Final Canada Blog and a few updates

And now for the final days in Canada -- almost 3 months ago!!!

Feeling a bit better, Ty and I (and my Mom) were happy to receive a 2-day visit from Nina, who was a great friend in Korea, a travel partner to Taiwan and, even more importantly, my maid-of-honour who did my hair and loaned me a white skirt for my wedding last December.

As with every lunch in Canada, or so it seems, we started off at Strega. Armed with our coupons for Niagara Falls, we decided to head down to the Butterfly Conservatory, where we enjoyed a bit of butterfly time, while also taking the opportunity to buy some really tacky gifts for our teachers (Korea and UAE) in the shop. We rounded out the day by visiting my uncle and aunt, then heading back home, where we enjoyed a few beverages and chatted about life in general.

The next day, we were a bit headachy, but managed to enjoy the afternoon at Cave Springs, where my brother-in-law works. The Niagara Region produces some excellent wines, and getting a winery tour is one of those must-do activities. We also got a tour of the B&B that is associated with Cave Springs, where Nina looked in every closet and drawer... teehee. We chilled at my sister's for a bit, before renting movies and having a quiet night in.

Our visit to Canada was now drawing to a close, we brought our rental car back and started saying our goodbyes. Oh, and Ty and I found ourselves having to motivate each other into packing! Somehow, our suitcases had shrunk and our possessions had tripled. Happily, the weight requirement for crossing the Atlantic was, like, 3 times what we had as an allowance when we moved from Korea to the UAE. Funny that - you can visit a place for a few weeks and be allowed to bring more than if you are moving -- it's always been one of those "huh?" moments for me...

Anyway, the final day, August 13, was an important day as it was Meron's wedding. We picked her up from the salon, where she had been made gorgeous, then drove out to Port Dover (on Lake Erie -- we saw 3 of the 5 Great Lakes while in Canada) where Dave and Meron were married on the beach.

After the ceremony, we chilled out a bit, and I got to chat with some people I hadn't seen in ages -- Meron's family, a few friends. There was no rest for the wicked, though, as we had a plane to catch.

Dash away dash away, back to my brother's where we headed out to get Sony e-books, and then on to my Mom's where things came full circle, with goodbyes from the same people who had greeted us a month ago: My sister and her kids. We jumped into our airport-bound bus (no comment on the shoddy service we got, though), and made it to the Toronto airport where we met up with a friend from MZ (!!). Ya, small world.

We arrived in Abu Dhabi, and once again had that full-circle feeling as Nawaf, our friend and (former) taxi driver was the first face we saw when we got out of the airport.

Thus endeth the Canada blog!!!

Now... you may want to know why it took so long for us to post everything (A valuable lesson was learned in that we won't be doing any more "details about every single day on a vacation" blogs anytime soon!), and it mostly has to do with my job. We returned to the UAE, and I started back immediately, dragging my sorry jet-lagged self through meetings. I won't get into too many details, but my job is now, roughly, 7 times the workload of what it was last year -- and I'm not even exaggerating. Half the time, I get home and don't want to do anything creative at all. And it's not that we don't have anything to write, it's just a matter of not having time.

Having said that, I also know that I love blogging and that my Korea blog has proven itself to be a sort of diary/travel journal on more than one occasion. And so, dear Reader, here is my promise to you...

There will now be two (2) blogs per week: about our new drumming circle, about the wonderful women I work with, about Oman, about watching the stars in the desert, about new educational experiences, about painting and decorating the apartment, about Ty's photo contest... and so on.