Good times with the fam

Mike, Chris, Moni & me

Don't ask me where my brother got his fashion sense from.

Princess

Meet the newest member of the Thiessen household:

Kleiner Bruder Chris thinks if he puffs up his cheeks, so will Princess.

Princess makes her escape into Mom's flower bed (don't tell Mom).

It took him 22 years, but Chris finally found a way to keep Mom out of his room.

Double Fudge Ice Cream Cake

With seven candles, please. The oh-so-cute birthday girl, Chanel.

Karissa: Do you really mean to tell me that ice cream cake tastes better than my hand???

Cael & Sabrina: Presents are much better when we're the ones opening them.

Chanel: Do I really have to wait a whole year until my next birthday???

Together Again

Moni is home for a visit and a less-jetlagged-than-the-last-time-you-saw-me Ang remembered to take a picture of the, er, joyous (?) reunion.

What can I say, we're sisters, we fight.

Quotable Canada

Canada could have enjoyed English government, French culture, and American know-how; instead, it ended up with English know-how, French government, and American culture.

-John Robert Colombo

Love the 80s???

How could you not when they look like this?!?

So this is what Winnipeggers do on a Friday night: Fill our purse with all the hairspray we can carry, break out our best 80s threads and and have dance-offs to classic Madonna tunes. It's called a social. Don't you wish you lived here?

The Forks

Time to show you all some pics of my hometown. First batch of photos are from the river walk at The Forks National Historic Park, over the Esplanade Riel to St. Boniface Cathedral.

What would Winnipeg be without Sals?

Fire destroyed the cathedral in 1968.

A new church was built behind the facade you see here.

A Festa Brasileira

The first ever Brazilian pavilion at Folklorama meant a sea of green and yellow and waiting in line com o povo brasileiro for more than an hour to get in. In true Brazilian style there was samba a-plenty, a little forro, and a very impressive capoeira show. Portuguese all around, feijoada and brigadeiros, washed down with a guarana, made you feel almost like you were in the under side of the world. But a quick look around the hockey arena sans ice you were sitting in was a jolting reminder that, yup, in a few short months this won’t feel anything like Brazil.

Adorable baby Marco with his favourite tia, Ronete

Sarah: When I grow up I'm going to be a samba dancer!

Me and Celia: If our dads are Brazilian, why don't they have any rhythym?!?

Quotable Canada

Was given this little jem of a book called Quotable Canada. It's supposed to "celebrate the unique spirit of Canada, a nation held together by the harshness of its climate and the determination of its people." Made me laugh, so I thought I might share what Canadians and others have said about us. Here's the first installment:

In any world menu, Canada must be considered the vichyssoise of nations - it's cold, half-French, and difficult to stir.

-Stuart Keate

Sushi & Sake

I've always thought the idea behind Folklorama (celebrating diversity and promoting cultural understanding) was good, but it’s always seemed too kitschy and too much of a nostalgic celebration of ethnicity that I feel often doesn’t reflect the ethnic communities in Winnipeg. Maybe it's because I've been away from all this talk of multiculturalism for a year that I'm less bothered by the kitsch and more thankful to have grown up in such a diverse country. Or maybe I've just been to really good pavilions this year. Whatever the reason, Folklorama has been fun this year; I’ve been entertained with dancing, stories and singing (think Paul Anka in Japanese – hilarious), I've been a Feinschmecker sampling culinary creations from around the globe, I’ve swapped travel stories with Mom and helped her pick out some new jewellery from the gift shops. Wait, maybe it was the shopping that made Folklorama so good this year! Ahh, once a shopoholic, always a shopoholic. :)

Ghost drummers
The Hinode Taiko drummers were amazing

http://www.folklorama.ca

Den Sommer genießen

Lay on the beach under the stars and watch movies on a screen set up in the water? What a brilliant idea. Becky and I headed to the “Capital of New Iceland” (that’s what the Welcome to Gimli sign claims) for the Icelandic and Gimli Film Festival. After running into old friends and picking up some sweet wooden jewellery, we grabbed our beach blankets and made our way down to the water to watch a film about trolls and warriors called Beowulf & Grendel. The midnight show, Screaming Masterpiece, further convinced me that Iceland has one of the coolest music scenes around.

We may be days away from the ocean, but freshwater beaches aren't bad either.

Alberta Bound

Cowboys and oil rigs. It wasn't either of those things that Mom and I were looking for in Canada's Texas, rather a cute little Thiessen I hadn't seen in over a year. With Starbucks just around the corner, Mom and I weren't too upset when we arrived at Moni's and she still wasn't home from work. When we returned two hours later and she still wasn't home, Mom and I were left with no choice but to break in (what would the neighbours think if we just sat around on her front steps for hours?!?). When her work day was finally done, we were greeted with quick hugs from Moni, immediately followed by an onslaught of insults about everything from my fashion sense to my breakfast of choice and everything was back to the way it's always been. Ahh, sisters. In our two days in E-town we sauntered up and down Whyte Ave and cruised around IKEA, Winners, West Edmonton Mall, and (like good Canadians) MEC.

Moni & Mom

Despite all my efforts, the two old(er) Thiessen girls couldn't be convinced that roller coasters really are fun and that we should try this one out.

West Edmonton Mall's Ice Palace
Sunrise on our drive home

The good people of Saskatoon...

Anyone know how that sentence ends? Here's a hint: Blue Rodeo and Just Like a Vacation. Anyway, Saskatoon was our first non coffee or gas station related stop. Good eats at the Freehouse, a walk along the Saskatchewan River, and back to the hotel just in time to see Peter Mansbridge talk to us about Arctic Sovereignty. Peter Mansbridge is the best news correspondent ever. I love him.

Tommy Douglas: the much loved Premier of Saskatchewan for nearly 20 years, the first in North America to lead a socialist government, the father of medicare, grandfather to Kiefer Sutherland, and in 2004 the people of Canada voted him The Greatest Canadian.

Road Trip

Mom and I hit up the three prairie provinces to make the Thiessen girls reunion complete. All three of us in the same city; a far cry from the different corners of the world we were in just a few months ago. We drove and drove and drove, passing nothing more than wheat fields, bison (seriously), and sleepy prairie towns. I think Germany is beautiful, but it can't compare with the open skies that let you see as far as the eye can see in all directions, where the air is clean and it feels good to breathe deep, and where people at the checkout not only accept MasterCard, but smile and wish you a good day. I almost forgot what that's like.