What a week it has been! It seemed filled with constant movement. Last weekend, a week ago, Maggie's brother who lives in NYC came to visit with his wife, daughter and mother in law. He is funny that way, travels with mother in law. Well, he says he does it for two reasons: first, he can't leave her all alone in NYC, second--she helps with his daughter. As cute and smart as the 2-yr-old is, she demands constant attention. In restaurants, that means the parents would go hungry if it wasn't for mother in law, who takes the little girl around for a walk, so the parents can finish their meals. Seeing that, I found logic in taking mother in law on a trip. Being around two wonderful kids in two weeks, being able to play with them, leaves both me and Maggie slightly nostalgic and baby-sick. I don't mean sick OF the babies, but rather sick FOR them.
The family left on Monday, and the same day we signed the contract with the fence company who will finally separate us from the next door neighbor. The fence posts should be "planted" this week and the fence finished before we leave for Spain on September 3rd.
Ahhhh, Spain! The week had been busy at work too, finishing all the hundred of little and not-so-little things, so we can go without worry. We bought a "learn Spanish" audiobook and are rushing through the lessons, getting our non-existing Spanish on some sort of communicating level. I'm afraid that, other than being able to say my name and ask how are they doing, we won't be up for much of a conversation. Mental note to self: pack a few note books to be able to draw what I can't explain. There'll be a lot of drawing going on!
Saturday was the shopping day. We went to Vistek, the only professional camera store in town, to get a new point-and-shoot camera for Maggie, who decided against lugging around 15 kg of photo equipment, like she did on our last vacation in Italy. Although it was good for muscles--and, yes, I did a fair share of carrying her camera too, along everything else: my camera, books, maps, sweaters, water bottles, etc.--we decided to enjoy the vacation this time. The new small Nikon Coolpix S600 we bought seems quite capable of capturing some precious memories. Maggie is walking around snapping pictures "to test the camera" for the past two days. I have a permanent yellow burning spot in my field of vision from all the flashes. Needless to say, I'm the guinea pig for Maggie's photographic experimantation. Can't wait to arrive to Barcelona so she has other things to point her camera at.
The Olympcs are over. It was fantastic, colorful, spectacular with all the broken records and amazing results. They'll be remembered by flashy (and somewhat kitschy) venues and events and by two names which already entered history books: Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt. As always, the Olympics left me craving for more non-hockey sports events I could follow in Canada. But, that's wishful thinking. Right now the Canadian Olympians are lobbying to get more funds so they can do better at the next summer Olympics. This year they're taking home 18 medals, of which only 3 are gold. Judging how it went after the previous Olympics, it'll all be forgotten in a few days, and then remembered in 4 years, when our struggling athletes get ready for London 2012. How does the proverb go: "Smart learns from other's mistakes, idiot learns from his own"? What to call those who don't learn at all? When it comes to "small" sports, Canada doesn't learn.
On the last day of the Olympics, Samuel Wanjiru of Kenya won men's marathon in time 2h 06min 32sec! Yesterday I did 19 km in 1hr 29min. That means I'd need about an hour and 30 min longer than the Kenyan to finish. And I even thought I was running fast! Luckily, there's no danger of me having to participate at the Olympics, so I can take my time.
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