Practice Makes Perfect...

Here's the deal, readers.... I have a day job. Sorry, but it's true. Gotta make a living. So, unfortunately, I'm not there all day to see what's going on. If you  have any great photos or stories you want to see on the blog, you can certainly send them my way - I'd love to hear from you! Send them to:

keri.rak@gmail.com

Thanks!

In the meantime, you're stuck with what I've got.  I was fortunate to be able to head down to the Canoe Club this morning to see the boat blessing ceremony.  It started when our good friend and head tipi constructor, Brent Scout took some local and international elders into the tipi for a bit of a smoke. Now, I know what this sounds like.... you're like, hey! There's doping control at this event!  Well... it wasn't that type of smoke.  It's more of a shared experience between elders where they begin talks - especially between different groups or nations, traditionally.  It's also used to cement friendships.  Now, I'm sure Brent could offer a LOT more insight into the cultural heritage and traditions of his people, and I apologize for just giving you a glance at it... but hopefully it piques your interest a bit and you'll ask a few more questions along the way. 

So, when everyone came out of the tipi (Brent, some 'elder' paddlers from Calgary along with our good friend Kimokeo from Maui, Hawaii and a very lovely fella from New Zealand whose name I did not get!), they went on down to the canoes at the water to deliver a blessing.  Brent sang out to the water spirits such as the beaver to ask for their permission and to keep us safe on the water. He burnt sage in what's called a smudging ceremony to cleanse and give prayer.  Cool, right?  Here's a photo of the smudging and boat blessing:

Brent, Ian & Dean after the smudging ceremony at the docks

Then our elder statesman, John Roberts, was presented with a great piece of art - a photo taken by another Calgary 'elder', Bill Hemstock.  (Note that by being included in this group, Bill referred to himself as "over the hill" which is totally untrue if you've seen him paddle!).  John is the one who first brought outrigger paddling to Calgary after he visited Hawaii back in 1998. He purchased the first boat, and kept telling people about it, teaching people to paddle and sharing his vision.  And here we are.  Again, I'm sure there's a bit more to that story - ask John if you see him around. I'm sure he'll be glad to share it with  you. 

John Roberts holds a picture of... John Roberts.



And here's our friend, Kimokeo with Calgary paddler, Ian Lewis.  Kimokeo recently hosted a large group of Calgary outrigger paddlers to his home club in Kihei.  He's a wonderful person to ask about the history of the va'a, especially as it figures in Hawaiian culture.  Ask him! He's really nice!  And Ian's a wonderful guy to ask about bagpiping and how it figures in both Scottish and Canadian culture.  Ask him...he might even play for you!  (He's nice too.)

Ian is the one on the left.  Kimokeo is on the right. In case you weren't sure.



So that was the 'official' portion of the day.  (You see how I put the word official in quotes again? It's getting to be a habit.....)  After that, practices started!  The next few days are all about practice. Especially for our visitors to get used to our water, see how it changes during the day, get used to the higher altitude and maybe dryer air.  Like yesterday, when a lovely visitor asked me which way the wind usually blows and I said, "from the west or sometimes north".  Then I looked out and it was coming from the south east.  Yeah, nature's funny that way.  Or, possibly, I'm a terrible person to ask about meteorology.  You know who's good at answering questions?  These guys:

Some very nice and very smart members of Team Australia.  Don't call them Kiwis. Except maybe that one guy...



I told you yesterday how I'd seen a lot of Aussies & Kiwis around already.  Well, here's proof. A group of folks from Team Australia...at least one of whom is a Kiwi! Can you spot him?  He's on the left and his name is Tony (right?).  Now this had me puzzled... How can people from Australia and New Zealand get along?  I mean, don't you guys get mistaken for one another enough without wearing the other one's jersey?  Well, apparently there are quite a few parallels between them and us Canadians and our neighbours, the Americans.  We also don't like getting mistaken for one another and we also think we're very different.  Though, when pressed, here's what we came up with:

Ross (He's the tall one in the back):  Well, you could ask what are those things on your feet.  You call them 'flip flops', we call them 'thongs' and in New Zealand, they're called 'jandals'. 

Me:  You know that thongs are a whole different thing here, right?

Ross: Yes. Absolutely.  How do I tell you apart from Americans?

Me:  Well, you could order toast.  We say 'brown' bread.  Americans say 'wheat'. 

Ross:  Also, you guys say 'about' funny.

So true.  And the cultural learning is afoot.  Literally.  And so far, I'm a big fan of Team Australia and their clever ways to tell people apart.  They are anthropological wizards.  And very nice people too!

Here's one more way you can tell a Canuck.  We like our Tim Horton's coffee.  Here's Calgary paddlers Barney "I can't believe there isn't a photo of me on your blog yet" Mcilhargey and Edie Hemstock enjoying a cuppa from Tim's.

Barney & Edie enjoy a Timmies.  Product placement?  Why, yes!

Note to visitors, you can also call it "Timmies" and a "Timbit" is a donut hole.  If you want 2 milk and 2 sugars, you order a "Double-double."  Got it?  There, now you're Canadian almost!  We'll talk about hockey next.

So that's all I have for you tonight.  As usual, I'm blogging past bedtime and I was up pretty early today like a lot of you for the boat blessing.  I'm looking forward to catching more of you down at the water every day.  Until then, here's the most prominent way you can tell the Outrigger World Sprints will be starting soon... the porta-potties have arrived!!