Sports Week

This culture astounds me , once again, with it's focus on children. This week all the kids are out of school, not daycare but kindergarten and up. It is call "Sports week" or something like that. All the children (and parents with school age schildren) take the week off to do winter sports. Most popular is skiing, stating, ice hockey and sledding. But, I have seen ice fishing and ice curling as well. I don't think it matters what sport, it is just a week for kids to do sports with their families (or on their own if they are older).

Also, there is a guy that snowplows the courtyard in front of our house. I saw his daughter was with him in the cab area where you drive it. I thought how great it is that he could take his daughter to work with him if needed (we got alot of snow last night), and it is no big deal. In the U.S. that would so not happen that she would be "on the snowplow" with him because of "liability issues". What a crock!

Sidenote: today is my birthday! I am 38! I think this is exciting and I will embrace it, even though 40 is just around the corner. How did I get to be almost 40? I don't feel it. But, I do feel that so far has been a very rich and eventful life, so I think this year will be as well. I hope...

Yasmiene

Lots of Pixs!

Hi again,
Yeah! We have our hard drive and reinstalled skype to we will have it on to talk with everyone. We are really enjoying the winter here. The lakes are frozen and we go walking and ice skating (well, Saniya has so far) on them. We can bring the stroller and walk on the lake near our house to a really big hill that is popular for sledding (also our spot for picnicking last summer).

Here are some recent pics of Saniya's birthday and the winter wonderland.

Waiting for the mail.
The bathing suit and tights combo in Feb., lovin' it.











Rowan became a book.













Saniya's kite design when I said we could use straws to keep it straight for flying. This was her idea of helping it fly.











Valentine's gift from Grandma.













Love the bath













Saniya's 4th birthday!



























Rowan cleaning up after the party.













Opening a present from the O'Neill's at Saniya's family party.












Downtown on a Sunday in February.













Cute winter action.













On the frozen lake behind our house.












Saniya's first skating experince.













Saniya's idea of using a telescope.













Early morning daze.

All about quantity and forget about the quality

A parenting reflection . When did it happen that making dinner became a cattle call? When did the transition happen from nice multi course dinners with wine (maybe weekly) to the nightly meal of something that has the least cost and number of ingredients, and makes the most quantity (to last a few more meals and eliminate cooking again). Lately we are making casseroles and soups. What's up with that. We have gone from good fish, meat and veges to pancakes(as we had for dinner last night), pasta and eggs as our main meal components. I think it will change again. As food is expensive here, what they eat is so "kiddish" and cooking is such a chore. But, for now it is about quantity rather than creation. I used to laugh at my mother making a bunch of something and freezing it. Now I am that person. The full circle of life with kids.

It's a Party!

Well, we are fresh off the perils of a kids party. Saniya had her 4th birthday party today. It was filled with lots of children, cake and ice cream and a whole lot of hyperness. She was able to connect with two other girls that are her age, so we are hopeful of some new friendships with English speaking children. We have pictures that we will post when the computer is really up and working again. We have email now, but we waiting for a hard drive to have full capacity. Thanks Justin for your help with that! So, I was happy to notice that gift giving is very different here with parties. The gifts are small trinkets; a box of shaped soaps, a bar of chocolate, or some origami paper, etc... Such a change from the emphasis on gifts at home. Also, it is not standard to give party favors when the children leave. I guess that is an American thing. Interesting.

Another interesting bit of info has to do with daycare. We just found out that if you stay home from work due to your child being ill you are given 80% of your pay from the first day ( this is separate from any vacation or sick days for yourself) and ALSO you are reimbursed for the days your child was not there. I was floored to hear of the later, thinking of the American daycares I visited that would clearly state, "you are charged whether your child attends or not". So different. I received a check a month ago from the state and didn't know what it was for. I now know it was the reimbursement for the time Saniya was sick. So, this is on top of the subsidized rate that makes it affordable to be there anyways. It is so nice to be somewhere that really caters to the welfare of the family and children as a society. Now, those are some family values and these folks are socialist! How can it be?

A sidenote. I just heard that Barak Obama is running for president (I am out of the loop). I have been following him for the last few years. I highly recommend his memoir, "Dreams of My Father". I have the highest respect for him and truly hope any of you take the time to check him out as a candidate. He really is the best thing that could happen to this country and our world. So, check him out, no matter what your political leanings, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Hope everyone is well.

Yasmiene

We are experiencing technical difficulties...

The computer hard drive has likely seen it's last day so there will be no skype for about a week. We can still check emails and make blog entries since we can boot linux from a cd. So all is not lost. Send those emails.

Rob