Christmas Greetings

Pictures: hiking with Tim and Joyce, hiking in Muir Woods-a redwood forest, Rusty the Rat Tracker showing the kids the rats' injuries, Rusty and Cam proudly displaying the catch of the day, birthday time.

We've been in California now for 4 months and we've seen lots of changes - especially in the weather. It's gone from really hot to really quite cool. For those of you who still think we're in shorts, sandals and sitting on the beach, those days are long gone and there's never been a beach nearby. It's now long pants, long-sleeved shirts, sweaters, sometimes coats and gloves and occasionally hats. Two weeks ago it was the coldest it's been in 35 years. That said, for those of you who think I'm complaining, bike rides and runs on a 12-degree day in the middle of December aren't all that bad.

We live in the Central Valley of California. It's a strip of prime agricultural land that is as flat as a pool table and runs down through California between the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Coastal mountains. On a clear day on the edge of town you can see both ranges. In the winter the Sierra Nevadas, which are up to 9,000 or so feet, get a lot of snow. So as a result, while we sit in relatively comfortable winter temperatures there is great skiing within two hours. Right now there's a seven-foot base of snow two hours away.

We thoroughly enjoyed our long weekend with Tim Snider and Joyce Richardson. We did a great hike atop cliffs overlooking the ocean just outside of San Francisco. They got to spend a day of x-country skiing near Lake Tahoe. A number of our neighbours are avid skiers and ski every single weekend throughout the winter. We didn't bring our gear but hope to get out with the kids at least once this winter.

Cam ran the California International Marathon the beginning of December. We're thrilled to say that he achieved his goal: to break four hours. He did so with a whopping 9 seconds to spare. As I was getting updates on his time I thought that something had gone wrong (for those of you who understand such things I was getting clock time, not chip time reports) but then the kids and I saw him about a quarter mile from the finish line and I knew at that point that he was going to do it. He felt great, albeit really sore, and thoroughly enjoyed the well-organized run. He has since been nursing his black toes.

So, yes, the rats. I'm happy to report that five of them have left the premises, thanks to Rusty the Rat Tracker. After our first rat man shrugged his shoulders and gave up, and we thought we were now dealing with squirrels, we contacted the city and they told us if we have a really bad problem we needed to call Rusty. Rusty is a bit of a local rodent-catching legend. He seems to have a bit of a pied piper effect on rats. We had sleepless nights listening to the scampering, gnawing, furniture moving above our heads and in the walls, and then the odd bang and squeal as a rat got too close to the bait box. Believe it or not as Rusty removes the day's catch and shows us what he's got we've actually come to the point of seeing them as cute little DEAD things. Fingers crossed, we're sleeping like babes again.

Reuben had his sixth birthday a couple weeks ago. Lyle and Wenda joined us for a skype dinner and they even had candles in their dessert. We had a joint birthday party for Gabbi and Reuben a week later and invited a few of their friends from school (yah, they have friends, but we still don't). For the first time since we've been here, we had neighbours over for some wine and cheese, which was fun. We've also got a great French tutor for the kids. Elisabeth is from France, her husband is from Portland, Oregon and they have three children - the oldest of which is in Reuben's class at school. We don't want to speak too soon but we're thinking of inviting their family for dinner when they get back from France and then we may actually be able to say we had some 'friends' over.

We're trying to get into the Christmas spirit but it's not coming easily. We have a Christmas tree made out of construction paper - it was created for the pin-the-star-on-the-tree game at the birthday party. I have to say it has been nice receiving so many packages at the door and lots of cards from home. We're planning a road trip over Christmas to Disney and the San Diego Zoo. Apparently it's the busiest time of year so we're not too impressed about the lineups we'll have to face.

We wish you all a happy and safe holiday and wish we could be there with you to celebrate in some small way.

Other tidbits of info:

• Gabbi got her hair cut off - Cam now calls her "Bob"
• We're finally close to hiring another employee here in California - this will relieve Cam of much stress
• Reuben spent a frustrating, tearful evening learning to tie shoelaces so that we could go back to a 4th store to finally buy him shoes he liked. He's still a very 'determined' child
• We're still enjoying our bikes
• We love the weekly trip to the farmer's market and all the local fresh and exotic produce
• While I am feeling somewhat disappointed by the lack of fashion sense in this little granola town, Cam is feeling newly liberated and actually leaving the house in sweats and Crocs. . .

It's been a while since I've posted something and on the eve of American Thanksgiving I thought it would be appropriate to say what we've been thankful for since moving here.

• We had a good time with Jay (Cam's sister )and Gail Black a Blue Norther in October. We picked them up in San Francisco after seeing our friend Robin Kalbfleisch finish the San Francisco marathon. How exciting was that!


• We have heat in our house and electric mattress covers that nicely warm the beds before we get in. The temperature has really cooled off and being here reminds us of our time in Egypt where it was warm outside during the day but cold inside and freezing at night. It's not as chilling but there are similarities.


• We continue to do lots of biking around Davis. Reuben is now biking with no hands just like a lot of the university students do. We're thankful he's not talking on a cell phone at the same time. He's recently discovered a BMX park nearby and gets his thrills for speed, bumps and jumps there.


• My dad spent three weeks with us and was a most accommodating and easy-going house guest. We even got him on a bike as he was up for everything and anything. He really enjoyed being here and being around family and it was a very special time for our family to be with him.


• Our friends Tim and Joyce are coming to spend the Thanksgiving weekend with us. This is good because Thanksgiving is a REALLY big deal here and it feels good to report that we have plans!


• We're heading into orange season. The market now sells mandarins. The orange tree on our front lawn keeps turning brighter and we've enjoyed some of the early crop.


• Gabbi and Reuben seem to be doing well in a fairly competitive school system. They recently got their report cards and we had parent-teacher conferences where both teachers thought they were doing just fine. Whew.


• We have finally gotten ourselves set up and going with French tutoring. We had a late start and then had to switch tutors but we're in a routine now and hopefully Gabbi and Reuben will be able to keep up with the French immersion when they return to Canada.


• We're getting better sleeps at night as the wildlife seems to have changed a bit. No longer do the rats wake us up. We think they've moved on to a better life. Instead, it's squirrels that are playing with their nuts early in the morning. So is Cam, but that's not quite as noisy.


• We live in a really safe community. We often don't lock the house when we're out for a short stint. We see lots of runners at night with barely any reflective or lit gear on them. We've changed from shaking our heads at these crazy people to admiring how safe the traffic is around here.


• Cam is down to the last 10 days before his marathon. I was able to be his camel for two of his long 32k runs. We look forward to seeing him cross the finish line in downtown Sacramento on December 6.


• We have a family doctor here and we think we have medical insurance. That's something we're still working on (several hours a day for the past three months - Cam has said if he hears anyone else criticize the Canadian system he's going to send them to the hospital). After this experience, I don't think we'll ever take the Canadian system for granted again. The US is a mess in this department.


• We love the palm trees, nice warm late fall and early winter days, short drives to great local destinations - Napa, Tahoe, San Francisco to mention a few.

Yes we've had our struggles, but please don't feel too sorry for us here in paradise. We're thankful .

Oh Rats!

Pictures top to bottom: Celebrating after my duathlon with "celebration salad"; Big Sur on route to Santa Barbara; Marianne and Brian Hiff on their Davis rented bikes; Marianne and I shopping in San Fran (thank goodness for husbands' Blackberries); Cam and Brian; Marianne and I; Outdoor dining in Davis; Marianne performing our new bedroom mirror trick.

We have been introduced to a new kind of rodent that we're not so familiar with in Canada. Cam and I kept hearing sounds in our bedroom wall during the night and throughout the morning. We have very active squirrels around our house so we figured we had a squirrel getting in between the walls. I quickly resorted to the yellow pages for rodent control only to find many companies that deal with rats - roof rats, wood rats and the likes. I also discovered that many companies have bi-monthly plans (that's every other month in this case. If you're into grammar like I am, you know that bi-monthly can mean every other month or twice a month.) So we had the "Rat Tracker" come and play sleuth around our house. At the end of his inspection he looked at us and said, "Yup, you've got a rat problem." As a result we're now on the bi-monthly rodent control plan. Cam has been amazed how calm I am about it. My response is: they are extremely common, they should be gone in a week or two and I can't see them. He's not as calm about it. His response is: how do I sleep when I have rats in the wall 18 inches from my head? I do admit it's quite disgusting. We've been warned that because they're being baited they get thirsty and we may find some in our pool.

Thankfully we had vacation time scheduled and are currently enjoying some time in Santa Barbara. We're at the same place that we were at one year ago and it feels wonderful to be back here. The weather has been cooler but that is ok with us. Our day usually starts with homework for the kids. They are on independent study plans while we're on vacation otherwise the school loses funding due to their absence. We brought our bikes and have enjoyed biking along the ocean front. I took part in the Santa Barbara Duathlon which involved flat running and very hilly cycling. It was a small race of about 100 people so I didn't win any great prizes but it felt great to finish and to do better than I expected. Cam planned a celebration meal for me after the race. My choice of a meal was salad, so he made this amazing "Californian Salad". We dubbed it the "Celebration Salad". It had avocadoes, crab, fresh dill, peas and other items in it. Let me know if you'd like the recipe and I'll send it to you. We bought the crab off a boat down at the harbour. We're enjoying wonderful fish and all the fresh organic fruits and vegetables that are grown in this area. There are eight markets Tuesdays to Sundays in the Santa Barbara area that we can go to.

We had a great time with Brian and Marianne Hiff a couple weeks ago and were sad to see them go. We kept a fairly rigorous schedule including several scheduled workouts of cycling, running and listening to rats run the wall. It was great to have my workout partner back with me for a few days.

Our medical insurance seems to be finally resolved but our fingers are still crossed. I got wonderful responses from our family doctors at home when they suggested that I could fax them the required insurance forms and the doctors would fill them out - they do that all the time. I faxed the forms and then naively assumed the forms were being filled out until I called 2 weeks later to find out they were just sitting on the doctors' desks and they would be done when the doctors had time. After that I called everyday, sometimes a couple times a day, only to get the response, "As an employee I can only let the doctor know that you've called AGAIN." For the most part we are thrilled with our Canadian medical system but this was one area where we became so frustrated and disappointed. In a panic our forms were picked up at our docs' offices and couriered to the insurance company in California only for us to find out by email that we missed the deadline and our applicaton was now on hold. But now, it seems that they got the necessary info and we're now actively insured - or at least our fingers are crossed.

It likely seems that life here is all sunshine, palm trees, surfers, and relaxation. The truth be told - we have found the settling in period much harder than we anticipated. From rats to medical insurance to drivers' licenses (we both passed our driving tests) to worrying about how our kids will do in school (they make many kids repeat Kindergarten and they allowed us to put Reuben in grade one) to starting a new business in a foreign country (I won't even start naming things on that list) to putting up with the heat and now the cold that will soon be upon us to... still not having friends...The list goes on.

But, before you start feeling too sorry for us, we're in a land of beautiful surroundings, plentiful and exotic organic and fresh food, great fitness opportunities and a more relaxed pace of life. It is good to be in California - a place that we enjoy and love to discover. We look at this as an experience our family will benefit from in many ways.

In the upcoming weeks we look forward to seeing our friend Robin Kalbfleisch from Toronto win the San Francisco marathon, having Cam's sister Jay and a Blue Norther Gail Black come for a few days and having my dad come the end of October to stay for a few weeks. We hope you had a wonderful Canadian Thanksgiving. We have lots to be thankful for and hope that you do too.

It's Fall

Pictures: Cam and Deb's 20th, Gabbi and Reuben overlooking Lake Tahoe, swimming in our pool, gondola at Lake Tahoe, Brent and Val infront of our orange tree, Kerry and Mandy celebrating our 20th with us at The French Laundry in Napa.

It's still really, really hot here. They say it's a warm spell and should cool off soon now that it's fall. They're right. Today it cooled down to 33 from 36 degrees. Thank goodness for the pool.

Things we feel good about:

• I passed my driving test. I was actually nervous that I might fail after 27 years of driving
• We have finally found a piano teacher. We tried a few out but for some reason or another (Reuben's cat allergies, not being able to understand what the teacher said) things didn't work out. I have never seen so many houses with 2 grand pianos side by side
• We bought an electric piano which we're all enjoying
• We have a babysitter named Mimi. The kids like her and she babysits one night during the week and occasional weekend nights
• We discovered The Co-op - the best grocery store going. Great cheese and meat selection, lots of organic, locally-grown products
• We had Cam's business partner Brent Klassen and his wife Val Steinmann here for 2 days. It was nice to see people from home
• Cam and I attended a house concert/benefit concert of our neighbour who is a concert pianist. She's also the mother of the two kids that Gabbi and Reuben play with. You can check out her website at http://www.laradownes.com/ Turn on your volume and enjoy listening to her play
• We're starting to settle into a routine; this is demonstrated by usually watching a nightly episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm
• I've been doing some rehearsing with a really good church choir. Unfortunately they sing at an 8:30 am service - a bit early
• Cam continues to enjoy cooking and since he doesn't have to 'come home from work' I enjoy that he is the one that prepares our evening meal
• Our bikes are getting ridden daily; our single vehicle is not
• We're in the works of planning visits from other family and friends. Brian and Marianne Hiff arrive tomorrow. Yay!!
• We are looking forward to our vacation in Santa Barabara the first two weeks of October. We will be at the same spot we were last year and we'll miss our Swedish friends whom we met last year
• The brand-new Target in Davis is about to open in a couple weeks

Things that are a bit more challenging:

• We found out 2 weeks ago that our medical insurance is still a ways from being sorted out
• I'm trying to get medical reports from our doctors at home
• The kids have had to do lab work for the medical insurance (the doctor here couldn't believe it either)
• Our networking of home computers still causes frustration after having technicians here five times and having our main computer's hard drive completely rebuilt
• Some things around the house need updating but I keep reminding myself that this is like living at a cottage (My apologies to those of you with posh cottages)
• Reuben and I had a bike crash a couple weeks ago. We ended up with me and my bike on top of him on top of his bike on the side of a street (better get that insurance in place). Thankfully just some bruises
• It's expensive here. Our grocery bills have gone way up
  

10 Days In

Welcome to "Shapanskys - CA to CA"

It's been a long, hot 10 days but we're adjusting to our new surroundings. The first day here we bought 3 bikes - for Cam and the kids. We've been on them everyday since. The second day we went to the Department of Motor Vehicles for THREE HOURS with the kids and experienced the US bureaucracy at its worst, or best. Unbeknownst to us we had to write driving tests. Amazingly I passed, amazingly Cam failed but he went back the next day and redeemed himself. The actual road tests are later in September. We'll have to study the book.

Gabbi and Reuben started school on August 26 and are enjoying that. They love the 3-minute bike ride there. Cam and I have been enjoying going for runs or rides after we drop them off. We enjoyed a night in Napa with Kerry and Mandy to celebrate our 20th (yup, that's right) while our kids stayed with their kids at our house.

Things we're enjoying the most are: fresh produce, all the exercise we're getting and our pool. Things we're finding the most challenging are: getting our technology set up so that we can be productive at work, settling into a smaller, older home and battling the bureaucracy of establishing a business and life here.

Things we're looking forward to are: Labour Day Weekend (not giving up my Cdn spelling) and doing a day trip to Lake Tahoe or San Fran; relaxing by our pool; a visit from Cam's partner Brent and his wife in September; and then a visit from our good friends and neighbours Marianne and Brian at the end of September. We still don't have friends here so we'll certainly welcome friendly faces from home.