Polar Bears

There was a documentary about the Polar Bears, these beautiful creatures of Canada which are in the verge of distinction on CBC the other night and it answered a question I had a long time ago. The story speaks about Churchill, Manitoba, a little town adjacent to Hudson Bay.

Every year the Polar Bears who are wandering around northern Manitoba and vicinity of Hudson Bay, get trapped at the south side of it because of the ice meltdown in July and have no way to go back north. For that reason they get deprived of having their most nutritious food, the seals. They have to roam around Churchill and other places for food, like garbage, goose egg, fish and small stuff like that. They, then, lose a significant amount of weight, some die because now the meltdown is longer as a result of global warming. The documentary does not say what happens to the larger population of Polar Bears who their habitat is not around Hudson Bay but generally blames global warming for as the prime risk for them. That's a sad story because just watching these beautiful creatures on TV is very nice. Imagine that you're in Churchill on that very special vehicle and watching them from feet away, where I wanted to go in 2005 and couldn't and I still want to. The Government apparently does not have a plan yet and I hope they come up with something before we only see them on Loonies. I hope the Government consider this problem as important as Somalia and Afghanistan!

(Photo: This map, although small, shows where Churchill in Northern Manitoba is located)

I Insist: Multiculturalism Does Not Work

I mentioned not a long time ago that multiculturalism does not work. This time I have a good witness: This Norwegian guy. They all say that he is a psychopath but the truth is he was tired of seeing all this women with a table cloths around their head and sleepers on the edge of their feet, walking in shabby cloths with half open mouth. He was probably also tired of seeing people with turbans and long beard walking on his hometown street. I'm not giving him credit for that but he would probably ask: Why should I work and pay taxes so these people who doesn't care about the country get benefit?

Again what he did was extremely stupid rather than criminal in my opinion. If he had that problem which we believe he had he should have let the others hear him through a member of parliament, like that guy in Netherlands, through a newspaper or any other media. After all the pen is mightier than the sword. What would you get by killing bunch of the kids who are camping on a small island? Just because you don't like foreigners and you're afraid that Muslims and Africans will take over your country that does not give you the right to kill bunch of people simply because they are from the party who supports immigrants. Another fact that should be mentioned here is the US and Canada and especially the US are more foreigner/immigrant/refugee-friendly because they have been accepting people from different corners of the globe for years but the world has changed and with all shit we see on daily basis I wonder when something like that happens in Canada.

(Photo: The Norwegian flag flutter half-mast on the top of the parliament building as a sign of sorrow)

New Calgary Police Office

There is barely a week that we do not see a police vehicle in our neighborhood. It's one specific building that looks like has problems. F. F. has a good suggestion: Calgary Police Service should open a new office in our neighbourhood! In that case they don't have to send officers to the building. They would just walk out, take a few steps, get in and talk the guys down!

(Photo: A police van is parked(!) in the neighbourhood. The officers are investigating. Not to mention the idling!)

Kiwano

As Canada is close to Caribbean and all those countries have tropical weather and have nothing much to export and make revenue but cheap fruits and vegetables and also because people like to try everything available no matter how much it cost them, you can find almost every kind of fruit, vegetable and food here. Not to mention that all immigrants and refugees from every corner of the world bring their own cuisines to Canada.

I, myself, have tried things that had never have them before my immigration. I made Sushi just last night, eat Avocado regularly and many other things on daily basis.

This one that I bought two weeks ago called Kiwano and although looks very attractive but tastes awful! I study a bit about that and it's eaten raw. It's added to the salad and is also called Horned Melon. So be careful with your money! Get a good recipe and make sure you will use the best of it because I had to dump half of it. Cost me some $4 one single damn fruit!

(Photo: Horned Melon looks nice although this photo is crap but taste wise, I wouldn't recommend that!)

Cowboy Dance

There was this Cowboy street dance and music from 10:00 to 12:00 in 8th Street everyday during Stampede and today was the last day of it. We got the chance to see and try it! I tried it 2 times with a bunch of guys and gals and F. F. did it 4 times. It was interesting. I completely screwed up the first one but the second one was easier and I enjoyed it. I guess if I had the chance to try it every day I would have been much better today. This dance is a bit hard because it needs coordination. It's a team dance. I have never been a dancer and don't know any dance but it's different when someone willingly helps you and tells you what to do and those guys and gals, all volunteers, all of them were very nice and hospitable. We will go next year if we're still in Calgary.

Line of Stupidity!

Could you call this line anything rather addiction or stupidity!? I mean I used to get Tim Horton's coffee myself but never stood in a line like an idiot! Now I don't even remember when was the last time I had a Tim Horton's coffee! May be in B. C.!

This is right that it's said that one of the few things which has no boundary to it is stupidity. Again I understand when you're accustomed to a taste it's hard to replace it with something else but is it worth wasting time in a line!!

(People line up at this Tim Horton's and many others to get their coffee and some other things for their breakfast in different location across Canada. Once police had to intervene and warn a Tim Horton's because of the traffic it's Drive Thru had cause in one Atlantic province city. The photo might not big enough but you can see that the line has spread outside the store!)

Disappointing Stampede 2011

Looks like that the quality of everything in Canada is going down while the prices are going up. We went to Calgary Stampede today and it was a total disappointment. We were at the gate at 08:55 AM so could get in without paying the admission and walked around a bit until realized that there was a huge line. That was there we realized that we were not cheap! There were those cheap bastards who were standing in the line for breakfast and then got a stamp on their arm and left!

Then we were looking for a breakfast we didn't mind paying and after almost 20 min. I found the place and there was another line and I hate lines so we went and got too cups of horrible coffee for $3 each and had them with our breakfast sandwiches that F. F. had made. Then looking for something interesting to watch we went to the Saddledome and watched the Huge Horse Show for about an hour and 20 min. and that was about average. Coming out of the show we decided to try some food and got two Corn Dogs for $7 each which were the most tasteless food I have ever that to the moment!

After that we had a look at agricultural exhibition including animals and plan which nothing very special was happening and some Cattle Penning.

The Indian Village was our final destination and that was the worst First Nation performance dance that I have ever seen! The microphone was cutting off every 2 minutes and the singers and drummers were not strong enough. They did not have many good dancers. The Hoop Dancers were horrible. They were two small girl probably 8 and 6 and not even in Aboriginal attire and danced like two kids how were practicing their last lessons! We left before the show ended. A Roast Beef sandwich was our other meal and although the guy charged us enough (you can imagine how much comparing with the other garbage we had!) I must say that was the worst Roast Beef sandwich I ever had. They had not even added some salt and seasoning to the damn meat!

We toured the games and eventually decided not to stay for the firework. We got the stamps on our hands but did not go back. A heavy rain started just about half and an hour after our arrival at home. I heard the fireworks at about 11:00 PM and it was pretty load but F. F. was sleep. We were so exhausted to go back. We might go and pick the same place we picked for Canada Day to watch that. I hope we won't go home disappointed like today!

Hail Storm

To confirm what I posted yesterday, I'm putting a photo of a vehicle that we found a few weeks ago in a supermarket's parking lot.

(Photo: Signs of hail storm in Alberta on this vehicle's hood seen easily)

Snow in Summer

Calgary has probably the ugliest weather among all the major cities in Northern America, if not the entire world! Some people don't even consider it a major city. It has just reached 1,000,000 recently and practically has nothing important but a few temporary jobs!

If you have walked around or driven in Calgary streets in the past few days you probably have noticed the white small snow flake-like stuff which are floating in the air. You look at the lawn and curbs it looks like snow is sitting on the ground.

In fact it snowed once I remember it was either June or July back in 2003. I was asleep and the telephone rang. I picked up and it was Z. B. my classmate asking me to look out of the window. I looked and it was snowing!

The thing is Calgary has been very warm lately but at the same time we had strong winds, rain, shower, you name it! One has to have a very strong neurotic system to live in Calgary and not get mad over the stupid weather of it!

(Photo: feather-snow flake-like stuff covered lawns, sidewalk and everywhere that they could)

Canada Day 2011

We went to see fireworks last night it was not what we expected. First off we went to the hills at the east side of Downtown which has the view to the whole area and there was crowed but when it started we realized that was not the best viewing spot. I had red in the website that the firework would be beside the municipal building but was not sure which one because the City has a few. The reason we went there was that the last time I witnessed fireworks in Calgary it was on Stampede grounds and I went to the cemetery(!) adjacent to the place and despite the bites I got from the mosquitoes(!) I got a few good shots.

Then the fireworks was not as big as what we had seen in White Rock and Vancouver and not even as close as what we had seen in Bellingham for the Independence Day, again from White Rock. Not to mention that the time I had those photos it was bigger and better.

One reason could be that the City is on a short budget. We did not have the chance to check on everything else in the morning as The Lady had to work.