Quebec City is 401. That is old. We went there last week to learn about it and it’s people and hopefully ourselves in the meantime. The trip was a success.

We left on Sunday. On the way there we stopped by this ice fishing village on the St. Lawrence River or some river around there (forget lakeside, that shit is lakeON!, I know). It was quite the Canadian experience. I now feel fully one with my country. We bought some tire (maple syrup on a stick) and a bag of fish and were out of there. Many a photo were taken. Other than showing up to the church/home for a week, that pretty much wrapped up Sunday.

Monday we hung out with a friend of Pierre’s named Gille. He told us about his life and being Quebecois and what that all meant. He was a cool dude. Talked a lot like Pierre, very abstract and theological; just the way I like it. You could tell why the two of them got along so well. It was a pretty great cafe we sat in, too. I’ve got some pictures, I’ll show you some time.

There were many visits to history museums. I’d say the first one, with it’s exhibit bringing you from French colonization of Quebec to the Quiet Revolution, was the best. It also had an exhibit on global urbanization and it’s consequences on the earth called “Urbanopolos.” They showed some great ideas that are in the making to make urbanization a little less painful to our planet. One called “New Denmark,” or something like that, was especially interesting. It’s a set of condo buildings designed to create community and be completely run on solar energy. Looked pretty snazzy.

We also visited a soup kitchen called Cafe Rencontre. Cool place. We got to help clean stuff off and talk to people. It’s amazing how many people there were bilingual, even in Quebec City. I liked getting in there and doing something, even if it was just cleaning tables most of the time. We didn’t get to do any of that in Toronto, and I noticed. I know it doesn’t really help out all that much, for just one day. But hands-on education can’t be replaced by anything. It’s the best.

Friday was my favorite day of the whole trip. It began by visiting the Museum des Beaux Arts. Awesome. My new favorite artist is Riopelle. If you can find a photo of it, go look for his painting “Espagne” or “Spain.” There was a lot of other good art in there, too, but I especially liked his stuff.

Afterward, we moved on to La Chute de Montmorency, a frozen waterfall. A pretty spectacular scene. Bado and I ended up running through a field of untouched snow. There were a few times where we were up to our crotches in it. Many photos were taken.

When we got back, Julia and I went out through the city to witness the beginning of “Carnival.” From a block away, we could feel the bass of the dance party in our chests. It looked like fun, but we didn’t want to miss anything else, so we moved on. Up the hill near the parliament buildings, we found the ice castle we had seen earlier in the week, as well as the snow sculptures they had made near there. It seemed like more of a family entertainment area, plus you had to pay to get in to the castle, so we headed back to the party. It’s difficult to have a lot of fun in that kind of setting if you only know one other person in the crowd and the rest of them speak a different language. Julia and I tried to get into it, but it just wasn’t flying. We did have a special moment with an extremely drunk Quebecois yelling at us, but other than that, we got bored pretty quick. It was worth it though, seeing a whole city celebrating like that.

On Saturday, everyone left early except for me, Julia and Thomas. Julia and I talked Thomas into driving through the city one more time before heading back to Montreal. I wanted to buy a couple post cards as souvenirs, and we knew there was Carnival festivities going on, and we still hadn’t seen Bonhomme. The policeman let us sneak through the barricade and we found a souvenir shop pretty quick. Just outside though, was a dog race, and guess who was there? That’s right, the living red hatted snowman himself. Thomas took a couple pictures and we were off.

The next day was pretty great. We all went cross country skiing out in the bush some where. I got used to it about half way through the day, after falling down a few hills. But on our last trail, I ran out of energy half way through. My body just said no. Every hill we found threw my face to the snow. I was ready to go home by the end. A good day nevertheless. Ended well with some ichat with Darrell and Adrienne.

You guys and Sophia Coppola made yesterday great. I watched “Lost in Translation,” one of my favorites. Got to talk to Mom, Dad and Nick on the phone. The headphones came in the mail from Jon finally, thanks buddy. Much appreciated. I’m using them right now to listen to “Red Eyed and Blue.” A good song.

Sunday felt pretty significant. A lot of it had to do with the sermon in the morning, part of it had to do with spending four or five hours in a Vietnamese restaurant, and then there was the evening. I guess looking back, not much actually happened, but it felt full.

The pastor at the church I’m going to now has started a series on “darkness and light.” Last week’s sermon he talked about Jesus flipping the tables in the temple square, and how that woke the people around him up, and how we need not be afraid to wake people up around us. It was a solid talk. This week was just as good or better. It was all about how our culture makes it seem like there’s gray matter when it comes to right and wrong, and that if we look through the eyes of Christ things get much clearer. He gave some practical examples that I won’t get into, I don’t want to just rewrite the sermon, but it hit the spot.

Afterward, Julia and I (Bado slept in) went out for Vietnamese with two new friends from church, Dominique and Estelle. Pretty rad people. It was good to hear the stories of more actual residents of this city, get a clearer picture of what real life is like here. There’s an on going theme running through all my conversations with the locals about the independence of everyone in the city and the effects that has on everyone, good and bad. Mostly bad, I’d say. Most people feel lonely. I can relate. It made me want to make community here. You know, talk to people.

The rest of the day was pretty lame, I have to admit. I started missing you guys a lot. All of you. You’re all great. Why does it always take distance for people to come out and say that? Anyway, I thought I’d give you a short note about it. When I get back we’ll have a party so I can high-five you all and say thank you. It’s been good growing up together. I’m done being corny now. Goodnight.

face.

This is kind of a soundtrack to my last week in Ontario. Some of it was Christmas presents, some was just background stuff I recognized, and some of it just ended up in my head. One song, “Written on Planes” is from a band I saw in Montreal before I left. Pierre knew them so we went with Denny. They were pretty cool.

Anyway, list:

Sufjan Stevens – Flint (For the Unemployed and Underpaid). Dave Brubeck Quartet – Blue Rondo a la Turk. Digable Planets – Dog It. Jason Collett – Brownie Hawkeye. The Beatles – Happiness is a Warm Gun. The Walkmen – In the New Year. Spoon – Eddie’s Ragga. Wilco – Via Chicago. Pedro the Lion – Options. Death Cab for Cutie – I Was a Kaleidescope. Jefferson Airplane – My Best Friend. Fleet Foxes – Blue Ridge Mountains. Flotilla – Written On Planes. David Bazan – Fewer Broken Pieces. Waitin’ for Superman – the Flaming Lips. TV on the Radio – Family Tree.

Here are the rest of them so far. I forgot my camera in Montreal, so there’s nothing from Hamilton/Toronto. sorry.

This one works well as an ender. We pretty much look like this every day. Kind of sad, I know. What has technology done to us?

Iùm finqlly getting some pictures up on here. Itùs hqrd to do becquse I need to use Thomqsù computer for it qnd he hqs a French keyboqrd; qnd qs you cqn see; thereùs q fez keys in different plqces: I zqs going to type reql sloz qnd get everything right; but I thought this zould illustrqte my frustrqtion q little better: Iùm qctuqlly fixing the mùs right noz; just so everything is somezhqt reqdqble: yeqh; hqve fun zith thqt:

from Mont Royal.

Alright. So that’s all the way up to our time with the Dunham team. I don’t want this to go too long. Plus, I really like that last one. And this has taken me three days now. I’ll start again tomorrow or something.

For the second week of holidays my good friend Jon denHaan came to visit in Hamilton. We had some pretty great times, eh Jon? We did. You all missed out. I’m not even kidding. Auntie Margaret kept on spoiling us through the whole week, making breakfast ready and letting us sleep in to unknown hours. I almost felt guilty accepting it all. Almost.

There was a little mix up on Saturday, picking up Jon. You see, when we first talked on facebook about him coming, he said he’d probably come on Monday, the 29th. Later on he changed that to Saturday, the 27th, but I only recorded the days in my head. So when I told Auntie Margaret when he would arrive, I said the 29th. So we were expecting him then. Then I get a phone call from Jon’s mom at 4:00 Saturday afternoon, saying that Jon is in Toronto and will be in Hamilton in an hour. Dang. It turned out alright, though. Auntie Marg and I went to pick him up and they both laughed at me.

Sunday we went to Auntie Marg’s church again, and the pastor brought up Wall-E in his sermon as an example of how even our culture knows that our world is being destroyed. I guess it was a nice reference. Did you see that yet? It’s pretty good. Best thing to come from Disney in a long time. The people kind of wreck it half way through, but it’s decent.

I’m going to pretty well skip Monday. I don’t quite recall what we did, but I know it wasn’t much. Tuesday was much more exciting. We made some Ole Bolen. For those unDutch folks out there, Ole Bolen is about the greatest Dutch tradition ever to hit New Year’s Eve. What we do is make a sweet batter with raisins and peeled apple chunks in it, spoon some of the sticky stuff up, and deep fry it. What you get is a kind of doughnut that you dip in icing sugar and eat to your heart’s content (or demise, depending on how you look at it). They were pretty great. That’s pretty much all we ate for the rest of the week. Well, that’s not true, Auntie Margaret cooked some pretty tasty meals. We did eat a lot of Ole Bolen though. Man.

We also went out into Hamilton Tuesday afternoon to check out the city, form an opinion about the place. I don’t think we really did it justice with only one afternoon, but I think Jon and I both gave it a resounding “meh.” I did enjoy the fact that it reminded me of the Potma side of the family a lot, though. It’s hard to pinpoint why exactly, but for some reason it reminded me of train sets and doll houses. There seemed to be an exponential amount of figurine stores. And there’s one street where the old train station and tracks are kind of still in tact. The one all-one-shade-of-green building that looked like had just been placed from above gave it that train set feel too, I guess.

Thank you Nathan, for introducing me to your friends. I first contacted Scott Aasman, to see what he was up to for New Year’s. But he was going to a cottage, so you know what he did? He got Sarah Van Popta to call us and invite us to the Lodder’s New Year’s Party, which was so fun. We played telephone pictionary, brought the New Year in with The Bible and song, walked around a tacky, public, Christmas light display and warmed ourselves by a restaurant’s fire. Pretty great. We were supposed to go sledding with them the following New Year’s Day, but the bailed because of the cold. Apparently, -20 isn’t sledding weather. Wimps. Sarah did invite us to come to Toronto with her and some other friends on Friday though, which we did.

Toronto, it’s alright. We saw this really strange absurdist film with Philip Seymour Hoffman in it called “Synecdoche New York.” It was strange and sad and I don’t like talking about it much, but I liked it. It had some gold moments. Afterward we went to this dive bar called “Imperical Pub” or something like this. You should have seen this place. The bathrooms were hallways and they had a pile of beer boxes lining the back wall. It was awesome though. They were playing this “Sinatra, on Sirius” station, which brought jarring class to the place. And they had a phonebooth built into the wall, which was pretty cool. We had seen this guy painted brown and dressed like a cowboy robot-dancing to Daft Punk for money earlier, and while we were there he came in, already drunk and ready for more. He was pretty harmless though. He didn’t talk to us.

There was this moment during the movie that seemed just perfect. We’re sitting in the second front row and no one knows what’s going on and suddenly I feel a hand grab my foot. Jenna, one of the new friends, was crawling out for popcorn. And when she came back and offered some, it had ketchup and white cheddar powder on it. She had explained her obsession with popcorn earlier, but I hadn’t quite understood till then. Probably one of the strangest experiences of my life.

Saturday was spent packing, hugging and on the bus. It was already dark when I finally got to the apartment. Bado had just started “Lady and the Tramp” so we watched it together and then ate pasta for dinner. Julia came over and Thomas kicked all our butts in Dutch Blitz. Sorry for not representing properly, people. I blame it on the day of travelling.

Alright, so this is kind of a belated Christmas present to you all. I guess a couple songs are a little outdated, but it took me so long to get it on here that I don’t feel like fiddling with it anymore. I hope you’re excited.

keep warm, kids.

And the list is…Â Â Â Â Overture/O Come All Ye Faithful – Michael W. Smith/ Snowman – XTC/ Pink Moon – Nick Drake/ White Winter Hymnal – Fleet Foxes/ The Fox In the Snow – Belle & Sebastian/ Come on! Let’s Boogey to the Elf Dance!/ Sufjan Stevens/ Alaska – Dr. Dog/ In a Sentimental Mood – John Coltrane/ Did I Step On Your Trumpet – Danielson/ Chills, The – Peter Bjorn & John/ Mushaboom – Feist and Ben Gibbard/ All Is Well – Michael W. Smith/ A L’oree Des Bois – Plants and Animals/ Blizzard Of ‘77 – Nada Surf/ Ship The Majestic Suffix – Danielson/ Lo! How A Rose E’er Blooming – Sufjan Stevens/ Gospel – The National/ Silent Night – Michael W. Smith/

I know, a lot of Michael W. Smith. But hey, it’s Christmas!

Well, it’s almost Christmas. I’m in Hamilton, visiting my mom’s side of the family. Auntie Marg, whose home I’m invading for a couple weeks, is a prime example for Omas everywhere. I haven’t been pampered Oma style in a while, and it’s been nice. Home baking, British comedy, and conversation over drying dishes, it’s been pretty great times all around. I’m staying in her guest room, with her grandchildren looking on from the walls.

I left Montreal on Saturday. I’m always nervous when I travel on my own. I always think I’m forgetting something. So I haven’t figured out what it was this time, probably nothing. I’m paranoid now about leaving things behind. I know I have a problem with that kind of thing, so now half the time when I leave a place it’s all I can think about. Anyway, I made it to the bus station on time and lined up. The bus was pretty full, with all the McGill and Concordia students going home to Ontario and all. I ended up sitting beside some girl I missed the name of. I told her mine, but it was really loud in there when she told me her’s, so I couldn’t hear it. I didn’t feel like asking again.

For most of the trip, the bus was pretty quiet. Most people slept or read. I did both while listening to music on this thing. It was pretty uninteresting. Then we stopped in I don’t know where. It was the first stop on the twelve hour bus ride. I recognized the name of the place, but I don’t remember which small, Ontario town it was. Anyway, there was a restaurant and a Tim’s there. At first I thought, ‘hey I’ll try this little restaurant out, I’m sick of Tim Horton’s coffee anyway.’ No luck. They were cash only. So I head over to Timmy Hoe’s for a bagal, doughnut and coffee. Of course the line up is almost out the door because we’re at a big bus stop and well, it’s Ontario. I’m already kind of worried that this place doesn’t take debit either, but when I get to the beginning of the line, I see the machine and relax. I order all my food and hand her my card and the lady says what sounds like, “Oh, we only take debit and mastercard.” I say, “this is debit.” and she “repeats” “no, we only take mastercard.” I kind of feel like getting upset, because I see the debit machine right in front of me, but I just turn away to go look for a cash machine. I find one in the first restaurant/bus station, but of course it doesn’t work so I ask the ticket counter guy for a twenty. I go back to Timmy’s, order the same junk, and by the time it’s all done, I have to be back on the bus. So get this straight: Tim Horton’s owns debit machines. I saw them at the counter. Two of them. But they won’t use them. They turned me away and threw out the food I ordered because I didn’t have cash. I think this must be the stupidest thing I’ve seen ever. Welcome to the 21st century, Tim. We use cards to pay for stuff. It’s just the way the world is working now. And never mind Tim Horton’s, Ontario. The other place didn’t have any debit machine either. It’s weird. In B.C. you don’t need cash at all. You can pay with any card anywhere. We’ve embraced it completely. Not here, I guess.

Anyway, the bus only went to Toronto. It cost half as much to do it that way instead of going to Hamilton. So I had to use their “GO” transit system, which must have been made in the 60’s but is still ten times better than Vancouver’s system from the 80’s. You should see their subways. They’re all steal on the outside like they just came off the set of some black and white mobster movie. Pretty rad. Anyway, I took one of those to Union Station and got on the Go train to Anchaster so I could finally get my last bus ride to Hamilton bus terminal. My mom’s cousin Jim and his family were there to pick me up and bring me to the Tichelaar street, as I will refer to it from now on. It’s a lot like the Koole block, but more linear.

We went to their house for a little while and caught up. Jim had been to BC I think it was this summer or for Opa and Tina’s wedding or something. What was it again, anyone from the Potma side? I don’t remember. Anyway, we talked about where the kids, Abby and Jake, were at in school and about my school. I think I’ve had to explain YWAM DTS about a thousand times since I got here. Then I went over to Auntie Marg’s to talk to her for a while and get set up in bed. I was pretty tired from all the travelling and everything.

Sunday was crazy. We went to 1st CRC Hamilton for church. This guy, Peter Tichelaar (not related to me, but to my relatives. My Auntie Marg married into the Tichelaar family) did the worship. He’s pretty controversial in the congregation because he moves and dances while he leads and has invited a couple pianists who played too “jazzy” for some people. I love him. For Christmas, he had djembae and Native American drum for his percussion, and pulled out both acoustic and electric mandelin along with the regular guitar and bass. And when he plays the guitar, he’s not afraid to really play, you know? He lets the thing jangle a bit. I like it. He reminded me of Sufjan Stevens a bit. Really great worship time. Anyway, afterward we went to cousin Ken’s place for the Tichelaar Christmas. I felt kind of awkward there, like a part time member to a sports team that has a real bond going on. It had nothing to do with the way they treated me. They included me in everything. Auntie Marg even gave me a book as a gift. But it felt weird on the inside. I didn’t get completely comfortable till Ken, Jim and I went to the garage to smoke cigars and shoot the shit. I’d say at that point I felt home.

Nothing much has happened since then. Monday was really lazy. Tuesday Auntie Marg and visited Auntie Tina for a bit and I spent some of the day with her. We visited her son Vince at his small engine shop. I looked around for any Skags, but he doesn’t sell them. We went to the retirement home where she works and I got hit on by some confused old lady. We went to Tim Horton’s afterward and then she brought me home to Auntie Marg’s. It was great hanging out with her for awhile. That night I went over to Jim and Marie-Jane’s to watch the movie “Goal!” with them and Jake. It had some cheesy “inspirational” moments that weren’t helped by the film score, but overall, it was alright.

Oh man, the whole thing with Auntie Tina was today. I guess I messed it up because of the nap I had this afternoon. That was kind of disorienting. Anyway, you get the picture so far. It’s been pretty good and relaxing. I got to get some sleep now. Tomorrow I’ll let you know about the week before that in Montreal. Should be a treat trying to get those days figured out.

So Darrell and Adrienne came this weekend for my Birthday. What a great time we had. I would have to say Friday night was one of the most epic nights of the entire trip. From the litre of beer at Trois Brasseurs to the awkward situation at the jazz club, to the many “ophile” usages, twas a night to remember.

Finding their hotel was an exercise. I got off the metro at Place D’Armes like Adrienne said and walked toward the river, past the Notre Dame, to Rue Commune, but then turned right instead of left. About ten minutes later, after feeling like I had walked into the 19th century, I hit McGill and knew I had missed them or had gone the wrong way. So I called Darrell and he met me half way. We ran toward each other like lovers in some cheesy old movie. And with the snow falling and everything, it was a great start.

Maybe I should explain the jazz club. When I got to their hotel it was already around 7:00. They had asked the concierge for a nice place the night before and she had sent them to this expensive jazz wine bar. We asked her to phone them for a reservation, but couldn’t get one till 9:30, so we went to Trois Brasseurs, a micro brewery, for dinner instead. The plan was to go to the jazz place for dessert.

When we got their and asked for the dessert menu, the waiter was obviously perturbed. He made a comment like, “usually people order dinner first,” and walked away. It kind of annoyed us, but we laughed it off. He went off to tell his snooty waiter friends about the BS table he was serving and they all proceeded to glare at us all night. Most impressive. And when Darrell ordered the 2005 bottle, he was given the 2007. Very classy. The lady could sing, though. The band was hot.

Saturday we went to the Andy Warhol exhibition. That guy was completely obsessed with celebrities, which was pretty odd seeing as he was one. Some of his stuff looks fantastic, and I appreciated what he did for art, but he’s not the kind of guy I would want around me much. He seems very superficial. He even said so himself.

My Birthday began with a trip to Nottingham and Sherwood Forest. It’s a toss up, but I think Robin Hood has to be one, if not the, best cartoon full length film of all time. I never get sick of it. Great movie. We walked around the city a bit in the afternoon, had dinner at this surprisingly trendy bar on rue St. Denis. Everything was dimly lit and all the beer had specific glasses. Afterward we went to the Cremazie apartment where Adrienne baked cookies for everyone and we spread the Tim Tam “little g” gospel to everyone. There were no complaints.

Monday, Darrell Adrienne and I decided to be adventurous and walk up Mont Royal in -16 to -20 degree weather. Pretty dang cold, but we made it. Spent an hour or so playing Go Fish and sipping our chocolate chaud in the chalette on top by the viewpoint. On the way down we got so cold that Adrienne got a stomach ache from it. Intense. We walked through the underground mall to keep away from it and so Adrienne could see what was all down there. I haven’t spent much time in there. It’s friggin’ huge.

Tuesday was the last day we had together, and it was mostly spent doing practical things like trying to get me a new hard drive for my computer. There’s an actual Appleâ„¢ Store on St. Catherine, so we went there, thinking we could get one there. No go. Two floors that make you feel like you’re in an ipod and they can’t sell me a hard drive. I even set up an appointment to talk to one of their “geniuses” and everything. What a disappointment.

Anyway, we went back to the apartment afterward. They called a cab and finished packing their stuff. 45 minutes later the taxi finally pulls up and we all get in the back. By now it was rush hour, plus we were in the middle of a snow storm. What a mess. And every time the lady taxi driver tried to find a way to the airport, it was jammed full. At one point we spent 20 minutes in one spot, trying to turn left. And we were only around five kilometres away. So stressful. Adrienne ended up calling Mom and then WestJet to let them know they were still coming and could they hold on for just a couple minutes. We actually got to the airport 25 minutes before the plane was supposed to take off. They almost didn’t let them on. Other than a girl who had a Plants and Animals LP for her sister for Christmas, they were the last ones on. Needless to say, my bus ride home was not as exciting.

Anyway, that pretty much raps up the weekend. We had an awesome time, eh? Thanks for coming, guys. You made my 22nd special. And thanks for all the groceries. The spekulaas and chocolate chip cookies are a real treat.

pops.

This is a day late, sorry Dad. Happy Birthday. I hope you enjoy. I’m not sure about the last one, but the first line is “Daddy, please hear this song that I sing.” I couldn’t resist.

The list is this: Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground/The White Stripes//Songs of National Freedom/Richard Swift//El Caminos in the West/Grandaddy//Apeman/The Kinks//The Weight/The Band//Feedback in the Field/Plants and Animals//Vandervelde Blues/Richard Swift//Bron-Y-Aur Stomp/Led Zeppelin//Gamma Ray/Beck//Chances Are/Apostle of Hustle//Old Man/Neil Young//Where to Begin/My Morning Jacket//In A Graveyard/Rufus Wainwright//War On War/Wilco//Pressed in a Book/The Shins//Magnolia Mountain/Ryan Adams and the Cardinals//A Space Boy Dream/Belle & Sebastian//Two Headed Boy Part II/Neutral Milk Hotel//