Canada hates me

Canada hates me. After the fiasco two years ago, I should have had some idea.

On that fateful trip, at 8 months pregnant and after an extremely long, stressful travel day full of cancelled flights, rebooked flights, slippery roads, reduced trains, defective airplanes, repeated de-icing and a 6 hour delay, I was sent to the Immigration office upon arrival in Canada at 3 in the morning, because I was travelling on my British passport, not on my (long-expired) Canadian one. Apparently (all evidence online to the contrary,) you DO in fact need to enter Canada on your Canadian passport if you are Canadian. They gave me a warning. They put the warning on my file. Sufficiently chastened, I got a Canadian passport a few months later. I thought the troubles were over. 

But no! Christmas 2012, all ready to head out to meet my Dad in arrivals, Santa hat jauntily perched on The Little Ninja's head, we get redirected into the Customs line. For a baggage check. FML. Seriously. Canada hates me.

Although, it also doesn't. The customs guy who checked our stuff COULD have given us an $800 fine. Luckily, he just gave us a warning. Apparently, even if the food you have with you is totally allowed (like chocolate, which no self-respecting country would ever deny you), you STILL have to declare it on your entry form. Even if you're sure. Just declare it. Save yourself $800. Or a warning. :) 

Skating

I've been trying to come up with things to do while we're in Canada. While there is no lack of choice in Mississauga where my dad lives, I'm still trying to find anything worthwhile in Sarnia, where my mom lives. They have no indoor playgrounds at all or family-oriented... well, anything, really. So I've been praying for snow and searching harder and more creatively. And found skating. Sure, The Little Ninja only just learned to walk a couple of months ago, but this cool website called Baby Skates sells (as you would guess) skates for babies. They look like old-school learn-to-walk shoes (like I had when I was a baby) with blades. Cool. Skating times aren't listed online for the three local skating rinks, but I'm sure I could find out when I get there.

But what about when we get home? I'm not forking out $100 for skates TLN can only use while we're in Canada! The Netherlands is a skating nation, or so they claim to be. Their most popular winter sport is skating, no question. When it's cold enough to freeze the canals, the whole country drops whatever they are doing to go skating. Speed skating is well covered on TV and some of the country's most well-known athletes are world-champion speed skaters. It appears to be a huge sport here. Obviously a country with such a passion for skating should be covered in arenas.

Imagine my surprise when a Google search revealed there to be a total of 4 (FOUR!) arenas IN MY PROVINCE. There are two within reasonable driving distance, but, as you know, we don't actually have a car yet. This is ridiculous. How is this even possible? Does this alleged love of skating only manifest when the canals freeze over, disappearing days later with that same ice? Natural ice is definitely a big thing here. But is skating in the Netherlands really restricted to the - maximum - 20 days a year you can skate outside on the canals?! There were (and still are, in fact), 2 rinks (one arena) within walking distance of my dad's house. A (seasonal) outdoor rink is also walkable. There are no less than 12 arenas in his city. Nearby Toronto has 81 recreational skating rinks! 81! As I mentioned above, even Sarnia has 3 arenas (plus 4 other skating rinks, totalling 7)! Yet in the professed 'skating nation' of the Netherlands, there are only 25 places to skate recreationally in the whole country!

Seriously. I'm appalled. To be fair, the fun arena here is open pretty much the whole day (unless someone rents the whole rink at which point you're screwed), but it still costs €7.50 for adults and €6 for kids. This might be why people only skate when it's free, outside. It's only $3.50 and $2.80 in Mississauga (respectively). Hmmm. Still, it's not looking good for our activity schedule in Canada; if I don't buy the skates, we can't go at all. I suppose this also assumes that I will be buying skates there too, or again, no deal. Hmmm. 

***This just in*** a friend of mine says they sell adjustable blades here at the Hema for under €15. Definitely worth taking a look at. They could just save Christmas. 
***AND! Ordered online for delivery to the store only €10.80! Ha! Now for me...***

The Hobbit

I am itching to go see this movie. I am rereading the book right now (I seem to have forgotten much of the story other than that Bilbo finds a ring in a cave and robs a dragon) and I have already bought reserved-seating tickets to the IMAX 3D showing on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. with two of my friends. I have to stipulate p.m., because there are also late night showings. They start tonight. And I want to go. Despite not being finished the book yet and despite already having tickets, my sneaky inner Middle Earth fan is scheming ways to see the movie sooner. I have given up hope of going tonight. I really can't go tomorrow, either. But if I finish up my work early on Thursday, I could totally get to the IMAX 3D showing at 12:45 p.m., which finishes at 3:49 p.m. and still be home before The Recyclist picks up The Little Ninja from daycare. It is alarming just how appealing I find this little scheme. I haven't been this excited for a movie since...  well, possibly since LotR: Return of the King. ;)

SYTYCD finale

Just for good form, I'll mention that I'm satisfied with the So You Think You Can Dance Finale last night. Since the people I wanted got into the final, however, I wasn't quite as invested in who won. Ultimately, it was Frederic, which I think was a good choice. Although Vivian was clearly the better dancer, I don't think she'll have any trouble getting work as a dancer after the SYTYCD live tour winds down. Frederic was good too, but showed a lot more improvement and growth over the course of the show, and I think he could better use the prize (particularly the dance schooling abroad), as Vivian is really already polished and though she said she wanted to go to New York to study at Alvin Ailey's studio, I don't think she needs it. And I also think that if she decides to do that, she'll go regardless whether she won or not. Frederic, having less support at home, has now found the loving support of the Netherlands and Belgium and the financial support to study dance wherever he pleases. Everybody wins!

Running

I started running again. A few weeks ago. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, to be honest. I go wicked slow, but I can keep it up for a whole half hour, which isn't bad considering I quit running when I got pregnant in 2010. So to celebrate my reentry into the sport I've been looking at races for the spring. Sure, right now I can barely get round 3 km in half an hour, but I'm confident that will improve as long as I stick with it. As I said; I've done this before. The thing is, while I know I can be ready for a 5k race in the spring, the one that I want to do is 10k. In March. The City-Pier-City Run in The Hague. Which, technically, is doable, but realistically, I don't think I want to push myself that hard. I like races. And the best way to motivate myself to do more races and continue is to have a good experience. I'm sure I'm not alone in this. So destroying myself to get around the 10k is quite possibly a far worse idea than confidently finishing the 5k. Even though the 5k race is just a square loop and the 10k race covers a nice section of city. <sigh> there's always the next year, right? (By which time I'll likely be training for the full half-marathon if all goes well.)

Besides, there are other 10k races later in the season that I could probably do with more confidence. There's the Royal Ten in The Hague at the end of May, for example, and the Ladies Run in Rotterdam in early June. Both of these also have 5k races if I totally suck in the new year. But they both also (like the CPC) want you to register already. Already! There's also a rather frightening picture of the Ladies' Run in Rotterdam in which all of the runners are wearing pink. Eep! Is that a requirement? Because I don't do pink. And I'd hate to register just to get disqualified for my clothing!

So. Should I go for the 10? Or the 5? To be completely honest, I've never run a 5k before. 7.5k, 10k, 15k and half-marathon (21.1k), yes, but never 5. Maybe it's time to give it a shot. What do you think?

My first gingerbread house

I bought a gingerbread house kit from IKEA because a. I love IKEA. b. I love swedish gingerbread. c. It has always seemed like a fun thing to build. 

Upon opening the kit, however, I found that, unlike IKEAs other construction kits, this one didn't include any way to attach the walls and roof and chimney together. It also didn't include any decorations. JUST THE GINGERBREAD. IKEA fail. 

I briefly considered just eating the gingerbread. Mmmm... Maybe just the chimney? It doesn't needs its chimney. Ahem.

By this point, however, I was determined that this was going to be the family Christmas bonding experience of 2012, so I went out for more ingredients and tried to figure out when the hell we would be able to put it together. 

I note here, possibly echoing earlier sentiments, that candy canes are not available in the Netherlands. Certainly not the proper peppermint ones, anyway, and most definitely not before December 6th, when all the Sinterklaas stuff is instantly replaced with all things Christmas. 

I mixed up a batch of icing and wrangled The Little Ninja into his space-egg-chair last Saturday afternoon. I started putting the walls together and realized two things: a. this was going to take all day and b. The Little Ninja wouldn't wait that long. He needed distraction. And, with a table covered with gingerbread, icing and decorations, distraction was easy to find. I slathered icing on one of the roof boards and gave TLN sprinkles and tiny marshmallows and things to put on the icing. 

Haha. The Little Ninja is now just a bit past 21 months - still a fair ways from two. His comprehension of the task/interest in cooperating/idea of fun was not decorating the roof. As I should have expected, he was far more interested in just eating all the decorations. <sigh>

So while I struggled to hold the walls up while the icing was setting, The Little Ninja binged on sugar. Leaving a half-assembled house, an over-energetic toddler and a single roof-side covered in icing with smeared finger streaks rather than decorations. The walls reasonably stable, I moved on to the roof. Or, at least, I tried to. TLN was not having it. I was stealing his candy! And whoever said something was like stealing candy from a baby clearly had a younger child in mind. Tantrum! I quickly substituted the other roof panel and went on with my construction.

A second tantrum erupted when I needed to complete the roofing job. Come on kid; you know what a house looks like - you can see I'm building one and that it needs the roof! Why the hysterics? I did say that was for the roof and that I needed to take it away now! <sigh>

By this point The Recyclist is going on about what a great idea this was and that I should "NEVER DO IT AGAIN" while I roll my eyes and try to hold the roof together. The Recyclist starts making dinner because this whole project is taking way too long. Possibly because he isn't helping at all, just making negative comments. 

The Little Ninja isn't particularly hungry for his nutricious dinner after all the goodies and The Recyclist berates me for that too. I continue to roll my eyes and think what a great time The Little Ninja was having and that if we don't follow The Recyclists orders to never do it again, it'll probably turn into one of those great traditions he remembers his whole life. You're only a kid once. It can't all be health and education. It should be fun too. Right?

Things I learned from this experience: Don't include The Recyclist - preferably do such crafts on Wednesdays when he is at work. Building a gingerbread house, even from a kit, is way harder than it looks. Maybe put the house together in advance, with thicker icing, and maybe some (temporary) supports. I should get more interesting stuff to put on the house, and maybe make some kind of scene for it.  

Questions based on this experience: when do you smash it and eat it?!!! Do we have to wait until Christmas? I've never done this before! Maybe it would be a good tradition to destroy it either Christmas Eve or at New Year's... What do you think?

Christmas stress

There was a time, not so very long ago, that Christmas was my favourite time of the year. And a Christmas in Canada was the be-all and end-all of Christmasses. When I first emigrated, I couldn't imagine missing even a single year. It wasn't until I was married that I had a Christmas anywhere else. We currently have a tentative agreement that we will go to Canada for Christmas every other year. The bitch of it is that my parents are divorced. So, obviously, we can only spend Christmas with one or the other. Back in the day this wasn't such an issue as they both lived in the same city and moving back and forth was easy - we could stay for a week, a day, an hour, whatever. Christmas eve and Christmas morning with my Mom, Christmas dinner with my Dad or vice versa. Now, however, there's a good three hour drive between them. A drive I'd really prefer to only make once. And this screws up the scheduling incredibly.

My parents, both Jedi Guilt Masters, somehow make me feel like shit no matter what I do. I realise that I can't please everyone, but why can't they realise that too? And suck it up. Yes, it's my 'fault' that I live so far away, but it wasn't my fault that my parents split up (ultimately causing this whole mess), or that my Mom moved to the back end of beyond (aggravating this whole mess). Yet I get all the shit. 

We pay thousands of euros and spend 12 hours traveling with a fidgety toddler, (8 hours in a plane with him on my lap, no less,) going clearly out of our way to spend the holidays there with them, then have to rent a car and drive another three hours to visit my mom, and still it's not good enough. Nobody appreciates the money and effort we fork out to do this for them. It's all about who will get us on Christmas. Seriously. It's just a day, people. A numbered square on the calendar. There is NO REASON AT ALL that we can't have a fan-frigging-tastic Christmas celebration on a DIFFERENT DAY. We don't go to church. We're not religious. What the hell difference does it make whether we see X parent on the 23rd or on the 25th or on the 28th? Call it Christmas whatever day it is, have a great time, and enjoy being all together. That's what it's about, isn't it?

Needless to say, my ideal image of Christmas in Canada is quickly eroding. Half the time it doesn't even snow anymore. And the last time we went at Christmas we only made it out of Europe because I am a very good, experienced, determined traveller (Really. I should tell you THAT story sometime). The snow kept almost everyone else wherever they were until after Christmas. And weather conditions like that are always a risk as well. Going to Canada at any time entails the constant stress of living in someone else's house and having to always be sociable and inclusive, the agreeing to see everyone because, hey, we're not there that often, dealing with an upset toddler whose schedule is out of whack (though I hope this will improve as he gets older). I used to go at Christmas because I couldn't imagine it any other way. Now I think it's mostly guilt forcing me back, because I DID decide to live in a different country. Will I ever live that down?

As you might expect from my rant above, I've come up with an alternative. An idea is growing in the back of my mind, one that my parents aren't going to like a bit: maybe we shouldn't go to Canada at Christmas at all. We can go in the summer. It's warmer, there's more to do, and no one cares which days we go where as long as both my parents get to see us. In fact, it would work out cheaper and FAR more convenient for us even to pay for them to come here, especially after this year, as The Little Ninja will then require a seat of his own. Also, as of January, we will have a car, so no one will have to rent one or suffer public transit. Then Mom can come one year, Dad can come the other, and WE don't have to go anywhere. They each get to see us at Christmas twice as often as they do now, and I don't have to stress as much (obviously this would still entail a substantial suitcase of stress because I am not a comfortable hostess, but I digress). The idea hasn't grown so big, yet, that I would consider mentioning it to my parents, but we'll see how the holidays go...

Voting works!

Remember my bitching last week about how the wrong people got eliminated on So You Think You Can Dance? Well, this week, despite having to work again, I took matters into my own hands and voted. And it worked! Maybe it's just a coincidence, and maybe other people had the very same thoughts as I did about not letting the usual voters screw up the results this time, but the very first time I vote this season, the people I voted for move on! Result: Davinia and Delano are out! Granted, I did spend €3.75 voting for the people I liked (Vivian x2, Frederic, Kalila and Denden), but it worked! Now I'm guaranteed a final with my favorite remaining dancers! Money well spent, if you ask me!

Have to remember: CAN'T WORK ON SUNDAY: SYTYCD FINAL! Stay tuned!