Happy Belated Canada Day!

You would all be proud of us. We celebrated Canada Day like any Canadian would. It started Friday when I visited Rein and Silka's classes to talk about Canada and help out with some activities centered on Canadian themes. In Silka's class we talked about all the animals that are in Canada, and watched a short National Geographic video on the Canadian beaver and the Canadian National Anthem on youtube. I helped them make beaver faces and Canadian flags and brought in Canadian maple syrup (yes, I did find some - but not cheap on the other side of the world!) for them to enjoy with pancakes they made in class that day.
For Rein's class we had a "Question/Answer" session where each child asked a question and Rein helped me answer them. We also played a game in which I would say the Canadian term and they would guess the Australian term - it was lots of fun. When the kids packed up to leave for the day, Rein and I gave each student a plastic spoon with maple taffy on it (I made it the night before). It was a hit!

We met up with some other Canadian exchange families on Saturday at King's Park where we had a barbecue picnic and played soccer in between rain showers. I put an end to the party when I tripped over the soccer ball and sprained my ankle pretty badly. It was too bad - it was adults vs. kids and the parents were up a few points. Tom and Mike arm-chaired me to the car and we headed to the hospital. We were there for a couple of hours and after a few pokes and prods and some x-rays it was determined that I didn't break it as I had believed and was just a bad sprain. I am on crutches for a week or two. It is now Monday and I am twiddling my thumbs. I can't do much - nothing weight-bearing. So, I have been looking for things to entertain myself and, well, here is my sad 'Canada Day' salute. Thinking about you all....