookshops of Montolieu

Yet another wonderful lunch out - my first time eating rabbit

Gathered for the wild boar meal (Sylvie, our chef, is sitting beside me at the head of the table)

Okay, so this is a bit of a silly shot - standing arms akimbo under the wild boar's head at
Le Reconteau in St. Papoul

Close-up of sanglier (wild boar) stew . . . delicious!

Archway entrance to medieval square in Mirepoix

Banner of apples spelling "Mirepoix"

Every type of apple was for sale at the annual Fete du Pommes

Yum, chocolate-covered apples!


The theme of this year's Fete du Pommes was "music" so apple sculptures in the shape of different musical instruments were displayed throughout the village square in Mirepoix

Love this photo - maybe we'll pass on buying this particular candy apple

Apples as a tuba

Apples as bongo drums

Tasty apple treats for sale at every stall

Local musicians play amongst the apples in Mirepoix

My birthday dinner in the underground cavern-like restaurant

Looking down on the lower buildings at Peyrepertuse - remarkably well-preserved - they date back to 1070 AD

Sherry and Frances enjoyed the spectacular views - the climb was facile for them!

Ascending the scary steps of Saint Louis to access the upper San Jordi keep

Many small windows and arrow slits in the ruins of Peyrepertuse

Frances and Mitchell snapping photos

Mitch, Ted & Jackson checking out the views

Toulouse and the English-Speaking Church

I've had several e-mails from friends who ask us about church. Specifically, do we go? Have we found anything in English, etc. So here is an answer to that.

When our friends Todd and Becky were here, we had only been here in France a couple of weeks ourselves. I mentioned to Becky that we had only found French-speaking (obviously) churches, which were not very meaningful to the kids. Becky found a reference to an English-speaking church in a brochure and that led us to the church we've been going to in Toulouse. They call themselves simply the English Church of Midi-Pyrénées & Aude. It seems to be mainly Anglican in flavour but hey, it's Christian and they speak English! The people who attend are very nice; many of them work for Airbus in Toulouse and they are the ones who encouraged us to do the Airbus tour which was completely worthwhile.

We are also very fortunate to be able to tune into our home church, The Met (short for Metropolitan Bible Church of Ottawa) via the Internet. Every week, we boot up this laptop and click on sermons to be able to follow along with Pastor Rick, currently doing a study on wisdom from the Book of Proverbs. Great stuff!

I know Mitchell and Jackson miss their church. Jackson has said many times, "Blessed Sacrament is a church for grown-ups (perhaps when he goes with his class from school they are told to sit still, be quiet, etc., I'm not sure) but the Met is a church for kids". After touring so many great, historic cathedrals here in France, such as the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, all Mitchell has to say about them is "why is it so dark in here? why is it so cold? don't they have any lights? I like the Met better".

Before we left, I loaded something called The Bible Experience onto our laptop so we have that also. This is an audio version of the Bible, fully dramatized by well-known stars such as Samuel L. Jackson and Denzel Washington. So every morning, we start the day by listening to a couple of chapters while the kids have an OJ and we have our coffee. It's nice because we don't have to rush off anywhere and we can see what they have (or have not) understood from it.

So that's our spiritual update folks! On another note, I am very excited because tomorrow some good friends of mine are coming from Ottawa. They have rented a place about 20 minutes from here and I will meet them at the train station tomorrow afternoon (three are coming from Paris and two are en route from Marseilles). We are all in a Book Club together - Arms Akimbo! Why do we call ourselves that, you ask? Next post . . . right now it's time for some dormir.

Mitchell's Photo Story

Okay, so congrats are in order for our first-born! Here is a recent journal entry from Mitchell which will explain it all:

My Mom got an e-mail awhile back about a photo contest for kids in Ottawa and she suggested I enter some of my photos from this trip. Yesterday I discovered that the “Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ottawa” Big Picture Photo Contest website had posted the results and the winners. I did not win, but I came close and the picture I took was chosen to be published into a 2010 calendar. The prizes were really great, like an HP laptop and a Nikon SLR camera but I can enter next year maybe. One thing that is really cool is that my photo ended up being for the month of May and that is my birthday month. The photo is one I took in Bordeaux of the Mirior d'Eau (Mirror of Water). The contest site said to have fun and be creative so I rotated the image and you are looking at it upside down. The top is actually the reflection. The real cars, not the ones in the reflection, appear upside down. Kind of an optical illusion. Here is the photo:

Barcelona . . . Barca, Barca, Baaarca!

We just returned to our base here in France following four days in sunny Barcelona, Spain. Barcelona is only a 3 hour drive away from St. Papoul so it made a great side trip before we leave Europe at the end of October. How to describe Barcelona? A wild, whimsical city with a seedy underbelly - I think that would capture it. Wild because of the huge numbers of people, cars and noise and the bizarre performance artists that line the famous pedestrian street, La Rambla. Whimsical because of the unusual architecture of Antoni Gaudi, and the even more unusual art and sculptures of native sons Miro, Salvador Dali, and Picasso. As for the seedy underbelly part, what can I say? It's a port city with a big drug problem and cities with drug problems have lots of petty crime, pickpockets, bag snatchers, etc. When we spoke to the kids beforehand about always being aware and alert for these reasons, Jackson (bless his heart) asked me if the robbers would be wearing black and stripes so he would know who to watch out for.

But we did like Barcelona despite some minor problems like driving around downtown Barcelona lost for an hour. All the while we were a stone's throw from the hostel we were staying at but who could tell? The streets are not signed well and with cars zipping around you like hornets, you don't dare slow down to try reading any signage anyway. Throw in some sad news from home and add a dash of food poisoning and you end up with a decidedly mixed holiday.

The sad news is my Mom's husband had a heart attack and ended up in hospital in Saskatoon. My Mom & George just moved into a retirement residence in early September, less than a month ago. We are all hoping and praying he recovers enough to return to their new home soon.

About the food poisoning . . . let this be a lesson to all you kiddies out there. While Mom & Dad were happily munching on tapas of all variety, Mitchell and Jackson opted for chicken nuggets and fries one day. Guess who got sick? Moral of the story: always eat what the locals eat! Oh, and did I mention that we were staying in an el-cheapo hostel with a shared bathroom situation? This is not good when two members of one's family are vomiting. Sometimes the bathroom may be occupied, you get the idea. Cue wastepaper basket. Moral of the story #2: always ensure your room has a private bath!

The big highlight was, of course, seeing an Barcelona Football Club match at the enormous Camp Nou Stadium (seats 120,000 people). As you likely know, in Europe "football" = "soccer" and "match" = "game". Never mind that the seats were in the nosebleed section, the kids were beyond excited! Barcelona beat Almeria 1-0. Barcelona FC fans are extremely passionate and that would be putting it mildly. They scream at the players, they scream at the refs, they throw paper airplanes on the field (no idea what that's about), and they sing the anthem with gusto. Very different from a Sens game where half the crowd mutters the Canadian national anthem and the other half stand silently munching popcorn. The video clip shows the opening song. This clip is interesting to me because it captures perfectly the dynamic we often see between Mitchell and Jackson. That is, Jackson is trying to take in the event and focus on what's happening while Mitchell has taken in some of what's happening but would prefer to joke around, goof off, and tries to drag Jackson into that mode. Which is why we are more or less homeschooling them separately. Oh, but that would be another post for another time. Sigh.

Coincidentally, we learned shortly after arriving in Barcelona, that the Grand Finale of the Red Bull Air Race was on town. I thought this was funny since we wondered way back in August 2008 if we might stumble across another Red Bull Flugtag event and we did! We did not specifically go the beach for the airshow (over a million people did and we knew it would be insane), but you could not miss the roar of the aircraft flying overhead regardless. What we did do was stroll La Rambla everyday, visit Parc Guell (Gaudi's themepark, so to speak), ride the hop on-hop-off bus tour, and tour the site of the 1992 Olympics. And last but not least, we also spent time in a trendy neighbourhood known as the el Born barrio . . . seriously!

If you still have time before you must tear yourself away from this blog to get back to work, please enjoy our latest PhotoStory slideshow. Adios!

Flat Stanley Update #1: Aug-Sept

Jackson will now tell you what he and Flat Stanley have been up to since the end of July, when we all left Canada.


Flat Stanley came with me to New York. First, we went to the American Museum of Natural History and there was a big exhibit about mammals, including all the big ones from Africa.




Flat Stanley loved going to the Yankees game!


They won against the Baltimore Orioles!


Here we are on the Staten Island Ferry going to see the Statue of Liberty.

FS did not get seasick.

There she is!

FS liked seeing the flagship store for Nintendo

I'm tired of walking all day but FS wants to keep going

Then FS came with us to Paris - we got to see the finish of the Tour de France!

FS came with me to the Louvre, where the Mona Lisa is

There are nice buildings and fountains everywhere in Paris

The best thing we did in Paris was climb up the Eiffel Tower

Then we came to the Languedoc region of southern France - Carcassonne is a famous medieval castle that is fun to explore in the day . . .

and the night!

Carcassonne also has a really big food market every Saturday morning

FS is always hungry. He especially likes apples!

Here FS got to ride a horse at a park in Toulouse

FS liked the Botanical Gardens in Toulouse

We all loved going to Bordeaux - here FS is sitting with us on some steps of a famous building


One day in Bordeaux, we stopped for a snack at the Charles Dickens pub. Everyone there spoke English!

FS likes to sit up and keep an eye on things

FS watched me run in the mist at the Mirror of Water -
I left him with Mom so he would not get wet

FS loved riding the train in Bordeaux as much as I did!

But our favourite thing of all is playing at the beach in Narbonne

If you click ">here, you will see where FS and I have our base in southern France. Next, we will go to Kenya and Tanzania in November. Flat Stanley is ready for more adventures - we'll check back with you again later!

Beautiful Bordeaux & Airbus Adventures

From Mitchell: On September 20, we went to Bordeaux for a holiday. We stayed in a nice apartment on the top floor for a few days. We saw many cool sights there but my favourite place was the Mirror of Water. It was a shallow pool of water that would spray mist everywhere. It was fun to run through because you could not see where you were going. We also went on a walking tour and learned a lot about Bordeaux. Lastly, we walked along Rue St. Catherine, Europe’s longest pedestrian street.

When our holiday in Bordeaux was finished, we drove home and stopped at the Airbus Factory in Toulouse. Airbus is a commercial airplane company that makes planes like the A380, the Beluga, and The Concorde. We only got to see the A380 being built, though. We also got to see some of the tests the planes have to go through before they are safe to fly. One scary test is to determine the stalling speed of the aircraft. The pilot points the nose of the plane up, until it stalls, and then the pilot has to point the nose down and bring it out of the stall. At the end of the tour, we got to go inside a model of the double-decker A380. It was a very good tour and I had a lot of fun.

Here is the apartment we rented (top floor) right on the Quai of the River Garonne:

It was cool and windy while we were there (especially along the waterfront):

The most popular attraction in Bordeaux - the Mirror of Water or

Mirior d'Eau:

We're waiting for the mist cycle to kick in (about every 15 minutes):

This is the first time Mom has worn long sleeves on our trip - she said she should have worn Darlene's Jacket:

Dad loved the 18th century restored architecture (Place de Bourse):

Another cool reflection in the water mirror:

Jackson's favourite things in Bordeaux - riding on the super-quiet Tram (in background) and running in the mist:

Here I am running into the mist:

Bell Tower (Grand Cloche):

Rue de St. Catherine (longest pedestrian street in Europe):

Dad and a glass of the famous Bordeaux wine:

A statue of the famous writer Montaigne - he is from Bordeaux. My Mom was excited to see this because she said some of his essays inspired this trip:

A famous statue showing France as a lady of liberty:

Looking down on the statue, getting wet in the spray:

Cathedral St. Andre:

An outdoor cafe:

More 18th century architecture - it is not medieval like St. Papoul because Bordeaux was so rich from producing wine that they tore all the old buildings down and re-built them:


This is funny - Jackson watching TV at a large FNAC store - he has not watched TV since the middle of July and he just could not get up and walk away:

We were not allowed to take photos on our Airbus tour, except for this one outside:

Travel Days 63 & 64 - I Got My Fingernails Dirty in France

This week I had a chance to learn a bit about the grape growing and wine business, and very much practice my French. It’s surprising (not really) how little I knew about wine making and how much French I do know. Much thanks to the patience of my instructors. Since coming here and being able to practice my French with people who have virtually no command of the English language, I now have a renewed appreciation for the language. It certainly has opened up my experience in France.

The last couple of days were spent immersed in the language (out of necessity) and in the fields of the vineyard of Chateau Sesquières. I didn’t really pick any grapes since the harvester does all the work but I got to ride on it. I did help out when the grapes were brought back to the barns to be unloaded. It’s a 250-hectare farm with about 20 hectares (60 acres) under cultivation. It’s owned by the family of a gentleman (third generation) named Gerard that we met as we made the rounds to the weekly evening markets of local produce and goods in the surrounding villages. Both Kathi & I like their Merlot. It’s more of an estate winery and they have been kind enough to share in their lives, experience and knowledge.

I enjoyed just being on the land as the sun was rising, with views over the valley to the Pyrénées beyond. The air was cool but the sun was warming to the skin. My thoughts were of the reality of the experience. Lunch that day was cuts of sausage, baguette, chicken paté, and a green salad served with an aperitif primer. This was followed by a bit of rosé. Of course, I tentatively thought that this was it. A serving of steak with a touch of salt and pepper and home made macaroni with a touch of cheese and some of the Carbardès (vin rouge) came next. This was topped off with some coffee and fresh fruit - figs picked from a tree right outside in the yard. My very own ‘Peter Mayle’ experience.

I expect to be back at it for another day or two when it’s time to harvest another variety of grape – the Cabernet Sauvignon. These hosts have been kind enough to open up their family to us and it’s been great to meet them and have this experience in France.

TE

Perpignon: International Festival of Photo-Journalism

This week we went to the city of Perpignon, about 90 minutes away, and took in the inspiring Visa Pour L'Image (translated as the International Festival of Photojournalism). This was the 21st annual showcase of the best work of photojournalists from around the world, with awards presented in different categories. The photos are exhibited in wonderful venues throughout the core of the city, so we were able to park the car and walk to the sites we wanted to see.

My personal favourite was an exhibit by a photographer named Brenda Ann Kenneally entitled "Upstate Girls - What Became of Collar City". To me, the photos were like a train wreck you could not look away from - a photo story of various single mothers living in poverty in Troy, NY (a city with mainly a minimum wage service-sector economy) raising their kids in dismal conditions with little stimulation. Ted liked the photo exhibit showing the inside of Guantanamo by Brennan Linsley. Mitchell was most intrigued by the display of a photographer named Callie Shell (Time magazine). Her photos documented many candid moments during Barack Obama's campaign, concentrating on the two years leading up to his becoming President. Jackson most liked the Sports photos, especially one of Usain Bolt winning a race.

The videoclip above was something we came across on the Internet that prompted us to make the trip to Perpignon. I have to say, I hope the field of photojournalism never dies. I think we need to see these photos of what's happening around the world.

And here are some of our photos from that day. Perpignon is very close to the border of Spain and, as a result, has a lot of Catalan flavour. Catalan is even spoken here. Before Perpignon became part of France, it was Catalonia's second city after Barcelona. A beautiful city - we could have easily spent more time here.

What I Do for Fun: Jackson

From Jackson: This is some of the stuff I do for fun in St. Papoul and when we go out exploring . . .


Playing tennis in St. Papoul:

Trying a new toy-mijiggy in a park in Toulouse:

Reading my new Jigsaw Jones mystery that I got from Amazon (Mitchell is reading his new Nintendo Power issue sent by Auntie Sue - thanks Auntie Sue!):

Going over the bridge in Toulouse Gardens:

Playing with my Dad:

Me by the water:

Chef Jackson making crepes with my Mom:

Yummy chocolate:

I can wash the dishes myself:

I like to play pool at the bar (restaurant):

I am racking up another game:

We got this scooter for a couple of Euros at a Vide Grenier ("empty the attic") flea market sale:

Me at the beach (who's that sea monster?):

I got my motorcycle license:

Flat Stanley at the Botanical Gardens in Toulouse (Museum of Natural History):

Flat Stanley horseback riding in Toulouse:
Doing school with Flat Stanley watching me:

A big Flat Stanley update is coming soon!

Jousting Show in Carcassone

From Mitchell: Here is some video I shot on my camera at the awesome jousting show we saw in Carcassone.




This is my favourite part - the axe battle. A bit corny, but still well done.

The dog days of summer

Tomorrow is back to school, not only for our guys but for all their friends back home as well. I know. . . sniff, sniff. We took a few days off while our friends were here visiting, and fully enjoyed that, but it will also feel good to get back into a routine of sorts.

We have had a busy week. Highlights included the occasion of Ted's birthday (our friends treated us to an evening out, staying home with all the kids), seeing an impressive jousting show at Carcassone, doing a boat tour of the Canal du Midi, visiting the Mediterrean Sea for a beach day once again, and climbing Montsegur (a Cathar castle, known for being the last stronghold of oppostition against the Catholic Church where 220 Cathars were burned at the stake during the Albigensian Crusade). We also took in some of the festivities of the Cassoulet Festival in nearby Castelnaudary.

I have to say a couple of things about Montségur. First of all, I had never heard of the Cathar faith or the Albigensian Crusade before coming to this part of France. But it is a huge part of the history, culture, and toursim around here. Without getting into a very long-winded history of these events, I'll just say that the Catholic Church (particularly Pope Innocent III) was very threatened and angered by the Cathars who they viewed as heretics. There was a 20-year campaign to wipe them out. In this Languedoc region of France, many were sympathetic to the Cathars and provided them with refuge in great fortresses and castles in the area (usually owned by wealthy families who had their own reasons for not respecting the French king and/or Church). Montségur is a very significant Cathar fortress because it was the place where the final group of surviving Cathars were massacred. To be honest, I have read a bit now about the Cathar beliefs and I find it difficult to see what was so threatening or offensive about their faith, other than the Catholic Church feeling denied of absolute sovereignty in the region.

Anyway, the second thing I want to say (which is totally unrelated) is that I have a fear of heights. People who know me well already know this, but I mention it because it was a huge achievement for me to climb Montségur. The fortress sits atop a mountain in the Pyrenees region at a height of 3000 feet. When we pulled into the parking lot (as if the drive there was not bad enough, from a fear of heights point-of-view), I could not fathom how in the world we would get up there. I felt sick to my stomach. The guidebooks make comments like "avoid climbing on a windy day," one should have a head for heights", and "closely watch children". Here are a couple of photos to show you what I mean:

I decided I had to try, mostly for the sake of my boys. Here I've been telling them not to be afraid of going new places, trying new things, etc. so I knew I would be quite the hypocrite to let my phobia prevent me from sharing in this experience with them. So in the end, I had what I think psychologists would call some "implosion therapy" versus "systematic de-sensitization" and scrabbled my way up there with everyone. Both Mitchell and Jackson told me they were proud of me so that made it worthwhile. The view was also fantastic, for the few seconds that I spun my head around before making for the descent. Here are some photos from our weekend:

Our Kamloops friends (Todd & Becky, Ben, Talia and Micaela):

Canal du Midi:

Climbing around at Carcassone:

Awesome jousting show (called "Grand Tournoi de Chevalerie") complete with falcon:

Talia makes a friend at Narbonne beach:

Vineyard outside Narbonne:

Bonne anniversaire, Ted!

Cassoulet Day festivities on the Canal du Midi:

Giant Connect Four game at Cassoulet festival

View from top at Montsègur:

Climbing the walls of inner courtyard of the fortress:

Todd steps out on the ledge to take a photo - yeesh!

And of course Mitchell tries to freak out Mom:

Mitchell took a photo of a lizard he saw way up top:

I cannot believe my feet are actually up here!

Better to have our feet down safely on the ground, relaxing in St. Papoul:

Friends are coming!

We're excited because our good friends from Kamloops (formerly of Ottawa) are coming to St. Papoul today. Todd and Becky, and their three kids, are driving from Switzerland to Paris and have organized their route to pay us a visit as well. Their timing is excellent - the Fête du Cassoulet starts tomorrow in Castelnaudary. This is a essentially a festival to celebrate the region's most famous dish, cassoulet. Maybe I'll publish the recipe in a later post.

Cassoulet is a dish more suited to winter, as it's a heavy stew made with white beans, confit of duck or goose, and pork or Toulouse sausage. Various herbs add flavour and there is usually a topping of breadcrumbs, nice and crispy. It's always served in a brown, earthernware pottery bowl (called a cassole), also made in this region. Castelnaudary claims to be the birthpalce of the real, "le vrai", cassoulet. The festival will also include lots of free music concerts and stalls of artisans selling their crafts, as well as large tents set up along the Canal du Midi and in the public squares, selling local foods.

In the past few weeks, we've been to many such "fêtes" in the surrounding villages. Almost every evening, when it cools down to a comfortable temperature, we take a drive to a nearby community that is having their "marché nocturne" and sample the food, wine and atmosphere. Often there are local musicians playing as well. Some of our favourite marchés have included Carcassone (huge Spanish festival), Mirepoix, Montolieu, and Miravel-Lauragais. Montolieu intrigues me because it's called the "village of books". There are many bookshops in this small village (including an English one!), and a museum devoted to the history of books. We definitely want to pay a return visit in the daytime when all these bookshops will be open.

Here are a few photos from those outings:

Mirepoix marché (next 4 photos):

Mireval-Lauragais marché (our new friend Gerard, who makes wine in the area -we have visited his winery - now we see him at every fête in every little village):

Waiting in line to order a plate of frîtes:

Concert at Montolieu:

No Speedos, No Service

I love the title of this post - Mitchell came up with it. This post is part of his Language Arts lesson for today. He's also uploading two photos, so we could say he's doing some of the Arts curriculum as well :)

We started school on Monday, August 10th. We only "do school" in the mornings but I hope their learning goes on all day. You may wonder why we've started school so early - our goal is to get through alot of the math in these 3 months in France so we can unload the heavy Nelson textbooks we have with us. We will still have Math Trek on the laptop to keep up with math, as well as Millie's Math House, Math Circus, and Mathville. Ted tackles math with them, while I'm focusing on reading, reading comprehension and writing. We both fit the other stuff in around that. Everyday they add to their journal. Mitchell's is on the laptop while Jackson prefers to actually print in a notebook. Mitchell alternates between using Dragon Naturally Speaking one day and keyboarding the next day. He's getting good with Dragon now - even doing corrections and editing using the Dragon commands. We purchased version 10 before we left and I cannot get over how much better it works than our old version 8. Anyway, without further ado, here is Mitchell's summary of a little incident the other day at the local Piscine Municipale (local public pool). The first of many cultural misunderstandings to come, I'm sure.

(From Mitchell:)

Today, we decided to go to swimming in Castelnaudary, at the Piscine Municipale. But when we arrived, we quickly found out that the bathing suits that boys wear in Canada and the U.S were banned from the pool (board shorts versus Speedos). I felt angry and I thought it was unfair. We tried to talk to the lifeguard to ask him to make an exception, but he would not let us swim. They think our swimming suits are “unhygienic.” They offered to loan us Speedos to wear but I did not want to wear them and neither did Jackson. So we asked for our money back and left the pool and went to Lac de la Cavayére. We liked it because the water was very warm and the sand was not very rocky. People wore all kinds of bathing suits and nobody cared.

The discouraging notice . . .

Beautiful Lac de la Cavayére (near Carcassone) . . .

Gouffre Geant de Cabrespine

Yesterday was scorchingly hot, so we decided it would be the perfect day to take a tour of one of the famous underground caverns in the area. The days have been consistently cloudless and hot. Nothing to complain about, I know, especially since e-mails from friends in Ottawa tell us about the cool, wet summer happening there. Anyway, we made a return trip to the Narbonne-plage and almost died of sunstroke (okay, slight exaggeration). But there is no shade to speak of on this beach and the temperature has been reaching into the 40’s. At one point in the afternoon, we saw two little girls run across the sand, away from their parents, and then start screaming and hopping because the sand was burning their feet. The poor little things didn’t know to run straight into the water, so their father ran out to them, grabbed one girl in each arm and then ran out and plopped them into the sea. It’s that hot! So instead of visiting the beach again, the underground cavern tour gave us some cool relief.

We drove to a natural wonder called the Gouffre Geant de Cabrespine, which in English means “the Giant Hole of Cabrespine”. It’s just north of Carcassone in the Black Mountains (Montagne Noire), near the village of Villeneuve-Minervois. This Minervois region is also known for wine-making. The drive took us through some steep Gorges, which had the guys saying “wow, cool, look how high we are” and me just white-knuckling it in silence.

Cabrespine is apparently the deepest cavern in Europe and one of the deepest in the world. According to one brochure we read about it, the Eiffel Tower could fit into it with only the very top poking out. We took a guided tour (in French of course), but we were able to grasp that we were seeing aragonite crystal formations, stalagmites and stalactites, and limestone “curtains”. One room we were led into was called the “Red Room” because of oxidized iron salts that turn these curtain walls red. There were some beautiful still pools reflecting the amazing formations and on the way out, we were taken to the balcon du Diable (Devil’s Balcony) which gives a great perspective on the depth of the cavern (almost 200 metres). The tour we took was only 45 minutes long but it’s possible to sign up for a five-hour tour that involves wearing a helmet with light attached (like a real speliologist) and descending all the way down using harnesses and a safety line. We watched one group go down until they were like ants down at the bottom. One delightful thing about the cavern, for me, was it was so chilly I had to put Darlene’s jacket on! Walking back out into the sunshine felt like walking into a furnace.

We had a nice drive home, stopping at a winery for a tasting and brought a couple of bottles back with us from the Minervois region. The boys don’t like it too much when we stop in at wineries ("don't run around, don't touch anything"), even when there might be something they can try like a local cheese. Jackson will say, “I don’t want to try that. Look, it even says it’s disgusting!”, referring to the signs that invite passers-by for a complimentary “degustation” (tasting).

The Languedoc region

Our home for now, at the end of this tiny street

Colorful baskets at the Castelnaudary Market

Beach at Narbonne (Mediterranean Sea)

A new friend named Leo (stuffed turtle) - named after "Leo House" in Manhattan

Fields of sunflowers are everywhere around St. Papoul

Tiny windows at Carcassone castle, where the knights actually shot arrows from

Walking into the amazing medieval walled city of Carcassone

Who can resist sword-fighting here?

The Basilique Saint-Nazaire at Carcassone - we went to Mass here last Sunday

We’re settling into life here in the little village of St. Papoul in the Languedoc region of France. The house we’re renting, owned by a retired teacher (and her husband) from the school board where I work, is charming and rustic. It’s nice to have some space to spread out and to have a working kitchen as well as a total of three bathrooms! Let me tell you a bit about this house, this area, and our first week here.

The owners of this home provided us with detailed notes and information about the region, which has been very helpful. I will summarize a bit of it to give you an idea of life here. The Languedoc region of France is in the south, not far from the Mediterranean Sea. We’ve been blessed with wonderful warm, sunny days so far. The term “Languedoc” means, literally, “Language of the Occitan”, an old French dialect influenced by Spanish, used by the poets and troubadours of old. For example, instead of “oui” for yes, they say “oc”.

The area of the Languedoc region that we’re in is very medieval. Every little village has a rich history, with buildings (churches, abbeys, town squares) that date back hundreds of years. Our village is so tiny (population of 793) that it has no grocery store. Instead it’s served by mobile food services such as the fruit/vegetable van and the meat/ cheese van that come Wed. & Fri. mornings and the mobile pizza van that comes Sunday evenings. There is, however, a boulangerie (bakery) that is right here in town and we buy at least one baguette there every single day (except Mondays when she’s closed). There is also a restaurant/bar here and the owners are very nice. We’re only a short drive from the larger town of Castelnaudary, which has a huge grocery store (hypermarche they call it) and we’ve stocked up with lots of food staples from there.

St. Papoul lies between the foothills of the Black Mountains (La Montagne Noire) and the Pyrenees Mountains. It’s most known for the Abbey located here (Abbaye de Saint Papoul). The Abbey is a former Benedictine monastery that dates back to the 8th century. Today it is the parish church but many people come to see it for its Gothic cloister and sculptures by a famous sculptor known as the Master of Cabestany.

The house we’re renting has quite a history of its own. It’s a medieval structure and is officially an historic site. It’s a timber and stone construction and is considered large for a French home in this area. It was reconstructed in 1717, replacing a mostly wooden structure. It may have contained the forge of the village smithy. The house consists of three storeys, with two separate staircases to reach different areas. The main floor has the eat-in kitchen, dining room, large living room, and doors to a small but lovely back patio. Ted is enjoying watering the owners' plants and tinkering with the garden. There is also a powder room with laundry on the main floor. The layout is very functional. On the second floor, the boys are sharing a very large, sunny room with two beds and an ensuite two-piece bathroom. They access it from stairs in the living room. We have a smaller room, just off the main bathroom, also on the second floor. It’s accessed from stairs that lead from the kitchen. There is a third floor loft space and an attic area. It seems to be used mainly for storage. So, we definitely have all the space we need! We set up a desk area for Mitchell in the living room and Jackson uses the dining room table for his projects.

During medieval times, this village was protected by high ramparts. Many of these still exist and the rear wall of this house was in fact part of the original rampart (still visible). Access to this village (and to most villages around here) was though gates. These are still visible also. The streets are very narrow, with all the houses set close (no front yards here!)

One of the most amazing sites we’ve seen so far has to be Carcassone. Carcassone is considered to be the best restored medieval walled cite in Europe. UNESCO designated it a World Heritage Site in 1997. Carcassone was the setting where the movie Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves (starring Kevin Costner) was filmed. There is much to say about Carcassone, the castle itself as well as the legends behind it, so I will leave that for another post.

I would say the second most amazing thing we’ve done this week was drive to the gorgeous beach at Narbonne (called Narbonne-plage), where we swam in the salty seas of the Mediterranean. We have also explored another lake closer to home, but the seaside beach completely spoiled us. Uncle Ken and Auntie Terry would be happy to know that the first thing Mitchell said when we got there was, “This is the second-nicest beach I’ve ever seen!” and then went on to explain that the nicest was the one at their beach-house in Florida.

Bonjournee!

Video of Paris Re-Loaded

I found out why the photo video we did of Paris took so long to upload into YouTube. I had chosen some music (which I purchased and downloaded through iTunes) to go with the slideshow, not realizing you can't put it on YouTube for copyright reasons. I got an e-mail from YouTube telling me that "Koch Entertainment" had registered a complaint. The music I used was Edith Piaf's version of "La Vie en Rose", as well as Louis Armstrong's version of the same song, and "I Love Paris" sung by Dean Martin ad Maurice Chevalier. Cheesy yes, but we liked it! The only reason the kids liked "La Vie en Rose" was because of the movie Wall-E. Anyway, I had to do something called "AudioSwap" so here is the same slideshow but with different, approved-by-YouTube music. The thing I like about YouTube better is that you can enlarge their videos. So please enjoy!

Travel Day 17 - August 2, 2009

(From Ted):

Blog, Blog, Glog…

One year left to go until we get home but here we are in the south of France (it’s a hard job but someone’s got to do it) settling into our new life, sipping on something red while the kids go down the street to terrorize some as yet unknown neighbour. We have to get used to not having the television or the Internet. We will get the Internet but we have to wait until we get details about the provider.

Saint Papoul is a small village in the French countryside. The farms around here seem to be growing sunflowers in a large enough quantity to be commercial growers. We haven’t explored much since getting here yesterday. We left Paris on Friday the 31st in our new Peugeot 207 station wagon traveling approximately 500 km. We stopped and stayed over in Limoges the capital of fine china from France where little French men paint the plates and they charge exorbitant prices for the privilege of ownership. I do actually appreciate the beauty of the tableware because it is very nicely done. Saint Papoul is another 3-4 hours south of Limoges.

Our car arrangement was something I discovered while on French language training which is, by the way, coming in quite handy, thanks to the government of Canada and all taxpayers of Canada. I forget the name in French, but I read about the program in an article at the time from the Montreal Gazette that was pointed out to me by my teacher. It’s essentially an ownership/sell back program direct with the manufacturer of a completely new vehicle. It’s only available to non-EU residents. It’s minus most of the sales taxes. It’s intended for stays greater than 21 days. I was somewhat skeptical and thought at first impression that it was a more expensive option. But after doing some research and comparison shopping I found it to be a reasonable way to go. Both Peugeot and Renault have agents in Canada and the US for travelers who are Europe bound. The Peugeot program is called Peugeot Open Europe and can be found at http://www.peugeot-openeurope.com/ .We’ll keep you posted on the outcome. The arrangements were made in Canada through the agent in Montreal and I had the paperwork before we left. I called a couple of days ahead of time in Paris and it was ready for us when we were expected. It’s a nice little run about with a 5speed transmission and enough space to handle this family of four and our gear that we needed to take this far. If you see us tooling around Ottawa in a Peugeot 207 SW then you will know that it did not go exactly as planned.

Over the next three months we will slow down and settle in to a more relaxed routine of local travel, day trips and days at home with a base. This, from the feverish pitch of getting ready to leave along with getting our house ready, and the hectic two weeks in New York and Paris (which I thoroughly enjoyed) we can perhaps find a calm that will allow us to enjoy this place and our time together. If only our hyperactive, over programmed, Nintendoized kids can do the same.

TE

Limoges - home to procelain and fine china . . .

Our new kitchen . . .

Our Week in Paris

You may have noticed we changed the masthead on this blog - just a joke really. We're not fluently bilingual yet (except for Ted of course).

We haven't posted for a few days so there is lots to say and lots of photos to help say it. We have been to so many Jardins, museums, cafes, and monuments that we could not possibly post all of the pictures we've been taking. This is truly a gorgeous city! Instead of uploading a boatload (bateau-load?) of photos, I put together a slideshow using PhotoStory (free download from Windows and extremely easy to use). Be warned - it's over 6 minutes long . . . so some night when you have insomnia, click below . . .

Ted suggested I should just list all the places we've visited, so here it is:

• Jardin du Luxembourg (near our apt./ place for children to sail real wooden boats)


• Jardin des Plantes


• Jardin des Tuileries (huge ferris wheel and beautiful gardens)


• Jardin d'Acclimatation (kids' park with carnival and water park)


• Musee de Louvre


• Musee d'Orsay (impressionist masterpieces)


• Musee Rodin (we thought of Kelly and Patrick - they need to see this!)


• Centre Pompidou (modern art)


• Le Conciegerie (prison where Marie Antoinette was held before her execution)


• Notre-Dame Cathedral


• Eiffel Tower (Flat Stanley climbed it too!)


• Arc de Triomphe


• Champs Elysees


• Latin Quarter (5th district - the haunt of academics and literary types supposedly)


• St. Germain de Pres (6th district - where we stayed)


• Montmartre (18th district - bohemian artist hang-out - Darlene's Jacket was here!)
  
• Sacre-Couer (famous basilica)

We feel like we've seen so much yet, unbelievably, we're not completely exhausted. To keep the kids happy, we balanced museum visits with visits to all the beautiful Jardins the city has to offer. We also did fairly cursory sweeps of these museums (using our Paris Museum Pass, which is a good deal), honing on those few special things we really wanted to see.

Mitchell asked me which park did I like better - Central Park in NY or Jardin du Luxembourg (the one we visited most often as it's so close by). I like them both - hard to compare becuase they're so different. Central Park is surrounded by skyscrapers and has winding paths, lakes, wooden benches, buskers, and inventive play structures for kids. The parks here in Paris are more formal and structured, with stone or pea gravel paths, perfectly-round cement ponds, usually a merry-go-round, keep off the grass signs, and green metal chairs to sit on. Different, but both types are such an oasis in the heart of a large metropolis.

It's been great to live the life of a Parisien but I can see how, on subsequent visits, this would be even more so. You would not go to so many museums, for example, and you would spend less time standing on street corners trying to decipher which line on the Metro you need and how to transfer on to it. You would also not burn through the Euros as rapidly as it feels like we have! You would spend more time sitting in cafes, shopping for your cheese, wine and baguettes. And eating them in your appartartement or at les Jardins or along the banks of the Seine. You would take your children to the Jardins (but you would not allow them to wear Speedos like actual Parisien males).

We leave this morning for the house we have rented in southern France. Not completely sure yet how we'll get hooked up to the Internet so next post may take a little while . . . we plan to settle in, start some schooling, and stick to a more modest weekly budget after the bright lights and big prices of Manhattan and Paris . . . a bientot!

PS (Can someone please let us know if this video worked or did you have to have Windows Media Player? It was taking too long to process on YouTube but might try again later).

Week-End in Toronto

Okay, I now realize that this post will be out of sequence but never mind. I did a post about our week-end in Toronto but it never published properly so here it is again. We were in Toronto the week-end of July 18th before flying to New York on July 20th.

Highlights of our stop in Toronto included oohing and aahing over the overflowing garbage bins as Toronto soldiers on in the midst of the disgusting 5-week old garbage strike . . .

Re-connecting with our nephews and the boys' cousins Josh and Connor in Bowmanville . . .

Re-connecting with Ted's family (this is a photo of the "Elborn men", although Uncle Brian had just left so missed out being in this photo) . . .

Jackson with Nana Elborn . . .

And spending time with our wonderful TO friends, as well as my niece Tenille . . . our friends Bob and Carol hosted a fun BBQ the night before we left!

Then Bob drove us to the airport to start the journey . . . take good care of our Saturn Vue Bob!

Thanks for everything!!

At the Finish Line in Paris

(I loved Manhattan but I love Paris even more. The boys would tell you the same, if I could get them to write a post. They are most definitely in "summer vacation" mode, but school mode will kick in soon enough. New York and Paris have so much to see, so it's been go, go, go but things will slow down for us soon. We leave Paris on Friday the 30th (driving) for the house we have rented in the Languedoc region, near Castelnaudary. Ted got a great deal for a car "rental" that he will write about later.

When we were in Toronto the weekend before we left, we learned that the Tour de France would finish in Paris while we were here. Despite feeling jet-lagged and overwhelmed by the amazing architecture and history (and not to mention food) all around us, we strolled down to the Champs Elysees area to be part of history. We wanted to witness the finish of the 2009 Tour de France, and the great comeback of Lance Armstrong. I have never seen so many die-hard cycling fans, from all over the world. A sea of yellow Livestrong T-shirts. We met one girl who toured around watching three separate stages of the race, including one stage in which she had to hike 5 miles up a mountain. We even met a couple from a small town in the Okanagan (I think it was Grand Forks?) and they came to do a three-week bike trip and timed it especially just to see the finish of the Tour.

Here's a video we took of the cyclists streaming by us on the rue de Rivoli ( an even better spot to watch the events than the Champs Elysees, as it turned out). If you're wondering why Mitchell does not seem overly enthused at the end of this video, it's because it's actually one of the later laps (the cyclists do 8 laps around the Champs Elysees and the winner has already been decided). All of us had been standing for hours at this point. Still, for four people who are novices to this whole event, we did get goosebumps watching. I think it had alot to do with the helicopters whirring overhead, the media all over the place, the police all over the place, the tens of thousands of fans lining the streets cheering and waving flags, and the fact that this was not only the biggest sports event we'd ever seen but probably the biggest media event period.

In the video, you see a motorcade followed by the top elite cycling group, followed by another motorcade and then the 2nd, large pack of riders. For a couple of hours before the cyclists appeared, sponsors drove up and down the area hyping the crowd, throwing out hats, T-shirts, and other products like energy drinks. There was a large screen so everyone watched as they rode closer and closer and finally came into view.

Our place in Paris is great. We rented it through a site called Homelidays. We have a small apartment in the 6th district (St. Germain des Pres) and it's wonderful to have our own kitchen and a bit of space to spread out. The owner is a very organized guy who has thought of everything and so the apartment is very well equipped. We are half a block from the Boulevard du Montparnasse which has everything - shop after shop, restaurant after restaurant, and very central. Here are a few photos in case my video does not go live:

Lunch on Sunday at the Jardin des Tuileries (by the way that's water, not wine, that Jackson's drinking)

View of the Seine River

This caught my eye while walking by (orthophoniste is French for "speech pathologist")




The boys found a good spot a little higher up to watch the finish of the Tour de France







So did these people . . .




Seeing the cyclists whiz by on the rue de Rivoli

A bientot!

Jackson: Newest Yankees Fan!

A whole pile of photos from New York City - many taken by our resident photographer, Mitchell:

Outside the Yankees new stadium with Flat Stanley . . .


Great game . . . they won!

Cool window at the Guggenheim Museum - Ted especially enjoyed the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit . . .

Outside the American Museum of Natural History - amazing exhibit of African mammals . . .

Mitch loved shopping at Nintendo World near Rockefeller Plaza . . .

View of the Manhattan skyline from the Staten Island Ferry . . .

There she is!

Jackson and Flat Stanley enjoying the ferry ride . . .
We took the subway everywhere - so convenient!

Check out this character in Central Park - looks just like the actual Statue of Liberty . . .

Running around Central Park - we wish Ottawa had something like this!

The Reservoir in Central Park - lots of people jog around this . . .

The bright lights of Times Square at night . . .

The "Tiles of America" display near Ground Zero - this is the fence where people posted flyers looking for loved ones lost at the WTC during 9/11 . . . now replaced by many handmade tiles . . .

We loved this tile - says it all . . .

Ferrari Spyder as seen at Manhattan MotorCars. I think they guessed we weren't serious shoppers . . .

We've been having a great time in New York City! Here's a summary from Jackson on what we've been up to.

Jackson:

The first thing we did after checking into The Leo House (our hotel) was walk down to Manhattan MotorCars. I saw my favourite car – a Ferrari Spyder. Then we walked over to Madison Square Gardens but there was no game on.

We bought Metro Cards so we can ride the subway whenever we want. We took the subway up to Central Park. We had a fun time climbing the rocks at Central Park. It has cool play structures with underground ladders. Every day we take the subway underground too, to other places.

On Tuesday, we went to the American Museum of Natural History where the movie “Night at the Museum” was filmed. It was very cool! My favourite part was inside a ball and inside was an Imax (he is referring to the Hayden Planetarium). We watched a cool film called “Journey to the Stars.”

On Wednesday, we went on a hop-on, hop-off bus. It was a red double-decker bus and we sat on the top. We drove all over Manhattan and you can see with no roof and no windows all around you. It can get very hot up on the top. We saw Times Square and lots of electric signs with advertisements. It looked cool! We went to the giant Toys ‘R Us and the FAO Schwartz Toy store and the Apple Store.

On Thursday, we took the Staten Island Ferry and saw the Statue of Liberty. Flat Stanley came along but my Mom did not need Darlene's jacket yet!

My best thing so far was going to a Yankees Baseball game at the new Yankee Stadium. I had an awesome time at the game. I got a Yankees baseball cap for $5 from a guy in the subway tunnel. And the Yankees won a 6 to 4 victory against the Baltimore Orioles, which was very exciting and I enjoyed it. I’m having an amazing time in New York City so far. This afternoon we leave for Paris.

Basement Before & After

We're in Manhattan right now, since Monday. Internet access has been tempermental but I'm having success right now at Murray's Bagels in Chelsea (near our hotel). Here are some before & after pics of our basement reno . . . photos of the Big Apple to come!

Hallway area before . . .

Bathroom area before . . .

Bathroom after . . .

Living Room before . . .

Living Room after . . .

Hallway area after . . .

Basement bedroom after . . .

The Elborns have left the building

We're officially homeless now. Pretty exciting! We moved out of our home yesterday just as our tenants moved in. They're lovely people and we hope they have a great year in our place and in the neighbourhood. We're in Toronto for the week-end, visiting Ted's family and our TO friends before we fly out to New York on Monday.

It's been a bit strange and disorienting for the boys, just the notion that we're not simply here for the weekend and then returning home (as per usual) but that we will not go home again for a year. Listening to the boys in the car yesterday, I heard some funny conversation between the two of them. Things like, "Did ya know if you're standing by the Eiffel Tower and someone drops a penny from the top, it'll split you in half?" and "If you spit in Thailand, they stick you in jail and make you pay fifty bucks" and also this doozy, "In Nairobi, if they don't like the look of you, they'll chop your head off or beat you up or something!" Some underlying anxiety perhaps . . .

Listening to this made me think of a great quote I saw on the wall at the place where Mitchell does karate. I'm a quote person and collect them, so I had this one written down:

"Come the edge," he said. They said, "We are afraid." "Come to the edge," he said. They came. He pushed them, and they flew . . ." (Guillaime Apollinaire).

Courage my boys!

We Go Not Alone . . .

You may have thought there were just four of us going on this trip - Ted, Kathi, Mitchell & Jackson - but actually there are now six. We have two guests, Flat Stanley and Darlene's Jacket. Welcome aboard!

First, a word about Flat Stanley. We actually have two Flat Stanleys. One was given to us by Michelle, a wonderful teacher in the Language Class at Divine Infant, whom I have gotten to know over the last few years. I visit her class as SLP. There are 8 primary students who attend in the mornings and another 8 who attend in the afternoons. All wonderful little friends of mine! Anyway, I spoke to them about our trip and they have read many Flat Stanley books so they - at Michelle's prompting - asked me to take along Flat Stanley and report back on his many adventures. They got to meet Jackson as well and my plan is that he will do many of these e-mail reports to the class as part of his home-schooling.

The second Flat Stanley came from Lisa, Jackson's Gr. 2 teacher. She is a big fan of Flat Stanley and the class read many books in the Flat Stanley series in her class this year. She has been doing the Flat Stanley thing for several years with her students. For example, one little boy went to Mexico and took FS. Another went to Italy and along came FS. Last year, the only place Jackson took him was to a hockey tournament in Pakenham, Ontario but next year - look out! Both classes have maps of the world on their walls to track FS's movements. I figure we will probably use the same descriptions for both classes. Kind of like the AP wire for breaking news about Flat Stanley.

And now on to Darlene's Jacket. This just came about today. My friend Darlene was over on Saturday evening. She left her nice fleece jacket here by accident. She and Michael came by today to pick it up and I commented how nice it was and where did she get it? Can you guess what happened? Never compliment a generous person. She insisted I keep it and take it on our trip! After about 10 minutes of "no, I can't, I really can't" and "yes, please take it!", I relented. I really like it, you see. So I told Darlene I will take her jacket and I will wear it proudly, give it many adventures, keep her posted on where her jacket has been and what excitement it has seen, and then return it to her next year (dry-cleaned, of course).

Crunch Time!

At this point I cannot even look at our little Countdown Clock without getting a sick feeling in my stomach. We are excited, it's just that there is so much to do and we don't feel ready. On Thursday, we move out of the house, drive to Toronto and spend some time with family and friends before flying to New York on July 20th. Before then, we need to finish packing up alot of stuff in our house, move it into the basement, finish the last few details in the basement, and pack all 4 of our backpacks. It will get done because it HAS to get done.

It's been a busy week. There's been lots of running around, picking up the malaria pills (which practically require their own suitcase, there's so many of them), proper shoes for all of us, various clothes for us and the kids, etc. And running around, picking up things for the basement reno. I finished up work on Thursday and Ted finished on Friday. That will definitely help us to focus.

On Thursday, carpet was laid in our basement and it looks great. I never would have imagined such a transformation was possible in the ugly concrete hole formerly known as our basement. If I have time (ha!), I will try to post some before and after photos. Those are always fun. Then on Saturday, we had a a farewell party with friends from work and the neighbourhood and that was even more fun! I won't post any photos because (a) I didn't really have time to take any, and (b) not everyone likes their mug posted on someone else's blog (I get that). I was feeling kind of emotional last night - so many good friends we will miss. I went to bed thinking how blessed we've been in Ottawa with the friends and nieghbourhood we have.

That brings us to today, Sunday. I had really wanted to get to church this morning since it's our last Sunday but I woke up feeling pretty head-achey and dizzy so that did not happen. Mitchell was at a sleep-over and Jackson was having one, so that complicated things also. But we did eventually get down to work and managed to finish emptying the closets and dressers in all 3 of our bedrooms.

What should we do with that little Countdown Clock I wonder? Soon it will run out but Mitchell suggested either re-setting it to the day we return home or the day we enter a new country . . . ideas??

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!