On our way to Green Lake

I'm sending this last blog message before we enter the wilds of Ontario where there are no phones, certainly no computers and no running water. (Maybe this is a cry for help instead of a normal blog entry.)

The kids managed to get in 2 days of skiing here in Collingwood, albeit on one run. Orest and I meanwhile, couldn't be bothered to fork over 25 bucks to do the same run over and over and over again. I guess that highlights the difference between the children and us - they don't have such a high-falutin' idea of value for money that we do, they just want to get out there and do stuff. That's not to say we didn't do anything, there was still some quality coffee-drinking, newspaper perusing and napping to be had amongst the older set, and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

We also had the ooportunity to catch up with the Dzulynsky clan...we still have trouble figuring out the family relationship to the Hrabowyches (our children are either 3rd cousins or ours are aunts to theirs or some variant of that). But the children are growing up quickly and it was nice to see them have fun together, especially with big Adia (Ostap and Motria's). Stefa and Larysa love hanging with her, Stefa especially, cuz she loves having a "big sister" instead of being one once in awhile.

C'mon, snow already!

No Snow? How is that possible? Here we are in Collingwood, the land of Blue Mountain and its over 30 ski runs, and all they can manage is a faint sprinkling of dust over the landscape.

We were worried when we arrived in Toronto on the 21st and it seemed that we had brought the typical English winter weather with us (that's rainy and gloomy), but thought it wouldn't last. After spending a lovely Christmas Eve and Day with my brother and his partner without snow, we thought, it's got to get better than this. Boxing Day shopping and Orest's hockey game, still nothing.

Finally, it's D-Day, the 27th, the day we were meant to drive up to Collingwood to do some skiing. and we wake up to a mixture of rain and snow, but with nothing staying on the ground. So, no skiing. At least the hotel now has an indoor/outdoor swimming area with slides next door which we've already taken advantage of.

There is hope though, as we were on our way to dinner with Motria, Ostap and family, we could hear (and feel) the snow-making machines working full-blast as it had finally gotten as close to zero as it's going to get. By tonight, they should be on their way to having a few runs open.

Last-minute Christmas fondling

Stefa, Larysa and I were out last night finishing up their shopping for gifts for their school friends. There we were at Brent Cross at a shop called Fun Learning. As we moved through the shop, me looking at one side of the aisle and the girls looking on the opposite side of the aisle, I felt someone brush up against me. Thinking it was Stefanie trying to playfully get my attention, I deliberately pushed back, trying to give her a hip-check. When I felt no resistance, I turned to see what had happened only to see that I had been sidling up to a complete stranger!
The woman was obviously confused as to why I was trying to bump and grind her, and despite my profuse apologies, probably assumed I was some sort of lunatic intent on feeling up as many fellow shoppers as possible.
It wasn't until Stefanie appeared back and she was able to overhear me telling Stefanie what had happened, that I could see her look of horror change to laughter.
We all had a good laugh, in fact...I feel like we could be close friends now, seeing as the introductory touching has already taken place.

Am I a lousy parent, or what?

I promised myself that this Christmas would be different after the disaster that was last year's Christmas play. Little Adia was in Reception and they were the youngest group participating for the whole show. Thus I was flabbergasted when the decision was made to make them sing their little song from the floor rather than from the stage. Picture it, 60 parents all trying to catch a glimpse or photograph their child behind several rows of other parents. All my photos had bright spots of peoples' hair or shoulders in the foreground, with Adriana this fuzzy little blob in behind it. Poor little Adia was getting upset as well because she couldn't see me either. I frantically tried to stand in the aisle, but Mrs. Morrissey (our head) was quite adamant that we keep the aisles clear for fire and safety reasons. I just couldn't understand why they wasted so much time pratising something that we couldn't even see! I just thanked God that I didn't force Orest to take off work to come and not see Adia, cuz he would have been pissed!

So I wasn't expecting much from this year's performance (even though I made my frustrations quite clear last year) and I vowed to chill out and enjoy it. Through a series of misadventures with dead camera batteries and Adriana's unwillingness to thrust herself forward, I have very little to show for it on the video or still camera. There's a 30 second clip of her dancing and waving a scarf on the stage (what that has to do with the Nativity is anyone's guess) and I have a few photos of her standing in the back row on the floor for the duration of the play(see right). I tried to coax her into the front row, just so I could get a photo of her that looked like I meant to get one of her and not everyone else's children, but either she didn't want to or she couldn't understand what I wanted from her. (I think it's the latter since she inexplicably began singing very loudly.) As I joked with her teacher after the play: "I didn't see her, but I could definitely hear her!"

The following Saturday was St. Nicholas day at Ukrainian school with its requisite performance. All three girls had learned their verses and songs and I was ready at the still camera while Orest was with the video. So Adriana's class gets up to sing a song, and again, she's in the back row with this big kid directly in front of her with a busby on his head, no less! (What this has to do with St. Nicholas, is again, anybody's guess.) Here I am jostling with the other parents in the aisle, frantically whispering to her to move into an open space so I could get a good shot of her, but she's turned in the other direction, facing Orest and the video camera. (I guess she did learn something from previous expereince, but it was of little use to me.) So I got bupkiss on the camera and incurred the wrath of another parent whose child was undoubtedly in the front row and wanted a photo of them, but got my fat behind instead.
On top of all this, Stefa decided to go completely stroppy on us (I think someone told her to stand somewhere she didn't want to stand) and her performance was marked by an aggressive 'hands on hips' stance, followed by flouncing off the stage when finished. Aaah, the teenage years, ain't they a pip?

So what did I learn this year that I can take with me to next year? I did come to the realization that my children are all different. Where I was used to having Larysa propel herself from the back row to the front for any and all performances, suddenly I find myself with Adriana, who is happy to hide behind children twice her size. I also have a child (or pre-teen) who is no longer willing to smile for the camera and wears her emotions like an shield in front of her. That, and I'll have to learn to use some of the camera features like zoom-in for Adia and filtering for Stefa which perhaps may mitigate their issues with photo-taking.

Or I could just smile and enjoy the moment and forget about any and all photographic momentos...I'm sure the other parents could use one less frantic parent in the aisle to compete with.

So much to do, so little time

I am in countdown to Christmas mode deluxe-o!

It's gotten to the point where I am dreaming of everything that I need to do and upcoming events so that when I wake up I think they are all supposed to happen immediately. Today I woke up and was convinced that Larysa was going to the V&A museum with her class (it's tomorrow) and that I had to go to the doctor's for my ultrasound (that's next Wednesday). I just need to calm the f*** down and get a grip.
I think what hasn't helped has been my longest running cold in the history of sinuses ever. I got this over 2 weeks ago, thought I'd gotten rid of it, only to have it return this past weekend. I think I have a Miss Snots-a-lot give me loving kisses to thank for the second series. So my sleep patterns have been seriously messed with and I have not been at my healthiest.
Orest, meanwhile, has just been for a throrough physical and had the woman doctor perform two exams that only a proctologist can. Thus he told me: "I got felt up more by a complete stranger than I have you in the past two weeks!"

Ice Skating on Sunday

Went skating with the Women's Club on Sunday to the Natural History Museum. Every year in London, there are more and more skating rinks opening up. The first year we did it we went to Somerset House (the photo with Stefa and Larysa) and thought, how quaintly English to create this little postage stamp of a rink for people to skate on. The last two years we've been to the rink in the courtyard of the Natural History Museum, only to find the rink equally as small. (The Telescopic photo makes it appear humoungous!)

They claim it's 1000 square meters, but it feels a lot smaller when they let all the people on the ice. As you can see from our family photo below, I am taking the photo and not skating, since I was shopping in the Christmas markets right beside the rink. (Also because I can't skate worth a damn and it causes my flat feet severe pain.) After skating, we went upstairs to the cosy cafe for mince pies, mulled wine and hot chocolate.

Ice skating has been embraced in London as a great winter outdoor activity (something we Canadians clued into long ago!) and they certainly have great historical venues in which to do it. This website shows about ten of the outdoor rinks available in and around London, from the Tower of London (in the moat!) to more natural setting in Hampstead Heath. It's got some great views of the rinks themselves:

http://www.londonnet.co.uk/ln/guide/about/attractions_iceskating.html

Week from hell for Larysa

I have to hand it to Larysa, she's a trooper.

We've been intensely preparing for her entrance exams for the last 3 months, in fact it's been the only thing consuming my time this fall. When I wasn't helping Larysa by giving her practice exams, I was worrying about silently or talking to my friends about as nauseum. I've been quite boring lately.

Last week, she had three exams to sit, two of them half-days, and one a full day of exams. After all of them, she seemed to come out all bouncy and energized. I'm not sure how to react, since when we went through this with Stefanie, her post-exam behavior was quite the opposite: near tears, exhausted and not happy.

Is it possible Larysa is one of these lunatic children who thrive on tests? Or is she just plain loony?

Unfortunately, we won't find out until March 1st, when the results are posted and the schools are offered.