Wanakita 2

Camp Wanakita

Yet another CLEE event and yet another weekend where we didn't think we could cram so much in.

Camp Wanakita meets winter wonderland according to the traslation I just made up and it is a fitting title. If ever you wanted to get all those special winter experiences rolled up into one weekend this was it.

We crosscountry skied, crosscountry skied on frozen lakes, crosscountry skied on frozen lakes at night by candle light, tobogganed, ice fished, played broomball, went on high ropes courses, went on a dogsled ride and then did some of these things all over again.

Lost & Found

After a month of battling the credit card company and bank to get replacement cards and access to my own money we were getting halfway back to where we were. Countless hours were spent on the phone to all corners of the globe. We then got one phone call from Toronto from Lenka to tell us that they'd found the wallet in their garage when sweeping out some fallen leaves! So I got my wallet back, ended up with new cards and a lifetime's worth of experience at dealing with bureaucracies. At least we found out just before posting off an insurance claim and complicating life even more.

Alice Hill

16th February

Finally a weekend at home and a great opportunity to try out the local ski hill. Sadly the Barry's Bay hill closed down a few years ago as it was only 5 minutes down the road so we had to trek to far off Alice Hill, just outside Pembroke and a whole 40 minutes away. For $140 we got outfitted, had 4 private lessons and got lift passes. To make even more mockery of this elitist sport of skiing we got lunch for 5 for under $20 (including drinks). In Australia that sort of money would get you into the car park!

We were all going to have a quiet day's skiing until Nic piped up and said he wanted to snowboard. Having already conquered skiing at his first attempt in 2005 he felt the need to get on to a new challenge on his second visit to a snow hill. Jordan, having mastered downhill skiing at Ottawa Winterlude, was in with Nic. Ivan, having sucked at skiing all his life, knew that he'd have to join the boys or be labelled a wuss for ever more. So it came to be that all the boys went snowboarding and the girls went skiing.

Hockey

We've now been to a few local hockey games. Nic went to see a couple of school mates playing one weekend. We've watched our young neighbour Adam playing in a couple of games. His team is now in the play offs and things are getting exciting. We were also invited along to a local multicultural game between teams from Toronto and the local Polish and Irish background teams. It was at this game that Nic was chosen from among the kids in the crowd for a chance to win a hockey stick or jersey. I think when they heard the Aussie accent and when Nic couldn't identify the NHL celebrity they knew they were onto a novelty. At the end of the second period entertainment, Nic went out onto the ice, and got to meet Peter Zezel (http://www.unrealideas.net/peterzezel/) and ended up with a signed hockey jersey. He also managed to get his picture in the local Barry's Bay newspaper! It just keeps on happening to the Bandurs abroad!

Quebec

Ottawa Winterlude

Pia, Tom, Elena and Hayley took us to the Ottawa Winterlude Festival and we had an incredible weekend. We went skating in the world famous Rideau Canal which is the world's longest skating rink. We then enjoyed a (Killaloe) Beavertail before wandering through the ice stulptures at Confederation Park. We then went to Jacques-Cartier Park for ice slides, snow tubes and even more snow slides. Pia, Tom and the girls went north for some skiing un the Sunday but the Bandur children hadn't had their fill of ice slides so we went back to Jacques-Cartier Park for some more of the same. We also managed to get in a little introductory downhill skiing for Jordan and some ice fishing for Nic and Ella. During our ice fishing introductory licensing course we came across a Quebecois instructor who was aslo into his hunting and told us of how he'd sampled most of Canada's national fauna; including deer, moose, beaver and bear. Look out koalas and wombats if he ever visits Australia (although he can have all the cane toads he wants!)

Barry's Bay 2 Jordan's Birthday

Jordan's 6th birthday was upon us with little warning. He'd barely started school and knew virtually nobody. Fortunately we'd just met some other neighbours with 3 children who provided the youthful element. Then there were Jordan's newly adopted 'cousins' from next door. Jordan (and Nic and Ella) have taken a real shine to the Bloskie's next door who treat them far too well and never seem to tire of them or want to kick them out. (They're sounding a lot like our neighbours from home!) We had Pia's family as well rounding off a festive afternoon that went on into the evening (much like the birthday parties we're used to.)

Barry's Bay - First Few Days

It was a rush to get into the swing of things. We only had a couple of days to get our bearings, familiarize ourselves with the house and prepare for school. We did get help from Pia (at school) and Eugene and Annalynn (next door). The hospitality of the Canadians we've met so far is something to behold but these guys, very quickly, exceeded that as well.

After the first week of school we were invited to the ice fishing shack of Sean, the older brother of one of my students. He took the kids out for a Skidoo ride on the frozen (hard to pronounce) Kaminiskeg lake and showed us his ice fishing shack and the 12 lb pickerel that he'd caught. Now Nic and I are on a mission to pluck a fish from beneath the ice.

The kids settled into school pretty well. Nic went into Grade 7. Ivan went into Grade 6. Ella went into Grade 4/5 (in Year 5) and Jordan went into Senior Kindergarten. Jordan went every second day. They have 3 recess breaks each day and it takes Jordie most of each break to get all his winter apparel on. He then gets time for a quick snow angel or a slide down a snow mound and then it's time to go back and reverse the procedure. Jordan was put up into Grade one after a few weeks so is now going full time with the others. Took him a little while to settle in, as he'd missed the first half of the year, but hopefully he's getting the hang of it now!