countryside brain

So, we went up to the countryside for the big Canada Day party and have now returned to Toronto fat, happy, and with sand in our ears. Ok, well, Ji's still scrawny but the rest of us ate ourselves silly up there north of the checkerboard. Thank goodness the tailor made my bridesmaid dress on the slightly looser rather than slightly tighter side. I might've had to go on a celery-only diet if it had been tightly fitted a month ago. Oh curse you, DuBonnet, Gin, Tonic, and fudge. And you too, sausages of all sorts.

Always funny to come back into "town". We're struck by (and this is in strict order) the desire to eat many, many, many kinds of foods that are not available in the land o' burgers, and then as soon as we get out of the car we're struck by the fact that everyone isn't white like me, and then we're struck dumb by the cool-fangled "television set" that lives in our room here at aunts' house. Last night we flipped between Property Ladder, Shear Genius, and about 3 minutes worth of SNL. When I changed channels during commercials Phet kept saying, "Turn back, turn back! Let's see if they sell the house! Turn back!" How I love you, all of you, home fix-up shows. But I don't understand why my all time favourite show, What Not To Wear, with Stacey and whats-his-name, is no longer being aired. That was the greatest, greatest show. Juuuust snarky enough to be funny but also really nice how at the end the guest-slash-victim would be all thrilled with their new look. Now Stacey's doing some weird show about fashion, like she went to see all the best bridal salons, and she's a total yawn when she's fawning all over people instead of making snappy, cutting insults. And if anyone ever questions the value of reality tv, lemme tell you, watching Hell's Kitchen got me through a series of really pretty painful and escalating labour pains and it was only a fear of delivering Seung Yi here on my own bed rather than on the hospital's bed which would have its sheets cleaned by someone else that made me stop watching Gordon Ramsay and get into a car and go to Women's College hospital.

Why, you may be wondering, have we come back to Toronto when we were planning to stay up north for another week? Ah, was it the call of the grandparents? The lure of the pho? The opportunities to spend our money at Costco and Walmart? Ohhh no, nothing so fun as any of those. It was our visas! From the Indian embassy! Which we didn't get! Yes, and now I hear you asking, "Why, Thaba, why didn't you get those visas? You had the applications all set, you had your new passport, you all went in in person, you had the EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLAR bank draft, you had the official check over the applications, why didn't you get them?" Well, the short answer is: we didn't realize we needed a new passport for Ji. So, we are here to deal with this mess and we have come up with the following action plan: 1-get passport photos for Ji (done!) 2-get doctor to sign as guarantor for application (done, after a 3 hour wait at the clinic!) 3-get emergency birth certificate issued 4-get emergency passport issued 5-get visas issued, possibly in Ottawa 6-make our flight on the 29th. Please wish us luck in this frought-with-possible-pitfalls adventure.

The Canada Day party was a heap of fun. Emma, Adam, Anne, and Tara joined for the long weekend and Pat, Cathie, Nick P, Jodi, Phil, Theresa, Hannah, Sarah and Pam came for dinner. I succeeding in getting everyone to play two glorious halves of soccer. In the end I have no idea who won, but it was sure fun playing.

Some pictures to come later today when I get the camera set up. Must run.

[Countryside-8-July-2007]