More AKIC 2010 Canadian Odyssey Notes

Back to Winnipeg on Friday

The K Family, Chinese version, will go back to Winnipeg on Friday.  Andis will drive the seemingly interminable trip between Winnipeg and Brandon.

The Mosquitoes don't bother Tony

Tony has been spending his time watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on Youku,com, and running around outside, sometimes chasing the cat.  Andis is having a hard time dealing with the mosquitoes, which apparently are worse than usual because there has been an abnormal amount of rain.  Tony, though, is nonplussed, except when he is left by himself.  If Andis retreats inside to get away from the squiters, Tony gets mad.  And so Andis has to stay outside.

Mom uses the word "creep".

I use the word a lot.  But to hear my mother use the word in reference to someone was eye-opening. 

I can't say who, suffice to say it isn't anyone we have seen on the Odyssey.

Jenny puts me to shame

When it comes to family, Jenny puts me to shame.  She has been wonderful in dealing with all the relatives.  I, on the other hand, have been distracted and thoughtless.

Tony hums a Latvian tune

In China, we did teach Tony a few words from a Latvian lullaby that I recalled from childhood. Tony has been singing that song all the time here in Brandon.  I wonder if it is because he is doing a tribute of sorts to his grandparents.

The World Cup

I have been able to watch the games at civilized times in the morning and early afternoons.  

The American goal against Algeria caused me to yell aloud.  I am pleased to see that America and England have made it through the first round.  

France's troubles have been a source of amusement.  I read somewhere about the French minister of sport trying to intervene in the team's disarray -- that is seen as incumbent on the government to try to get its' team to do better at a mere game is both hilarious and sad for a country that prides itself on being so rational.

I read a column by an Englishman wanting England to lose to Slovenia because he saw it as a way to indict the rule of Margaret Thatcher.  That English Football was crappy in the 70s before Thatcher even came to power was a fact that the columnist choose to ignore.  Of course if England somehow manages to win this World Cup, the columnist will find a way to credit the Labour Party for it.

CIBC, a national bank in Canada, has been sponsoring the coverage of the World Cup on a Canadian national t.v. network.  It says that it has found supporters for all 32 countries among its' employees.  Who is supporting North Korea? I ask.

Coca Cola is running a contest where the winner gets to take a trip to the country that wins the World Cup.  What would happen in North Korea won?  I ask.