Go Dave! And all who lift you up...

My cousin, Dave Calder, earned Canada's first medal at the Olympics today. And being in the bow of the boat, was the first Canadian to finish an event in a top 3 position. I'm so proud of him, but I know that I had nothing to do with it. I suppose most of Canada is proud of him, and (again) most of Canada had nothing to do with it.

Just cool to think about how many people did have something to do with it, though, and how rewarding that race must have been to them. People like his wife and little girl, like his family, like his coaches...

And of course Scott Frandsen (Dave's teammate) had a little something something to do with it. ;)

I know I couldn't get through life without (first) my faith in God, and (second) my wife's faith in me. I can only imagine it's kinda the same for Dave -- your own efforts are important, but real success is impossible to achieve on your own.

[It's funny... As I'm writing this, Dave has just come on the television and is saying many of the same things.]

Quick Candice update...

Her beard is coming along really well, too:

Peanut

Sometimes Candice calls me "peanut". I always thought it was some sort of cutsie nickname, but I just figured out that she is simply stating the obvious:

Dancing Plagues and Contagious Laughter

Okay, I was wasting a little time on the web, and came across this article.

Apparently, there have been a few well-documented occasions throughout history, where people have compulsively danced in the streets until they exhaust themselves! They can't control it, they can't stop!

Also detailed is an 18-month epidemic where people couldn't stop laughing.

Just... plain... weird.

(I think I've had minor cases of both of these diseases.)

The little car that just wouldn't stop...

Some of you might remember our not-so-recent car purchase. Well, after enduring a bunch of trips to Ottawa, the States, all around the city, and some random other places, we kept expecting it to die on us, but the little car just wouldn't stop! But...

The day before we took off for Costa Rica, Candice called me at work:

The wife: "Tom, ummmm, uh oh...."
The husband: "What happened to the car?"

Now, it should be said that Candice is a much better and safer driver than me, so in no way did I think she had done something silly, like get into an accident. But that car worried me a little every time I gave her the keys... I knew she'd treat it well, but always worried how it would treat her.

Turns out, it was just a little problem, you know, NO BRAKES!!! She somehow managed to realize this before having to find out the hard way, and managed to glide it into a parking stall at Walmart. Then, when the Walmart service center refused to look at it, got it across the street to a Mr. Lube (I assume she pushed it there).

[I know you're thinking, "She probably just used the emergency brake.", but if you look at the line labeled "E-Brake" in our "Mazda vs. Tercel... Fight!" post, that silly thing has never worked!]

Turns out the main brake line is shot, and would cost way more than the car's value to fix. (For the record, apparently the main fuel line is shot, too.)

So, the little car that just wouldn't stop became the little car that just couldn't stop.

It looks like we'll have to put a bullet in the little white beast.

"Hot" Tamales

Tamales: a delicious Panamanian dish mostly made of corn. Although renowned, you can't get these puppies in a restaurant, because they take over 2 hours to make. And, for the same reason, you can't buy them in the grocery store. So, where do you get Tamales??? Well, apparently, there is usually a scary-greasy guy that sells them home-made out of a bucket on the street corner. He usually doesn't have a license to sell them...So the transaction is strikingly similar to a drug deal. Ours went something like this...

Tom and I are looking around a bit lost, then start staring right a man sitting on a bucket. I whisper to Tom "Do you think that's the guy we are looking for?"

The man, looking straight back at us: "Tamales?"

Us: "Yes!"

The man, in a more hushed Spanish voice: "$1.25 for 2."

Us: "$1.25 for 2?!? No way, $1 for 2"

The man, staring in all seriousness "$1.25 for 2."

Us: "Alright, here's a $1.25 then. We'll take two."

We slip him the cash, he reaches into his bucket and pulls out a little baggy with 2 green steaming rolls inside.

We split.

This, is Tamales.

YEEE-ESS! Internet baby!

A computer, an internet connection, A HEADSET FOR SKYPE!!! This is awesome!

So much to say, so much to blog about. So little time...

For my Cambodian peeps, I'm sure you will remember Mr. Hose...Yes, apparently, he lives here too!

I'm sitting here...

I'm sitting here, waiting for my wife to call, and I've to decided to do what she does best. Blog.

I'm sitting here because I'm tired. I don't think I ever realized how much stuff we own, until a) trying to jam a two bedroom apartment into a one bedroom, and b) trying to do it myself. Sure, I'm only moving stuff 50 feet, but you know...

I'm sitting here, too tired and sore and, well, lazy to finish writing this post.

There's nothing good on TV...

I remember flipping through channels, back when I used to watch TV. 100's of channels, and nothing on that was worth watching. Scrubs was a repeat, the football game was a blowout for the wrong team, and I had already seen all the flicks on the movie channels. Boy, life was rough.

In the last year, I've pretty much abandoned TV, probably 'cause Candice isn't too big on TV, and she's helped me realize that we've got better things to do than sit in front of the tube. Honestly, other than a few movies here and there, the hockey playoffs, our buddy Peter on The National, and an amazing Super Bowl, I don't remember turning the TV on in our apartment.

But, as luck would have it, the cable company hasn't shut off the services yet in our new apartment, from the previous tenant. I've got basic cable, and the Olympics are on... My cousin Dave is rowing there, so I'm pretty interested. Besides, Candice isn't around so I have no other company. 

But, WOW! You step away from TV for a second, and when you go back to it you actually notice all the bad stuff you were previously accustomed to: rotten rotten language, graphic graphic advertising, just absolutely devoid of value. 

And the Olympics? That's good, clean television, right? I thought so at first, and then had to seriously rethink that notion. Nobody's wearing any clothing! And what they are wearing is skin-tight! Honestly, my wife is the only one in the world where it is appropriate for me to see that much figure. I talked to Candice about this, and we both understand that it is probably for performance reasons, that baggy (i.e. appropriate for public viewing) clothes probably get in the way and slow you down. I don't care, I don't want to see that!

If I remember correctly from my high school history class, back in Greece at the first Olympics, they used to compete completely sans-wardrobe. Maybe it's just returning to its roots. Too bad.

I used to think there was nothing good on TV. Now I realize there is just nothing GOOD on TV.

Somebody tell me how Dave does, please. I'm going to go unhook my free cable. (I felt guilty stealing the signal, anyway.)

You gotta play it safe around electricity...

First: Sorry for the slightly boring direction this blog has taken recently... :) Candice is safe and sound, but has succeeded in finding places for the last few days where the internet isn't. She apologizes for not updating everyone one how Panama is going, and she'll post as soon as she can.

Believe me, I'm as interested as you to see her writing again on this blog!

But for now, bare with me because I found out (again) today that Louie the Lightning Bug is right.

I have been moving our stuff to the new apartment for the last few days, and today (among a few other choice items) I moved the dishwasher. I had to, correct that, got to do a little drilling, a little cutting, and a little electrical work... The first two went well, but that last one, well...

This should save me a thousand words:




I had even shut off the breaker labeled "Dishwasher". Apparently, it was actually attached to the breaker labeled "Puse Contoir" (whatever that means!). One huge bang, a big flash of light, and I was able to blow one of those huge double-fuses (like the one that runs your stove or clothes dryer) and melt metal into a pretty cool heart shape...

Beard Watching

Well, it's been about 50 hours since my last shave. That's no record for me, I've gone whole sections of my life without shaving, and taken 4 or 5 day timeouts in the more recent past.

This time is different, though. I'm growing a beard!

You see, my wife has style, so she knows that (for most people) beards are a ridiculous idea. I know this, too, but have always wondered what it would be like to have one. Or if I could even grow one if I wanted to. I figure I have about 3 weeks to find out.

There is a long history of handsome Tom's looking good in facial hair:

Tom Cruise: Some nice stubble.

Tom Selleck: Cool dude mustache.

Tom Green: Nice beard.

Tom Hanks: Maybe a little too much.

You'll be able to watch me as I move through (hopefully) all of these stages, by the little feature I've set up on column to the right.

Here is me at the 50 hour mark:

Let me know what you think!!

Home Sweet Home

I made it back to the apartment in Montreal last night about 2:00 in the morning. Took the bus from the airport, because the idea of a $35 cab ride was a little sickening.

Some happy surprises: nobody robbed us, my equipment made it home in one piece, and all of my favorite lunches are in the freezer to tide me over until Candice returns (she made them all for me before she left).

Some neutral surprises: a few scattered pieces of equipment that didn't make the final cut during packing (or we forgot to pack, like the laptop), two incredibly "ripe" bananas and a plum, and a malfunctioning answering machine. (BTW, if you left us an important message in the last two weeks, please phone again!)

Some very sad surprises, too: my wife's flip-flops that greeted me as I entered the door as though she was home and had just kicked them off, an empty echo of the door closing instead of her cheerful "Welcome home!", and a big empty bed.

Yeah, it's home, but it's not so sweet right now. I think it will be good to move out of this place over the next few days.

Miss you Candice, but don't worry about me. There will be only happy surprises when you get here!

Departed.

The morning we have been dreading has arrived...Tom packed his bag for the last time this trip and headed out the hotel, alone. Candice sat on the bed for a few more minutes, alone. Both alone for the very first time in a very long time. I absolutely refuse for this day to consist of a tear stained face and puffy eyes. Nope, there was no way Tom was walking out the door if he saw me in a mess. It is interesting to see how strong we can be if the situtation calls for it.

The last time we were seperated for more than a few nights was when I went to Europe last summer with my parents. But at that time we were only engaged, and seperation is a part of the engagement world. Not to mention he had his family with him, and I had my family with me. The only time I was actually truely alone was for one night during that trip when I ventured off to Germany by myself. One night. Now, three weeks??? Thankfully we have met some great people on this trip and some of them are only a taxi ride away. If any trouble should arise, I now have 2 Panamain nutritiontists two doors down the street. In their incredibly fast Spanish I heard "You hear a noise, you see something, or you just don´t want to be alone, you come here!" Awesome. Tracy and Rafael are just an hour´s taxi ride away (which would be, like, $15), and Matcha, Metcho, & Umberto are a quick flight and a taxi ride away too. And, of course, God is with us always. So, really, neither of us are totally on our own here.

Last night we moved from the hostel to an upper-scale hotel in David for our last night of the trip together. "Upper-scale" meaning hot water, A/C, and private bathroom to boot! Actually, in all honesty it is one of the top hotels in town, which means we paid $40 for the night. Prices here are so strange. For example, you can get a taxi ride from to anywhere in the city of David for $1.25. It´s a $1.50 if it is raining and only $1 if the driver is in a good mood. When you find a taxi you like, you ask for his personal cell phone number, and he becomes your ´chaufer´for the next while. We only do that for divers who didn´t try to rip us off when we got into the cab. I love being in one spot for long enough to know what they are up to and what the cost actually is. Dinner last night was awesome, we returned to a restaurant called El Fogon. They serve typical Panamaian food, and it´s really great stuff, with a wide variety and pretty inexpensive. It´s an classy resaurant, yet both times the bill was around $30 for an appetizer, drinks, and our meals. How awesome is that?!

I´m going to check out of this hotel soon and grab a bus back to San Felix. Carli and Marie-Pierre should be arriving from Soloy & Chortcha tonight as well. The Three Amigas!!!

One Last Date

Snap shot of our last 2 days

Happy Birthday Tom!!

Yesterday we headed back to the pastor´s home and visited the feeding centre. What a great time! The kids were so excited to have new poeple there. We had no toys or anything for them, but we had fun just hanging out. Our digital camera astonished many, and we took some fantastic and funny pictures.

After lunch (the bill for four large meals =$6.50, plus tip of course ;) we headed out to Boquete. It was beautiful, kinda reminded me of Jasper, but a bit warmer, and better coffee! If you can believe, it is very, very difficult to find good coffee around here. During the few hours we spent in Boquete, we had a total of 5 cappucino-like beverages. Delicious. We toured some gardens and had great photo ops. Apparently the pastor is also a photographer, and used us to practice for an upcoming wedding. Can´t wait to get those from him! It felt like our wedding day all over again, the smiles were starting to quiver near the end as our cheeks got tired!

We said our good-byes to the Rodriguez´s and headed to our hotel. We were planning on doing a Tree Trek this morning for Tom´s birthday (a little belated). This trek is a crazy 3 km ride down the moutain side on pullies and a cable system. Looked pretty awesome...But when we laid our weary heads to rest last night, all we could think about were the kids at the feeding centre and how much fun we all had. So, we threw the cable ride out the window this morning, and used that money to buy a soccer ball, skipping rope, balloons, a load of celery, raisins, peanut butter and spreadable cheese product. Games and "Ants on a Log" for all! Tracy and I were throwing around some ideas as to how to get the children to actually eat vegetables - and this one worked!! We made a really big deal of racing to build them and eat them. I don´t think they even realized it was a vegetable! We learned after that these kids have never tried raw celery before, nor even saw peanut butter. Wow.

Tom played soccer/baseball with the kids in the afternoon, they had so much fun. No one really wanted to go home. Including us. The balloons were a hit too. Well, until they busted...lots and lots of tears. No worries, we had extras.

So, forget the cables, we had a big vegetable-soccer-birthday party instead!

Now, if we can only get some of those pictures on the net...

Yet another moving Sunday Service

Today was the long-awaited meeting of more internet friends - Tracy & Rafael Rodrigez. This couple runs a local church, which they started a little over 2 years ago, and a feeding program for children from resource poor homes. Pastor Rodrigez picked us up from our hostel in David this morning and drove us to the church. It was such a warm and welcoming place, again, many were very intersted in us, considering we nearly glow in the dark in comparison...

Tracy asked me to attend the teenage-girl Sunday school class, and offered me an opportunity to share my faith and offer encouraging words to the young ladies. I made a few girlfriends, who tended to accidently, continuously forget that I am not that familiar with their language. It was pretty funny, they would get all excited to tell me something, or ask me something, and then remember the language barrier when they saw my blank face staring back...We´d then laugh and begin our game of charades...

Tom attended the adults Sunday school, and when we were introduced in front of the congregation during the service, the pastor invited him to the front of the church to share his faith and our jounrey. Isn´t it amazing that when you go searching for opportunities to share, they can be given to you in a more nerve racking situation then you ever intended??? I don´t think I need to mention that he did a fantastic job, and spoke through the interpreter with ease.

After the service we all jumped in the church bus and headed down to the creek for baptisms. It was beautiful. After, the church bus drove all around and dropped off anyone who needed a ride home, many of them where people who would otherwise not have been able to afford the transportation to and from church this morning. It was such a strong community.

We had dinner at the Rodrigez home, and were joined by a guest pastor and his wife. Out of the 6 adults at the table; 2 spoke English, 2 spoke Spanish, 2 spoke both. I´ll let you guess who was who. I don´t know if I talk about the language issue too much, but it affects EVERY SENTENCE!

Tomorrow we are heading back to the Rodrigez home and visiting the feeding centre for their lunch session. Tom and I are both very excited to be a part of that. Tracy and I have had some discussion about nutritional concerns and considerations, and I am eager to learn more the children. When I return to San Felix later this week I have the opportunity to spend some evenings with some Panamanian nutritionists, I´m sure they will have a few pointers I can pass along as well. (I´m just picturing how I am going to act this one out --nutritionally deficient children, cooking practices, calcium content, budget planning!?!!)

Tom has been able to help Rafael with a few computer glitches they are having, and he and Rafael were getting all excited over "pixels and lumens". We have so much more to talk with them about! So, after the visit to the centre tomorrow, we are heading up to Boquete with them. Boquete is a tourist town about a hour from David, they are going their for a conference. This trip will help us squeeze in a little more time with each other...Not to mention be a lot closer to an opportunity to do something a little crazy for Tom´s b-day...Oh, there will be pictures...

We´re BAAAAACCKKK!!!!!

Hola! Long time, no type. First things first...

1) Go turn on a light switch
2) Flush the toilet
3) Turn on the hot water tap
4) Don´t take it for granted



Whoowheee....Was Soloy an interesting/amazing/learning/and slightly amusing experience. No power, no toilets, no real roads...Wait, in all fairness there was a little "light bulb that couldn´t", which was powered by a solar panel, and a latrine out back. Yes, latrine. For those of you who are unfamiliar with latrines, it´s an open pit with a bit of a can (that bugs just love) and sheet for walls. (I said shEEt). When the pit is filled, you just move the can over a few feet. Watch your step!"Little House on the Panama?" It was an amazing experience. The bats flying just above your head during dinner, which was actually appreciated because they kept the bugs at bay, and the giant resident toad left nothing to be desired, well except your bug net at night. Again, whoowhee!

On the first morning we were there, we hiked up to some of the more remote communities. Beautiful, beautiful views. The landscape is just breathtaking. Thankfully, we saw no snakes that were breathtaking. On the hike we met a man who took us to see the local school. It was this old, run down building, with a huge rack of solar panels in the back! They were used, of course, to power the 27 inch tv inside.

The monsoon rains stranded Carli back in San Felix that night, so we were left to fend for ourselves again against the bats and bugs (and local gawking children). We were thrilled when we woke the next morning. We made it through the night!

We don´t need to wonder why one man described North Americans as "delicate".

The next day we ventured out again, this time all by our brave selves. By our selves of course until we made another local friend who was more than happy to show us his "special" rocks out in the middle of freaking nowhere. After I started to realize that these boulders were sacred (the white painted rocks that surrounded them, then the black, black painted rocks that were in the distance really tipped me off), I started to wonder about sacrificial practices and said "Boy howdy, am I tired!!!" (in Spanish) followed by "Tom, I´m scared." (in whispered English). We quickly followed the GPS bread crumbs back to the main ´road´.

In all honesty though, the man was very nice, and the indigenous people are so friendly and proud to show you their beautiful land and share in their community. As North Americans, who have watched too much tv, we weren´t used to this hospitality.

We hitched a ride out with Carli when she went and dropped off the study poop at the lab in San Felix. The two of us then beetled it over to a cabana on the beach of the Pacific. We found an awesome (cheap, cheap) place, with an awesome beach. We were so excited to turn on a light and run a shower. Well, lets not get carried away here. The lights were on until the generator was turned off at 9:00pm, and the shower was refreshingly icy. But, relatively speaking, this place was a resort! This morning we walked along the soft sandy beach, which stretched for nearly 20 kms. The tide was out, so we walked way out into the ocean and carved up our pineapple we bought the night before from the convenience store. It was an awesome experience. Come to think of it though, I´m not exactly sure the pinneapple was for sale, but when we saw it hanging out there all by its lonely self and offered to buy it, the woman quickly came up with a price, which was cheap to us, but she probably hosed us on it. Sometimes things are just a little more expensive for us than it would be if we looked a little more local... (can you believe they charged us a buck for a roll of toilet paper and bag of sugar?)

Today we are back in San Felix, but accidently left Carli´s umbrella in the taxi. I´m pretty sure he isn´t going to come find us to return it considering we drove such a hard bargain with him. Stupid us, walking away all proud of our success for not getting ripped off this time...We are heading to the store right after this to see if we can replace it before Carli comes home from the field tonight. I´m sure the dollar we saved on the cab ride will offset the cost of a new umbrella. It´s not like you need a quality one in the rainy season.

Seriously though...This has been a great trip. We have learned so much, we have experienced so much, and I think we have been doing a good job of making the most of the time we have here. And the time we have here together. When we got back to the house this morning, we found a poking stick and whacked some fresh oranges out of the tree in the back yard and made fresh squeezed OJ. Delicious. Did we mention we have seen pineapple fields, sugar cane, banana crops, and rice fields? In our own backyard, in addition to the orange tree, we have a lemon tree, avocado tree, and some unknown vegetables that are growing in the ground. We are planning on having them for dinner. Tom snatched up two eggs this morning from the backyard chicken coup. I stood on gaurd with a 2x4 stick to ward off any hen that wanted her eggs back. Thankfully, the peace was kept. Eggs for lunch!



By the way, does anyone know if there is a second verse to the Happy Birthday song???

The Purple

We made it! We made the trip from Puerto Viejo to David by hitching a ride with some Canadian, hailing a cab and bartering him down, walked the 100year old bridge (with Homer the happy and helpful pan-handler) that separates the two countries, nearly melted waiting for the Panamanian customs agent to finish lunch, hailed another cab, hitched a bus ride, hailed another cab, and here we are! It is amazing to think that just this morning we awoke on the Carribean coast and this evening we are only 20 minutes from the Pacific. The drive over the mountains was breath taking. We were so high up at times we were driving through clouds, and at other times the clouds were below us in the valleys.

We are off to Soloy in the morning, and will probably be away from the net for a while. We bought a phone today, and if you are on our top 2 list, you will receive the number tonight ;)

Tonight we are crashing at the Purple House Hostel in David. Our hearts are still breaking over leaving Tuis, but we are trying to enter Panama with an open mind and heart, trying not to be biased towards our new family in Costa Rica.

Mixed Emotions

Today we had to say goodbye to some very special people. We had an amazing time in Tuis. We made some amazing friends. They have changed our lives, and I'm pretty sure we have found a place in a few of theirs too. It wasn't only the two of us with teary eyes today. Maybe I was the only one out right crying though...

Recap of our last few days>>>>

• Yes, we did go to the coffee farm! We hunted Umberto down and pleaded with him until he took us. He probably thought that was the path of least resistance considering we lived on the same lot. He was very proud to show us. We picked beans, chopped down sugar cane with a machete and ate it right there on his farm overlooking the Costa Rican mountains. It was nothing short of an amazing moment that with resonate in our heart for some time to come.
  
• No, we didn't finish the bathroom job - but they are much greener than when we started though! We purchased some rollers so the next volunteers don't have to put up with the agony of old crusty paint brushes. It was amazing how much thanks we got, considering we only got one stall and one wall done. Next time we may want to set some achievable goals.
  
• On Saturday we hiked up to the new residents house they are building and the huge garden they have. It is built on a hill, and it looks beautiful. They will be able to house 8 more residents at the new facility. They are doing some pretty amazing work here.
  
• Our Spanish is getting better. We are able to communicate, but a lot of charades is still involved. Entertainment for all!
• This morning Tom got his hair cut by our 'house-father". He was looking at Tom's hair, then at his shears...Then at his barber chair....The good sport just jumped in!!
  
• The church service this morning was nothing short of moving. The Spirit is here, and it is so amazing to meet believers from around the globe. It doesn't cease to amaze me how many of us Christians there are, how Jesus changes lives in all nations.
  
• We got to attend a Costa Rican birthday party today. They serve two kinds of cake at them! (And you are suppose to eat them both!)
• And, drum roll please.....we are writing you from Peurto Viejo tonight!!! Because I doubt that you know where that is either, we are on the Carribean coast, near the Panama border. We rented a cute little cabana for the night and already took a dip in the ocean. Straw roof ta boot! Bats ta boot... Geckos ta boot....And, apparently, the Howler Monkeys will be around at 5:00am. Can't wait to meet 'em! (Did you know that they are the loudest mammals on earth?)
• We saw some breath taking scenes on the way over here. Moutnains, valleys, the ocean, BANANA fields!!! And some pot holes that would give Winnipeg a run for its money.
  
• Tomorrow we are jumping the border and our (achievable?) goal is to make it to David. It we don't make it, we will be spending the night near Bocas del Toro. Poor Tom and Candice....Can you hear the violins???

Hope to catch another internet cafe along the way. We miss you, and will try to keep you posted.

Love,
Tom and Candice

A few pics, in random order.

Rubber-Botas

Tomorrow is Saturday, and Saturday is Umberto´s day off, so he is taking us to his coffee farm! We bought some rubber-botas for the trip. Mine are white! But not for long. Maybe we will get to drink more coffee...Haven´t slept for 4 days...heheheHAHA..

Sigh, time to walk home now. Ciao.

Verde

My fingers are green.
Tom´s elbows are green.
Both of our pants are speckled green.
There is even a little part of my toe that is green.

But, thankfully, some of the bathroom walls are green too.

Language Oopsies....

List of oopsies (that we know about)...

• Dirty horse? (Is that your horse?)
• This is a boob spoon? (Is this a little spoon?)
• Who are you doing tomorrow? (What are you doing tomorrow?)
• When are the animals in the trees? (Which animals are in the forest?)
• Poop! (cake!)
• It was my great pleasure to have you drive us. (Thank you for driving us!)
  

Words that we have taught our host family...

• Boogers! (I was nearly rolling on the floor laughing when I caught Tom teaching them that one!)
• Sneeze
• Mess
  

Buenos Dias!

Well, another amazing morning. We headed to town first thing and spend the remaining cash we have for this mission on shoes, shirts, and seeds. The clothes are needed for the residence of the rehabilitation house and the seeds are for the agricultural project for the families. You see, once things start growing, you can harvest some seeds for the next crop, but you need some seeds to start with!

The gratitude that has been shown towards your donations has been truely heart warming and humbling. We keep telling them it wasn't just us, but our family and friends in Canada. Yay Canada! (We will try to hold off on passing on the kisses when we see you next!)

We are going to continue on with the bathrooms today. What a 'beautiful' green they will be! Kermit would love it.

Hopefully pictures to come....

Hola!

We have had an amazing day.

Your generosity allowed us to buy a huge load of groceries this morning! We divided up the goods into packages and even had the opportunity to go and deliver to a family ourselves. There are some unbelieveable stories that we have heard, and believe me, your generosity has made a difference today.

The family we met today (a mother and a two year old child) have recently walked four days from their village in the mountains to seek help for the young daughter - she is paralized on her left side. They had to leave because her life was in jeopardy, not from her injuries, but from the community because a disability is a curse. The mother's brother was hung from a tree when he was 5 because he was not able to walk yet. So she ran away for fear they would take her daughter too. The mission has provided a short term home, and today you have provided a load of food for them.

We are also in the middle of another project - bathrooms! The primary school across the street (a very resource-poor school) is in dire need of some paint in their bathrooms. The mission has purchased the paint and we get to slap it on the walls! We just washed it today and now we are waiting for the walls to dry so we can finish the job tomorrow. The children are pretty confused as to why 2 english whities are hanging out and hosing down the walls in el bano! Oh the sign language we have had to use.

I had my first language-oopsie today while visiting the family. What was suppose to be "is that your horse?" apparently came out "dirty horse!". Oopsie.

Uh oh...We have to go, or we will be walking home!

Hasta luego!

WOW!!!

So, we are here! And to say that this is the most beautiful country I have ever seen would be an understatement. No pics for you yet though, the internet is a little slow...

We had a very entertaining only-Spanish-speaking driver that picked us up from the airport in San Jose and brought us to Turrialba. He is a coffee farmer and introduced us to the local cappucino. Starbucks has nothing on them!

Our host family is fantastic...We laughed our way through some Spanish ¨conversation¨ over dinner last night. Did we mention only a few speak English?

There are so mnany things that have happened already, just can´t wait to show and tell you. This morning we are planning a grocery trip and a few other activities we can help with.

To sum it up in one word? WOW!!!

Please keep us in your prayers. Your love and support mean so much to us.

Love Candice and Tom

(For those of you who are interested, our GPS says we are at 9.85N, 83.6W.)

One more sleep????

Ahem. 

Apparently, that cute little countdown ticker is inaccurate.  There is not "1 day, 12 hours, and 20 minutes left 'till our next adventure".  Nope.  Incorrect. At this moment, there is 18.5 hours left. There is a bunch of stuff to do yet too, and here  I am blogging away! I love it. 

Don't tell Tom, k?

Before any of you start wondering...

"Where's the next post? That Candice is usually pretty good about getting new material up regularly."

Well, my dear wife is writing a FINAL EXAM tomorrow morning. And it's a doozie!

So, here's what we all do: Anybody who reads this, please post an encouraging comment, and say a little prayer for her in your heart. :)

Don't worry, the "good stuff" will be back soon.

It's not where you live, it's where your home is.

Seriously, I can't believe we are leaving this apartment! I love this apartment!! Tell me, why are we leaving this apartment?!?

Oh yeah...Because we don't need this apartment.


Oh number 31, how fantastic you have been! You were our first apartment together, our new place in a new city. When we arrive we were so pleased to meet you, so eager to dress you up and make you our own. We built a nest, made you cozy and comfortable. We have introduced you to some of the most important people in our lives - you welcomed them too, and offered a great place to stay. Oh number 31, how I am going to miss you....


Oh number 35, how excited I am for you to be officially ours! We gaze down the hall at you, trying to picture how it will be like. You will be our second apartment together, a new place in our city. We have met you a few times now, and are getting more fond of you by the day. We will built a nest, make you cozy and comfortable. We are excited for you to meet some of the most important poeple in our lives - we will welcome them together. You will help us remember that where we live is not our home; home is where we truly live, and that is with each other.

Question

Do you add completed tasks to your "to do" list, just so you can cross them off? 

Wordless Wednesday

You learn something new everyday

Today I learned that our car is worth the equivalent of 2 door-dings on an Audi.

Silly gust of wind!

Kenyan Missionaries

I will spare you a link to the horrific story of the missionary couple who were beaten and assaulted in Kenya last week. The story is horrifying enough to lose sleep at night and forgo breakfast in the morning. The salt in the wound is that they do not have medical insurance; they couldn't get any before leaving, due to their age (66&70). The Canadian couple had already sold all their possessions to go to Kenya and help the widows and orphans living in poverty.

The couple's strength and faith through this horrid event is an example and inspiration to us all. Although easy for me to type, sitting here in my safe little office, no matter what happens to us in this world, nothing nor anybody can take away our faith, nor our rewards in heaven.

Because of this attack, the sound of (ultimate) forgiveness has rung in the ears of millions of people around the world.

God bless this couple.

Equipment

Help!

The following is a list of items we have/are planning on getting for our upcoming trip. Are we missing anything? Are any of the following a waste of space?

1. Two good quality backpacks & pack protectors (from rain)
   
2. GPS unit
3. Portable water purification system & two water bottles
   
4. Sleeping bags
   
5. Hammock with built in mosquito net, plus mosquito net and self-inflating mat
   
6. Malaria pills, antibiotics for travelers' diarrhea, pepto bismoo, tylenol, tylenol 3s, gravel, super prescription gravel, Immodium, water-proof pill bottle, bug spray, ultra-potent sunscreen, hand sanitizer, first aid kit
   
7. Camping pot & 2 sporks
8. ponchos from dollar store
9. camping towels
   
10. backpacker's bible, devotional book, Spanish phrase guide
    
11. clothes (skits, shirts, shorts, swim suites, pants, a formal outfit)
12. knife & swiss army knife
    
13. American bills
14. combination lock
15. Laptop?
    
16. .....?

Added items..

- 2 diaries/notebooks and writing utensils

The Trip

Alright, so things have been solidified (a little bit). Here is the first blog devoted to the trip. We will be posting updates during our trip as to our locations and learnings. I'm sure these posts will be very overwhelming to read from a length point of view; maybe we should change the site to 'all across the page' viewing? Please let us know!

Anyways, here is our preliminary schedule...

1) Wednesday July 23 - Land in Costa Rica and have the spoiled experience of someone there holding a "Scatliff" sign to pick us up. Then, we are whisked away to the mountainous region a few hours east of San Jose to Tuis (nearest place on google maps is Canada, Costa Rica ;) but if you punch in Turrialba you get a much better idea. This is the home of Voz Que Clama, a mission organization that serves the physically and mentally handicapped people from the surrounding indigenous reserves. People with handicaps are outcasts from the communities due to mythical reasons why they were born with the condition. Their mothers are often cast out as well and this organization offeres them a refuge. (Un?)fortunately they are in the midst of a building project to increase their capacity.

As some of you may know, Tom has experience working with physically disabled individuals, and he is excited to see how his skills may be put to use in these developing areas.

Along with offering a home, the mission is working to spread the gospel in the indigenous regions (many are inaccessible by roads and it's a 3 hour hike in!), offer education on disabilities, and bring in much needed supplies. Additionally the mission sponsors local families near Tuis with food baskets and agricultural education to aid in the process of becoming more nutritionally and economically stable. There are a bunch of other things but I'll try to keep this short and let you know what we learn when we are there (in 10 days from now!!!) We will be staying with a home-stay family in Tuis for 4 nights. Bare in mind, this family does not speak English. Eek. I guess we will be putting our Spanish lessons to the test

2) We say good bye to Voz Que Clama on Sunday, July 27th, and head south to Panama. After a seamless crossing at the border by bus [ ;p ] we eventually reach my colleagues in Soloy, Panama. This trip may take anywhere from 1 to 3 days. Who knows, really. Central America time does not work on the same clock as North American time. We've learned that one in October!

3) While in Soloy we will be crashing either in the health post or with local family (apparently anyone will put you up - a very relationship based country - for a few dollars :) Anywho, we will eventually find my colleagues, which won't be too hard. I'm sure they will know the second we are in town "Otro blanca personas!!" Soloy is one of our 'bases' for reaching the most remote communities in our studies. Most days we will be taking an excursion to an outlying village for data collection. I guess we will see what kind of shape we are in!

4) After a few days we will be heading to David, Panama to meet up with a second mission organization, Panama for Jesus, that runs a local church, seminary school, and also a feeding program for inner city children. We will be working with them for the remainder of our trip. I'm so excited to have been asked to address with the nutritional considerations of the children and help tweak the menu for their needs. Awesome! We will be staying in a hostel here and working with Tracy and Rafael for a few days with whatever we can.

5) On Wednesday Tom flies from David to San Jose, and then catching his flight back to Canada ;( I head out to San Felix, to catch up with my new roomies for the remainder of August and go back to one of our 'bases' and remote communities. Yeah, I'm gonna be buff (or broken) by the time I get back to Canada.

6) I will remain out there and help in any way I can and gain as much information as I can for my project. The hardest piece of this time will be a lack of internet/phone service because we will be spending most of our time in the boonies. I guess I will have to use smoke signals to communicate with Tom. ;)

7) I do the bus to David, flight to San Jose, flight Toronto, then home trip at the end of August.

8) We are reunited! Sigh. Move into our new apartment. :)

Wordless Wednesday

It's official....We're moving!

Yup, good 'ol stable Tom and Candice and moving again.

Nope, not provinces this time.

Not to a different city.

Not to a different street. 

Not to another apartment building.

Not even to a different floor. 

Yes, they are now officially moving down the hall. 

Congratulations! 

Picture from Junior High

In response to Tiffany's challenge (to post a picture of yourself from junior/high school that people won't believe is you) I'm running into some challenges... Most of the other bloggers are running into scanner problems or embarrassment issues. I, on the other hand, am running into a different problem; I still look exactly the same, which I'm sure is not related to the fact that I own digital copies of my high school grad.

So, this is what I've come up with.





My husband, on the other hand, is unrecognizable!

Answered Prayer

We have a backup home for our foster cats while we are away! Good friends of ours from church, although they have a lot to learn about looking after cats (first question: "What if they have to go to the bathroom?"), have graciously offered to take care of business while we are away.

I will sleep better tonight. 

Oh Canada!

We headed over to Ottawa to celebrate Canada Day on Parliament hill. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time, thanks to our new Ottawa friends. Here are a few highlights from our day...

The buskers: 

I just love watching them at these kinds of events.  They have so much talent!

The entertainment on Parliament Hill: 

Overall, it was pretty good, but of course our favorite was Paul Brandt! 

The incredible crowds! 

The fireworks!

Happy 141 Canada! (Happy 400th Quebec City!) 

Random Updates

I know, it's suppose to be Wordless Wednesday (and I have a fantastic picture for it too!), but I think you guys are going to getting sick of seeing our ugly mugs every time you log on here. So I thought I'd give you a break and provide some random updates instead;

• 2 days ago I went outside to get some sun so I wouldn't be so prone to burning when we get to Costa Rica, and now I'm sunburned.


• Our new/old air conditioner rocks, and it only cost 50 bucks and a few slices to Tom's hands.

• We still have a house full of cats and are finding them to be fantastic. They need to go back soon. On a happier note, we may have a wonderful couple that will pick them up if 'that' call comes while we are down south.


• Speaking of down south, my trip has been extended (still preliminary) 'til the end of August. :) Tom will still be returning at the beginning of August. :(


• I'm applying to transfer into the applied masters program (from the thesis option). A long story, but once I come to terms with it I might blog about it. Might.

• One of our readers finally had the heart to tell us that it is a melon baller - not a lemon baller! (Shopping trip post.) Thanks to the rest of you who just laughed at us and left it!
  

• One of the can openers was not a can opener at all but some kind of useless kitchen gadget that looks a lot like a can opener. Do I need to mention that the 'second' can opener is totally rusty? Didn't think so.
  

• One of my bestest girlfriends is getting married in less than 100 days. The trip to Winnipeg for the wedding is going to be amazingly short. My dress is going to amazingly great. Now, if it would only arrive one of these days...
  

• For all of you who are still wondering about our shopping trip that Tom posted about. Our favorite store is Value Village. C'mon, how come no one got that one?
  

• For those of you who are wondering if Tiffany is right about a cricket in the "The Bug" story, she was wrong. It was defintely a June Bug. And June Bugs are scary.
  

No Longer Hot in Here!

Pitt?

When I went and picked up Goober Brother #1 & Goober Brother #2 from the SPCA this afternoon, I brought Pete with me so he could be seen by a vet.

[Now, in order to 'get' this story, you must remember
that we are nearly the only monolingual citizens in Montreal, and many people's first language is not English.]

While in line, the vet assistant, whose first language was definitely French, filled out some paperwork with me. I had to answered the standard questions; age, colour, foster, adoption, helath problem, eating concerns, ect. When she asked his name, I tolled her it was "Pete". She repeated back "Pete?" (be sure to read her lines with a thick French accent). Me, "Yes, Pete." She smiled, awkwardly, and said, "Cute." Then I proceeded to give the credit to the previous foster family who actually named him.

After Pete and I left the vet with our eye-cream in hand, the receptionist (another francophone) asked..."Is that Pete?" I said yup. And she replied, laughing "Oh, I was looking for a dog!! Hahaha.."


Ok then.


When I got home and was reading the instructions for the eyeball cream, I noticed that it was prescribed for "Pitt."

Have a Great Trip!

Just a little shout out to two of our most favoritist people;
Candice and Nat.

They are heading out tonight for a two week road trip from Winnipeg to the East coast. (Not to mention a stop over in Montreal on the way home!) We can't express how excited and honoured we are to have you as guests in our home.

Good luck, safe travels, and we'll see you soon!

Cat Lady

Alright, so before heading out to Winnipeg, we returned our beloved Thelmo and Louis to the SPCA. When we returned and learned that these two little tykes passed inspection and made it into the adoption room (with a great cage location, to boot), we welcomed Pete into our apartment to heal up an eyeball (hoping we would have a cat-free apartment for our guests arriving within the next two weeks). But then we received a dreadful message on our answering machine this morning that went something like this...

"Hello Mr. & Mrs. Scatliff, we regret to inform you that the two kittens you returned two weeks ago have fallen ill again. Unfortunately the SPCA is beyond its max capacity and we are unable to care for these animals. Please let us know by 8:00 tonight if you are able to take them. If you are, I will place a DO NOT DESTROY card on their cage."

Do not destroy?!? Oh my goodness, do not destroy!!!

It was an emotional afternoon, and a bit of a stressful entrance back into our apartment considering the additional roommate. To complicate things, they (meaning the Goober Brothers being one, and Pete being another) have different health concerns and therefore have to remain separated. Thank goodness for the french doors to the living room and the kitchen.

So, yes, I am the cat lady of the building. There are now 5 of us in this two bedroom apartment. And our guests will still be arriving in the next two weeks.