Vicarious Wanderings

2009-01-22T11:57:00.006+10:00

Hello all,
We're definitely sporadic with this blogging thing. Oh well - better than nothing right??

The first pictures are of a baby shower that my (Charlene's) previous co-workers from the lower mainland put on. We had such a good time. There were 8 of them and they came up on Saturday around lunch and then stayed until Sunday around noon. Tamy and Alice were the organizers of the games and we had lots of laughs. This first picture is of Ben trying to figure out what kind of chocolate bar is melted into the baby diaper. Good preparation for him as I think I remember that he has volunteered to change all the brown looking diapers (or nappies as he would call them). Well maybe my memory is failing but... I think there were about 8 to figure out and I won the game which tells you that I really like chocolate bars. Sometimes people ask if I have had any special craving during pregnancy and I definitely feel strong chocolate cravings and yet I have to admit that that is really not different than any other non-pregnant day.

From Pregnant

Another game where one person wore a garbage bag while their blind folded partner fed them applesauce. Here is Gary looking very classy.

From Pregnant

And here we all are. Not the best quality picture I know but you have to take what you get with timers. Thanks to our "Orion" friends for a very thoughtful shower and visit.

From Pregnant

SNOW, SNOW, SNOW, and more SNOW - mid December 2008
These pictures are self explanatory. It is good that Ben hasn't had too much experience with snow because the shovelling is still a bit of a novelty:) This amount of snow could be expected farther east but it is very rare to get this much in Nanaimo. It was truly a bit chaotic as the infrastructure (plows, salting) is just not adequate. Our Subaru was incredibly competent with it's all wheel drive and snow tires. There was more than one occassion when we were stopped at a stop light and everyone around us was spinning but the Subaru just powered right though.

From Pregnant

This gives a good idea of the amount of snow...our outdoor table and chairs buried!

From Pregnant

The snow view of our house. Our street was not plowed for a few weeks after the snow but when it was it ended up just making a big snow barrier beside all the cars so then people actually had to dig their cars out after the plow went through.

From Pregnant

And some just didn't dig theirs out:)

From Pregnant

2009-01-22T11:36:00.009+10:00

Hello,

It is hard to believe that we are now 37 and a half weeks pregnant. It all became clearer to us last Friday when we went to our midwife and she said that the baby is now considered full term and so anyday is a good day for delivery at this point.

Pregnancy...what an incredible experience to have a human being growing within me without really doing anything except of course eating more which hasn't been much of a hardship:)

I guess you could say that we are in a season of waiting, anticipation and wondering. People ask if we are ready but honestly, we have no idea. How does one get ready for something they have never experienced before? Of course there are some obvious logistics but this life change we anticipate of becoming parents is outside of our realm of understanding right now.

Below are pictures of the growth of our baby. It is funny to me to look at the early pictures when I felt so pregnant and yet really it is hardly noticable when compared with now. Our doula (birth assistant) came over and did belly shots with us on Sunday and the last two are two of those shots.

September 6, 2008 16 weeks pregnant

From Pregnant

October 16, 2008 22 weeks pregnant

From

January 5, 2009 34 weeks pregnant

From 2009-01to03

February 2, 2009 37 weeks pregnant

From Roll 148

February 2, 2009 37 weeks pregnant

From Roll 148

Test Riding the Recumbent

2008-11-13T12:09:00.002+10:00

I just got my recumbent up and riding a few days ago. We went to a school parking lot yesterday to get used to the ride. One little crash there. I rode most the way to the hospital to ride home with Charlene today and it is feeling more comfy. I'm sticking to foot paths. It cruises along well, though I've found it doesn't stay upright when I leave pavement and get on grass. The slicks don't help. Here's a little video from the school parking lot.

Quadra Island for Charlene's Birthday

2008-11-12T07:10:00.004+10:00

For Charlene's birthday weekend we went to Quadra Island which is about an hour and a half north + a 10 min ferry ride (just across from Campbell River).

From Quadra Island Charlene's Birthday

We enjoyed a yummy birthday supper at Heriot Bay Restaurant... mmm mmm mmmm.

From Quadra Island Charlene's Birthday

Charlene got a birthday present from me - not a plastic folding table though she was very happy when we got that too.

From Quadra Island Charlene's Birthday

Some oiled pieces of wood held together with screws and hinges... what could it be?

From Quadra Island Charlene's Birthday

An easel! Charlene has always dreamed about being able to paint one day... now the dream is closer to reality.

From Quadra Island Charlene's Birthday

The cottage from outside.

From Quadra Island Charlene's Birthday

An outside bathtub surrounded by a forest.

From Quadra Island Charlene's Birthday

Inside our pine cottage.

From Quadra Island Charlene's Birthday

Out the kitchen window with big hairy green trees.

Meeting Baby Calah

2008-10-30T06:52:00.003+10:00

Hello all,

There are things about this blog that still elude me like how to make a space before the first picture. Oh well. I (Charlene) just got back from the Philippines yesterday. On the Philippines end, it is always very sad to have to say goodbye to Crystal and company but it is a beautiful reunion to be able to meet back up with Ben on this end.

Mom and I left for the Philippines on October 18 because Crystal had her third baby - a girl this time. Her name is Calah Mary Tirrell Valdez and she was born on October 14. Most people who see her in the Philippines say she looks like her grandma. I can't say I have a strong opinion about her resemblance...she is very cute in her own way.

Joel loves holding Calah and had to "see baby Calah" at least 20 times per day just to know that she was okay. He tries very hard to be gentle but it is a struggle. It is beautiful to watch how much he loves her.

It runs in the family. Joshua loves liking the beaters after making chocolate cake too!!
Joel is kissing his expected baby cousin.
What a precious baby!! I can't say I've spent a lot of time with newborns in the past but I've decided it really is amazing to be able to hold a baby so tiny and yet so perfectly formed. Calah is VERY content. In fact I don't really know how it sounds when she cries because it was so infrequent.
Daddy Jerry with all three - he's brave!! Things started to shift quite soon after this picture was taken and requred a quick rescue by mommy!!
The expanded family.
Three generations. Calah, Crystal and my mom (Mary).
This is Joel and Joshua showing off their new bear towels that I made and took over for them. I was concerned that the presents might be a bit boring but the boys loved coming out the bath with them on and growling like bears.
Joshua is now able to take Joel (and me once) for rides on this big bike. Joel can move it too by just doing half pedals.
Joshua loves holding baby Calah and is very gentle with her. Calah is lucky to have two big brothers to look after her.

Kids are so much fun. It makes us feel sad that we don't live closer to all our neices and nephews in Australia and the Philippines. I was feeling this way as I was waiting for my plane in Manilla and a Filipino lady sat down beside me. She was well dressed and looked to be in her 20's. They started boarding the plane and calling out seat numbers starting at the back of the plane to board. She turned to me and asked me if it was her turn and I showed her where her seat number was and that it would be a little while before she was called. The announcer called the next set of numbers and she asked me again, obviously very nervous about flying. I asked her where she was going and she said Dubai to work as a receptionist. Her friend had got her a job there. I could tell that she was terrified and said "You must be sad having to leave your family behind." She said "Yes but especially my daughter who is 4." As she was saying that she seemed to become even more nervous and uncomfortable and went back to reading her papers in front of her, obviously unable to continue the conversation without bursting into tears. I said, "I'm sorry." And that was the end of the interaction. For us in Canada, it seems like a crazy decision for someone like her to leave her daughter behind and yet, she has no choice because her family has no money to survive. This is not an uncommon story. When I got on the plane, the sadness of this situation struck me deep within and tears flowed. It was raining outside and big drops of rain were coming down on the plane window which I imagined to be God's tears for this lady. I thank God for these reminders of the injustice in the world...may my heart never grow calloused and may I always be searching for ways to "love my neighbors as myself".

Pregger's

2008-09-15T02:05:00.008+10:00

For those that haven't heard, Charlene and I are expecting a little one sometime in February. We went to the midwife a couple of weeks ago and heard the heart beating away and could pick up movement from the noises, very exciting. The baby is in week 18 and according to the books 5-1/2" from crown to rump and is pretty active. Anytime now Charlene should start feeling "gas bubble" feelings of it's movement. I've been feeling them all along, though that's not necessarily baby movements :)

Unfortunately for the heartbeat audio I couldn't figure out how to make it so you could just press it and it playback. Hopefully the computerly challenged of you can listen to it. You will have to save it to your computer somewhere (desktop is good), minimise your internet window and then double click the file. Sorry I couldn't figure out an easier way.

Charlene is doing well, with minimal morning sickness, a few headaches and lots of sleeping. Just this week people are starting to comment that they can notice she is showing (people that already know she is pregnant), and she is starting to wear comfy clothes with a bit of stretch to them.

Nanaimo

2008-08-05T13:40:00.004+10:00

This weekend was a long weekend in BC for BC Day. We forgot it was BC day today but we sure enjoyed having an extra day tacked onto the weekend. On Saturday around noon (we're not too good at the early morning starts even though our intentions are always good) we caught a 20 minute ferry ride to Gabriola Island. Gabriola has about 4500 people living on it and it was great to be there for the weekend. As you can see from our tandem, we loaded up on a few extras such as lawn chairs for a bit of extra comfort. Fortunately we were able to drop our stuff off at the campsite pretty much right after getting off the ferry and then we were free to cycle around the island after that. It was 30Kms around the Island. Other than that we spent a lot of time reading and enjoying watching the ocean. We're both too wimpy to go for a swim because it is COLD!!

Below are pictures of our house in Nanaimo. We live in a 4-plex and our suite is on the right.

Take note of Ben's flourishing garden out front.

Our "dining" room.

This picture ended up misplaced in the blog and I really don't know how to move it but this Ben's creation. He is building a recumbent bike. He started working on it when I was in the Philippines last March and it has been on hold until just recently.

Our living room seemed huge to us so we decided to turn half into a bike storage area and computer area. It has always been Ben's dream to decorate the living room with bikes:)

Unlike our old place, we have light in our bedroom. It is nice to know what the weather is like before leaving the house! We also have a spare room but in order to make these pictures appear somewhat orderly, we had to do a lot of stashing of "things" in the spare room and it didn't get a photo. Anyway it is a nice space for anyone who would like to come and visit!! You are welcome anytime.

Cambodia Pictures....finally

2008-05-04T12:37:00.009+10:00

Here are some pictures of Cambodia...finally. They ended up in a bit of a funny order but we'll just work with them the way they are.

Can't quite remember the name of this form of transportation but we think it is rototom. They have a specific route that they travel and are the cheapest form of transport. You can see the obvious disparity in wealth with the large van driving up beside.

In 1975, Cambodia came under the rule of the Khmer Rouge which was a very oppressive regime that lead a genocide. Between 1/4 to 1/3 of the entire population was killed. This is a picture taken in the Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh. This building (you can see it better in the picture below) was a school that was converted to a prison/interrogation center/torture center during the Khmer Rouge regime. People the Khmer Rouge thought were threats (ie. educated, government officials, etc) were brought here. Only 7 people got out alive. The museum was a difficult place to visit. It is horrible that something like this happened. The country continues to recover even to this day. It would be safe to say that every person in Cambodia is still effected in some way.

Voila!! Meet our host family. From left to right: Naree (24 years old), Ming Kin (mom 46 years), Om Poan (dad 47 years), Vesna (19 years), Sopannut (17 years), Sopanni (16 years). This family has impacted our life forever and we are grateful for their welcome towards us.
Disparity. One side of the river is a gated community and the other side is a slum.
A slum community not far from the one we lived in.
Primary mode of transportation (along with bicycles and walking) for the poor. This is a motodop and was the way that we travelled around each day.
We often saw truck loads of people like this. Cambodia is primarily Buddist and it was common to see lots of monks around.
A new way of washing clothes.... After one load the Western softies (ourselves that is) ended up with sore arms and sometimes blisters from trying to squeeze out all the water.
Whenever Ben was around, the Khmer word "Tom tom" was said frequently. Tom Tom means big big. This picture can maybe help explain why:) This is Ben with our host family dad.
This was our cozy little room. We always tried to believe the mosquito net would keep out anything we didn't want in our bed until...the rat made it through. It was comforting for the first three weeks.
The downstairs area of the house. All of the cooking and eating happened down here. Actually most everything happened down here because it got really hot upstairs during the day with the corrugated iron combined with temperatures of 35 degrees +. The picture below is another perspective of the same. Notice three of the seven friendly puppies (each with their own large family of fleas) we lived with, with corresponding pee patches on the dirt floor.
Simplicity. Using what they have. This is one of the walls downstairs.
Dances were common. They were amused at the Western way of dancing. It is a bit scary that we were representing Western ways of dancing...sorry everyone:)
Supper (or Tea for the Aussies). For supper we would all get a bowl of rice and then the bowls in the middle had the part that we would put on the rice. In Cambodia it would be considered rude to spoon a whole bunch of the middle stuff onto your rice so we took one spoonful and put it on our rice and ate that and then when back for more. Yep...in the West we call that double dipping. Took a few days and then we just didn't notice it anymore.
A market near our house.
Our showering facility. We were fortunate that this little stall had a door and was enclosed for privacy. The cistern at the back was full of water and then we just used the bucket to pour it over our heads. It's amazing how refreshing cold water can be in a climate such as Cambodia's.
The toilet room. Once again, we were fortunate that this was an enclosed space. We were a bit sad the day that we learned that we actually weren't supposed to be wearing shoes in there. We ended up buying a cheap pair of flip flops for use only in the bathroom.
This is a picture of Chenda, the physiotherapist in The Little Conquerors (TLC) program. TLC is a program of home visiting and a center stimulation/mother's group that runs through the organization we were working with. Here Chenda is visiting Ravi in his home to encourage his grandma (his main caregiver) and see if there are any other ways she can help him to reach his full potential. It was great to see the way the other kids help care for Ravi and play with them. Often in Cambodia disability is looked down upon and the kids are ostracized.
This is a picture of our neighborhood after a very heavy but quick rain.
Another picture of our community. We didn't get a picture of our house from the outside:(
The children were so welcoming. We had lots of fun with them and even learned a lot of language from them. We also learned about simplicity in play and the value of lots of relationships among the neighborhood kids.
Not quite sure the purpose of the talcum powder. Apparently it has something to do with leading up to Khmer New Year. Anyway, it was fun...and a bit burny on the face with time.
Simplicity. Our little friend Sra-na with her home-made toy.
We love this picture!! Our neighbours Hua and Kamal showing off their muscles for the camera :)
This is Om Koy. He works with the TLC program also, making adaptive equipment for the kids. This is a toy for the kids made out of PVC pipe and motor bike handles. Creative!
Om Koy's workshop. Sorry it's so blurry but the part Ben loves that there are so few tools and gadgets and yet he was able to make amazing adaptive equipment with his creative mind. Highlights the times we think we need more stuff - when really it is more thought and creativity required to be content.
These are two of the kids at Sunrise School. Sunrise School is a school where children with disabilities can go because the public schools will not accept them. The hope with these children is that they will eventually be able to integrate into the public system. Visiting here was a definite highlight for us.
Our friends...somehow, even though we are all so different in so many ways, our humanness unites us.
This is Sopanni a few days before we left. He gave us a little kids squeaky toy. Ben had seen his brother Sopannut get it out and play with it during our time there. They had it all wrapped up in the top drawer and was obviously a precious possession for them. We will cherish it.
Our host dad did a lot of home renovations. He was particularly proud of this painting. Beauty in the slum.
Simplicity. The picture speaks for itself.

Home again

2008-04-24T02:48:00.002+10:00

Well we're back in the cold fresh air of Vancouver waking up in the morning with cold noses and feeling like we need mittens and toques on to stay warm. Can't even imagine having one of those cold bucket showers that we actually found relieving and refreshing in Cambodia. It is so odd that temperatures can be so different and yet we can be transported between them in a matter of hours.

It's strange to be back. There is a fear deep inside me that we won't be able to integrate our experience into our life here. It is easy just to step right back into how things are here and yet I find myself often thinking of our host family. Despite all the communication barriers and cultural misunderstandings, they burrowed deep into our hearts. We were so grateful to have a couple from the Servant's team that can speak both English and Khmer come over a few days before we left the community to translate first the logistics of our leaving and second the emotions surrounding it. I told Ming Kin that we would never forget their family, that they had impacted our lives with their radical hospitality and their lives. As we drove off on April 12, the last thing I saw Ming Kin do was put her hand on her heart and then make eye contact with us. A precious memory. We are friends, despite the disparity in wealth, the distance, the language, the culture.... May we be faithful in supporting our friends in whatever way that means in our lives.

We were hoping that somehow we could "leave well" from our community and we are grateful that we feel we were able to. On the Saturday morning that we were to leave, we went to the market and bought shirts for each of the kids, a few nic nacks for the family and some fruit. We also got some little things for the kids in the community and some fruit for the families. We had a lot of fun going around and trying to express our thanks for the welcome of the community. As with all of our interactions, we never know exactly what we have said but we trust in the language of smiles and laughter and hope that we were an encouragement to them as they were to us. It was beautiful to see their gratefulness for our very small gifts of thanks. The little girls each got one small hairclip and the boys got a very tiny car and they treasured them. This is one thing that has stood out for me during our time here. Their ability to value what they have is amazing. I hope that somehow we can learn to not live in such abundance that we don't even notice when we get something new or are given a gift. Times of celebration and abundance were so meaningful in the context of simplicity.

Probably many of you have heard about the rising rice and petrol prices in Asia. It all became much more meaningful to us after a conversation we had with our host family a few days before we left. We were talking about work and what they got paid (a very common question that everyone knows about everyone else there). Ming Kin makes $60 a month cleaning five half days a week. Vesna and Naree work anywhere from 8-12 hours per day six days a week at the bottled water plant and make $25 each per month. Om Poan's income would be a bit difficult to sort out because he is a motodop driver but we figure maximum $20/month. Adding it all up amounts to $130/month for the whole family. While we were in Cambodia, the price of rice rose to nearly $1/KG. We have been told that each adult family member needs about 20KG per month because it is their staple food (breakfast, lunch and dinner with little else). So for their family, that amounts to $120 per month just for rice, not including any vegetables or fish or other meat. We finally figured out that that is why, between the start of our month and end of our month it was more difficult to eat the rice there. They were likely buying the cheaper rice for $0.50/KG which has many little rocks and almost seems a grey color. It strikes me hard that in the Western world we complain often about rising prices of food or gas but it doesn't even really cut into our way of life. For these people, these price increases can become life or death situations. We're keen to look into some of the reasons for these increases. The main reason for this is because there was a bad rice crop recently, mainly in Vietnam, which has significantly decreased the food supply to Asia. Background to this problem though is Western countries using prime farmland for their own purposes - ie - in Cambodia this land may be used to produce grass seed for lawns in the US and new varieties of wheat seed for NZ and Australian farmers. It could be argued that this brings money into a poorer country, but if it is at the expense of food production maybe it's not so good. How are we involved in this crisis?

My sister came up for our last four days in Phnom Penh. She stayed with the family for one night and then we stayed at the team center for a few days. Her night with our host family was a bit eventful because there was a big fight outside. It sounded like they were throwing things at our house and the yelling was very loud and of course not understandable to us. Ben and I weren't too worried because we had been there long enough that we had a pretty strong sense of safety in that house but it was all a bit much for Crystal. When we asked our family in the morning, they said that people were drinking and playing cards so we're still not sure if it was a fight or if it was a game. We heard our family members moving around during it and the next day we found out they they all went outside to watch. I don't think I would have been game to venture outside of the room personally but the way they were talking about it the next day, it seemed that it was like going to a live theatre performance for them. This fight and yelling happened to coincide with the final buildup to Khmer New Years. Lots of the factories had closed and I think even provided alcohol to help the festivities along that afternoon (the water factory did).

Our time at the team center with Crystal was very relaxing and rejuvenating. As it was Khmer New Year, people had told us that the city almost shuts down because everyone goes to the province (the rural areas of Cambodia). I was a bit skeptical but of course they were pretty much right. It made our time more relaxing though because even the markets were closed. We were able to visit the Royal Palace. The Royal Palace is where the King lives and where they have lots of ceremonies. It is incredibly extravagent and frankly hard to understand when people don't have enough money to eat. We don't really make good tourists so it was good that it was short lived.

One evening we were eating at a place that was very Western in it's prices and food selection. The area that we were sitting in was outside and there were many street kids walking up and down the sidewalk asking for money and selling books. We chatted with them in our broken Khmer (it is beautiful how people's faces light up even if we don't really know that much Khmer) and gave them a little money. The back of the menu had instructions not to talk to any of them and for sure not give them money, a way to shelter the patrons of the restaurant from guilt and interruption. I could see where they were coming from and yet it seemed quite heartless. That judgemental attitude came back to haunt me the next day when I found myself saying to my sister that I didn't think I would choose to go to that restaurant again because then it feels like I can never get away from the poverty. Yikes - I noticed pretty much as soon as it was out of my mouth. Poverty does not come and go depending on whether we feel like dealing with it. It is a reality and a tension to live with and we must face it head on.

So here we are back in Vancouver. We have been back for a week and a day. The first few days were a bit rough, adjusting back but we are feeling "human" again, enjoying connecting up with people we haven't seen for a while. We are staying with the Servants community here. They live live just beside China town, close to the Downtown Eastside. There are two single girls and a couple with a 3 year old and a 6 year old living here and their intention is to develop relationships and offer hospitality to the poor in this area. This has been a good environment to be in as we are starting to understand more fully how life in Canada could look, living simply and intentionly with the poor. Each Tuesday night they have a Creative World Justice group meeting to talk about global issues which has been inspiring also.

In the midst of meeting up with people and getting life in order, we are in the process of discerning what the next step will be. Likely next week, we'll set out to look into a few places for settling long term. We're also looking forward to going to Alberta to meet up with my family before we get back into "real life". Actually this is real life, having time to relate to people, sharing of our journies and hearing of other's. We cherish this time.

Week Four

2008-04-09T17:41:00.004+10:00

I'm finally able to get to write an update on this blog- yeah!! Lots and lots of things have challenged, grown, broke me in the last few weeks so it will be nice to tell others of this journey...

Charlene and I are both well, a bit sad that our time here is coming to a close and trying to figure how to finish well. Crystal will be coming to visit for a few days before we head on to Canada - so that is exciting.

Voiceless... a couple of weeks ago (our second week) an Australian couple from the Servants team invited us over for supper. We were very excited... to have english speaking company and a night out... what more could you want. So we told our family in our broken Khmer (broken is to suggest we have some skill- so this may be exaggerating) that we would not be home for tea/supper and that we would be home at 9pm. Interpretation would go something like - "Eating rice, 6 o'clock, no"... pointing below us where we normally eat and saying again "No". And then pointing out the door "Eating rice, 6 oclock" and then pointing back in the house and saying 9 o'clock. We said that a few times and they said some things which made it seem the message was understood. We didn't know the things they said but it seemed like they knew what we were on about.

At our success telling the parents, we thought we could only do well to ensure they had the message by telling their son Sopunet as well.

Anyway, at 7:30ish that evening we got a call from another member of the team asking where we were, because our family were concerned about us not being home and were out looking for us. We tried to call our family so that the couple we were with could tell them we were ok... but the different phone networks don't like to connect to each other, plus the power had gone off (the power going off isn't anything odd or a concern, just added as one more insight to daily life here).

Anyway, I was annoyed with our family. We had told them we were going out with friends and that we'd be home at 9pm and they understood us. And here they were sabotaging our one opportunity to be recharged. They don't need to be concerned about us, we have survived well for however many years on our own... I was annoyed and felt really annoyed at any thought of us apologising for being late. They ruined our dinner out.

To add insult to injury, one of the Servant's team members apologised for us on our behalf (Charlene may have asked her to, but I didn't want to). I wanted them to know that we had done everything right and it was their fault... but I didn't get a chance to ask for that to be interpreted.

Voicelessness... I got quite infuriated and angry from this experience.

Only later (days) after Charlene holding a mirror up for me to see myself, do I have a few insights...
- I speak English, they speak Khmer... it is quite possible that we didn't communicate as well as I thought we had
- We are in Cambodia where the language spoken is Khmer, not English... I should not be annoyed at them for misunderstanding me, they have the right to be annoyed with us. I am to blame.

Fortunately our family are gracious toward us (me) and continue to welcome us into their home and their lives.

Voicelessness... speaking but not being heard

I get the impression lots of people are voiceless in Cambodia. Money talks... if you don't have it, will your voice be heard?

The land and house you own is sold on your behalf at a 'steal' of a price to a property developer.

Charlene is waiting in line at a Caltex service station to buy some goodies. A rich man (driving a Mercedes) and his partner, push in front of the line up by putting their stuff on the counter in front of everyone and expect to be/are served without a backward glance.

A lexus driver (large shiney car that stands out amidst the back drop of dusty moto's that most the population drive) clips an elderly man, leaving him convulsing on the ground. He only stops when he is surrounded by moto drivers and then questions them as to why it is his problem.

What authority tells them that what they have done is wrong... if they have money or power?

I wonder who is voiceless in Canada and Australia?

That was a bit of a breaking experience for me, and it is good. Other things that stand out to my mind that people may find amusing -

It seems that touch between the same sexes is a normal way of expressing friendship. A light hand on the back, or arm, etc. After we had been living with the family for a few days I was feeling my water bottle from the clay pot filter at the house and I noticed a hand on my lower back. I knew it wasn't Charlene, so figured it was Sopunet who is quieter but comes across as a gentle presence. Felt a little odd, but I knew it was fine and I didn't want to react and cause offence.

A few days later I had had a shower (not a shower as such, but scooping cold water over yourself) just before tea/supper. Even with the shower I was still stinking hot and sweating lots. The boys in the family typically go shirtless after their baths and they suggested I take my shirt off. I had already had comments about my white skin the day before so was a little self conscious, and then I'm massive in size in comparison to them and I have reserves and they don't really... so i didn't love the idea but I was still sweating a lot.

So I took my shirt off and started eating tea and trying to chat. Sopunet was sitting next to me on the bamboo table. He started feeling the size of my arm saying "Tom, Tom" which is "Big, Big"and actually a compliment and considered beautiful here. A while later he started stroking my arm hairs, since it is not common for them to have arm hair with him saying "Saat"or "Beautiful". Meanwhile I'm trying to communicate with the parents and a little uncomfortable with the attention but not too concerned. Then it was time to play with the hair on my shoulders, and then my chest hairs. It was a bit uncomfortable but then if it is culturally normal for them I didn't want to react and push him away half way through tea.

Last of all he touched my man boobies, "Tom, Tom". That was a little weird. Fortunately it stopped there. Charlene told me later she was amazed at how well composed I remained. Every shower since then has been taken with as little movement and as much cold water as possible and i have been able to wear a Tshirt every supper since.

We were told the place we were staying didn't have rats. The weekend the family was away we saw rats. Not too much of a concern because all the food is prepared and consumed downstairs while we sleep upstairs, so the rats shouldn't come upstairs inside the house. About a week ago I notices 2 of Charlene's hankies which were on oneside of the room the day before, on the other side in the corner the next day- just near where my head is when we sleep.

We had heard scratching at our feet one night, but saw nothing, and then after noticing the hankies moved, I could hear what sounded like baby rat squeeking during the night from that corner. One corner of the hankies had been pulled down, presumably into their nest, while the remainder was in the room. I discovered some small holes in the mosquitoe net near my head, but Charlene assured me it had just worn through from the matress rubbing on it.

So early last Saturday morning I gradually woke up to Charlene scratching one small patch of my scalp with her finger nail. As I continued to wake up, I didn't think Charlene would scratch my scalp while she was asleep (even though she occasionally does other things in her sleep), and the scratching felt more and more like rodent teeth gnawing and defoliating my scalp. "Oh shit, there is a rat gnawing on my head", I said loudly as I sat up in bed. Fortunately no rat could be found trapped in our mosquito net, and the net was tucked under the matress to ensure the holes weren't exposed. I didn't sleep much more that night. The family blocked up the holes where the rat came up with blocks of wood the next day. I haven't seen signs of them in our room again but still see them downstairs and hear them at night.

Last Thursday morning I had my first experience of a stomach bug since being in Asia (Philippines included) which at 8 and a bit weeks is pretty good going. So around 3 in the morning (about an hour before we normally get woken by roosters and dogs barking), I rolled over and something 'turned' in my stomach. I didn't feel healthy, yet not overwhelmingly bad. At home it would be fine, I'd go to the loo and back to bed. Here it is a bit more of an ordeal.

First there is the mosquito net, then open our bedroom door into the room with Naree sleeping in one corner under a mosquito net, Vesna and Sopunet under another mosquito net in another corner, and Sopunee under another mosquito net in the corner with the trap door. So after shaking the whole house manoeuvring past mosquito nets, unlatch the trap door, climb down the ladder to ground level where OmPon and Ming Kan sleep, try and find my thongs so i don't have to walk in dog pee impregnated dirt. Get past the mob of puppies that crowd around me and start whimpering if I don't give them attention and try and trip me over, open the toilet door, lift the toilet thongs into place over the squat toilet because they don't fit me and I don't want to have to stand in the puddle of nastiness with my left foot. Get a good hold on my pants so they don't go in the puddle of nastiness and then squat for some relief.

I didn't want to have to go to the toilet... way too much effort and only 1 more hour to a more wakeful time. 2 minutes later... I have to go. I got through the mosquito net maze, opened the trap door, carefully maneourved down the ladder (which I thought was the most dangerous part with an unstable bowel), got my thongs on. I'm doing well. Opened the toilet door. I'm not doing well. No time for toilet thongs so bare foot into the puddle of nastiness. Getting my pants down... too late. In some ways squat toilets are a lot easier to clean. Trying to get myself hygienic again not so easy.

Finally I have been sick for the first part of this week. Beginning with the diarrhea my stomach had not been the best, never doing anything bad but just feeling a bit churny and sick on and off. Saturday night, Sunday morning and Monday morning my legs felt achy, so I figured it must have been due to lack of good sleep. A lot of the time I have been here I have felt a little tired and weak and just pace myself figuring it is just heat and using it as a good excuse to talk to people as I walk through the neighbourhood.

So Monday morning I went with La, a guy about my age from TASK on home visitation. I hired a motodopper for the morning and we visited 3 houses. The visitations were for the HALO project which spends time with families where the parents are HIV+ and help to arrange where their children will stay when they die, with the aim to try and keep the kids in their community with care and support from friends and extended family. They then follow up on the children to ensure their wellbeing.

The first place we went was to visit kids and the extended family that was caring for them, while the next two were being with women who had already lost their husbands to AIDS and were themselves sick with the disease.

After the 3rd visit we were meant to go to a forth but I was feeling a bit sick. My motodopper went off to get a cigarette and I said to La that I wasn't feeling that well, and was going to head home to rest. Within about 2 seconds of telling him that my head went light and I remember getting about half way to the ground.

The motodop ride was massaging my arm hard and someone else was slapping my chest. Other people were rubbing my back and my other arm. I was wondering why the motodop guy was back so soon when he'd just gone to get a cigarette. Didn't make much sense, but I felt loved with all the attention and concern and rubs even if they were a little hard for enjoyment. I was out for a couple of minutes and was pretty pale so they probably thought I was dead. They helped me to the families bamboo table and someone fanned me while someone else continued to massage me and the motodopper went to get a tuk tuk cos he didn't want me falling off the back of his bike.

The amount of concern these strangers showed for me was quite moving. Medically, I don't think the hard massaging, chest slapping, etc really does anything useful, but it does show they care and are concerned for someone they don't even know and can't really communicate with. The closeness and physical touch gave an amazing sense of peace to my core. While Western medicine does a great job keeping us alive, I think I would rather die with this sort of attention.

I didn't die though... that thought didn't cross my mind. One of the doctors on the team checked me out and put me on antibiotics. I had fever and headaches and slept at the team centre for the next two days, and then yesterday despite neck pain felt great. Just have to remember to keep having my pills. Neck pain is gone now and all better.

Hope you enjoyed this novel.

Week Three

2008-04-02T17:08:00.003+10:00

I'm inspired once again by more nice e-mails saying that this thing does get read. We are already in week three of being in Cambodia which is quite strange. Just under two weeks and we return back to Canada which will likely be more than a shocker to the system.

Since I wrote last, things have gotten more difficult, well maybe I will just speak for myself on here and perhaps Ben will write something later about his experience. Everything started to get to be a bit much last week. I got sick last Thursday which was a very different experience to being sick at home. There really is no place to go in the house. The top floor where our room is is made out of corrugated steel so it is unbearably hot during the day. On the bottom floor, there are bamboo beds (a bit uncomfy), people and dogs. I told our host mom, Ming Kin, that I was sick at supper and didn't want to eat. The idea of not eating when you are sick is foreign here so she was very concerned. She offered me medication which I wasn't game to take and then offered me "caulk shaw" which I understood to be a massage so I agreed to that because I figured it was the best of the options. I laid on my stomach all ready for a massage but unfortunately I quickly found out that this wasn't a massage but was coining. She had a washer which she scraped up and down in one place until the skin was reddened and little bits of blood were seeping through. I couldn't see what she was doing but it felt like she was scratching her fingernail over one piece of skin over and over again. She made about 8 marks 3 inches long on one side of my back and during the whole thing I was trying to concentrate of deep breathing to deal with the pain and think of a way out. Ben came in the room while she was working on the one side and told me in English that it looked like I had been whipped. I think it was around then when I suddenly remembered that our host family has been told that we want to learn about their culture while we are here and so I asked her in my very broken Khmer if she could teach Ben to do it. Ben got a lot of flack for not going hard enough on me but it was a huge relief. I think that type of a treatment could take care of many ailments because the pain it causes could help you forget about anything else you felt.

The sickness seemed to be "the straw that broke this camel's back" (that's a weird saying but you know what I mean). Being sick in combination with dealing with a language barrier, foreign food, a very different level of cleanliness, scary transportation, and lack of sleep all caused me to be unable to cope. I've always been the kind of person that usually just tries to suck it up when the going gets tough but this was beyond me. We ended up going to the team center and staying there for one night and it was amazing that after 24 hours out, some spaghetti and fruit, a good sleep and a lot of reflection and reading, I actually felt refreshed and ready to return and finish well. I believe in a God who is present with us at all times but it is at these times of complete exhaustion of self that he becomes more real to me (maybe not always in the midst but certainly upon reflection). Everything was spinning completely out of my control and yet God was there to hold me during that time and gently bring me back to feeling normal.

We've been able to see a few more things in the TASK programs. There is a project here called Project Halo that looks after orphans whose parents have HIV or have died of AIDS. The program helps to connect these kids with preferrably next of kin to care for them and helps to support them in that process by providing some financial assistance and support from staff. The second house we went to was a grandmother's house who had 5 grandchildren living with her. We visited her at the Buddist temple houses because she is very sick and was unable to care for the family anymore. She was laying in front of the wooden house on a bamboo bed with an IV line running from her wrist to the bag secured above her. Her 18 year old grand daughter was fanning the flies off her wasted away body. It struck me that the grand daughter was smiling and laughing despite watching her grandmother die who was her last support. The grandmother was telling the Project HALO worker that she was worried about what would happen with her grandkids and she didn't want them to end up being somewhere where they wouldn't be loved. There is a lot of desperation here and yet there is a peace and selflessness in the people. I also watched as the Project HALO worker listened and empathized with this lady and her grand daughter. She wasn't able to solve the problem but her presence was an act of solidarity with this family. On all the home visits I have been on, one thing that has stood out to me is the way that the workers just take time to be with people. The amount of need is overwhelming and they have hearts full of compassion that want to help in any way possible and yet resources are limited and so they give people the gift of their presence, of their care and concern. This has been beautiful to watch. I hope that I can learn to do this in Canada.

Home renovations. I started talking about them last time and have come to the conclusion that, at least for this week, they are a daily occurance. Today Om Paun is putting a wall upstairs for another bedroom. The TV used to be up there but it is now downstairs. Their stereo system/TV is very impressive. It seems that most houses have one and they get turned up really really really loud to share with all the neighbors. Sopanni (the 16 year old boy) loves to sing karaoke for the whole neighborhood too. They have been trying to get us to sing but we can't understand the words because they are in Khmer so that has been a good excuse so far. Dancing, on the other hand, was a bit harder to get out of and we actually had a lot of fun dancing especially in our first few days. The only sad part about it is that we generate a crowd because we are white so it is a bit short lived. Most are a bit tentative to join in with us too which is a bit sad.

Kids. There are kids EVERYWHERE. The kids in our community are so friendly. The adults are friendly too but seem to be a bit more suspicious at first. We've been playing lots of little games with the kids. Ben taught our host families boys to play Connect 4 but they seem to not quite understand the strategy. We try to make sure they win at least half of the time but sometimes you have to work quite hard to not win because they miss so many opportunities. We'll keep practicing.

Last night we showed our host family pictures of our families which was fun. They ended up bringing down three photo albums that they had too. They were wondering if Ben had any unmarried brothers for their daughter and the boys seemed to be interested in the picture of Ben's neice, Kiara. The 16 year old couldn't believe how big she was because she was 12 and at least as big as him at 16. We laughed together a lot last night as we shared more of our lives with each other. Communication is so limited that any glimpses we get into their lives are treasures.

I think that is enough rambling for today. It is somewhat therapeutic to write this blog. Still haven't taken any pictures - sorry. Maybe next time. Peace to you all.

Week Two

2008-03-26T19:10:00.002+10:00

I just got inspired because some friends and family e-mailed to say that they had read the blog. We've been here about 10 days now and it is funny how things actually start to seem normal quite quickly, eventhough we know that it really is quite foreign to the way we have spent the rest of our lives.

Today we had a Khmer language lesson with a tutor who could speak both English and Khmer which was very enlightening. Our host family doesn't speak any English so we have had to learn bits of the language out of necessity but our knowledge and ability to communicate is still very limited. Last night we got invited out for supper and so we thought we explained to our host family quite clearly that we would not be home for supper. However, while we were out, we got a phone call from our mentors saying that the host family had called them because they were worried that we hadn't returned home and it was 7:30PM. It's such a strange feeling to never know whether what you are saying is making sense and then, when you have been misunderstood, to not even being able to apologize appropriately and sort things out. Anyway, we had a big long list of questions for our teacher this morning and he patiently went through them with us. The bigger feat will be remembering how to say them and actually turning our "words" into communication.

Yesterday we spent the morning at The Little Conquerors program. Generally in Cambodia, disability is believed to be a punishment and therefore kids with disabilities are often not valued. This program has been set up to challenge that belief system and provide support for the families. We will go on a home visit on Friday and we are very interested to see how these children manage in their home envirment. The house that we are living in has a steep ladder into a trap door that is used during the night to access the upstairs. The outside stairs are very steep also. It makes us realize how many resources we have in the Western world. On Monday we were at the school that is associated with this program. The public schools are not able or are unwilling to accommodate kids with disabilities for the most part. The school is especially for kids with disabilities and has 9 students in the morning (younger ones) and 10 in the afternoon (the older ones). The day started off with exercises and a dance which was really fun. There was one little boy who quite enjoyed break dancing. It was beautiful to watch one of the boys with cerebral palsy who could walk, but with much effort, serve a boy who also had cerebral palsy but was not able to walk during their snack time. We saw this type of behavior throughout the morning and it seemed that it was not mandated by the teachers but rather came out a genuine understanding of helping each other. The organization we are with has turned over all the leadership to Cambodian people and it struck me on Monday that as we were talking with them, they kept apologizing that their English was not good. We are in their country and they are apologizing to us for not knowing our language. I can't honestly say that I have ever apologized for not knowing a foreigner's language in Canada. Perhaps there is a general mentality in that English is "supreme" or maybe it is due to historical reasons. I don't know. Something to ponder.

After our language lesson this morning we went back to the house and Om Paun had removed one of the walls. From what we could understand, it is time to clean up. When I left after lunch again, he had a tarp hung, a couple of small logs in place and some sticks. I'm assuming that all of the other pieces (ie. metal cooking oil containers cut and flattened, old boards, corragated iron, etc) will be placed on top. It kind of looked fun, actually, just creating a wall. Who would think of creating a wall in Canada out of pieces of what we would call garbage?

Transportation is a bit of a daily adventure here. There are a few different options. The majority of transportation happens on motor bikes. You bascially can stand nearly anywhere and there will be motodots around coming to see if you need a ride. Our first feat is getting them to understand where we want to go then the price negotiation starts. Bartering is hard because they always say that fuel is very expensive and really, $0.25 doesn't make any difference to us but there is a feeling inside that you want to pay a fair price. After the price is sorted out which can sometimes take a while and necessitate abandoning that driver for another one, then we hop on and hope for the best. Usually ladies ride side saddle on the back but I tried this the first time and found it completely terrifying. Since then Ben and I have been mostly riding together on the back which feels much more secure. Today the driver I had took me around a corner fast enough that my foot went onto the ground and I thought, yep, this is still scary. It is an odd concept to think of just jumping on the back of someone's motorbike that you have never met before and has no qualifications except experience. We were told to just ask them to stop if it feels unsafe and get another driver but it is hard to decide what is unsafe and what is just normal. So far we haven't stopped any. A lot of people don't even wear helmuts here but we are certainly sure to have them on every time.

Well I guess I should go as it is almost supper time. Eating has started to become a bit more difficult for us. We've had a few dishes over the past few days that...well, they weren't anything we would chose to eat. We definitely aren't having to battle overeating so that's good. I never realized how important food is to well being. I'm not just talking about nourishment because I think (not completely sure) we are getting that but perhaps there is an element of comfort in a juicy burger or a pizza or a small square of chocolate....ahhhhhh....time to go and have some more fish and rice.

Hope you are all well. We love to hear stories from home!!

Week One Phnom Penh

2008-03-23T18:51:00.002+10:00

Well, Charlene and I have been in Cambodia for about 1 week now, living with a family in one of the poorer pockets of Phnom Penh. It is beginning to feel challenging these last two days, and at times I wonder what we are doing here when we could be in a regular Canadian/Australian house and living a normal month (by Western standards). As much as it is getting hard I'm glad it is. Not sure if that makes sense. The first few days felt a little too easy- a bit like camping. I think what threw me was, I expected the food to be nasty and the house to be tiny. From the houses in other areas, their house is not the smallest (still 8 people living on a 300 sq ft block is tight by our standards), roughest or most tightly packed house. It has two rooms upstairs (they have given us one room to ourselves) and downstairs where you spend the day (because it is so hot) is dirt floored with bamboo sitting tables. They have a dog with seven puppies so the floor has wet patches in varying spots throughout the day. They are cute, but are covered in fleas (layers of fleas) so patting is usually kept to a minimum. They run around the neighbourhood and it is quite amusing watching them chase their mum for a feed.

Our family consists of Ming Kan (mother), Om Pon (father), Naree (25 year old daughter), Vasna (19 year old son) and Sompanut and Sompanni (17 & 16 yr old sons respectively). Ming Kan usually cooks and makes really good, but simple food. Chngang (delicious) was one of the first words to be learnt. Meals are always rice and then there is a stew like dish that you put over the rice little by little as you eat. It is impolite/greedy to cover all your rice at the start of the meal, so there is a lot of double dipping in the community stew dish. For each mouthful of rice there might be one small piece of green vegetable (described to us as sewer cabbage on the first day) and maybe four slices of finely cut pork in the whole meal. I have a feeling these meals maybe more extravagent due to their guests. Anyway, I really like the food. It is nice to appreciate the equivalent of a small piece of spinach so much.

The thing that has made it rough for us is that the family went away for the weekend and we chose to fend for ourselves for the weekend rather than going to the team centre. Charlene and I are usually quite capable of cooking etc, but everything seems to add up. There's a small window from 5 til 9am to do stuff like washing when the temperature is cool, but then it gets stinking hot after that. It is dirty, going to the toilet and showering is foreign. Trying to maintain hygiene is hard. The water is not safe for us weak westerner's to drink (we do have a filter upstairs - a clay pot plant looking pot in a bucket that the water seeps through), we don't know the vegetables, noone in the community speaks english, and we don't know how to make the yummy stuff that can make rice taste so good. Also there is just nowhere comfy to sit and hangout, and there's bitey things besides mosquitoes and fleas that make life a little uncomfortable.

This really feels like I'm rambling, it is all quite different and hard to know where to start describing life here. There is lots of goodness in this place too. The family have been really welcoming and made us feel at home, the kids of the neighbourhood all come to hang out with us and are perfect for practising/ learning Kamay. Due to the small amount of things to do for them, we are great entertainment.

After one week of being foreigners, we are beginning to understand in some small way the experiences and frustrations of refugees/ emigrants to our countries where basic living skills are so different. We are glad that our host family will be back in an hour and on that note we should get home.

Magandang gebee - Hello from the Philippines

2008-03-12T16:04:00.007+10:00

Magandang gebee (Good evening in Tagolog - we think but didn't confirm so beware),

We've acquired a VERY small tagolog vocabulary:) Learning a language is definitely daunting and perhaps it is not very motivating when we can actually communicate to most everyone in English. It will be different when we go to Cambodia so we'll have to clean out the cobwebs in our brains and make room for Khmer.

So six weeks have nearly passed since we first came to the Philippines. We have enjoyed our time here, though, and feel very grateful to have been able to spend this time with Crystal, Jerry, Joshua and Joel, mostly just living life. Here are some of the pictures...

Crystal, Jerry, Joshua (2 1/2 years old), Joel (1 1/2 years old). Family photos are never "perfect" at this age but they are full of character so that's what counts.
Not too sure how to switch this picture so tilt you head to your left and it will make complete sense. This is my (Charlene's) dad, Richard and Joel looking at animals in a zoo. Mom and dad were here for the first week of our stay so we have a 2/3 family reunion (we were missing my brother Jonathan).
My mom, Mary, with us and the kids post puppet show. We've had a few puppet shows over the back of the couch. They seem to be a hit with the boys.

Ate Edna, Kuya Gimo, Genesis, Jhomari, Mariel. This the the nurse that Crystal works with at the clinic and one of the men that worked with Ben on fixing up the clinic. We visited them at their house and they made us very yummy Singang and fish one day.
This picture is definitely worth the head tilt. What a cute little guy, eh?? This is Joel. He is playing in a little kiddie pool full of balls. Perhaps if he could talk, he would say that this is one of his favorite ways to spend the day. Joel is a very content little boy wandering around checking everything out, occassionally adding in some words from his five word vocabulary. He's also a charmer...it'll be fun to see what he's like as a teenager with that cute smile and sneaky way about him.We went to Borocay Beach for a few days. It is a beautiful white sand beach with gentle waves. Did some snorkelling but mostly just relaxed. The boys loved playing in the sand.

Ben and Jerry holding the octopus.

While we were at the beach, we went "Island Hopping" one day. That means gettting on a "bancka" (quite a ricketty boat for our standards) and going from island to island. We really only went to one, though, because Ben and Jerry were both getting sea sick and the waves were quite large especially considering the looks of our boat and the fact that we had two little kids on there with no lifejackets on:( At the one island we went to the boatmen prepared a meal. Someone came by and sold us this octopus for about $12. It is a delicacy here - we didn't find it too appealing but it was interesting nonetheless.

Joshua and me. Joshua is a very fun little boy too. He is talking a lot. He speaks English but he often forms sentences in Tagolog. For example, he always asks "What doing you Uncle Ben?" because in Tagolog the verb and noun are in the opposite order (that's what I heard - don't really know). Joshua is very social and always remembers everyone's name and greets them. It is great in the morning to come downstairs and have him say "Good morning Auntie Charlene". Sometimes he even asks "How are you?" He's working on potty training right now. Last night he did a #1 and #2 (sorry about too much info but...) and he brought it to us in his portable potty to show us and then he said we had to smell it too. A bit nasty.

Uncle Ben giving rides in the Pedicab to Joshua and his next door neighboor Ira. They were especially enjoying the ride because Uncle Ben could make it go up on two wheels around corners. Lots of laughs were heard.
We've been to three zoos here and their idea of treating animals well is definitely different than what we have experienced in Canada and more recently, Australia. A bit concerning really. Kind of a funny sign to have especially considering the pictures below.
This is Louie, the show monkey. He even wears a diaper and Crocs on his feet when he walks around. It would be interesting to know how he feels about life...

At the end of last week, we went out to Second Mile. It is a vocational/discipleship program for street kids. It was nice to get out the city and breath fresh air again. My Uncle Marton, Auntie Cely and their kids (May Rose, Rose Marie, Thomas and Jean Paul) live nearby so we went to the zoo with them and had lunch with them.

So that's a bit of what we have been up to. Life is so different here and we have had our thinking challenged in many ways. It is hard to reflect things on this blog. Oh, in case anyone is worried, we have still been playing Settlers here too. Crystal, Jerry and Jean ( a lady who lives with them) are all keen players now. It was definitely worth the weight to bring along:)

We're off to Cambodia on Sunday to start the last "leg" of our adventure. We're not too sure what to expect there. We'll be living with a family in a slum area of Phnom Penh, experiencing life as they do for a short while.

We love to hear from you...keep us posted on what is going on in your lives too.

Reflections from the Philippines

2008-02-25T21:49:00.008+10:00

So we've been in the Philippine's for three and a half weeks, it's probably time to write about our experiences here. There is lots that could be said, and way too much to recall it all, so there'll be some snippets that stand out.....

As with visiting or starting anything new, the first few days and especially hours are most pronounced in my memory.

Charlene's brother-in-law Jerry picked us up from the airport at around midnight. Driving home was all over the road- not due to Jerry being a bad driver, but that is how people drive in the Philippines. Lanes mean nothing. Cars and trucks and motor bikes pull into oncoming traffic to overtake anyone and everyone. Despite being in the middle of Manilla there were no signs, no reflective markings, and in a lot of places no street lighting (even though there were street lights). Pedestrians and cyclists were on main roads without lighting or reflectors. It was mayhem and I backseat drove like my life depended on it. Jerry in his calm way kept driving with a gentle smile on his face. He was embarrassed at the disrepair of his country, explaining that greed and corrupt leaders were the reason the lights weren't turned on, the brand new airport had not been opened despite being finished 5 years ago, and despite the natural wealth of his country- the country is impoverished.

This is the Philippines. Kids play on the streets. If you are poor, your front door may open on to a busy road. A jeepnie or tricycle (motor bike with side car) not blowing plumes of blue smoke is an anomylie. Security guards carry sawn off pump action shot guns. Teenage boys sing karaoke in the middle of shopping centres. People are patient and in the midst of everyday life keep a smile on their face.

Somehow, a lot of this stuff seems normal to me now. People are people where ever and however they live. What ever their skin color, language. The essence of humanity is the same. These are people that breathe, as we breathe. Love as we love.

Charlene's sister Crystal is involved at a medical clinic in a poor area beyond Antipolo on the long road into the Solid Cement factory. Along this 5km road are bamboo and concrete shacks, small stores, bare bummed toddlers, smokey fires, trikes on their side in various states of repair, women sweeping endlessly the fine cement fallout. Men grooming their prize cocks for the next fight, children climbing along the top of cement trucks collecting the last bit of waste cement to sell, mangey dogs, open repair shops, and people sitting, chatting, waiting for the next good story.

I got to work with four Philipino men over the course of a week at the medical clinic. The roof had been leaking, the ceiling had cracks, water was coming in under the door during the wet season, and being all white was a little sterile. So the clinic was closed for one week and I had the privilege of working with Gemo, Jun, Ray and JR as we performed renovations.

These guys were great- they were all part of one extended family. The 3 younger men in there 30's were all brothers-in-law, while Ray is the god father to two of them. They all work together when possible and look out for each other. Jun was the leader, having the most diverse experience, Gemo the plasterer and painter, JR the stone mason, and Ray... did the hard yards. As an engineer, I appreciated their ingenuity. As a person who doesn't like to waste I was astonished at their resourcefulness.

Their tools included one power drill, an extension cord made of multiple single strand electrical wire taped together, two or three drill bits, a rivet gun, and a grinder. There were a couple of chisels, punches and hammers. Other then that we borrowed a welder and they bought a hacksaw blade. They rocked up the first day with their tools in a plastic bag :) Considering this is their profession, I cannot describe how minimal their kit was. Yet they worked fast and did immaculate work. We needed to produce a 8mm hole in a piece of steel flat for a pivot and they only have 1/8in drill bits. No worries... burn the hole using the welder arc... and a perfectly round hole at that. they were scrounging old rusted roof guttering for sheet metal, pieces of pvc pipe already used in the sewer venting that were a foot longer than they really needed to be were cut short for other needs. All the fibro used in the ceilings that had to be pulled down was reused and at the end of the week the pile of rubble would fill one wheel barrow.

I was impressed. These guys were skilled. They worked hard. They were friendly. They thought about how to do things well and for their work each day earnt 500 pesos or about $12us each (a generous wage compared to the usual building sites, and with so many people vying for work, it is not always reliable). 2/3 of the worlds population have similar lives working hard to place food on their families table, build shelter and hopefully be able to afford their children's education.

These guys live in an urban area (squatter area, slum area) where they have built their small house (maybe 4 x 6 m) from concrete blocks, unfinished rough cut wood, and corrugated iron. We were able to visit Gemo, his wife Edna and there children (Edna works as a nurse at the clinic with Crystal). Despite so little, what they have is kept immaculate, swept daily and clean for their family of 5. They recently built an addition upstairs where they sleep on the family mat and keep their dearest possessions above the yearly flood waters that sweep through the down stairs area. These are intelligent, hard working people, no different to most people in canada or australia, just that they were born into country with corrupt leaders where it is quite difficult to get free from the cycle of poverty. What they have is not guaranteed either - the owners of the land may decide to bull doze to make way for condos, fire may tear through their village, as well as the threat of 6ft deep flood waters with associated disease and wild animals that come with it. I don't envy their life.

It does raise a lot of questions though. How are we to respond to what we see? It's not an easy question. These are the kinds of things we are chewing over.

Most of the rest of our time is spent with Crystal, Jerry and the boys... which we are thoroughly enjoying. More on that another time.

Almost Time to Leave : (

2008-01-25T17:08:00.000+10:00

Hello all,

We started this post on January 25 and now it is early February (not too sure of the date...oh the laid back life of travellers). We have now been in the Philippines for almost a week:) The unfortunate part is that the stuff that we did get done on this post is a bit out of date so pretend it is still the end of January and we are nearing the end of our time in Australia.........

It is time for us to leave Australia on Wednesday and it is hard to believe we've been wondering around visiting people for the past 7 weeks. We have caught up with a lot of people so it does make sense in one sense but time has gone quickly. We'll be flying on to the Philippines on Wednesday and a new adventure begins with my (Charlene's) sister´s family. We don´t have much planned for our time in the Philippines so there will potentially be more time to put our feet up and get a bit of a rest.

It has been fun seeing friends and family and hearing stories about everyone's life journey. It is alway amazing to us how the world is made up of so many different people and we learn lots from the variety. I really enjoyed meeting all of the people that have been a part of Ben's history. I was even able to verify that a few of Ben's friends do use hankies (and are his age). Ben had lots of fun reminiscing (how do you spell that?) with people he has known for many years and driving on the left side of the road once again. Here are some pictures of our last few weeks.

Ben and friends Greg and Christina. Greg and Christina visited Ben in Canada during his first few months there. Little Anika is sadly missing from the photo.

Somehow we just lost a few pictures trying to move them on this post. One was a picture of Jade, Jono, Lilia and Bevin who we visited in a really cool small town named Boonah. Jade and Jono have a little house there with a small cottage in the back which we slept in. We even got serenaded to sleep by the possoms having a late night dance on the roof. It was good that they didn't tell us before we went to sleep that a few weeks before we visited there was a carpet snake curled up in the roof when the people sleeping in there woke up.

The picture of Ali is the other one that went missing on here which is pretty sad. Unfortunately we are not complete blog literate. Ben really enjoyed catching up with her and I enjoyed meeting her. She lives by the beach so next time we visit, we'll have to make sure we allow time for a beach visit:)

The first picture above is Ben's Auntie Cathy and Uncle Adrian. Below is his cousin Judy with her kids Kael and Bonnie. Judy was the closest cousin in age to Ben so they had some crazy adventures together. It really is a bit of a wonder to me how Ben survived all his "adventures". This family lives all together in a multi generational household (don't know if that's a real term but that's how it's set up).

Well how could one go to Australia without a visit to the Crocodile Hunter's Zoo. For those who don't know or forgot, the Crocodile Hunter is Steve Irwin and he died I think almost a year ago after he got hit by a Sting Ray. the zoo is great. There was a big memorial to Steve Irwin there and I have to admit that I shed a few tears over the fact that he is dead. It seems that he was a really down to earth person with a real passion for what he did. Terry Irwin (his wife) is in the picture where they are getting the crocodile to get mad.

And then there were the kangaroos. We didn't see any in the wild except ones that were dead (and ballooned out - Ben said because of the heat) on the side of the road. Their fur is very soft.

These guys are so fun to watch. Apparently the Eucalaptus leaves have a sort of drug in them that makes them kind of drunk so they get into very relaxed positions. Again, their fur is just like a stuffed animal...so soft.
This is incredible. Such a big zoo and the food court had reusable plates and cutlery. The Irwin family gained a lot of "'brownie" points from us for this:)

Did Ben grow?
Ben and his friend Sarah Kuebank with kids Becky and Josie. Husband Matt was already at work for the photo shoot.Uncle Gary and Auntie Betty. Ben loved hearing all about his Uncle Gary's interests - building gliders, building telescopes (didn't know that was possible until this visit), keeping bees, building a house, etc.

Can anyone figure out where this is taken?

Well in case you didn't, Sydney. We took the train from New Castle to Sydney for the day. Spent about 7 hours on the train (since we took the wrong one) and about 7 hours in Sydney. It was raining like crazy there...the picture just doesn't do it justice. Sydney reminded me of Vancouver - not just the rain but the harbour area.
New Castle - Stuart, Lisa, Zac and Madison. Stuart is the middle brother of the five. We had fun touring around New Castle and hanging out with them for the weekend.

Zac REALLY enjoying his food!

Uncle Max, Auntie Beryl and cousin Max with Ben. They live close to Ben's parents house and it was fun to hear all their stories about travel and life.

Ben's friend Megan. She has an apartment in Brisbane but does locums all over the place as a podiatrist. We had yummy Thai food with her and good conversation.

For Christmas, we gave each of the older nieces and nephews a 1/2 day with Uncle Ben and Auntie Charlene. This is Nathaneal on his half day flying a kite after we went fishing and caught one large twig and one piece of seaweed. Kite flying was more successful.

Ben's niece Kiara. She wanted to go the Chocolate Cottage for her half day - couldn't say no to that request.

Ben's nephew Kieran. He calls himself the "Bug Boy". He can catch a grasshopper faster than anyone I have ever seen.

Troupie Adventures

2008-01-10T10:04:00.000+10:00

Gday mates,

Hope all is well with you. You will notice that a lot of this post is about the Troupie. It does seem odd that a vehicle should get so much room on a blog but this vehicle is extraordinary. It has been our transportation, our hotel, and our shelter from the many Australian critters. First we must start with the history. About five years ago, Ben traded the Troupie for a motor bike he had with the intention of fixing it up. The "fixing up" stage got significantly prolonged by a trip to Canada which got extended to three years from the 8 month initial plan.

February 2005 - The Troupie gets left behind as Ben goes to Canada

A few weeks before we came over in December, Ben's dad and the neighbor started to work on getting the Troupie functional which was a true transformation. Ben ended up spending about three days doing the finishing touches and here we are today cruising around in our house on wheels.

November 2007 - Things start happening

A new paint job. Ben arrived just in time for the finishing touches.

And tada!!

Since we wrote last, we have been able to catch up with lots of friends in Brisbane. Strangely enough, it rained everyday we were in Brisbane which is odd when there is actually a drought here. The great thing about the rain is that it is warm rain. The "chill you to your bones rain" of Vancouver does not seem to be here.

Roomie reunion - Ben, Jes and Jamie (Ben's brother)

Ben and Christel eating "fairy bread". Fairy bread is an Australia delicacy - fresh white bread spread thick with butter and artistically topped with many many many sprinkles.

Mmmmmm - this is an idea definitely worth taking back to Canada. Cold Rock Ice Cream. You get to choose what flavor of ice cream and then you get to pick mix ins (ie. M&Ms, brownies, gummy bears, etc). Sooooo yummy! We stopped here on our bike ride because it was rainy. Lucky for us it rained a lot of times that day and so we got to sample a lot of different foods.
Where's Waldo - I mean Ben?? Looks like a tree that would make a good horror movie!
Swiss Cheese Racquelette with Pascal and Katrina. We had never had this before. It is highly recommended by us.
We spent one evening with friends Christine and Michael and had a great time catching up!

On the 4th, we ventured over to Fraser Island. It is the world's largest sand island and you can only drive on it with a 4X4 vehicle. Despite it being all sand, it is covered in trees. Fraser Island is beautiful as you will see with the pictures.

This picture does not capture the pot holes that we very plentiful but it does give you an idea of why we needed to be driving a 4x4:) It would be a great story if we had gotten bogged but we didn't and that's probably better in the end.

Our favorite was driving all on the beach. It wasn't as bumpy and the view was incredible.

One of the highlights was all the sounds that the birds and other critters made throughout the day. Kookaburra's have a great laugh and in combination with all the other animals, the woods are alive!! The only real damper on the whole experience was the knowledge that there were many dangerous snakes. It wasn't just our imagination because at one place we stopped, they said that someone had seen a Carpet Python slither up a tree and eat a crow and it's babies the day before. So...we mostly just tried to be safe in our Troupie home whenever it was dark.

Our home away from home. Yes, the bed is not made...

We have been back in Toowoomba with Ben's parents for the last few days and our neice Jordyn has been visiting also. On the weekend, we will depart once again for a trip down the coastline to NewCastle.

Peace to all. Until next time...Ben and Charlene

Hello from Australia

2007-12-31T12:40:00.000+10:00

Hello everyone,

The blogspot update has officially started. Today is New Year's Eve so we have to make sure we sum up the 2007 part of our trip before midnight tonight, right? It's been a bit painful so far trying to get pictures up, etc so we're hoping that it's just a steep learning curve or updates may be quite sparse:)

It's hard to pinpoint when a journey actually begins but we'll start in November when we started being the ones to whom the goodbyes were being directed at. Charlene's coworkers planned a meaningful supper, we hosted youth and previous co-workers in our home, Ben's work had a lunch for him, and we had a final farewell gathering with people in our neighborhood. We also had the time to be able to meet up with many on a smaller scale. We will (and do already) miss our friends in Vancouver.

Perhaps the "reality" of what we were doing sunk in quite a lot deeper the day we packed everyting into a storage container. It was all quite magical. A crate got dropped off beside our house on November 29, we filled it and then it disappeared on November 30. The crate is packed in a style that would likely cause even the most skilled "Tetrus" player to be jealous (we didn't pack it in case you are concerned that we are boasting). So November 30 was the beginning of our life as wanderers. We stayed with our friends, Tim, Rosemary, Leigh and Gilbert in the neighborhood for the weeks until we left and experienced really comfortable hospitality.

Charlene, Ben, Gilbert, Rosemary and Tim (Ben made those shorts for Tim for his last birthday and we forced him to wear it for the picture in case you were concerned about Tim's fashion sense).

Leigh. Yep, she's a wild one!!

So then, on Ben's birthday (December 10), our good friend Sandra, took us to the airport. We found out that Cathay Pacific doesn't do anything special for birthdays which was a bit disappointing as we had been dreaming of an oversized warm brownie with chocolate sauce, whipped cream and ice cream being served to us.

Happy Birthday Ben from the neighbors (aka Kathy Parsons)

Goodbye to Greta

Goodbye to Steve and Sandra

Air travel is such a strange phenomenon as many of you know. You end up missing days, sitting really close to people that you don't know, eating things you wouldn't eat normally, imagining you'll get lots done but getting nothing done and POOF...suddenly you land on the other side of the world...transported from winter to summer. Australia is beautiful. Much like Canada but it is warm and we love being warm:)

Ben's parents and oldest brother, Boyd (with the kids who weren't in school) came and picked us up at the airport in Brisbane. We spent time in Brisbane with Boyd and Tania and family (Eric who is 11; Jordyn who is 9; Nathanial who is 4; Amanda who is 1). Action packed would be a good way to describe our time there. We had tonnes of fun catching up with the family and we even managed to create three more Settler's of Catan addicts. Ben's brother, Jamie, also came over and it was good to meet/catch up with him.

Ben and Eric playing Settler's - partners in taking over Catan!!

Jordyn contemplating her next trade with Jamie in the background

Smiley Nathanial

Cute Amanda

In Brisbane, we met up with a few more of Ben's friends. We were able to spend one evening with Ben's good mate Brad and his wife, Di. Ironically, they left for Vancouver and the US a few days after we got here because it is summer vacation time here. We'll see them when they get back again at the end of January. Poor Ben got paid out on for using the word washroom (instead of toilet) and supper (instead of tea). He's becoming a true Canadian, eh??

Brad, Di, Ben, Charlene

After our time in Brisbane, it was off to Toowoomba, about two hours inland from Brisbane where Ben's parents live. When Ben left three years ago (planning to return in a year), he had started fixing up an old Toyota Land Cruiser. Just before we came over, a very generous neighbor and Ben's dad, worked hard on getting it back together which was quite a large job. Ben came back in time to spend a few days working working in the shop on it, getting nice and greasy and putting in full days of "work". Much to Ben's dismay, the neighbor said that Ben had acquired a Canadian accent:( The Troopie is looking really flash (we think this is mostly an Australian expression but it starts to get confusing after a while). We don't have the before pictures here right now so we'll have to add that later. It's all rigged up for sleeping in the back and is quite a cozy little hovel.

Ben's brother, Stuart, his wife Lisa, daughter Madison (3 years old) and Zac (1 Year old) were in Toowoomba for Christmas so it was good to catch up with them and meet the kids for the first time (for both of us). Ben's other brother (are you getting really confused yet), Kent, his wife Kym, daughter Kiara (11 years old) and Kieran (9 years old) also live in Toowoomba. We've had some good games of Settler's, trampoline Poison Ball, LeGretto and...Karaoke. Unfortunately, the judging thing on the Karaoke machine called us losers one too many times so we were unable to attach a CD of our singing. Sorry about that.

Mom Briese and Madison

Dad Briese

Danny and Jamin

Well this is getting a lot too long...but there's more and it's hard to widdle it down but we must. Some other highlights so far has been seeing a Wallaby, catching up with Danny and Al and little Jamin, visiting the Kuebanks and the Polhners, visiting Ben's aunts and uncles and just having a lot of time to live life with Ben's parents. They have been very gracious to us even though we eat A LOT. They even bought Chocolate mint ice cream and Nutella the other day. Mmmmmmmm.

So Christmas. Well it felt a little strange for Charlene as the weather did not match the season. Wearing a tanktop and singing Christmas carols seemed incompatible. However, Christmas was a great time of reflection and a big family gathering on Boxing Day. There were 21 people at Ben's parent's place and it was the first time all the brothers and their families had been in one place since perhaps Christmas 2000. It actually rained all day which was refreshing and perhaps a present from Canada that got thawed out in transport:)

Ben, Dad Briese, Jamie, Stuart, Kent, Boyd and the very trusting mum Briese.

So that brings us almost to the present. We are once again in Brisbane, hanging out with Ben's brother Jamie and planning to catch up with friends from New Year's Eve. The plan is to drive the Troopie to Fraser Island (an island of sand) to go camping for a few days. It's exciting to be living out of a Troopie right now. We're not sure for sure when we can go because apparently there is a cyclone there and so it is not adviseable to go over if you want to continue on this journey of life. So...we'll wait.

2006-06-11T12:58:00.000+10:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/98798677@N00/

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Burying Joy

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Coming down was fun!! Much bum and belly sliding to keep things interesting.

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Looking out over Vancouver on a Beautiful Springlike Day. Weird weather at the moment... warm oneday, snow the next morning and all gone that afternoon. Soft, deep powder on the hills though.

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Snow Hiking above Vancouver

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Snack break 1 of 18

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Charlene's rim after pumping it up too Hard

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Scrubbing the Floor

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The Curling Masters - did we win even one game?

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Curling Master

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Preparing for Release

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Our Garden of Invites

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Putting Invites out to Dry

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Tamy stamping

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Sewing the last of the Invites

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We went to the Hockey!!

2005-11-24T11:00:00.000+10:00

I saw my first game of ice hockey last night... Vancouver Canucks vs Chicago Blackhawks with the Canucks winning 3-1. It was very fast... even from a long way a way it was sometimes hard to keep up with the puck. Besides the actual hockey, the whole hockey experience was enjoyable if not a little over the top, almost theatrical reminding me of what I imagine the Coloseums of ancient Rome with the gladiators could have been like. We managed to sneak in a few packets of M&M's and some pringles ( mmmmm) while ditching the drinks due to bag checks. Fun experience.

Other news is that I've been shifted from being a contract worker to full time employment which means I get all the benefits along with a slight raise in pay, it also means I can work towards staying in the country as a worker now, being able to fill in extending my working visa forms and applying for permanent residency. The bonus part was also getting the hockey tickets to the afore mentioned game. It's good. I'm really enjoying the work I'm doing with QuestAir and my effort is noticed and appreciated which is good. Hopefully the extended work visa works out and I can stay here beyond March.

Captain Coke Bottle

2005-11-06T11:06:00.000+10:00

Canada (well at least Vancouver) has turned dark and rainy over the last few weeks. Dark, dark, dark and only 5pm, and it's just going to get darker until Christmas. I don't really mind it, it's just different. Monday was the first night since daylight saving was turned off and it happened to be halloween, so the ride home was with crazy traffic in the dark with the constant firecracker background noise. Seemed a little chaotic.Charlene and I are doing well, though both of us seem busy helping out with what ever. We haven't really started any real wedding planning, though we have picked a date - April 22, the week after Easter, so if anyone is in vancouver that weekend.... At this stage we're just throwing around ideas of how we'd like it, and making sure it's not a painful experience. It's exciting. We've been to a local jewellery studio thing to get engagement/wedding rings designed and made up. Hopefully they'll be all done in another week. It's a long drawn out process but they will be good.
Works good, though I'm still not sure whether it will turn full time or not. Sounds promising from several sources but until I sign a bit paper I won't count on it. We had fund raising event all last week. Different events each day during the lunch hour. One of the events was a junk yards war with the basic criteria to cost under $50 and complete five events. A 3m sprint, jump and hit a golf ball (high jump), long jump, throwing event (a shuttle cock), and an endurance event (who's vehicle could go furthest). There were three teams and I was in charge of the yellow team. Somehow we had a clean sweep, even being the cheapest vehicle. We mastered the pressurised soft drink bottle rocket idea with a bicycle valve in a rubber cork held in place with the lid. Just undo the lid and when the thread let goes, she goes. Most the events had about 5-10PSI, but for the endurance I pumped it up to 120PSI while wearing face shield and leather gloves. Crowd response was good. My criteria before the event was keep it simple since I value my time, and get good crowd response. So winning everything was an added bonus.Someone came up at the start of the week when I'd been voted Junk yard wars leader and said the performance could make or break me, no pressure... now I go by thename Captain Coke Bottle (well one person has called me that). There's a few photos attached from the last month... cake decorating has been a highlight. Enjoy.

2005-11-06T11:05:00.000+10:00

The amazing coke bottle that went where few bottles have been before... for Brad and anyone else who wants to build one. Get a rubber cork with a hole in the middle, stick a bike valve through. Drill a hole in the lid. Apply vaseline (petroleum jelly) to cork, insert in bottle, screw lid on, pump up with bicycle pump, slowly unscrew bottle from lid while firmly holding lid. Usually easier to attach bike pump before putting cork in place. I recommend leather gloves with pressures over 60PSI and definitely face shield for pressures over 100. Hang on really tight. Filling with water makes it go lots further and also wets your crutch. Yellow racing band is recommended.

2005-11-06T10:59:00.000+10:00

Captain Coke Bottle...

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When the shops are all out of pupkins, there's always watermelons.

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Oh my!!

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With the work Heidi was doing in the down town east side, she some how had a few bed bugs come home and set up in her room. We thought the cake was appropriate.

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Tara's birthday with hand crafted cakes. The lime green things are chickens....

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Just engaged, frozen noses and all.

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The youngens, Beth and her friend who's name eludes me.

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Our hiking group

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Lovely

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Looking over Garribaldi Lake, big, big lake for 1500m up.

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Tracey and Jason

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Amazing forest on the way to Garribaldi Lake for Thanksgiving

Engaged

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If there is ever a good reason to write an entry to my blog, then this would be it. A few of us went camping over the weekend, Sunday and Monday being 'Thanksgiving', up to an amazing glacial lake in Garibaldi national Park near Squamish. On Monday morning Charlene and I were engaged to be married.

She is a gem and I thank God for this dear companion he has allowed to walk with me so far, not just for the many shared smiles and adventures, but for the heart that is aligned, and the encouragement that frees me to have a go at things I'd normally be afraid. She's a gooder and I look forward to hanging out with Charlene for a long time yet.

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Maligne Canyon just outside Jasper. We stayed in the hostel just up the road from here. Apparently all the bears from the hills had descended here because of a late run of Bear Berry's. We arrived at the hostel 30 minutes early so had an afternoon nap across the road. This slightly eccentric man came running over freaking out saying that there were two grizzlies one way and a black bear the other and if the wildlife warden caught us he'd explode. I didn't hear the warden part and thought he was referring to the bears. I got up pretty quick. The eccentric man managed the hostel.

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I think I'll be in trouble for including this picture, I know I will be, but I really like it, so I'll face the wrath.

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I forgot to put this picture in before. Despite being a photo of a carpark I quite like it. It's taken from the entrance to the Icefields Centre.

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More Mountains

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I like Charlene.... a lot.

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This was the beginning of the great downhill after the Icefields centre. There was hardly a cloud in the sky... the day we were being driven in a vehicle.

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Along the way back to Jasper. Just near where the Gonkey break was mentioned.

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Charlene and her dad having a break.

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Another view of the Upper Falls

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The Upper Falls at Johnsons Canyon

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Some more pretty water falls.

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Up closer to the Lower Falls. I'm guessing this water fall is about 7 metres tall.

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Lower Falls at Johnson's Canyon

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Nice sunset on the way to Johnson's Canyon

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We made it

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Charlene's parents, Mary and Richard at Lake Louise. We were about 4 hours late meeting them (due to unforseen big hills) and they were extremely happy to see us alive. Unfortunately we didn't have phone coverage to contact them. Oops.

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On the down hill stretch. One of many pretty lakes we passed, one of few we stopped for. We had a good average speed for the remainder of our 94 km day, sitting on about 35-40 km for an hour or so into Lake Louise.

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Pretty

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Some big snow I was hoping might avalanche for us

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If anyone is wondering, Charlene doesn't have a hump. She's just carrying her SLR camera in her back pocket.

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Starting to climb the 44 km hill. Fortunately we had a some homemade treats called 'Gonkey Balls' to spur us along. Three hours later we would be nearing the top.