...One day later...

Luca is definitely home. The energy level has gone up 50%, with electric guitar riffs, magic tricks, youtube showings ("Okay, guys, you have to see this!") filling the air.

We wouldn't have it any other way...

We have 2 CD's full of photos, but alas, none of them are from Luca's camera. It seems his photos are with Shawn. Oh well, it's fun to look at the photos and see that everyone seemed to have had a great time. We will post a few when we get a chance.

Once some photos are posted, we are going to shut this blog down, or at least stop posting to it. Thanks for all of the contributions and comments - you (both) know who you are.

We will probably resurface in some other blog somewhere else, perhaps under a pseudonym - it feels safer that way...

Until then,
A dios,
Hefferson

On our way to the airport...

nuff said...

National Night

Pasting an email from Colleen:

Sent: Saturday, July 28, 2007 9:49 AM

Subject: national night

Hi guys.

I just got this link (snip)... Follow the link to see our lovely Shaun!

http://www.njrcanada.blogspot.com/

Colleen

A Perfect Morning...

We got to sleep in this morning... kind of. We were up at 6 to drive Gonzalo to the bus station, as he is off to Toronto for the weekend, we then went downtown to pick up some croissants at "Le Belangerie Francais", or at least that's what I call it, then back home for 7:30 to have a cappucino and a croissant while reading the paper. Then at 8:45, we went back to bed and fell asleep to the sound of the rain and traffic. We finally woke up at 10:39 (don't you just love digital clocks?) and turned on the radio and catch a few minutes with Simply Sean. Priceless.

Oh yeah, it's an hour later and I have finally remembered why I wanted to write an update in the blog in the first place! I had another MSN-chat with Luca yesterday afternoon. He sounded great. He has been playing roller hockey and club-hopping around town. Not sure how he is getting in, but that's for another day - for now, any update is welcomed. He has also apparently permanently straightened his hair. Really!

Oh well, by this time tomorrow, he will be back at home.

Our atheletes - This week in sports...

Mateo - He went into Wednesday nights baseball game with a team leading .850 batting average. Who would have thought that it would actually go up?!? He went 5 for 5 and his average is now .880. In 25 at bats this summer, he has gotten on base safely 22 times! Incredible. As our neighbour Brendan (who sees Mateo play sports in the laneway all the time) would say: "Spend! go ahead, spend!".

Noa - After having a sleepover at a friends place on Wednesday night, and a busy day at the pool, Noa had a power nap in the car at around 5PM. We let her sleep and she crammed a hotdog down on the way to the soccer pitch. (sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do). Because the team was short players, Noa ended up playing the full first half and most of the second half. As sweeper, she is the last line of defence before the keeper. Although the team lost, she had her usual stellar game, breaking up play after play and making great passes up to her forwards.

After the game we celebrated with dinner at the New Mee Fung! I had the Curry Duck special (check it out any Thursday lunch or dinner) and Anna had her favourite (#136). The kids had a Mango Shake and split a beef/rice dish and a #133. Too much Chinese tea meant that we couldn't sleep. Oh well...

What a great life!

...and back to 3 again in a few days...

Sounds schmarmy I know, but it's so true...time really has flown by! Luca will be returning home on Sunday. Noa's first week away from home on her own has already come and gone! And the summer is half over.

As noted in Jeff's post below, he briefly chatted with Luca today on MSN. There was a recent picture of Luca posted on his MSN account...and this too may sound hoaky...but he looks bigger and older!!! His shouldlers seem to have sprouted out, away from his neck. My baby is growing up! Hmmm....do you think I am looking forward to his return home!?

Noa's camp was a great adventure for her. She passed her "swimming in the weeds" test so that she could jump off the dock! This is huge for Noa. In a note she wrote home on day 2 or 3, she stated "...good news mom, I swam in the lake twice today and no leeches!" She is so like me it's scary! She continues to share her experiences with us....almost feels like I was there myself. I can only imagine the stories Luca will have, a whole month's worth of culture, language, food, music...oh yeah and girls!

Just got an update from Luca

In true guerilla fashion, I had a drive-by update from Luca. He popped on MSN, we had a 2 minute exchange and he was off onto his next adventure. It's amazing how I can get so refocused in just 2 minutes! Apparently he got pick-pocketted, and had to buy a new pair of sunglasses. He went for another long bike ride and has yet another one planned, he picked up a few more DVD's (Ocean's 13 and Harry Potter - I'm sure that it is all legit!). Four more sleeps!

...and then there was one...

Well, it was down to just me and Mateo this week at home. We put Noa on the bus to Camp Davern bright and early on Monday morning and since then we have done a lot of bike riding and baseball! Yesterday, Mateo was at a baseball clinic at Lynx stadium that was being run by Warren Cromartie of the Montreal Expos. Cromartie was one of Jeff's favourite Expo players in the days when he and I used to drive up to Montreal for the week-end or even just the day to catch an Expos game or two. Ah, those were the days of pick up and go!

We heard from Luca just after he got back from his San Andreas Island family week adventure. He loved the island and the clear waters. He rode around the island (I am guessing that means the circumference and not just "around") on a bike suggesting it was part of his conditioning regime for the coming hockey season! He also informed us that he has gained another 6 pounds! (Again, part of his efforts to build bulk for hockey!) I love that Luca is enjoying the culture - food and all in Colombia. I hope he has been taking tons of pics as I am sure each one will have a story associated with it.

Yesterday, as Mateo his friend Shawn and I were on our way to Lynx stadium, Mateo found Luca's hockey speech in the back seat of the van. Luca prepared this speech for his part in the Canadian night presentation. Now this could mean a number of things:
1. we don't clean out the van very often - true, but neither here nor there
2. this was only a rough copy, Luca has the final version with him in Colombia - desirable but not likely
3. Luca was practicing it all the way to the airport and committed it to memory, confidently leaving the speech in the back seat of the van before he left - hmm, this one is possible
4. Luca likes to live on the edge. Who needs a prepared speech? Hockey is one of his passions. He will adlib his hockey piece, flash his smile, throw in a few "clicks" and rapper hand gestures (no, not the rude ones!) and will revel in the applause of his adoring fans - yup, well at least up to the adoring fans piece - to know Luca is to love him!

I cannot believe there is only one week left in this adventure. The time has just whizzed by for us here, I can't imagine how it must feel for the delegation.

Luca: The White Stripes were amazing!!

Hey Luca, hope you had a great time in San Andreas Island. While life in Ottawa during baseball and soccer season and BluesFest might not compare to your current adventure, we are making due. Dad's summary below is an excellent review of the last several days. The only performance he missed talking about was The White Stripes. They were incredible. We had a great view of the stage and its a good thing cause I wouldn't have believed there were only two musicians up there had I not seen it with my own eyes!!! Jack White gets amazing sounds out of his guitar and his sister Meg ain't so bad on drums either. Makes me wonder what you and Noa could do musically...

While the performance was exceptional, I have to say the music is a little too grungy for me. I'd be interested in hearing a song or two from a CD to see if I would appreciate it more that way. I definitely respect this band for their musical talents and for their values. They played to a crowd of about 30 terminally ill children at the Bronson Centre (right across from Glebe HS) on Sunday afternoon before they played for 30,000 people at Bluesfest. They have been touring Canada this summer and have been giving impromptu shows like that everywhere they go. Now that is cool!

Last night we went to see Metric at the river stage and it was packed! This is another great band with a female lead...and she was rockin it up! I thought about you a lot during this show. Everyone in the band had so much energy and was having such a good time on stage and the drummer...WOW! Amazing! You would have really enjoyed this show. Mateo and Noa were home with Nanny and I tried to have a conversation with Mateo when he called me on my cell phone. Yikes! Almost impossible, it was so loud. I learned this morning from Mateo, that at one point during our quasi conversation last night Mateo thought I asked him if he wanted to speak with dad...but then I just hung up! Poor Mateo, he wasn't feeling great and I think he really misses you.

Tonight we are going to see the Canadian band Patrick Watson and just for you...Kanye West! Will try to get the pics and review posted tomorrow!

Noa is just about packed for camp. As dad mentioned, she leaves on Monday morning for one week!!! It's gonna be be different around here for sure! Just me and Mateo chillin on the driving range next week! It will be nice to have our evenings free of Bluesfest...it has been great but I am feeling the Bluesfest fatigue.

Recent Updates from here and there (not there actually - just here...)

Hi there, Jeff here,

I am a huge Todd Snider fan! Anna and I had the extreme pleasure and good fortune to see him twice this week at Bluesfest. Well, I am a bigger fan than Anna so I was happier to see him twice... Seeing the first show (Tuesday at 7:45) was only possible with the help of Craig, who filled in for me at the Rookie Summer Ball practice and Jamie and Carlo, who picked up Noa from Soccer practice, picked up Mateo from baseball practice and entertained them while we were partying our faces off. It takes a village to raise a child has never been more true than with our crew!

I forget the specifics of how we got there (early signs of Alzheimer's, I guess), but I do remember seeing Todd bounce out on stage with just him and his guitar. Priceless. He told a bunch of stories and played a few songs. The highlight for me is the stories that he tells. As with Bruce Cockburn, I could listen to Todd Snider tell stories all night long. Unlike Bruce Cockburn, Todds stories are not just thought provoking, but also extremely funny. Thanks to the wonders of Youtube, you can see / hear for yourself:

1. This one is best if you have heard the song Beer Run. It is a funny song. But even funnier is the following story / song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ke9FhsSgZI&mode=related&search=

2. Todd also told this story and sang this song. Check out this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eOOzs9nuQM

After Todd's show was finished, we wandered around and saw Los Lobos at the River Stage (terrible sound, but what a guest appearance by Elmer Ferrer!).


Wednesday's show presented the following problem: How can we get to Bluesfest (Barney Danson theatre which is quite small) by 9PM, directly from Mateo's baseball game which will probably finish at 8:30 in Barrhaven. We managed to get the game in (let's not talk about that game - my blood pressure is just getting back to normal) get home, drop off Noa and Mateo (who didn't want to go - really) with Nanny (thanks Mom), race to our by-now favourite parking spot, walk/run the 1/2 mile to the festival grounds, fight through the crowds and arrive at the theatre at 9:15. WHEW! OJ would have been proud. We were 15 minutes late - but wait - there had been a fire alarm and the show was delayed by 20 minutes. We went in, found a seat and Todd came out. I felt like Julius Caesar. LET THE SHOW BEGIN!

The Wednesday night performance was much more subdued. Todd told us that he wanted to play songs that he didn't normally play and that was fine with us. He asked for request after request and played each one. He talked about how his dream as a kid was to release a bunch of records and now he finds that it is really hard to remember all those songs. I can sympathize as most of his songs are incredibly complicated (not musically, but lyrically). In all, it was a much quieter set but it was still great. He did "If Tomorrow Never Comes" again and this time told a different story about how he wrote it.

Then after the show, we caught the last 4 songs of Steve Miller - WOW! It was great! What great sound! He sounded as good / if not better than the original recordings. Great vocals, guitar work - a really tight band. It's obvious that these guys have played many years together. It's nice to hear someone play the songs as they were recorded. It must be a bit boring for the musicians, but it is nice when you can play air guitar and know all the licks! We only heard 4 songs - but they were "Take the Money and Run", "Space Cowboy", "Jet Airliner" and "Keep on Rock'n Me (Baby)". They all sounded great. What a great night of music.

Last night we again went out. This time Noa and Mateo wanted to come with us. We rode our bikes down on a beautiful summer evening - the air was so clear and the clouds were massive! We watched a solid wall of clouds roll along the river right up to us. This kind of weather makes you just love Canada! We could see the vertical lines of rain in the distance and thought that this would be the night that we were going to get soaked. We have been incredibly lucky so far. While it has rained almost every day, we haven't been rained on during any of the shows. And last night was no different! The clouds seemed to disappear as they got close to us. We enjoyed a star-filled night listening to Robert Cray and Xavier Rudd (with a side of Blue Rodeo). Noa and Mateo were in full frolic mode. I think that Mateo is starting to miss Noa already - she is off to camp on Monday. They horseplayed for almost an hour - tag, soccer, throw the shoe (you had to be there (maybe not)). Laughing, running, tickling like only a brother and sister can do. It is just wonderful to watch. We then met up with our good friends Peter, Sherri, Dylan and Rylee. The parents chatted while the kids played some more, heading over to the River Stage for Xavier Rudd.

I have to say that the River Stage sound is the pitts. YUCK! Never mind. Note to self - KEEP POSITIVE, Sybil... While Anna, Sherri, Rylee and Noa went to watch Ndidi Onukwulu at the Blacksheep Stage, I had a great time watching Mateo, Dylan and Jean-Luc playing Lemon-tag. For those without kids, this one is an improvised game where the person who is "it" chases to target and throws a 1/2 lemon (obtained from a lemonade and not the garbage - honest) at the target's back. Only occasionally did an arrant throw hit an unsuspecting target. Then "SCRAMBLE"!!! Then quietly start it all over again. We would fit in well at a trailer park. Talk about kids running loose - double-wide blues...

After the show, we biked home under a starry sky - with our new headlights working beautifully! Then into bed and sweet dreams. A bit late this morning, but it was worth it.

Tonight we do it all over again. I am looking forward to seeing Metric. Then Saturday,then Sunday then our precious Noa goes away for a whole week. First Luca now this?!? What are we going to do! Like Mateo, we are all missing her already...

Ottawa BluesFest Rock!

Our delegates are off for their family weeks, so we will likely not be hearing from them for sure for at least the next 7 days. But when they come back boy, they'll be itching to get on this blog...a mom can only hope right?

So, let me tell you about my Ottawa adventure so far this summer instead.

1. Explore Program Student Homestay. Yup! We put Luca on the plane on June 30 at 12 pm and by 9am on July 1 we had committed to hosting a student from Madrid, Spain for 5 weeks in our home...more specifically in Luca's room! His name is Gonzalo, he is 16 years old and a very nice kid. I get to practice my Spanish while he learns English.

2. BluesFest. What a great line up this year and what a great venue we have now in Ottawa at Lebreton Flats near the war museum. It is an easy bike ride from our place and the stages are well laid out. A quick summary of the shows we have seen so far:
- Van Morrison - vantastic! I quickly got over his lack of personal connection with the audience cause his musicianship was amazing. Good tight band and what a voice!
- Bob Dylan - hey, I was able to make out the words this time! One of the best Dylan concerts I have been to. He looks great, sounds good...all relative, I know. I didn't like where we were standing for this show - very packed and too close to the beer tent and entrance. I felt like a rock in the middle of a stream during spawning season for people!
- Soul Jazz Orchestra - super! We saw this band at Confederation park on Canada Day and were quite impressed. They are musicians from Ottawa and Mexico and have a Latin funk with a message thing going on. Definitely grooving music!
- Femi Kuti - wow! Quite a show. Beautiful colours, drumbeats resonating deep in your belly and dancers who can really shake their bootys! More political protest music, this time with more of an african flavour. This show was the River Stage - a lovely setting by the river where the sun sets! We left before the end of the show, because we had Noa and Mateo with us and Noa had an early date with a soccer field the next morning.
- Jetplanes of Abraham - these guys were great! Peter, a consultant friend of mine has a daughter in this band which is how I heard about it. Noa and I caught the last five songs of the show at the Blacksheep Stage and we were both impressed. I love violins in a funk band. I'll be searching out this CD for sure.
- Sara Harmer - I don't think I have ever heard Sara Harmer live and I am not familiar with a lot of her music but I am hooked now! What an amazing voice and her songs are intensely personal yet completely accessible. She was on the main stage and we set up in a secluded little fenced in area right behind the entrance (the museum side) and in front of the gold circle area. It was great for the kids to play around in and we had a perfect view of the screen and the stage.
- Michael Franti and Spearhead - I have heard great things about this guy, but he just doesn't do much for me. Good enough quality show but no draw. I fooled around with the kids in our personal soccer zone while Jeff and Gonzalo went to check him out.
- Manu Chao - I knew nothing about this guy until a few days ago. He came highly recommended by some music gurus we know and he has a latin, reggae sound, so how bad could it be? He was unbelievable! We were set up really close to the stage with our chairs and Noa, Mateo and Gonzalo in tow! How Noa managed to fall asleep in my arms and sleep through most of his show will remain a mystery for many years! I haven't seen this kind of energy and love from a performer ...well maybe never. I imagine Bob Marley might have come close. Manu Chao is a political activist with a phenomenal vehicle for getting his message out - the stage and his band! A lot of the music was grunge, punk, head banger music (now remember my age!) but it was so accessible I instantly fell in love with it. When the flamenco guitar came out - my love grew deeper. We were surrounded by obvious fans who sang along to every song. He was definitely not what I expected but I can now be counted among his fans for sure!

That's all for now. White Stripes tonight...but only if the rain lets up!

We just got off the phone with Luca. He sounds great! It is so nice to hear his voice again. All is well again at the Belanger house! Tomorrow Luca is off to his Family Week, so we might not hear from him until next weekend. Until the next time...

I am very sad to not hear anything from Colombia.

sniff sniff.

Oh well, I hope that everyone is having a good time...

Teo's Colombian Interchange Adventures

Some very good excursions were had in Canada last summer. Here are Nico and Teo on a boat excursion under Niagara Falls. Now in the second phase of the interchange, the Canadian delegation is getting a taste of the Colombian people and their lifestyle.

A lot of growth and change has happened for both groups over the year and it is a great idea to try to capture some of the memory makers of the final leg of the interchange through this blog.

So this is an invitation to all the delegate pairs and leaders to help the families experience these adventures with you. On a day off, come on board and inject a little life on this blog.

¡Muchas gracias y hasta pronto!

La madre de Teo

WELCOME party!

Hello!

Let me tell you that your kids are just fine. Today we went to "Zipaquira" a small town 45 minutes away from Bogota, where there is a very beautiful Salt Cathedral, which is a very nice and different touristic place to visit.
Then, all the kids and their families (and me) went to have lunch, in that moment the welcome party for the canadian delegation started. We had a very typical colombian dish. The entrance was "patacón" which is like a salty banana, with chesse on it and there is the option to put something we call "ahogao" which is made of butter, onion and tomato. The main dish was then "AJIACO" which is made of 3 varieties of potato, some beans, corn, chicken and the secert, a native plant call "guascas". So, you will have to ask your kids if they like it or not!
So, here goes some pictures of the welcome party. Family Osorio was in charge of the decoration and Nicolas mom made it possible to have such a nice cake. Enjoy!

NATIS

P.D. I wont be attending all the events, so I will like to suggest you all to include andrea in this blog, so then she and nick can keep you all updated with all the adventures.

The Ottawa CISV Delegates have arrived in Bogota

Watch out Bogota...our Canadians have arrived safe sound. We got calls from Luca and Nic at around midnight. All accounts are that the trip went very smoothly. Luca sounded very pumped. He told us that Hector and Janette (Juan Camilo's parents) are very welcoming and their home is beautiful. He also mentioned how cute Luna the dog was : ). It sounded like he was ready to party into the night! It was a fantastic phone call from a parent's perspective - safe arrival into a loving home...wish we were there!.

When we spoke to Nic, he told us that the kids were all well behaved and that everything went more smoothly than he would have imagined.

There was also a message sent from Natalia (NIC Coordinator in Bogota - or is that Nic's coordinator in Bogota :-) reporting the safe arrival of our delegates. She has pictures to share - hopefully she will do that on this blog after we invite her as an author. Stay tuned!

Happy Canada Day everyone! Go Canada Go (big soccer game tonight against Chile).