Day #12: Niagra Falls

The view of the falls from the top on the Canada side. The mist froze as it settled on the trees and buildings.




The American Falls...

The Canadian Falls.

Pictures of Christmas Day

For some reason I didn't take as many pictures as I thought. No fear, though. My mom and sister both had their cameras as well and there are more to see on facebook and Life in Canada, Eh.

This train has been at the base of our Christmas tree ever since I won it in a contest with AMTRAK on one of our train rides up to Oregon for Christmas.

Our representation of Baby Jesus. The manger stays empty until Christmas morning.

Christmas dinner.

Christmas tree, the stockings on the mantle, young maiden playing the piano. Storybook picture? I thought so.

Boxing Day

Day #8
According to the very reliable Wikipedia, Boxing Day is the day "on which servants have the day off and the gentry eat cold-cuts...previously prepared by the servants...and goodwill boxes are given to the poor, etc." Boxing Day is December 26th. It is a holiday and businesses seem to be undecided whether or not to be open or closed on the day after Christmas. It is another day for sales. However, restaurants and coffeeshops were mostly closed. My mom and I walked into old downtown Guelph yesterday with the anticipation of enjoying a cup of coffee once we reached our destination. When we arrived, the lights were off, the door bolted, and a large sign that shouted CLOSED.
We walked a little further and found a tea place. I wouldn't call it a tea parlor exactly. It was more of a tea shop where they served tea and toast (literally, that's all they served: toast). It was also owned by an Asian lady and her family. It was a rather tasteful blend of Japanese and English decor and tea selection. It was past lunch time, so we ordered some tea and toast. The tea was delicious, but I'm not even going to try to reciprocate the name. Every once in a while I like to try something new and rather odd. I had green tea jam on my toast. It was actually really good.
Last night we saw a movie. My parents had bought us each a ticket, so we saw "Have You Heard About the Morgans?" with Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker. I recommend it.

Day #7

Tiny tots, with their eyes all aglow, will find it hard to sleep tonight.
Growing up, this was me. I have the hardest time sleeping whenever there is anything exciting to be expected the next day. Christmas Eve is definitely an expectant night. The next morning, all those packages concealed with colorful paper and ribbons will be unmasked to reveal what they hold. I had thought that I had outgrown the "Tiny tots finding it hard to sleep on Christmas Eve." I woke up twice Christmas morning before I thought it a reasonable time to wake my sister. Growing up, we had to stay in our own rooms until 7:00. I allowed until 8:30 before I crept down to Katie's room and very cheerily said, "Merry Christmas!"
A fire was burning in the parlor fire place, the "Baby Jesus" was in the manger under the tree, and the stockings were laid out on the floor, stuffed with goodies! The packages began to reveal their treasures.
Christmas dinner was beef wellington. I believe that this has become a Christmas Day tradition considering that this is the third consecutive year that we have partaken of the delicacy; and that is fine by me!

*Pictures will follow

Day #6

I have been to Tim Horton's. I have experienced another little piece of Canada. Katie and I walked about a mile to the nearest one in the freezing cold! It was so cold! It began to snow a little as we headed back to the house.


Cheese, steak, and shrimp fondue made for a fun and delicious dinner.


The Christmas Eve service was really nice. Potter's Clay played at the Guelph Bible Chapel along with local musicians and a Bible reading. After the service, I met some of the people that my parents have been telling me about all of these months. Dessert consisted of chocolate fondue. It was also delicious.
Who said we couldn't play with our food?

Day #1

Days 1 and 2 of my trip out of the country were spent in the airport. My flight from Chicago to Buffalo was cancelled, so I was put on another flight, but not given a boarding pass. I didn't think anything of it. I was also on stand-by for two earlier flights, so my luggage was only checked as far as Chicago. Therefore, I had to pick it up in Chicago and lug it around with me. This caused a problem when I bought my coffee in the Chicago airport and realized that I had to somehow carry it and roll two suitcases at the same time. I put it in the waterbottle holder of my backpack and lost a little of it as it sloshed out onto my backpack and the floor. It was a vente, so the little bit didn't matter too much.
I spent the night reading Twilight. My roommate gave it to me for Christmas and I told her that I would read it just for her. I read the whole thing before I got on the second plane. I was determined that I would read the whole thing in 24 hours or less (Katie frequently teases me because I savor the books I read instead of racing through them as she does, and thus she generally reads faster than I do).
I waited for an hour and a half in the United Airlines line to get my bags checked, only to discover that the self-checkin computer couldn't find my reservation. I was sent to the "cancellations" line to wait for another hour and was finally able to check my bags. By this time the 7:30 flight to Buffalo was boarding so I ran through the Chicago airport and then waited until it left. I got some much needed breakfast and waited for the 10:30 flight which happened to be on the other side of the airport. I didn't get onto that one either, so went to another wing of the airport and waited for my 2:30 flight. I wandered through some bookstores and such in order to keep myself awake. At last, I boarded the plane and slept for a delightful hour on the 1 1/2 hour flight.
My family, luggage, and a six hour drive were waiting me when I disembarked.

Day #3: NEW YORK CITY!
It was exactly what I thought it would be. It was exactly like all of the movies. I discovered as we were leaving the hotel that I had forgotten to pack my camera battery charger and the battery was completely dead. We finally found a camera store and bought a charger. The battery charged while we sipped our Starbucks and listened to a native New Yorker jabber on about everything from his job and family to the quickest route to the Empire State Building.
We rode the subway, bought hot dogs and chestnuts from one of the many stands along the sidewalks; ate at Bubba Gump's in Times Square, walked in the entrance of the Empire State Building, and altogether looked like the biggest tourists there.
The most impressive point of the day was the Radio City Rocketts. I have to admit, I wasn't all that excited to go see them. I had had my heart set on a Broadway show. However, I was pleasantly surprised. They really are very impressive. Their precision and timing is remarkable! And the Radio City Music Hall was beautiful. I really liked it.






Day #4
On our way to Guelph we passed through Buffalo and stopped at their gigantic mall. I had left almost all of my Christmas shopping to do when I was with my mom and sister. I have fond memories of Christmas shopping with them and it just doesn't see like Christmas time if we're not running through the mall finishing our gift buying. We ate lunch at the Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives featured White Castle burgers. The burgers are enough to eat in two bites. White Castle is a family-owned chain and was the first fast-food hamburger chain when it opened in 1921. It was pretty good.
We crossed the border, and I was disappointed to find out that I didn't get a stamp in my passport. We saw Niagra Falls by night as we drove by. I was given a tour of the house. It is lovely. Mama has done a good job decorating it.

Day #5
Katie gave me a tour of the main building at GBCC. Then we went to Williams' Coffee Pub and had a quick lunch and coffee before walking over to the mall for some more Christmas shopping. I discovered most of the stores in the mall were ones that I had never even heard of! Katie and I went into one store and the saleslady was hovering even after we told her we didn't need any help. I asked Katie if it was a Canada thing. She shook her head, so we decided that it must just be the particular store that we were in.

Stay tuned for more of my adventures in Canada, Germany, Italy, France, Hungary, U.K., and so on.

Katie found this poem a couple of weeks ago and sent it to me.
"No, not until you are satisfied,
Filled and content with being loved by Me alone,
With giving yourself totally and reservedly to Me,
With having an intensely personal relationship with Me alone.
Discovering that only in Me is your satisfaction found,
Will you be capable of the perfect human relationship that I have planned for you.
You will never be united with another until you have been united with Me alone,
Exclusive of anyone or anything else,
Exclusive of any other desires or longings.
I want you to stop planning,
Stop wishing,
And allow Me to give you the most thrilling plan existing,
One that you cannot imagine.
Please allow Me to bring it to you.
You just keep watching things, expecting the greatest things.
Keep experiencing the satisfaction I Am.
Keep listening and learning the things I tell you.
You just wait.
That's all.
Don't be anxious.
Don't worry.
Don't look at the things you think you want;
You just keep looking off and away up to Me,
Or you'll miss what I want to show you.
And then when you are ready, I'll surprise you with a love far more wonderful than any
You could dream of.
You see, until you are ready and until
The one I have for you is ready (I am at work even at this moment to have you both ready at the same time),
Until you are both satisfied exclusively with Me
And the life I prepared for you,
You won't be able to experience the love that
Exemplified your relationship with Me.
And this is the perfect love.
And dear one, I want you to have this most wonderful love."

Thirty Days

Thirty days. Thirty days until I embark on the biggest adventure of my life. An adventure filled with the unknown. In thirty days I will cross the ocean and land in a country where I am the intruder; where my familiar American accent will be a point of amusement for the natives of the country; where I will discover what true ethnic foods taste like. Thirty days from not I will step onto a continent and into a country bleeding with history.
Andrea gave me a Traveler's Journal for Christmas, complete with budget planning and traveling tips. I started to get excited again. I started to believe again that I was really going. In the front of the journal is a world map. Benton wanted to know why his mom had given me a traveler's journal. "Because I'm going to be a traveler. Do you want to see where I'm traveling to? See. This is where we are right now, and this is where Germany is." That's a long way away, I thought to myself.
"Will it take you a night to get there?"
"It will take me two days to get there."Everything old and familiar will be an ocean and a continent away.
But the adventure begins before that. In four days I'll board a plane for Buffalo, NY and spend the next month in Guelph, Canada. I've never been further east than Missouri.

22 Degrees and Dropping

I don't know that I've ever been so cold in my life! I walk outside and instantly every inch of exposed skin is numb. I didn't realize just how cold it was until I realized that the strange noise I heard on my way to school was the ice in the water bottle I had left in my truck: solid as a rock. I also discovered a new experience: I was cleaning my horse's stall on Monday and, as I deftly tossed the first fork-full of manure into the wheel-barrow I heard another strange noise. It was the noise of solid hitting solid. Granted, poo is considered solid waste, but usually it's a bit mushy and lands in the wheel-barrow as more of a thud than a clump-bump-bump hard-as-a-rock sound. What on earth was that? I wondered. Then I realized that it was so cold that Ribbon's poo had frozen solid. I have never known such a thing before.

Our First Christmas Tree

Heather and I bought our first Christmas tree since either of us have moved to college. We had a lot of fun picking it out, buying the decorations and decorating it. Heather's grandma made the tree skirt. For the record, it is a REAL Christmas tree.