Winter Treats...
There are, from time to time, things that I miss about China. One of them is the winter treats that are found everywhere, called "tang2 hu2lu2" (糖葫芦).
These are little crab apple type things, that are usually stuffed with some sort of bean paste (red, green, or black), then covered with melted sugar. They're crunchy and chewy, sweet and a bit bitter. Plus they cost only a yuan or two ($0.15 to $0.30) for a whole stick of them.

Thanks to "A Modern Lei Feng" for the photo, since I can't seem to find my China photos at the moment.

Busy Stress...
It's been a busy and stressful few weeks, with everything going on at school and work. Exams are almost done, and it'll be nice to have a break over the Christmas holidays.

Back to Uni...
It's hard to believe that I'm back in classes again after a truly great summer travelling around. And the profs decided not to waste any time getting back into the swing of things, so I'm already in the thick of the readings, research, and job searching process. Lots to keep me busy.

Bonnie Scotland...
It's been a while since I've updated my blog, but a lot has happened since I left Paris. I travelled to Glasgow/Prestwick with my family. We rented a car to drive around, since it was cheaper than taking trains/buses for four people. The first adventure was my Dad driving on the other side of the road (KEEP LEFT!!!!). We visited many relatives -some we'd seen recently, some a long time ago, and others we'd never met- all over Scotland. Everyone was incredibly welcoming, and we were all stuffed full of tea, cakes, and cookies. Not even mentioning all the amazing meals we had.
Instead of trying to write about the past two weeks, I thought I'd show them briefly in a few photos.
A view of Edinburgh











Stirling Castle











Loch Ness











Whisky distillery











Family pub/music night










Eilean Donan Castle










Fishing











Gaelic/English sign in Uig
Isle of Lewis











Isle of Lewis











Isle of Lewis











Calanais standing stones (older than Stonehenge)
Stornaway harbour











Scottish thistle

Hammam...
I decided to try a Moroccan bath while I was in Chefchaouen because it was right next to the hotel. Of course I got charged at least three times as much because I'm a tourist (30Dh compared to 8Dh). Hammams are open at different times (and rarely alternate days) for men and women.
There were three rooms at different temperatures and humidity levels, starting with the coolest and working to the warmest (but not hot) and most humid. Everyone gets one or two buckets, which can be filled from a main source (boiling hot and freezing cold water is mixed to the temperature you want) as many times as you want. There's a smaller scoop that you use to pour the water from the big buckets onto your body. I decided to try the gommage, which is basically a man who works at the hammam with a scratchy mitt who scrubs multiple layers of skin off you as hard as he can. The soap traditionally used in a hammam is made of olive and other products, and is great after having your skin peeled off. It's nice to feel clean at the end of a hot and sweaty day.

110 to 220, and +1...
There were two rather big changes this weekend in my Dar. I woke up on Friday morning, and the power was off. Apparently someone in the city has decided to change parts of the city from 110 voltage (like in North America) to 220V (like in Europe and Asia). Some of Morocco runs on 110V, and some parts run on 220V. So the power was cut while the current was switched to our neighbourhood in the medina. That of course also means that all the lightbulbs had to be switched too! There are very few electrical appliances in the home, as most cooking/heating equipment runs on gas, so it wasn't too big a problem (though the TV did have a minor problem).
I was watching the French new on Friday night, and Morocco is trying daylight savings this year. Apparently they tried it a few years ago, but gave up. So this Sunday we skipped an hour ahead. While in most Western countries we don't think much of this because it's fairly routine, it created a wee bit of confusion here. There were interviews on the news with a few imams (Islamic religious leaders) explaining that the prayer schedule won't change except to add an hour (the Islamic call to prayer is based on the position of the sun). Ther were interviews with professionals explaining why it's important to have daylight savings, how it would help modernize the country, and how much money other countries have saved by using this system.
Note: Even almost two weeks after the time change, I've still heard people refer to 'old' and 'new' time.

Riad...
I am staying in the medina of Fez, right in the heart of the old city. The riad is a traditional building with three indoor stories and two outdoor terraces. It is at the end of a long narrow alley, right and left, and under a building, and past a fountain. Then you get to the main door (above).
The first floor has the kitchen, a common sitting room, and two other sitting rooms (one for males and one for females?) where meals are served. There is a lot of natural light, as the centre is open to the outside (covered one story up from the rain).
The second floor is where my room is, and two toilets (a Turkish/squat one, and a Western one). The photo is of the room across from mine, which is almost the same as mine. The windows open up to let air into the room.
The third floor is more bedrooms. Climbing up another flight of stairs takes you to the first terrace, which is partly covered to keep the rain out of the main house. Up another small ladder and you get to the top terrace, with a view of the other rooftops and the city. There are a lot of satellite dishes in sight, part of the old walls and forts, and a few mosque towers (minaret). Below is a video from the top terrace around 4:00 in the afternoon when you can hear the afternoon call to prayer (muezzin). If you listen closely you might also be able to hear the birds, the sheep, and maybe a few cars.

Sugar Bush!
I learned for the first time in January what a "sugar bush" is. Some Canadian I am from the Westcoast! Though another friend from BC also didn't know what a sugar bush was, looked it up on google, and found the Rhus ovata (a plant from California).

So I finally went to my first sugar bush at "Wheelers Maple Syrup Camp & Pancake House" with some friends from uni. Amazing! We had a huge brunch with pancakes, sausages, and tonnes of maple syrup (of course).
Next we took a short horse drawn sleigh ride through some of the maple forest, which you can see part of below.

They have the world's largest maple syrup making museum, which was informative.
We looked around the room where they would boil the sap down into syrup, and ended up talking with the owner/operator of the farm who said that we could borrow some snow shoes to go through the forest. They've got a lot of trails that are packed down, but we thought it would be cool to walk over some of the snow (which was at least 4 feet deep). So we went snowshoeing! It's amazing how spreading out your weight a little bit makes it possible to walk on snow that you would normally sink into. It was interesting too to see how they tap the trees, and the way that they collect the sap through lines that go into a pump room, instead of collecting buckets like they used to.

Just before we returned from snowshoeing, they started the first sap-boil of the year since the sap was just starting to flow. So we go to see part of the process of making maple syrup.

Winterlude 2008...

The first few weeks of February in Ottawa brings along Winterlude, which is like a scaled down version of Carnival in Quebec. The canal opens for skating, there are free concerts, ice carving competitions, and all sorts of outdoor activities in the freezing cold Ottawa winter.

Ever since I was little I wanted to go skating on the Rideau Canal, which until this year was the longest outdoor skating rink in the world (the title now belongs to Winnipeg). They let several kilometres of the canal freeze, including Dows Lake, and they open it up for skating. There are a few places along the canal to rent skates, buy Beaver Tails (fried dough and sugar), hot chocolate, coffee, and other snacks.
There's also an ice carving competition, with people from around the world who do some amazing things with blocks of ice. Really amazing stuff.
This sculpture was done by somebody from Thailand.







And this one represents the landing of Jacques Cartier in Quebec City 400 years ago (this year is the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City).

Montreal...
I just got back to Ottawa after a few days in Montreal. At law school, we have a January term which lasts three weeks, then a week break, then a winter term from February to April. So I went to Montreal for a few days with a friend at the end of the break.
On Friday we met up with a friend of mine that I worked with at Parliament a few years back, and she took us for lunch at Les 3 Brasseurs (for poutine and beer!), then to a cool tea shop on Rue St-Denis. The tea shop had nice couches and pillows, with Moroccan and Asian decor, and really good mint tea. We wandered along St-Denis a bit, then headed to her place for dinner.
Saturday we had lunch at the famous Schwartz's, where they've got the best Montreal smoked meat sandwiches. It wasn't too busy, so we only had to line up for a few minutes outside before getting a table to share with four other people. The sandwiches were about 6cm (2inches) thick with smoked meat, and a light spread of mustard. Mmmmmm...
Then we headed to the Biodome, which is near the Olympic Stadium for the 1976 Summer Olympics. The Biodome houses four distinct climates (tropical, Laurentian forest, Laurentian maritime, and polar), each with plants and animals from the region that you can walk through (including the two porcupines in the tree below). We did some second hand book shopping (lots of great places for cheap, used French books all over Montreal -I bought some Baudelaire and Verlaine), then walked along Ste-Catherine. We had dinner at a cool little Tibetan place that did great momos and lentil soup.
Sunday we had a late breakfast and a bit more shopping before leaving Montreal in the early afternoon to head back to Ottawa.

Back...
I'm back home for Christmas, after spending 12 hours in transit with three delayed flights and 3 bags of pretzels (WestJet is getting cheaper with their 'food' I guess). But it's nice to be home and have lots of good food around to eat. It has been strange though not seeing snow everywhere and not being freezing cold, literally, outside.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

One to go...
They say that law school exams are like a marathon. If that's the case (and it certainly feels like it), then I'm almost at the end. My last exam is Thursday, Criminal Law, before I head home for two weeks over the holidays. It'll be nice to take a bit of a break from all the studying -eat lots of holiday food, see old friends, and read a book for fun.

Countdown...

I've got my first exam (Constitutional Law) out of the way, the biggest one, and it feels great. Not that I think I aced the exam, but that I did well enough given the time constraints.
Last night I took a break from studying and went to the official Holiday Lighting ceremony at the university with a few friends. It was actually really cool -they had free hot chocolate and cookies, carolers, and there was a bit of snow falling. Perfect evening for it to. So that's what the two photos are from.

Average Student Today...
I came across this interesting video on Motion to Recess. It's about the life of an 'average' student, though I think it would be interesting to find out about the life of an average law student (especially the part about sleep and reading).

And with that, it's now less than a week until law school exams officially start. My first exam is Constitutional Law, worth 100% of the course. Fun times to be had on s.7 today!

Snow?
Normally I'm excited when it snows, because in BC we only get a day or two of snow a year. But now that I'm living in Ontario, I'm not so excited about the snow. Especially since it's already started, and this Friday's low is supposed to be -13C (7F)! I've never experienced that in Canada, except when skiing at Whistler. My roommate commented this morning about how sad it is that I've never lived a real Canadian winter.
Well, I think my "first real Canadian winter" is starting with trudging to uni this morning in the snow.

Pakistan...
I'm assuming that most people have heard about the situation in Pakistan. The Canadian Bar Association is organizing an even this Sunday to support the lawyers in Pakistan. Here are the details:

The Canadian Bar Association (CBA) is joining legal organizations around the world in a show of support for the lawyers and judges of Pakistan, calling for the restoration of the rule of law in that country.

On Sunday, November 25 in Ottawa, the CBA will be holding a march in solidarity with the defenders of the rule of law in Pakistan. CBA President Bernard Amyot will lead the procession of CBA Bar Leaders, lawyers, law students and other members of the legal community from across Canada. The County of Carleton Law Association is also giving its full support to the march to the steps of the Supreme Court of Canada. Bar Leaders will address the marchers and participants will have the opportunity to sign a petition of support for Pakistan lawyers, judges and the rule of law.

All lawyers, their families and champions of the rule of law are invited to join in this Ottawa event to show their concern.

We need your participation to make this a success. Here are the details:

What: Lawyers’ March to the Supreme Court to support the rule of law in Pakistan
When: Gather at the Delta Hotel Ottawa - 10:00 a.m., Sunday, November 25. The March will begin at 10:30 a.m. and is expected to end by 11:30 a.m.
Where: The Delta Hotel, 361 Queen Street, Ottawa (Coffee and hot chocolate will be available from 10 a.m.)
Attire: Dark suit

Lest We Forget...
Today, November 11th, is Remembrance Day. Ever since I visited Vimy Ridge and several of the WW1 sites in the North of France, I've wanted to attend the national memorial service in Ottawa on Remembrance Day. So I got up bright and early this morning, met with some friends and got a peppermint white chocolate mocha from Starbucks, then went to the National War Memorial. It was a great ceremony, and I'm glad I was finally able to attend the ceremony to remember those who served.
(A photo of some poppies I saw in Spain this summer)

Continuing HP and Staples Bad Customer Service...
The customer service problems continue with both HP and Staples. I was told last week Thursday that my computer would be ready for pick-up in 5 business days. So when I hadn't heard anything by yesterday (Friday, or 6 business days) at 4:30 I decided to go in. I asked if they had my computer, since it was supposed to have arrived the previous day. Nope, come back next week.
This time I wasn't going to leave so easily. I've got a number of big essays due, plus research and exams coming up in less than a month. After all, I've only had my Compaq laptop for three weeks since the first week of August -that's less than a week a month! Why did I buy a computer if it was just to sit in repair. I said that I wanted a replacement computer, since I was told the computer was shipped on the 29th of October and should have already arrived. "We don't have a computer replacement program", says Bradley. Blah, blah. "I want to talk to a manager." Why waste time with the guy in a red shirt? "I am one of the managers" says Bradley. So I keep complaining, and demanding that they do something, contact HP on my behalf because HP is ignoring me, or at least tell me where my computer is.
So finally Melissa, in a blue manager's shirt, comes over. Same thing. I want to know where my computer is though. I've called HP, and been sent to people on 3 different continents. Kumar didn't even know where I was calling from.
Turns out that Staples doesn't t even know where it is!!! All they know is that HP shipped it on the 29th of October, and it hasn't arrived yet. Supposedly it normally ships in 2-3 days, so why has it taken almost 2 weeks by courrier? Is UPS now using horse and buggy for deliveries within Ontario? And what's more worrying is that HP normally gives Staples the UPS tracking code, which they didn't do with my computer... Sounds very sketchy to me.
Lots more talking and trying to stay calm. I eventually asked for the HP complaint number, and they gave me the toll-free number that I called two weeks ago, was put on hold for 10 minutes, then automatically transferred to a voice mail system which said HP would respond within 24 hours. Two weeks later and still nobody has called, despite leaving my name, number, and computer serial number.
So I'm up a creek, with no computer, nobody knows where it is or when it will arrive, and Melissa has Tuesday off so she said she can't do anything until later in the week.
Shitty service from both HP and Staples I'd say.

More Waiting...
My roommate got a call from HP on Wednesday this week when I was in class, asking if she was satisfied with the quality of repairs on my laptop. Two problems my roommate said, first it's not my laptop it's my roommates laptop, and second he hasn't got the laptop back. Well the lady from HP apparently didn't understand the word "roommate" and started asking questions about he model number, problem with the system, etc. When my roommate said I wasn't home and the lady should call back the next day, the HP lady seemed confused. She never called back.
So I called Staples on Thursday night, asking where my laptop was because HP thinks that I should have it and be able to comment on the quality (haha, good thing it wasn't me who answered) of the repairs. Seems that Staples doesn't have the laptop, and it'll take a week or so to arrive at the store.
I've heard that they're going to start taking bets in my small group at uni as to when the laptop will actually arrive, and for how long it will last before breaking again.
I don't know if that's good or bad...

Annoying HP...
My Compaq V2000 had to be repaired (i.e. have its hard drive replaced) in August just before I left for Ottawa. I figured that would be fine for a while, but three weeks after arriving in Ottawa Windows wouldn't start. So I took the laptop once again back to Staples, where I have a warranty, to get it fixed. I took it in on the 19th of September, and I'm still waiting. I finally went in, and they said that it was shipped on the 20th of September to HP to have
it fixed and that I'd have to call HP to check on the status.
I tried calling last Friday, and my call was dropped twice. The first time I actually talked to someone, after battling for several minutes with the voice automated system, who transferred my call. After a minute of music it was dropped with the annoyingly familiar 'beep beep beep' noise.
Anyway, I called HP yesterday to try again. A few friends suggesting pressing the '0' key to avoid the voice automated mess. I pressed '0' a whole bunch of times, but an annoying automated female voice replied calmly "I can understand when you speak; you don't need to press numbers".
Ugh. Then she says something like "to help us better serve you, please say 'home, work, or business'."
"Home."
"Sorry, I don't seem to understand you. Let's try this again. Please say 'home, work, or business'." WHAT?! I thought she just said she could understand me and I didn't need to have to press buttons!
"Just give me an operator."
"Sorry, I don't seem to understand you. Please wait while I transfer you to an operator." Finally.
Music. Then I'm finally talking to a human.
After giving my phone number, product number, ticket number, computer model, name, address, and waiting ages while they try to find the product, the guy says that they haven't done anything with the computer.
"What do you mean that nothing has been done? I sent in the computer on the 20th of September, that's a month ago. Can you please tell me more about what you've done with it and when I can expect to get it fixed?"
"I can't give you that information. I'll transfer you to the Status Department."
More music, more waiting. Then my call gets transferred to India. The lady could hardly understand me, and the connection was awful.
"Hello sir, how can I help you?"
I go through the whole thing again, but this time she can't seem to find the computer! "Kindly wait 2 or 3 minute Sir."
Finally she figures out what's going on and tells me that it hasn't been fixed yet. "What do you mean that nothing has been done? I sent in the computer on the 20th of September, that's a month ago. Can you please tell me more about what you've done with it and when I can expect to get it fixed?" I feel like a parrot.
"Kindly wait 2 or 3 minute Sir." Crackling noises and what I think is Hindi in the background.
"Sorry Sir, I will put in a work order to fix the computer right away."
-OK, so isn't that why I sent the laptop to HP, to have it fixed? Are they now doing a storage system where if you go on vacation they'll hold onto your computer for the fun of it?! If the laptop has been sent in a month earlier for repair, why is the repair order just being made now?
"Well can you at least tell me when it'll be fixed."
"Kindly wait 1 or 2 minute Sir." Crackling noise.
"Hello Sir, maybe the maximum time is 7 or 9 day plus shipping, unless there is a backlog."
"Well can you tell me if there's a backlog?" I asked trying not to sound frustrated.
"Yes, I can find out if there's a backlog. Kindly wait 1 or 2 minute Sir." Crackling noise. "There is no backlog of the parts."
"Well I need the computer to do work, and this will take 6 or 7 weeks, so I'd appreciate it if you can do this as fast as possible."
"Thank you Sir for calling HP. Please have a nice day. If you have any questions you can look at the website www.hp. (long pause, while she's trying to figure out which country I'm in) ca"
Ugh. So now I have to wait another 2 or 3 weeks before I get my laptop back for the second time since August from HP Repair. Hopefully it will last longer than 3 weeks this time before it crashes again!