|
 |
|
|
HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM NICK, CARMEN and AYSIA
|
We swore we'd never be one of those couples who send out
letters in their cards (no offence to those that do; Carmen just doesn't
like to admit that people can actually be more organized than her).
Come to think of it, we also swore we wouldn't bombard people with pictures
of our kid. Yet, here we are making a
Christmas newsletter, with pictures of our kid! But there will be no cards this year, be warned.
Other excuses for that this year.
Yes, those are supposed to be snowflakes falling on this page. I gave
up trying to make it work. Use your imagination.
I know we've gone dark on many of you, excusing ourselves for being busy.
Sorry! For all of those of you in HK we miss you dearly and think of
you (and the weather) often. We've even managed to ignore those of you
nearby. Please know that both of us plan to make a better effort at
keeping in touch with you in the new year. Please excuse the
impersonal update. We HAVE been busy.
Moving sucks. Moving is especially loathsome when you
are associated with Carmen -she buys everything she likes; she likes everything
she sees;
and she throws away nothing. Her pack-rat tendencies are catching up with
her as she travels the world far from lightly. When all was said and
done1285 cubic feet of stuff left Hong Kong ahead of us. We headed off
to the UK after mailing parcels to ourselves here in Canada what seemed a
hundred times. Our things just kept multiplying and we (Carmen) couldn't part
with anything. We then returned to Hong Kong for one night, only to
spend the 24 hours weighing and counting suitcases and strapping heavy
items to our body like a couple of drug runners.
And now our lives have become consumed with shifting stuff. Shifting it
from Customs to trucks, via ferries into storage lockers, back into garages
and in and out of lockers and it continues. We have promised to live more simply but as our
5,000 square foot project on top of the hill gets more and more complex, we
know that promise is worth nothing.
The cats all made it alive and are adjusting to the West Coast weather.
Carmen, personally, will not miss the Hong Kong winter -teaching in her winter
coat and gloves while "fresh air" blows in through 40 open windows in 12
degree damp temperatures without indoor heating. There is nothing
worse than being cold and not warming up even when at home in the evening.
Here, in Canada, it's warmer! And life here in Canada just keeps getting warmer. The seats of our
lovely, slightly embarrassing, but cheap, second hand PT Cruiser, are heated
and well, that has to be just about the best thing ever!
The island life is good. We have no friends, no money and barely a job
to speak of but things are good. Aysia loves being able to go outside
and run around the garden. Our first 6 weeks here were beautiful.
We set up an inflatable pool in the yard and Aysia splashed and ran around
on the green grass to her heart's content. It was literally a breath of
fresh air. We missed Hong Kong but the sun shone and shone and Aysia
marveled at nature.
And thus her first real word was born. Geese. She loves geese.
All birds are geese whether singular or plural. Ducks are geese, as
are bad drawings of stars. We can't believe how much she is changing
every day. She understands more than we expect. Of course we
know this has nothing to do with her superior genes but we sometimes like to
think so. We still can't believe we are parents and we have this
amazing little person, fast developing personality, in our lives.
Aysia, in her true roughty toughty, tough-as-nails fashion, had her first
stitches about a week after we became eligible for health care (Carmen, however,
sprained her ankle very badly a week on the other side of that time frame.
Like mother, like daughter. Perhaps it's Aysia who will need to be
wrapped in bubble wrap now). She, Aysia that is, now has a scar on her forehead a la
Harry Potter, just a little less zigzagged. As Aysia does nothing
slowly, she tripped and fell while running full speed head on into the
corner of the edge of a wooden door and needed stitches and glue to close
her up. She was a real trooper, continuing to run around the hospital
waiting area with blood all over her. However, as it took 3 of us to
hold her down while the doctor pulled at the skin on her forehead, showing
us all the gruesome details, it was mom and dad who cried as blood gushed
from her head and baby screams filled the hospital. She had a
perfectly circular purple scab on her forehead for over month which has
finally fallen off. It sure was interesting to see how people reacted
to her (and us) out in public with what looked like a massive purple tumor
smack in the middle of her head. People either thought she had a large
birth mark and turned away quickly or looked at us in disgust, seeming to
say 'bad parents.'
Carmen got a half time position teaching French in Nanaimo which has been a
real wake up call to teaching in Canada. She never gets to leave her work at
school and finds herself working late into the evening after Aysia has gone to
bed. It takes her an hour each way which is disturbing for half a day's
work. Nick is looking for gainful employment. He was a 'Daddy Day Care'
for longer than he would like (just joking, Aysia; it was a blast,
especially your 20 minute naps). He is now 'doorstepping' principals, but
there are a as many elementary teachers on this island as there are geese.
And there are a lot of geese. Both of us hope to get something more local but the
teaching situation on the island is surprisingly difficult to break into.
We never would have assumed that the reality is some teachers are still not
getting permanent contracts after 10 years. We try to remain positive
and not think about how easy the money came to us more recently. And
then we dream of what it will be like in our new house and it all seems
worth it (6 months of cohabitating with parents/ inlaws included).
Actually, sharing a room with Aysia and having 5 adults (Mildred arrived
last month) has not been as bad as we thought. It's hard to get an
inch to yourself but my parents have been great and we are enjoying watching
Aysia spend time with her grandparents finally.
The house is coming along. It is just about the most exciting, frustrating
thing going. Progress has been slow as we (my dad) are trying to save
money by doing everything ourselves (himself). We got carried away
with the size and now need to try and do as much as we can to save on labour.
Our date for occupation seems to be April at the moment but that may change.
The plumbing and electrical are just about ready for an
inspection. Then it's insulation and drywall. And painting. Oh
joy. Perhaps we should have a weekend painting party in the new year.
Anyone up for that?
We've been here now for 4 months and I'm just not sure where the time has
gone. We are still going through a bit of a lifestyle shock.
Gone are the days of walking a couple of steps out our door for a 7-11, some
milk or a drink with good friends in a bar. But, family abounds and we
are happy to never take a baby buggy up and down stairs and escalators and
narrow streets again. We plan to make a trip to HK soon. We have
an appointment for our Permanent Residency status and plan to make a bit of
a weekend of it if we can. As for the holidays, it's a couple of
nights up island with my parents and friends and a couple of nights in
Vancouver and a couple of nights at a friend's cabin in the Okanogan in the
real snow.
However, we did get a lot of snow (by west coast standards) this weekand
and it stuck; in fact it is just coming down right now. We also saw the temperature drop to -12
one morning last week,
another very unusual thing for this area -so we keep telling Mildred who saw
snow for the very first time in her life this weekend, but I don't think she
believes us. This is Canada and Canada must be cold. However
it's absolutely beautiful and "Christmasey." Since it is quite rare we
are really enjoying it.
We've added some more pictures to the website; you can see the links above
on the left if you are interested.
Again, we apologize for the group email and hope to catch up with you all
more personally soon. We hope you have a fabulous holiday season.
Lots of love,
Nick, Carmen and Aysia
|
|
|
