SLIDE SHOW!

Ok, if anyone is actually still reading this (not sure why you would be, seeing as we haven't posted for 3 months)...we are having a slide show this coming Sunday, April 13th at our friend's place.

7 pm at 127 Hawkstone Cres NW.

Hope to see you there!

Back to "Normal" Life

If you can call watching the Grey Cup 3 months after it was played (and pretending its live...) normal, then normal it is.

We are home and really enjoying being home. Scott is still cold all the time. His first night back, it was minus 5 and he was shivering and saying "How do people LIVE in this country?"

We spent great holidays with family. First Scott's parents, brother and sister in law and our niece and nephew, which was wild and fun and then to my parents for a quick New Years eve with my sister and brother in law, my brother and my parents, which as you can see was also wild and fun!

Then it was back to Calgary and the job search for Scott. (I am back at Company of Adventurers and loving it.) Scott starts on Wednesday teaching Social Studies at Sir John A Macdonald Jr High. So we are excited to both have jobs and we're thankful for that.

We've also really enjoyed getting together with many of you, getting in touch with church and our solid and hilarious group of friends. Though there are still many of you we haven't seen and would really like to.

(I'm listening to Scott cheering in the backgroud... throwthrowthrthrthrthrthrthrthrow! ooohhhh yeah! Go Riders!!!...I wonder who's going to win...the suspense is killing me.)

We're putting together a slide show now and there will be dates announced soon, both for Nepal and Sri Lanka. We're looking forward to sharing some of our experiences with you and also re-connecting.

Merry Christmas!

Scott is home safe and sound and we are surrounded by gifts and family. It's so great to have him home and we appreciate all your thoughts and prayers for safety.

We wish you all the very merriest of Christmases and hope your time is filled with peace and joy and some calm moments to reflect on all that is good in the world.

Things I am looking to

I am only a few hours from leaving and am in the final mad dash, hoping my luggage isn't too heavy, hoping I won't break my back carrying it , wondering if Alanna will remember what day she is picking me up. (She's cute but has trouble with time zones and travel) Praying I don't lose anything and worried that 40 hours in transit will be a fate worse than hell.

We will post a few more from the other side of the pond and in January keep you posted as to what we are doing, coffee houses etc. .

So now that I am almost home I have beeing thinking about things that I will miss once I am gone.

The people

Surfing

Buying DVD’s for $2

Strangers welcoming me in to their house to eat

The amazing tea

The ability to have such an incredible impact on people

The view from our rooftop

How just living is an adventure

Driving on the left side of the road

Being able to drive like a maniac and it is tame compared to the nationals

The five minute drive to the beach

Working with an eclectic mix of internationals

Hearing multiple languages being spoken at any meeting

Seeing elephants and monkeys

Buying better than Starbuck’s quality coffee for 1$

The gorgeous countryside

Wearing sandals to work everyday

Going for high tea

All the awesome kinds of fruit

Monsoon rains

Fresh limejuice

Being a celebrity everywhere I go and feeling like a rock star - Move over Bono

How all the Tamil girls think I am cute and funny and not just funny looking

Seeing women in sarees and men in sarongs

Riding my motorbike

How there is no road rage

Being called sir by everyone

Having every single person welcome you with a huge smile

Drinking pop from glass bottles

Getting eggs from the market in a newspaper cone filled with sawdust

Getting fresh veggies at the market

Eating freshly picked cashews

Seeing cows, goats and chickens on the road as I walk to work

Being so plugged into world events

The ice cream here that is made from real cream

Having geckos run all over the place

Eating fresh mangoes from our tree

Make it a great day

HOLY !#$*@!

Okay perhaps not holy but amazing. I once was told that I was a poop magnet. At the time it really it did seem that unfortunate events seems to follow me about with great propensity. However, here it really is unequivocally true. I have this unbelievable ability to find the only patch of manure and step right into it.

Yesterday I got out of the car and entered the office. After a little while I noticed this terrible stench of crap. I began to look about to see if anyone looked as if they had soiled themselves but alas no. I continued on during the morning, traveled by car and noticed this terrible smell still lingered. Now there was only a couple of us in the car so I eyeballed them all and they all looked guilty and suspicious to me. . Then I proceeded into the store where the stench persisted. This is when I became quite suspicious and my spidey senses tingled. There was only one common denominator and that was me. So sure enough I looked at my sandals and they were both fully engulfed in cow crud. EEEEEEWWWWWW.

Lesson to be learned? Look at yourself first and don’t judge others? Or just watch where you walk. Unfortunately this is not a one time event but something I do at least once a week. One would think I would learn.

Then later in the day as if the first episode wasn’t enough I attracted even more volumes of manure. We were attending an opening ceremony for one of our beneficiaries. I was sitting under a palm tree minding my own business when a stupid crow dumped a load on my shoulder!!! I think it had been constipated for an entire week and only then was able to relieve itself. ”Thanks a bunch pal, that really adds to the auspiciousness of the occasion!”

Needless to say that all of my encounters of the manure kind are a continual source of merriment for my staff and hopefully to you as well.

Hope your day isn’t as crappy

Its been a crazy fun week here on the East Coast. We've been trying to finish projects in the middle of rainy season, had farewell parties and Christmas parties. It is a bit disonant to be singing songs about riding on a one horse sleigh when its 30 above but fun none the less. So I have dug out a story out of the archives. I have a few rip roaring amazing stories I heard this week but they will have to wait until later.

Kajavathavi Ernbanoorthy

Displaced Person Relief (Infant kits)

Kajavathavi Ernbanoorthy is a 19 year old pregnant girl that fled with her husband and four children to the refugee camp in March. Being pregnant she and her family did not want to make the aurduous journey. However, their entire village fled because it was being shelled and looted so they worried for their safety and joined the 160,000 people fleeing their homes. Since living in the camp she has given birth to a healthy young girl and is very grateful to receive the infant kit that will help them while they are displaced. Apart from two bars of soap this camp had not received any NGO assistance and are desperate for more help. They talked of their first week in the camp and everyone having diarrhea because of bad water and how the entire camp sits in absolute darkness every evening because there are no lamps or fuel. The situation is bleak but a little help and hope from our staff has been delivered to this camp. Since this story first took place many of these displaced people have finally been able to return. Currently there are only 30 thousand displaced people living in our town and 200,000 Island wide.

The possibilities and future for this woman and her family have been greatly improved because of the SP-SL Livelihood Project.

Make it a great day

Things I look forward to

There are only a few days left and I have been thinking lots about the things I have missed and am looking forward to.

Seeing my wife

Family

A nephew I have never met

Reintroducing myself to my niece and other nephew

Our church

Deep conversations with friends

Roast beef

Alberta Beef and more beef

Not eating curry three times a day

BBQ

Cold weather (Ask me again in January, currently it is 55 degrees hotter here)

Roughrider football – Hopefully someone has the whole season taped somewhere

Outdoor adventure

Real milk, not the box milk that has a shelf life of a 1000 years

People driving at night with their lights on

Not electrocuting myself 10 times a day

Not having to bleach all of your vegetables

Not having to decide if its thunder or bombs going off

Not worrying everyday if your staff will be adducted or worse

Hot showers

Not being sweat soaked by 7:00 AM each morning

Working with Jr. High kids again

North American sense of personal body space

A smaller variety and quantity of BO

Not being woken up at 4 AM by temple/church/mosque yodeling and chanting

Make it a great day