Felices Pascuas! Happy Easter!

I hope you saw the Easter bunny, and that you enjoyed a restful holiday weekend. BigTime saw a Dinosaur downtown, but that's another story for another day.

BigTime, SmallTime and I did a lot of Easter visiting. We have the good fortune of being surrounded by family so we spent a lot of time enjoying ourselves with grandma, all the future grandparents, tia, tio, future aunts & uncles, current cousins, future cousins, and the one and only - Liz.

Today we participated in two Easter Egg hunts, went to Easter mass in Spanish, and topped it all of with a Chinese banquet (featured here with the Baca-Chang families).

When you're Chinese-Peruvian-European-Canadian, no holiday is ever a dull moment!

SmallTime - The Sequel (or the Upside Down Saga Continues)

So off we went to the ultrasound lab once again, and once again SmallTime remained upside down, much to the frustration of the ultrasound technician. What can we say, SmallTime was comfortable, and I believe is planning ahead for the Big Day because if s/he remains upside down s/he is in a perfect position to join us in this great big world.

This time, the lab technician was very persistent and I pretty much had to be upside down so that she could measure SmallTime's head and look at the face and check on his/her brain. So once again, I'm doing all the work here and SmallTime is gingerly doing yoga poses. Everything looks healthy and we're on track at 20 weeks to have SmallTime grace the world sometime around August 30 ... start placing your bets!

We got some very artistic black and white photos of SmallTime and BigTime is convinced the baby looks just like him. This is a profile shot of his head (on the right hand side) with nose, chin and then belly (over to the left) so you can decide for yourselves...personally I think SmallTime looks like Charlie Brown, but then again BigTime does have a big head so that could be the resemblance :)

Stay tuned for Paola & SmallTime's adventures in New York, DC and Maryland...featuring J-train, Plum plum & Pam!

In select theatres beginning April 19.

Type O - Universal Donors

A person with Type O blood is said to be a "universal donor" because they can donate blood to anyone. A person with Type AB blood is said to be a "universal receiver." I have Type O blood, which may explain why I like to donate lots of things (much to BigTimes great disconcern). Unfortunately given some of the countries I travel to the Canadian Blood Services has not really been all that keen about me donating blood.

Now I've heard this story several times, and I've retold it enough times to have embellished it with my own magical realism of the actual events, but my parents can always clarify for you since I was too young to remember...

When I was born I was a little more yellow than Peruvian-Chinese babies (or Sino-Latinos, as J-train would say) should be. I developed jaundice and I guess the phototherapy treatment was not enough to give me back my sunny complexion. So I needed a blood transfusion from someone, who like me, had Type O blood.

My father had a co-worker in San Juan de Marcona, Ica (a not-so-big mining town) - Mr. Manuel Roman; and he graciously helped me out by donating his blood. The story goes that he had never done such a thing before and I've always felt quite honoured that he would do this for me.

Well, everything comes full circle eventually and yesterday, the Peruvian elections took place and a voting station was set up in the gymnasium of our Church. My parents had heard that the new Peruvian Consul to Vancouver was named Carlos Roman and they had a sneaky feeling that he was the son of Manuel Roman. So they headed to the voting station to see if this was the case, and truth be told, he was.

So on my way home, I thought I'd stop by to introduce myself and to say Thank You. Consul Carlos Roman seems like a lovely man and he said he would surely call his father in Peru to let him know that he had met me and that I had sent a message thanking him for a very special gift he gave me 30 years ago.

There you go Type-O's, good on you for being universal donors. Don't forget that you can make an incredible difference in someone else's life.

SmallTime - The Movie

So most of you know that we've been excited about seeing SmallTime on the big screen today at the premiere showing of his/her first feature-length documentary - "SmallTime, the Ultrasound." Well, fans weren't disappointed as they got a sneak peek at what the kid has been up to in the belly. We saw two legs, two arms, little hands, kidneys, a spine, 4 chambers in the heart, and the rib cage coming together. BUT, in a coy attempt to keep us coming back for more, our little one decided to do a classic yoga hand stand pose (Salamba Sirsasana) and keep his/her head hidden way down below where the technician could not possibly come in for a close-up shot.

We did a little walk, moved around and came back 3 times to try to see if we could catch SmallTime in a different pose and no luck. Which just goes to show you that s/he is exactly like both his/her parents - stubborn!

Soooo...we will go back on Wednesday for "SmallTime, the Sequel." This time the technician hopes to get a clear picture of the head so we can determine SmallTime's exact measurements.

So far so good, however, and everything looks healthy; and for those of you who requested autographed photos, you'll have to wait a little while longer while we sort out the 8x10 glossy headshots.

Thanks Aunty Tara for having us over this evening. We had so much fun playing with Super-Sophie, and we came home with a suitcase full of maternity clothes. We really are very lucky to have such wonderful friends looking out for us! We've also put all of SmallTime's S.America gifts in his/her own little suitcase. Looks like SmallTime is slowly moving in!

Five-star

Written on Tuesday, April 4 in the morning on my last flight:

My sister Liz shops at Mountain Equipment Co-op and from her I’ve learned that there are various “levels” of fleece. The top of the line (windproof, super-warm, indestructible) is what she calls the five-star fleece. I recently invested in one of these little numbers and I love it. Actually I am wearing it right now as it is a little chilly up here at 40,000 feet above the earth as we approach Vancouver from Toronto.

Liz is correct when she says SmallTime is a five-star baby! Most of you know I wear my politics on my sleeve and it would be hard to argue with anyone disputing that I lean left…and if you look at my shoe collection, you’d say I was perhaps a “champagne” socialist. That said, my socialist values do run deep – I just have a special place in my heart for capitalist accessories!

SmallTime, like BigTime is 100% five-star. This trip SmallTime has been treated to all of the comfortable luxuries of travel. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to travel by my own slightly 2.5 star self again. You see, after 5 years in recruitment I finally made it to Elite status with Air Canada. Yes I know - this may not be the opportune year to make it since I’ll likely not travel much at all this year. So I figured I might as well milk it for all its worth. I’ve visited every VIP lounge I’ve been able to on this trip, and yes, I’m sitting in that magical place ahead of the little curtain that separates Business Class passengers from the masses. To ease my conscious, however, when only some of us were able to access the VIP lounge in Lima, I did manage to sneak out a whole lot of food and Inca Cola to my colleagues who did not have Elite status. I call this redistributive travel justice.

Soooo, here are some of my observations about how the other half (or likely, the other 1% in the higher echelon lives) – in the VIP lounges the tendency is still more male than female, and likewise up here in Business Class. I could continue my gendered analysis but I think you get the point. In Business Class, they feed you – ALL THE TIME – which I think results in some pretty doughy looking males. The seats are much larger and of course more comfortable – which is great if you have a doughy bottom. There is a lot of free stuff…which seems akin to Hollywood stars receiving thousand dollar goodie bags just for showing up at the Academy Awards! Those who don’t need free stuff, seem to be offered a lot of it.

And, moreover, when you receive your meal in Business Class, they give you real knives. Now, I haven’t seen a real knife on an airplane since 9/11, and I’m sure I didn’t get one during our internal economy flights through S.America. So the only thing I can infer is that given the cushy seats, plentiful food, and free stuff, there is very little likelihood that the doughy males up front will revolt any time soon (even though we are sitting much closer to the cockpit than anyone else).

And thus my friends is a lesson from the Business Class section of Air Canada. Can you imagine what would happen if one of us up front passed our real knife back to the masses in the “hospitality” section – remember they haven’t been fed since we left Toronto 4.5 hours ago…

I think I may roll one of the chocolate chip cookies I just received under the magic curtain and hope it keeps them appeased back there :)

It's Sunday, I must be in Sao Paulo

This will likely be my last post from the road. Tomorrow I have a whirlwind day of presentations and then I head straight to the airport and home on on overnight flight through Toronto.

SmallTime and I enjoyed a little shopping spree on Saturday afternoon - boy this kid likes to shop - hmmmm wonder where that gene came from :)

Saturday afternoon was also a little sad as we bid goodbye to our friends/colleagues as some headed back to Canada. I certainly do hope our paths will cross again very soon. We really enjoyed travelling with all of you and we hope to see you again soon:

Plagued by Alan Garcia...

Please note: I meant to post this on Monday, March 27, but internet was not plentiful that day.

The Canadian university reps, SmallTime and I arrived in Lima, Peru during the run-up of the Peruvian Presidential and Congressional elections. Election Day will be on April 9, and until then there are a multitude of billboards littering the city streets, all displaying happy, smiling candidates. Most look quite youthful and you have to wonder how long ago they had their photos taken for these billboards!

If you would like a more in depth and certainly more informed chronicle of the candidates I would recommend Dr. Max Cameron’s website at http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/peru/. Dr. Cameron is a UBC professor in the Dept. of Political Science who studies Latin American politics and will soon be departing for Peru to monitor the elections first hand.

My opinions of the candidates are of course, biased and likely uninformed as I have not been keeping up with the elections in great detail, and have pieced together my views from previous childhood experiences and anecdotal stories I’ve picked up along the way from my relatives. The country should be happy I’m not voting!

Essentially, the top three candidates for President (of the approximately 26 that are running) are: Ollanta Humala, Lourdes Flores, and Ex-President Alan Garcia. Now Alan Garcia continues to plague me. You see the last time Alan and I encountered one another was in approximately 1985 (my parents will know the exact year), when my family traveled to Peru on vacation. Alan Garcia had just began his presidency, which would last until 1990.

My memories of Lima at that time include a city-wide curfew, being stopped by men with machine guns because our flight arrived late in the late evening past the curfew, “terrorist” activities including minor bombings, and a military presence in the streets. Moreover I remember that my godparents took us and their family to see the play Annie and we bought the cassette tape with the music and were enjoying a little karaoke session when all of a sudden the lights went out and the music stopped. Upstart “terrorists” would routinely take out the electric power plants leaving parts of the outskirts of Lima temporarily in the dark to disrupt people’s lives and prove their point. My cousins had become accustomed to the disruption and they instantly pulled out some candles and a board game so we could keep on playing.

My older cousin remembers the hyper-inflation during that time that resulted in such an extreme devaluation of the currency that we had to create a new one – the new Sol. He also remembers having to line up at the supermarket early in the day, waiting for the doors to open so he could run in and buy food before the prices soared earlier in the day. He remembers that although he was young and fast, older people lined up outside were not nearly as lucky. When I asked him what was the problem with Alan Garcia’s presidency, he just cites that it was all around disastrous.

Later that vacation, as I was watching TV I remember Alan Garcia addressing the nation, and I figured this man was doing a terrible disservice to his country. Perhaps SmallTime will also be as fascinated with politics at a young age. I think we may need to register him as a “Peruvian” (if that’s even possible) in the event s/he wants to run for President of Peru sometime in the future. Apparently all you need is a gigantic billboard, and a really big smile.

In our humble opinion, SmallTime and I are throwing our support behind Lourdes Flores. She’s pretty much the only one who isn’t an Ex-general whose promises to nationalize Peru’s industries could hinder rather than help an economy on the rise, nor an Ex-disaster like Alan Garcia. Go Lourdes Flores!

Don't cry for me Argentina....

Our brief visit to Boca - the most colourful area in Buenos Aires. Boca is home of the tango, and home of the home team - "Boca" - Buenos Aires' soccer team. The futbol stadium is located just around the corner from this colourful street. The home team's colours are yellow and blue. Undecided by what colours to use for their team jersey, the team director decided to use the colours of the first flag he saw flown by a ship passing through this port. The first ship that passed was from Sweden, hence the blue & yellow team colours!

We also visited the Recoleta Cemetery where Eva Peron is buried with her family:

Santiago, Chile (Wed. Mar. 29)

Monument to Salvador Allende...
















Hard at work at Santiago College - what a beautiful school:

Hard at work in Campinas, Brazil ( Tues. Mar. 28)

Busy, busy, busy...

So the last week has been a whirlwind. We have been traversing the Southern portion of South America, making our way from Lima to Sao Paulo, to Santiago and now to Buenos Aires. Thursday night was the first night where we weren't in an airport, on an airplane or hosting a counselor reception. We actually sat together and had a meal -- which we savoured for more than 15 minutes!

It's late on Saturday night and SmallTime and I have had a busy day. We had our final tour debriefing this morning, followed by some quality shopping time, then some quality packing time, and then a lovely meal with the university reps that remain (only 4 of us left!), and the counselors from the American high school here in Buenos Aires.

Although I have quite a bit to post, I should really go to bed, because we need to be up early tomorrow to catch a final flight to Sao Paulo, before returning home on Monday evening.

Perhaps I will do a couple of posts as a photo-montage, so you have an idea of what we've been up to!