French Camp

Three years ago my daughter-in-law asked me to have a French Camp for Caleb and Emma.  They were home-schooled, so didn't have the opportunity to study French at school. The first year progress was slow because we were starting from scratch.  Here Emma is trying to smack the correct number with a fly swatter. We played the colour game this way, too.

Three years later I found the children were more solid in their dialogues, and seemed to learn new vocabulary  faster.  Caleb and Emma are having a conversation with their personalized salt and pepper shakers. These were from their Great-grandmother's collection; they each picked the pairs they wanted for their temporary family.  When it was time to go home, I said they could choose a pair to take with them.  Caleb made a beeline to his favourite pair, a set of pointy Indian brass shakers on a tray, and set about cleaning and polishing them.  Emma agonized over two choices, and finally settled on the kangaroo with its baby, whom she uses in the video. 

They added faces and expressions to any shakers that weren't people or animals, and gave them special names.  This was to compensate for the fact that we had only two students to practise with.  Every morning we would go to the collections, each on their own special spot, and "greet" a few of the shakers. Then

in a squeaky voice, they would answer back. 

The first year I told the children they could have a candy any time they attempted to say anything at all in French.  Caleb caught on quickly.  "Un, deux, trois..." and he would finish the rest of the sentence in English.  Gummy fruit and fish worked better this year, especially if they had worked hard in a game and used their vocabulary well.

Here I am holding up a flashcard with a picture of a certain feeling, like, "Je suis grincheux" (grumpy).  The person throwing the beanbag would first say the expression, and then would have three throws towards the indented cardboard that some soccer balls came in.  Caleb suggested we give each indentation a higher value, thereby practising lesser used numbers like vingt, trente, douze, and treize.  If the beanbag hit the edge and didn't actually go into the hole, it was no score, and we'd call out, "je regrette" .  The quilt is on the floor in case the occupants downstairs heard the loud "thumps", but actually I think they had gone to work, and we didn't hear any complaints.  This game was a lot of fun.

YouTube was a good source of a few simple French songs complete with catchy tunes and cartoon figures.  Last year I thought, "This is too hard; they're not getting it."  This year I found they thought it was normal to start our lesson with the "Bonjour, bonjour, comment ca va?" song, and imitate the moves on the screen.

After lunch we did other non French activities. The first year we baked and decorated cupcakes for Georges, the special guest dog puppet's birthday.

 This year, we decorated a cake for Canada Day.

And of course, can't have French Camp without our usual fondue lunch!  This was Emma's special request.  I think she was thinking of the chocolate dipped strawberries more than the cheese sauce. 

Au revoir, a l'annee prochaine!  (can't figure out how to put in the accents on this blog)

Corona Extra

       There I was, shortly after 8:00 am, at the dentist's in Los Algodones, Mexico.  This is the "dentist town", with about 500 dentists in business.  We didn't have an appointment, but made sure we waited on the bench a few minutes before the office opened. I handed Dr. Catalan the small piece of paper with the diagram showing which teeth needed crowns.  He slid over the x-ray machine.  I agreed to have him do as much as possible in one day, although over the phone from Canada he'd initially told me there should be 24 hours between each crown.  I also agreed to have the space filled in from the tooth he'd pulled 2 1/2 years ago, even though I knew nothing about bridges.  So that meant four crowns, one bridge, two more crowns on either side of it.  There was also a tooth that needed a filling.
The tooth that had broken off in Hawaii needed a root canal.  Not because there was anything wrong with it, but because there was a post in it that had held a large filling together. 
       "Let's start with this, " said the dentist.
       "OK,"  I agreed.
A short while later he held up a tiny, pink. thread-like piece of flesh.
       "This is the root!"  he said.
       "Holy cow!"  I thought.  I'm not Hindu, but that is the strongest word in my vocabulary.
       I was feeling pretty mellow, not at all nervous.   On the wall were a couple of Bible verses which I studied.  I had complete faith in this dentist.  In fact the whole time I sat in the chair I was so relaxed, I could've fallen asleep. Once he had put freezing into my jaw, that is.  Then, without comment, he started drilling.  I grunted.  A few more jabs of the needle.  Never had I experienced drilling without waiting for the freezing to take effect!  It wasn't that bad, though.
       Dr. Catalan is a man of few words, and worked quickly and quietly.  He kept up a conversation in Spanish, however, with his assistant, Jilda.  I didn't mind.  The background patter was better than listening to an inane conversation in English.  He didn't say anything to me at all except "Open," and "Close."  I decided to ask him a question.  I signalled to Jilda that I wanted to write something.  She pointed to the paper towel roll on the wall.  No.  "Escribar?"  It sounded close enough to the French that I knew the word meant "to write".  I nodded, so she brought me a pen and the backside of a receipt book. 
       "Do you remove ALL the old fillings before putting on a crown?"  I wrote. 
       "Yes, " he said.
       While Dr. Catalan sat and ground the temporary crowns, I did sideways stretches, and moved my neck from side to side.  Jilda brought me a roll of paper towel, and placed it behind my neck. 
The hours rolled by.  I didn't even have to use the restroom.  What a miracle!
       Finally, exactly four hours later, he announced, "All done!" 
       "Everything?" I asked incredulously.
       "Yes.  Come back on Thursday for the permanent crowns."   I had one day's reprieve. 
On Thursday Terry and I were on the road again at 7:00 am.  It only took about 20 minutes to get to the border, crossing through a tiny corner of California from Yuma, Arizona, where we were staying with our friends. 
When I saw the white crowns, I asked, "Is it possible to have them match my yellow teeth?"
"Yes, come back in an hour."
I don't know what they did at the lab, but when I returned, they were a perfect match. Soon they were cemented into my mouth, and we were off, threading our way through the maze of coloured shirts, purses, and jewelry to get back to the parking lot.
The cost?  About an eighth of what it would've cost back home.  Even though we had to fly down, it was worth it.  I'm so grateful to have all this work taken care of.

Aloha, Hawai'i !

Since we're leaving the Big Island tomorrow, I thought I'd show you some random pictures.  A couple of weeks ago, a group of us seniors commandeered a van and went on a tour by ourselves. Terry and I had been to all the places before, but what made this tour unique was the older generation.  We had our own brand of humour.
We weren't at all unhappy that it was raining part of the time.  It didn't stop some of us from eating ice cream

Everyone of these people was Canadian except for the couple on the left, who were from Arizona.

 These are, malasadas, Portuguese doughnuts.  They're like doughnut, squarish, with no hole.  Very fresh, and delicious!

 On the way back, Janice, standing to my right above, said, "There's a snowman!"  No one said anything.  I don't think anyone heard her.  I thought to myself, "What is she talking about?"  On our way back from the road where we'd turned off , we all saw it.  Someone had a pick-up truck load full of snow, probably from Mauna Kea, and had built a snowman.  When Janice saw it, it hadn't been quite so melted on the bottom.  That's how warm it was, probably around 28 degrees Celsius.  At this time it looked like Frosty's wife, with a wide skirt. 

This is most of the Kokua Crew, which is what we were called.  Kokua means "help" in Hawaian.  We're all dressed up for a farewell dessert evening we had at the King's Mansion, a lovely house on six acres of property that YWAM owns, several miles away.

Our ladies' small group also had dinner out one evening.

Beside me on the left is Diane from San Diego, CA, Julia from Sweden, Julie from Washington, Magda from Germany, our leader, Gayle, from Minnesota, and Nina, also from Germany.  We had many a wonderful Wednesday evening sharing our lives with each other, and learning how to hear the voice of God.  I'll miss the fellowship!





Tomorrow evening we board the plane for Los Angeles, and the on to Calgary, AB.  At least it isn't supposed to be that cold anymore. It's hard to put into words what this last three months have meant to me.  We had to try, though, first in an evening of people sharing their experiences, and then in a written evaluation where we were asked several questions, such as, "What was your favourite time?  What did you find difficult?  Everyone answered through the lens of his/her own experience, but on the whole it was very GOOD!

From the Mountain to the Sea

Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world because its base is 17,000 feet below sea level. It's one of the five volcanoes on the Island of Hawaii. We were excited to take the road to the top because there was snow there.  Wouldn't it be fun to say we'd been in the snow in HAWAII ! It was late Friday night before we found out that Elijah's 4 wheel drive Jimmy was actually available.  We weren't allowed to rent from Enterprise because the road was too rough even for their 4x4 vehicles.  The day looked promising with only a bit of cloud visible.

Alas, the road past the visitor's centre was closed!
All that way, all that trouble to get a vehicle, and we couldn't do what we'd set out to do.  So we started walking up one of the side trails to get to the top of a little hill.  We were at 9,200 feet, but we'd wanted to be at the summit of Mauna Kea at 13,796 feet. Once out of the car we put up our hoods and tightened the strings.  It was brisk and windy even at that altitude.  At the top, the winds were supposed to be between 70-90 mph, hence the road closure.

                                                                      It's the first time we'd worn long pants since we got here.

As we walked around we heard a gobbling noise in the tree tops.  Terry said it was a chukar , a plump partridge type bird, but it remained elusive.

At Terry's right is the Mauna Kea Silversword.  

This is the best we could do for view.
A group of Mission Builders had been up the whole way just the previous evening.  A young man from Brazil was elated to see snow for the very first time.
After this the clouds rolled in, so we were glad we'd arrived early enough in the morning.

Funny to see in Hawaii one of the same kinds of weeds as at home--  Mullein.  In fact the terrain was similar to the desert in Arizona.

For the rest of the day we ventured south of Kona.    This is the Painted Church, St. Benedict's Catholic Church, built in the 1800s.

Inside are frescoes painted on the wall and on the ceiling by a Father John Velge.  This one is "Handwriting on the Wall."

The last stop of the day was the beach at Pu'uhonua o Honaunau.  Wonderful snorkling!  I didn't explore the whole reef, but swam around a bit to see my favourite bright yellow fish, the Yellow Tang, striped black and white fish, also a Moorish Idol, and a blue fish I hadn't seen before.  Also huge coral and sea urchins everywhere.  If I'd remembered to bring the flippers, I would've ventured further.  Awesome!

Sorry, not a picture of the fish!  This is all Terry could manage from his vantage point on the lava rocks.

Man-made Extravagance

 In contrast to God's  extravagance of tropical flowers is the man-made extravagance at the Hilton Hotel Waikoloa .  It's a sort of Hawaiian Disneyland, on a small scale of course.  A 1,240 room facility, it also has 3 pools, 3 spas, tennis courts, 2 golf courses, and 9 restaurants. 
In the lobby are several loud parrots who sometimes condescend to repeat "hi" or "hello"  when you greet them. 

 Waterfalls cascade down into one of the pools.

 A bed on the beach! That's my idea of the ultimate beach experience. 

 Terry poses by one of the many sculptures from Thailand, Japan, and China.

 When we were at a SOWER project in Florida, we looked in vain for for flamingos .  Here they are in a pool!

A typical Chinese-looking sculpture.

Turtles in the lagoon, which actually opens out to the ocean.  After walking around the path encircling all these sites, it was a relief to step inside the climate controlled "bullet train", a shuttle that took hotel guests from the lobby to one of the three wings of the hotel, for a brief ride.
We spent the next hour on the couches in the breezy lobby, so relaxing I fell asleep. 

This visit reminded me of Sunday's sermon:
Ecclesiastes 2:1 says
I said to myself (says King Solomon ) "Come on, let's try pleasure.  Let's look for the good things in life"  But I found that this, too, was meaningless.

God's Extravagance

Our Saturday tour was kind of an old folks' outing.  First we went to Mauka Meadows, above Kona.

Here is a view of Kona from the slopes of Hualalai, an extinct volcano above the town where we live.  

We strolled down a slope resplendent with blooms.  To the right are different coloured Impatiens, bigger blooms than any I've seen before.  This African native alternated in colourful shades of reds, pinks, and oranges. It was easy to walk along the paved path for those with walking difficulties. 

This Jade Vine was the most interesting shade of turquoise, a colour not often seen in flowers.  Clusters hung from an arbour like some kind of bizarre grapes.  The flowers are commonly strung into leis. 

The vivid orange flower in the foreground is the Bird of Paradise, a close relative of the banana plant.  It's cultivated in other parts of the world, but grows well in Hawaii, and almost seems associated with the Islands.  A great addition to tropical bouquets.

I love this flower, the Anthurium. Popular in cut flower bouquets, it lasts a long time in water.  I remember a friend in Slovakia, who'd given one of us a flower bouquet, proudly telling us that she'd chosen this flower because it would last three weeks.  "It's plastic!"  exclaimed one of the school children at the time.  He didn't believe it was real.  Actually, the "flower" is the yellow part, and the red part is a specialized leaf, looking, indeed, so waxy and shiny as to appear artificial.  It was fun to see it actually growing along the path.  There were white ones, too; not quite as spectacular to my mind.

I think this is a kind of Protea.  Its native habitat is South Africa. It's actually a cluster of tiny individual flowers.  Very showy.

My brother, Ed, grew an Angel's Trumpet like this in his garden in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.  He most likely would've called it Brugmansia Candida, because he likes to call plants by their Latin names.  Its Hawaiian name is Nanahonua ( I'm not taking the time right now to find a keyboard with the various accents, that characterise Hawaiian vowels.)  That name means "gazing downward", an appropriate name tying together its shape with its English name.  Origin: South America.

The Bougainvillea is a tall, spready bush in various flamboyant colours.  We see splashes of it on Kuakini Highway at the entrance to the University of the Nations in bold magenta, salmon coloured, electric pink shades and even white.  It survives on little water, and thrives on the dry side of the Big Island.  We've seen it in other sunny places, too, such as Arizona.  Country of origin: Brazil. 

At the bottom of the asphalt pathway stood a small pavilion where the Japanese owners of the gardens and coffee plantation offered people small cups of their coffee.  They were hoping we would buy some, but didn't pressure us. Terry is waving from the crowd.

 In front of the Pavilion was an infinity pool

Phyllis is trying a different perspective to see the water appear to stop at the horizon.  The picture of me lying at poolside is not quite so elegant, so I'm not posting it.

On the way home I threw caution to the winds and ordered an iced  matcha latte. I don't usually buy any kind of drinks, but felt in an extravagant mood as befitting the extravagant display of flowers God had provided this day  This drink has kept me awake at night in the past, but I did enjoy it !  I wonder what kind of flower this is, thick and waxy, arranged so densely in its dish.  Is it Pua Kenikeni?
Part two of our tour to be continued.

Coffee Plantation and the Freedom Seminar

Two weeks ago we toured a coffee plantation.  Here are a few photos of that time:

This is a cacao plant, from which chocolate is made.  That was just an incidental tree at the coffee plantation.

Amanda wanted to hold the chameleon.  Elijah had told us that we might see one there, so looked for them amongst the coffee tree branches.  He had the funniest feet!

Here is the delicately scented coffee flower.

Our tour guide showed us a coffee cherry, on the left, and then some beans which would then be dried in the sun.

A cautionary sign on a palm tree at a doughnut shop.

After the tour, the destination was South Point again.  This time the water was calm enough to jump into .  For the young people, that is.  One Korean girl wanted to jump, but was very nervous about it, not sure she really wanted to go through with it.  She stood uncertainly at the edge of the Thirty foot cliff.  The more she thought about it, the worse it got.  Finally she agreed to have one of the guys push her.  Not a good idea.  She went in sort of sideways, and did a partial bellyflop.  I watched her land in the water with a smack.

  Elijah jumped right in after her.  This is not actually at the same cliff, but I thought you might want to know what Elijah looks like.  Like a lifeguard!  The girl was finally persuaded to climb up the ladder, but was very sore, and very shaken.  A few days later, I saw her walking on campus holding her side.  Ouch!
After walking around for an hour in the noon sun, I ended up with a sunburn on my shoulders.  Somehow I'd forgotten to put on sunscreen.  Here we are at the most southerly point in the United States.  I'm with Janice and Vern from Trochu, Alberta. 

This weekend no tours were planned to give us Mission Builders an opportunity to attend the Freedom Seminar, a whole weekend event.  Gord Whyte from Kelowna, BC, was the guest speaker.  Topics covered were the 'orphan spirit' vs our true identity as sons and daughters of God, forgiveness, demons, bitter root judgements, soul ties to other people or to things of the world, making inner vows ( I'll never....) and how to renounce them, and our destiny as Christians.  We had lots of opportunities to be prayed for, to learn new things, and to review things we'd known before, but forgotten. The best Valentine's gift ever, that Terry and I got to share in this event together.