it closes up to protect itself, and opens up again after a couple of minutes.

Peacock in the forest...foot hills of the Blue Mountains, Tamil Nadu

The Peacock is almost hidden in the green foliage. We waited hoping to see if the Peacock would open out it's tail...but no luck. Maybe next time!

Shades of India

Still in India....below are some pictures I took in Chennai and our trip to Ooty.

One thing you notice here is the noise around you - People blowing their horns from every kind of vehicle, people yelling to sell something, cattle, songs from loud speakers and the occasional screech of tires.......Canada is pretty quiet compared to the sounds you hear here.

A Tea Estate in Ooty where you can go and see how they make tea for retail.

The famous Blue Mountain train that goes up and down from Mettupalayam to Ooty

This picture was taken at the Botancial gardens in Ooty....amazing is not the word! Just look at those trees....

Most road signs in India are written in the language of the state and in English

Driving up to Ooty...a hillstation in South India, Tamil Nadu

Entertainment area for kids in a Chennai mall, where you can leave your kids while you shop

Something we were very lucky to see...an elephant in the middle of the traffic.

A tractor taking a load of hay somewhere....yes, it does look like it is going to tip over :)

Lush, green paddy fields off of the highway

Auto stand

Van carrying empty cans of bottled water.

Vacationing in India....back in September :)

Wow...have been in India a glorious six weeks and I have four more to go.

Have been traveling around the state of Tamil Nadu, which is where I am from. First my home town for a family wedding, then to Ooty for a school reunion and then back to Chennai city where I lived before moving to Canada.

Have to say: after one year abroad, there really is not anything that I can say is very different here except the urge to once in a while say, 'It is so hot!' But that is only because I am outside in the hot sun..instead of inside somewhere being cooled by a fan or an air conditioner! There were plenty of days in Canada when we got roasted too.....it can get pretty hot in Toronto with the UV rays being so high.

The first day on the road, I did think the cars were driving too close to each other (autos and bikes are another story), but that is only because in one year, I got used to wides roads and less traffice. But by day two, everything was back to normal, including my two kids not wearing seatbelts. (Of course, we do tell them to wear it......whereas in Canada it is something we automatically do.)

We have been spending our days eating out, eating in and ordering food too. Yes, catching up on all the food we have been missing is #1 on our list of things to do. Besides eating, we have been meeting family, friends, shopping (I'll write another post on this) and going to favourite old places.

Adding a few pictures taken in India, for my Canadian readers and of course all the Indian readers who would like a bit of nostalgia!!

Typical Indian traffic. The little yellow buggy you see is called an 'Auto'. It is a cheap mode of travel and you will find this anywhere in India.

St.Andrews (The Kirk) Chennai - Famous Church

View of Chennai city. That is the MRTS rail system you see in the middle of the pictures.

Inside the A380

View of the inside...

Three cameras give you the front, back and downward view of where you are going, where you have been and where you are now.

View of the runway as we approached Dubai International airport. Quite an amazing sight to watch your take off and landing.

Emirates A380 from Toronto to Dubai

When you first see the size of the aircraft, your first thought is, 'how on earth does this even get off the ground?'

This aircraft has two decks and therefore needs two aerobridges at different levels for passengers to get on board.

The on board entertainment system is probably one of the best in the world, if not the best. The system starts before you even get on, so you don't have to wait one hour after take off like other airlines. You have a choice of watching the latest movies, old movies and award winning movies. Cartoons, kids shows, documentaries, t.v shows and news channels are also available, as well as hundreds of music albums and songs that you can listen to. Earphones are placed on every seat....and you don't have to pay for them..unlike some airlines I know!

View of the inside of the cabin.

The A380 experience

The Emirates A380 that we flew from Toronto to Dubai.

The kids schools closed for Summer vacation, which means that it is time to pack our bags and go back to India!! (No, not for good...but for six glorious weeks with family and friends)

June 27th, we left for Pearson and after getting our boarding passes, made our way to the Gate where we would take our A380 Emirates flight to Chennai, India. (via a short halt at Dubai airport)

We were there an hour early, which gave us enough time to get some dinner. Our flight was at 9.40pm, but we knew from experience that by the time they served dinner it would be past mid-night. We ordered some burgers and cokes and sat down at the mini-foodcourt they have near the gates numbered in their 70's. While there we saw a basket ball team and the Black Eyed Peas. Fergie spoke to my eight year old daughter, after my very inquisitive offspring, decided to go and ask if she was indeed someone famous. With a story that I will be telling for years to come......with no picturs to prove it happened....and a very happy little girl....we made our way to our gate.

Remember that the A380 is huge.....so it holds more passengers, which means that boarding now takes longer.

After boarding, we noticed that the on board entertainment system was already on and working, with headphones on every seat. You don't have to wait an hour for the movies to start like most other airlines. Talking about movies, Emirates has an awesome array of movies, songs, t.v shows, games and documentaries running the entire flight time. You also have access to viewing the front and back cameras and the camera underneath the aircraft. Watching the approach to the runway is something just amazing to experience.

Some families who checked in late, were spread around the aircraft, but managed to swap seats with other passengers so that their families could be together. This created a problem of sorts, because Emirates take meal requests online at the time of booking for special meals like vegetarian, non-lactose, child, diabetic, nut free etc. Stickers are put on the back of the seats with the meal requests ahead of time to facilitate faster service. With the swapped seats, meals got interchanged and some people didn't get the vegetarian meal they ordered and some children didn't get their meals either. After some confusion, complaints and apologies, all was set straight and dinner was served.

The food was fantastic. We had a choice of lamb or chicken for dinner, and they served drinks and gave out snacks too. Once the dinner trays were collected, the lights were switched off and most of us decided to catch up on the latest movies instead of catching up on sleep! With each passenger able to control what they want to watch, and being able to pause, forward or rewind......the entertainment system on board Emirates has to be one of the best.

The twelve hour flight was more or less comfortable for being stuck in the sitting position and occasionally being told to put the seat belt back on because of turbulence. I am just 5.2, so the seats had decent space for me to stretch out my legs, but I'm sure a taller person would find it slightly cramped.

Bathrooms...........they need to put in more bathrooms! With a flight full of children and the elderly, there were lines of eight to nine people at any given time waiting for their turn to use the bathroom.

Major Negative!!

After landing at Dubai, all of us were made to walk in single file past a thermal scanner. Yes, they were checking for passengers travelling with any signs of the Swine Flu. They did the same thing in Chennai too.

During our stop at Dubai, we decided to use the lounge to send emails, have lunch and rest before our next flight out. The buffet was pretty good, and the kids got to eat something before our next flight. I also did some dutyfree shopping which is the best thing to do at Dubai airport. From perfumes to chocolates or liquor...Dubai dutyfree is one of the best in the world in terms of range and price.

We landed in Chennai at three in the morning and had to fill in two forms. One to be filled in with our immigration information and the other with our seat numbers, address and phone numbers. This was in case any passengers near us later experienced any symptoms of the swine flu, they would know how to contact us.

Once outside, we were greeted by my Brother and Mother......happy to be seeing us after our move to Canada.

Driving home felt the same...as if we never left. Some of the flyovers were new and the traffic felt a little heavier....even for four in the morning...but it was good to be back!

Toronto events and happenings....websites info.......summer 2009

A wonderful website to check out if you are here in Toronto is

www. toronto.com

You can find information on everything happening in and around Toronto from music shows, art festivals, special movie screenings, garden shows, food tasting events, free events and exhibits.
There is also information on tickets to all the events, how to get to places, the best places to eat, child friendly places and places and things to do on a budget.


This summer for example, one of the things that we are going to see is the exhibit of the Dead sea scrolls at the Royal Ontario Museum. That should be great to see!

Other information guides you can also find on their website are:

Family Guide
Arts Guide
Contests
Visitor's Guide
Nightlife Guide
Club Guide
Golf Guide
Adult Guide
Travel Centre
Toronto Traffic

If you are looking for places to camp, fish and hike. Or other activities like paintball, golfing or even rafting.......check out the website: They also have information on rentals of canoes and cottages, and info on skydiving lessons:

http://www.playday.com/

From shopping to finding hotels and where exactly the happening bars and clubs are, go to http://www.toronto.com/ and see what this amazing city has to offer........................and while you are doing this, you can also check out the little weather guide box on the top right to make sure it isn't going to rain or snow while you plan your days outings!

For events in Canada, check out:

http://www.canadaevents.ca/

http://canadaeventscalendar.ca/

http://www.canada.gc.ca/whats-quoi/newevent.html (This website gives you details on up and coming Canadian Government events).

Hope these websites are of some help in planning your 'staycation' if you are here in Toronto or elsewhere in Canada.

Have a great summer everybody!

Stunning sight of rainbows over the Toronto skyline...

Incredible rainbow over our home on the evening of may 30th...........there were actually two rainbows......one light and one dark...........you can see both in one of the pictures below.

Two rainbows at the same time!

Emirates A380 lands in Toronto!

The A380 has landed........................

The headlines on todays paper......'Colossal jet has star turn at Pearson'. I read the article with a lot of interest, as we normally fly Emirates on our way back to India or Canada, and was excited that we may get to travel in it too. But this flight, being the inaugural flight.....cost the priviledged passengers $10,000 CAN/- per head........with champagne, 23 inch touch screen televisions, leather couches, fully stocked bar, mini fridge for every business class seat and massaging functions on your seat.

Now, with the A380 coming in to Toronto three times a day, it opens up an entirely new style of air travel. Yes, there is even a shower on board........but don't get any funny ideas...there is a five minute limit!





The aircraft, the biggest in the world, has 489 seats and can land only in airports fitted with the third level aerobridge to allow passengers to reach the upperdeck. About sixty airports around the world are either geared up or are gearing up to take passengers on the A380.

Speaking of airlines.......having travelled on different carriers in the past, according to me.......the best three are: Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Jet Airways. The worst? Air France and Air Canada (sorry!!) This was based on the types of food served on board, in-flight entertainment and service. (Flights in and out of India) As far as airports go.....Dubai's International terminal with the duty free stores and first class lounges and Singapores Changi airport top as two of the best in the world.

Schools will be closing end of this month in Canada......and I'm sure many families will take to the skies...........no matter what airline you decide to take and where you decide to go.....have a safe trip and a terrific holiday!!

Beautiful rainbow across Toronto skies May 30-09

More pictures by tomorrow!

EQAO - Evil Questions Attack Ontario

This is what my daughter (she is eight) thinks that EQAO stands for!

It actually means, Education Quality and Accountability Office. Every year, the public school system students take this exam.........to assess their skill level in reading, writing and math.

Grades three, six, nine and ten students have to take the test and it is administered end May and beginning June. The students do not study for these tests, but take them for the Government to assess the schools and how well they are teaching the curriculum to the students. This allows for improvement in weak areas and to help pinpoint which schools need extra resources. This occurs when the majority of students are from different backgrounds and may not have English as a first language.


You can check www.eqao.com

The website gives you all the test details and you can also download the previous years question papers to use as practice lessons. Click on the Parent Resources button to get into the page for downloading the questions.

As I have a son in grade 6 and a daughter in grade 3, both my kids are taking the EQAO this year. The results should be out by October. Will let you know more about how the results are tabulated when I get them.

Until then........good luck to all you grade3, 6, 9 and 10 students!!

Update on our dvd player repair..post of Feb 14th

If you go back to my post of Feb 14th.......you'll understand this better........but basically our Samsung dvd player stopped working after just six months!

After Best Buy, where we bought it from, told us that we would have to send the player to Samsung by UPS (which Samsung paid for) we did just that. Three months we waited for no news........and then you will never guess what happened!!

We got a knock on our door, and when I opened it.......there was a UPS guy there with a HUGE box. I first thought he's come to the wrong house or it was some equipment we ordered for our business that we forgot about.

The 'box' turned out to be a brand new Home Theatre system from Samsung as they could not repair our dvd player!! So now we have one working dvd player and TWO sets of home theatre system speakers!

Yea!

What's up in Canada...besides Victoria day?

Queen Victoria

If you are in Canada in the month of May........you will notice a holiday on the Calendar....that may strike you as being slightly strange. The Monday on or before May 24th is Victoria day and depending on which part of Canada you are in........along with Saturday and Sunday, you have a long weekend off! This means the start of summer to many, garage sales, and of course gardening and doing your lawn. The Victoria day weekend is also when many Canadians take off for camping grounds, visiting family or just chilling out at home.


According to Wikipedia:

Victoria day celebrates the birthday of the current Canadian Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. However, the date does not change with the change of monarch, instead it is set on the birthday of Queen Victoria, the Canadian Monarch at the time of Canadian Confederation and establishment of dominion status in 1867. Her birthday being May 24th, 1819.

Alexandrina Victoria, was the only child of Edward, Duke of Kent and Victoria Maria Louisa of Saxe-Coburg. The Duke and Duchess of Kent wanted the name Victoria but her uncle, George IV, insisted that she be named Alexandrina after her godfather, Tsar Alexander I of Russia. ( I guess Victoria day sounds better than Alexandrina day!!)

Victoria day is a statutory holiday in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Ontario, Quebec (coincides with National Patriotes Day), Saskatchewan, and Yukon.


It is not a statutory holiday in the eastern maritime provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.

This year, 2009, Victoria day fell on May 18th. Wow, what a weekend..........we saw bikers out....kids playing in shorts outside and lots of people out enjoying the nice warm weather! We also saw lines and lines of people shopping for lawn equipment, plants and fertilizers........yes, the annual, 'who has the best lawn on the street' competition has unofficially started. May the best green thumb win!