TO SING or NOT to SING

By now you know the residents of B.C. are extremely shop happy. They even sacrifice second Christmas Day and replaced it with "The Biggest Sale of the Year Event".  

Until yesterday I haven't really noticed they like to sing too. Given the opportunity, my new Canadian friends stand up tall and sing their National Anthem.

The end of June always marks the end of our school year and the beginning of eight weeks uninterrupted, blissful holidaying.
Our middle son had the honour to receive an Award for Most Improved Student and his mom was there to capture the moment.

Now, before our headmaster went on with his presentation, we got up and sang Oh Canada. (Which sounds lovely sung by 500 young children).
At moments like this I always face my inner, patriotic self: To sing or not to sing?
I am not Canadian, I will never become one-we might turn citizens, that doesn't mean we are Canadian.

Courtesy, manners and respect dictate to get up and be silent - no doubt about these rules.                But to sing? Assuming you know the words to sing along- , should we as non- Canadians?

During last year's Soccer Championship I made sure I  was on time to listen and watch the Live Feed of our National Team playing.
 I get all teary and wobbly in my knees when I listen to Deutschland Deutschland ueber Alles...   .And even with my own Anthem I don't sing! I don't cross my heart either.

I love our song- full stop. That's where the teary eyes come into. The wobbly knees? That might have something to do with men in shorts.

To sing or not to sing will be a question worth pondering during the next few days: On July 1 we  will celebrate Canada Day with all its glory and on July 4th we will hop across the border to find out how the other North Americans celebrate their day. During both occasions I bet their will be lots of flag raising and ....singing!

PREDICAMENT of a MOTHER

Just a skip, hop and roll down from our rock you find yourself in a beautiful park. Playground, spray fountains, picnic tables, grass field, public washrooms- everything you need for a perfect, relaxed play time. Even a river runs through it!

Everything is fine in Happy Land - until this guy shows up!

He parks his truck in the middle of the parking lot and sounds his horn to make sure everybody knows the ice-cream van has arrived!
Pardon, he doesn't sound his horn, he plays a wonderful, melodious, innocent children's tune. Like the ones you can listen to at Disney.


Oh you evil ice cream seller! You put us mothers in an awful predicament: On the one hand, we love our children and want to spoil and protect them. On the other hand, we love our children and want to spoil them BUT don't want to spend $5.00 on an ordinary ice lolly!
Do you see my dilemma here? On which grounds do I refuse to buy an ice lolly for my son(s)?

What do you think of these ones?
I forgot my money - That's always a handy one
Next time, it's nearly dinner time - Try it, not bad if the child is smaller
We have the same ones at home - This is quite logical for us grown - ups. Definitely not for your child if he is hot, bothers and craves an ice lolly now!
Look over there, do you see the beautiful birds? Nice try, Whom are you fooling though?
They are too expensive! The truth is, this answer makes us look cheap in the eyes of our kids. They might even think "Mom doesn't love me, she doesn't buy me ice cream."

Last year I made the big mistake of purchasing five ice creams from him at a grand total of $25.00! I even had to borrow cash from my neighbour in order to pay him! Good grief!
I did it once, I will never do it again!

Whenever we see or hear him today, I all of a sudden become blind and deaf. Thanks to the greedy ice cream man I turned into one cold - hearted, tight assed mother!

To this day I am still complaining about this ridiculous rip-off. My boys have smartened up since then. Is their anything more annoying than listening to your whining mother? I don't think so! Nowadays my boys know better, they eat ice cream from our home freezer!

SELF IMPOSED WRITERS CHALLENGE

Just for the heck of it! For the next 22 days I will force myself to blast out daily tidbits, updates, comments, opinionated jibber jabber or whatever you want to call it from the top of our hill here in the Greater Vancouver area on the West Coast of Canada.

My coaching buddy Gail reminded me of the 21 day rule to establish a new routine: In order to create a new habit in our life we have to do this one thing for at least 21 days in a row. If you miss one day, you have to start all over again! For good measure I added one extra day - to make sure I really got it!

I love writing! Unfortunately, I am not regular enough - if you know what I mean. This personal challenge will force me to get the creative juices flowing day in and day out.  Nothing like a good challenge.to prove a scientific(?) point!

This challenge doesn't serve anybody but myself and may turn into torture for my highly apprecited, much loved followers to find yet another extraordinary post in their inbox! Oh well, just ignore me if you want. I will be back the next day anyway, and the next and next...

What standard of entertainment can you expect during the next 22 days?

It can be anything,; anything from the sophisticated wit coming out of a kids' mouth:

[caption id="attachment_675" align="alignnone" width="300"] Pull your mouth apart and say "puck" C. Waschko[/caption]

to a classy game of chess! Let me surprise you!

[caption id="attachment_676" align="alignnone" width="300"] The boys are on it! C.Waschko[/caption]

My only rules are: Anything goes, no repetition and I HAVE to post EVERY day!

For the good of my family I should have signed up for the "A different meal per day challenge. How to create nutritious, delicious meals for feed and fill up three growing teenagers, a half teen, a husband and his wife!"

This is way too scary! Chances are, I might skip a day cooking due to writing and have to start all over again- with all new recipes. Ghee, what a great provider I am - I never said I am a great cook!  By all means, if you feel sorry or are worried about the well being of my family, please share your quick and easy recipes with me!

So, that's it for now! It is still a gorgeous day out here - I am about to start the BBQ to feed the hungry ones! See ya' tomorrow!

 

 

LEFT IN THE DARK - during power failure

Living on top of a hill has its advantages; we can't get flooded, in case of an earthquake nothing can crumble on top of us and - if so inclined - you can use the terrain to get,-and stay in shape. (It took me five months of solid commitment to run or cycle up our incline. Now I can do it with a smile on my face).

The downside of living high? Our Municipality decided we don't need streetlights or road markings. If you translate this into day to day living it means you will find yourself in a ditch if you get side tracked by deer, coyote or be(e)ar.

Furthermore, our power supplier wanted to save a few bucks and put our power lines above, instead of into the ground. Up here, this causes a problem during stormy weather.



Can you see the lines?

We had one of these days yesterday: At 5.15pm some of the tree branches hit  a power line and just like this, time stood still!

Our boys were in shock when all of a sudden their juice was cut off during their minecraft game. When they realized it wasn't their mother and one of her tricks to get them outside, they came up with their own, fun alternatives:



 Hockey fun during black-out!




Minecraft guys C.Waschko

We had no idea when the power would be back on. Faced with either a one or 10 hour black-out, I wrecked my brain what to do with our half cooked dinner in the oven.



The boys refused to eat raw chicken and planned our meal: "Let's have take-away."

The plan itself was a good one until I wanted to hop into the car: my four wheeler was parked inside our garage. Obviously, our switch didn't work. Could I have opened it manually? I don't know. We have something dangling from the garage ceiling, but I ain't pulling this one!

We had to wait for Dominic to arrive in his car. When I told my ever so clever husband about my cooking dilema, he only looked at me with raised eyebrows: "Why can't you cook dinner? We have a gas stove!" I told you, he is a clever one. Instead of Dominos Pizza it was pan fried chicken with macaroni for us.

Good Gracious me! By force of habit I filled up our garborator with our left overs, like I always do. Again, Dominic watched me: "What did you do this for?. How will you turn it on?" Once again, my beloved husband was right!

Fortunately I stopped myself  before I loaded up our dishwasher with dirty, greasy plates- Who needs a machine if you can do it yourself?


"Quickly boys, finish your homework before it gets too dark. Grab your candles on the way up." 



Instead of our usual evening noises (freezer, TV, music, fridge) we heard laughter and animated chatter. Honestly, I forgot how much our Korean son can talk. I wonder what he will tell me when he discovers I used his chopsticks to light the candles....

All in all, the evening progressed smoothly. The only downside of not being powered up? I missed special agent Jack Bauer. Yes, believe it or not, after months of watching "24" we are still on it.

Instead of dwelling on our missed evening entertainment I checked on the state of our ice cream in the freezer!  Why let a good thing melt away if I can eat it instead?  Sadly, vanilla ice cream is no real substitute for a man (aka, Jack Bauer) but for today it had to do the trick.

With my wonderful banana split in my bowl I starred into our pitch black, quiet neighbourhood - Oh Jack, I miss you so - and scooped myself a second helping!

10.05pm: When was the last time I went to bed this early? I have no idea when the power came back on; It was on when we woke up. But there is one thing I know for sure: magic happened during the black out:

Dominic decided to visit the Fountain of Youth during the night. In the morning he metamorphosed into a cute, soft skinned, blond haired, 10 year old school boy!

.

BEER & FLOODS! OR better, FLOODS of BEER

Over the last three days we had torrential rain in our neck of the woods. I got so fed up with the water that I decided to write about it. But before I go any further, you need to know that we live on top of a hill. Dominic always wanted to live 'on the top' - I on the other hand would love to live next to the ocean. My husband granted himself his wish;  whereas I have to listen to Mick Jagger's "You can't always get what you want to."

I decided to blog about the poor guys who live at the bottom of the hill and our wonderful morning spent at a local brewery to bottle 140 bottle of Dominic's own signature beer. All I need to do is somehow connect these two:



There are always three or four ways of dealing with a problem, or in our case, with an inconvenience!  By now you know that liquor prices in B.C. are ridiculously high. Like so many other men, my loved one feels an undeniable attraction to a cold bottle in the fridge. In order to keep his love affair going he is forced to do one of four things,

- To keep on buying beer and to keep on complaining,

- to keep on buying and stop complaining,

- to stop drinking beer, - yeah, as if this would ever happen,-

or, to become creative!

In Dominic's case it meant to find a local brewery and design his own beer; Not only is this a tasty, slightly intoxicating way to make your dollars buy more, it is also a fun way to bond with your teenage son when it comes to bottling. This is what I call a creative mastermind!



Do I hear you say 10.45 AM is too early for your first glass? If you think so, then you most likely haven't heard of the "It is 5 O' Clock somewhere"- rule.



When you live at the bottom of the hill and your front yard has been flooded, you need to become creative too. Don't just complain about the rain, have your alternative transportation ready, put your house on the market and move up to the top of our rock. You will be safe up here and the view is most

likely much better!  



Unlike the roads and unfortunate houses at the bottom, our house will never get flooded. On the contrary, we are getting ready for another force of nature: The force of attraction when the word hits the street that Dominic is in possession of 140 bottles of freshly brewed grain and yeast. Friends, our doors are always open, we welcome you!



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CAN YOU AFFORD TO LIVE HERE?

In my previous posts I mentioned the facts that Vancouver is the most beautiful and the least fashionable city in the whole world!    Now, a recent newspaper article has confirmed what we have long suspected: Vancouver is also the second most expensive city to live in - second only to Hong Kong (source:" Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey").



Was our judgement impaired when we decided to move here? For the fourth time in our life together we moved to an expensive place. First it was Sydney, then London, Bussum (a village in one of the most affluent areas in The Netherlands) and now Vancouver! We, the most price conscious of all couples, are attracted to expensive metropoles!

Let me clarify one thing, we don't live in the city per se. We live in the lower mainland area. Here, houses are affordable, nature is found in abundance and the Municipality is still debating if it is wise to put up street lights or proper road striping ( or side walks or cycle paths for this matter).



Over the years we have learned one thing: It is not the outside ( i.e. reputation), it is the inside ( i.e. quality of life) that counts and we are attracted to.

Where else can we ski, play golf and go swimming on the same day? Personally, I haven't lived through this particular scenario yet- the simple reason is, I don't play golf!.

After one joyful afternoon of reckless swinging, lost balls, many loose gras patches and a phenomenal high score I was rendered the 'loser'. That was it for me - I like to score high in order to win - the concept of low scores is nothing for me.

Can we afford to live here? Yes we can! Let me show you why: This is our 'backyard', sort of:

 A 45 minute car ride away you will find this:

 and this:



Living in and around Vancouver: As expensive or affordable as you wish - and always extra-ordinary!

VACATION TIME

These are our last days of our school vacation.. What better reason is there to reflect upon holidays?

Dear Holiday,
I love you as an institution; I love you for what you stand for: A well deserved period of fun and relaxation after a period of hard work.

Memories of days long past come floating back; long, lazy days filled with sweet nothing. During our school holidays back in the days, when I was a young girl, we didn't have a computer at home. My parents couldn't afford to go away during each vacation. German TV at that time only had three channels, our kid's entertainment started at 5.10pm, and ended at 7pm.

We had a big yard and my brother and I had enough willing neighbours to play with us. Time spent at home during school holidays is a pleasant blur. We read books, went on bike rides and later on a teenagers, we still went on bike rides, just a little bit further away.



Did we drive my mom crazy?  I don't think so. This lady has a talent to keep herself - and others, busy. Always has been, always will be. Obviously, I asked her this question, several times even. And always the same response: "Oh, I really don't remember, that is so long ago!" Our dad was mostly at work'; we definately didn't drive him crazy.

Dear Holiday, as a working woman I cherish you to charge up replenished batteries -  we all need a rest once in a while.

Dear Holiday, in my current state and carreer as a mother of four, you are driving me crazy!

Holiday time at home is luxury and fun during the first three days. The luxury of staying up late, getting up even later and slouching in ones PJ's can't be stressed enough. Holiday time frees me up from a demanding taxi service four nights a week to bring any one of the boys to soccer practise. At least now I can design my own evening entertainment.

Any longer than three days and anarchy takes over!

Mrs. Holiday, I hold you responsible to turn our life upside down, to let our well rehearsed, well established routine fall into pieces. Nothing makes sense anymore. If I don't offer our boys a list of activities ( e.g. ice-skating, movies, skiing, trail walking), they are more than happy to roll out of their bed straight onto the comfy couch in our men den to start on the xbox.

We are getting up way too late, we don't know if we should eat breakfast or lunch, our dishes are pilling up in the sink. It's driving me crazy!

Dearest holiday, I appreciate you as a wonderful opportunity to experience daily life in a more extra-ordinary fashion these days. But as you know, all good things have to come to an end. This is what happens to all good or bad things, they have to end. The good thing about bad things coming to an end is that we have the chance to start fresh again.

The good things, like holidays, need to come to an end too; otherwise we wouldn't enjoy and appreciate them so much!

Therefore, on Monday my children will be sad that you are over, but I will be happy! Life as I know it will be upon us-again!

RECOMMENDED CHARACTER TRAITS

for SUCCESSFUL IMMIGRATION INTO CANADA



A new year is about to start. Will it become a year to start a new life in a new country? If your goal is to immigrate to Canada, if your intention is to make a fresh, extra-ordinary start here in British Columbia and you want  to make this transition as smooth as possible, please take a minute to read through this compilation of character traits - you never know, it might helpI If you don't want to immigrate, no harm in reading further either.

The successful candidate

- Must be loaded in order to participate in the great outdoors (e.g. skiing in winter, zip-lining, golfing or sailing in summer).



- Should be a lover and admirer of casual wildlife found in their own backyard. We are talking bears, cougars, squirrels or deer. Needless to say, this doesn't apply to you folks in downtown Vancouver.

- A Master's degree in household economics and accountancy is required. Household and school excursion bills arrive on a regular, irregular basis. You need to stay on top of the situation and pay them on a regular, irregular basis.

- Can be deaf, or at least display a high threshold for beeping household appliances. I swear to you, every household item in our house beeps, rings or makes noise in one way or another. It beeps to let me know it's time to get up, to let me know the coffee is ready, the laundry is done or dry, the oven has reached its temperature or the microwave popcorn is ready. One word of warning, stay away from the singing egg timer! You will never hear the end of it! This egg starts singing after 5 minutes in boiling water and doesn't stop- even after you take it out of the water!

-  Can have a short attention span and a weak bladder when it comes to watching tv or going to the movies!  Leave it to program makers to interrupt any nail biting scenes to air commercials to tempt, educate, scare and annoy you! But of course, this is the perfect opportunity to hit the washroom (WC, toilet).

I have the sneaky suspicion movie theatres aren't worried about our bladder. All they care about is how much popcorn and coke they can sell to us during a break in an 80 minute long movie!  I might be wrong, just saying...

- Needs to redefine the European definition of cosy (England), gemuetlich (Germany) or gezellig (.Holland). Here, a cosy pub is situated within a purpose built building, displays an open fire safely tucked behind a glass wall and has several tv screens(?) running! (Exceptions are the rule)

- Should know exactly what one needs and hold a tight grip on the wallet. Temptation is all around us: "Deal of the week, Specials of the day, Groups of 4 Deal, January clearance sale, pre-sale, end-of-line-sale, liquidation sale, stock clearance sale, pre-Christmas sale, Boxing Day sale, Boxing week sale, summer sale, midweek sale, pre-Easter bargain, Halloween specials..."

On the other hand, it is your choice to be part of the consumer driven society or not!

- Doesn't necessarily need to speak fluent English. Mandarin or Punjabi will do just fine!

If you posses any of these characteristics, I highly recommend you pack your bags and come on over If you don't,  pack your bags.anyway. Regardless of what you just read and how it sounds like, our whole family loves it here in Beautiful British Columbia and we are looking forward to our next, extra-ordinary chapter her.

Whoever you are, wherever you might be, - whatever your decisions will be for the NEW YEAR, I wish you a HEALTHY, adventurous and prosperous 2013!



I am looking forward to connect to many more of you wonderful blogging and reading individuals. Warm wishes,

Christina

 

An ACT of MADNESS

When I first heard about this tradition I was shocked! Then I shook my head in disbelief: "You guys can't be serious! You will actually go shopping on Boxing Day? Good Lord, this is too crazy for me!"
My second thoughts were somewhat different: "Why not? I should go too, just for the experience."
At least I will have my opinion (i.e. bitching about it) based on real life experience. There will always be a next year to go back to the tried and tested German tradition of drinking, eating and be merry!

The story goes, various shops will offer their first 50 or so customers a gift or at least discount vouchers. These words worked magic on our boys and three out of the four decided to join me on this unholy event.

Oh what a joy to get up at 4am, to arrive at the mall by 5am, to stand in line - outside in the cold- for an hour and finally walk through the doors into the holy grail of electronic stores!

All this for what? Personally, I don't care about and need any more electronic devices in my life (I am happy I know how to operate the ones which already live with me)! Electronics are my least favourable item to shop for - and no, they NEVER promissed gifts either, only unbeatable prices on flat screen TV's.

I did it for our middle son! He had his mind firmly set on 'beats' headphones. But fortunately he came to his senses when he saw the discounted price of $ 250.00 was still not discounted enough.

In the time span of three hours we lost each other at least five times, we got pushed around and stood in line for hours to pay for our bargains. The boys were so hyped they needed a greasy McBreakfast to concentrate on their next purchases again.

Shopping on a budget offers a real insight into the future spending habits of children:
- Our teenager knows what makes the world go round and what stimulates any economy. He would pass any Immigration spending requirements in a heart beat ( he spent it all!).
- Our Korean exchange student displayed a magnificent talent for bargain hunting. He found the best possible deals for his desired objests and brought back over half his money.
- Our middle son doesn't have the insight knowledge of his teenage brother yet, nor does he have the patience and mastermind of his foreign 'brother'. He is a simple soul with a one track mind: It has to be 'beats'or nothing. He will only rest when he finds the right set at the right price. Needless to say, he didn'r buy anything!

And I? In the name of experience I sacrificed my much needed beauty sleep and ruined most of my waking hours to accumulate savings of $30.00 for these two beauties:



It is not extra-ordinary to have our own traditions in life - what is extra-ordinary is to stick to these traditions regardless of the country you find yourself in.
Believe me, sometimes it is ok NOT to go with the flow. Next year on Boxing Day I will be back to eating, drinking and reading a Jackie Collins book while slouching on the sofa!

HAPPY FIRST ANNIVERSARY

Today, exactly one year ago, we arrived in Canada: Two adventurous parents and their three apprehensive children!

We had no job waiting for us, no network of friends to guide us, no family to support us, to colleagues to teach us. All we had was each other, five suitcases filled with clothes, five backpacks full of memories and the burning desire to make it 'happen 'in an English speaking country!
It was a year long effort to create our new life, to make new friends, to build a support network and to create our own job opportunity! Twelve months down the road I can raise my glass and say: "We made the transition, the first part of our mission is accomplished! All five of us are happy and settled. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!"

What are the extra-ordinary ingredients for a smooth transition from old to new?

For us it was / is a healthy dose of common sense, an open ear, being friendly, being open minded and most of all, the willingness to reach out and let everybody know we have arrived! Nobody will knock on your door! YOU have to go out there and knock on many different doors, to let everybody know the new girl / boy in town is here!
It is up to you to MAKE IT HAPPEN!
To stick to the Christmas theme, I let these two photos speak for themselves to demonstrate our transition from
"Just ARRIVED":



to "HAPPILY SETTLED:"



P.S. Vegetarians, please forgive me!

GIMME GIMME GIMME

6,30 am: I just dropped off our teenage son for a(nother) fun day out snowboarding in Whistler - as part of the BC school curriculum.



7.10 am: Our youngest son got up crumpy because we didn't wake him up earlier, i.e. deprived him of some serious pre-school gaming activity on the x-box (yes, we let him, it's the last week of school before the holiday). Furthermore, he is pissy because we told him our Secret Santa is only allowed to spend $ 10.00 on a present. His comment: "You can't buy anything good for $ 10.00!"

7.30 am: Our middle son shuffled in from up his man-den. After a thorough inspection of our cabinet (filled with pop tarts, bread, peanut butter, syrup. oats and honey), our breakfast shelf in the pantry (cereal boxes of all shapes, sizes and colours, nuts, granola), the fruit bowl and the freezer (waffles, ice-cream, fries, garlic shrimps) he shrugged and complained: "We never have anything good to eat."

8.20 am: I time our school run so I can listen to the 'sleeze "on Virgin Radio - my daily dose of gossip,Today, the breakfast team skipped my beloved feature. Instead, I listened to a heartfelt story of goodwill here in the Vancouver area. The radio team was on location to bring Christmas Cheers to a family in need. In their case it was a single father with four children. According to the report this family didn't have enough food items in the house to feed a mouse, they don't have proper beds or bedding, no propper winter jackets or extravagent toys - i.e. electronic devices for entertainment. With the help of money and food donations of a major super market, a furniture institution and volunteers Virgin Radio was ready to offer this family a Christmas to remember.

At this point it hit me: We live in British Columbia, named after the Goddess of Wealth. BC, the Canadian province of wealth (timber, water and minerals)! This province offers one of the most varied landscapes in the world, consequently, the outdoor opportunities for sport, fun and recreation are as varied and fantastic as nowhere else in the world. (Please correct me if I am wrong)!



It is the province of plenty - plenty for some, but not all. To live in this extra-ordinary part of the world doesn't mean its residents live the wealthy lifestyle.

Awareness for the less fortunate is all around us. Newspapers and schools are bringing us up-to-date on how to bring relief for somebody in need. I am baffled by the extra-ordinary efforts institutions, stores, sport clubs and individuals are taking to collect toys or food. We are talking strip-athons, bra auctions, free train rides, tossing teddy bears on the ice after the first goal is scored at a major hockey game, fundraisers or good old money donations.

Yes, love and awareness is all around us and we are doing our best to let it show. Mysteriously, our emergency dinner supply - canned soups and pasta- disappears on a regular basis only to be found back as a donation for the Foodbank!



Our children may not be aware-ye t- of their fortunate situation in life, but it starts with awareness and hopefully will end with appreciation!

12.45 pm: Back at school to help selling raffle tickets before our Christmas concert. We were selling tickets to help our school to purchase playground equipment; we were selling cookies to help 'Bring Water to Kenya'.

We were ready to sell, our parents were ready to buy. We sold the lot! It was fantastic!

This is the real wealth of British Columbia: The willingness of many to create a difference in the lives of others either here or around the world.

Dress to Impress & to Party Crash

We left our home turf, Suburbia, for a house warming party in Yaletown. This was our first outing to celebrate with the childless, 30-something crowd since our move to Vancouver. Needless to say, we were excited and we promised ourselves to have a fantastic time!



We followed the instructions on the invitation and dressed to impress, brought our BYOB and an appie. For a joyful occasion like Christmas or a house-warming I refuse to wear black. I prefer to sparkle and shine in other colours. Like in this one:



Dominic recommended to wear this piece as a dress, complete with pantyhose and  heels. As he put it:"Remember, you will compete with the young ones!" Common custom here in BC is to take your shoes off before you enter someones house. Therefore, wearing high heels defeats the purpose, especially if you wear reindeer socks. I chose comfort over fashion, squeezed into my skinny jeans and pulled on flat boots.

Dominic didn't have a problem putting on his decade old Tuxedo - the pants come with an elasticised waistband!



We found the allocated street and house number easy enough. The trouble started when we had to decipher the second part of the address: PH4. This was another Canadian slang (like 'PoP") we haven't heard of. We somehow knew it couldn't stand for PHfun on level 4.  The best I came up with was Party Here on level 4!

I was wrong! PH stands for Penthouse! Ohlala, little did we know about our young friends; they are living the high life in one of the trendiest areas of the city, in close proximity to BC Place and Rogers Arena.

By the time we arrived the party was in full swing! A crowded room full of young, well groomed and exceptionally well dressed young adults greeted and welcomed us! As I mentioned earlier, I programmed myself to have fun and I did. It was a fantastic evening! The only slight annoyance was the music: Way too loud and too monotunous.

During my younger years I preferred to stay till the end at any party out of fear to miss anything. Not anymore! Now I have a very simple party credo: Leave at the height of your enjoyment!

To preserve our fun memories we bid our hosts farewell and were ready to hit back home. On our way to the lift we got slightly side tracked by the loud music at PH1. Dominic and myself looked at each other, we both had the same thought:'Should we or shouldn't we?" We were definately dressed the part - so we did it: We knocked on the door with the intent to crash their party! Guess what:

They let us in! That was truly an unexpected surprise to both of us - or, is a sophisticated, good looking (?) , freshly shaven (Dominic that is) couple hard to resist?

Our new hosts Mark and April welcomed us with open arms, a hug and glasses of wine - told ya, Canadians are friendly! Their get-together was less crowded and less noisy. It was an unexpected, very enjoyable twist to our already super evening! We talked German Gluewein, April offered us a deliscious dinner and we retaliated by introducing them to their neighbours in PH4. The result: Their two parties turned into one!

Dear PH1 and PH4, you gave us a glimpse of our past. You made us relive moments of our life! Thank you!                                                                                                          We drove back to our children with the warm, fuzzy feeling that "the oldies" brought some neighbourly X-Mas spirit to a penthouse community somewhere in Yaletown.

And the extra-ordinary moral of this story? a) Sometimes just do what your gut feeling is telling you and b) dress to impress if you want to part crash!

If you wondered what BYOB stands for: Bring your own beer.                                           Appie= Appetizer                                                                                                       POP= soda/ soft drink

SALMON RUN

All salmon spawn in fresh water, usually in streams. Many salmon, especially Pacific salmon spend their adult lives in the ocean, returning to their native streams to     spawn. Unlike other salmonids, Pacific salmon die after spawning. They are     famous for their ability to home precisely to their place of birth to spawn.I found this at: www.kanada-british-columbia.de/en/salmon_run/index.htm

You most probably know this!                                                                                                                                    As embarrassing as it sounds, I was blissfully ignorant of the spawning habits of Pacific salmon until we moved to British Columbia. Until our relocation, salmon were an expensive delicacy on our dinning plates. Now, with the new gained knowledge I have tremendous respect for these swimming creatures. Today, whenever I eat them I can taste the added flavours of respect, admiration and the slight hint of sadness.

What I want to know is this:  Do the salmon actually know they are going to die after they spawned? Do they know they are paying with their life for ‘reproduction’? Come to think of it, I don’t believe fish rank high on the evolution ladder (dear fishermen or salmon experts, please correct me if I am wrong!). 

Why am I telling you this?                                                                                             This extra-ordinary behaviour is in full swing and it is happening right in front of our door steps!

On our way to school we are walking along the Alouette River.



As soon as we get close to the water our children accuse me of having a ‘gastro-intestine’ problem. How often do I need to say it:” It is not me, it is the fish! The stink comes from their dead bodies, plugged apart by seagulls or left, half eaten, by bears.



Let me take you on a tour to prove my innocence:

The river runs for app. 100 km until it reaches the Pacific Ocean – i.e. for this length the adult fish swim and fight against the current to reach their original “breeding” ground.



This in itself is a major accomplishment. If you add the current heavy rain falls, the thought of swimming against a very heavy current just to spawn is extra-ordinary indeed.





I can’t leave you with the image of dead fish! I will keep it fishy, but will switch from real life to the silver screen: Whenever you feel like having salmon, try this one:

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen:

Full of wicked British humour, spiced with silky smooth Scottish accents, embedded in beautiful scenery!  It is delicious!