Hot Diggity Dog

I forgot to mention a story from our tour of Ottawa. For lunch, we went to a hot dog stand in the middle of downtown Ottawa. The sign on the top of the stand reads "Hot Diggity Dog," and working the grill is a man known as Mr. Hot Dog. He's a short, stout man who looks he's from England but talks like he's from the States. He wears white pants with a shirt and a sweater with a massive hole in the elbow. If you could cast a hot dog man for a movie, he would fit the part perfectly. And he's been doing it for 22 years. He's made enough money over the years to be able to buy a house for cash. And he does it year round; at least until his mustard freezes.

Beaver Tails, Reese's cups, and maple taffy

Ah, Ottawa. The capital city of Canada. Home of the Senators. Rhonda's hometown. It's beautiful. We are touring at a sort of awkward time, since the 8-kilometre Rideau canal is no longer skatable but still frozen, the tulip haven't bloomed, the trees are bare, and the streets are somewhat dirty. However, the Parliament buildings still stand, along with myriad other buildings of every size, shape, colour, and even nationality. On Tuesday we wandered around Parliament Hill taking pictures with the statues, and Rhonda pointed out some of the finer sites of downtown Ottawa. We did our obligatory run of tourist shops and then bought Beaver Tails; delectable fried pastry covered in sugar and cinnamon. Mmmmmmmmmmmm. Rhonda and Jeremy stayed with Rhonda's parents, and Jonathan, Reneyah and I were billeted with another family. There I introduced them to Settlers of Catan. I won our first game, but ended up losing miserably the rest of the week. They loved it, and one night stayed up till 2:00 playing.
On Wednesday we went to a sugar bush. I think that's the right term...a sugar bush. Anyway, a maple tree farm, for the rest of us ignorant Westerners. Did you know it takes 40 buckets of maple sap to make a single bucket of maple syrup? And that Ontario and Quebec produce 75% of the world's maple syrup? And most of the rest is from Vermont? One of my grade school memories is learning about maple syrup and how people in Ontario have sugar bush parties and pour hot maple syrup onto the snow so that it hardens and makes maple taffy. I always wanted to do it, and I didn't get the chance this week. But that story is to be continued...
On Thursday we went to the Hershey chocolate factory in Smith Falls. Once you enter the building, the delicious scent of warm chocolate greets your willing nostrils. It gets even stronger as you go past the store to do tour the actual factory. We went during lunch break, so most of the machines weren't on except for the Reese's peanut butter cup line. You've never seen so many Reese's cups in your life. There were giant vats of milk and dark chocolate, a peanut roasting converyer bet, and gold chocolate bar foil on a roll. It was very cool. Whatever you buy at their store, no matter what the price, you get a free chocolate bar with your purchase. In my case, Reese's peanut butter cups. Yugh.
We went to a Good Friday sermon unlike any I've ever attended. It was a traditional service called a Tenebaum (I'm not 100% on the spelling), which involved about ten different sections. In each section, Scripture was read, there was time for personal prayer, and we sang a hymn. The whole thing followed the story of Jesus' crucifixtion. It was really interesting, and it really made me think about the price God paid for my salvation. This type of service has been practiced for over 1500 years.
I got to spend the rest of the weekend with family from both my mom and my dad's side. It was so good to see them again; some I hadn't seen for ten years. I went to Good Friday and Easter Sunday mass with them as well, which was a first for me. On Saturday (between families), Rhonda's dad drove us around the city to give us a more detailed view of Ottawa, complete with stories and more pictures with statues. And Rhonda brought me genuine maple taffy, made on snow, from the sugar bush! Cause she knew I wanted some! Isn't she great?
Last night, we got to watch the extended version of The Return of the King, but we also watched the first Superman movie. If you watch the first 20 minutes or so, and you get the the part where Clark is hanging at the football field at his high school, look at the school in the background. That is the headquarters of Spread the Word Theatre. I lived and rehearsed there for three weeks. Yep; it was filmed in Barons, Alberta. It's so weird to see it in a movie! And 25 years newer!
Well, that was our week in a nutshell. We begin a hectic performance schedule on Wednesday (and 11 of my family members may attend on Saturday night). I leave you with the quote of the week, wise words from Rhonda's father Dennis Kuz:
"To err is human, to really forgive is to travel across Canada with the same five people for six months."

Avec du crappy driving

Well, thanks to our friends at Jetsgo, we drove 12 hours on Thursday from Sussex, New Brunswick, to Montreal. The original plan was to fly, but that's hard to do without plane tickets. Or an airline for that matter. I was happy to drive, cause then we don't have to worry about shipping our set, we're in control, we have a vehicle, etc. So we headed from Canada's bilingual province to Canada's French province. At one of the stops, Jeremy and I headed to a restaurant to go to the bathroom. Ten years of French Immersion paid off when I asked the hostess; "Ou sont les toilettes?" Mme Warnery would be proud. Rhonda's French is infinitely better than mine, but Jeremy's French is far more hilarious. Basically, he'll preface English words with "Avec du." "Avec du go!" "Avec du right of way!" "Avec du loud!"
Something that has always bothered me is people who say that Edmonton is home to Canada's worst drivers. I don't understand their basis for saying this, and usually it's because of some obscure fact they heard once upon a time. So I decided at the beginning of tour to see if there was a city with worse drivers than Edmonton.
In Montreal, they don't believe in lanes. They believe in horns. Driving on the freeway is like a work of art; the lane changes are so fast, so frequent, in such tight places and so completely unannounced that it's a miracle that there isn't an accident every five seconds. Neither do they believe in signaling. Old Montreal is a series of one-lane, one-way streets with random pedestrians and double-parked cars. There's an advance green at every second intersection, you can't turn right on a red light, and few people care about either of those rules. Keep in mind we were navigating this whole thing in a fifteen-seater van.
You have to see it to believe it. So I've come to the conclusion; no, Edmonton drivers aren't the worst. Montreal drivers are FAR worse. Even the pedestrians are bad; I've never seen so many jaywalkers on the median.
So although being in a fifteen-seater was a bit of a disadvantage, it had some perks. One of them being the raspberry and cherry turnovers we found under the seat. Someone had left them from the last time it had been rented, and they were fresh, so...we ate them!
Regardless of their disastrous traffic situation, Montreal is a beautiful city of brick buildings and iron staircases. There's so much history. We visited the Notre Dame Basilica. It is AMAZING. I've never seen anything like it. It's huge and ornate, made almost entirely out of wood, contains a 7000-pipe organ and a smaller 2000-pipe organ, a 20-ton bronze sculpture, stained glass windows depicting Quebec's history, and countless sculptures of Biblical characters. And for four dollars, you can light a four-day prayer candle to the saint of your choice. Or Jesus.
If I could used one word to describe the feeling of Montreal, it would be empty. There's a spiritual desperation, a lack of hope that pervades the people there. It may be my own preconception of the culture, but I could sense it. I could feel how much they need God.
As is required for anyone who goes to Quebec, we ate tortillere and poutine for lunch one day. We took the bus home from the mall one day, which was an experience for Jonathan. Before that, he'd taken two city buses in his life. Two! I think I've taken 700. Then, on Sunday afternoon, our billet decided to make a drink for us. He blended fresh chopped garlic and ginger with water and a protein shake mix. Not wanting to be the wimp, I said I'd try it. Unfortunately for me, I got the bottom of the mix where all the garlic and ginger had settled. I braced myself, swallowed, choked, then almost threw it up. Uuuuggh. The thought still makes me nauseous.
Well, I'd better stop before I write a novel. That was Montreal, and we now have a week off in Ottawa. Should be fun! I'll keep you posted!

Big huge van

Sunday morning we performed in Charlottetown at a Nazarene church. It was very different than any Nazarene church I've ever been to (which is a total of one); it almost felt Pentecostal. It was a very good service, and I think one of the eleven-year-old boys who helped us strike our set had a crush on me. I gave him my address so he can write me in June.
On Tuesday we performed at a Christian school for seven students. It was actually fun; we played Knockout with them afterward. This was in Middle Sackville Baptist Church in New Brunswick, the first Baptist church in Canada. Their building was built in 1905, but the congregation was formed in 1763. Isn't that crazy?
Today was a GREAT day, because we rented a new van! Ajeep (actually his name is Ajeeb, I've just been spelling it wrong the entire time) is still in Alberta, and though we loved him, he's a 1994 Astro and three of us would have to squish on a bench seat to fit the five of us. Now, for a week, we have a FIFTEEN-SEATER VAN! 2004! It's SO big and SO comfortable and I'm so glad that we have it. We have enough cupholders for everyone! And a built-in CD player!
You know, I'd like to tell you some exciting stories, but we haven't had too many lately. We went shopping...we went to Tim Hortons...we did some shows...we had squares and coffee at the churches...Jeremy and Rhonda sat on me until I almost died because I couldn't breathe...I got ice cream...Reneyah talked about horses...Jonathan is halfway done his afghan...and that's it in a nutshell.
Oh, and Reneyah uttered the Quote of the Week:
"It's a good thing I have such a hard head."

True Patriot Love

It's amazing how the death of four RCMP officers will shake a nation. The team was in Sussex, New Brunswick, walking to Tim's for coffee, when a procession of RCMP and local police cars went through the city. Nearly every flag we see is at half mast, and I got to see the memorial service on CBC. It was somber, but seeing that black and red crowd of officers and mourners made me think of Canada as a country. Atlantic Canada was affected by a tragedy in my home province. Even over thousands of kilometres, Canadians pull together. I think, for the first time in my life, I'm feeling patriotic. Being among the priveleged millions who are citizens of this country means more than free health care and GST. Rhonda has made me think about this, because Canadians take (and dish out) a lot of crap because of the lack of readily identifiable culture. However, it takes a looooooong time to develop the culture of a nation. Canada has not even had 200 years.
And it is a beautiful country. Even in the winter, when everything is brown, it's gorgeous. We went to the Bay of Fundy and climbed through the rocks and caves on the beach. It was amazing! One cave in particular had red sand. Like, burnt red, not kind of organeish. We had a show in Saint John (which went really well), and today we drove to PEI. The soil is red. Just like in Anne of Green Gables (which borders on a cult here), just like in pictures. It's so weird; it almost feels like it's a joke. That suddenly it'll turn brown and God will laugh cause we fell for it. It makes you realize how many things get covered in dirt. Dirty snow is red, the cars have red dirt on them, dirty roads are...red. And plowed fields are the craziest. Kinda like a kid drew a picture but didn't have a brown crayon. We did go to the Anne of Green Gables house, but it was closed.
No quotes yet this week. We haven't been that interesting, I guess. We did go to a sweet 50s diner today, with a jukebox! And we took a picture of a giant lobster eating me...and against all reason, ran on a closed beach where icy cold winds almost knocked us over. We also drove over the Confederation Bridge from New Brunswick to PEI. It's 13 km long, was built in 1997 and cost $1 billion. Yeesh.

Christian chicken

In my haste the last time I blogged, I left out an important story about a Canadian icon; Tim Horton's. You see, I was talking one day about Tim Horton's claim that their coffee "never changes," and Rhonda said that the coffee out East does actually taste different. So I decided to test her claim. I bought coffee at the airport in Calgary and put it into my thermos and flew with it to Haliax. That same day, I went to a Tim Horton's in Dartmouth and compared the two.
And the verdict was; it did indeed taste different. The eastern coffee was fruitier and not as bold as the western coffee. I personally preferred Alberta's. Jeremy agreed that it tasted different, even without directly comparing the two. So Rhonda was right; there is a difference.
Our stay in Halifax was great. We got to stay with a great couple who were just starting up their own bed and breakfast. I love Maritime accents, especially the way they say "car." It almost sounds like "curr."
Halifax was our fourth Missionsfest, and so far I enjoyed it the best. Vancouver was the biggest, and we were busy doing shows the whole time. Winnipeg was much smaller, and Edmonton...well, it felt like home. But Halifax was the most personable in its management and had a relaxed, friendly feel to it. All of them were great, however, and we have one left in Toronto at the beginning of April. It was an interesting weekend; our props and set were sent ahead earlier this week, but didn't arrive until yesterday (monday). So we had to figure out a way to perform without props, set or costumes. But Rhonda and Jeremy, with Barrett's help, came up with a sketch list, bought a few extra props, and away we went. It worked great.
Those of you who are Christians in Edmonton know that Swiss Chalet is the place to go after church. If you're Pentecostal, it's a race to beat the Baptists there so you can get a table. This Sunday, I joined the Baptists and got there first. Apparently, Swiss Chalet is referred to as "Christian chicken" all over the country. Who'da thunk?
We left Sunday night for Sussex, New Brunswick, and are all staying here now. We had yesterday and today off, and have been relaxing and taking in some sights. Today it has been raining pretty hard, but we headed to the Bay of Fundy anyway. It's beautiful countryside, even on a rainy winter day. I can't imagine it in the summer and the fall. We ate fish in a little fishing town right on the bay, where the docks stand forty feet above the ocean floor at low tide. That was when we were there, and all the boats were nearly touching the ground. Later, when almost all the light was gone, we stopped at Hopewell Rocks. Even in near-total darkness, for a girl from landlocked Alberta, they were beautiful; a huge cliff overlooking massive rocks and a rocky beach, with trees everywhere. There was a big metal staircase heading down the cliff that apparently gets covered in water at high tide. Reneyah, Jonathan and I looked around for a while, made a video of us "singing in the rain," and ran back to the van soaking wet. It was a good day.
Well, my apologies for writing a novel, but I hope I kept you entertained. My team certainly keeps me entertained; I decided that I'm taking them all back to Edmonton with me. Oh and this book by Maura...I don't remember the title. Some children's chapter book about the Halifax Explosion, I think. Which is an interesting bit of history; a ship collision that wiped out a good chunk of Halifax.
Our Master Quoteswoman wins Quote of the Week again. Jeremy referred to Castaway in the process of somehow making fun of Reneyah. She came back with "Yeah, well, what about the soccer ball named Cooper?" That's right, Reneyah, you tell him.

And that is why I'm taking them all home with me.

Thought for the week.

After a couple relaxing days in Barons, we stayed the night in Calgary so we would be up bright and early for our 7:00 am flight to Halifax. We arrived at 4:10 pm Halifax time, and are now staying in a bed and breakfast. According to their license plates, Nova Scotia is "Canada's Ocean Playground." And I did see the ocean; while crossing from Halifax to Dartmouth. We're not here for very long, so I'm not sure how much sightseeing we'll do. We're only here for the Missionsfest this weekend.
I heard a very powerful sermon today from a man called "Brother Andrew," who makes no bones about what he believes. It got me thinking; if I truly believe that Christianity is the way, the truth, what am I doing about it? Why am I letting people choose otherwise without fighting for them?
Just something to think about. Maura's thought for the week.

Oh, and I found a book by a woman with the first name Maura. First time that's ever happened!

Sexy Mama

Sunday:
We went to my Pentecostal church, which was not too shocking of an experience for my non-Pentecostal team. Actually, not shocking at all, but there was more swaying than they're used to. Anyway, afterward we went to my house, ate pizza and played Mario Kart...which I SUCK at. Well, I'm not too bad...I could learn. In the afternoon, we did what every Edmonton tourist must do; went to West Edmonton Mall. I never really realized how much is in the mall until I gave Jonathan a tour. Coming from small-town Ontario, this was not an everyday experience for him. Reneyah and I played Wac-A-Mole in Galaxyland and then I introduced her and Jonathan to DDR. Hehehehehe. DDR is great.

Monday:
You know, a three-hour drive seems a lot shorter now than it did on January 2. We breezed our way to Calgary and dropped off our set pieces to be transported to Halifax. Afterward, we drove to Three Hills to the place where Jeremy and Rhonda met; Prairie Bible College. We watched the Anne of Green Gables musical, then had a grand tour of the college. We headed home to Barons, bought some Pillsbury cookies, and spent the evening playing Wizard.
Jonathan decided to pull out a bag of big long pretzels before the game, and then started to pretend to smoke one like a cigar. We all grabbed a pretzel, and I all of a sudden became a chain-smoking, hardened cynic named Sexy Mama. Rhonda was my buddy Slick, Reneyah my nemesis Stubby, Jonathan the ruthless Wizard player Sport, and Jeremy the seasoned veteran Sparky. It was hilarious. Never mind the frustration of having 0 points at the end; having a character sort of softened the blow. We finished the night with The Princess Bride.

Today, Reneyah and I walked through farmer's fields for an hour. We crossed three fields and got to a fence, where she said "Maura let's keep going to the end of this field! I want to see what's on the other side of the fence." I looked around, and all I could see was fields. Then more fields. Some houses. Another field. "Reneyah," I said "when we get to that fence, there will be another field. Let's go back."
We did, thank goodness. It was nice to get out and move...it's such a nice day today! We're spending the rest of the day watching movies; Reneyah made a movie marathon schedule. And to think that in my normal life, I should be studying for midterms....
Lately I've been feeling the need to dye my hair three different colors...instead, I went out and bought hot pink pants. They're great. If you're ever bored with your wardrobe, go buy hot pink/green/yellow/blue/whatever pants. It feels really good to wear them. Reneyah got purple ones.
And quote of the week goes to Rhonda. We were in Red Robin talking about flirting with waiters:
"What's your favorite burger? Chicken, beef, or Reneyah?"
Worthy of mention is another from Reneyah:
"I like feeling like a beached whale!"
I'll let your imagination run wild on that one.

Theeeee End.