ehrliche Arbeit

Spring 2008. It has been 2 years since I last made Maple Syrup and my skills are as rusty as some of the sap-gathering buckets.

5:36AM. A Maple Syrup farmer gazes into the water in search of answers…

7:01AM. Morning meeting with farm management.

10:33AM. The syrup making process must be documented on video and, in the interest of peace, shared with the world. 

TAKE 1:

TAKE 2:

TAKE 3:

2:30PM. As I mentioned earlier, I’m a bit rusty. There was slight burnage of the syrup this year. Fortunately there is no video of my shameful reaction to the syrup burning.

4:00PM. The tools of any successful Maple Syrup operation:

9:30PM. The day’s production is brought inside for final filtration, boiling and bottling. Just a note about the bottles used: we bottle our syrup using old syrup or alcohol containers based on the seal-ability of the lids. This includes Aunt Jemima containers. I’ll get into the morality of these containers (Aunt Jemima) and this brand in a future post (or series). I may also touch on subjects such as Maple Syrup’s contribution to the civil rights movement, but for now I’ll take a break.

The Diefenbunker

I got a little history lesson today with a trip to one of Ottawa’s Cold War relics: The Diefenbunker. The name is a clever combination of the name “John Diefenbaker” (the serving Prime Minister at the time the press discovered the bunkers existence) and the word “bunker”. How did journalists discover something was amiss in a farmer’s field outside Ottawa? They followed a mysterious trail of 75 toilets – great investigative journalism.

Since present day nuclear bombs have made the Diefenbunker obsolete, today it is a museum. The main entrance to the Diefenbunker was built to look like a garage or shed, and the secret tunnels leading into the bunker are also cleverly disguised.

While wandering around behind the “garage”, I stumbled across some local wildlife. Since by day I’m a nature documentary filmmaker, I captured the groundhog in it’s natural habitat (walking towards the bunker’s transformer).

Secret entrance into the Diefenbunker:

I stuck my digital camera into the hole, and snapped a picture:

One last little piece of history: while on the tour, we were allowed into former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker’s private bunker-bedroom. I took the liberty of taking a picture of the Prime Minister’s favourite chair – a tribute to the journalist who didn’t believe the government’s Diefenbunker cover story. Note the rubber shock absorbers on the bottom of the toilet. Built to withstand a 5 Mega-ton bomb… without cracking the porcelain.

New Wilderness Adventures

It is the start of the annual seal-hunt here in Canada, so I thought I’d focus instead on conservation (I’ll leave the seal-hunt debate to the McCartneys and other fur-wearing Europeans). Only an experienced naturalist should approach a polar bear (also known as Eis Bär or 白熊).  The Polar Bear waits for it’s prey to surface in breathing holes located in the ice.  Moose can be approached and are generally huggable (except during mating season). The Beaver: Proud and graceful.  These beavers were so focused on their work, this biologist* was able to approach to a close distance before the beaver’s trademark ‘tail-slap’. 

Home, Sweet Home

I returned home to Ottawa this week. These pictures were taken on March 26th(!), raising the question: “where is spring?”. The view from my front door. Looking down my street towards the giant snow mountain. Where are the tulips? Where are the bunnies? Where is spring ? 

Hundertwasserhaus

Very cool architecture in Vienna courtesy of Friedensreich Hundertwasser. I love all the trees growing inside and outside of this building in Vienna: Hundertwasser must have been ahead of his time… I think it is just recently that having trees growing out of / or on top of large buildings has become more commonplace. Hopefully the trend continues!

Superchurch (Stephansdom, Vienna)

I suppose no trip to Europe is complete without a cathedral visit or two. This being my first trip to Europe, I’ve been really impressed by the church architecture. Admittedly, all I can compare these churches and cathedrals to are the modern, ‘user-friendly’ structures in North America which may someday (in the distant future) be visited as tourist sites also. They still need to collect more treasure to catch up to the Europeans, I think.  You can’t make it out in this picture, but the phrase, “Yes Lord, Yes Lord, Yes Yes Lord, …, Yes Lord, Yes Lord, Yes Lord, Amen” is carved in Latin under this portrait.  The current exchange rates: 0.65EUR = 1.01224USD, 0.65EUR = 1.0016CAD (background portrait – maybe St. Stephan) 

Ich bin ein Berliner

Dr. Fish Therapy

I saw this on TV once before: little fish chewing on your skin, presumably with the purpose of improving it’s condition. I believe it works… finding a special “fish therapy” foot bath inside an onsen gives it enough credibility for me. The little guys were taking a break when I went to the onsen, but I got a chance to take their pictures. If I have some spare time before I leave Kyoto, I may try it out… 

Gender Issues, Part 2

I saw a sign yesterday at a temple in Kyoto. The meaning in English is: “(Let’s) Stop girls from walking alone”. I assume the context is related to women’s safety, but I was quite shocked when I saw this. In my opinion Japanese people, in general, view their streets as becoming increasingly dangerous. Having lived in Toronto and Kyoto I can compare the two and state that Toronto is significantly more dangerous for both men & women (and Toronto is not a particularly dangerous city by global standards). My point is, I think Japanese people are a bit paranoid about crime. Furthermore, I disagree with the underlying idea of this sign. Re-victimizing women by (suggestively) prohibiting them from free movement is also wrong. If the sign read: “Let’s make the streets safer”, I would not object to it.  Of course I could be completely wrong about this. Perhaps the author intended the sign to mean something like: “Let’s join the cause of women”, similar to the famous Liverpool F.C statement: “You’ll never walk alone”. Unfortunately, after 2 years experience living in Japan I assume the worst when I see these signs. In fact what I’d really like to see is one of the women I know with their black-belt in Aikido kick that sign in half.

 

Irasshaimase

 It is with some hesitation that I post such a picture on the internet. Yes, that is me working a shift at a 7-11 convenience store. I understand the implications… perhaps people who knew me in a previous life are breathing a collective sigh of: “Just as I thought”. Let me explain the situation: I’m a struggling student and I need to eat. Plus it was a great experience. Fun language practice, and the look on the customer’s faces was worth it! Thankfully, they were pretty friendly and patient with me