Firstly, the journey across the Pacific began with my brother and I meeting up at Sydney airport. I felt sorry for him as he had to be up extra early in order to catch the flight from Christchurch; actually, he may not have slept at all. The flight was uneventful except that one of my brother's bags was misplaced and we spent the next few days waiting for it; it eventually turned up. Due to the missing bag and a quick connection, we missed our flight to Ottawa but, luckily, the next one was only 2.5 hours later. We made it to Ottawa where we both collapsed from exhaustion, though I think I tried to stay up a bit.
I had a busy schedule planned for my 3 weeks in Canada while my brother only spent a few days in Ottawa before shipping off to Camp Borden to teach another cohort of cadets how to play musical instruments. One of the first things I tried to do was get in on the trial of Larry O'Brien but it was pushed from 09:30 to 14:00 so I couldn't stay to see it. Later that day, I went to a friend's barbeque where he, quite ingeniously, had Montreal smoked meat and other goodies. I also went to see a soccer game of my old team and I enjoyed seeing everyone after such a long time.
I managed to meet up with Gavin, one of the most creative people I know. We met a few years ago as his parents are lawyers my dad knows. I went over to Gavin's house and we talked for hours on what I recall to be a myriad of subjects and his sister, Becky, joined in as well. The one that springs to mind is linguistics. Gavin is contemplating returning to university to do an English degree. He's never out of ideas for TV shows and movies, the entertainment industry being his first love, and I hope to see one of his creations on the screen one day. I also met up with Luda who is working in the trademarks section of a major law firm. She gave me some great pointers
on what to expect and how to apply to firms for work.
Canada Day has always been one of my favourite days on the calendar. This time around, though, I didn't spend much time downtown as I was invited to another barbeque. Walter Usyk, the host, had graciously invited the whole soccer team to his place for Canada Day. We all had great fun talking and dodging the rain. After it all, I thanked Walter for the day and I trodded off downtown to see the fireworks. They were quite spectacular this year as they came off the stage, not only from behind the Centre Block.
I also caught up with old friends at the Barley Mow for pub trivia and at the RASC meeting. Things had moved on in the 18 months I wasn't around; for example, a friend of mine and her husband had had a daughter. I kept my arrival secret from the RASC members and I surprised them all when I showed up. I think it was a pleasant thing to do. Much the same happened at the Barley Mow, though everyone knew I was coming. As luck would have it, we won our first trivia game in a long time, and by only 0.5 points! I so enjoyed trivia at the Barley Mow and I'm a little bit sorry I could only stay for 2 games.
Even though it rained most of the time, I did manage to get some exercise in. I played some soccer with the old team and even though we lost, I had a great time. I'll miss playing with the guys but next time I'm back, they assure me there will be a spot on the team for me. All of them, every last one, are absolutely fantastic lads.
I also managed to catch up with Greg, perhaps my oldest and dearest friend. Our families have gotten together every so often for so many years and I always enjoyed going to the Hull's on hot summer days to frolic in and around the pool. Greg's done quite well for himself and is working for an investment company; I wish him every success.
My last weekend in Ottawa I did get a chance to travel to Montreal to visit Andre, my doctor friend I now call Dr. Dre. Dr. Dre was throwing a party at his apartment and I was invited. I arrived in Montreal and was greeted with an absolute downpour. I walked to his apartment (luckily I brought a poncho) but I paid for it with soaked shoes and socks. I helped Andre set up and we talked about a variety of things. I tried to convince him to look into Australia's Royal Flying Doctor Service as it combines his 2 great passions --- medicine and flight (he's an amateur pilot). Andre said he'd look into it and I do hope he seriously considers it; it's perfect for him. Anyway, Dr. Dre's friends were all very interesting people from his program and there was also Oleh, a mutual friend from Ottawa now living in Montreal. We all had a great time under the wonderful hosting of Andre. I slept overnight before heading back to Ottawa the next morning. I must express my deep thanks to the good doctor both for inviting me and for letting me stay over.
Although 2.5 weeks sound like a lot of time, it really isn't and I didn't get to do many of the things I wanted. However, my trip to Regina would prove to have some interesting moments.
Again, as luck would have it, a cold wet front moved in, which is atypical for summer. I did mean, though, that I got to spend a lot of time with my grandmother who is a very interesting person. Although she wouldn't let me record her, she told me stories of how she survived the war, dealing with air raids, Soviet kidnappings, lost luggage and a myriad other things too bizarre to even imagine nowadays. My grandmother even showed me a fake passport that she used while travelling within Europe during the war. It's something that's so difficult to imagine and I'm not sure what's more amazing, that my grandmother lived through and did some incredibly brave things, or that her story probably isn't unique and that millions of people had similar experiences. One story that does stick to mind is the brief time my grandmother was a spy. At one point she accepted a job typing something for a group of people and it was only after her brother told her that they were likely some underground organization did she realize what was going on. You would never figure her for a "spy" just by looking at her, but there you go. At some point, I'll get my grandmother on tape. Unfortunately, I'll probably never hear the whole story as time has taken its toll on memory and there are some questions I'll probably never think to ask. My grandmother said that eve though those days were dangerous she still misses them I guess when you look back on the past, even the dark bits seem to shine.
I did manage to visit some of Regina's sights on this trip too. I visited the Legislature and the RCMP Depot with its new interpretation center. There wasn't much to do that day as the rain and winds picked up, which forced me indoors fairly quickly.
I also managed to spend quite a bit of time with my cousins. The 4 of them are so full of energy and their parents are always driving them to one activity or another. This time around it was softball for one of the days. Later, we went to the cottage at Regina Beach where I rode an ATV. Regina Beach was one of my favourite locations when I was younger though I didn't remember much of it. That day was a little chilly but bright and sunny, which made up for it. We all had a great time playing around, eating pizza and just talking.
And that was it for my Canadian trip. To everyone I visited, especially my grandmother who is always so accommodating and wonderful, thank you for letting me spend time with you. To my uncle, aunt and cousins, thank you for inviting me to all the functions and the cottage. I hope to see everyone again as soon as I can.
I returned to Australia with only 2 days until classes started up again. As with every new semester, I was nervous as you never really know what to expect. So far, my classes seem interesting enough. This semester, though, I also have a postgraduate course which will be an adjustment for me. Apart from that, not much more remains to be reported except that I planned the trivia night we had at Fenner. I designed a very hard quiz but some of the teams did remarkably well. The last round was on Canada. I made the quiz challenging primarily because I wanted to teach them something. It's no good regurgitating what you've known all your life; I wanted to impart some new knowledge. I've already been asked to write another quiz for a future trivia night and, although I'm making it quite a bit easier, I'm still hoping to teach them. Maybe it'll stick.
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