Leaving Canada

Ah, travel.

Bonnie drove me from Carp to Aéroport Pierre Elliot Trudeau in the blinding rain. Thanks to her caution, we arrived in what I thought was plenty of time, but because of the dog, I barely made the official check-in time.

 Then, due to a technical glitch – specifically that one of the four backup batteries to the plane’s electrical system could not be made to connect - it took 24 hours longer than foreseen to get out of Dodge. They held us for five hours before unloading the baggage - including Libby - and sending us to a hotel. I got into bed at 4 and had to be up at 9 to rebook.

 I was travelling with twice the free baggage allowance, plus a dog.

 Use your imagination as to how much fun this was.

Ah, July in Ontario

 After leaving Victoria, Libby and I spent a wonderful ten days in southwestern Ontario. Highlights were:

• a family BBQ hosted by cousin Maureen;
• having two glorious days on Bonnie and Dave's boat, lolling about on the St. Lawrence; 

• spending a couple of days with my best friends from high school - Robin and Janet - at the home of our favourite teacher john McDougall and his wife Ann;
• having a complete Tunisian dinner and slide show while staying at McDougall's, thanks to friends of theirs;
• staying at a swank hotel courtesy of the film crew that had kicked sister Bonnie out of her home for the very week I was coming.

Of course, all good things must come to an end, and one day, Bonnie had to drive me through the pouring rain to Montreal, and the next leg of our journey.

Bon Voyage Party

About forty friends and family members came to a garden party at my place on Saturday, July 24. People were asked to bring dishes with a North African/Mediterranean theme, and the results were spectacular! We will be sharing our recipes here.

The first recipe to come in was from my wonderful neighbours, Maureen and Sheldon Neuman, who say, "Our dish was the first hit on the Google search for Tunisian recipes.  Go to: http://djebbana.tripod.com/recipes.html and scroll down to find Tunisian Vegetable Stew." Others can add their recipes as comments to this post.

Departure day arrives

 All my bags actually fit into Moira's trunk, thank goodness! Steve had taken Libby to Vancouver the night before, since Air Canada could not accommodate her. Thank goodness for WestJet - and for my brother.

Take a good look at this hat. I bought it especially for Tunis, loved it, and lost it by Ottawa.

Good friends Sylvia and Halia came to have lunch and say goodbye in the Vancouver airport. I'm pretty sure I still had my hat at this point... My head, I'm not so sure about!

You can take a tour of my school at www.acst.net There is also highly informative wiki set up by a few teachers to help new hires or people considering teaching here to get a sense of the school, the country and the city. I found it a big help. They added the health and fitness section based on a suggestion from me! By the way, the white stuff in the bowl in this image from the wiki's home page is jasmine blossoms. Imagine the aroma!

Tunisia in context

Tunisia forms a wedge between its neighbours, Algeria and Libya. I think on a clear day, you may be able to see Sicily and Malta.