The ex-patriot's story

It's a cold but sunny day today, and if you're out of the wind, quite pleasant. I went for a smoke outside, and was chatting with one of the gentlemen who works at a food service place in our office complex. He's in a wonderful mood, looking forward to his New Year vacation and enjoying the sunny day. I noticed he had a really intriguing accent, and I asked him, "where are you from"? He answered, "Cuba". Then, I got some education.

I couldn't possibly relate everything he told me, but it was certainly eye-opening. In Cuba, doing the same work he does here in Canada, his rate of pay was $15 (Cuban) per month. To buy one litre of milk costs 2 Cuban dollars. Adults go without and keep the milk in the freezer to make it last, so their kids can have milk at least before they go to school in the mornings. The average Cuban goes without shoes, and wears the oldest of clothes - and of course in Cuba it's scorching hot, all the time. He told me that when working outside, he would often feel as though he was going to have a heart attack from the heat, but he must work.

He told me of a friend he has, who is in his words, "ignorante". This other man loves Fidel Castro, Fidel is all good and makes Cuba all good. He told me, Fidel is no good. Fidel lives in a huge mansion, huge table, loads of food with $700 bottle of wine with his dinner, while the common Cuban people go hungry. But, he is optimistic. Now that Fidel's brother is president, things are slowly starting to change. The Cuban people (if they can afford it) are now allowed on the land of the resorts which we North Americans flock to - before, they were barred. There are plans for casinos to bring more money and jobs to the country. But, he told me, after living there for 24 years, he came to Canada and HIS eyes were opened.

"The first time I went to buy groceries, there was a wall of milk. All this milk, I thought it was just a display. 'No,' my wife said, 'it is all real, all to buy.' So much food! Incredible." He is grateful for his job, for his home and for the ability to buy warm clothes for our cold winter. He is happy that his wife and daughter are healthy (and all three of them have milk to drink). His daughter goes to school with a good breakfast and sleeps in a soft bed with no bugs or leaks. He told me, "After I lived in Canada one year, I went back to Cuba. I saw my house, my family - I cried. I cried because before Canada I thought that was all there could be. And then, then I hate Fidel. The people are not free. Canada is free, we are very lucky here." I agreed with him, wholeheartedly. We ARE incredibly lucky here.

This smiling man, enjoying a cigarette break from his job in the sunshine, looking forward to his vacation. "People work hard, but they need to rest. I'm going to relax, enjoy myself a few days." So right.

Back to work!

All good things must come to an end, including Christmas holidays. Yesterday, being Sunday, we were completely lazy - gamed most of the day and knit and watched a movie. Today the alarm went off and I was not pleased to hear it beeping!

So, back to the office to hear about everyone's Christmases and do some work - albeit at a rather leisurely pace. This week is about closing down 2008 and prepping 2009, file maintenance and cleanup. Time to get our ducks in a row!

Happy Monday!

The continuation of Christmas!

So today, the day after Boxing Day, we ventured out to spend our Christmas money - whee! Peter got some good beading tools and resource books (his newest passion - made me a lovely tigerseye bracelet for Christmas). I hit the warehouse sale at Wool-Tyme but nothing really stirred me there, so we went into the main store and I found some gorgeous Galway Highland Heather (colour 620, the deep burgundy), which I will turn into a Mr. Greenjeans later this winter. Also got some pretty Cadenza (colour 955, a shocking but lovely purple mix) that I am going to make into Brenda Dayne's Pembrokeshire Pathways socks. Of course I want to start them both right away!

But, I am going to try to "be good" this coming year, and work on just one project at a time (hm, sound familiar?) Right now I am almost halfway through Peter's new work socks (well, halfway through the FIRST one), and of course worsted-weight socks go quickly. Then I want to finish that green pullover I started for myself back in the fall, which got stuffed in a bag and ignored in all the moving fuss. And then, a pair of Fleece Artist socks for Mom's birthday in February. THEN - then, I can start on the new projects!

Today the weather turned warm and wet - right now it is about 2 degrees above zero and just *bucketing* rain down, which is sitting on top of the ice and making walking and driving kind of... interesting? But we are home safe and sound with no drama, thank heavens.

Hm, I just want to grab that Galway and give it a squeeze, for luck, you know? So it doesn't feel neglected. Nope, better leave it in the closet or else things might get silly. :)

Holy cow - in the time it took me to write this post, Peter just whipped together a beautiful pair of earrings for me! I will have to post a picture of them later... such a creative and generous hubby I have! Now I *really* should get back to work on his socks, I guess!

'Twas the day after Christmas...

And all through the house, was the sound of the keyboards as I geeked with my spouse!

Yes, it's Boxing Day and we are having a nice quiet geeky morning, gaming and catching up on newsgroups and blogs... I need to re-find all my blogs because I got a new (hand me down but still kickass) computer and of course haven't transferred all my files and stuff over yet!

The holidays so far have been lovely. Christmas Eve day I played hooky from work (the roads were bad, Peter didn't want me driving so I took the half-day off) and we had a nice quiet day of naps and knitting and baking the annual fruitcake! Finished Yumi's new hat just in the nick of time, as Christmas Eve we spent with the Bundy&Kid household, feasting (and feasting) on yummy nibblies and enjoying pleasant conversation and some good laughs. Home to bed early, and to all a good night.

Christmas Day we were up at the crack of dark again and immediately logged in to WoW to get our Winter's Veil presents from Greatfather Winter! So much fun to get all these neat virtual toys, snowball fights and rocket car races in the city... good silliness to kick off the day. Then out to Mom & Dad's (with a Starbucks stop of course), for present-ing and turkey-ing and all. Lots of laughs over gifts given and received - everyone was pleased and spoiled rotten as usual! I was particularly happy that my niece was THRILLED with a top we got for her - $3 at Value Village and she looks like a million bucks in it! I think everyone got what they asked for - I know I did - both the practical and the indulgent. Got some "do not spend on bills" money which is going straight to the big warehouse yarn sale tomorrow!

Today we are going to do some house chores (funny how things can pile up in a hurry when you're preparing for the holidays) and then out to Peter's brother & sister-in-law's for Boxing Day dinner. Mmm she makes an amazing ham! Then the whole weekend to goof off in before I go back to work on Monday (which will also involve some goofing off I'm sure, but what the heck).

I started a new pair of socks for Peter yesterday after the gift opening; the Freshisle Fibers Hunter's Socks in Marian's Suffolk Wool - they will be safety orange with black stripe, heel and toes. Perfect work socks! Hope to get some pictures up soon. I hope you and yours are also having a wonderful and relaxing holiday time!

Why I hate winter

Tonight, I was going to go to my first Knit Nite out with the girls in MONTHS. This morning, I walked up to the corner to catch my ride into work, and when I stepped from the street to the sidewalk, hit a patch of ice under the snow and BOOM! down I go. Blacked out briefly. Cars went by. Nice neighbour lady stops and helps me up, and back to my house (thank god), even so far as to take off my boots for me and make sure I was ok before she went to work (I hope she got in ok).

So I drag myself upstairs (thank god for good sturdy railings), get breakfast and anti-inflammatories into me right away, and up to bed. After a movie-pseudo-nap, assessed the damage:

1. Left knee definitely sprained;
2. Left ankle also sprained and size of a small football;
3. Left hamstring badly strained;
   
4. Lower back completely twisted;
5. Left shoulder making weird popping noise, probably strained but not too painful;
6. No headache so I guess no concussion;
7. Slight numbness/tingling in a few fingertips (yeah, no gloves, stupid).

Checked my work email on the Blackberry and a certain executive is screaming about certain deadlines yadda yadda so it looks like I will be going in tomorrow with a bag of painkillers/anti-inflammatories and my crutches (conveniently still at hand since last year's RIGHT leg injury). I will be there, I will be productive, but dammit someone is going to be fetching my coffee and snacks for me!

The real pain in the butt about this is that I can't even blame it on the OC Transpo strike, because the spot where I fell I would have had to walk across to catch the bus, too. Dammit. Ok, time for some more painkillers and maybe some knitting. Might as well!

Home sweet Home

Well, we've been in our new home for six days now and we absolutely love it. It's big, bright, clean and beautiful! My knitting chair is set up next to the fireplace, backing onto the living room window (southwest exposure, perfect for afternoon knitting), and the yarn is safely stowed away (and organized!) in its own yarn cabinet here in the computer room. Well... most of it. Three bags full of wool didn't QUITE fit, but they are for specific projects and therefore not part of the general stash, so that doesn't count... really.

It's five minutes for Peter to get to work, and a very relaxing bus ride for me (one bus, wohoo!) - about 30 minutes in the morning and 45 in the evening. Love not having to drive in the traffic anymore, especially with it getting dark so soon and the bad weather coming on.

I do have some small Christmas knitting to get onto soon, but first I'm making something for me; another One-Row Scarf, this one in green and black to match the Basic Cable I made last year for Peter (and then mistakenly felted in the wash - oops). It's actually a 2-row scarf, because I'm using some Patons Classic that had been worked with the green and black together, and I'm untwisting the two colours as I go. So it's two rows green, two rows black, and so on. I think it's coming together very pretty, and I can actually knit it on the bus using a small circular - the advantage of being one of the early stops on the route, I always get a seat!

So back to the new place... (sorry, very VERY excited about the new place). We are probably about 70% unpacked now (many more empty boxes than full ones!) and having a great deal of fun with finding just the right places for furniture and all the bits and pieces that make it home. Also clearing out MASSIVE amounts of stuff - some to a friend who is moving at the end of this month, and probably a couple of carloads full to the Value Village - still good things, but we set ourselves strict criteria:

1. Do we need it?
2. Do we LIKE it?
3. Do we have a place for it?

Amazing all the things that pile up over the years and you don't notice because they're squirreled away in closets or they've just "always been there." It's really refreshing to clear the junk this way (would have been better to do it BEFORE the move and not have to pack it all, but no system is perfect!). And we are acquiring a few nice new things - little touches like new bathroom mats and dish towels, start off fresh and clean and keep good housekeeping habits right from the get-go. We are finding so much enjoyment in little things like doing the dishes together, right after dinner, so that the kitchen is clean and tidy before bed. A real sense of accomplishment at the end of the evening - we both go to work, we come home, we unpack some stuff, we keep it all tidy and clean and we go to bed feeling happy and proud. It really is an incredible feeling, and it feels like HOME.