Edmonton........
One thousand apologies for delay in updating "the blob"......as it has affectionately become known.....hopefully not a reference to me as the roadie!.........Josie has been coughing up a lung & has the dubious award as being the first to visit a doctor.....she is well now ( a week later !!)
Well......another grand adventure! Poor Vin had to attend the Teachers convention while the girls & I got to sleep in, do breakfast & swan around Edmonton.... We arrived on Wednesday evening (March 7th), found the hotel with assistance of TBITB (the bitch in the box)....she can come in handy sometimes....especially when navigating city streets.....( I might change her her name to TIDBIT....sounds a little nicer...we did try changing her language to French, but she was just as bloody annoying.....tournez la gauche.....tournez la gauche......over & over & over......until you actually do what she says.....?!). Anyway....I digress.... Once we had checked in, bounced on the beds, checked the TV & the view etc....the plan was to head to West Edmonton Mall (aka West Eddie) & do the water slides....yay....back in the car !?! In the car, turn on TIDBIT, response....."no data available...please reload maps". WHAT !!!! We had only turned her off half an hour ago??? Intrepid explorers...we felt confident that we could find it......which we did ....eventually! Sad, but true.....the slides were closed! The last time we were here it was school holidays & the waterpark was open to 10 o'clock .....not so now. Which was probably just as well.....we didnt check the entry fee last time & at approx $25 a person, we weren't scooting in there for an hour or so....... |
The ladies doing breakfast in downtown Edmonton....
|
The view from the top floor....our room.....that's the really posh hotel you can see....apparently this is where Queen Lizzie stays when she is in town......
frozen Saskatchewan River in the background. |
Not to be dissuaded....we had dinner at the mall, went to the movies & watched "The Lorax" (great animation, but.....!) then self navigated back to hotel with very little bloodshed! Acheivement!!! Thursday morning......Vin begrudgingly (can you blame him?) tottled off to the conference while we girls plotted our day........... First.....breakfast.....then.... We jumped on the #1 bus, embarking a couple of blocks from the hotel and alighting right outside our destination....the Royal Alberta Museum. It was originally the Provincial (State) museum, unless Queen Lizzie came along in 2005, consecrated it & turned it into a royal thing......why does that woman needs to get her name on everything?! Anyway...I digress ....again.... It was fantastic!!!! Small, but powerful..... We ventured first into the "Wild Alberta " section ~ clever diorama's, interactive, informative, great use of roadkill (see below!):- Inuit words for snow: API (ah- pee)...snow on the ground; QALI (kah- lee) smow on tree limbs; QUAMINIQ (kah-man-ik) snow bowl under trees; UPSIK (oop-sik) wind drift hardened snow; PUKAK (poo-kak) large crystals of snow that form at the base of API (go back to the top!!!!) I have googled the theory that the Icelandic people have a thousand have words for snow.......google says its an urban myth........I am not convinced...... |
Ok....from Wid Alberta to the jewels & bugs.....! It took us some time to get through all the gemstones, fossils, dinosaur & mammoth skeletons, bugs......
We then made it to the First Nations .........at that point it got really interesting....
We were invited to a pipe ceremony... in the teepee.... in the exhibition....... in the museum...........!
There were two elders, woman & man, that had travelled to Edmonton to conduct the ceremony..it only happens four times a year. We felt very priviledged.
We sat on the left hand side, with the women,men sit on the right. We had to remove shoes, hat & all jewellery .....yep it took me a while....some of my earrings hadn't been removed in years! I'm glad I had my hat to put it all in!!
It began with a smudging ceremony, not unlike the smudging that Kooris do, to cleanse ourselves & the surroundings. The glass was even taken off the sacred objects in the museum, so they could be smoked. The glass wasn't replaced until the whole ceremony was fininshed about half an hour later. Trusting!?! The female elder made the comment..."now would be a good time to reclaim some of these objects!!".
After the smudging, the pipes were prepared, one for the males, one for the females. Prayers were said to the four elements ~ earth, wind, fire, water; and to the four directions ~ north, south, east & west. All the aprticipants were then offered the pipe. It was offerred four times, with prayers said in between. If you didn't want to smoke, and for the kids there, the pipe was touched above your heart. Tobacco is regarded as a valuable, almost sacred thing. It is given to people when they are ill, offerred as thanks, pinches of it placed in the earth at sacred sights and where healing herbs are gathered. Certainly not regarded as a demon!
Even though we did not understand the words being spoken, it was a very moving ceremony. The amazing thing was...the elders thanked us at the end...for being part of it.....for opening our hearts & minds to their ways, knowledge & customs & allowing our children to do the same. Incredible.....I was the thankful one...for being invited, welcomed... to be part of it.
As you can imagine......Vin was very jealous when we told him of our adventure........
Teppanyaki dinner.......
Out for dinner...the girls were horrified that it would be with the school Principal, Sean & a couple of the teachers, Geraline & Tyler...???! Oh well....at least they thought the kiddie cocktails were good !
Actually, they really enjoyed the Teppanyaki "show", as we all did. We walked there from the hotel & as we were strolling along, (all with our cowboy boots on !), a woman walking near us said...."Excuse me, you all look so great I have to ask...are you going out dancing oer something?" When we told her that we were going out for dinner, a whole conversation ensued.....where were we from, what were we doing in Edmonton etc....She then gave us exact directions for where we were going...ending the conversation with good wishes for our stay in Canada. Truly....the Canucks are a generous, beautiful group of people. |
Kid cocktails.......mmmmm!
|
On the way home from dinner........downtown Edmonton.