February Fun & Friends

Lots of fun in middle February!  Ben celebrated Valentine's Day at school on the 13th, because there was no school on the 14th or 15th.  He came home with quite the display of cards and candy - and is always so good about sharing with his little sister.  In fact, I think she swiped most of the candy while he admired his love notes...  :)

Happy Valentine's Day!  Lots of fun little presents for the kiddos.  I got my own little present...a night out for a haircut.  How romantic, right?  I had a recommendation for a salon, and the only night the stylist was available that week was the 14th.  I did stop by the Callebaut chocolate shop before coming home, and so Greg and I enjoyed some bubbly and seriously amazing chocolates once the wee ones were asleep.  

Our landlords had mentioned to us that the dishwasher may not hold out too long, and so by early February, we were kindly requesting a new one.  See the old one...even had a big chunk out of the handle.  Took quite a while for the plumber to shimmy the new one into that tiny spot, but he got it!  And, we've got a fantastic new dishwasher.  Yay!  (It's the little things in life sometimes, right?)

I had been dying to check out the Calgary Farmers' Market.  On Saturday, February 16th, we ran a few errands and then ventured to the market.  It is in the southeast, near Greg's yard.  It is incredible!!  Produce, bakeries, meats, gifts...not to mention all the yummy places to eat!  Greg and I shared a Greek omelette while Ben devoured a donut the size of his head!  Poor Nathalie...she fell asleep right before we got to the market and slept through the whole thing!  I'm sure we'll be back though, and I see many more donuts in our future!  :)

Some of you may remember "getting to know Amsterdam", right?  Well, here is a little "getting to know Calgary" lesson...

Nearly everything we see, especially when it comes to packaged products, is printed in English and French.  I love that Ben is learning Spanish so well, but it kind of makes me wish he was learning French...he'd be getting quite the extra credit!  Good refresher for me and Greg though from our high school and college days.  Here are just a few examples of what I'm talking about...English on one side, French on the other.

When we arrived in Calgary, the sun didn't rise until nearly 8:30 a.m. and set around 4:30 p.m.  Now, as of mid-February, it is light around 7:30 a.m. and the sun goes to bed after 6 p.m.  It is really pretty as we walk Ben to the bus stop each morning...watching the sun come up and seeing all the beautiful colors in the sky.  With being further north, I hear that we will have summer evenings like we did in Amsterdam...light until 11 p.m.  Oh my!

In Canada, their currency is the Canadian dollar.  They have quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies like we do, although the penny is being phased out of circulation as I write this.  They are starting to round up or down, just as we did in Amsterdam.  They also have one dollar and two dollar coins, also very similar to Europe.  The one dollar coin was introduced in 1987 and has a photo of Queen Elizabeth on one side and a common loon on the other.  It was nicknamed the "loonie".  The two dollar coin was introduced in 1996 and has a photo of the Queen on one side and a polar bear (named Churchill) on the other.  This coin was nicknamed the "toonie".  So, we were warned not to be offended when we hear talk of "loonies and toonies".  :)  Obviously, there is paper money too...

Lastly, I have just been amazed and grateful for the friendliness of the people of Calgary.  We've already enjoyed a lunch in the home of one of the women from my Bible study, and our banker has invited us over for pizza.  One of Greg's colleagues has invited us to his home for dinner, as have our landlords.   When I was picking Ben up from school (before his bus stop was included on the route), the other moms were so pleasant and sweet to ask about our move and how Ben was doing.  Now that he takes the bus, I pick him up right near a city bus stop.  The first few days, the city bus driver would stop, and I would shake my head that we were not getting on.  He finally figured it out that we were waiting for a school bus, but now we wave to one another every day...I love unexpected friends!  :)  Ben's school bus driver is so sweet, a kind and thoughtful woman who gave the kids cookies on Valentine's Day, and even had one for Nathalie.  At gymnastics, Nathalie and I have made friends with Robyn and her daughter, Isla.  Isla and Nathalie are almost exactly one year apart...Isla is a New Year's baby.  :)  Robyn's older daugthers attend Westgate school too; what a terrific coincidence!  I definitely see some playdates and hopefully some "moms night out" evenings in our future.  I am just overwhelmed with how at home we feel already, and how blessed we are that God has gifted us with such dear people to share our journey.