Made it, eh?

Thank god for stretch jeans.  3 months of buffet meals can do that!

Greetings from Canada. I made it here - finally - after experiencing the 'joys' associated with travelling in North America during the holidays and at a time when many of the airports here in Canada have been affected by some significant snow storms.

The journey here was long. I lost count after about 33 hours of travelling. I flew from Dar es Salaam (with a stop in Nairobi) to Zurich - a 1o hour flight - and arrived on time, only to discover that my next flight to Toronto was delayed by 2 hours. So I sat in Zurich airport for 5 hours knowing that I was going to miss my connecting flight from Toronto to Ottawa. Zurich airport is, by far, the most expensive airport I have ever been in. I went through $AUD 70 just buying 1 magazine, 2 x coffees, a croissant, a bowl of cornflakes + milk, 1 x banana, 1 x apple & a muffin. Hooly dooly.

My brother warned me not to get stuck at Toronto airport. Apparently something like 700 flights around the country - and most coming into & out of Toronto airport - had been delayed due to storms on Thursday & Friday. I arrived on Saturday afternoon with news that another big storm was due on Sunday. Great. But thankfully my folks & Rommel made an executive decision while I was in the air on the way to Toronto. I turned my phone on when I arrived in the airport to find 5 messages telling me that a ticket had been booked & paid for on a direct flight from Toronto to Winnipeg on Saturday night to make sure that I arrived - otherwise I could have been stuck into Toronto for a couple of days. It must be an expensive ticket - everyone is refusing to tell me how much of my money they spent! 

The fun didn't end then. After killing 5 hours in Toronto airport, (much to my surprise, we boarded the plane to Winnipeg on time. I sat down, did my seat belt up & then listened to the captain announce that there was a maintenance problem which could take 30mins to fix. Fortunately they did fix it. De-icing the plane then took another 15mins so we were almost an hour late by the time we took off. 

Still the delays and laughs kept coming! When we arrived in Winnipeg, we spent 15mins sitting on the runway as there were insufficient ground crew to bring the plane into the gate. And then spent another 45 mins waiting for the luggage as the luggage door was apparently frozen shut & couldn't be opened. It was, however, difficult to be grumpy by this stage. Not only had I finally arrived & seen my brother for the first time in 18 months. But my brother & his girlfriend greeted me wearing large green reindeer antlers complete with flashing lights. Needless to say, they were easy to spot amidst the masses of people at the gate! I have taken a photo of them and will see how much they are welling to pay to prevent publication before posting a copy of it here. They also promptly presented me with a lei (the type you normally gets when you arrive in a tropical island) as a welcoming gift - rather appropriate given that the temp would have been a balmy minus 40 degrees or so!

The weather here is pretty interesting. I've climbing mountains in the Himalayas at 2am - but never have I experienced these kinds of temps before. Today, for example, at 7am it was (with windchill) minus 47 degrees. Fortunately for me I was tucked up in bed at the time. I did, however, experience what minus 30 feels like tonight when we left about 6pm to walk - yes, walk - about 15mins to a friend's place. I can't describe what that kind of weather is like other than to say that I have never before felt my eyelashes and the hairs in my nose freeze! 

While I am tempted to write about all the weird things that Canadians do to keep warm around here - like put a clear plastic film a bit like cling wrap over all the windows to keep out any draughts - but it really is the proverbial winter wonderful here alright. Despite the cold weather it is really beautiful here.  As I type this, it is snowing outside. I know my brother & his girlfriend wont be too happy about it as we are travelling today, but I'm pretty excited :-) My brother's place overlooks a river which is completely frozen over - the snowmobile & deer tracks mark it now. Christmas lights reflecting in the snow. In a way for me it doesn't feel like Christmas. I kept getting emails wishing me a merry Christmas but I have to admit that it doesn't actually feel like Christmas for me right now;  I guess because this is completely foreign & unlike any Christmas I have experienced before. Let's face it, normally at home I'd be at home wandering around in shorts & t-short looking forward to breakfast outside under the pergola (our family ritual) and a seafood Christmas lunch. But at the same time it feels almost familiar. All those Christmas carols which refer to snow at Christmas or movies set at Christmas in the snow finally seem appropriate. 

After Nepali, Arabic & Swahili, I've started to learn my Canadian eh? I always thought the national sound of Canada was eh? but I am coming to realise just how much they stretch their r's - like carrrrr, barrrr, parrrrk etc. I've got touque, cell & supper sorted. But the word dainties - particularly coming out of my brother's mouth - has induced a few fits of laughter. 

 

We are heading off for a few days to spent Christmas with my brother's in-laws before returning here for a day - I'll post again then - before heading off again for new years. I hope y'all have a wonderful & safe Christmas with your families. I will be thinking of you on Christmas Day here. xx