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Hello to all the Canucks back at home and abroad! It sounds like Vancouver Island had a fantastic long weekend, with great weather to match a great celebration…not a bad way to kick off the summer! Well, even though we’ve been enjoying summer weather for the last 6 months, we still showed our “true north strong and free” pride yesterday and educated the Greeks in Canadiana. No we did not have a war of independence with the British or the French; No we are not American; No we do not all speak French; No we do not sound like Australians; and Yes we do love our country and on July 1st we celebrate it loud and proud!!!
Canada Day, for Kelsey and I, started off by singing “Oh Canada” while we were still in bed. (Seriously!) Then I donned our Canadian Flag as a cape, along with my red t-shirt and went down to the harbour to my Party Boat, which was sailing off for the day and greeted the 70 partiers who were going out for a day of swimming, sailing and partying.
While at the boat, I educated my two English bosses and everyone else about Canada
Day and then bid them a happy trip and watched the boat sail off with the house music pumping…it really is a pretty fun trip! Then I strolled back through the Old Town of Rhodes where I got a lot of really funny looks from both the shopkeepers and other tourists. Some were wondering if there was an important Football (Soccer) game on today (“Ah, sorry buddy, Canada doesn’t really do much soccer…the tundra is always frozen…”) or people looked genuinely concerned that this poor boy in a cape has strayed away from his “group”. I also managed to freak out a few of the restaurant hawkers. (These are the guys who stand outside the restaurants and harass each passer-by to eat at his place.) They would holler: “Hallo, Canada, yes please, very good food, yes please, fresh, very good.” And thinking to myself: Gee buddy, what was your first clue that I was from Canada…the flag I’m wearing? I would shout back enthusiastically: “Happy Canada Day!” with my arms in the air, which would startle them back a few steps. This was pretty funny because these guys are used to doing the yelling, not the other way around!
Then I met up with Kelsey and Megan at Megan’s restaurant, where we had a toast for Canada and told the Indian Chef all about how wonderful Canada is. Then the three of us as well as Megan’s husband, Yiannis, went to the newly opened Starbucks for a taste of something familiar. While there Yiannis, in typical Greek fashion, was trying to tell me why Starbucks was such a terrible organization and how it’s bad for independent cafés (which I tend to agree with to a certain extent), but in the end I think he enjoyed his frappuccino more then any of us! Then us three Canadians did what a lot of people at home did, and went down to the beach, laid in the sun and went for a swim; all the while wearing the flag of course!
Later that evening Megan had to work, so Kelsey and I put together a little picnic and went to a quiet spot on the beach. It was beautiful to watch the boats come and go from the harbour, to listen to the waves, and to see the sun set as it travelled east towards our “home and native land;” all
this with a cool glass of wine in our hands. Once we exhausted our supplies of food and wine we walked back to Megan’s restaurant where she was just closing up (around midnight) and decided it was time to celebrate a little more! (We told you that the Greeks “go out” late!)
We first stopped at a nice little bar with a garden in the back for yet another glass of wine and then headed down to party ally, known (creatively) as “Bar Street.” We met up with my two bosses who were partying with some of the Boat Partiers from the day and had a few drinks with them, still waving the flag and giving lectures on Canada above the cranked house music. I think the bar even turned up the air conditioning for us to make us feel more at home, as Kels and Megs had to huddle under the flag to stay warm! Then we met up with Yiannis who was getting off work at his bar, waved the flag a little more, sang the national anthem again, had some pizza and decided to call it a night at the wee hour of 5:30am!
Needless
to say we had a great day showing off our colours and enjoying being the only Canadians on Rhodes (honestly, wearing the flag all day, you think you’d meet another Canuck, but no, just the 3 of us!). The other obvious fact is that after a day like that, I’m a tad on the hung-over side, which might be the reason this blog is rambling on, but I’m trying my best here! And the final conclusion is that we love being Canadian! No matter where we go, near or far, we love our home and wouldn’t want it any other way.
Cheers from Rhodes to all our Canadian Brothers and Sisters out there, wherever you are! We hope you all had a great Canada Day!!!
Until Next Time…
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bj
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Crazy Canuckers
Happy Canada Day! Sounds like you had a blast...way to represent. I spent the day in your old stomping grounds (Victoria that is) and watched the fireworks and the sad drunk teenagers making fools of themselves. Oh how I miss the good ole' days. Anyway, miss you both!