The Pioneers

You really do learn so much from your kids! My daughter had a history test this week on the Pioneers that came to Canada in the late 1700's. Because she is in the third grade, it was broken down into interesting facts and details for the eight year olds to remember and find interesting. I thought, 'yea, just perfect for the blog...short and sweet!'

So, here is the jist of how the 'whites and blacks' came to Canada.

The Aboriginal, or the first people who were on Canadian soil are called the First Nations, Inuit or Métis. In a census taken in 2006, there were over 1,172,790 aboriginals in Canada, about 3. 8% of the population.

Although the word 'Indian' remains in place as the legal term used in the Canadian Constitution, its usage can be considered offensive. The confusion is traced to the European explorer Christopher Columbus who was thoroughly convinced that he had discovered a new route to India when he had spotted the Aboriginals.

So if you grew up reading books about the,' Red Indians', remember using that phrase here in North America now is thought to be a highly offensive, as well as referring to a black person as a 'negro'.

More about the pioneers:

The British came to Canada from all the way across the Atlantic because land was cheaper and they wanted a new way of life. When the United States got independence from Britain, the group of people who were loyal to Great Britain and the Queen, moved to Canada by wagon or on foot. (As Canada was still under Great Britain) This group was called the 'Loyalists'. So technically the first 'white' people in Canada were the British and the second group were the Loyalists. They settled in the Niagara region.

When many of the Loyalists moved from the United States, they took their African slaves with them. Soon after they moved, the slaves were set free. Also, many slaves escaped from the United States on foot and by the underground railroads to Canada for their freedom. So this is how African Americans settled in Canada. The third group of pioneers. They settled in Niagara and Kingston.

The fourth group were the Europeans who came across the Atlantic on ships and crossed into Canada by the St.Lawrence River. They came mainly to practice their religion and again, for a new way of life. Most of these pioneers were the French, therefore the large French speaking population here.


That is the history of the original pioneers to Canada in a nutshell. Will try to get some relevant pictures and put those up soon.

For Sale!

Driving around the block this morning, I noticed more and more 'For Sale' signs around my neighbourhood. Bad news, because in this kind of economy, it means that more and more people are having distress sales, losing their homes to banks or down grading to smaller homes.

Infact my next door neighbour is caught in a catch 22 situation.....they bought the house they are living in about eight years ago. Then, two years ago they paid the downpayment for a new house north of Brampton. This new home is ready in April, and if they don't pay the balance installment and take the house on time, they will be fined $1000/- canadian dollars. At the same time, their home has been on sale for awhile now, and so far not a single buyer has come to see their house!

They need the money from the sale of their present home, to get posession of the new home. Banks are wary of giving new loans and peoples credit ratings have dropped due to non payment of credit card bills etc. Their asking price for their three bedroom, two bathroom home is $317,000/-. This is considered to be a middle class house. They also spent 35,000/- on new flooring, a new roof and doing up the basement. All necessary to sell the home.

Hope things go well for them! Overall, pretty dismal economic situation here. Nothing is selling, malls are empty and people are taking any kind of job they can get. Not sure how bad the situation is in India right now.

The only good thing...is that after three months of snow and minus temperatures..today the sun is finally out and it is 4 degrees outside. My daughter was so excited that she could wear a short sleeve shirt to school today. You don't miss things like that unless you are forced to wear long sleeves for three months running!

Last Sunday we went to a place called, Varl Dosa. A Tamil couple run the small place on Kennedy road in Brampton. Nice homemade food. We had dosa's, chicken fried rice and parathas with chicken curry. I give it a seven on ten. The sambar and chutney at the Saravana Bhavan is far better. Prices at the Dosa place were very reasonable, where as Saravana is pretty expensive for a vegetarian place.

The common restaurants here are Swiss Chalet, Montana's, Harveys, Kelseys and of course the usual McDonalds, Pizza hut etc.

Will try the restaurants and let you know how they were! Just the kind of experimenting I like!!

The King, more snow and Raccoons....

Well, not the King..but Obama. You would think it was some kind of royalty though, with all the hullabaloo going on here for the past ten days or so about Obama's impending visit. Families that reside near Parliament house, have been told to not come out onto their fire escape, roof or open windows while Obama is in town!

Security has never been this tight for anyone, and this mornings paper had some interesting articles mainly reminding Canadians that it is the American president that is coming to town and therefore his agenda will have what is best for America and not Canada. Most Canadians think he is coming here to better the Canadian economy, and many papers today put that into perspective. GM closing in America, means that it will close in Canada too. This means thousands of jobs on the line....so yes, to the average Canadian, what happens in America is very intertwined into the lives of what happens in Canada.

The Prime Minister here, Stephen Harper is also a young politician with two young children, and the general feeling here is that he should get along with Obama with so much in common. Obama is coming here with the main agenda of getting Canadian backing for more troops in Afghanistan, and to see how better these two countries can share in trade and information.

Another day of snow and rain.....so much for the clear roads!

We saw raccoon footprints outside our garage today. Being garbage day, it probably could smell the food in the trash and was scouting around. Raccoons can be vicious and really dangerous when trapped.
This is a North American Raccoon...very common here. They can stand on their hind legs and hold things with their front paws. Raccoon's are also very intelligent and can open standard trash cans! They are a little bigger than cats and are nocturnal.

Will write a post on the different kinds of animals found here and not elsewhere.

Until next time.........have a good week!

Blue Mountain and the road that took us there.

Yesterday, around 1pm, we decided at the spur of the moment to take a drive and see the Blue Mountains. These mountains, are basically a ski resort and winter chalet vacation spot, about 130 miles from where we live.

The drive took us about two hours..........straight roads most of the way...and an easy enough drive. You don't really reach any specific moment during the drive, where you say, 'Oh look, there are the mountains.' The climbs are so low key, that you get there without realising it.

The ski resort we went to (Club Intrawest vacation Homes), happens to be one of the resorts where you can book rooms only if you have a club membership like RCI. (In India you get automatic membership into RCI when you become a member of Club Mahindra). RCI - Resorts and Condominiums International

We found out that to stay there we would have to call the 1-800 number of RCI to make a booking. This is something we're planning to do in March when some of my cousins who live in Dubai are coming in for a week.

We also found out that they have hourly ski lessons at the slopes, over 300 ski instructors during the winter season, and also rentals for ski's and ski boots. They also have different rate packages for using the ski lift to go to the top of the slope.

On our way back, my husband told me to drive. Since I got my license here just a few months ago, I was still not driving on the highway. So, getting behind the wheel, I drove the 130 miles back home.......it was great! The roads were straight, but went up and down in some places like a roller coaster. That is Hurontario street..the main highway to Collingwood from Brampton. What you see is just a few miles, but imagine miles and miles of the same road. It is a beautiful sight during the sunset!

Will keep you posted on our trip there in March and more details as to which are the best places to stay and what kind of things you can do there.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

View of one of the small ski slopes on Blue Mountain. You can see the ski-lift in the background.

The Forbidden Phoenix - Musical Play

This morning we woke up to a glorious minus six degree morning.....with the sun shining and all the snow and ice finally melted from the roads. As family day was on Monday, this mornings newspaper was full of fun events for the entire family of things happening in and around Toronto for the long weekend.

We went through the list and saw that there was a fun musical and acrobatic play in Toronto, and tickets were still available for today! So we quickly got ready and drove the forty minutes to downtown Toronto, found parking and made our way to the 'Lorraine Kimsa theatre for Young People'.

The Forbidden Phoenix, the name of the play, had opened on Thursday and was being presented by LKTYP in partnership with Edmonton's Citadel Theatre.

We bought out tickets...$15 for kids and $20 for adults was the listed price, but once there they said they will accept any 'donation' for the tickets. You didn't have to pay the listed price and could pay what you felt like. We picked up our four tickets and headed into the theatre.

It was a small theatre...which seated about two hundred people at the most..and we got seats right in the front row!!

The play started bang on time...after the mandatory announcement to turn off cell phones and no cameras. (So, sorry....I have no pictures to upload here!) There was plenty of singing, acrobatics and interesting characters..one of the main actresses had her leg in a cast and was carried about the stage or used crutches for her scenes....which was something unusual to see. I guess they did not have a stand in.

There was a fifteen minutes interval and the play ended before four pm. Overall it was enjoyable and the kids loved the acrobatics and the sound affects with all the smoke machines and strobe lights.

We had a late lunch and drove back home.......and now I am writing about it here in my post!

If you do come here to Toronto, just do a google search on 'theatres in Ontario' and you will get several lists of plays going on at that time with all the ticket details and timings.

Until my next post.....see you!

FAMILY DAY - FEB 16TH MONDAY

One holiday that you may have never heard of.....I didn't until we came here...is FAMILY DAY.

This falls on the third Monday of February, and was started just last year, 2008.

The goverment of 2007, in October that year declared the holiday and the write up that was printed in the local paper the next day said:

"Premier Dalton McGuinty got back to work today on behalf of hard-working Ontario families by confirming that he would create a new statutory holiday this February called Family Day.
"There is nothing more valuable to families than time together. And yet it seems tougher than ever to find, with so many of us living such busy lives," McGuinty said.
"That's why, on the third Monday of this coming February — and every February from now on — Ontarians deserve a new statutory holiday — Family Day."


So, this means: Yea...we have a long weekend!

Schools, banks, offices and any place where parents could be working are closed. Well, except gas stations, stores and eating places. Also, the Zoo, museums, theaters and other family friendly places are not only open, but have reduced their tickets for Monday and/or allowing kids free!!

Infact, when I went to school to pick up my daughter on Friday.....the question on everyones mind was what they were going to do for Family Day. Some said, we're taking the time to visit the temple and then go to Niagara falls. Others are going for a movie..or some place new to eat. But the key word is 'family' and spending time with your parents/kids/siblings/ whomever....

For those who don't have families or don't like the ones they have:) ....you can always drive out to the U.S just across the border and take advantage of the Presidents Day sales going on there...for the U.S holiday that is also on Monday!

So, HAPPY FAMILY DAY...........

Oh..We are going for our first ice hockey game on Monday.....Mississauga St. Michael’s MajorsVS Brampton Battalion at the Hershey Center in Mississauga.

Will let you know the details on that on Tuesday........if we get tickets that is!!

Have a good weekend wherever you are!

Update on our samsung dvd player

There is none! We emailed the person at the Samsung service center...and until today no reply. Remember they were supposed to email back to us the address and how to POST them our dvd by mail as they were not allowed to collect the same over the counter?

Still waiting.................... but will call them Tuesday.

Keep you posted......

Things you will find strange here.....

Was thinking today about India and how we take certain things for granted there.....sounds absurd...but true, about things that are done differently here in Canada.

For example:

1) When I was in Chennai....as far as I know, I could use my visa card anywhere, and if not that (never came across a store that didn't) they would def take a mastercard.

Here, there are huge stores like Oceans, No Frills and similar stores..that don't take visa, or even a credit card!! You have to pay cash or by debit. I am talking about a supermarket six times the size of a Foodworld. Most stores do not take American Express.

Many stores here have their own cards and tie ups with banks for this service. You get points and discounts when you use these cards to buy things from these stores. The downside to this is that you end up with dozens of cards in your wallet/purse which you have to carry with you everywhere!

2) At the store No Frills and a couple of others..you have to tell them approximately how many bags you will be needing to carry your groceries home. For each bag, you pay 5cents. There are many people who bring their own bags, own cardboard box or some who don't bother and just put all the groceries loosely in the cart and then put it the same way into the trunk of the car. Then imagine at home, carrying everything into the house. (common sight here!)

This is done to prevent the damage done to the environment with all plastic bags once they are thrown away, which is a good thing I guess. Many stores gave away free cloth bags last year, hoping customers would reuse the same bags which also had advertising on them. But this didn't work.

3) You have to pump your own gas here and pay for it at the pump (card) or inside the store in every gas station where you can pay cash too. All the gas stations come with clear instructions as to how to pay for the gas, what kind of gas and the prices. Remember, don't move your car before you pay....this is considered a criminal offence.

These were just some things I thought of today! I'll post more as I come across more instances like these.

Have a nice week!

Nalini

Samsung dvd and our adventure trying to repair it...Canadian style!

When we moved into our new home last August, even before buying chairs to sit on...the first thing we bought was a t.v....and because we got a good deal...we picked up the home theatre system as well. Samsung...good brand, Best Buy..good store in Canada to buy any electronics.

Well, six months later..and our dvd player decided to start making funny noises and play a movie for the first two minutes before freezing. (Thus prompting us to eject the dvd, play it again, fast forward, skip ....anything to try to get it to work....but nothing!)

So, we find the invoice and drive all the way (okay, it took just fifteen minutes) to the store to get the player repaired.

They look at the invoice and say that the after purchase service that we paid a little extra for only covers the t. v and not the home theatre. Okay..what now?

Then they tell us that because it is a samsung, that the samsung people want to repair the player directly so that they will know what went wrong and try to make sure it doesn't happen in the future to other players. They give us an address for the Samsung service center and because it is just another twenty minute drive away..we decide to go there.

We reach this huge building, recheck the address..yes, we are at the right place...but we don't see any cars, or any signs saying Samsung..anything! So we call the number that they gave us..and after five minutes of pressing phone button options..we get an actual human on the line and he informs us that....get this.........they are not authorized to take the player directly from the customer, so the customer has to POST the dvd player to them by mail!!

This sounded so absurd to us at first, but then we realized that this is how things are done here more or less. Different companines..doing things their way...which may not mean customer friendly at all! Once we 'post' our player to them, it will take two to three weeks for them to fix it and get it back to us..or replace it with a new one.

We came back home laughing to ourselves.....yes, this is one more thing that would have been easier to do in India.

Will keep you posted (sorry for the pun) and let you know what happens to our player......

First we have to scan our invoice and fax or email it to a person at the Samsung service center. Then he will email us back how to post it..yes, Samsung does pay for the postage..and how to go about sending the player in.

Until next time....

Nalini