...friends coming to see us from home. England, that is. It means so much to us have you here, and your little daughters too (to misquote the Wicked Witch). It's challenging but fun to play tour guide, and showing off Toronto makes it feel more my own. I'm learning so much! For instance, there is no Terminal 2 at Pearson Airport. One, yes, three, yes, but two, no. Is it northern math?
Home, they say, is where the heart is. Well, they don't know what the hell they are talking about, because I would have to break my heart into pieces and stash them here, and there and there, if that were true. Maybe that's what has happened to it. Hmm. And here's me thinking it was just indigestion.
See the photos 22 October 2010:
http://anandaferlauto.blogspot.com/2010/10/toronto.html
Sunday 24 October 2010
Monday 4 October 2010
Leslie walks for Terry Fox
I accompanied my children's school on the annual Terry Fox walk. Poor Terry Fox. First he died horribly and bravely of cancer. Then he became our household bogeyman.
Canada has an obsession with this man. Some 30 years ago, suffering from cancer, minus a leg, he embarked on a cross-country run (literally, he aimed to cross the country). He didn't make it. Now schools all over the country run or walk for Terry Fox( https://www.terryfox.org/) . Unfortunately for us, at our younger children's school, the build-up to the walk included a vivid, highly graphic presentation by a cancer survivor who also lost a leg, and now demonstrates to children the nature of her tumor, the surgical scar accompanying its treatment, and the workings of the prosthetic leg she now owns.
My youngest child freaked out. She began worrying about dying, about getting cancer, about her parents and grandparents dying. She asked how to prevent cancer and of course we reassured her that her varied diet and healthy lifestyle meant that she was well protected. 'But I don't eat healthy food,' she sobbed. 'I used to sneak into my brothers' room and eat their sweets.' Her brothers hid sweets in their room? What does it say for my house-keeping skills that I never knew this?
Soon she began having panic attacks, complaining that she couldn't breathe properly. The school rang me on Friday and the vice-principal informed me tensely that my daughter was having trouble breathing and did she have any allergies. No, I replied, this is emotional. The vice-principal responded beautifully and kept my daughter calm while I cycled up to the school, bearing a cough drop that has come to serve as the magic placebo. She settled, and allowed me to take her back to class.
Of course I don't entirely blame Terry Fox. We are the ones who dragged her from her home, her school, her friends, her safe and secure world. She was so happy. She has made friends here and even said the other day, 'It is really starting to feel like home!' I asked her why and she said, 'Well, we have nice friends, and we have a car, and we have plenty of food.' I see what she means. It did take us awhile to sort out the grocery situation and the fridge looked strangely bare for some time. But making new friends, having a new car, having a fridge full of Canadian food, while wonderful, while progress, also highlight the absence of our friends in England, our old car, and our Sainsbury's-own-brand foodstuffs.
On the plus side, the walk itself was lovely. Hundreds of children walked about 5 km, chanting 'Our school walks for Terry Fox!' The nice Canadian drivers (so unlike their US and UK counterparts) looked on, stationery yet smiling, as the police blocked off intersections for us safely to cross. Hey, I found a hill in Toronto! We even walked passed a castle (Casa Loma). We traversed a bucolic, wooded ravine where the trees are beginning to turns shades of red and gold. The children complained not a jot, cheerfully completing the circuit, laughing and joyful. What a memorial to the unfortunate Terry Fox.
Canada has an obsession with this man. Some 30 years ago, suffering from cancer, minus a leg, he embarked on a cross-country run (literally, he aimed to cross the country). He didn't make it. Now schools all over the country run or walk for Terry Fox( https://www.terryfox.org/) . Unfortunately for us, at our younger children's school, the build-up to the walk included a vivid, highly graphic presentation by a cancer survivor who also lost a leg, and now demonstrates to children the nature of her tumor, the surgical scar accompanying its treatment, and the workings of the prosthetic leg she now owns.
My youngest child freaked out. She began worrying about dying, about getting cancer, about her parents and grandparents dying. She asked how to prevent cancer and of course we reassured her that her varied diet and healthy lifestyle meant that she was well protected. 'But I don't eat healthy food,' she sobbed. 'I used to sneak into my brothers' room and eat their sweets.' Her brothers hid sweets in their room? What does it say for my house-keeping skills that I never knew this?
Soon she began having panic attacks, complaining that she couldn't breathe properly. The school rang me on Friday and the vice-principal informed me tensely that my daughter was having trouble breathing and did she have any allergies. No, I replied, this is emotional. The vice-principal responded beautifully and kept my daughter calm while I cycled up to the school, bearing a cough drop that has come to serve as the magic placebo. She settled, and allowed me to take her back to class.
Of course I don't entirely blame Terry Fox. We are the ones who dragged her from her home, her school, her friends, her safe and secure world. She was so happy. She has made friends here and even said the other day, 'It is really starting to feel like home!' I asked her why and she said, 'Well, we have nice friends, and we have a car, and we have plenty of food.' I see what she means. It did take us awhile to sort out the grocery situation and the fridge looked strangely bare for some time. But making new friends, having a new car, having a fridge full of Canadian food, while wonderful, while progress, also highlight the absence of our friends in England, our old car, and our Sainsbury's-own-brand foodstuffs.
On the plus side, the walk itself was lovely. Hundreds of children walked about 5 km, chanting 'Our school walks for Terry Fox!' The nice Canadian drivers (so unlike their US and UK counterparts) looked on, stationery yet smiling, as the police blocked off intersections for us safely to cross. Hey, I found a hill in Toronto! We even walked passed a castle (Casa Loma). We traversed a bucolic, wooded ravine where the trees are beginning to turns shades of red and gold. The children complained not a jot, cheerfully completing the circuit, laughing and joyful. What a memorial to the unfortunate Terry Fox.
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