Boots & Umbrellas

Living in Vancouver makes me realize that I have two massive holes in my wardrobe: a decent pair of rain boots and a functional umbrella. Even though I've called the Pacific Northwest home for more than 20 years, I've managed to somehow get through the wet months without these items. Suddenly both seem equally essential. I'm not sure if it's because I walk a lot more and spend scant amount of time in a car going from point A to point B, or if the rain here is different than the rain in Oregon, somehow making me more wet. Whatever the reason, as soon as these rain clouds pass I am hurrying out and going on the hunt for aforementioned items. Your recommendations on rubber boots that are worth a darn, are most welcome. Ditto for umbrellas that actually keep one dry and don't keep showing their undersides the moment a slight breeze pops up!

Worthy of a Repeat

I love to cook. I’m fairly certain Quinn and Logan wish I didn’t. Although I’d consider them non-fussy eaters, at this stage in their life they’d be happy to eat Goldfish crackers and meatloaf 24/7. My personal eating habits skew more toward ethnic and vegetarian. I am also an experimental and impromptu cook and will often select recipes for the evening meal based on the ingredients I have on hand. I rarely, if ever, repeat a recipe. I don’t do this intentionally, but I’m not an organized enough cook to bookmark recipes with notes that read, “Repeat.”  Again, I think the boys are relieved by this as they’d prefer not to repeat certain meals. Every now and again, though, I knock one out of the park that satisfies all of our eating needs in terms of quantity and flavor. I figured I should share it here, not only to remind myself to repeat this recipe, but also if two teenage boys liked it, then consider it somewhat vetted for your own family. This is a Thai dish from the cook book, True Thai by Victor Sodsook. I highly recommend this cook book if you enjoy Thai food. I’ve made a number of the dishes and they are all equally delicious, and surprisingly simple. The key, of course, is having access to a good Asian food market where you can find some more obscure ingredients. Once your pantry is stocked, this will be a cook book that you’ll reference time and again. The winning dish from the other night was “Sweet Pork (Mu Wan).”

3 Tbl. Vegetable oil

6 cloves garlic, pounded to a mash or crushed and chopped

¾ pound pork tenderloin, cut crosswise into thin medallions

2 Tbl. Thai fish sauce (nam pla)

4 Tbl. Golden brown sugar

½ tsp. white pepper

Crispy Shallots* recipe to follow

Place all of the ingredients within easy reach of the cooking area. Set a wok over medium-high heat. When it is quite hot, add the oil. Rotate the wok a bit so the oil coats the sids. When the oil is hot, add the garlic and stir-fry for a few seconds, then add the pork. Stir-fry for 4-5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and stir-fry until pork is just cooked through, approximately 3-5 minutes. Top with crispy shallots and serve hot or warm over jasmine rice.

Crispy Shallots

1 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup thinly sliced shallots (about 5 or 6)

Pour oil into a wok or heavy saucepan set over medium-high heat and bring the oil to 360 degrees. (To test the oil temperature, dip a wooden spoon in the hot oil. The oil should bubble and sizzle gently around the bowl of the spoon.) Add the shallots and fry, stirring frequently, until crisp and brown, about 2 minutes (note: I’m not sure how the author achieved crispy shallots in 2 minutes, it took me closer to 12!) Remove with a wire skimmer or slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Cool to room temperature. Shallots will keep for up to two weeks if stored at room temperature in a tightly sealed jar.

The crispy shallots are essential to making this a 3-star recipe become a 4-star recipe. Also, I love, love coconut so I make our jasmine rice with coconut milk & water. It imparts a very subtle coconut flavor, without being too rich or sweet. Also, if you have leftover rice, then it makes a delicious breakfast the following morning with a little milk and cinnamon. Mmmmm.

About Time....

I had intended on keeping this blog more current, especially given the dramatic shift our lives have recently taken, but all I really have to show for my intentions are half-written posts that read more like a completed “to-do” list than a blog. Hey, if I got bored reading through some earlier drafts then I can guaran-damn-te that you would too. So if you haven’t checked in in a while and are wondering how I jumped from life is peachy in Eugene to now living in a new country, don’t worry, I will try to bring you up to speed.  

Here’s the Cliffnotes version of the past year:

October 2011 Jim and I made our first trip to Vancouver to check out schools and see if there was even a possibility about enrolling boys in school for 2012-2013 school  year. We had expected the answer to be no, until my permanent residency status cleared, but were instead told yes because Jim is a citizen. Oh my gosh! We made monthly trips up here looking at schools and neighborhoods and pretty much honed in on both school and neighborhood rather quickly. Days in between spent figuring out the logistics of actually making such a move. Mostly this was a smooth and very easy process with the occasional, WTF are we doing thrown in, you know, just to keep it real. Craigslist is our friend! Scoped out a few places to rent and made a blitz trip up one weekend to attend some open houses. Knew after the first house that that was the one. Applied. Accepted. Woot, woot! July moved our furnishings and other household items into our new digs and promptly returned back to Eugene. August, I finally spent more than one night in Vancouver while Jim and the boys went canoeing with some friends in BC Rockies. LOVE it here. September was spent co-habitating with our friends who are temporarily renting our Eugene home while their home is being built. We were a family of 10 for nearly three weeks. Worked out way better than I would have expected, which makes me think that co-housing isn’t such a bad idea after all. September 4^th moved up here officially. September 5^th, boys first day of school in the pre-IB program at Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School.   

So now that you’re up to speed I can do my normal random thought ramble. I’d have to say it’s too early to say that this feels like “home” but I also don’t feel like a complete foreigner. It helps that English is the common language and the driving rules are the same, but there are also subtle differences that I’m starting to notice after a few weeks of calling this Home #2. I guess I should first back up a bit and reiterate that while we are living in Vancouver and very much intend on making this home, we are by no means uprooting ourselves from Eugene. No, we enough love to plant ourselves in two places simultaneously. It is different for Quinn and Logan as they aren’t traveling in between Eugene and Vancouver like me and Jim, but they very much feel like Eugene is a part of their lives, even if they’re not daily participants. This is definitely where technology works in our favor (or should I write favour?) With Facebook and Skype, the boys are able to talk and touch base with their friends, who are scattered all over really. I will say that we’ve been somewhat surprised at how easily the boys have been absorbed into the social fabric of Vancouver. Jim and I had prepared ourselves that this could be the area that would create stress on the boys and take a while to establish. To our delight it was within days that the boys were being invited to this or that, and the group of kids at their school have been so welcoming. Of course it will take some time for the meaningful relationships to develop, but what a wonderful start Q & L have had thus far.

Prior to starting school the boys were very nervous about the intensity of the program (programme?). They’re finding that while it is more demanding than what they left behind, they are also ready for the challenge. One of the main reasons for making this move was for their education. From what we’ve seen so far, we’ve made the right choice. It’s no surprise to our friends who have kids in school back in the states, that our education system is in crisis. We can sugarcoat it all day long, but you can’t tell me that an Algebra II class with 64 students is effective, or that a French II class with 50 students is going to yield much learning. Add to the fact that the boys couldn’t get full schedules and it just became clear that we needed to explore our other options. 

No it’s not all unicorns and rainbows here regarding education, but it is still an intact system that is valued by its citizens, whether or not they have kids going to school. People really do understand that every child needs a solid foundation upon which to build their futures.  This is the first year that the boys have NO classes together. This has become increasingly important as they’ve grown older. Being identical twins has many advantages, but most important is the opportunity to grow and develop as individuals. That is much harder to do if you don’t have any time apart. So no classes together this year; they have full schedules, meaning 8 classes; and the largest class they’re in has 30 students. I get the sense that they’re really going to be educated here, not simply taught. Their math teacher requires strong mental math abilities, no matter that they’re having to solve square roots and more complex formulas without the aid of a calculator. I can tell I like her philosophy already. There is no English spoken in their French classes (Quelle Surprise!), they have P.E. classes in which they are required to change into PE uniforms (or strip, as they’re known here) and are learning golf, tennis, lacrosse, ultimate, volleyball, basketball, among other sports that they’d otherwise have no real exposure to playing. The list goes on and on. It feels like we just set the dial back 50 years. I remember my parents talking about when their high schools offered drafting, wood shop, metal shop, auto shop, sewing, cooking, etc., well, all these classes and then some are still available here. It’s funny because until those things are gone do we realize what value they have to society as a whole. It’s not perfect, but what’s important to me and Jim is still valued and funded here. Sure there’s still school fundraising and budget crunches going on, but what seems to be different is that people from young to old understand that a strong and stable society doesn’t happen without a solid education and all the opportunities that provides.    

I’d say that the boys have found a daily rhythm, whereas Jim and I are still figuring ours out. We may not find a pattern in our lives as we’re still here and there, but even this feels okay. Living abroad last year taught us how to get out of our ruts and honed our street-skills, so-to-speak.  The ambiguity and schedule-less days up here are taking some getting used to, but I’m confident that we’ll settle into a routine that will feel more natural. Although, I’d have to say I’m liking the routine of getting together with my friend Karen and drinking cocktails at lunch!

What are the boneheaded moves I’ve made since being here? Well, I naively volunteered to manage Quinn’s lacrosse team, for starters.  I initially thought that it would be a good way to meet other parents and help with getting Quinn established socially. This may have been true with younger kids, but when dealing with a U16 team, there is not a lot of parental engagement, so really all I’ve done is agree to work my ass off and send 1,000 e-mails a day to this group of people. Oops. Of course, being a recovering Type-A personality means that I’m going to be the Valedictorian of team managers! Let’s just say when the season ends in late February, I’m hanging up my hat!  The other oops, is that I didn’t connect with the rowing club soon enough and there isn’t a slot for Logan until next season. It never even occurred to me that 1.) the Olympics generate a lot of enthusiasm in a sport that Canada often does well in and 2.) that these clubs are, shall we say, a bit more structured than what we’re used to back in Eugene.  So Logan is drifting a bit without a sanctioned sport. We’ll get him signed up at our local community centre where he can work out, but he is pretty bummed about not rowing.

So life continues to move swiftly along here in Vancouver. This city just keeps offering up the goods. I promise I’ll be more consistent in my posts (thank you Leslie for the gentle nudges!) and remember that we LOVE visitors, so come pay us a visit! We look forward to sharing this lovely part of the world with you!

Oh Canada!

It’s official. We are moving to Vancouver, BC—sort of. While we’ve already taken a number of steps to realize such a move, we’ve yet to really say out loud that, yes, we are moving. I’m not sure if this move started last year when we all gave voice to this desired outcome, or if it started way before then when Jim and I would occasionally joke about one day moving to Canada. I’m sure having planted that little zygote of a thought all those years ago was influential in the sense that it finally prompted Jim to apply for his citizenship, which he was entitled to as a result of his mother being Canadian. We had no agenda when we started  taking all these little steps many years ago, and perhaps it would still be just a little bonus tucked away in our back pocket had we not uprooted ourselves last year and moved to France. That time away not only provided the luxury of getting out of our daily routines but allowed us to think more clearly about how and where we wanted to direct our lives. We enjoyed a reprieve from all the chatter and white-noise that distracts us from carving out the time to think about where we are and where we want to go. I’m sure you know the feeling. It’s so easy to get caught up in the flotsam and jetsam of life and much more difficult to hit the pause button long enough to make adjustments. Our three months in Paris was definitely about hitting the pause and reset buttons and it’s really quite extraordinary to think about how differently our lives will soon look as a result.  I will also be the first to advocate for leaving one’s home turf and gaining some perspective by living abroad. Our time outside the states gave us the opportunity to more clearly assess what the educational realities were for the boys not just for secondary school but for their university education as well. It became readily apparent that their goals exceeded what was available to them in our current home town. We figured if they were willing to think beyond their own borders, why couldn’t we? And thus began our exploration of schools and universities in Canada.

The “sort of” part of this move is that while we will be living in Vancouver and the boys will be attending school there, we are also maintaining our home and businesses here in Eugene. We’ve spent too many years investing in our community to just cut our ties completely.  We will be straddling the border and planting one foot in each country. I know this would never work for some people, but for whatever reason I am completely nonplussed about living in two places. We absolutely intend on making Vancouver feel like home, but we’ll have the added benefit of being able to retreat back to our familiar home as needed. Jim and I will take turns spending time in Eugene to oversee the continued operation of our businesses, which is the only real downside to this whole new adventure. We are fortunate to have employees and managers in each of our stores to keep the day-to-day operations going, and for that I am extremely grateful.

Probably the most interesting part about actually making this move a reality is witnessing people’s responses. We’ve encountered everything from enthusiastic support to head-scratching. Interestingly enough our most encouraging words come from those who have traveled extensively while the most resistance comes from those with fewer travel miles beneath their belts. Not so very surprising when you think about, but interesting nonetheless.

I honestly have no agenda or pre-conceived notion about how this will all shake out, which makes it a little anti-climactic.  Not that I’m not excited to be living in what is considered one of the world’s most livable cities. I’m stoked, but because I don’t feel like I am escaping anything or need a major change just for the jolt, it doesn’t have the energy behind it that one might imagine.  If anything, I feel exceedingly grateful that we have this option. It’s one of those things that you hear people make idle threats about doing, and here we are actually DOING it. So thank you to Canada for heavily recruiting Ukrainian immigrants in the early 1900s and thank you to Olena Grykuliak (Jim’s mum) for always maintaining her ties to Canada and never giving up her Canadian citizenship, even though she’s lived most of her life in the states; and thank you to Canada for recognizing that the off-spring of Canadian born citizens might want to return to their familial homeland one day; and thank you to everyone in Canada who we’ve worked with to make this transition possible-- your kindness and help and humanity remind us with every encounter that this is all worthwhile.

Happy Birthday

Dear Quinn and Logan,

I figured since I am belated in writing my annual birthday letter to you, I may as well just be even a few days later and write this to you on Mother’s Day, since I wouldn’t be celebrating this day without you two. Could it be possible to love and admire you two any more? Perhaps, but it is hard to imagine. Once again, this past year has been filled with absolute wonder, joy, and surprise. Last year we were celebrating your birthdays in Paris, this year we’re back home, but that Paris flame is still flickering and the imprint of our three months there has definitely shaped the young men you are still blossoming into. Maybe it had to do with living in a small apartment, or maybe it’s a true sign of your maturing, but whatever the reason, there is a settling into your skin that we’ve witnessed in you two this past year.

We know that being twins has it challenges and we figured that eventually, what outsiders marvel at, would one day become apparent to you. Up until this year there was more competition and an edginess that defined your twin-ship. This year you’ve really grown in your self-awareness and confidence and individuality and it seems that you two are able to recognize that walking through this world as a twin can be an asset rather than a hindrance. Of course, I fully expect that when you read that you’ll disagree and possibly roll your eyes, but I’m here to tell you that the softening between you two is palpable. You are each more willing to let the other complete a sentence without needing to finish it, you are allowing each other the space to be individuals and as a result you seem to enjoy some of the pleasures of being a twin. Or maybe it has less to do with joy and more to do with the fact that you can finally play identity tricks on your teachers and schoolmates. Yes, those stories trickle back to us, and we can’t believe it took you two this long to realize the fun you could have with being identical. Regardless, it has been such a joy to witness your growth in confidence and the joy of discovering your interests as individuals.

This has been a year of transitions for sure. You started high school this year after being gone from your classmates last year. The transition to school and the craziness that goes along with classes, homework, and sports has seemed to be much easier for you than it was for me and dad. Perhaps we are less resilient to change, but I feel as if I’m just settling into your school routines, and oh my god, school’s almost done! Don’t worry, that’s just my lag-time parenting, which has pretty much been my modus operandi since your birth.  I would like to think that I’m one step ahead of you two, but I’ll share my little secret now—you’ve already lapped me twice!

While we are incredibly proud of your scholastic achievements, we are more proud of your kind and loving spirits. You two are empathetic to others and will lend a hand or word of encouragement when needed. These are the traits that will truly matter in life, and you are both off to a great start.

I still freak out at the thought of being an “empty-nester” in only a few short years, but I’m also excited to see what directions you begin to steer your lives.  These next few years will be filled with major life decisions, and the fact that you’ve already begun to give voice to the directions you want to take and are willing to make some sacrifices now in order to end up where you want to be just reminds us yet again of your maturity. Most fifteen year olds still can’t correlate cause and effect, but you two seem to have a very clear understanding of the decisions you make now and how they’ll affect your future. We honestly couldn’t ask for more. We love you beyond measure and while I will absolutely accept you cooking me a meal for Mother’s Day, I feel it is me who should celebrate you. Happy (belated) birthday my darlings and thank you for giving me the gift of motherhood.

Love,

Mummy

Minced ginger

Minced ginger, a photo by Tamara Irminger on Flickr.

This is Logan's minced ginger! I have never minced ginger this well, but now I know who to ask!

Aftermath

Aftermath, a photo by Tamara Irminger on Flickr.

Mayhem, but so worth it.