The DeWilde Journey

Questions and Lists

2009-07-21T20:24:00.000-07:00

"Would you do it again?" That's an easy question to answer. It gets a resounding, "Yes!" And so does the other question that usually gets asked before or after this one, "Are you glad you did it?"

The next one is "How have you changed?" and that is going to take awhile to answer. We know that what we have seen, heard, tasted, touched and experienced during the past year has already made an impact on us. But how it becomes woven into the fabric of who we are and the choices we make at any given point in our lives is going to take years to unfold. It's an unknown, but perhaps this is one of the most rewarding parts of this trip. A new adventure to be lived out.

While in Casablanca we started preparing for THE question everyone asks, "What was your favourite part of the trip?" The truth is, we don't really think of it as a Trip. It was a Journey. And we have lots of categories of Favourites. We had fun putting these lists together, and you'll see that we didn't stick to any rules about number of favourites!

Favourite Playground

- Kinsmen Park, Saskatoon, Canada

- St. Kilda's Adventure Playground, Melbourne, Australia

Favourite Places to Swim

- Rock Springs, Florida, USA

- Laguna de Apoyo, Nicarauga

- San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

- Tongelreep, Eindhoven, Holland

- White Beach, Philippines

- Falls at Banfora, Burkina Faso

Favourite Countries

- Philippines - the kids loved having other kids to play with

- Australia - great friends, great sights and all the comforts of home

- Canada - we are still here aren't we

- Nicaragua - lots to see and do and easy to get around (relatively speaking)

- Thailand - food, beaches and elephants

Favourite Bike Rides (this is really all our bike rides)

- Santa Monica, LosAngeles, USA

- Brisbane, Australia

- Ometepe, Nicaragua

- Holland - everywhere

Favourite Forms of Public Transporation

- rickshaw, Bangladesh

- moto trike, Philippines

- tuk tuk, Thailand

- Canadian school buses, Nicaragua

- London Tube, England

Favourite Books

- Elijah of Buxton, Christopher Paul Curtis

- Tales of Greek Heroes, Roger Lacelyn Green

- Penderwicks, Jeanne Birdsall

- Making Globalization Work, Joseph Stiglitz

Things Stolen

- one camera case - that was it!

Favourite New Foods

- Repocheta, Nicaragua

- Tom Yam soup, Thailand

- Gallo pinto, Nicaragua

- Roti by Bipul, Bangladesh

- Potato Corner Fries, Philippines

Favourite Places to Sleep

- on the beach at Bowron Lakes, BC, Canada

- Los Banos apartment, Philippines

- Elephant Nature Park, Thailand

- YMCA Geneva Park, Ontario, Canada

- sleeping outside at Parc W, Niger

Worst Traffic and Pollution

- Manila, Philippines

- Dhaka, Bangladesh

- Cairo, Egypt

Scariest Moments

- first zip line, Mombacho, Nicaragua

- shortcut between Clinton and Lillooet, BC

- driving in Bangladesh, anywhere

- driving to Batad (rice terraces) in the rain, Philippines

- learning all our flights were cancelled with 5 months left to go

Most Beautiful Views

- 12 Apostles, Great Ocean Road, Australia

- El Encanto, Ometepe, Nicaragua

- Whistler Mountain, BC, Canada

- Batad rice terraces, Philippines

- sunrise on Mt Sinai, Egypt

Traveling

2009-07-21T20:16:00.000-07:00

Hi, it's Simon, son in the Dewilde clan, and I have traveled the world. The first rule that we had was to have fun all the time. Another rule that we had was to pack light. The third rule that we had was to collect as many coins and bills from other countries as we could. Our last rule that we had was to book all of our flights ahead of time. Do not worry if you travel, you do not need to follow all of these rules.

One of the reasons that I like traveling is that it makes me feel so free. Another thing that I like is that I can go wherever I want.

If I were to do this trip again I would stay longer in Australia. I would also stay for a shorter time in Bangladesh. If I were to stay somewhere for more then one year it would be The Philippines.

The capital of the Philippines is Manila, and there is lots of smog. I would rather stay at our Los Banos apartment.

I think traveling is amazing! You should try it too!

By: Agent S

2009-07-21T17:18:00.000-07:00

We were back in our house only a couple days and unpacking all the boxes that had been in storage, when we noticed that Danielle had posted this note on her bedroom door, "Sorry it is messy but it is getting better and better - Danielle." We need one of those signs for the front door of the house! We've been back in Canada for three weeks, and there are still boxes in every room of the house - except, ironically, Danielle and Simon's rooms.

We left Niger with a real mix of emotions. It was hard to say goodbye again, especially after such a short visit. At the same time, as you can imagine, we were so excited to start the journey home. We weren't able to get out to the village where we had lived because the coming rainy season and an unreliable vehicle made it all a bit too tenuous. That was a big disappointment, but after a year of extraordinary experiences and so many plans that worked out so smoothly we can't spend too much time lamenting one thing that didn't happen.

Central market in Casablanca.

We spent two days and two nights in Casablanca, Morocco. Exploring the central market, playing on the beach, eating gelato and drinking fresh orange juice (not at the same time - that would be yucky!). We all agreed we'd like to go back.

Danielle outside our hotel room in Casablanca with braided hair and her new dress from Niger.

We moved back into our house the first week of July. John was back at work the following week. And then it was off to the cottage for a week because it's summer time in Canada. The weather has been unseasonably cold which has been a nice break for those of us who got way too much heat in West Africa - but we do feel bad for those who suffered through a cold winter and are longing for some nice warm summer days. Now we're back home and our only summer plans are catching up with family and friends.

This sunset picture was taken by Pam's dad last week at the cottage. It seems like a fitting picture to put at the end of a post about coming home. Our first stop when we left home on Day 1 of our journey was the cottage. We returned a year later with so much to celebrate and be thankful for. It reminded us of the most amazing sunset we saw as we landed at JFK airport. We had been circling in the air over New York City for almost an hour waiting out a thunderstorm. As we landed there were dark clouds encircling the city and we saw some spectacular lightning strikes. But behind the profile of Manhattan we saw one of the most golden sunsets we've ever seen. It was perfect. We had made it back across the ocean. We had traveled for 364 days and the next day would be a short hop to Toronto on Day 365 of our round the world journey. The scene of dark storm clouds kept at bay by the strength of the sun really was our "picture worth a thousand words" of thankfulness for a year of safety and good health, and experiences that we will cherish for the rest of our lives!

The flight to New York was our 26th flight in the year, and marked the first time not all our bags showed up on the luggage carousel. It would be another ten days before the two missing knapsacks were returned. They got separated from our other luggage during the stopover in Madrid, and then separated from each other. One bag went back to Madrid at least once. The other one bounced back and forth between New York and Toronto, and even Montreal, several times. It proved to be another good analogy of how we were feeling those first few days at home - just bouncing around, not really sure where to "land" and maybe a little bit reluctant to stop traveling.

Thanks to all of you who have been following our adventures, and for the words of encouragement that meant so much to us along the way. We hope that each day you experience the wonder and beauty of the world, no matter where you find yourself living and exploring it!

Time Flies

2009-06-18T09:40:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it? We're into T -10 days left on our journey. Our time in Niger has flown by and we still have much to do. Updating our blog has been hard since high speed internet has still not arrived in this country. However, there is no questionning the fact that we are thankful for each day that we are here. It means that the political situation remains stable enough for us to stay here. We continue to pray that the leaders of this country will choose to act in a way that is wise and just.

While here we have met up with old friends and made new ones. What an incredible feeling to shake the hand of someone you worked alongside 13 years ago! We have been greeted with big smiles and lots of laughter - they love the fact that John is still able to greet in the local Gourmantche language. We've spent 5 days with ACEN, the church association we worked and lived alongside. Our plans were to spend some time in the village and do some workshops. The rains have been coming and everyone is waiting for an opportunity to plant so things are constantly in flux. Our village stay was not possible (if it rained while we were there we could be stuck for well over a week) but we did manage to do most of the training. John did a few workshops on hygiene and sanitation. Pam drew from the wealth of resources developed by her colleagues back home and gave a workshop on the work of deacons in the local church. It felt natural to be working with poster paper under a tree, chickens and goats passing by, and groups of small children huddled nearby watching all the action.

A visit to our old village is still coming up (depending on the rain, of course). It just wouldn't seem right to leave Niger without having some millet and leaf sauce.

When not with ACEN we spend three or four mornings a week with the Sisters of Charity. They have a child survival program that includes growth monitoring, a dispensary and weekly food distribution. The Sisters are gracious and generous, as always, and we have met many other interesting expatriates volunteering. Over 10% of the children we see are severely malnourished and are kept for 2 weeks in a small hospital/clinic run by the Sisters. This has been hard to see and led to many good discussions with the kids.

Home schooling continues. We've been able to focus on a few art skills while here. Our friend Ardell is an art teacher, and she has taken us and her four children to visit some of the local artisans. One visit to learn soap stone carving and one to learn wood carving. As I write the kids are sewing wallets from local leather.

Our families have been having fun together. We recently spent three days "on safari" in a national wildlife park.

We've been staying in a family's house while they are on home service. Having a place to unpack is always a treat and we have been spoiled by having our cook from 13 years ago with us again. He didn't know we were coming so he was pretty surprised to see us! We also have a dog to look after for a few weeks.

We still have a few more things we'd like to do here and a few more people to see. Can we squeeze it all in?

The Candy Store People

2009-06-18T09:38:00.000-07:00

We have met extraordinary people in many different parts of the world this past year. Unfortunately we often have to say goodbye without really knowing when we might cross paths again. Only once have we met the same people in totally different countries. Sorry, that’s not entirely true. We met up with John’s parents in Thailand and in Holland. But with people we didn’t know before this trip – it’s only happened once. And it all started in a candy store.

We had just finished a tour of the The Rocks, a historical area in the city of Sydney, Australia. We stumbled across a candy store, aptly named Sticky, that produces homemade candy. You can watch the staff make the candy and then purchase it.

There was quite a crowd watching two men pull and roll a long rope of candy when we arrived. When they finished cutting it into small pieces, they offered a free bag to the person who had traveled the furthest. We thought we might be in the running, but a young woman spoke up and said, “Burkina Faso!” She was rewarded the bag of candy.

Burkina Faso is located in West Africa, and it borders Niger. If John and I hadn’t lived in Niger fifteen years ago, I’m certain we wouldn’t have known where Burkina Faso was. Turns out we’d been talking about Burkina Faso because we were still trying to find a place to study French during the two months we planned to be in West Africa.

We seized the opportunity to ask someone who apparently had been in Burkina. I introduced myself and explained that we were looking for any leads on possible language schools. If the young woman said her name I didn’t hear it. She was with a group of people that included other adults and some very young children. They appeared to be in a hurry to get going. She hastily wrote two email addresses on a flyer I had in my pocket, and that was the end of our conversation.

It wasn’t until we were in Bangladesh a few months later, and still looking for a language school, that I pulled out the addresses from “the woman at the candy store.” John wrote an email explaining who we were and how we came to have this email address. We weren’t entirely sure who we were writing to, and likewise, we didn’t know the name of the person who had given us the addresses!

We didn’t hear back from anyone, so we pursued other leads and eventually registered with a centre du formation recommended by a friend who had studied in the same place.

While in Egypt, we received a message from a woman named Bronwyn. She had received our email asking about French schools, apologized for taking so long to respond, and invited us to be in touch again when we arrived in Burkina Faso.

A couple days after settling in Ouagadougou, and buying a phone, I gave Bronwyn a call. She very graciously invited our family to come and have dinner with her and her husband. Near the end of the conversation I asked, “Do you know the name of the woman in Sydney who put us in contact with you?” Bronwyn said, “That was me!”

We had such a nice evening together. They have a pool at their house, so the kids appreciated a place to play and cool off. They have lived and travelled in many different parts of the world, so we had fun sharing stories. Of course, we brought along a bag of candies for our hosts, “the candy store people.”

Survival of the Coolest

2009-05-26T09:26:00.001-07:00

Staying cool in Burkina has nothing to do with what you wear or the people you hang out with. It has everything to do with trying to beat the extreme heat everyday!

When we arrived in Ouagadougou (the capital of Burkina Faso, West Africa) at 3:00am it was 33 C. We just about melted in the few minutes it took us to take off the jackets we'd been wearing on the plane. I don't know what the daytime temperature is - in fact, I don't really want to know - but it has to be in the 40's by the middle of the day (everyday!).

One way to beat the heat is to go for a swim. There is a small hotel with a swimming pool just down the road from our apartment. It's only a fifteen minute walk, but by the time we get to the pool we often are tempted to do a Nestea plunge. I don't think the pool staff would be very happy if we did. We bought a membership for the pool, and are here three or four times a week.

The electricity is often out for a few hours each day. Sometimes it happens when we are in French class in the morning, or in the afternoon when we are trying to do school work. If there is no electricity, we opt for school by the pool.

Another way to beat the heat is to have short hair. Really, really short hair. Since the photo at the pool was taken, John has completely shaved his head. No hair! I'm not sure it really helps keep him cool because he has to wear a hat or risk getting his head sunburned. He looks "cool" though!

Danielle sat patiently for 3 1/2 hours while having her hair braided. Each braid had "mesh" (fake hair) braided into it, to keep it strong. At the end of each braid there is a bead - 98 beads in total. She managed to keep them in for two weeks.

We do have an air conditioner in our apartment, but the cost of electricity makes it too expensive to have it on all the time. Fortunately there has always been power during the night, so we always have it on and are grateful for a comfortable sleep.

Electricity is like "pay as you go". Only once did we run out during the night, then we figured out where the counter is and made sure it's always loaded for the entire day.

We are in French class five mornings a week. Danielle and Simon are in a class together, learning to sing in French, conjugate verbs, and all kinds of vocabulary. They seem to really enjoy the different teachers they have each day, and are slowly starting to put what they are learning into use with the people they meet. John and I are in a different class, and we too have great teachers. We're reviewing all the things we learned 15 years ago and, of course, learning lots of new things too.

The director of the French school, Jacqui, has been an extraordinary host. She found us a place to stay that is only a two minute walk from the school. She also made arrangements for someone to come and help us look after the house and cook the main meal of the day. She's taken us on various "field trips" in and around Ouaga, and she even acted as "tour guide" when we traveled to the city of Bobo-Dioulasso for a weekend.

Bobo is in the western region of Burkina Faso. It is a little bit cooler than Ouaga. Two highlights (we never just have one!) of our weekend: playing in the waterfalls near Banfora. We would have liked to have stayed the entire day but Jacqui had other sites for us to visit. The second highlight was seeing wild hippos in Lake Tengrela. There are about 20 who share the lake with the fishermen and villagers who live in the area. We were able to see a group of 5. We were only able to see the tops of their heads and their ears when they popped their heads' up out of the water. During the day they stay submerged in the water. At night they stay in the bush eating grass and other plants. As we were leaving the area, one hippo gave us a great big open-mouthed smile (or maybe it was a yawn). Simon said, "wow, that's a once in a lifetime thing to see!"

Thanks for all the e-cards, emails and birthday wishes that were sent to John and I recently!

John's birthday fell on a national holiday in Burkina. Instead of giving us a day off, or taking a day off herself, Jacqui organized another field trip. One of the sites we visited was a small farm where a French couple have been raising goats and making goat cheese for ten years. John and I love goat cheese (mainly because we are lactose intolerant and can't eat other cheeses). So, buying fresh goat cheese was a treat.

I've had my birthday this month too. The day before, we went out for dinner at a restaurant with fantastic thin-crust pizza. We tried to go to a dance performance at the French cultural centre, but got the location wrong. On my birthday we were invited out for dinner with "the candy store people." I'm going to save that story, and who they are, for another posting.

Making our way in Madrid

2009-05-13T08:45:00.000-07:00

by John

Madrid was not on our original list of places to visit, but when we had to pass through on our way from Egypt to West Africa, it seemed like a good way to practice the Spanish we had learned earlier in Nicarauga.

Madrid is a beautiful city teeming with cafes, restaurants and art galleries. Stuff any 9 or 11 year old would love (or not). Our 7 days there were full, as always, and we had an interesting and pleasant time there. Here are a few of our impressions – things that surprised us and highlights.

- Eating dinner at 9:00 pm is hard to get used to.
- Cafes not opening until well after 8:00 am or 9:00 am is hard for John to get used to (Starbucks opened early though).
- Stuff is expensive. Spain is not the poor cousin in Europe.
- When you order a hot chocolate you are not supposed to drink the melted chocolate syrup they give you. It is for dipping churros in – great once you figure out the system.
- Getting just a "regular coffee" is next to impossible unless you go to Starbucks.
- Cien Montaditos – one hundred sandwiches each for 1 to 1.5 Euros. A real find when you are on a budget (photo)

- Iberian Ham and the Museum of Ham – Mardrillenos love their ham and so do I.
- Toledo was once the centre of weapon making in Europe and Simon just had to have a small sword. We had a wonderful day on our day trip to this historic town (photo)

- Strawberries grow on trees. Not really but Madrillenos believe this is the case. Their symbol is a bear trying to reach up a strawberry tree.
- Bull fighting is hard to pin down but is very big in Madrid. We didn’t go but met some students who did and they were disgusted. We saw a bit of it on TV and it seemed like a dance – we didn’t see the gory parts though.
- Our Spanish language skills are barely past functional and the kids did learn a tonne. They often had to add a word for us.

Now it's time to pack our bags and prepare for West Africa. Allons-y!

Everyone wants to be an Egyptologist

2009-04-30T02:06:00.000-07:00

Egypt was completely overwhelming and awesome. Simon had put Egypt on our itinerary because of years of study at school. We all came away with a new appreciation and interest in Egypt and its past. Pictures, since they tell a thousand words, may be the best way to summarize our time there.

Here we are at the 4,500 year old Pyramids in Giza - we were lucky enough to walk into the Great Pyramid next door to this one.

This should give you some scale of the pyramids - a great puzzle for a civil engineer.

Manar, our guide in Cairo, was a wealth of information. Simon is on overload already.

After an overnight train to Aswan we boarded a boat and were off to see the temples along the Nile. Here is the temple of Philae, rebuilt stone by stone on higher land after dams were built on the Nile and flooded its original location.

The Temple of Kom Ombo - the heiroglyphs and images kept us all fascinated with their stories. Imagine all this in colour as it would have been 2,000 years ago.

The boat was a wonderful reprieve from the heat and the kids enjoyed the company of a few other children.

The Valley of the Kings - 62 tombs found so far and there is much left to explore and discover. We entered three of the tombs and each was unique and fascinating (no pictures allowed though). It was in this area that King Tut's tomb was discovered.

The Temple of Queen Hatshepsut - if you get a chance to read her story in a recent National Geographic you should. The movie is coming out soon.

After Luxor we made a quick hop to Sharm el Sheik and a morning swimming with the fishes. That same night we climbed Mt Sinai and started our 300th day on the road watching the sunrise.

After 10 days we were back in Cairo and our amazing history lesson was complete. Acutally this introduction just whet our appetite and perhaps one of us will become an Egyptologist.

At Home in Holland

2009-04-27T08:05:00.000-07:00

When we stepped off the Ryan Air plane (that’s a story in itself) in Holland it felt like we were coming home. Uncle Rick, John’s brother, and his family live in Eindhoven. We stayed with them for more than two weeks a couple years ago, so stepping back into their home felt very familiar. It was a familiarity and an “at home” feeling that came at a good time on our journey. We can see the finish line, so to speak. Yet, there are still lots of adventures, and the need for the same energy and stamina we’ve needed for the past 9 months, to tackle what still lies ahead of us. Somehow sleeping in a familiar room, sitting on a familiar couch, and still knowing where the candies are hid in the kitchen cupboard, gave us an unexpected boost.

Danielle, Simon and their cousin Joram were inseparable the last time we were here – except they didn’t sleep in Joram’s room. This time all three slept in the same room, and except for the times that Joram was at school, the three cousins were playing together. That was an extraordinary gift for Danielle and Simon. They’ve been missing their friends at home so someone to play with full-time came at a good time for them. They also had the opportunity to go to school for a morning with Joram. There was a special Easter breakfast and gym class. Fortunately the kids didn’t need much Dutch and the nervous teacher didn’t need much English to get through a morning of eating and playing. It is worthy of note that Joram did very well as a simultaneous translator during a short story time that morning!

Danielle and Opa out for a bike ride.

We spent Easter weekend further north, close to Steenwijk, with John’s parents, Rick’s family, and more relatives! As you can imagine, there was lots of coffee, biking, swimming at an indoor pool, Easter Egg hunts, and chocolate. The holiday park was next to the national Weerribben park that consists mainly of peat bogs. We spent one very pleasant late afternoon and evening boating about the canals.

Captain on the high "peats" of the Weerribben

We weren’t able to fill our bags with all the treats we usually bring home after a trip to Holland; however, tucked into our hearts is a little piece of “home” that we’ll savour during the coming few months.

Walking in London

2009-04-07T07:08:00.000-07:00

Harry Potter Walk
by Simon

The Harry Potter movies were filmed in London. I have read all the books and seen all the movies that have been made. I went on a Harry Potter walk and learned some unique facts.

- The Leaky Cauldron is actually an optometrist shop and the only part that you’ll remember from the movie is the round door.
- One of JK Rowling’s friend’s last name was Potter and she liked the name Harry so the character of Harry Potter was born.
- Gringott’s Bank was filmed in Australia House. We tried to get in to see it but the area is closed to the public.
- The names Snape and Hermoine are the names of villages in England.
- When JK Rowlings thought of platform 9 ¾ in King’s Cross Station she was actually at Euston Station sitting in between platforms 9 and 10. King’s Cross Station is where her parents first met.

The London Eye
by Danielle

The London Eye was my favourite thing in London because I like going up high and I got to see the city with my Grandma and Poppa. You can see the Eye from many places in London.

To get out tickets Poppa had to stand in line for over half an hour. We looked at several street performers, mostly people who were pretending to be funny statues.

We went through security and got on the pod with about 20 people in total. The ride takes about 30 minutes to go all the way around. One of my favourite parts is when we were at the very top. From the top you could see Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, and the Big Ben clock tower. My other favourite thing was when they took our picture. Simon and I made funny faces – we did not buy the picture.

Because We Visited Bangladesh

2009-04-07T06:57:00.000-07:00

When we got on the plane out of Bangladesh in the wee hours of the morning, both Pam and I thanked God that we made it out safely. We found this to be the toughest country we’ve lived in so far, but you know that a challenge can only mean great opportunities for learning and unique experiences.

Some of the things that will remain with us are: the sheer number of people who live here, the constant staring, and the opportunities we had to see and experience village life.

There are people everywhere. In the city there is a constant press of people. Even in the country-side you can never be in a place and not see someone around. In the rare case you are alone there will undoubtedly be someone along within a second or two.

Staring is completely acceptable in Bangladesh. It even gets special mention in the travel book. As one of the few white families in the town we lived in, we were constantly stared at. Often we would be shouted greetings as we passed by, or asked where we had come from by complete strangers on the street. Most times this was fun but sometimes it was very intimidating. In one instance, we were waiting in a train station and a circle of twenty people surrounded us to simply stand and stare. We`re so unaccustomed to staring that it even felt awkward to stare back, but with some practice we could do it too!

Our volunteer work involved visiting a number of rural villages. We met with small groups of men and women who, with the help of CRWRC`s partners, are gaining literacy skills, learning new farming techniques, establishing small savings and loans accounts, and challenging some harmful cultural practices, such as early marriage and dowry. We were in the small town of Birisiri and surrounding villages for ten days. We also visited groups in the Gozni, Jamalpur and Netrakona areas. This was a great chance for all of us to see what life is like in rural Bangladesh. John gathered stories that will be helpful in promoting the work of CRWRC and its partners. Pam helped develop some training modules around the subject of `gender and development`, and gathered some stories about positive changes happening for women and girls.

The children enjoyed seeing (and chasing) the animals (dogs, goats, chickens) and playing with other kids. Sometimes when the adults were meeting we had to ask Simon and Danielle to go far away from the group because they always attracted such a large crowd of children. Playing was not easy without language but we quickly learned that all you really need is a ball to throw around. The kids really enjoyed riding around on motorcycles along dusty roads and narrow paths through the rice paddies.

It is very easy to see the hurdles – cultural, political and environmental - facing the future of this country, but during our stay it was the strength and resilience of the people, and the commitment of those we met who are living and working alongside them, that made a lasting impression.

The Sundarbans

2009-04-06T11:53:00.000-07:00

After spending the majority of our time in Bangladesh in the central and northern area, we decided we’d end our time here with a cruise in the southern region of the country. The Sundarbans are the largest mangrove forest in the world. They are a natural UNESCO World Heritage Site, and home of the endangered Bengal tiger.

There is a poster in Bangladesh that has been in circulation for at least a decade. It has a picture of a Bengal Tiger and the caption says, “Visit Bangladesh before the Tourist Comes.” “… the Tourist …” Singular. Not a typo. The tourist industry in Bangladesh is still very small.

Our three day tour included two overnight bus trips (read “two long sleepless bus rides”), two full days of cruising on the boat to the Bay of Bengal and back, and a full day exploring various parts of the mangrove. The boat slept 30 people and our group consisted of 8 Westerners and about 15 Bengali men. This included a group of men who are part of a Tourist Club. They were a noisy group, and their loud voices and chattering pretty much ensured we would not see any wildlife during our tour. Oh well, it was part of the cultural experience, right?

Our tour guide dedicated himself to scaring the pants off of us as we walked through the forest. He pointed out the “tiger ferns” that are perfect camouflage for the tiger.

“The tiger could be sitting 3 metres away from us right now and we’d never know it”.

“They pounce on your neck and kill you instantly”.

We met a man who had been chased by tigers twice and saw one just yesterday. To add to the effect we always walked with an armed forest guard. We did not see a tiger and learned later that it is very rare to see them.

We did, however, see deer, beautiful king fishers and dolphins on the cruise up and down.

We saw one monkey. When we asked our guide what kind it was he replied, “a local kind, small.” This pretty much sums up the quality of the information he shared with us during the tour.

The highlights for all us were just being out of the city and seeing a different part of the country. We appreciated the chance to lie on the deck in the evenings and watch the stars. We also appreciated the company and the chance to meet and chat with new friends.

Sharing Time

2009-03-15T08:53:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago Danielle and I went to a club for kids who live in the slum surrounding the local railway station. The club is run by the Taize Brothers. It was our second visit to the club. In the late afternoon , the kids play games, sing songs, and have a snack. Our family is a real hit. The kids hang all over us and pull us in every direction to be a part of what they are doing. Danielle is a particular attraction. All the girls swarm around her and want to touch her hair. She has been very patient with it all and just wants to hold the little babies who come with their older sisters.

There are 45 kids in the club and only 7 of them attend some form of school. Most of them collect plastic, tin and paper that they can sell for a few pennies. At the club they had some sharing time. It was an eye-opener for us and I wanted to share what we heard with you. Three boys about 9 to 11 years old were asked to talk about their day. The first boy said he got up, washed his face and went to the market to beg. He got three little fish and 5 taka (about 10 cents). He did not eat lunch. The second boy said he got up, washed his face, and went to the market to sell a few vegetables. He made 30 taka from that and gave it to his parents. He did not have lunch. The third boy also got up, washed his face and a man asked him to help move boxes. He spent the morning moving boxes with a friend. At the end of the job the man paid the other boy but not him. He argued and cried that he had done the same work but the man refused to pay. He did not have lunch.

This is the daily life of these children. It is so far removed from our own that we don’t even know where to begin in response. We are thankful for the commitment and compassion of the Taize Brothers. By encouraging and supporting them in small ways, we are blessed by the big things they are doing in these children’s lives.

The Canadian Kite Flyer

2009-03-11T18:21:00.000-07:00

Here is a story (in several parts) that illustrates the place we are in, Danielle’s perseverance and the adventures we have daily.

There are kids everywhere flying little paper kites. Some kids fight their kites and various trees and power lines are littered with kites

Danielle wanted to fly a kite like the other kids. I thought the kids were making their kites so we started by making a kite with a plastic bag and twigs and found some light string we wrapped around a piece of bamboo.

There was not a lot of wind but these are all very light kites and we were off to a local open lot. To get to the lot you walk out our dirt courtyard, down a small road with shops and jump over an odorous open sewer. The whole walk you are greeted by people asking your name and country. The lot is surrounded by brick walls and the people who have houses on the other side just dump their garbage on the lot. That day there was a man weaving a rattan mat on the lot and some older kids playing soccer.

Danielle would get the kite going but it kept coming back to earth. To try and get it up she was running in and amongst the piles of garbage and the soccer game but kept running out of room.

One man took the kite when it fell and tried to fix it. He looked at another boy’s for ideas. Finally he just ripped the string off the other boy’s kite and ties the kite to Danielle’s string. Some older boys try to help get it going but Danielle can’t manage to keep it in the air. Another man says she needs a bigger kite and sends a boy off to get one. We still can’t get that one going.

Some other kites were fighting nearby and one kite broke free so all the kids ran after it. The recovered kite finally came back to Danielle – we now have three kites. I try to give one or two back but they won’t accept them. Finally I manage to get the small kite back to the first boy who lost his. We now have two kites, some string and the story continues.

Please Raise Your Hand ...

2009-03-06T03:41:00.000-08:00

This poll is for all adult males reading this blog.

Please raise your hand if you have ever had your armpits shaved by a barber using a straight-blade.

Perhaps it only happens in Bangladesh.

Today in town we saw a man sitting in a barber's chair about to have his armpit shaved. There are barbers everywhere you look along the street in town. They set up a chair in what we would consider the most unlikely of places. The man we saw was sitting on a chair in an open yard along the side of the road.

I almost fell out of the rickshaw we were riding in as I twisted around to try and verify what I had just seen. Then I nearly fell out from laughing so hard!

Sorry, I didn't have my camera with me today.

Rickshaws

2009-02-26T20:32:00.000-08:00

A rickshaw is a bike with a seat for two or three people in the back. A wallah is the driver of a rickshaw. Normally a rickshaw costs around 20-25 takas (40 cents) for a ride that lasts 10-20 minutes. A rickshaw driver usually rents his rickshaw from an owner. He earns about 100-200 taka a day after paying the rent. We usually travel in the town. If there are two people on the rickshaw you sit side by side. If there are three people, one person sits on top of the seat with their legs around someone and their feet on someone's lap, and the other two people sit side by side. It is fun because it is not as noisy as a car. It is not fun when you have to go over big bumps like train tracks. I have seen so many rickshaws that I cannot count them. A woman has never been a wallah because women in Bangladesh have to be at home taking care of everyone, including the house.

This boy is not a wallah. He just wanted to be in the picture. Wallah's are teenage boys or adult men.

In Bangladesh

2009-02-23T03:44:00.000-08:00

Written by Danielle, Simon and Pam while John is teaching English

We are all learning to write our names in Bangla script.

What we’ve been eating in Bangladesh

Since coming to Bangladesh we have had rice for two meals a day. We are not cooking our own meals, so we are eating Bangla food everyday. Curry is served with each meal. Most of the time there is chicken with the curry. It is spicy. Another typical dish that we have with almost every meal is dahl. It is a type of curry that looks like soup. We also have mixed fried vegetables like onions, potatoes, cauliflower, cabbage and peppers mixed with curry. Sometimes there is fish instead of chicken.

For breakfast we have roti and fried eggs. Roti is a flatbread like a big tortilla.

After eating the same thing for two weeks, it is starting to taste like cardboard.

We often eat with our hands, only our right hand. The left hand is for using in the bathroom. Don’t worry, we still use toilet paper that we bring ourselves. When eating with your hand, you mix all the different foods together with the rice. When everything is mixed together then you eat it. It is important to wash your hands before and after each meal.

We went to a wedding in Birisiri. This is the rice that was prepared for all the guests.

The only place to find pizza and spaghetti is in an American restaurant in the capital city of Dhaka. We have not been to one of these places yet. We are looking forward to going next week.

Where we’ve been staying in Bangladesh

We have stayed in three different places in Bangladesh. When we arrived we stayed in Dhaka for only a few days. We stayed at a guesthouse that is like a simple hotel. Most of our time has been in the city of Mymensingh. It is north of Dhaka.

When we are in Mymensingh we live in an apartment. We have a cook named Bipul. He only cooks Bangla food. At the apartment there are lots of kids around who like to play cricket and badminton. They like to stand and play very close to us, so we have to be careful that no one gets in our way, or gets hurt. We bought a cricket bat at a fair, and badminton raquets at a small store.

We are in the town of Birisiri, which is close to the northern border with India, for ten days. We are staying at the YMCA. It costs $5.00 at night for a room. We think maybe it would get a half-star rating. Fortunately it is not dirty, just run down. And the only bugs are lots of mosquitoes at night. We sleep under a mosquito net.

We have traveled from Birisiri to several different villages. We often travel by motorcycle. It is fun. Danielle wrote a song about riding on a motorcycle. The scenery is beautiful. We see many rice fields. We also see the hills that make up the border with India. The air is much better in Birisiri and the villages than in the other cities. However, the villages and travelling on the dirt roads is very dusty.

This is Danielle (and Simon) riding on the back of a motorcycle near Birisiri.

What we are wearing in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh all women wear a sari or a salwar kameez and orna. A sari is one very long piece of cloth that is wrapped around your body many times. A salwar kameez is a long shirt worn over baggy long pants, and the orna is a scarf you wear around your shoulders. The saris and salwar kameez come in many different colours and patterns. Danielle and Pam each have two salwar kameez.

Many men wear shirts and long pants. Almost all the farmers and rickshaw drivers wear a shirt and a lunge. A lunge is a piece of cloth wrapped around your waist like a skirt. Simon bought a lunge in the market. His is blue with white stripes.

Staring in Bangladesh

In the Bangladesh travel book it said that it is very common for Bangladeshi people to stare at foreigners. We experience this all the time. It is also very common for crowds of people to form where you are standing. Here are four questions we are asked more than once every day: “What country are you from?”, “How long are you staying in Bangladesh?”, “What is your name?”, and “What do you think of Bangladesh?”

Everyone we have met has been very nice to us. They tell us how happy they are that we have come to visit their country. Everywhere we visit we have to sit and drink tea and eat cookies. The tea is very, very sweet. Simon and Danielle have drunk more tea in Bangladesh than they have in their entire life. They like all the sugar, and they like the cookies.

Not many people come to visit Bangladesh but they are missing a country with beautiful people.

A Day at Elephant Nature Park

2009-02-12T00:36:00.000-08:00

by John

You've heard a few snippets about Elephant Nature Park (ENP). I'd like to give you a general idea of our time there.

A typical day was:

7:00 - Breakfast. After our long days this required several alarms each morning.

8:00 - Chores. Scooping oxen poop, elephant poop or cat poop.

9:00 - Project. This could be cleaning the oxen poop from the elephant mud pit; building a fence for a poop pit (do you sense the theme here?); or some other project. One morning we went to a local school and tried with limited success to entertain them with some camp songs.

11:00 - Feeding the baby elephant.

11:30 - Elephant feeding. Feeding them bananas, squash, corn from a large platform.

12:00 - Lunch. A huge buffet of Thai food and fruit.

1:00 - Elephant bathing. A walk to the river to splash and scrub the elephants.

2:00 - Project. This was cutting banana trees for food; vanishing a bamboo house; or, hiking to Elephant Haven/Heaven.

4:00 - Afternoon feeding and bathing.

5:00 - A video or talk or some free time. Almost all the bits of free time we had the kids helped out making elephant food, husking corn or de-seeding pumpkins.

6:30 - Dinner. A scaled down version of lunch.

7:30 - A talk, a cultural activity, a Thai massage or a bit of school work.

9:00 - Lights out after a look at the stars.

As an added bonus to the week there was another family at the park (from Denmark) and 13 children from an orphanage on the Burma/Thailand border. This is the most children they have had at the park and they did well to accomodate everyone.

During our time there we heard the stories of many of the elephants (there are currently 36 at ENP), got to know the behaviours of the elephants and gained a good understanding of what ENP is trying to do. Our time here was rewarding and educational, and affected our outlook on animal treatment.

Saving a Tree

2009-02-12T00:18:00.000-08:00

by Simon

In the picture I am saving a tree in Elephant Heaven. The Elephant Heaven was made by Lek before Elephant Nature Park (ENP). Lek and every other staff member's goal is to stop elephant trekking, begging and circus acts, and to stop the cruel way they train elephants for these things.

We want to save the trees because when people cut them down they are destroying the elephants' habitat. By destroying their habitat they will make the 600 wild elephants in Thailand decrease in number by more each year.

The crazy thing is that there are also 1500 domesticated elephants. That's like three time as many as wild. Many of them used to be involved in logging until it was banned. Now these umemployed elephants are used for trekking and other tourist things.

The robes that you use to save a tree come from a Buddist temple, and they have holy water on them. The reason you can't cut down a tree with a non-faded robe is people believe cutting the tree will give you bad luck for the rest of your life. The reason I say, "non-faded," is because if it is faded you can cut it down and not have bad luck. We saw trees with several old and new robes on them.

I really liked Elephant Heaven but I only got to stay there for one night. I stayed at ENP for seven days minus the day in heaven.

My favourite things to do at ENP was feeding the elephants and cleaning their mud pit. We fed them corn, bananas, winter melon and pumpkin. Two times a day you feed them by placing the food close to their trunk, then they grab it by curling the end of their trunk around the food and putting it in their mouth.

The elephants like to play in the mud pit after having a bath in the river.

Why I Didn't Ride an Elephant in Thailand

2009-02-11T23:59:00.000-08:00

by Danielle

Everyone thinks that Thailand is famous for riding elephants. I thought so too! So, I was looking forward to riding an elephant at the place we stayed called Elephant Nature Park (ENP).

At the Elephant Nature Park they rescue badly hurt elephants and treat their wounds, and give them positive reinforcement. Lek is the founder of the place and she would do anything if it meant saving all the elephants in the world. She even already changed her family name because her family did not agree with her.

On the first day at ENP we saw a movie about why they don't ride elephants at the park. They don't ride elephants because when all elephants in Thailand are 3 or 4 years old their owners put them in something called a crush. It is a small wooden box and they put nails on the end of a stick and poke the baby elephant for 3-7 days. The crush is part of the training of elephants for riding, painting, logging and street begging.

Lek says elephants can be trained with love. Pom was the second person to work with Lek. She can get an elephant to kiss. It started when Pam put some cream on her leg and the elephant liked the smell so it gave her an elephant kiss.

I loved giving the elephants a bath two times a day. And I even liked the elephant kiss.

Saying Goodbye

2009-02-04T05:34:00.000-08:00

Our time in the Philippines has come to a close and we’ve had to say many sad goodbyes. We experienced the hospitality of the Philippines and the kids said they did not want to leave because they’d met so many special people.

Apart from visits to the hospital and seeing sights, you may be wondering what we did during our time here. We spent time doing school work, hanging out with our new friends and some volunteer work with CRWRC. The children were able to volunteer at a Christian school similar in size to the one they attend at home. For several mornings they worked with the kindergarten class – reading, teaching some games, and helping with learning activities. Pam met with several local churches to talk about how they identify service opportunities in their communities, similar to the work she does back at home. John made a trip to the south of the Philippines (Butuan in Mindanao province) to visit a number of projects and made some comments on environmental issues.

Our time here gave us a good perspective of what CRWRC is doing in the Philippines. Joe Lamigo is the team leader and we have history with Joe that goes back 15 years when we all worked in West Africa. He has faithfully worked to develop partnerships and networks that are doing great things. One of the projects John got to see was a peace building group. They have amazing stories of brokering peace in an area near Butuan. This is being followed up with community development that offers people hope and opportunities for a sustainable livelihood.

White Beach and Pagsanjan Falls

2009-02-04T05:22:00.000-08:00

Sorry - the computer we're working with today doesn't have enough muscle to let us load pictures. We'll update with photos soon ....

We love to be on, in or under the water. The Philippines is an archipelago of 7000 islands, so you can imagine there is lots of water around to enjoy. We’ll share with you two experiences – one involves beautiful white sand and clear blue water at White Beach; and, the other involves muddy brown water that cascades and flows out of the hills in the southern part of Luzon island at Pagsanjan.

Our trip to White Beach started with a bus ride in very windy weather. There was talk of a typhoon coming but when we got to the ferry in Batangas the seas were relatively calm. And the water was fairly calm for most of the trip but our little outrigger did take in some water, and there were some green looking people when we finally arrived at White Beach.

It is a small community, basically a small strip of restaurants, souvenir shops, dive shops and more restaurants along the beach. We stayed in a small seaside chalet and ate every meal with our feet in the sand. John took an introduction to scuba diving course and spent a full hour under water exploring a reef. As a family we snorkelled at a coral reef and around some huge oysters (unfortunately we do not have a waterproof camera so you’ll have to imagine the photos). Danielle got her hair braided and Simon managed to escape without a tattoo.

The area surrounding Pagsanjan Falls is considered the “Hollywood” of the Philippines. Many people will say that you have not seen the Philippines if you have not been to the falls at Pagsanjan. There are several falls set in a lush ravine and boatmen paddle and pull you up the river and then steer you back down. We travelled there with a group of students from Dordt College who were filming in the area. The falls were nice and all but what has caused the most discussion in our family was the pressure to tip. When we paid for our tickets we were told what an appropriate amount for a tip was. The whole way up the river the boat men would huff and puff and make a dramatic scene of the effort they were expending along with comments about “hard work ma’am”. There was no other discussion or attempt to be a friendly host. Just a lot of talk of the hard work and need for a good tip. For me a tip is expected in some situations (i.e. a restaurant) and sometimes can be considered a wage (i.e. airport porters) but a generous tip (i.e. a bonus) is for work above and beyond the call of duty. In the end our tip was deemed inadequate by our boatmen. That was OK by me and I think there are many other situations that we have come across more worthy of tipping.

PS – we had a great time hanging out with the Dordt students for a few days. The CRWRC people helping them out organized a Balut Night (Google that if you don’t already know). Pam and Simon had a little taste (but not the whole thing) but we certainly couldn’t keep up with the students – some of whom had more than one. For what its worth we did eat the durian and enjoyed it. Durian is a fruit famous for its bad smell.

Life in Los Banos from Simon's Perspective

2009-01-09T01:12:00.000-08:00

We live in Bernardo Village, Road 4, yellow gate, unit 3. We live in an apartment with five other families. We only know two really well. We know Lem and family, and Ivar and family. The apartment also has a flat roof, perfect for lighting fireworks and playing tag.

We live close to a street that normally has lots of 3-wheeled motorbikes. To take a trike to the closest supermarket they will make you pay about 7-8 pesos per person. Los Banos is famous for coconut pie or Buko pie. It is also famous for its one and only Mer-Nel chocolate cake place. Los Banos also has many internet cafes and restaurants.

This is a trike with lots of kids in it. Kids fit better than my day.

I like Los Banos mostly because there is less pollution than in Manila.

A few minutes after it became 2009. On the water tower on our roof.

Our New Year's Eve of 2008 was the loudest that I have ever had. I saw at least 500 fireworks. Some were just a big bang, but others were really pretty. We spent close to that whole night with our neighbours. We played games, watched tv, lit fireworks and watched fireworks. It was one of my favourite New Year's Eves ever. I wish that they could make no-smoke fireworks because the only downfall was that the air had a very thick layer of smoke.

Life in Los Banos from Danielle's Perspective

2009-01-09T00:59:00.000-08:00

First our house/apartment is small. In the living room, which is attached to the kitchen, we have a fridge, two lounge chairs, and inbetween the two lounge chairs there is a small table. In the kitchen we have our dining table, four plastic chairs, sink and counter. We also have a pantry with the normal stuff in it. And both bedrooms are also normal like our rooms at home. The bathroom is a little smaller than normal but it is good. I think normally we are supposed to do our school in the morning and in the afternoon play with Wakim and Jako, or go out somewhere. Sometimes we don't because we have to go out in the morning. For example, we sometimes help the teachers and students in Kinder 2 at Grace Christian Community School.

Christmas and New Year's in the Philippines: Christmas was out of the ordinary because we were at the rice terraces, it was hot, and we did not really know what we were doing. That is ok. I don't know if going to the rice terraces was the best part of our trip. I think it is second on the list. (First on the list is Bowron Lakes or Volcano Masaya). Now I'm going to talk about New Year's Eve. Fireworks are all day because there is no snow. And we ate to keep ourselves awake. New Year's was not that organized either because everyone has a different watch time, so everyone just says it is New Year's.

These are the rice terraces at Batad.

This is me and my neighbour, Bunny, on New Year's Eve.

Happy New Year 2009!

2009-01-01T05:35:00.000-08:00

A Journey to the North - Part 1

2009-01-01T05:24:00.000-08:00

During the Christmas Break we traveled to the northern mountain provinces of Ifugao and Benguet. We attended a wedding and spent Christmas Eve in the town of Kiangan. We traveled from Kiangan further north to Banaue and the village of Batad to experience the Eighth Wonder of the World – the ancient rice terraces. We rounded out our trip with a short stay in the Summer Capital of the Philippines, Baguio City.

We’ve never made the winter road trip from Southern Ontario to Florida, mainly because the idea of driving for that long in one stretch is just not that appealing. Well, I think we spent enough time in the car (6 adults and 2 kids) that driving to Florida would seem like a snap. It felt like we traveled to Florida and back 3 times! I know the saying is, the journey is more important than the destination, but this time the destination held much more spectacle than the journey!

Part One -

Our journey started with August, a hired driver, picking us up in Los Baños at 4am. We met our traveling companions Rachel, Jeff and Andrew in Manila around 6:30am , and by 4pm we arrived in the town of Kiangan, in the northern province of Ifugao. We’d only traveled about 250km but the quality of the roads, the other vehicles of all shapes, sizes and speeds on the road, and just the geography of traveling around and over mountains made it quite the road trip.

Rachel works with CRWRC, the organization we are volunteering with in the Philippines. For this trip, Rachel was our cultural guide. She is from Kiangan, and her family has many historical roots to the people and the region. Her great grandfather was the first deputy governor of the region in the U.S.-formed Philippine Congress. Her nephew is now Governor. We learned so much about Ifugao history and culture through the family stories that she shared. And through current family events. We attended a wedding in Kiangan, and experienced elements of a traditional Ifugao wedding reception. The music, dancing and rice wine went on for hours. Different groupings of people would perform the Eagle Dance – the groom’s family; the bride’s family; representatives of each of the “barangays” (neighbourhoods); the elders; and, of course, the visitors. Fortunately, we had seen enough groups of people dancing that we had some idea of what we were supposed to do. But I think they looked much more graceful than we did! The wedding was truly a community event. The wedding feast was shared with everyone. Apparently 14 pigs, 2 cows and 2 caraboa’s (water buffaloes) were slaughtered for the meal. There is always a large quantity of food at a Filipino event!

It was in Kiangan that the Japanese General Yamashita surrendered to U.S. troops, ending the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, in 1945. We visited the site of his surrender and toured a shrine in memory of those who heroically defended the country during the war.

We spent a couple nights in Kiangan before traveling on to Banaue and Batad. We were supposed to travel to Segada for Christmas Eve but a landslide on the road forced a change in plans. We traveled back to Kiangan. Over and over again we have experienced generous and gracious hospitality in the Philippines, including Rachel’s family who made room for the travelers from afar. We attended Midnight Mass at the local Catholic Church. The message, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned (Isaiah 9:2)”, had particular meaning to our family. Earlier in the day, we learned of the death of Pam’s cousin Ian. The assurance of hope and love that we celebrated together that evening was a beautiful gift.

A Journey to the North - Part 2

2009-01-01T05:14:00.000-08:00

The rice terraces of Banaue and Batad were on our list of “Philippine sights to see.” Although we had regular rain and clouds they still did not disappoint.

The history of the rice terraces is more than 2000 years old. They were built to allow people to cultivate on steep hill slopes. They level off a small area of the hill and build a stone or earth wall. Depending on how steep the slopes are, the walls can be over 4m high to allow farming on relatively small plots of land. The terraces are family owned and passed on from generation to generation.

Batad is where some of the most spectacular rice terraces have been built – the terraced hills in this area form an amphitheatre. We read they have been built over a period of 2,000 years and we never could get a good answer of how old they are. I think partly because they are constantly in repair so they are always new. To get to Batad we had to charter a Jeepney from Banaue for an hour and half drive about 10km up and down a very scary road. We saw some people hiking this road in the rain and there were times we thought we’d get out of the Jeepney and do the same.

From the end of the road we had an hour and half trek down to our inn. On the hike we could see some slopes covered with terraces but this paled in comparison to the actual village. We arrived in Batad just before dusk and had half an hour to begin to appreciate the scale of the terraces. Our inn was located above the village and the view was stunning. The terraces completely cover one mountain and cover a great part of a valley around the village.

The next morning we hiked down among the terraces , through the village and then half way up the mountain. To get from one terrace to another you walk up stairs that are often made of rocks sticking out of the side of the walls. The rocks are not well spaced and there were many times we had to push and pull Danielle up the side. This gave us a good sense of the work required to work your plot of land high up the mountain.

Another way we could learn about life on the rice terraces was by spending some time with an elderly man and woman. They were preparing rice seed to plant while we asked directions and this turned into a half hour conversation. They told us about how the terraces are passed down to their children, how they use the rice and a few other facts of life in Batad.

The next day we hiked back up to the Jeepney and to our adrenaline-pumping ride back to Banaue. These two rides are interesting bookends to a very peaceful time in a marvel of engineering, agriculture and effort.

A Journey to the North - Part 3

2009-01-01T05:07:00.000-08:00

Eating corn-on-the-cob and fresh strawberries on Boxing Day (Dec. 26), now that’s a Christmas treat!

John and the kids explored Burnham Park while I caught up with family at an Internet café. They had a blast – row boats; bumper cars, pedi-cycles and candy floss. They had humongous grins when we met up again. My grin was not quite as big as theirs but I was pretty happy about having been able to talk with my parents, my sister and her family, and John’s parents.

Baguio City is known as the Summer Capital of the Philippines. The cool temperatures make it a natural draw to tourists. The pine tree forests are unique to this part of the country. We spent the afternoon in the Historic Core area of Camp John Hay. Early in the 1900’s, when the Americans discovered the cool climes of the area, which the original mountain people had managed to keep hidden from the Spanish, it was built up as a “rest and relaxation” base for military personnel. Unfortunately, the entire city has continued to grow, and the crush of people and traffic wasn’t that relaxing. I wish the original inhabitants of the area had been able to keep it hidden for another few centuries.

We arrived back in Los Baños in the dark, in the wee hours of the morning, as we had left it. We drove through the night back from Baguio to our home. We’ve been in our apartment less than a month but we were thankful to experience one of the sweet, sweet comforts of home - resting your head on a familiar pillow.

A Beautiful Smile

2008-12-18T23:13:00.000-08:00

PS - Thanks for all the encouraging emails we've been receiving since Danielle's accident. Who knew so many of our friends have children who did the same thing when they were the same age?! This is a picture of the water park where she and Simon were playing when she fell face first on the slide and broke her front two teeth. We were able to see a dentist within hours of her accident and the next day the teeth were restored to look like new. She still has the most beautiful smile!

Yesterday we had another minor medical emergency. John was cut with a piece of glass on the bridge of his nose. He was trying to put a piece glass up on top of our closet and it fell on his nose, making a nice deep cut. Lots of blood. A friend took him to the hospital (because we all know how Pam reacts when there is lots of blood) but they decided it didn't need a stitch.

That's enough excitement for us.

We're looking forward to a relaxing and "uneventful" holiday next week!

Christmas in our home away from home

2008-12-18T23:04:00.000-08:00

A week ago we moved into a small apartment in Los Banos, about 70km south of Manila. It has been a treat to be able to celebrate the Christmas season with some of our familiar traditions.

Los Banos is a small university town. We’re glad to be out of the big, big city of Manila for awhile. A few people from the local community helped to furnish our two bedroom place with beds and linens, a small fridge, dishes and kitchen utensils, tables and chairs, and even curtains for the windows. Our favourite is a curtain made from strings of little shells. Their generosity is an amazing blessing! Once we started to pile our books and magazines around, and unpack things that we’ve been carrying in our packs for almost six months, it really started to feel like home. There are a few other kids living in the building, and it has been a treat for our kids to hang out with people other than adults for a change.

In our home, over Christmas, we have numerous traditions, such as: a real Christmas tree; advent calendars (annually supplied by Pam`s dad), an advent wreath; and, a gift-giving party. We’ve been able to do some creative improvising. John bought some beautiful, large red Bird of Paradise – type flowers. Simon insisted we add lights and tiny gold balls. We made an advent calander since the one from Poppa only just made it to Australia. Fortunately 24 days divides evenly between 4 people. Pam put together a wreath from bits of plastic pine, and Filipino woven plate, some shells from Australia and the Philippines, and some candles. We’ve also hung some paper snowflakes.

At home we typically open presents on December 5 as a way of keeping some of John’s Dutch heritage; to celebrate gift-giving early in the season and not be forced to wait until the 24th; and, to allow our celebration on December 24 and 25 to be about the best gift we have received! We were not ready for December 5 this year, so we had our Christmas party on Dec 16 in our new place. We all ran around for a few days on a scavenger hunt of sorts trying to try find presents that were “suitable”, that is pack-able or consumable Simon’s socks were large enough (and clean enough) to serve as stockings. We had a lovely dinner of chicken, potatoes, carrots and salad. We love opening presents! And then playing with all our new toys! Soon we will have a party for our new neighbours where we will play some of the games that we would normally play at home.

We are still looking forward to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We’re heading north. Not to the North Pole, but to a special part of the country that we’re sure will hold many delights and happy surprises!

Culture Shock

2008-12-08T15:42:00.000-08:00

Near the Recto transit station in Manila

We've read about reverse culture shock, that is when you are overwhelmed with the affluence of your own country, but I never thought this would occur while in a developing country. While in Manila we have spent more time in malls, fast food outlets and traffic than we ever have at home. In this city of 13 million people they have every luxury store you can imagine. There are more Starbucks than in Vancouver. Four of the world’s 20 largest malls are located here in Manila. At least two of them have skating rinks! Being Canadians and missing some of our favourite winter sports, we went ice skating at the Mall of Asia.

Pretty groovy boots and sports socks, eh?

John had a bit of trouble adjusting to figure skates. (Think "flying camel")

We've certainly seen poverty alongside affluence before but the differences here seem so much more extreme. In the Philippines over 30 million people (a third of the population) live on less two dollars a day. It seems like Disney World gone bad when we sit in a well -run, spotless, Light Rail Transit and see pockets of crowded, make-shift houses and apartment buildings. Our CRWRC hosts have shared with us the multiple economic and political factors that contribute to this disparity. One that really stood out for us is the fact that 60% of the country`s GDP is money sent back from overseas workers. That is, you may be a ``have`` or ``have not`` depending on whether someone from your family has a job overseas. A thriving (and spending) middle class can be an effective method of economic growth for a country to develop over time but the associated commercialism is hard to swallow.

We are just about to settle into a smaller community and begin volunteering with Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC). They are working with various local non-governmental agencies to address issues of justice, food security and education. CRWRC is working to address the disparity here and hopefully working alongside them will help us deal with our culture shock.

Who is Your Hero?

2008-12-02T04:32:00.000-08:00

Discovering Manila with our friend Rachel

It was recently Bonifacio Day in the Philippines. This national holiday coincided with our orientation to this beautiful and welcoming country. We have visited several museums and historic sites that highlighted Bonifacio’s role in the Philippines’ efforts to gain independence. Another significant figure in their national history is Dr. Jose Rizal, another of the country’s national heroes.

Dr. Jose Rizal Monument in Manila

We attended a gathering of international students and guests at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños. In recognition of the national holiday, a representative from each country was asked to share one of their country’s national heroes. There were people from Iraq, Afghanistan, East Timor, France, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar and Cambodia. It was fascinating to hear the recurring theme of heroes who fought for the independence of their countries. There were also some poets and political leaders mentioned by the group.

As a family we`ve been thinking about `what makes a hero` and some of our personal heroes.

A hero is a person who saves someone or does something very good. They have to be brave, strong and smart. Some heroes are Jose Rizal, Mats Sundin, a parent, and some people with a hard job. Jose Rizal wrote a book in Tagalong so that the Spanish could not read it. He sent it to all the Filipino people. Mats Sudin plays hockey for the Maple Leafs. Parents love their kids. People with hard jobs can help other people, for example giving money to the poor or saying, “don’t drink this water.” I think Mom’s hero is Stephen Lewis because he helps Grandmas in Canada help Grandmas in Africa. I don’t have a hero that I can think of.
By Danielle

A hero is someone who acts to make things better for others. They make significant sacrifices in their lives, and sometimes what they are doing for others is not understood or appreciated by those around them. Terry Fox is a hero. So are Lt. General Romeo Dallaire and Stephen Lewis. I am proud of the fact that these men represented Canada in their international roles. I also think my husband is a hero. He worked so hard to make it possible for us to take this trip around the world; and now that we are almost half way done our journey he continues to encourage and surprise us – and tries to make sure we are having fun!
By Pam

To be a hero you may need to be brave, or smart, or maybe strong both mentally and physically. We are talking about heroes because when we went to an international university meeting, we each had to tell who our hero was from each country and what they did to help the country. These are some of other people’s heroes: Wayne Gretzky because he broke many hockey records; Spiderman because kids think he is strong and also smart; Terry Fox because he tried to run across Canada to raise awareness for cancer because he had cancer in his left leg. He stopped running in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Some of my heroes are Wayne Gretzky; Garfield because he is very, very funny; and, Percy Jackson. Percy Jackson is a fictional character in a series called “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” who saved the world and his camp many times.
By Simon

I made a list of heroes that included authors, politicians, scientists, explorers and family. More recently though I have been thinking about some of the people we have met who are so committed to improving the world in small and big ways. I think of the families and staff at Tesoros de Dios who give up so much to work with their kids. I think of numerous families who are adopting, and have adopted, needy children from Nicaragua and the Philippines. I met a family that works with children next to a dump in Managua. I met a couple who are doctors and gave up a lucrative career to do health-based community development. And there are many other stories of people who have sacrificed greatly to improve the lives of others. To me these are heroes.
By John

Three Cities, Three States, One Unique Country

2008-12-02T04:07:00.000-08:00

While traveling in Australia the past few weeks, we’ve caught ourselves saying, “Melbourne reminds me of Vancouver” or “Phillip Island reminds me of Texel, Holland” or “We saw flowers like that in Nicaragua.” There were lots of familiar things, and yet Australia remains something so very special and unique.

We spent two weeks with our friends Maree and Andrew in and around Melbourne. Pam and Maree first met 25 years ago when they were exchange students in the Philippines. Maree and Andrew came to our wedding, and we’ve seen them a couple times since then when they’ve visited North America, but there was a lot of catching up to do.

We had a few emails from friends at home asking if we were okay because we hadn’t posted anything after leaving Nicaragua. It was a different pace and many more late nights than we’d been used to in the previous two months.

Maree prepared a quiz/competition for the kids to work on during our stay with her, and this was a great incentive to pay attention during our travels and learn about Australia. Who discovered Australia? (there are in fact several different answers to this question!); 10 points for seeing a kangaroo in the wild; What are two Aussie slang words? And 2 points if you see someone picking their nose (which we never saw)!

Pam was feeling a little under the weather and the weather itself was a bit grey for the few days that we were in Sydney. Visiting The Rocks and cruising around the harbour to Manly and the Olympic Park were some of the highlights.

In Brisbane we stayed with new friends David and Jennifer. This was arranged through SERVAS, a peace-building organization that connects travelers with local hosts. They were extremely hospitable. They are involved with orienteering and brought us out one evening to experience Street O (urban orienteering).

Swimming at the “city” beach (in November when the snow started to fly back in Canada) and having the opportunity to cuddle a koala will be parting memories of Brisbane and Australia that will stay with us into our next adventure.

A Day On the Cricket Pitch

2008-11-27T18:03:00.000-08:00

If you Google “What to do in Melbourne?” you will get the The Melbourne Cricket Grounds as one of the top answers. This facility was built for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and holds over 100,000 people. They can pack the place for international cricket so you can bet that cricket is a big thing here. We had never seen a game and had no clue what the rules were but this did not deter us from enjoying the sport. After a visit to the library to get kids books explaining cricket we were off to a national one day game. It’s important that it was a one day game because typical games can be about 5 days and I don’t think our enthusiasm would hold out that long. The game we attended was between Victoria and Tasmania. It was not an international game and so we did not get to see the place packed out. I’ll spare you the details on how it's played but we had a great time deciphering what was happening and cheering at all the appropriate times. We had some good laughs at the positions they play – silly mid off, long leg, gully, slip.

Three and a half hours and 290 runs later Tasmania’s inning was over and it was time for tea before Victoria came to bat. This was also our time to leave for dinner. We learned the next day that the Victoria Bushmen lost. Pity.

G.O.R.

2008-11-18T20:21:00.000-08:00

by Danielle

G.O.R., also known as the Great Ocean Road. The soldiers who came back from World War I built the Great Ocean Road by hand using picks and shovels. These are some of the things we saw and did on the Great Ocean Road. We traveled with Maree and Andrew. My favourite site was the Twelve Apostles because it was very clear water with very beautiful rocks.

Here is a picture of me and my family at the Twelve Apostles.

We went to see some koala bears in trees. We saw 28 koalas. They were very cool.

I also like seeing the blow hole. It is where the waves go through rock making a blow hole.

We stayed in a motel at Apollo Bay. We bought a boomerang in Apollo Bay. When we tried it out Daddy threw it in the water and almost lost it in the grass.

If I came back to Australia I would go on the Great Ocean Road again.

P.S. - We also think Danielle liked the Great Ocean Road because there are no potatoes allowed in some areas.

Wildlife in Australia

2008-11-18T20:07:00.000-08:00

Hi this is Simon here. I will be talking about some of the wildlife that we have seen in Australia. Well first you can look the column of wildlife and see how many animals we have seen in the wild. Well first I will talk about the koalas. As you may already know we have seen 28 koalas in the wild. My Mom’s friend Maree has seen 5 to 8 koalas in her life until now. So we saw lots. The only food that the koala eats is eucalyptus leaves (gum tree leaves). Did you know that koalas do not drink because the leaves that they eat have enough water in them for the koalas to live.

Next I will talk about Little Penguins, also known as Fairy Penguins. Did you know that the Fairy Penguin is the smallest of all 17 types of penguins? The Fairy Penguin is about 30cm tall and can weigh up to 3 lbs. Some other facts about a Fairy Penguins are: the mother only lays two eggs at a time, the baby only stays in the egg for 35 days and both parents take turns sitting on the eggs. Some of the food the Fairy Penguins eat is pilchard, squid and anchovies – ewww. After sunset , we saw over 1,500 Little Penguins coming from the sea to their burrows past the beach. The downfall was that they were load and smelly. If you want to hear them you can click at the bottom of this web page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Penguin)

One other animal that we saw down under was the kangaroos. We saw over 30 kangaroos. Mom’s friend’s brother took us to a field where kangaroos graze at sunset. We saw one kangaroo jump a fence very effortlessly. It was lots of fun to watch.

We also saw many different types of birds like the rosella (in the picture), blue wren, gallahs, and kookaburras.

Tesoros de Dios

2008-11-18T20:00:00.000-08:00

We have written about a lot of fun and interesting things we saw and did in Nicaragua but the most rewarding part of our experience was volunteering with Tesoros de Dios. It has been a real blessing to see the work they are doing and to learn about the life of the children here.

Tesoros de Dios’s vision is to work together with families of children with developmental disabilities enabling their children to gain the skills necessary to develop to their fullest potential. The centre sees about 80 kids and most of these are affected by cerebral palsy. The centre was started less than 4 years ago. It has its own facility and has grown in leaps and bounds.

Children come to the centre twice a week: either in the morning or afternoon. Here they receive physical therapy, equestrian therapy, speech therapy, early schooling and a chance to play and interact with others. The parents gain support from other parents and learn how to help their children. In addition to this the parents have the opportunity to learn English, to learn sewing or beading, to attend a Bible study and join a cooperative to raise some income.

The kids, parents and staff are amazing people. We had the opportunity to get to know some of the kids and have gained a whole new appreciation for their talents and the challenges they face. The parents lives are testimonies of perseverance and love as the effort required to care for some of these kids would seem insurmountable to us. For example, Pam visited a family house - the truck she was in could not make it down the steep dirt road to their house. The young boy lives in a mud-floor house with metal sheeting for walls and a roof. Some friends are helping his mom build a cement wall around the house and lay a cement floor so that it is easier for him to get around in his wheelchair.

The staff are very caring and dedicated to their work. Michelle Adams is the director and has a heart for the needs here. The seven national staff are involved with the families and each bring particular skills to the program. They were all very welcoming to us even though there were significant language barriers.

Our work at the centre was varied but allowed us to learn what was going on, to contribute some of our skills and to get to know some of the kids. Pam helped Michelle with some organizational and strategic issues, taught an English class for the staff and helped out with the education centre. John did some painting, helped improve the accounting system and also helped out in the education centre. The kids worked with us in the education program and pitched in as needed; making posters and preparing crafts. There were uncomfortable times for all of us but this was part of the learning process and part of stepping out of our comfort zones. Through the experience we met a lot of amazing people and broke some of our stereotypes. You can check out more of what they are doing (and contribute) at http://www.tesorosdedios.org/.

More Volcano Fun

2008-10-30T19:25:00.000-07:00

This week Danielle and I had a opportunity to do a night tour of one of the few active volcanos in Nicargua. The tour is done at night as this is the only time you can see the lava in the volcano and the activity in the bat cave. Well, the tour did not disappoint.

The Nindiri Volcano most recently erupted in 2001, unexpectantly showering the parking lot with rocks. The last major eruption was in 1859, and lava travelled over 13km from the volcano. There is little vegetation around the volcano because of the lack of organic soil and the acid rain caused by the gases in the volcano.

Our tour started at a lookout where historically people were sacrificed to appease the gods. Night came quickly and the rest of the tour was done in the dark. To see the lava, Danielle and I had to stand on either side of a concrete pole, hold on and lean way over the edge of the crater. As the gases swirled, you could see the lava glowing red about 200m below. Perhaps not a technique that will win any safety awards. After this we went to the entrance of a bat cave. There were lots of bats coming in and out and as an added bonus a boa constrictor was hanging over the entrance of the cave trying to catch a bat. It is clear Pam made the right choice when she decided to stay at home this time. After seeing the bats, we walked through a tunnel created by lava flowing down the side of the volcano. The outer shell of the lava hardened and when the lava stopped flowing left a hollow tunnel inside. This area a was also used for many traditional ceremonies and more recently a place to hide during civil wars.

On another volcano note - While in Florida we saw a TV show of great crashes (gotta love cable).
One was a fellow trying to set a land speed record going down the side of a volcano on a mountain bike. He managed to break the world record, and then just about every bone in his body. Turns out the "hill" was the Cerro Negro volcano in Nicaragua. Last week we had lunch at a local burger joint and they had schrapnel from the bike that crashed. Here is the video if you are brave enough to watch.

A Map of the World

2008-10-27T12:07:00.000-07:00

I recently connected with my sister via Skype. It’s a great way to keep in touch and we love being able to see how her girls are growing.

Janelle is going to be two very soon, and she has new words for us every time.

Marika is three, and if she’s not “too busy” playing, she’ll come and say hello to her cousins and Aunt Pam.

Marika loves to do puzzles. One of her favourites is a map of the world. She and her Grandma spent a lot of time doing this puzzle when Grandma was visiting in September.

While Martha and I were catching up a couple weeks ago, Marika appeared and held a piece of her puzzle up to the webcam. “This is where you are,” she said, and she was right! With no prompting from me or my sister she had gone and found the puzzle, and found the piece that shows Nicaragua. My sister and I were speechless.

Seeing her hold that puzzle piece made me feel for an instant that she was tightly holding my hand. It’s a moment I won’t forget.

One Plus One Equals Two Years Older

2008-10-26T19:17:00.001-07:00

It is always fun to have a birthday when you are a kid. Our birthdays were lots of fun this year because we were in Nicaragua.

We’d like to tell you about our birthdays (cumpleaños) in Nicaragua.

Something that was different about our birthdays here was we bought a piñata at the market. At the market there is a section that is probably 100 metres long, and there are piñatas for sale on both sides. We saw some as tall as Danielle. We choose a colourful star piñata because it suits both boys and girls.

Another difference is that we had one birthday party at the Hernandez’s house. We normally have two separate parties with our friends.

A big difference was that we knew two or three of the presents we would receive because we were shopping with our mom and dad when they bought them.

There were very few things similar to our birthdays at home. We had cake! We had breakfast in bed and opened our presents. Normally we would have cupcakes for breakfast but this time we had Oreo cookies.

We had four parties. One party was on Danielle’s birthday. It was at dinner time with some people from the Hernandez family (Mrs. Hernandez, Judith and Nathan). Mrs. Hernandez made hamburgers and french fries. My mom made a vanilla cake with chocolate icing and sprinkles for dessert. Simon’s party was at Tesoros de Dios with lots of kids on his birthday. Someone else had a birthday party on the same day. His name is Lot. They had a very big cake, and there were treats and toys in cups for everyone. Mom made two small chocolate cakes at the centre and we shared them with almost everyone.

Simon sharing his birthday at Tesoros de Dios

We had an “in between” party with a piñata on the day between our birthdays. Mr. and Mrs. VanderWees, and Jesse and KeKe, and Michele, and Judith came to our party. Mom made brownies.

Danielle is wearing her new Nicaragua dress and jumping to hit the pinata.

We also had a very early birthday party at Oma and Opa’s cottage in July.

These are some of the presents and surprises that we received for our birthday.

Danielle: For my birthday I got a very nice white Nicaraguan dress. It has embroidery on it of a lady, a drum and two xylophones. They usually wear this dress to do a special dance in Nicaragua. Simon gave me a wooden box that is shaped like a horse. It can come apart like a puzzle and has a secret drawer in the middle. I got a notepad for watercolours and a set of watercolours.

This is a picture of Danielle painting a vase of flowers with her new paints.

We both got hammocks for our birthdays. We picked the colours and ordered them at a special place in Granada. Danielle’s is pink, blue and white. Simon’s is white and blue like the colours of the Nicaragua flag.

Simon: For my birthday I got four presents. My parents gave me a wooden spin top with a string. It has very nice colours. I am still learning how to make it spin properly. One time we saw a man who was able to spin it on my hand, my back and his tongue! I also got a Nicaragua soccer shirt. I like it. It is blue and white like my hammock. Danielle gave me a Rubix cube, which I have always found very hard. Like Danielle, I got some drawing paper and I got pastels.

We got a GameBoy connector cable to share. We have played a game called Mario Cart Super Circuit because it is the only game that we have that is for two players.

Grandma says there will be something in Australia for our birthdays.

On Simon’s birthday we visited a Christian ministry that is teaching people to be blacksmiths. We saw someone making a leaf from a metal rod, and we each got to keep one. It was a very, very hot place to be.

This person is working on the leaf.

Simon says, “For my birthday next year I am looking forward to a sleepover with my best friends.”

Danielle says, “For my birthday next year I would like to have an “Around the World” party.

Statistics

2008-10-24T07:51:00.000-07:00

I have been asked several times what I think of the poverty we have seen in the various countries we have visited. All of the countries have had great similarities in terms of slum areas and people living on the edge. But all of the countries have also been vastly different in terms of the general sense of people's attitudes and life. In Nicaragua people had confidence and pride and generally a higher standard of living. In the Philippines there was a large middle class who did not lack food but were still struggling. In Bangladesh poverty is everywhere but people are still so hospitable and friendly.

All of this got me thinking about how to define poverty and how to reconcile what I have seen. Being an engineer I turned immediately to statistics. Although these don’t tell the whole story I found these interesting enough to share. The stats are mostly from the Unicef website and I have shown just a summary of what I thought was interesting and helped me wrestle with the differences I see.

For me these statistics raise many questions and I invite you to spend some time looking at them and thinking about what it all means. Why does Nicaragua receive more aid than Niger even though it has a smaller population and a healthier public? Why are only 10% of births registered in Bangladesh? Can you trust any statistics when only 10% of the births are registered? Can a society function when one in seven mothers die in childbirth? What does it take to make democracy work when less than half the population can read or write? Is it fair that the Philippines use 16% of their income for debt servicing when much of the money loaned was taken by corrupt leaders.

No two countries are the same. They all have their own history, languages, cultures and resources. Similarly what you see as you walk the streets is very different and I think our response as a "developed" country needs to take this into account.

Tropical Depression 16

2008-10-18T15:48:00.001-07:00

We had plans to go to the northern mountains of Nicaragua this weekend but we were rained out due to Tropical Depression 16. There has been a tremendous amount of rain in the past week and we are still relatively far from the centre of the storm (at the bottom of the map).

There are reports that 2,000 people in Costa Rica have had to leave their homes and I`m sure it is more in Nicaragua. There have been deaths in Costa Rice and Nicaragua.

I had a three day road trip with the Luke Society this week. We were looking at community development and water projects. But one day turned into visiting, and checking up on, people who were flooded. You can see the water line on this woman`s home and recovering from the flood will not be easy. Her well is flooded (and likely contaminated) and trying to dry out with all the rain is next to impossible.

But if you are a kid the fun just goes on. We have seen children dancing in the rain and our kids are busy making paper boats to float down the new rivers.

Mom's Apple Pie is Best

2008-10-17T16:09:00.000-07:00

My mom makes the best apple pie in the world. She taught me how to make apple pie, and now my family, including my mom, thinks I make the best apple pie. My mom’s is still my favourite.

We were invited to share Thanksgiving with several Canadian families currently living in and around Managua. Longing for a taste of his favourite apple pie, John urged me to offer to bring pies to the dinner. Sure, if I was at home in my own kitchen that would be no problem at all. But we had just moved into a guesthouse in Managua. I had five days to figure it how to make it happen.

John had scanned some of our favourite recipes before we left Canada. Unfortunately we hadn’t checked the quality of the pdf before leaving home, so we discovered that my trusted pie crust recipe was illegible. I searched through a few on-line recipes and that helped me piece together the missing measurements for my recipe.

- Recipe, check.
- Ingredients … what is the Spanish word for “lard”? A quick call to my friend Nancy. She would meet me tomorrow at her daughter’s soccer game and bring me some lard. Thank you, Nancy!
- Kitchen … “Puedo cocinar una tarta aqui?” (Can I make a pie here?) Our gracious host, Leyda, said I could use her kitchen and any of the staple ingredients that she had.
- Pie Plates … Leyda had two round metal cake pans. That will do.
- Apples … John was eager to explore our new hometown, so he ventured off to a central market in a taxi. He didn’t find any apples at the market, but he stumbled across a supermarket that sold expensive apples from Chile. Not exactly local produce, but Chile is a lot closer to Nicaragua than Canada.

I don’t know how many times I’ve made pie, the number isn’t really important, yet every time I am amazed it actually works. How is it that flour, butter, a bit of lard and freezing cold water combines to make something so tasty?

Danielle was eager to help out. I imagine one day she’ll be making the best apple pie in the family.

When it came time to bake the pies, Leyda discovered that her oven was not working. We had to go next door and use the neighbour’s oven. It only had 1 – 5 as temperature options. I guess 425oF would be somewhere around the 4. We came back after half an hour to take off the tin foil that I’d wrapped around the edges to protect the crust. I was very relieved to find the pies baking nicely. We came back after another 15 minutes. Panic struck when I first walked into the kitchen because I caught a whiff of something burning. Fortunately it was only a small portion of the crust on one pie. The other was golden brown. Unfortunately, they were both bubbling over a bit and making a mess on the bottom of the neighbour’s over. “Lo siento!” (I’m sorry).
Leyda tucked them carefully into her fridge and they stayed there until we gathered to share a very delicious, traditional Thanksgiving meal “with all the fixings”.

And, yes, they did taste good.

As we were sharing what we were thankful for this Thanksgiving, running through my head were thoughts of all the people and circumstances that had come together so that I could offer two humble apple pies to our celebrations. Thank you, God, for blessing me with such a generous and welcoming community and thank you for my mom!

Learning to Ride a Horse

2008-10-09T17:10:00.000-07:00

DANIELLE:

Today I have to write about our first horse riding lesson. OK now, first we had to get on the horse and practice stopping and going. My horse’s name is Candy but in Spanish it is Caramelo. My instructor’s name is Daniel. Daniel said we were going to trot, cantor and walk. I thought we would do all this in the groups of lessons but we walked and trotted on the first day.

I feel proud to be able to ride a horse.

SIMON:

Today I am waiting for my second horse-riding lesson. The first lesson was yesterday. It was lots of fun. Our teacher’s name is Daniel and he only speaks Spanish so it is very hard to understand him. My horse’s name is Volcan, which means Volcano in English. Our teacher says that Volcan is hard to ride. He is hard to ride because he does not like to go. To make him go I have to hit him with a stick (but I don’t hurt him). To make him stop you have to pull back but quickly let go. If you hold on too long he will start to go backwards. Our teacher says that Danielle and I have good posture.

Now I have finished my second horse lesson with Volcan. We did what we did yesterday. We learned to turn, turn around, stop, walk and trot. I like horse lessons. Today Danielle and I went on two different tracks because her horse always follows mine.

I want to take horse lessons when we come back to Canada.

I am not actually jumping.

This is us riding together.

This is me and my very nice instructor Daniel.

This is me and my horse Volcan.

This is where we learned to trot.

The Island Way of Life

2008-10-09T16:07:00.000-07:00

Ferry ride from Rivas to Moyogalpa

If you are a faithful reader of our blog you will notice that volcanoes are a recurring theme here in Nicaragua. This weekend we were surrounded by them. Ometepe is a small island in Lake Nicaragua made by two volcanoes. One is active (Concepcion) and one is inactive (Maderas).

Maderas as seen from Hotel El Encanto.

After our last language class in Granada we boarded the yellow bus again and headed south. After five hours of travel (one bus, one ferry, and two taxis) we made it to our hotel (El Encanto). This place was recommended by a friend of Pam’s and is run by a couple who are from Australia and El Salvador. They met in Vancouver and built the small hotel three years ago.

Clouds wrapped around the top of Volcan Concepcion.

Ometepe means “two hills” but has become known as an “oasis of peace”. We certainly had a relaxing time but not without adventure of course. We were the only people at the hotel and there was only one other hotel within walking distance. The hotel is an hour’s drive from the main port. So it was quiet , and we had the whole restaurant to ourselves and felt spoiled. We feasted on curry chicken, bbq fish and chicken, French toast, and spaghetti and pesto for the kids. The view over the water and of the volcanoes was wonderful and the property was landscaped with wild flowers that attracted many butterflies. The owners had also discovered about 7 petroglyphs on the property and we spent some time findings these stones that are over 2,000 years old.

We saw many different species of butterflies in the garden at El Encanto.

When we discussed what to do on Saturday Simon said “I think we should just have a day to relax”. Pam embraced the thought and we had a lazy day in our hammocks, reading and playing games. We did go for a swim at the beach and go for a bike ride too. On Sunday we took a kayak tour of the isthmus that separates the two volcanoes. The highlight for the kids had to be standing up in the back of the truck driving over a very bumpy road. It had rained on and off most of the morning and we started the kayak trip in the pouring rain. The rain stopped after half an hour and we have a peaceful time in the isthmus. We saw many different kinds of birds and saw howler monkeys but did not see any of the 3m crocodiles that are in the water (it was “too cold”).

We also watched people working at many of the rural farms along the shore and watched two guys struggling to get their horse across the isthmus.

A "washing machine" where clothes are washed by hand in the lake.

We celebrated 100th day on Ometepe. It's been 100 days since we left home!

The theme of the weekend however was RAIN. Friday and Saturday nights there were down pours. These sounded absolutely torrential in our steel-roofed rooms and the thunder seemed to roll from volcano to volcano. The kids slept great but Pam and I did not. The rain caused several landslides on the only road through the island. The story made the front page of the national newspaper – not about this crazy Canadian family having a holiday on Ometepe in the rainy season – but about the landslide. To get out we had to take a taxi to the landslide and another past the landslide. We were fortunate to get this worked out as there was only one taxi on the side where our hotel was. It would have been a very long walk.

After 8 hours of travelling (4 taxis, 1 ferry and 2 buses), we made it to our new home in Managua. Language school was a great experience and although we can get around now we have so much still to learn. My goal for the kids was that they would gain an appreciation of language and they are enjoying playing with it and know more than they let on. Our new home has been great so far – welcoming people, wireless internet, hot showers, no bats, and excellent food. Home sweet home.

El fin de la semana

2008-09-30T06:54:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. Como estas? That means, “how are you?” From September 26-28, we were in Managua with our friends. We had lots of fun. The kids got to ride the horse at the house. Also in Managua we got to go to a party with a pool. Simon, Mark and John went to a lagoon, which is a volcano crater filled with water. The water was hot, but when we canoed to the other side, it got hotter and we could see bubbles. It was just gas. The place had a really bad smell. It smelled really bad because the other side had vultures and their dung littered the beach, and the gas smelled bad too.

In Managua we went to a Spanish church. Even though it was Spanish we still knew some of the songs by the tune. Simon and Danielle went to Sunday school

On Monday Simon had to get his “pelo cut”. For the first time Danielle swallowed her medicine instead of putting it in her ice cream. But we still went for ice cream and got a cookie sundae. It was okay. Not as good as Dairy Queen in Canada.

In the past three days it has rained at night very hard and flooded the streets. After the rain stops the water goes away fast. Edgar’s cousin made Simon and Danielle a paper boat each. Simon timed his from the pole near our house to our house. His boat’s fastest time was 11 seconds.

Written by “anonymous” Can you guess who?

Waves!

2008-09-25T06:53:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we visited San Juan del Sur on the Pacific Coast. In August we`d stood on the coast of both oceans, and here we were back on the Pacific coast again.

A small beach north of the town of San Juan del Sur

Playing in the waves!

We had a great time on the beach and had a unique opportunity to watch sea turtles nesting.

The Olive Ridley turtle is an endangered species but is starting to make a come back thanks in part to the protection it is getting in Nicaragua. The turtles grow to about 1.2m long and can live up to 100 years. Only one in 1,000 eggs laid make it to adulthood due to natural predators alone. The turtles lay their eggs in a nest on the beach above the high tide line and return to the same beach where they were born. They lay about 100 eggs at a time. The turtles, for reasons unknown, arrive on the beach around the same time. One of the main nesting sites is the La Flor Reserve in Nicaragua. At this reserve there can be up to 3,000 turtles nesting in an evening and they get over 150,000 turtles per year. In the past the turtles` chances of survival were much less than 1:1,000 as eggs and turtles were harvested by local people for food and for sale. Even when the practice was made criminal there was little or no enforcement of the rules.

After hearing a presentation on sea turtles, and the rules we had to follow at the reserve, we started out with about 12 other people. We left at about 8:30PM and it was very dark already. The 20km ride took about 1hour over a very bumpy road.

At the reserve we could not use flashlights as they could blind the turtles. The guides each had one flashlight with a dim red light and this led us along the path. Immediately when we got to the beach we saw a turtle coming out of the water and found another one nesting. The turtles dig a hole about a 40cm deep with their back flippers and lay their eggs in the hole. Our guide dug a small hole behind the turtle that opened up the hole made by the turtle so that we could see the eggs dropping into the nest. They looked like rubbery golf balls and just kept coming. When the turtle is done she fills the hole in, and then compacts it with her flippers and rocks back and forth over the hole. She then tries to hide the nest by spreading sand over it. She then returns to the sea. We got to see three turtles nesting/laying their eggs and there were many others coming and going up and down the beach. This was not one of the mass nesting events but it was expected to be any day and we were very lucky to be present near the date.

We were allowed pictures only from right behind the turtle so this is the only one we could get. Google Olive Ridley turtles for other pictures and to learn more.

Turtle eggs dropping into the nest shown with red light

During our 1.5 hours on the beach there was little light due to the restrictions on white light and the limited use of the red light so that the turtles were not scared off. We had a few things to help us out however. Amazingly enough the guards wandering about have regular white flashlights as they can`t afford red lights. Also the waves were glowing full of fluorescent plankton, and there was lightning regularly flashing the beach. The rain held off until we got back to the truck but the rain did not help our journey back. We had a hair-raising 2 hour return drive (which Danielle slept through).

P.S. (Pam says….): We spent almost the entire day by the water and it was impossible to not be struck by the power of the waves and the tide. Playing in the waves is better than any water-park. To body surf on the waves, and just feel the power of the water pushing you in toward the shore is like flying. I love it! As the tide slowly moved in over the day, and then quickly late in the afternoon, we had to keep moving our towels and backpacks away from the water. At the end of the day the kids continued to play in the small waves that covered where we had been sitting. We literally had to drag them out of the water when the truck came to take us back to San Juan del Sur. The tide changed the entire landscape of the beach. We stood in awe of its beauty all over again. And then we were in awe again as we stood on the banks of another beach watching the tide bring in these amazing creatures who had returned to the exact beach where they were born to lay their eggs years and years later.

Staying by the water, John and I often experience the pull of the tide drawing us to one day find a house by the sea. Where will that be?

Numero Quince

2008-09-19T06:49:00.002-07:00

John and I spent our first wedding anniversary in Dakar, Senegal while learning French. Fifteen years later we're in Granada, Nicaragua learning Spanish. Where will be for number 30?

We went to a cultural centre in the city of Masaya last night. We were traveling with the person from Casa Xalteva who organizes "field trips" and a new student, Heather, from the US. When John mentioned to Heather during dinner that it was our anniversary, she secretly ordered a small cake for dessert. What a sweetheart! And what a super sweet cake!

Casa Xalteva

2008-09-19T06:49:00.001-07:00

In class with Bismark

We are nearing the end of our second week of Spanish language classes. It seems that we know infinitely more than we did two weeks ago and this would be true as we started with no Spanish at all. We are now able to order in a restaurant, move around the city, play some games and make conversation with patient people. There is still so much more to learn and practice and studying seems endless. It has been fun so far and we are looking forward to two more weeks here.

Casa Xalteva is a school and non-profit organization. The school has about 6 teachers, the directors and people who help with logistics and organizing events. Our experience has been great. Pam and I are in a class together with Bismark. He has tailored the class to our speed and had laid on the homework and the words to memorize. He keeps things light and has endless patience for our mis-conjugated verbs, our mispronounced words and the constant use of French words. Our class is next to the kitchen so we can smell the great lunch near the end of the morning’s class.

The non-profit part of the school is a tutoring and lunch program for various kids in the neighbourhood. There are always other kids around and this makes for a fun environment. The school is about 3 blocks from our home and we have enjoyed the walking and the location on the edge of the center of town.

Learning a new language requires a significant amount of trust and vulernability. On the first day of class we learned the usual introductory questions/responses. What is your name? Where are you from? Bismark said that he was from Germany. Makes sense, it’s a german sounding name. Sort of odd for a guy who looks Nicaraguan, but maybe his dad or mom is a diplomat and he was born overseas. He certainly had John and I fooled. Early the following week we were talking about travel and he said he’d never been to Europe. We get this quizzical look on our faces and ask, “but weren’t you born in Germany?” NO! He laughed and laughed. Maybe that’s why he taught us the word for “trickster” during one of our first classes. He has a great sense of humour, and loves joking back and forth with John. “Broma” (joke) is another vocabulary word we learned early on.

Who wouldn't be motivated by such a beautiful smile?

We’ve also learned that you can’t rely on a 4 year old to be accurate in what he teaches you either. One afternoon there was a woman walking by the house selling various local treats from a basket on her head. Edgar asked for a “pilota”, and his mom bought two. One for Edgar and one for us. We assumed it was the name of the treat – a ball of popcorn with sweet molasses on top. We got talking about food in class and mentioned this thing called a pilota. Bismark called it something else, which I can’t remember now. Turns out “pilota” is the word for ball. Edgar is helpful when it comes to learning from the tv. He adores Barney and Mickey Mouse, and can watch the same videos over and over again.

As for Danielle and Simon’s time at Casa Xalteva, they say ….

At school we are learning a lot of Spanish. Our teacher, Marie Amanada, is teaching us verbs and nouns.

Marie Amanada is a great teacher!

We play games such as Sorry (in Spanish it is lo siento). We practice our numbers when we are playing Sorry.

We’ve learned some colours. The only colour we haven’t learned is purple. Orange is a strange sounding word – orarangado. Dad likes to sing “ oranaga-do a deer” like in the Sound of Music.

At school there are lots of kids who speak Spanish. We play ball and run around with some of them, but if they talk to us we don’t know what they are saying.

You wouldn’t think it was a school if you saw it. It looks like a big house. It has lots of rooms. There are computers that have internet. We like to play games. There are also couches and rocking chairs. Some of the chairs only have one arm. We talk to our friends with Skype on the computers.

There is a courtyard in the house, and we have seen two turtles living in the courtyard.

Juan Carlos is a guy at the school. He is lots of fun to play with. He helps out at the school and sometimes comes into our classroom. He has two children that also go to the school.

There is a small unicycle at school. Sometimes during the breaks or in the afternoon our dad is teaching us how to ride the unicycle.

AVENTUREROS - My Brave Family

2008-09-13T08:48:00.000-07:00

We have had a long week of language school. We did nothing touristico during the week so we decided we would go on a canopy tour at the Mombacho Volcano. It was described as a number of platforms and ziplines near the top of a cloud forest and above a coffee plantation. Pam was OK with the idea if the zip lines were not too steep/fast. The kids had no idea what we were getting into.

On Friday after class we went with someone from our school named Andres, whose nickname is Guopo, which means handsome. He brought us through a poorer part of town where we picked up a broken down school bus. Isn’t that where all the bus stops are? It was HOT and took well over 30 minutes to cover 8 to 10km with lots of stops to pickup and drop off people. It is National Flag day here so there were many kids lined up to carry flags. We then walked about 1.5km uphill to the park/preserve. As they say – the journey is the adventure.

From there we took a truck up, up and up to near the top of the volcano. We quickly got suited up with harnesses and helmets and hiked up to the first platform. While we were getting our instructions the fear started to set in. No one was quite sure about the idea now that all we could see is a steel cable and a platform far away high in a tree. Pam and Danielle were ready to back down and Simon would only go attached to the guide. So our brave Simon went first and then Danielle, Pam and the guide, all attached together. There were smiles around. After a few zip lines Pam and Simon were on their own and Danielle was starting to go with the guide but holding on herself. After one zip line she said she would like to go like the last time, with the guide beside her. Instead the guide hooked her on and shot her down the line. She ended the ride with a smile and from there on rode solo. By the end we were going upside down and no hands. By the end of the afternoon we had done 13 zip lines for a total of about 1,500m. The view was spectacular from the lines and platforms. Although there was no explanation of the trees and other features we certainly saw many big trees, parts of a coffee plantation and some huge tiger ants.

Look Mom, no hands!

Everyone got the last laugh on Dad though. When we did the last zip line to the ground the guides shook the line up and down and I was sure I was going to hit the ground. You can hear my screams of terror and laughter below.

As we made the hike back to the bus the kids said they want to work at the Mombo Canopy tours – “You get to do ziplines all day for free.”

Next step – sandboarding down the side of a volcano!

Discovering Granada

2008-09-08T09:06:00.000-07:00

We are beginning to make the city of Granada our home. We have moved in with a Nicaraguan family. With almost no language skills and very little familiarity with family structure, it may be awhile before we figure out who all the people coming and going from the house are, and if there might be more family members who simply don’t live here. Raquel is our host-mom. Her son, Elgar, is about 3 or 4 years old. He loves to watch cartoons, and Simon and Danielle love to watch them too. Raquel’s neice is about 11 years old, and we’ve seen more of her over the weekend than during the week.

The first picture is the courtyard inside the house where we are living. John describes it "like living in a covered porch." All the rooms face the centre courtyard.

The second picture is a view of the street where we live. Danielle is ahead in the distance, almost at the house.

We’ll beginning language school on Monday. Not soon enough! Amazing what you can accomplish and communicate through sign language and some charades.

Spanish school at Casa Xalteva.

In addition to the human residents at the house there is a parrot named Roseta (who speaks more Spanish than us at this point), a few chickens, some pigeons, gekos and bats. Yup, bats. The home is built around an open air courtyard and we are basically living in a huge covered porch. The kitchen, living and dining rooms are open to the courtyard. The two bedrooms we use are separated by a wall with numerous windows that open to the courtyard. In most places the walls go up to the ceiling but not everywhere so the bats can fly in from outside and whip around the ceiling. As you can probably guess, one of the rooms that doesn’t have walls to the ceiling is our bedroom, so although they are fairly high ceilings/roof there are a couple of bats flying around in the evening. I (Pam) didn’t think I would be able to sleep but we have a big fan at night that drowns out any sound and I guess heat and fatigue can overcome anything. Everyone assures me that they are fruit bats so they don’t have any interest in humans. Remind me to avoid fruit-scented perfume and body wash!

The folks at the Spanish school (Casa Xalteva) are extremely friendly and helpful. The director speaks English and has been patiently helping us through the barrage of questions we bring to her each day. They also have wireless internet, so we can pop in and Skype friends and family for a dose of familiarily when the homesick bug bites.

Our clothes are somewhere in the city being laundered. We’re hoping to get them back later today. We have all our meals at Raquel’s. We’ve been eating very well and everyone’s body seems to be adjusting well. Rice and beans, tortillas, scrambled eggs, enchiladas, pancakes, hamburger patties, more rice. And yummy fruit juices. Maybe I have a connection with those fruit bats after all.

There are numerous bands around town practicing for the upcoming Independence Day celebrations. Boys and girls walking and riding bikes with every shape and size of drum or percussion instrument. There was a group practicing at the waterfront park the other day. And I can hear another group just down the street as I sit at the front of the house and type.

Granada is all we know right now, so it’s hard to compare it to other cities. However, the travel books describe it as an old colonial town. The people we’ve met have been very warm and friendly. I’d compare it to a nice, quiet small town. The streets and sidewalks are narrow, with lots of one-way streets. There are probably as many bikes on the road as cars. Horses with carts, and carriage taxis share the roads too. The houses in town open right onto the street. Big, high wooden doors open into people’s living space and courtyards. For the street it looks like a row of gates and doors, but at night when people have their doors open and are sitting along the street you can see what lies inside.

Every day we seem to discover a new part of the city. Last night we went to hear a youth choir and the Nicaragua Youth Philharmonic orchestra at the cultural centre. It was close to the main city square. There are lots of fancy hotels and restaurants in that area. John went looking for a grocery store in the afternoon, and found the local market. There are many old churches. I can’t wait to see inside sometime.

John gets an A++ for enthusiasm and effort. He always has his phrase-book in hand, and persistently works hard to ask questions and try to make himself understood. If he doesn’t have his nose in the phrase-book, he’s thumbing through the travel guide. There is so much to see and do. If you are looking for an alternative to Florida and the Caribbean this winter, consider Nicaragua!

This is Laguna de Apoyo - a crater lake in an inactive volcano. It is more than 200 metres deep. And there are 4 species of fish that exist only in this lake. It is about 20 minutes from Granada. A great way to cool off from the heat.

We hung out at Crater's Edge hostel for the day at Laguna de Apoyo.

You know it's a tourist town when you can get a carriage ride/tour of the city. Danielle is practicing to be the driver so that she can give tours when her Spanish improves!

Welcome to Nicaragua

2008-09-02T18:12:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Nicaragua and have been warmly welcomed by everyone we've met.

It wasn't even 2 hours after being off the plane that the kids were riding a horse - not because that's a typical thing to do when you arrive in Nicaragua, but because of a very generous young girl with a new horse. We are so grateful to our hosts, the VanderWees family, for patiently answering our barrage of questions about life in Nicaragua AND listening to our stories about the last couple months.

Now it's off to language school in Granada. We desperately need to learn some Spanish. Dinner was a good challenge - the menu in one hand and the spanish dictionary in the other!

The kids love hangin' out in the hammocks....

... and a little bit of schooling beside the pool.

Hurricanes and Snowstorms

2008-09-02T17:25:00.000-07:00

It's hurricane season. Sort of like February in southern Ontario. You're never entirely sure when the storm is going to hit. You regularly check the news for updates. Keep the pantry fairly well stocked. You're never sure how bad it's going to be. You can either stay inside all day or venture out with some informed caution. I'm not a fan of wind storms or snow storms, but hiding inside isn't a fun option.

When we first arrived in Florida, Tropical Storm Fay had hit Port St. Lucie and the surrounding area. Students had been in school for one day and then had 4 storm days. There was alot of flooding in the area and our friend Debbie's office was flooded.

After traveling to Disney and the Space Centre, we came back to Debbie, Jeff, Kristina and Evan's wonderful hospitality. You always feel part of the family when you stay with them, and that includes their extended family too. We had dinner with Debbie's parents and her almost 90 year old Nana. They took us to a baseball game between the St. Lucie Mets (farm team for the NY Mets) and the Brevard Manatees. The highlight was actually the fireworks after the game. Another highlight of the evening (can you have more than one highlight), well another item of note was finally catching a glimpse of an alligator. We'd certainly seen lots of warning signs but no alligator. While visiting Debbie's parents their "pet" alligator in the pond behind their house was swimming around and we could see its eyes and tail sometimes skimming along the surface of the water. That was enough so we can now say we've seen an alligator in Florida.

We were also hosted by Debbie's brother Eric and his family. They have a lovely landscaped pool in their backyard. The kids swam and swam and swam and swam....

There was also karaoke back at the Debbie and Jeff's. And Kristina eventually had us all dancing. Kristina is an excellent dancer. She gave Danielle special cha-cha slide lessons too.

I don't have a picture of the kids playing guitar hero or wii but that definitely kept Evan, Simon and Danielle entertained for many hours!

We were also treated to a boat ride out from nearby Fort Pierce. Jeff worked hard to get his boat ready for us. The storm had dumped lots of water and debris into his boat. The water is usually crystal clear in the area where we put the anchor in to swim, however the recent storm had churned up the water so it was pretty murky. We headed back in when the dark clouds started to roll in, and the boaters who were on the ocean side of the cove started streaming back.

One of the occupational hazards of traveling is having to say "goodbye" to special friends after what always seems like too short a visit. Debbie is like a sister to me. I met her 25 years ago (July 1, 1983) when we were Rotary Exchange students flying from New York to the Phillipines. I can't imagine not having her, and her family, in my life!

It’s A Small World After All

2008-08-29T06:19:00.000-07:00

We have just completed a four day tourist road trip in Florida and thought we would let you in our activities. We are currently staying with friends in Port St Lucie and will write more about our time here in a bit. During our road trip we went to Disney Magic Kingdom, a county park and Kennedy Space Centre.

Our day at Disney Magic Kingdom was a full one. The hotel shuttle left at 8:00 am and the only return rides were at 6:00 and 10:00 pm – we elected for 10:00. So we made it for the grand opening of the park when Mickey comes from the train and were greeted by the staff waving with mouse hands. Then on to rides and shows and sights. The kid’s favourite rides were Buzz Lightyear Ranger Spin (which we rode four times) and Splash Mountain. Late August is a great time to go if you can stand the heat – the Florida kids are in school and the rest of North America has yet to arrive. We went to Space Mountain first and waited in line for five minutes – which was a treat after having waited about 2 hours when I was a kid. So we shared the park with lots of little kids dressed up like princesses. And if this is a slow time I would hate to see a busy time. All in all we had a good Disney experience and the one day was plenty for our sore feet and weary bodies.

The next day was a lazy day at a county park. Kelly Park/Rock Springs is a natural springs and there is a 3km route that you tube down. We read that this park is a secret Floridians keep to themselves and it did not disappoint. The water was a great temperature to beat the heat and the 30 minute cruise was a wonderful ride. We were shocked while walking back from our first ride to see signs warning us about alligators in the river. We were told, however, that they were small ones only! This didn’t stop us though and we had a great afternoon floating and swimming beneath the trees.

On our final day we learned about space exploration. The tour and many videos at the Kennedy Space Centre were outstanding and we learned about the Apollo program that put people on the moon, about the space shuttle program and about the international space station. We were amazing by the size of the Apollo rocket (large) and the space capsule the astronauts were in (small). We also appreciated learning about and experiencing, the space shuttle launch. This seemed particularly interesting knowing that our friend Andrew will be down from Vancouver to be with the astronaut’s families during the upcoming October launch.

We are back “home” in Port St Lucie, enjoying the hospitality here and getting ready for our next journey to Nicaragua.

While in Vancouver .... make applesauce

2008-08-20T23:25:00.000-07:00

We've had a fabulous time in Vancouver catching up with so many special friends. We've visited some of our favourite spots - Kits beach, Sophie's Cosmic Cafe, Granville Market and the Aquarium - but the highlight has definitely been spending time with all the folks out here who are our BC family.

We spent a week with friends in Surrey who have a neighbour with an old apple tree. Mel decided it was time to pick some apples and make some applesauce, and she enlisted Simon and Danielle to help her out.

Danielle and Simon wrote this recipe for making applesauce:

1. Find a neighbour that has an apple tree and get permission to pick apples
2. Get pails and ladder
3. Pick lots of apples – about 100
4. pick only good apples
5. your neighbour
6. Go back home
7. Take apples and wash in water (and try bobbing for them in the sink)
8. Cut apples into quarters and take out insides (core)
9. Boil apples on stove with an inch of hot water – boil for 10 minutes or until very mushy
10. Find large bowl with apple sieve, stick and holder
11. Put mushy/gushy apples into sieve
12. Put round part of stick on the palm of you hand and roll it around the edges of the apple sieve 13. The pulp that comes out is the apple sauce
14. Put stuff left in the sieve in the compost
15. Taste the apple sauce
16. If needed, add sugar
17. let cool
18. EAT

Post Script to Bowron

2008-08-20T23:20:00.001-07:00

While in Vancouver we visited with our friend Yolanda who had done the circuit with us all those years ago. This is incredible but true ... she and some friends were on the circuit at the same time that we were. She left about 4-5 hours earlier on the same day that we did, and stayed 2 or 3 campsites ahead of us the entire way. On the last day that we were on the water, we canoed within 50 metres of where she and her friends were camped. It was her first time back too! When we got together we shared our stories from this trip, and retold the bits and pieces we could remember from our first trip. I still can't really believe it!

Canoeing Bowron

2008-08-20T22:25:00.000-07:00

More than 15 years ago John and I canoed the Bowron Lakes circuit in northern B.C. with our friends Yolanda and Dianne. When we decided we would be traveling across Canada for the summer, doing the circuit was one of the first things on the list of things to do. John did a phenomenal job planning and organizing the trip. On the trip from Quesnel to Pemberton, after finishing the circuit, we "interviewed" each other about the experience. Enjoy the photos too! The scenery is spectacular!

The view from campsite #24 on Isaac Lake.

How was your Bowron Lakes trip?
S, D, J, P – Awesome!

Day 1 - ready for the first portage from the registration centre.

How long did it take?
Seven days and six nights. We started on Wednesday August 6 with an orientation at noon and we were on the first portage just before 1pm. We beached our two canoes back at Bowron Lake Lodge at 7:30pm on Tuesday August 12.

What was the most exciting moment or event for you on the trip?
D – bouncing on the waves in Laneezi Lake when it was very windy. We called it La-hardy Lake
S- building a log cabin out of logs, carving a paddle, and meeting new people
J – camping on the beach at site #24, seeing the mountains change colour as the sun went down; watching the clouds clear after the rain and seeing fresh snow on the mountains
P – every time the lake was so calm and the sky so clear and being surrounded by mountains. Seeing the eagle snatch the fish off the water. Paddling through the Cariboo River with Simon. We got stuck twice but we navigated the fast water very well together.

Another day and another view of Isaac Lake.

What is your favourite camping food?
S – Dung brownies. They are called that because they looked like a pile of dung but they tasted great.
D – chocolate almond bark
J – blueberry pancakes made with organic dried blueberries (50 cents a bite)
P – butter chicken (without the chicken) and lentils with naan bread

John paddling through the mini-Chute with Simon and Danielle.

Did you see any wildlife?
S – we saw 5 eagles on our last day of canoeing, and out on Babcock Lake one snatched a dead fish off the water less than 50 metres away from us
D – we saw a bear swimming across the Cariboo River near Babcock Creek. It swam very fast.
J – as we entered Bowron Lake we watched an osprey dive-bomb into the lake trying to catch a fish
P – We saw so many types of birds – loons in every lake, ducks and ducklings, kingfishers, a hummingbird, heard a woodpecker, little birds along the bank, osprey, the eagles

Lots of different wildflowers and other "flora and fauna" to discover.

What was the hardest part of the trip?
D – canoeing the whole time
S – setting up in the rain
J – canoeing in the cold and having cold feet
P – the first two portages, and not sleeping when I thought I heard something outside the tent

Portaging on the last day with lighter packs and a lighter canoe.

What was the fun-est part of the trip?
S – the last two portages because they were so short. And meeting new people.
D- playing games with other kids
J – running a bit of white water with Simon and Danielle
P – swimming in a glacial lake after a long day of paddling Isaac Lake and getting a brain freeze

Skipping stones in the setting sun.

What was the weather like?
D – 3 days of rainy weather, and 3 days of sun
J – the first 3 days were glorious and then rain at the end of the 3rd day, 4th day gorgeous in the morning but rain at the end of the day, non-stop on the 5th day, and drizzly to start on the 6th and cleared in the afternoon, sunny with the wind on our back on the seventh day
Trying to get all the details recorded in our journals (bear cache in the background).

Do you think you would do the trip again?
D – Yes
S – Yup
J – I’d love to.
P – It is a rare and amazing place that no one but God could design. I’d love to share it with more people.

Back at the registration centre. We're planning on going again in 5 years. Want to come?!

7 Weeks and 5 Provinces

2008-08-20T22:14:00.000-07:00

Travelling across Canada has been a fabulous way for us to start our Round The World journey. We live in such a great country - and even after 7 weeks and only seen half the provinces and none of the North - and there is still so much we want to explore!

Music, Mountains and Much Much More

2008-08-05T17:49:00.000-07:00

A couple days before we left Calgary I was talking to the kids about leaving soon. Danielle said, “I wish our trip was two years then we could stay here for a year.” Simon quickly agreed. By “here” they weren’t just talking about the city of Calgary, they were hoping they could stay with their cousins at their house! It’s been a treat for all of us to play and swim, dance and read books, and pass the time together.

One of the primary goals of our journey is to experience other cultures. We have done that in our 12 day stay in Calgary.

We began our stay with our friends the Reinders (friends we met in Vancouver) and attending the Calgary Music Folk Festival. Phil and Betty are “professional” folk festival folks. They’ve been telling us for 10 years what an awesome experience it is. For Christmas last year they promised us a personalized orientation. We quickly learned it’s all about the tarps. John stood in line twice (once at 6:00am) to do the `running of the tarps``. Hmmm, I wonder if that is why they invited us?! No, no … everyone was able to apply their gifts to the process: preparing snacks, taking care of kids, carrying festival chairs, standing in line for coffee. The Festival was a wonderful time – friendly people those Calgary festival folk. The rain drove us out a few times but the kids enjoyed hiding under the tarp, dancing under the stars, listening to fabulous musicians, playing in the kids’ zone, and eating a rich diversity of food.

It's important to get a tarp with a view!

Rocking out to Bedouin Soundclash.

I’d never been to a music festival before. Going to the festival gave me a new appreciation of music and musicians. Music is one of those things we can so easily take for granted. It’s always with us – especially if you are traveling with John, who is often humming or whistling a simple melody over and over and over again. To sit and listen for hours to different voices and combinations of instruments is truly a gift. You forget about all the hours of traveling, practicing, and maybe even anxieties about getting up in front of thousands of people. And they make it all seem so effortless. Thank you to all the musicians I heard and those who continue to fill my world with music!

When the festival was over, we moved to the Goosens (Pam`s sister, Martha, her husband, Harvey, and their two daughters, Janelle and Marika). Harvey’s cousin, AnneMarie, was also visiting from Holland. They were gracious hosts as we have experienced many, many times. This was the first time that all four of us were in Calgary together. I have flown out many times on my own, or John has passed through on his way to/from Vancouver, or I’ve been out with the kids on my own. So it was very special for our families to spend so much time altogether.

We had a beautiful day hiking in the mountains around Canmore and Banff. When we were driving through Canmore to the Grassi Lakes, Simon said, “I’d like to live in Canmore. Do you think they have a school here?” I, too, would love to wake up surrounded by mountains everyday.

We visited the Banff Springs Hotel where the views are free.

The Strathmore Rodeo and a Calgary Stampeders game could be considered significant Alberta cultural events! The rodeo was a small-town rodeo but action-packed. We all enjoyed the bull riding and the chuck wagons but were amazed at the dangers of the sport. One fellow was thrown from a bull into a fence like a ragdoll. There was a chuckwagon accident but fortunately no one was hurt. We’re not sure about the horse though.

Look at these beautiful cowgirl cousins!

A Stampeders football game was also a raucous event. They were playing Saskatchewan and probably half the crowd was Rough Riders fans – and many of them were wearing hollowed out watermelons on their heads (hence the name ``melon heads``). It was a great game, but unfortunately Saskatchewan holds onto the winning record. The Stamps lost by only 1 point.

We were able to immerse ourselves in great vistas all day yesterday as we drove through Banff and Jasper National Parks. Today our compass is set on Bowron Lake Provincial Park in B.C. A week of canoe-camping. Are we ready? John has been making lists, checking them twice, packing and repacking food and gear. We have to stop asking ourselves that question because it can sometimes make you drag your feet and never get out the door. Yup, we’re ready to give it our best shot!

In Shifting Gears recently we read, “Trust that the same providential God who has blessed you with this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity will also provide … Set aside any false guilt that will only diminish the joy of unwrapping this daily adventure.” (p83)

Blessings to you on your adventure wherever it takes you this week!

A Story by Simon

2008-07-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

Simon and Danielle are eaching keeping a journal during our trip. Sometimes they are keen to write, other times it can be a battle. We are now in Calgary, and yesterday I took the kids (Simon, Danielle and our friend Owen) swimming at an indoor pool. While we were paying to get in, Owen said that we were visiting him. The women asked where we were from and Simon told her that we were from Ontario but on our way around the world. She asked some questions about where we would be going and then said, "And you are keeping a journal, right?" She then went on at length about why it is so important to keep a journal. I should have paid her! It was definitely the kind of encouragement they needed to hear from someone other than John or I. Thank you Killarney Pool Lady!

Sometimes their journal entries are a straight description of what we have done. Sometimes it is an acrostic of a place we've visited. Sometimes it is a description of a picture or diagram they've cut out of a brochure from a place we've visited. And sometimes it is a story about someone else but that has a lot of similarity to what we've been doing.

Here is a story Simon wrote recently:

This is the story of Max the Cat. One day he went to some of his Mom and Dad’s friends’ house. They have two kittens, Joe and Lulu. They have a pool for their dog-friends. Max wanted to go swimming because he is the only cat that likes to go swimming. Later that day they had chicken, a cat’s favourite food. They also had SpritzUp. I think I forgot to tell you that Max has a snorting pig sister. After dinner they went on a trampoline. Max’s pig sister learned how to do a snort drop. Max was already good at doing a tail drop. Everyday before the trip to his parents’ friends, he had been practicing at his friend Bill’s house. Bill has a trampoline.

The next day, which was Thursday, Max woke up and had breakfast. He had liver on a bun (cats eat very odd things). After that, Joe went to camp. He got to do bungee jumping while his sister Lulu stayed at home with Max and his sister.

When Joe came back from camp they had lunch then Joe and Lulu had a quiet time. When Joe woke up they all went running together along the Bow River. It was a nice view when they stopped on a bridge to look around. Max wanted to go swimming but he was not allow.

That night Max went to a folk festival with his sister, parents, parents’ friends, and friends of the parents’ friends. The music was very, very loud. They had meow and roll music, some nice quiet music and lots more meow and roll. Max danced up and down the rows making a storm.

When he got back home from the concert he brushed his teeth and went right to bed.

The Badlands are Awesome!

2008-07-19T22:26:00.000-07:00

We had heard from several people that Dinosaur Provincial Park in southern Alberta was a fantastic place to visit. They were right!

The camping is nothing spectacular but the interpretive programs are phenomenal. The staff are friendly, enthusiastic, creative, knowledgable and helpful. We went to two evening programs, plus a day-time program at the visitors' centre; and did two morning tours (the Fossil Safari and the Centrosaurus Bone Bed Hike). All the programs and tours are interactive, and often include dramas that Simon and Danielle were eager to participate in. The scenery was spectacular too. The badlands just appear in the middle nowhere as if the ground just opened up and your traveling underground to see what was happening 75 million years ago.

Simon as a small mammal that lived alongside the dinosaurs 75 million years ago. Danielle as a mammal molar, who did a wonderful dance with the Tooth Fairy.

Out in the Nature Preserve on our Fossil Safari.

A re-enactment of a glacier making its way south through Alberta. This was part of the Centrosaurus Bone Bed Hike.

The view from within the Nature Preserve which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the quantity and quality of dinosaur bone beds.

Land of the Living Sky - Saskatchewan

2008-07-19T22:02:00.000-07:00

We really enjoyed Saskatoon! We drove from Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba to Saskatoon on Tuesday. It was one of our longest driving days until we gain an hour back with the time change (or lack there of) in Saskatchewan. We stayed with our friends Dianne and Ford for two nights. What a treat to stay in someone's home - hot showers, comfortable beds, laundry, people to share our stories with. We are very grateful for their hospitality. We had a "Taste of Saskatoon", played around in a wonderful park, and cooled off at a huge outdoor pool with a waterslide. Dianne and Ford took us to the Berry Barn outside of the city. It is a saskatoon berry farm just outside of the city. There is a restaurant there that serves lots of dishes made with, you guessed it, saskatoon berries - iced tea, bbq chicken wings, pie. And they serve a number of traditional Ukranian dishes - sausage, perogies, and borscht. The Berry Barn is located on the South Saskatchewan River. As the storm clouds started to roll in a spectacular rainbow appeared. We could see both ends of the rainbow, and also a reflection in the river. It was truly breathtaking.

Check out this great swing in the park!

Enjoying saskatoon berries and Ukranian food at the Berry Barn.

A spectacular rainbow reflecting in the South Saskatchewan River.

Simon demonstrating his new diving skills. John started teaching the kids how to dive when we were at Grundy Lake. Now they are diving like dolphins!

Expectations

2008-07-19T21:55:00.000-07:00

The other day (as we were driving ....) we talked about some of the things that have been different than we expected on this trip. Here's some of what we talked about:
- It takes longer to set up and take down your tent and bug shelter than we originally thought it would take.
- There's less "down time" at the end of the day than we expected. Most nights John and I are going to bed when the kids do. Who knew driving could be so tiring? And instead of reading a stack of books when it's not your turn to drive it's kind of nice to just watch the scenery.
- We are eating well. We're still working our way through some of the food that we cleared out of our kitchen cupboards when we left home. The candy is gone though - that was to be expected!
- The weather has been colder than expected. We wrote that one down before we got to Saskatoon. It's been clear skies most of the time since then.
- The distances have been long but the day goes by fairly quickly.
- Oh, and then there is all the things we brought along thinking we would need. Some will be shipped home from Calgary already. Others will be sent from Vancouver.

What to do while driving miles and miles across Canada

2008-07-19T21:36:00.000-07:00

If you are Danielle you write a puppet play; colour and cut out all the characters; make and sell tickets to other passengers in the van; and wait for an opportunity to perform!

Cold and Wet Lake Superior

2008-07-13T05:54:00.001-07:00

Our camping trip across Canada began on Sunday July 5. It has been wet and cold but we are warm today having spent Sat night in a hotel at Dryden.

After saying goodbye to Oma and Opa in Midland, the first night was spent at Grundy Lake where it was warm and we swam. Then to Sudbury and Science North and later to Fairbanks Provincial Park. The rain started on Monday and has been on and off since then. On Tue we went to Agawa Bay in Lake Superior Provincial Park. This was a beautiful park on the shore of Lake Superior but the wind was unrelenting and it was cold. We had a great hike to the pictographs and along the shore. On Wed night there was a presentation about snakes. We spent about an hour handling a number of snakes. Simon and Danielle’s favourite snake was the rubber boa (in Simon's hand here). I (John) hate snakes but even Pam and I got into the act. Thursday we were off to Sleeping Giant Provincial Park outside of Thunder Bay and stopped at Ouimet Canyon. We spent an afternoon mining for Amethysts and playing cards. Fortunately Sat morning was clear and we could see the giant and spend some time at the Terry Fox Monument and Kakabeka Falls before the rain began again.

I`ve added a list of interesting animals we have seen and we'll see how many we can find – check it out. Overall - there has been lots of fun in the midst of all the shivering.

Geneva Park

2008-07-08T10:39:00.000-07:00

posted from the Blind River marina

Last week we said goodbye to your house and neighbours and drove all of 1 hour before resting in the Muskoka chairs at Geneva Park. This park is located in Orillia on Lake Couchiching, It is a YMCA conference centre but also has about 40 cottages that are occupied during the summer. Along with the cottages there is a full program of activities; mostly for the kids but also the parents. The kids had windsurfing lessons followed by swimming lessons (Danielle) and canoe lessons (Simon). After lunch they have a group activity organized by age and then archery or something else in the afternoons. There is also some game or activity following dinner. The frantic pace is also available for the adults (tennis, kayaking, exercise classes, art classes) but we took it easy this year – recovering from the lists and packing. The cottages are very rustic and do not have bathrooms but this is more than made up for by the programs and the family atmosphere.
Pam has been going to Geneva Park since she was 4 years old and it is a large part of her family tradition. We have been going as a family for the past 6 years. I did not go to summer camp as a kid and coming here was a like a new world was opened up to me. There was so much to see and do and learn. The history and environment was so welcoming. I have become a big advocate for Geneva Park ever since and have encouraged a few friends and their families to come along as well. This place has been a place of recovery from packing this year and has been a place of reprieve from the busyness of life in other years. It has always been a great family time.

More friends and more meals!

2008-07-03T08:06:00.001-07:00

Our final "DEGAKERSPEET" dinner for awhile.
We'll have some new international recipes to try with you guys when we get back.

It was wonderful to see the Boston family one more time before we left. And sharing GP with them again was a treat.

My friend Arlene has heard me talk about Geneva Park ever since we met in Grade 7. Now she and her family know what I've been talking about all these years.

Learning new ways of communicating

2008-07-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

It was a strange experience last week when we were still at home without internet access or a telephone. Our internet was cut off earlier than we expected, and so was our phone service. The experience certainly hasn’t changed my opinion of telecommunication companies. John’s cell phone is staying at his work, and when we arrived at Geneva Park I discovered that I was out of money on the card for my cellphone. Our “instantaneous” lives suddenly requires some pre-planning! Today I discovered that there is free wireless access at the Court. Tonight I’m going to type up some posts and see if I can get them online tomorrow. I guess this is what we’ll be learning to do more and more as we continue our journey. The Sea to Sea bike tour across the United States (and part of Canada) started yesterday. We’ve been reading the daily devotions and inspirational quotes. It’s been interesting to see ourselves and our journey in the midst of their adventure. The title of the book is “Shifting Gears” and the opening day it says, “We are leaving the routine of our daily lives and engaging on an incredible journey. Many of us had to shift gears to come along and we will shift gears many times along the way” (pg13). Those words certainly resonate with us. As does a phrase from today’s entry: “Make it a promise to yourself from now on: take time to be slow” (pg15).
The following pictures are some of the friends we’ve had to say good-bye to in the past couple of weeks. Thank you to each of you for the special gatherings and filling our hearts with special memories that we will carry with us throughout the coming year.

DeWilde Zoo Keepers

2008-07-03T07:56:00.000-07:00

Time to Go

2008-06-28T05:32:00.001-07:00

We slept in our sleeping bags last night because all the linens were washed and packed up. The floor in the living room is still covered in items that need to end up in packs and containers. It looks like a bit of a disaster at the moment. We've read in numerous travel books that you should pack over a period of several weeks. The idea is that there is time to weed out the things you originally thought you would need but are later willing to do without. Well, we have the summer traveling across Canada for that process. Right now we have lots of room in our van for our gear. By the time we leave Vancouver in late August everything has to fit into our packs.

The house is cleaner than it has ever been in the past eight years. It feels good knowing we're leaving a clean house for the people who will be living here while we are gone.

Simon says, "I'm glad we get to go on our trip for a year; I'm sad I won't see my friends for a year; and, I'm itchy." The recent heat has been hard for Simon.

Danielle says, "I'm excited! I'm excited to see my friend Arianne at Geneva Park." The first stop on our round the world journey is one of our family's favourite summer places. It will be a great place to relax and not think about lists and cleaning and packing ....

John is speechless - I think he's just overwhelmed by the amount of stuff that somehow has to be packed up. His back hurts and he's too busy stuffing things into packs to give me a quote right now.

Pam says, "We made it. We made it through the packing up stage. Thank you to everyone, especially our parents, who have been so supportive and helpful. And thank you to all those who are praying for us. God has definitely answered lots of prayers this week!"

We all want to say, "Have a great summer everyone!"

The Last Day of School - The Day Before the First Day of Summer

2008-06-23T17:26:00.001-07:00

Last week, on one of the last days of school, Danielle and her classmates had to write a story entitled, "It's Going to Be a Long Summer." This is what Danielle wrote:

In the summer I am going to Geneva Park. Then I am going to drive across Canada to Calgary, and then I am going to Vancouver. After that we are off and away. I am happy and sad. I am sad because I am going to miss all my friends. I am happy because I get to see lots of new stuff. I like school so I don't want to go out of school. I wish I could take the school with me.

Will we ever really be ready?

2008-06-07T19:02:00.000-07:00

Thursday night was the first evening last week that John was home. He's been working on a big project at work that has meant several late nights at the office. It was about 11pm and we were just sort of catching up on where we are at with getting ready to leave. Even though we've been working through lists of details for what seems like months and months, we both expressed how it doesn't really feel like we're ready for anything! Of course that's not entirely true (and we did eventually get to that point in the conversation) but it does still feel like there are so many strands dangling out there. And I think many will remain that way for a long time. That's why this year off is more about a journey than just a trip. We've been on a journey already since deciding in 2005 that this is what we want to do. We were in Penetenguishine this afternoon for a theatre production. It was fabulous. John's parents were with us, and they had made plans for us to spend this day together way back in December, I think. We all had so much fun. And as I sat there enjoying the show and seeing how much fun we were all having together I thought "this is the journey." This is what is such a blessing in our lives. To be together, exploring, eager to try something new, appreciating others' gifts and talents, sharing and contributing our own gifts. Now we're going to take that experience on the road for awhile and see what it is like as we drive across Canada for the summer; spend time in Florida with friends; in Nicaragua going to language school and volunteering for two months; spend time in Australia with friends for a few weeks; volunteer in the Philippines for a couple months; visit Thailand; volunteer in Bangladesh for a couple months; visit family in England and Holland; check out Egypt and Spain; and, more language school and volunteering in West Africa. And I'm certain that experience will continue after we return in about a year from now.

John keep assuring me that we won't get everything done that needs to be done before we leave home in three weeks. I know he's right, but I'm trying to get as many things on my list done. We'll see what things are left on his list. Actually, there's nothing competive about this list stuff. We have always worked well as a team, and I know that together we'll deal with the undone and unexpected things that will surely come up in the coming year. And that together has to also include our parents. Wow, they have been so supportive and encouraging. They deserve Parents of the Year awards 100x over! As I wrote in a recent email to them, "It means THE WORLD to us."

I do want to post a few more pictures. Danielle finished Sunbeams 3 at the end of May. John was her "music partner" for the year-end recital. I didn't see her performance but I heard lots of practicing and I think she is a wonderful piano player. Thank you for always persevering Danielle. And congratulations on finishing another year of piano!

I had to miss the recital because I was away for work. After the recital John's parents took John and the kids out for lunch to celebrate John's birthday. I think he had about a week's worth of celebrations this year. His barber is right next to the restaurant that they went to, so he decided he'd pop in for a quick haircut. Now Simon has been growing his hair for about three years. He had decided that he would get it cut before we left on our trip because in many of the countries we're visiting you get treated very differently if people think you are a girl - so if you are a boy you might want to have short hair and not be mistaken for a girl. So out of the blue, Simon decided he would get his hair shaved off! So when I came home from work that Saturday evening I was greeted by this handsome young man with very very short hair. Way to go Simon! That was a big sacrifice and you handled it with courage and a very positive attitude.

Winter - no May - Wonderland in Wasaga Beach

2008-06-02T19:24:00.000-07:00

I'm sure I saw snowflakes drift past the window at the cottage. Well, it probably was some petals from a nearby fruit tree - but it was so cold it COULD have been snow. Everyone will be remembering May long weekend 2008 as the chilly, rainy one. Simon made an insightful observation. He said, "if it had been hot and sunny then everyone would have been doing different things outside. But the rain and the cold meant we were often all inside together playing games and doing stuff together."

It was a fabulous weekend of "being together." And when the sun peaked out for a few minutes we'd rush out to do some of our favourite Wasaga Beach things. We celebrated John's birthday a few days early, and thanks to Grandma we had a yummy chocolate cake. After dinner we went to the go-carts. It was Marika's first time, and she loved it! She co-piloted with her dad a few times, and then she was my (Pam's) co-pilot for the final lap. Simon is now old enough and tall enough to go on his own. He had a huge grin on his face lap after lap after lap. The next night after dinner Marika asked if it was still Uncle John's birthday, and if he'd like to go to the go-carts again.

Janelle loved the fact that we brought Donut along for the weekend. She checked on him many times, and was eager to touch him. I think it took Donut a week to recover from the weekend. He hadn't been held so many times, rocked around in his cage during the trip there and back, and endured so much fun laughter and yelling in all his time with us!

It wasn't as hard to say good-bye as it usually is because we knew we'd be together a couple more times in the coming week.

Mothers' Day gift by Danielle

2008-05-14T16:15:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of what me, Simon,Dad and Mom made for a Mothers'Day gift. We made

3 candles. One for Oma. One for Grandma. We also made one for Aunt Martha and her family so that they will remember us when we are traveling.

We wrote, "He's got the whole world in His hands" on the candle because we know God takes care of us all the time everywhere we go.

Blacksmith By:Simon

2008-05-14T15:40:00.000-07:00

Simon here, recently I went to a Blacksmith. I have always wanted to be one.
It was cool because he showed me a lot of tools. Did you know the fire that they use is over 200oF? The man was nice and showed me tools that he had. He said “you start with 1 tool and make more to make more.” Maybe you do not know what a Farrier is. It is a person how makes swords, armor, and horseshoes.

Happy Vroom Vroom Birthday

2008-05-14T15:23:00.000-07:00

My birthday was last weekend, and John told me that he had a little surprise planned for the afternoon. It should come as no surprise that John likes to plan things that others would consider a little out of the ordinary. That can be very exciting at times, and also a bit intimidating. I ended up feeling a good measure of both. So, do you want to hear what I got to do? John made arrangements for me to ride a friend's motorbike. I haven't ridden a motorbike for almost 12 years! When we lived in Niger John and I put about 10,000 km on the Yamaha 125 that we shared. Despite their assurances that it would be as familiar as "riding a bike" I was a bit skeptical. I will be forever grateful to Doug for his generosity and patience! He took me out for a spin, gave me a quick refresher (and I mean quick!), and then I was off on my own. I didn't exactly tear up the trails, but I did have fun! I puttered about at a cautious speed with a huge, smushed grin inside the helmet. Of course, John got a turn too. (His birthday is just around the corner). I imagine there will be an opportunity to be on a motorbike again sometime in the coming year. And now I've been able to get a bit of practice with only John, Danielle and a couple friends watching - instead of an entire village of strangers watching me struggling to find second gear.

A Surprise for Martha

2008-04-26T13:15:00.000-07:00

My brother-in-law, Harvey, loves to plan special surprises for my sister. Next year Martha will turn 40 while we are traveling, so he made plans to fly me to Calgary for her 39th birthday, and therefore start her 40th year in a very special way! And was she ever surprised!!

We spent the night in Banff and had a fabulous meal in town. Then spent her birthday at Sunshine skiing on fresh snow! It was an extraordinary day - we both let out "yahoo's" and squeals of delight as we made our way down the runs. There might have been a few "ooh my legs are aching" and a quick stop to catch our breath in there too. The skiing was fantastic! It had been a couple years since I'd skied in the Rockies. There is no doubt that my favourite place in the whole entire world is on top of a mountain. And what a privilege to be there for the day celebrating the gift my sister is to me! Thanks Harvey - I definitely got spoiled in the process of helping Martha celebrate this birthday. It had been a long time since the two of us could spend an entire day together by ourselves catching up and offering encouragement about all sorts of things. And it might be awhile before we have an opportunity to do that again ... but we have a mountain full of memories to sustain for a little while.

Bugs! S-W-E-E-T

2008-04-25T16:14:00.000-07:00

The bug fun started at Danielle's birthday party a couple years ago. John loves inventing party games, and this particular year he made Danielle and her friends an Amazing Race in our backyard. One of the stops included eating dried, cheddar coated larvae. When Danielle's friend Madison told her mom about eating bugs at Danielle's birthday part she was incredulous. She still can't believe the girls did it! This past Christmas John gave Madison and her family another "buggy" treat. Madison said her brother really like it.

Today Madison came home from school with Danielle. After dinner she announced she had a surprise for the entire family. First she gave us a beautiful card that says "To the DeWilde Family, Have a Great Trip - From Madi" Then she gave us an "InsectNside" candy. In addition to sugar, corn syrup and the usual list of candy ingredients it lists: cricket, insect larva and asparagus fern. John cracked the candy into pieces. Danielle ate the cricket - Madi ate the larva - and Simon ate the fern.

When John and I were living in Niger we often hung out with some of the Peace Corps volunteers. We were visiting their training site one week in the fall, and went to the local market. It was grasshopper season and there were very large (dead) grasshoppers for sale in the market. We definitely could have used some corn syrup that day!

We'll have to make sure we send Madison and her family some photos of people (maybe us, maybe not!) eating non-candied bugs during our travels.

Bon Appetit!

Not an everyday thing

2008-04-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

It's not everyday you get to stand on the roof of your Grandparents' house. "What are John and Danielle doing on the roof?" you ask - well, they are trying to find the tennis ball that Simon and Jack (from next door to Grandma and Poppa) were throwing from the front yard to the back yard over the house. It turned out to be in bushes, not on the roof. But Danielle enjoyed the adventure just the same.

We've been saying for a few weeks now that we need to update our blog. We will, we will! There are lots of things to post - March Break, Arianne's birthday party, a surprise visit to Calgary for Martha's birthday, and a few trip details to update you on. No vaccinations recently to report on. John and I were originally scheduled to have some in late March but there is a shortage of rabies vaccines and I was sick with a sinus infection gone mad! The rabies situation is a bit funny - well, to me it is. I still have enough "stuff' in my system from the vaccine we received way back in 1994 before we left for West Africa. John, the person who hates needles, needs a booster!

I think, if he had a choice, John might rather fall off the roof.

The Hardest Part of the Trip

2008-02-17T10:08:00.001-08:00

Anyone who knows John and I will know that we share an aversion to most things medical. Pain, blood, protuding broken bones and I'm a goner. They don't even have to be mine. When Danielle fell and sliced open her chin I was the one who turned green, threw up and fainted. John's weakness is NEEDLES. So, in commiting to this RTW journey, we knew we'd be facing a series of vaccinations. When Danielle had her 5 year old vaccinations she almost fainted, so she was not looking forward to our visit to Dr. Chopra either. We all agreed that this might be THE hardest part of our trip.

We spent at least half an hour with Dr. Chopra who very methodically went through the list of countries we are planning to visit, the list of vaccinations that John and I had when we went to Niger (most of which have expired), and charting out who would be having which shots at what time. We all ended up needing 3 "picks" on this particular day. Everyone would get a Yellow Fever shot, and a TB test. John and I would have a typhoid shot, and the kids would have a meningitis shot. In a month John and I will have a couple more shots, and the kids will have theirs in late June just before we leave.

While meeting with Dr. Chopra, John left his suit jacket and leather jacket on. By the end of our conversation with the doctor he was looking quite flushed - from the heat the five people in the small office had generated, and the rising anxiety of 3 needles in one visit. I suggested he take off his coat, to which he replied, "over my dead body!"

One nurse sent John off to pay for the shots, while another nurse set about getting the needles ready. This gave John an opportunity to get a bit of fresh air in a different part of the medical building, and probably a good way of ensuring he went through the needles since he'd just made a significant financial investment!

In our family we are all called by our middle names. This was never a problem for John and I growing up but now that your "identity" is tied to what is on paper or on the card you are carrying, we often end up being called by our first names in "official" places like a doctor's office. Danielle and I share the same first name and the guys have the same first name. Well, that of course only added to the things the nurse needed to keep track of. She took to calling us Senior and Junior. I still thinking using our middle names would have been easier!

I had agreed days before that I would go first. I really don't mind needles - as long as I don't watch. Our little plan didn't entirely work because the nurse wanted to do the yellow fever shots on all of us first. Because you have to be monitored for 1/2 an hour after receiving the shot, she figured she'd do yellow fever first and by the time we got through everything half an hour would be done.

I did go first. Mom the brave! John went second. He then asked if he could go wait in the waiting room. The nurse said, "no" and John continued to stand as close to the closed door as possible with his back to the rest of us in the room. Simon was third. No problem. Danielle's turn - problem. She too had been cowering at the door with John and was quite upset when it was finally her turn. Wisely the nurse suggested she continue giving Danielle the rest of her needles because there was little chance I'd get her back on my lap after the first one was done. I found there was a stream of cold air coming from an open vent in the ceiling, so I made sure I sat directly under that with each child as they got their shots. As you can imagine, it quickly got quite warm in the room! Danielle finished her 3 "picks" like a trooper, and was the first person rewarded with a sucker from the nurse.

I kept an eye on Danielle as Simon climbed onto my lap for his turn. Danielle had turned around on the stool she was sitting on and quickly started to droop forward and put her head between her knees. With not much colour in her face, she needed to lie down. There was a flurry of activity as the nurse had to move all the papers and needles she had lined up on the examining table. Danielle hopped up on the table, and the sucker was soon kicking some sugar into her system.

Simon's second needle hurt. There were tears and he insisted he wasn't going to have the third one. With some coaxing, sitting on Mom's lap under the cool air stream, and a sucker he finally finished his turn.

Now it was John's turn. As the nurse was giving John his needles, I noticed that all the colour had now left Simon's face. I asked Danielle, "how are you feeling?" "Much better," she said. And she did look a whole lot better. "Well Danielle, it's time for you to get off the bed because Simon needs to lie down!" With some moaning, Simon crawled up onto the bed.

John was very brave and took the remaining two "picks" and his sucker in stride. He then turned around on the stool he was sitting on while I sat for the remainder of my needles. My back was to John but I could tell the nurse was keeping a close watch on him. She said, "Please give me some warning if you are going to faint because you're a big guy and picking you up off the floor won't be good for my back!"

Everytime I looked over my shoulder he had slumped a bit further. First his head went down, then his shoulders were drooping, then he had his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, then he put his arm up on the bed beside him, and finally his head went down onto his arm. The nurse and I asked at the same time, "Are you okay?" When he turned around you could tell by the lack of colour in his face that he was not okay! "Simon, your Dad needs to lie down."

While I finished signing the paperwork I could hear Simon talking to John. "How are you feeling? You're starting to look better Dad."

It was almost 6:00pm by the time we left the doctor's office. The nurse had put in some overtime and over-effort to get us all back on our feet. I think everyone, and I do mean everyone in the office that afternoon, gave out a loud sigh of relief as we headed out the door.

Have Fun Simon

2008-02-17T10:04:00.001-08:00

Why don't cannibals eat comedians? Because they taste funny! This was the opening line in Simon's speech that took him to the Regional Speech Festival on Valentine's Day.

Here's what he had to say, ...

Why don’t cannibals eat comedians? Because they taste funny.
I am not a cannibal or a comedian but I will tell you about fun.
Dear Mrs. Brinkman and classmates, I am doing my speech on having fun. I have four points to make about fun:
- Fun with God;
- The importance of fun;
- Different kinds of fun; and,
- The limit of fun.
Fun is being happy. Fun with God is having fun with His creation because He made it. For example, in the winter you can make a snowman or snowballs. In fall, I have fun jumping in the leaves. In the summer you can have fun in God’s creation canoe camping. I think God had fun creating giraffes, camels, caves and mountains.

Having fun is important because hanging out and having fun is a way to make friends. Inviting them over to play a game can make you laugh and that can be medicine. Fun can make a hard thing easier to accomplish. For example, in my class we learn about the body system by playing Jeopardy instead of reading out of our books.

Take a moment and think of different ways you have fun. I have fun telling jokes to my family, like the one I said at the start of my speech. I also like to read books and comics because they normally have funny things in them. I have fun with challenging games because they take a long time to beat, like the Gameboy game Sonic.

Another way I have fun is using pranks. Next I will talk about pranks. On April Fools’ Day you will most likely have someone pull a prank on you. There are four types of pranks: simple pranks, pranks that involve others; complicated pranks; and, harmful pranks. A simple prank my Dad played on me when I was in senior kindergarten was he put a potato in my shoe.

One involving others might be - your mom and dad tell your sister or bother that on a snowy winter morning that there is no snow day even though it is. When they go for the bus you tell them that it is a snow day. Complex pranks involve lots of planning, like moving the furniture in someone’s house because you need to know when they are coming home, and if they come home early then you need someone to keep them occupied. Harmful pranks are bad things because they can hurt something or somebody. Harmful pranks remind us that there is a limit to fun. Fun is not fun when it is harmful. For example, when you are teasing someone, being disrespectful, or disrespectful to God.

So, let’s not be cannibals, that’s not good fun, but let’s have fun that is funny.

About my hamster

2008-02-17T06:01:00.000-08:00

I am the youngest in the family. I have a hamster named Donut. I got him for my Birthday.

I got the name Donut from a website called NAMES FOR HAMSTERS. I almost called him Cheerio.

I don't want to leave him when I go.

written by Danielle

It is finally 2008!

2008-01-28T18:33:00.001-08:00

Christmas 2007 has come and gone – and it held many special memories (again) for our family. We’re not sure how we’ll do our annual December 5 (or there abouts) gift exchange next year. We’re not sure where we’ll be for Christmas next year – and not sure if there will be other family members there to celebrate with us. That said, we tried not to spend too much time this year thinking about Christmas 2008. Instead we savoured all the wonderful blessings that came with spending time with family and friends during the Christmas holidays.

It was a very white Christmas this year. That makes for lots of special outdoor memories. We made special note of the snow-related activities we expect we won’t be doing this time next year: skating on the outdoor rink in downtown Brampton; downhill skiing (this year at Pine Ridge near Horseshoe Valley); and building an igloo in Peterborough on New Year’s day.

We’re into the last six months of planning for our year of traveling around the world. Pam’s finally reading the pile of travel books that John has been amassing for the past year or more. And Pam being Pam, she’s starting to make lists. Simon and Danielle were quite shocked by the list of vaccinations we all have to get! We have an appointment at the travel clinic next month. If we can get through all the shots we can get through anything, right? Given how much John hates needles there is a lot of truth to that statement!

The first leg of our journey is traveling across Canada. We had the van checked out recently and are fairly confident it will take us safely and reliably across the country this summer. We’re also getting very close to booking the first two legs of our trip – Vancouver to Florida, and Florida to Nicaragua. We’ll keep you posted!

Here we go

2007-12-02T18:45:00.000-08:00

I'm just trying this out for the first time. This will be our blog to share our journey from July 2008 to July 2009. Our objectives for the trip are primarily to spend time with our childern, to experience and learn about new cultures and to appreciate the many gifts we have been given.

By way of introduction we are family of four from Oshawa, Ontario. Pam and John are about 40, Simon and Danielle are less than 40. We are excited about the adventure that lies before us.