Why not?

Panic not, our dear readers, we are inexorably tied to our midwestern identity.  Instead, we are relocating from one west coast to yet another west coast.  Our destination this time is Squamish, Canada, located halfway between Vancouver and Whistler.  We have spent 4 fantastic years in Wales, learning to love many things about our adopted home, but it’s time to move on.  We’ll save the goodbyes for another time, but for now, we are eagerly planning our move this summer.  We booked our one-way tickets for the whole family and the countdown is less than 3 months.  Luckily, the UK is throwing us a very elaborate going away party (known to some people as “The Olympics“), so after making an appearance there, we’ll be heading to Canada’s Outdoor Recreation Capital.  Our new home is where you can windsurf, mountain bike, rock climb, ski, raft and sight bald eagles all in one day!  It is also home to a new university called Quest where I will join the faculty in a few months.

My new workplace is kind of stunning.

This innovative university is changing higher education in Canada for the better, I believe, and will be an amazing place for me to teach.  For quite some time, I have been skeptical about where higher education is going.  The tenure system in the US seems archaic, and the quality assurance (over)regulation in the UK is stifling, to say the least.  I’ve been saying for years that there is a revolution brewing in higher education.  What universities are doing isn’t sustainable and a whole slew of experts are saying the same thing.  Quest is leading that revolution by changing the way universities work.  They got rid of tenure and departments and are preparing students to become engaged citizens of the world.  To learn more, check out this radio program or this NYT article.  If you’re unconvinced, then at least check out the views from campus and schedule your next ski trip to coincide with a visit to see us.

If you’re wondering what will happen with the adoption now that we’re moving, then we have some sad news.  Uzbekistan is apparently changing their adoption procedure completely and put a moratorium on adoptions until they figure out what’s going on.  Our adoption agency has advised us not to proceed and so with heavy hearts and after 2 years of effort, we are withdrawing our application there.  We have been grieving this news for a few weeks because we really thought that we were going to become parents this year.  It has been an interesting journey, albeit frustrating at times.  We will have to start the process over again, and we thought that the sooner we set up our new home, the sooner we can start the process from there.  Canada has a lot of support for adopting parents, and we know that we will bring a baby home sometime in the future.

We are officially reviving the “Preparing to Move” category and closing the “Adoption” category on this blog for a while.  We’ll keep everyone posted when we revive it, but in the meantime, submit those entries for our contest!  Ready…go!

D arrived first in the middle of March, just in time for daffodil season.  Her plane arrived into John Lennon Liverpool Airport, next to the Yellow Submarine.

We all live in the Yellow Submarine

She got to feed some lambs and see a couple of hour-old calves!  Then we took her to Cilgerran Castle which is ruined but with a great view.

Cilgerran Castle Courtyard

Cilgerran Castle overlooks the Teifi River

Even though D was sick for most of the trip, we managed to have a great time together!

S arrived a month later, in the middle of bluebell season.  After our canal boat trip, we picked her up from Manchester Airport to experience the UK for the first time  Besides feeding the lambs (of course), S was able to experience a few of the famous sites around us.

Portmeirion in the springtime (S is a big fan of The Prisoner!)

Hogwarts, I mean, Lacock Abbey

Moody Stonehenge

It was great to help fulfill S’s childhood dream of visiting Stonehenge!

We had such a great time hosting our two visitors.  Who knew that a little lamb video would convince our friends to travel halfway around the world to come see us?  Thank you, D and S, for coming out to visit us!  Thank you, J & D, for letting us hang out with your cute lambs!

Me, Siena, and the Devon

We arrived in Sowerby Bridge for our 2:00 launch, loaded our stuff, and got a rundown of the boat before we pushed off. Our guide led us through the first three locks and explained how they work and how to moor the boat. He led us through the deepest lock in the UK before leaving us to fend for ourselves.

We puttered along between two and four miles an hour as we made our day’s journey to the town of Mytholmroyd a whopping four miles away!

In the morning we took a quick spin around the town and found the birthplace of Ted Hughes. We then boarded our little boat and journeyed up the canal through a few more locks and a tunnel before mooring in Hebden Bridge to grab some lunch.

Emerging from a tunnel

Being a bank holiday weekend, the little town centre was bustling with people and dogs. The canal through the town was completely full of moored boats enjoying the sun and warmth. After lunch we took the next two locks out of town as we passed by the old industrial buildings that used this canal many years ago.

Realizing that Siena wasn’t enjoying the canal boat as much as the rest of us, we decided to moor for the night just below lock 12 as the canal threads its way along the narrow valley floor. We then decided to explore the wooded hillside on foot as we made our way back to the Stubbing Wharf for dinner. After a day and a half of travel we had gone 7 miles!

The next day, Easter, we turned our boat around and began our journey back. This time, however, we were going down the locks. A quick, on-board lunch allowed us to make it nearly six miles as we moored next to High Royd Wood. With the rain beginning to fall, we prepared and ate our Easter dinner in the cozy confines of our boat.

With the rain continuing to fall, we finished our trip the next morning by returning through the last three locks to Sowerby Bridge. I had a good time unplugging from things for a few days but I am not sure Siena enjoyed it as much.

Siena and Captain IAC

Her tail is still wagging though!

She doesn’t seem to be in any pain, but when she goes outside, we have to put a plastic bag around the dressing to keep it dry and she really hates that.  Can’t say that I blame her.

We’ll save the update about the adoption for another time, but for my creative writing class this week, we were supposed to write a poem in the style of Minimalism.  I don’t know much about writing minimalist poems, but I guess I’m not supposed to use too many words, no imagery, just focus on the important parts, and to use the space around the words to convey more of a visual element.  I did the best I could with the following poem, entitled “Waiting”, which is about adoption.

Longing

family                                                    home

Unseen

child                                                       parents

a world apart

united in hope

cradle                                                    orphanage

food to share                                     sharing food

Waiting

Waiting

Waiting

The pathway to Llyn Cau

As you near the lake you get great views of the glacial bowl, the still blue water of the lake, and the reds, browns, and greens illuminated by the later winter sun. You also get unobstructed views of the ridge and summits you have to climb. Pressing on after the photo ops we started to climb to the ridge which would lead us to the top of Craig Cau.

Llyn Cau from the path to the ridge

On top of the ridge southern Snowdonia opened up and we caught sight of the valley below where our cars were parked and where we began almost two hours earlier. Walking along the ridge wasn’t too dangerous as the south face sloped more gently away. Before the final push up Craig Cau, we stopped for lunch near a cut in the rock down to the lake below. As we started off again we noticed the clouds begin to push over the ridge and obscure the views of Penygadair.

View from the top of Craig Cau as the clouds move in

The views to the east and south we expansive and we could see the rolling hills and mountains of Wales. Unfortunately when we turned north we could no longer see the Top of the Chair. Yet we pressed on! The short descent to the saddle gave us a respite from climbing but that just meant we had that much farther to go up before reaching the top. We finally scaled Penygadair with the last 20 minutes in the clouds. Here I offer proof of our ascent (you have to assume I am taking the photo!)

All of us on the summit of Penygadair

The way down offered views of Tal y Llyn Lake and Llyn Cau from a distance. You might think the near continuous ascent to the summits might be the most painful part of the hike, but you would be wrong. About half, if not more, of the descent is spent following a fence straight down the mountain along a “path” which is full of loose rocks and big steps. All of our knees were screaming at us as we finally met back up with the path through the oak wood. I managed to only fall and get mud all over myself once.

Finishing the hike we decided to drive to the nearby and newly reopened Cross Foxes to catch Wales’ 6 Nations game against England. The game was tense and close and watching it with an English supporter didn’t make it any easier. But the men in red prevailed in the end on an exciting try and a little help from the replay official to take home the Triple Crown.

We arrived home that evening exhausted and sore but glad that we did it. We were also fortunate that Siena was so tired she let us sleep in extra long this morning.

Our friends, J & D, moved south to D’s family farm about a year ago, and we decided to get together with them for a weekend in our capital city.  Upon arrival on their farm, I experienced the best part of the weekend: lamb feeding!

Lamb feeding time!

After that excitement, it was all downhill from there.  Joking I am!  We arrived at our hotel in Cardiff with our stomachs growling for lunch.  Just a short walk away, we arrived at the Norwegian Church for some nice Welsh-Norwegian rarebit.  The church was converted into a cafe and art space, so we enjoyed some of the photos up in the Roald Dahl gallery.  Known for “James and the Giant Peach” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, Roald Dahl was born to Norwegian immigrants outside of Cardiff.  The main square in Cardiff Bay was named after him as well, and we strolled through there from lunch to visit Y Senedd, the main seat of the Welsh Government.  It’s a very new building that showcases many of Wales’s natural resources (i.e., slate).

Looking from the inside of Y Senedd towards Cardiff Bay

We were lucky enough to get a private tour and learned that a lot of the principles in the building design were familiar to us from the previous Parliament building we visited (glass represents the transparency of government, etc.).  Next door, we spent a little bit of time in the fabulous Millennium Centre.  The cool poem written on the walls works best within each language and between the languages (Welsh and English).

D & J in front of the Millenium Centre

We also visited Mermaid Quay, popping into Techniquest to play with some of the science exhibits, before stopping for a pint during the last of the England vs. Italy Six Nations game.  Then we got ready for a big treat: eating at Jamie Oliver’s restaurant in the city centre!  The food was outstanding, and we had a great table overlooking the bar/appetizers kitchen.

Jamie's Italian restaurant

We had a very impressive meal and spent the end of the evening enjoying the Cardiff nightlife.  We turned in early so that we could get a head start on the next day.  We started the morning with an American meal of pancakes, French toast, and waffles at an American diner called Cafe 37.  We learned about the Evolution of Wales at the National Museum which had natural history on the bottom floor and art on the top floor.  Finally, we were ready for the real highlight of the weekend: watching Wales play Scotland in the Six Nations rugby match!

What I have neglected to mention is that since arriving in Cardiff, we were never 10 feet away from a kilt.  The Scots had come to support their team, and they were proudly showing off their national identity.  Throughout the weekend, whenever we bumped into Scots, they were always jovial and willing to engage in fun, teasing banter about who was going to win the rugby game.  My impression is that this friendly rivalry exists between Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, whereas each of those teams vehemently hate England and would rather see France or Italy win.

These fans were clearly supporting Scotland!

This fan was supporting Scotland (kilt), Wales (daffodil), and New Zealand??? (shirt) Talk about hedging your bets!

The streets in the city centre became pedestrianized for the game, and people had been in the pubs since the morning to ensure they had a prime place from which to drunkenly watch the game.  We, however, were going into Millennium Stadium, so after taking in the electrifying ambiance, we headed toward the stadium.  The colorful fans were quite entertaining to watch!

Proudly sporting the symbol of Wales, the red dragon

Proudly sporting the national flower of Wales, the daffodil

Proudly sporting the national root vegetable of Wales, the leek

Note the realistic roots of the leek!  The leek is such an important part of Welsh culture, that the Welsh word for daffodils (“cennin Pedr” or “Peter’s leeks”) is based on the Welsh word for leeks (“cennin”).  Once inside the stadium, we saw other important slices of Welsh culture, such as…

Shenkin III, the Regimental Goat, and the Goat Major, Sergeant Joseph

Traditional Welsh Men's Choir

Soon it was time for the game itself!  We had great seats behind one of the try lines and were able to see quite a lot of the action.  What we found quite strange was how quiet the stadium was during the play.  In describing the two national obsessions, my colleague once told me “Football (soccer) is a game played by gentlemen, watched by thugs. Rugby is a game played by thugs, watched by gentlemen.”  The fans were, indeed, very civilized.  There was not much shouting, jeering, or abuse.  I even got asked (“yelled at” is more accurate) to sit down when at an exciting moment, I jumped out of my seat.  It was certainly different than every sporting event we’ve been to in the US where the action in the raucous stands were at best, just noisy, at worst, criminal.  This atmosphere was very similar to our experience watching shows here.  At the Dar Williams concert in Sheffield, we were struck by how everyone in the audience sat stiffly in their seats and gave polite, never wild, applause after each number.  Interestingly, beer is allowed in the rugby games but not the football/soccer games.

I won’t go into an analysis of the game, but it was an exciting one with yellow cards, several tries and penalties.  Check out our videos here, here, and here.  Wales won, 27-13!

Overall, a great trip, a nice opportunity to catch up with J&D (and practice our Welsh since they both speak it), and our first real foray into Wales’s capital!

Coda: No news on the adoption front still!

We arrived late on Friday night so Saturday we started our sightseeing with the Brandenburg Gate.  It is the main symbol of the city, and we saw its image duplicated in many places throughout the city.  We walked under it to get to the Parliament Building, the Reichstag, where we had booked a slot to go to the top of the dome.  I definitely recommend that you go if you are visiting Berlin for the first time. There is a free audio tour, and we were able to get the lay of the land from the great views (even on a gray day!) of the city.

Us in front of Brandenburg Tor

The top of the Reichstag

Throughout our trip, we kept crossing over the old wall dividing East and West Berlin.  Where the wall used to stand, there are markers in the ground to show the location.  We went to Checkpoint Charlie where there was the standoff between US and Soviet tanks in 1961. There are quite a few landmarks left, but I have the sense that it is more for tourists than anything else.  I did not feel the gravitas of what happened here amongst the hawkers selling old Soviet gear and the fake US soldier posing for pictures with tourists.

We are always reminded of whether we are in East or West

The station at Checkpoint Charlie

The remnants of the wall were much better at conveying the conflict between East and West.  There were a couple of places that showed the last places where the wall is still standing, and we visited two: one near the Topography of Terror and the other which was the official Memorial of the Berlin Wall.  Many people, of a range of ages, lost their lives on the wall, and we learned about the numerous escapes, attempted escapes, and escape routes.  My memory of the Berlin Wall coming down is tainted by the news images that were broadcast at the time.  In my memory, it seemed like such an organic process, where fed up citizens revolted and practically took down the wall with their bare hands.  Learning more about it from the Memorial, the November 9 border opening was actually an orchestrated event that was months in the planning.

The Wall near the Topography of Terror

The Berlin Wall Memorial is more like a pleasant park nowadays

Berlin played a big role in World War II, of course, and we visited a few places of remembrance.  We went to the Jewish Museum, which detailed the history of Jews in Germany from the 1300s.  I was a little disappointed that it mostly focused on the persecution of Jews throughout history instead of balancing it with other aspects of Jewish life.  However, I did learn a lot!  For example, I always thought that the horrible stereotype of Jews as greedy was rooted in their occupation as moneylenders (e.g., Shylock in The Merchant of Venice), but what I didn’t know was that Jews were barred from taking up most occupations. Moneylending was one of the very few career choices open to them so it hardly seems fair to force them into certain professions and then claim that it is due to undesirable traits that they are drawn to those professions!

The old and new parts of the Jewish Museum

The other memorial we saw was the Holocaust Memorial.  It’s a large site, very gray, and very powerful.  We walked up and down between the concrete, saw others playing hide and seek, and got lost in the rows and rows of narrow spaces.  It made me think of coffins and graves, and they at first were short and knee-level but pretty soon overwhelmed you with their volume.  It’s easy to get lost and separated, as happened to us for a few minutes and for those in the Holocaust for a lifetime.  But people persevered and carried on, and life moves forward, all messages that I felt were loud and clear in this memorial.  There was a lot of controversy when this memorial was built, but I think it’s very fitting.

It's hard to see the scale of the Holocaust Memorial but it's quite large

Some perspective on how tall the structures are when you are deep inside

Many different sizes, perhaps to indicate the range of people lost in the Holocaust and affected by it

Although there are quite a few ugly moments in its history, Berlin now is an epicenter of art and music.  We saw many examples of art in the streets and in the museums.  The Altar at the Pergamon and the Ishtar Gates were extremely impressive (although much of it is reconstructed as the original stuff is too fragile or broken).  Should plunderers give back their loot to the countries of origin?  Not sure what the right answer is. But the right answer to “should I go to the Berlin Philharmoniker?” is an emphatic YES!  S had suggested that we go for a jazz event there, but I saw the great classical program that was on before it, so we decided to go to both.  4 hours of music was perhaps a little much, even for the most dedicated enthusiast, but I am so glad I got to see this orchestra perform in this hall!  Unfortunately, Sir Simon Rattle wasn’t on the program for the first part and was ill for the second part, so we didn’t see him at all.  Nevertheless, we saw some of the best string-playing of our lives, and despite sitting at the very rear, the sound was magnificent. What a night!

The Altar at the Pergamon Museum

The Berlin Philharmoniker is one of the best orchestras in the world! And this hall has some of the best acoustics in the world!

The trip was also filled with delicious food, of course!  We had a divine German meal at Lutter & Wegner, delicious Turkish food at Hasir, and a perfect Italian meal at Aroma.  S is in our Aber book club, too, and a couple years ago, she suggested this quirky little book called The Invention of Curried Sausage by Uwe Timm.  The book describes how currywurst was invented in Hamburg, not Berlin as everyone believes. Regardless, Berlin still has some awesome currywurst, so we tried it at one of the best spots in town, Curry 36.

Classic German street food: currywurst and fries!

Eating Turkish food in Berlin is a MUST!

Bad weather won’t stop us from having a great trip! We saw plenty and had a fabulous time with S whom we miss very much!  Thank you, S, for being such a fantastic host!  It was a great little getaway before things got really busy at work, and it was a very educational trip as well (in a good way).  Next capital city: Cardiff for the Wales vs. Scotland rugby game!

A confused daffodil

Somehow this daffodil did not check its calendar to see that the date was January 12!  Until this weekend, we have been having rather warm weather (climate change!) and both flora and fauna were getting very confused.  This blooming was the most extreme example, but we have seen flowers around town starting to grow, too.  They are in for a shock now that it has dropped below freezing!

We drove to Heathrow to pick up my parents from their red-eye from Chicago, headed straight to Folkstone, and boarded the Euro Tunnel. I thought my parents would be excited to have the experience, but they both slept through the entire journey because of jet lag. Once on the other side, we immediately headed west to our cottage in La Manche, Normandy.

On Christmas Day, we stayed in, enjoyed the fire, each other’s company, strange classical music on French radio, and ate a big Christmas ham (with Champagne glaze!) that was brought all the way from Aber.

The weather on Boxing Day was fantastic in the North of France. It was clear and in the low to mid teens (Celsius). Our first sightseeing stop took us to Mont St. Michel at low tide.

The approach to Mont St Michel

The views provided were just as stunning as the photos we had seen. The street was narrow and remarkably crowded for a December morning. After reading that 3.5 million people visit every year, I couldn’t begin to imagine the place during high season.

The abbey itself was quite unusual compared with other abbeys we have been to. No two adjoining rooms had the same floor level. There were always a few or many steps between rooms. Also, the abbey was quite bare; there was not much of an artistic touch in the rooms. I guess that is the result of using the abbey as a prison in its past.

After having a lunch of a galette, we left Mont St Michel and drove into Brittany and the town of St. Malo. IAC and I were hoping to suddenly start seeing Breton on the road signs so we could see how close it was to Welsh, but we apparently didn’t go far enough west. Following the advice of our friend E, we did some shopping in the old town and then joined the rest of people and soaked up the sun on a walk on the old walls. When we were trying to understand the meaning of a French sign saying no dogs (or no dogs on the loose), I walked up on the walls to see if I could see any other dogs up there. Lo and behold, the first dog I see is none other than a Brittany! So we spent the next hour working our way around the town and overlooking the bay.

The next day we drove back east to the town of Bayeux. We started our day with a tour of the tapestry. It’s quite a strange feeling to finally see the 1000 year old piece of cloth that you hear about in middle school and have the year 1066 drilled into your head. Sure, you may think you know what a 70 m long piece of embroidery looks like, but 70 m of hand stitching is quite the feat! The level of detail and the preservation of the colors are truly stunning.

After a wonderful French lunch, we were picked up and taken on a half day tour of the D-Day beaches. Getting in the van, we met another family going on the tour with us; they were from Chicago. Yes, my parents flew 10 hours across an ocean, drove another 7 hours, went under the English Channel and proceeded to get into a van with a family from the suburbs of Chicago.

Our first stop was Pointe du Hoc and the site of a battle of US Rangers trying to neutralize gun positions which could fire upon Utah and Omaha beaches. The interesting thing about Pointe du Hoc is that the French government left the area exactly as it was after the war as a reminder.

Craters at Pointe du Hoc

The point is riddled with the partially filled in craters of the bombing that took place as well as the partially destroyed bunkers. Even the barbed wire has been left. Next, we drove to the west side of Omaha beach (Dog Green), the same section of beach depicted in the film Saving Private Ryan and the deadliest landing point. The tranquility of the beach that day with the sun descending in the west made it hard to imagine the horror of that June morning only 65 years ago.

Leaving the beach we drove to the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial where the majority of American WWII who died in Normandy are buried. With its finely manicured lawn and endless rows of white marble crosses, the cemetery serves as a reverent memorial to the US troops who fought in Normandy.

Our last stops on the tour were a view from the east side of Omaha beach where German trenches can still be seen in a French farm field and the gun battery, with another series of ruined bunkers complete with guns lying between Omaha and Gold beaches. We finished the day back in Bayeux with some more fantastic French cuisine. Thank you, France, for letting us bring Siena into your nice restaurants.

Our last two days in France were spent near Calais. As we drove from Normandy we stopped at the cathedral in Rouen and saw the site of the burning of Noah’s wife, Joan of Arc. We also met up with M&T’s family at the Christmas fair in the town of Bethune. Thanks for the wonderful lunch T!

We returned to England and again, my parents slept through the bulk of it. We took a slight detour and stopped to look at the cliffs around Dover before dropping them off back at Heathrow for their return to the US. We had a great time, learned some history, ate fabulous food, met some friends, and spent quality time together as a family.

To an exciting 2012!