Why study Canada?

Indeed, why should we study Canada? Do you know that most American students don't study anything about Canada? Isn't that odd?



Canada is our northernmost neighbor with whom we have many treaties and agreements.The idea of overlooking learning about an important country--which happens to be a neighbor-- is simply ridiculous!

To reconcile what isn't with what is was simple: I planned a short unit to study Canada before we finished our novel and moved to the next unit. We are reading Hatchet, which is set in Canada. Where in Canada I don't know, nor does Brian, the main character. When the pilot of this very small, two-seater airplane had a heart attack, his jerking movements knocked the plane miles off course. How far, neither Brian nor the reader knows, except that it's just far. So, I located a map of Canada and started trying to deduce where in Canada Brian is. I took the question the next day to my sixth-grade Gateway students. We started in Hampton, New York, as provided in the novel and moved northwest, aiming for the tundra oil fields, where Brian's dad works. One course took us over Hudson Bay. There is no mention of such a huge body of water in the novel. We finally concluded that there simply is no way to figure it, except through approximation.

That led me to creating a short unit on Canada. I ordered a coloring book of Canada with provinces, lakes, towns, and maps of Canada. First, students colored the provinces, learning them as we colored, Next, they cut out the provinces, creating smallish puzzle
pieces which they put together, learning the geographical placement along the way. Then they quickly researched a province for its capital and one tourist site.

I took notes as they presented their brief reports of their provinces. Here are some of their findings:
Hotel Frontenac in Quebec City is the most photographed hotel in the world.
New Brunswick is the Lobster Capital of the world.
Nova Scotia has the most extreme tidal range in the world.
Yukon was the site of gold mining in the late 1800's.
Northwest Territories experiences the aurora borealis.
British Columbia has 25% of all grizzly bears in North America.
Prince Edward Island produces the most blueberries in Canada.
Alberta and British Columbia are sites of the Canadian Rockies.

The next day I gave them a surprise quiz: smallest province, largest, most islands, an island province, the most western, one bordering New York (our character's home and starting place), one bordering other states, and so on. Nearly everyone made an A.

Today I found calendars on sale at our local shopping center. One had gorgeous photos of the aurora borealis, two taken in the Northwest Territories. I bought it to so I could place those photos on our bulletin board. Another calendar depicted "majestic mountains." I'm hoping that the locations are named and Canada's Rockies are among them. Just checked, and they aren't!

aurora borealis over the Northwest Territories

So, we've learned a bit about Canada. I'm glad to report it.

Tunisia

                                           My coffee set from Tunisia

Pottery items are available in the street markets in Tunisia, a water-sourced country in North Africa. It's not heavy pottery, but fragile, not like limoges, but craftier. I worried about packing this, but every item made it back to America safe and sound. My trip was in 2005 when I went with a seminary class in New Testament fathers of the church.

Random vs Structured

Many years ago I learned these terms, random and structured, as they apply to ways people may be classified.  The older I get, the more profound I find these terms--I live them, people around me live them, and they can damage.

First, a structured person starts at the beginning and goes straight through to the end. Everything is organized: a place for everything, everything in its place. Order is the living creed. Everything is done now, not tomorrow. These people don't know the word procrastinate. Because of their nature, random people annoy the heck out of them.

Random people are just that: they lack structure, don't seem to have an idea of time management. Finishing projects is usually difficult, but when done, they are creative, inspirational, flamboyant, or subtle. While the day may begin organized, organization is not a catch-word for Randoms. Structured folks cannot abide the disorganization and lack of time management in randoms. On the other hand, Randoms scratch their heads and look askance at the Structureds and say, what the heck. What's bothering them?

Thus, the eternal conflict between the two groups. My sister lives near her daughter and son-in-law, both highly structured. There she is--a Random with no one else like her in the area. I live near my mother and brother and sister-in-law, all Structureds. I drive them crazy. Yet, I try to live with their constant criticisms of me. I think Paul McCartney and Wings best expressed it: "Live and let live!" Anyway, that's my motto.

Note: Structureds have another name but I could not remember it or find it on the internet.

Souvenirs from world travels

I was looking through my photos and saw a potential post. I've traveled all over the world and bought souvenirs from every stop. They're everywhere around my house. I thought I would add a new one every week, thus sharing a bit of my travels. This first one is a photo of my two girls from Ireland. Why did I buy two? Look at their hair--I could not decide between the wee lassie (is that Scottish?) with straight, red hair or the one with the wild, curly hair? So, I bought both!!
Correction: Now I see I cannot see clearly. The so-called straight hair is tiny twists of hair to form tight ringlets. My bad.

Irony

I was a shy thing in high school, especially with guys I was attracted to. Others, no prob. Talk, talk, talk. I'm sure that's true of many. In high school I crushed on one particular boy from 8th grade through senior year when I did finally land a good catch. I was not shy with him.

Anyway, the subject is Johnny. It is 50 years later and I'm in the gym before school, doing duty, when the football coach walks by. I stop him and let him know something wild is about to come out of my mouth. Couldn't help myself. I told him: "You are one good-looking dude." He laughed, hugged me, and said he needed that. Then I told him I went to high school with a guy with the same last name. Oh, ha, ha, he said, he's my dad!

So, see the irony? High school attraction, now attraction--no, I'm not attracted, just have good eyes which see really well. But, isn't it funny?

Wanna know how shy that guy is? He sent off for a mail-order bride from the Philippines. The son told me they had been married for 25 years. Just goes to show that love is not a requirement, although I'm sure they fell in love. I hope so.

My 50th class reunion

A couple of weeks ago my senior class, Woodlawn 1964, held its 50th reunion. I didn't go. I simply could not get up the energy to even want to go. At one point I did fill out the form of intent but could not mail it.

So why? I know a couple of reasons, or at least what I think are reasons, but I was never sure. That's why I'm writing this blog--to see if I can discover why I could not go.

Here's what I think:
1. I would have to go alone. In nearly every picture taken during the event each person had a "date" with him/her. I would have felt out of place.
2. This one comes on the heels of the one above. Sometimes I have panic attacks when in large crowds where I don't have a home base. As a loner, would a group of pairs have tolerated my joining them? At the first sign of rejection, I would have fled, as I have done many a time.
3. So many of my classmates have one spouse and claim happiness. I've had two disastrous marriages. I have no children or grandchildren on whom I dote. I totally feel the burden of my aloneness. I am happy not being married --actually, I'm happily divorced.
4. I have not enjoyed seeing what has happened to us. We are nearly all overweight. We're boomers! We should have kept up physically. What happened? Why did we let that dream die (of staying fit and trim).
5. I was not friends with most of the people on the planning committee. In fact, nothing was ever mentioned by or about my friends in high school. It would be those folks whom I would want to see. Otherwise, panic over the aloneness.

So, I think that's it. In these reasons is probably the truth or something imitating it.