More Faces of Longido

More faces from Longido. We're actually not there anymore but had so many great pics of the Maasai kids that we wanted to share. Merry Christmas from the Middle East - we'll try to post again soon . . .

These girls loved our boys - stroking their hair all the time!

Mitch on laptop - is that Math Trek or a game??

The puppies - so adorable - now Jackson is saying he wants to be a vet:

Maasai village with boma huts in background:

Arnold (awesome soccer player) and a little girl:

Maasai village near Longido:

Corey and the "Koko" (respected female leader):

Soccer friends from Mairowa:

Sauti Moja in Longido

We spent this past week with Corey from Sauti Moja, both in Arusha (Tanzania) and Longido Village (a couple of hours north of Arusha). It was such a great experience for all of us. In the photo above, you can see a view of Mt. Kilimanjaro at sunset from the camp that Corey built in order to spend extended time in Longido doing the work he does.


You can read about the work of Sauti Moja (Kiswahili for "one voice") by clicking on the link. In a nutshell, his organization serves vulnerable women and children, especially Maasai women and children, by supporting local community groups and projects initiated by the Maasai people themselves. We saw how he well-respected and accepted he is by the Maasai in Longido and it seems to be because of the approach Sauti Moja has. They do not march in with simplisitic solutions or impose a Western model on how to tackle specific health issues like HIV / Aids but instead start by listening, talking with the community members, and building a relationship. He also speaks fluent Kiswahili having been in Tanzania since about 2003.


I should mention that we know Corey because our families are kind of connected. . . my sister was married to his uncle. Corey's mom, Lil, was also the first parent who ever trusted me to babysit!


Corey and his partner Shanna in Arusha (she is a very talented visual artist):
One of the tents in Longido, where we stayed:


The tents are very comfortable - we actually slept in real beds off the floor:

Great views of Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru from the "porch" of Corey's tent:

Maasai women in front of their "boma" huts (walls are cow dung and mud with thatched roof):
Corey visiting some of the Maasai kids:

The library at the LOOCIP compound, a partner group that Sauti Moja assists:

Computer training centre at the same compound - there is no electricity but this centre is powered by solar panels:

Mitchell & Jackson playing soccer with new friend Arnold and the security guard:

We had a pretty full week. Besides visiting the Maasai village, seeing newborn pups (Jackson's favourite activity), and playing soccer with local kids (Mitchell's favourite activity), a little work got done as well. Ted was able to help in putting together and painting bunk-beds for the Child Mother project. Child mothers include indigenous girls as young as 12 or 13 who find themselves pregnant, through no fault or control of their own, and who are then kicked out of school and perhaps disconnected fronm their community also. This project provides counseling and support to these girls, including short-term stays in a facility until a re-uniting with their families can be worked out.

The raw bed-bunk material - the guys did not just pick up metal bed frames - everything had to be designed, explained, and fabricated at metal shops in Arusha - there is no IKEA here to make things simple:

Ted, Corey and Geoff (friend of Corey's from Denver who is working in Arusha with an archeologist) assembling the pieces:

Time to paint, with Mitchell & Jackson eager to help. The boys especially liked being able to hang out with cool older guys like Corey and Geoff instead of just boring old mom & dad:

Jackson is concentrating on doing a good job:

The beds also need railings and ladders, so an exploratory trip to the local lumber yard was necessary:

Another day, we tagged along to visit the village of Mairowa. On the drive there, we saw giraffes, ostriches and other antelopes. Corey meets regularly with community leaders from this village to help them with their projects:

Meeting some of the local kids from Mairowa. It was only a matter of time until another soccer game broke out:

On our last day, Mitchell & I went with Corey and some of his colleagues to a different village to help with some research. They periodically weigh and measure these children to monitor their growth and provide nutritional support to families. Some families have been especially hit hard with the chronic droughts:

We weighed each child and then Mitchell gave them a treat for putting up with the process:

Mitchell will miss all the little friends he made - they loved playing with him too:

Jackson will especially miss his animal friends. He fell in love with three dogs in Longido named Meru, Kili and Chex (that's Meru in the photo below). He badly wanted to take one of Chex and Meru's puppies home but sadly that is not possible:

We don't have any photos of one of the great highlights of our time in Longido. That was the night we sat around a campfire with a group of Maasai men, including the mzee (respected elder and leader). It was a really special privilege, as they welcomed us completely and let their guard down, in a sense, to see their real personalities. While we were sitting around, another Maasai man from the village found us in this cave on the side of the mountain (where we had the campfire in order to get out of the wind) and asked the mzee to put a curse on whoever had stolen his cell-phone! Apparently it works. That's because the word goes out that the mzee has done this and the guilty culprit usually ends up returning the stolen goods out of fear of the curse. Fascinating stuff!

We just arrived in Cairo so more on that soon. . . only 4 days till Christmas. If you haven't finished your Christmas shopping, here is the perfect last-minute solution - check out the gift catalogue on the Sauti Moja website!

Zanzibar

Zanzibar, an island off the east coast of Tanzania in the Indian Ocean, feels different from the rest of East Africa altogether, mostly because of the Arabic and Indian - in addition to African - influences that dominate here. Zanzibar was once an important trading center with Arabia and the Persian Gulf, and that brought Islam here. Zanzibar is also infamous for its role in the slave trade, exporting slaves to India and Asia. Now it’s mainly known for tourism and production of spices, such as cloves, vanilla, and cinnamon.

We spent four days at Kendwa Beach on the north end of island. Absolutely beautiful (no running water and sore foot notwithstanding). The beach has incredibly powder soft white sand and the waters of the Indian Ocean feel as warm as a hot tub. We spent most days just lying under a beach hut for shade, with frequent dips into the ocean. Kind of like a vacation from our trip, if that makes sense.

Ted and Mitchell did an all-day snorkeling trip in a place called the Mnemba Atoll. They traveled by dhow (Zanzibar wooden boat), exploring the amazing coral reef and brightly coloured fish.

We traveled back down the island to StoneTown for the last five days. StoneTown is a unique village, right on the Indian Ocean, home to a maze of narrow, cobbled, twisting laneways. There are tiny shops, mosques, craft stores, markets, and outdoor food stalls everywhere. A chaotic but enchanting place. The architecture is beautiful – old Arab houses with courtyards and Indian buildings with big verandas and ornate trim. We’ve tried so many different restaurants here, including the famous Mercury’s Restaurant. Apparently, Freddie Mercury was born here in Zanzibar (as Faroukh Bulsara) and lived here until he was eight years old. The restaurant is a bit of a shrine to him.

Boats, old and new:

Zanzibar door:

Streets of StoneTown:

We splurged out and stayed at the beautiful Tembo Hotel in StoneTown(thanks Sue for this recommendation, it was just the balm we needed):

View from our hotel, beautiful turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean:

In StoneTown, we visited the Old Slave Market. You can still see some of the original jails where they held captured Africans in chains. According to the tour, they were held in these cells for three days with no food or water. Those who survived could fetch a higher price at their local auctions as the “strong ones”. This whole place reminded me of a great novel I read a couple of years ago, The Book of Negroes, about the life of a young girl sold into slavery.

Former slave jail cell:

Statue of slave in chains:

Monument about the slave trade:

Just outside of StoneTown, we went on a tour of a spice plantation. I envisioned a spice plantation would look something like a vineyard with neat rows of spices planted and being tended. It was nothing like that – more of a rainforest with here a nutmeg tree, over there a lemongrass bush, and banana, mango and papaya trees all over the place. It was a jumble of spice plants and tropical fruit trees. Our guide, Ramsen, grew up on the spice farm we visited and knew the place inside out. He would pluck some berry or other off a tree, slice it open, squeeze it, have us smell it and then try to guess what it was. We got to sample a variety of unusual fruits including jackfruit and dhurian (stinky fruit). Finally, a young guy shimmied up a very tall coconut tree, singing and shaking his booty the whole way, and chopped down a few coconuts for us to drink from. It was a great tour!

Today we leave for Arusha to meet up with Corey Wright who runs Sauti Moja. We’ll travel with him to Longido, Tanzania to visit, learn, and help out there where we can.

A boy and his cow hauling some harvest at the spice plantation:

A jungle of spices and tropical fruit:

Jackson wearing glasses Ramsen made for him:

Ramsen cutting open some nutmeg for us to smell:

Nutmeg - who knew? Not the way it looks in the little pouches at Loblaws:

Vanilla beans:

Yum, coconut juice:

Bus Ride from Hell? Check. Visit to Hospital? Check.

This is an extra long post . . . bear with me. I have some unloading to do for catharsis.

On all long treks around the world, one should probably expect to endure at least one terrifying bus ride. And perhaps there has to be a requisite visit to a hospital at least once as well. Well, the good news is we can now check those two off the list and hopefully put the bad luck behind us for a while. I guess Ted was right back in Zurich when he said there was worse yet to come . . .

Here we are on the exotic, idyllic island of Zanzibar. Recuperating. Getting here was a bit of an ordeal. Our plan was to travel by bus from Nairobi, Kenya to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and then catch a ferry over to Zanzibar. It’s a very long bus trip (about 15-16 hours plus a two-hour ferry ride), so we planned to stay one night in Moshi (near Mt. Kiliminjaro) to break up the trip.

After our safari, we spent one night in Nairobi before starting our bus journey. The place was a complete dump, despite the Lonely Planet recommendation. Some of their guidebooks are in need of serious updating. Mitchell woke up covered in bites and sores. The rest of us seemed fine, so we suspected bed bugs. Poor guy, he was covered and so itchy. (He’s all healed now).

The bus to Moshi was humming along well and we were all doing fine, despite the intense heat and typically horrible roads. It started to sprinkle a little and I thought to myself, oh good, a little rain to keep the dust down but not so much that the road turns to mud. I guess I spoke to soon.
About an hour outside the town of Arusha, the rain was coming down in sheets and it wasn’t just mud to worry about. The road basically turned into a river, a flash flood. We ended up stranded as the road was completely washed out. In the end, we had to wait out the rain before the driver would attempt to drive on. We lost a few hours, certainly it could have been worse.

Even though our bus tickets were to Moshi, the driver tried to off-load us in Arusha. He said he didn’t have enough passengers to justify going all the way to Moshi. Not my problem, I insisted. I dislike confrontation more than most people, but I was willing to die on this particular hill and was not budging. No way was he going to dump us onto on overcrowded local bus for the last part of the journey. He unloaded our (soaking wet) backpacks that were under a (supposedly) waterproof tarp on the roof and set them on the ground. Ted hoisted them into the bus, plopped them in aisle and we sat back down. We had our little stand-off and then the driver caved and drove us all the way. I’m pleased to tell you that the hotel in Moshi was of a similar dumpy quality – Lonely Planet is consistent in their bad taste if nothing else.

Next morning, we’re up at the crack of dawn for our 6:20am bus trip to Dar Es Salaam. We knew we had to catch the earliest bus available, in order to make the last ferry of the afternoon around 4:00pm. This bus was a complete nightmare. Maybe being the only non-Africans aboard should have been our first clue. The bus wasn’t just lacking in modern amenities, it was a downright beat-up, foul rattletrap. There was no air-conditioning, you could feel every spring in the seats, and surrounding you were several people for each seat. Some unlucky souls even stood in the aisles. This bus wasn’t just full, it was crammed. At one point I swore I could hear a chicken clucking but I couldn’t see it. I’m surprised I could actually even hear anything, over the loud, tinny music blasted at us the entire way.

Whenever the driver encountered a stretch of road free of potholes, he would gun it hell-bent-for-leather. Hence, the terrifying part of this description. Of course, the driver had the decency to screech to a halt when he happened upon a pothole or a speed bump. Sometimes he missed a few and those were the times you got to check out the ceiling of the bus nice and close. I have to say, Mitchell and Jackson were real troopers hardly complaining at all. We put them on the inside seats near the windows and we did the lurching and pitching into the aisles on their behalf, as we proceeded at break-neck speed to Dar es Salaam. I loved how the driver would just pick whatever side of the road had the least potholes and use that, careful to veer out of the way of oncoming traffic just in the nick of time. And don’t forget about the lesser known third lane that runs down the middle of the highway – that’s always a fun lane to drive in as well.

About one hour into this 9-hour leg of the journey, I felt a headache coming on. The bus felt like an oven, with only hot wind from the open windows to cool us off. The headache turned into a doozy, complete with nausea and sparkling vision (like seeing lights flashing on and off, hard to explain, a migraine). We rocked along like this, with maybe three or four stops along the way to run to some pit latrine to relieve ourselves or to buy a warm Coke. We were all surprised and disgusted to watch as the people just tossed their garbage out the bus windows. I guess you could say it’s cultural, but I couldn’t help but feel, isn’t there something just intrinsically feels wrong about chucking wrappers and tin cans onto the road, irrespective of one’s culture? Of course, we kept our mouths shut.

Anyway, it gets better . . . we survived the nightmare bus ride arriving around 3:00pm. Grabbed a taxi to the ferry terminal whereupon we were swarmed by touts trying to sell us “official” ferry tickets. Practically blocking us from the actual ferry ticket office, which was especially irritating when you’re about to miss the last ferry of the day. We made the ferry, breathing a sigh of relief. My head was still pounding at this point and the nausea was worsening. Add to that the gentle swaying of a two-hour ferry ride and you can probably guess what’s coming. Yes, vomiting ensued. It was a lovely way to round out the day.

Once we docked at Zanzibar, it was time to find another taxi. Never a problem with that – just stand still and look clueless and they come roaring up to you. Since we were doing a few days at a beach on the north end of the island (Kendwa Beach) before settling in StoneTown, it was another two hours’ ride to get to our hotel. By the time we arrived, it was dark. It was about 9:00pm and we had been travelling since 6:20am. All I wanted was a hot shower, to brush my teeth, and fall into bed. But guess what? The power was out which meant no running water as well, since it was some sort of an electric pump system. We didn’t have water until late the next day. At least I was able to brush my teeth using bottled water. I wanted to slug the young backpackers we met on the beach who said things like, yeah man, ya just gotta roll with it, you know?

The power has been on and off our whole time here on Zanzibar Island. Apparently, it’s a way of life for the people here. They run back-up generators but these are rationed to a certain number of hours per day. There’s only one under-sea cable from Dar es Salaam that supplies power to the island and it would seem to be pretty unreliable.

I realize I’m going on and on, but it’s therapeutic for me. Bear with me. Up at Kendwa Beach, I noticed my foot was sore and thought nothing of it. Figured it was a sliver or something insignificant. Over the next couple of days, it progressed to a raging infection and I had a most attractive foot full of pus. I got tired of hobbling about and finally a kind taxi driver named Tahir drove me to a hospital and acted as my translator. I ended up paying around $50 to have a consultation followed by a procedure to cut open my foot and drain it. I also took some antibiotics. Things are definitely starting to look up now and there really is no better place to recoup than the beautiful spice island of Zanzibar!

We head to Arusha in a few days, after 9 days of exploring Zanzibar. We will get there via a one-hour flight – our quota for bad bus trips is now full.

Safari!

We have tons of photos from our recent safari, as you’ll see . . . Ted has a great camera with something like 80 times zoom. Some of the people we saw in other safari vans had huge zoom attachments and they looked like Hollywood paparazzi snapping away.

We were able to see four of the so-called Big Five right on our very first game drive – amazing! The Big Five is a term originally from game-hunting and does not necessarily represent the five animals everyone wants to see the most. It consists of the lion, elephant, cape buffalo, leopard, and rhino. We didn’t see elephants until our second day in the Masai Mara, but we saw everything else our first day at Lake Nakuru. We didn’t expect to see a leopard at all, as they are very shy and elusive creatures but we ended up seeing two! Or it may have been the same one, just shifted over to a new tree.

When we were still in France, as part of home-schooling, Mitchell did a project on his own personal Big Five (the five African mammals he was most looking forward to seeing). They included the lion, elephant, giraffe, zebra and rhino. He wrote a one-page “fact sheet” on each of these animals and was our resident expert on their behaviours and habits on each game drive.

We stayed two nights in lodges (far more luxurious than we were expecting) and one night at a tented camp. For the game drives, it was just the four of us, plus our driver/ guide, in our van. At first, we wondered if this was a good idea in the sense that it might be fun to share in the excitement of seeing all the animals with another family. But in the end we were glad. The van could seat about 10 people, so we had lots of room to spread out and we each had a window. Plus anytime we wanted to stand and look out the pop-up roof, there was plenty of room. We saw other vans packed with people and it didn’t look too comfortable. It was also nice not to have to worry about what other passengers would think when our kids yelled things out the window like “Hey Marty!” “Hey Melman, how’s it goin?” (characters from the Madagascar movies). And besides that, we met lots of great people at the tented camp and lodges so we had company at meal-times.

Ted, Mitchell & Jackson took the majority of these photos. Up to this point, Jackson hasn’t been overly interested in using a camera but he really took to it while on safari. He now tells us he wants to be a wildlife photographer when he grows up, which we assured him would be a very cool job indeed. He’s been drawing colorful pictures of African animals ever since, which is a nice change from his usual hockey arena, soccer field, and baseball stadium sketches :)

As we write this, we’re in Zanzibar (an island in the Indian ocean off the east coast of Tanzania). So different from the Africa we’ve seen so far. Kenya is very Christian but this region of Tanzania is quite Muslim. More mambo jambo about that later . . . cheers!

Travel Day 132 - 0o - The Hottest Place to Be, the Coolest Place Around!

Here's a post from Ted . . . safaris pics to come . . .

Reflections from the beginning Parallel (or thereabouts) . . .

Location: Kijabe, Kenya just a couple of degrees south of the equator. This is a place of great wind almost nightly. It’s hard to get used to. I compare it to the sound of a howling winter snowstorm. It’s where the name comes from. This hillside location, with beautiful endless views to the west over the Rift Valley,’ benefits’ from the air being sucked down into the valley where the hot displaced air has risen leaving a vacuum.

This day precedes our departure from Kijabe for a four-day safari. Lake Nakura and the Masai Mara National Park are the destinations. Kenya has its good and bad. It has great diversity in geography, topography, climate, flora, fauna, politics and people. Our experience of it in four weeks has only scratched the surface. It’s a likable place. But it’s full of tragedy and poverty even relative to a local measuring stick. Death by motor vehicle accident has to be huge. Victim to atrocious driving by any standard, overcrowding, and poorly maintained vehicles overlooked by corrupt police willing to look the other way for a few shillings at impromptu road side check points cynically designed as a cash grab.

It’s easy to be critical. The perspective of this North American is that it is a place of tremendous opportunity. It just needs some willing partners with money and competence (an act that is together). On the other hand any adventure of investment in Africa is fraught with challenges and risks primarily of the people variety.

Time has been spent patiently waiting to leave (for me). It’s kind of sad to say. We have had little to no outside access, including Kenyan news. The Internet has mostly not been available. There have been visits to the local RVA School to use the library as a place to do school work and the soccer field as a place to unwind afterwards. In addition, there have been invites to the local homes of two Kenyan families. They are somewhat upwardly mobile middle class families that live more closely to the hectic routine. It was a pleasure and honour to be invited and the home cooking was great.

Then there are those next below that have more menial employment as gardeners or cooks and cleaners. They have an income as nominal as it is and are, I’m sure, grateful for it but travel by foot to these places of employment in western missionary family homes for miles and hours (to and fro). A visit one Sunday afternoon to old Kijabe town down the hill provided some insight into these lives. Those lucky enough may own their own home. A house with a debt attached to it, of course, and with no running water or electricity. Water is carried in from a local source, laundry is done by hand, lighting is from paraffin fuelled lamps and dirty business is done out back in the ‘outhouse’. It’s kind of like the homesteading of more than a hundred years ago in North America.

Next are those that we haven’t really met but only seen - the 50% unemployed or the marginally employed selling snacks to travelers in the roving vans (privately owned and run ‘matatus’ that travel in place of public transit between the many towns and cities around the countryside).

Kathi has made a contribution in her profession and has met a few more people. I’m sure it has made a difference and will have a lasting impact. In particular, with the speech assistant that will not only provide some form of ongoing support to children with needs but in the form of the new employment that she has gained from the newly created position that she fills.

There is a need for housing. I’m confident that this could be filled easily. Of course it’s easier said then done as acknowledged by this armchair quarterback. But with the right investment and know how it could be done. I have some ideas. To some extent they aren’t original or mine. I’m doing the compilation. They can be borrowed from institutions and practices back home. If you build it they will come. Some spec. housing of the right mix, with the right features and the right price could be very successful. The right degree of sustainability and long lasting features such as solar heated hot water with passive convection (non mechanical circulation) which is common around here, a small amount of solar powered lighting, indoor plumbing and rainwater collection and storage would provide some measure of domestic comfort and security. However naively and unscientific at this point, it is this writer’s view that this would provide the beneficiaries with the means to greater success, and in turn greater social outcomes in the society at large. Throw in a means of controlling the sale and purchase of properties, such as a ‘Trust’, at least for the short term, (not that I’m for abdicating market forces), as a means of controlling speculation and with simple rules such as owners being occupants.

Will I be back? I don’t know.

TE

Kwa Heri Kijabe

Today is our last day in Kijabe, Kenya. Three weeks have come and gone quickly and tomorrow a company called Safe Ride Safaris will pick us up for a four-day safari in Lake Nakura and the Masai Mara. People at Bethany Kids and the AIC hospitals have been thanking me for coming and introducing speech-language therapy here, but honestly I feel as though I have learned more from being here than anyone else. In the photos immediately above and below, mamas and their babies are returning home after successful cleft lip surgery. They will return next year, when the babies are bigger and stronger, to tackle the closure of their palates.

I have met some amazing people. Below is a photo of Mercy (chaplain at Bethany Kids) and Ann (new speech therapy assistant at Bethany Kids). Ann is also Mercy's daughter. We were treated to a delicious Kenyan meal at their home last night. Mercy has told me now that I have "given birth" to speech therapy here, I have to keep feeding it, it's "my baby". Mercy has this hypnotic way of speaking that I could listen to for hours - a very wise woman. I feel a big responsibility on my shoulders to ensure that this new position and speech therapy service really work out here. To all my SLP friends back home, I'm gonna need your help!!

Here is my class . . . (L-R) Elizabeth, Carol, Joyce, Michael and Ann. A mixture of OTs, PTs and other support staff. Peter and Stanley were missing this day (both PTs). We spent a total of about 20 hours together, with me doing powerpoint presentations and leading discussions on the topics of cleft palate speech therapy, cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus and spina bifida, Down syndrome and autism. I tried to hit on all the patient populations they work with here. We accomplished alot together, including translating handouts for parents on ways to stimulate speech-language development now that their child's cleft lip/ palate has been repaired, as well as creating our own photo articulation test using all Kiswahili words!

Below is a photo of Ann, myself and a young lady named Francesca. Francesca is a child mentor at the hospital. She runs a playroom for the kids in addition to counseling the moms and providing support. She is truly a wonderful person who has had a very difficult life but has an unbelievable strength. I should really do a whole blog post on her life story. Just briefly, she was a patient at Bethany Kids as a young person (like many of the staff here actually) and lost her leg to spina bifida. Despite her own health issues, all the patients draw strength from her!

And here is Elvis! I know one is not supposed to have "favourites" but I can't help it. I really warmed to this little guy. He came from far away with his mom because, even though he had previously had his cleft palate repaired, he was having serious speech problems. In fact, when we assessed him, I realized I had never heard such a severe case of VPI in my career. That is, his soft palate (even though repaired) was just too short to do the job of closing off his nasal cavity from his oral cavity and his speech was excessively nasal. He had also developed all sorts of compensatory misarticulations such as trying to valve at the level of his glottis (vocal cords).

I have peered into the mouths of hundreds, if not thousands, of children in my job back home. It's part of doing a thorough speech assessment. But I have never seen such a deep pharynx - it was like looking into a cave. I asked the ENT surgeons if he could be considered a candidate for secondary surgery and they agreed. Elvis got a phayngeal flap and I was so happy for him. I also went in with Ann to watch the procedure - a great learning experience for both of us.

Here is Ann in her scrubes, getting ready to watch the surgery on Elvis.

A close-up of little Elvis . . . the surgery involves excising a piece of tissue from the posterior phayngeal wall and attaching it to the soft palate to bridge the gap. I went to see him several times after the surgery but could not get him to speak. I was anxious to hear if his hypernasality had been corrected or at least, decreased. However, Elvis was just too sore and groggy to speak and then was discharged two days later because the bed was needed. Hopefully, Ann will see him to follow-up at one of the mobile clinics the hospital organizes in his area.

Dr. Dan and Dr. Lousie (both from Canada) performing a cleft lip/ palate repair. Dr. Dan has been here for years and Dr. Louise was doing a short-term mission.

Two of the most disturbing and challenging cases she had were two eight-year-old boys, both from Mogadishu who were caught in crossfire and received terrible gunshot traumas to the face. Dr. Louise performed major reconstructive surgery to their little faces but obviously they are severely disfigured for life.

Ann and I were asked to see them for speech afterwards. I cannot put their photos on this blog as it is very upsetting to see. One boy lost one eye, has no nose left, no upper lip, no maxilla and no alveolar ridge. Amazingly, his speech is understandable because his tongue was not damaged. He makes lip sounds such as p, b, and m by closing his bottom lip against where his upper lip would have been. He has, in the short time since injured, developed all kinds of ways to compensate for missing oral structures and when I watched him and his mother interacting, I could tell there are very few instances of communication breakdown between them.

Here is one of my favourite signs so far. It says "Only God Knows Butchery". Kind of gives new meaning to the term "mystery meat" . . .

Ann and I, along with David the adminstrator of Bethany Kids Africa, did a day-long trip to Joytown Primary School for Children with Physical Disabilities in Thika, Kenya. I later wrote a short proposal for funds for a speech therapist. Most of the kids have severely disordered speech, secondary to cerebral plasy. It was a hard day for me, because there is just so much need there it almost overwhelmed me. But the fact that such a school exists, with staff dedicated to working with these kids, is encouraging.

Below is a photo of Frances, a little guy with hydrocephalus and spina bifida and a great sense of humour.

Hereis another little boy who could really use a picture communication book. He is nonverbal because of cerebral palsy.

Some of the kindergarten students . . . they later sang to me without any prompting. Of course I was delighted!

Driving back from Thika, beautiful tea farms everywhere. All Kenyans love their chai time, but it's their coffee that I love the most.

Baboons are a regular sighting on the front lawn of where we're staying. The babies hitch a ride on their mamas' backs.

Ted took a great shot of Mt. Longonot at evening from the front veranda of our place here.

Jackson and his adorable friend, Terryanne. Somehow they managed to communicate and play together and have lots of fun, despite the language barrier. I have never seen Terryanne without a huge smile on her face.

Many mornings, while I was at the hospital, Ted took the boys to the library at Rift Valley Academy (boarding school here) to do their work in a conducive environment. It's a huge campus with every amenity. I imagine some people choose to be missionaries here just to get their kids in such a great school.

Just one of the gyms at Rift Valley Academy. There are gyms, soccer fields, racquetball courts, tennis courts, basketball courts, a pottery studio, music roms, art studios, two libraries, a chapel, a huge cafeteria, the list goes on . . .

So tomorrow we head out on safari! On Mt. Longonot, we saw two cape buffaloes come stampeding the hill. On the way back from visiting Longiro, we saw zebras. And on the way back from Thika, we saw an elephant. So I kind of feel like I'm on safari already but looking forward to more animal sightings. Kwa heri for now!

More Photos of Longiro

We had a great visit with Longiro and learned so much more about him and his life. For example, he loves soccer (they call it football here) and his favourite team is Manchester United. His favourite subject in school is math and he thinks he would like to become a teacher when he grows up. He lives with his grandmother in a mud hut and his bed has no mattress - they use a cowhide attached to a frame instead. Mostly, it was wonderful to see how happy and outgoing he is and how well he is growing and developing. We are allowed to continue sponsoring him until he turns age 22. If he continues to do well in school, spomsorship money should enable him to go beyond high school and get a higher education (college or university).

We were disappointed that we could not drive all the way to Malaral, where he lives with his grandmother. It would have been wonderful to see his village and meet his extended family. But we were thankful that the visit was not cancelled altogether due to the "insecurity" (as they term it) in the area. We found out later that the Compassion staff came very close to cancelling the visit because of violence in the region, which would have been a huge disappointment.

The drive to meet him was long and uncomfortable, but that goes without saying in Kenya (or probably all of Africa for that matter). The roads are terrible, the vehicles barely roadworthy (we almost lost a wheel at one point - had to pull over on a busy highway to tighten the lug nuts!) One thing that helps to pass the time is to read all the strange and humorous signs along the roadway. Here are a couple of my favourites: "Mama Chika's Meat Centre and Hotel Lodging" - and then in fancy cursive script underneath - "also diesel and petrol". Kind of a one-stop shop, I guess. Another said "Cool Bar and Butchery". In fact, just about every butchery I've seen is a butchery plus something else, maybe hotel, maybe gas station, maybe photocopy place . . . strange.

We also crossed the equator and stopped for the photo op. Of course, someone was waiting there to relieve us of a few Kenyan shillings for the honour of crossing the equator. A man demonstrated how the water spins clockwise down a drain north of the equator and then counter-clockwise just south of the equator. So that was our science lesson for the day!

Some other funny things we saw on the way . . . little boys wearing Obama toques (he certainly seems to be revered here, not surprising) and we saw one little guy wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater. I commented that it was nice he was a fan but he should realize they will likely never win another Stanley Cup. Of course, he looked at me blankly. These clothes probably came all the way from Value Village - we see them for sale at very affordable prices for the local families at the markets.

Here are some more photos of our trip to see Longiro:

More Kenya happenings from Mitchell

Longiro, the boy we have been sponsoring through Compassion Canada:

Longiro (age 9) wearing his new Canada ballcap:

From Mitchell's Journal:

Kijabe, KENYA (Mt. Longonot Climb, visit with Longiro, and surgical observation)

On November 11, we climbed up Mt. Longonot (actually a volcano) with Ann (the lady Mom is training), Daniel (a friend), and the person who drove us there. It was a tough climb, especially for Mom and Jackson. We fell a couple times but we managed to make it to the rim of the crater. Once we got to the rim, we stopped and ate lunch. After that, me, Dad, Ann, Daniel and the driver decided to climb to the highest point of the crater, but mom and Jackson were too tired, so they stayed behind. Climbing to the summit was even tougher, but once we made it, we stopped and took some pictures and went back down. Even though it was hard, I had a lot of fun.

Animal crossing on the way to Mt. Longonot:

Heading out, Mt. Longonot in background:

Ann and Mom:

The summit in the distance:

Looking down into the crater from the top of Mt. Longonot:

Ann had no trouble except for slippy shoes:

Dad and me at the summit (I was the first one to reach the top):

Passing people coming up as we go back down:

A couple days later, we were going to drive to Maralal to visit our Compassion child Longiro. But because we would have to go through a dangerous route (Isiolo, where an attack had just occurred and 11 people were killed) , the Compassion staff who came with us had us stay at a hotel in a different town instead (Nanyuki). The drive was long, but it was even longer for Longiro. Once we arrived we waited a couple hours for Longiro so we were worried for him. Once Longiro arrived he came to our room and we talked with him and his social worker and then ate dinner in the restaurant. We also gave him a soccer ball, a Canada shirt and cap, some school supplies, and two mini sticks. It was late, so we all went to bed. The next morning, we played soccer for an hour, ate breakfast and then we drove Longiro home. It was sad saying goodbye, but we had a good time.

On Wednesday, we got to go to work and chapel with the E.N.T team. First, we went to chapel for half an hour. Afterwards, Jackson went home and Dad and I went to go watch surgery. First, we saw Dr. David and Dr. Kevin cut and dissect two cleft lips, and then we switched rooms to watch a cleft palate being repaired by Dr. John. We went back to the other room to watch the two cleft lips being stitched together. In the end, the little boy was healed and I thought it was very interesting and fun to watch. Here are some photos from the operating room:

Enter Dr. Mitch:

Me and Dad in scrubs:

Impano (Mom worked a bit with him) and his Dad - they came all the way from Samburu:

Impano, age 14, and this is his first surgery for cleft lip:

Impano and his Dad getting ready to go back home:

Dr. John, ENT from South Carolina:

Dr. John and team:

Dr David and Dr. Kevin (Dr. Kevin said he played alot of video games when he was my age and he thinks it may have improved his dexterity):

I really liked watching surgery:

Happy Birthday Jackson!

Walking in Kijabe . . .

Little girl standing in the "commercial district" of Kijabe . . .

The "Super-Duka" (grocery store) in Kijabe . . .

AIC (African Inland Church) Hospital Sign . . .

The Smile Train ENT Team . . .

Today is Jackson's 8th birthday and he's celebrating it here in Kijabe, Kenya. I'm pretty sure he's wishing he could be back in Ottawa, though, celebrating at a party with all of his friends. For his next birthday in 2010, he wants to do either a bowling party, Midway, or Ray's Reptiles. He's already planning it. We had a cake for Jackson and the whole ENT team was here to sing to him and share in a bit of a celebration. They have gone back to the States now while our family has one more week here.

Below is Jackson's favourite photo of himself taken on this trip, so he wanted us to post it today. This was taken in Alzonne, France at our friend Gerard's vineyard. A hunter named Rolland let Jackson hold his gun while he was out hunting for wild boar!

We had what I feel was the defining highlight of our trip just recently. We made a two-day excursion to the Kenyan village of Nanyuki to visit with Longiro, our Compassion child. We have been sponsoring Longiro for about three years, writing letters back and forth, telling him about our lives in Canada and learning about his life in Kenya. Mitchell wrote about this visit, as well as climbing My. Longonot and watching some cleft lip/palate surgery, so I will post that next.

News from Kijabe

Sasa from Kijabe!

Finally, we have found a place to access the Internet. Right now I'm in the town of Naivasha, near Kijabe. Usually Kijabe has Internet but it hasn't been working since we've been here (about one week now).

Slowly, slowly (pole, pole), I’m learning a little Kiswahili and Sheng to help me interact with patients and staff at the hospital. Actually not so much to converse with the staff, as they all speak very good English. Sheng is a sort of patois – a slang-like dialect that is a mixture of English and Kiswahili, with a few other languages borrowed from as well. It’s mostly spoken by the younger people here and, from what I can discern, the young people speak it to each other to keep their parents from knowing what they’re talking about. Sasa is a greeting, kind of like hey, how’s it goin’? It has been a bit of a surprise to us how widely spoken English is here, especially in Nairobi. English and Kiswahili are both official languages of Kenya. There are a multitude of tribal languages also, but Kiswahili seems to be the unifying language of both Kenya and Tanzania.

So we have been here in Kijabe for almost one week. It’s been very busy for me, volunteering as SLP at the AIC Hospital, but maybe a bit boring for Ted and the boys. We haven’t been able to post any updates on this blog, as connection to the Internet is very sporadic here. As they say here, TIA (this is Africa!)

We will be in Kijabe until the end of November. The first two weeks, I am part of a Smile Train ENT team that is here from the US. In this first week, the two ENT surgeons, along with one ENT resident and one plastic surgeon from Montreal, have repaired close to 60 cleft lip and palates. Also on this team are a nurse-anesthetist, two other nurses, and a family practitioner. These people are all in and out of the operating rooms so I don’t see a lot of them during the day. My role is a bit different. I have been asked to devote a good chunk of time to training a speech-language pathology assistant. She was hired just prior to my arrival. Her name is Ann and she is a lovely person. She is a Kenyan who speaks four languages (English, Kiswahili, Turkana and her native language, Kikuyu). She also has an undergraduate university degree in medical sciences. I think this is such a brilliant idea – truly sustainable in the sense that who better to deliver basic speech therapy than someone from the same cultural and language background. I hope we can cover lots of ground so she feels equipped for her new role. The third week it will be just Ann and me seeing patients (mostly children) together, as the ENT team will have left.

My assignment was pretty open-ended so to feel more organized and less anxious, I set up a schedule for myself. We have a teaching time the first and last hour of each work-day and the time in between, we see patients together, doing speech screenings, hearing screenings, dispensing solar-powered hearing aids, and demonstration speech therapy for the parents (usually moms). Ann is also helping to translate a couple of speech-language handouts for families into Kiswahili. After the first day, I was asked if the rehab staffs from the two local hospitals here could sit on the teaching sessions, so now I have a little “class” of 6 people (Ann plus three occupational therapists, one physiotherapist, and one support staff person). We meet in the small hospital library and I am so thankful that I have this laptop with me, with all my powerpoints and video clips loaded. Otherwise I would be creating a curriculum completely from scratch.

As for Ted, Mitchell and Jackson, they spend the mornings doing home-schooling, relaxing here in the house where the hospital has put us up (no TV once again), and in the afternoons they might go exploring a bit. Kijabe is very small. It’s a mission station. Most people here are working for one of the two hospitals, the Bible College, or the boarding school for missionary children. The patients come from all the outlying villages and they typically speak no English. One highlight for the boys has been the baboons that run around the front lawn. It sounds cute but they are actually quite dangerous. We’ve heard that the baboons have cornered, killed and eaten large dogs right here in Kijabe. The view from this house is amazing as well – a clear view of a volcanic mountain called Mt. Longonot.

Ted is also helping one of the doctors (the one from Kingston that facilitated us coming here) to construct some type of cistern to capture rainwater, as there are often drought-like conditions and a serious shortage of water.

I’ll try to post some more updates from Kijabe, if we can get through to the Internet from time to time. We have many great photos of Kijabe and kids who have had successful cleft lip/palate surgery at the hospital, but unfortunately none are loading right now. The Internet is just way too slow. I'll try again later . . . kwa heri (good-bye)!

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!