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February 26, 2005
Doing My History Reading
Did you know that Ontario means Beautiful Water?
That the word Canada actually means Village in Iroquois?
That Canada was almost named: Victorialand, Borealia, Cabotia, Tuponia (The United Provinces of North America), Superior, Norland, or Hochelaga?
The Beaver is the national animal?
Ontario's motto is Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet "Loyal she began, loyal she remains"
Stephen Harper is paid the same amount as Paul Martin.
Under the Constitution, every province except Quebec, New Brunswick and Manitoba is absolutely free to have as many official languages as it pleases, and they need not include either English or French.
In Canada, the head of state (The Queen) can, in exceptional circumstances, protect Parliament and the people against a Prime Minister and Ministers who may forget that "minister" means "servant," and may try to make themselves masters.
The American head of state cannot restrain the American head of government because they are the same person.
Posted by Nikolas at 10:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackFebruary 25, 2005
You have NO idea how true this is...
| You Know You're Greek When.... |
|
You have a cousin called Jim.
You say "sick" every thirty seconds There are no such things as a girl - there's only "chicks" You wear or at least own a gold chunky bracelet. Garlic is considered a main meal. Olive oil is like a drug - you can't survive without it. You don't know half your relatives. You have a wedding at least twice a year. An uncle's wife's third cousin relates you to a friend. You or at least most of your uncles own a spit. You wear sunglasses at night and consider it normal. There is no five o'clock shadow - it's a five o'clock beard. You consider soccer the eighth wonder of the world. Your cheeks receive their weekly work out every time you visit an aunt. You have a shrine dedicated to Diego Maradona Your last name ends with: s, opolous, os, as, or is Your last name consists of the entire alphabet. You have a relation called Maria, Mario or Michael, Con, George or Bill. You tell your parents you're seeing someone and they start sending out wedding invitations. You're home an hour late and you're already listed as a missing person. You're Dad has those old Greek tapes in the car, and plays them on family drives. Especially in the vicinity of attractive members of the opposite sex. You break a leg, and your grandmother thinks your life is over. You tell your parents you're having a party. They buy out the whole supermarket. It doesn't matter if people can't hear what you're talking about - you talk so much with your hands that people know what you're on about anyway. You go to a wedding, and take a fancy to one of the guests. Later you discover that the guest is somehow related to you. You go to a wedding, and are introduced to cousins that you never knew existed. As far as you're concerned, there's only one sporting goods company - Adidas You tell your mother you're not hungry and she thinks you have an eating disorder. You can distinguish between kefalotiri and kefalograviera You're an adult and are forced to be with your family at 12 midnight on New Year's eve Upon meeting another Greek, one of your first questions is, "What church do you go to?" Your grandmother / mother / aunt has a miracle cure for everything. If you're a girl, your mother still tries to put those pony tail holders with the BIG plastic balls on the end on your hair. If you're a guy, your mother still tries to make you wear that super frilly dress shirt with that huge bow tie, because it looked so cute when you were 7. You can name any or all of the gods on Mount Olympus Your mother or father still feels the need to tell you, "katse kala" in public You have ever been hit with a pandofla You can dance kalamatiano, tsiamiko, zebetiko without music You go to church picnics pretending you're there for reasons other than to check up / gossip about other Greeks You or a family member has been photographed with a donkey You are familiar with the phrase, "Sto leo yia to kalo sou" You have one or more of those porcelain figurines in your house You have ever broken one of those porcelain figurines and your mother still hasn't forgiven you for it Your parents make up the name of a street / store / TV show because they couldn't remember it or they couldn't pronounce it You still get scared when you hear the name "Baboola" Upon meeting another Greek you try to find out what village they're from You or a family member wears their Sunday best to go to the laundromat or grocery shopping You were spanked by your friend's parents because your parents gave them permission to You go to a wedding or a baptism and complain about the food, but are the first one to ask for a "to go" plate You know someone who always feels the need to point out how much something they bought costs You have a bottle of OUZO in your house right now You have ever been threatened to be eaten by the mavro / baboola / yero / pontiki when you were little Someone in your family owns any type of restaurant Your family inheritance includes olive trees Your entire house is a needlepoint warehouse You're proud to be Greek - and you pass these jokes on to all your Greek friends! |
Posted by Nikolas at 06:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 24, 2005
The Karma of Immigration
I had a thought this evening about the karma in part that I carry when it comes to immigration and lineage. I think every soul has a lesson to learn , but there are times when it needs to happen over millennia by a collective group. Where does this connection start and where will it end.
In the prime of my life I am considering immigrating to a country. Well-versed and known it will be an easy transition, but a transition none-the-less - a forming of a new identity - a Canadian identity. My parents before me traveled a continent and an ocean to make it here. Prior to that my grandfather was forcibly removed by Turks from his homeland and re-patrioted, prior to that My Great Grandfather landed on Ellis Island in 1902 in order to find work, only to return empty-handed and into a war, Prior to that my great-great-grandfather new only life under Ottoman Rule but sensed the change coming. We continue to wander across oceans and seas, continents and states, countries and cities. This journey of needing to move, to explore - it must be in my veins.
Posted by Nikolas at 08:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackFebruary 22, 2005
Canada's more ahead of the curve then you realize...
So far Mason and I have not gotten a response from Canadian Immigration so I am taking that as a good sign. I've heard of stories in which applications are promptly returned because they have something wrong with them. ::crosses fingers:: I can only hope it is being processed.
A friend of mine at work who is also into new age stuff came up to me last week and gave me a photocopy out of a book titled Illuminating Physical Experience. She knows we are trying to move to Canada and thought I might enjoy a copy of page 207:
At the same time, Canada and New Zealand need to integrate more trust and emotional embodiment of their masculine energy and not perceive themselves as the "little brothers" to the seven Atlantean countries.
I was in awe after reading the passage. She looked at me and without even flinching told me that now she understood why I want to move.
Posted by Nikolas at 10:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackFebruary 13, 2005
It's there....
I checked on-line and our packet has arrived in Buffalo. OK...OK...I promise this will be my last obsessive post about the immigration paperwork unless I get it back or they send us a letter.
::shakes nervously::
Posted by Nikolas at 09:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackFebruary 11, 2005
It's Done
Mason and I got the last bit of paperwork this week, and I spent the better part of yesterday organizing all the paperwork. Then tonight I did a spell - one to help speed up the process and make our paperwork cut through the red tape. I hope it helped. Tomorrow we make our way to the post office to mail the application packet to Buffalo - the Canadian Immigration Centre should get it on Monday....Happy Valentine's Day!
*crosses fingers*
Posted by Nikolas at 08:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackYou have got to be kidding me...
You're Canada!
People make fun of you a lot, but they're stupid because you've
got a much better life than they do. In fact, they're probably just jealous.
You believe in crazy things like human rights and health care and not
dying in the streets, and you end up securing these rights for yourself and
others. If it weren't for your weird affection for ice hockey, you'd be
the perfect person.
Take
the Country Quiz at the Blue Pyramid
February 10, 2005
"I don't want love without acceptance"
Non-Canada related, but important none-the-less:
These were the words on ER tonight when Carrie finally met her birth Mom. There are few shows that I ever stop and watch, but ER is a select one of them. Finally finding each other after so many years - they realize that they both hate for what the other stands for. For decades they both yearned to find one another, but to her mother she was a lesbian, and for Carrie her mother was a right-wing fundamentalist. She uttered those words toward the end, in hearing her mothers love but also her condemnation for her orientation.
My mother called me this weekend. It's the first time I have heard her voice since Christmas when she left another message. She sounds wearier with each phone call, and we have not actually spoken to one another since September 1st, when I finally laid my cards out for her. I hate the fact that I have been motherless and fatherless for the last decade, that my parents hate me so much that they would rather see me dead and miserable then alive and happy. I came to the conclusion last year about where my mother and I really are, and how things will never change. That I have to accept the fact that I am an emotional orphan and that no amount of pleading. wishing or praying is going to change that - on either side.
More then anyhting I think that I have finally found the ability to love my self because my parents could never love me the way I need them too. My parents never use to be people of faith - that only came into existance when the word "homosexual" was uttered. There are days that I think about what my life would have been like if I had stayed in the closet, allowed my self to be deprogrammed, and lived a life of lie and diecit to my own soul. I would not be who I am today - for good and ill.
I don't want love without acceptance.
Posted by Nikolas at 10:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
