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Is it me or is this summer incredibly beautiful here in Toronto this year, in fact the best and consistently warm summer since I moved to Canada all those years ago. The only issue I have is that it's going way too fast!!!
It’s been an interesting summer all around; especially for Zach and Sami. Instead of taking time off to go to summer camp or taking it easy both of them wanted to enroll in summer school… I’m unsure where they would of gotten this crazy idea, but there you have it.
Now don’t get me wrong I applaud them each for choosing this from all of the possibilities that they could of have chosen from, but their choices are certainly interesting.
It made me take a step back and reflect on their motivations and here's what I came up with...
Indelible Tip #1: Self determination A big part of why I believe Zach and Sami are so mature for their age is that my ex and I have made them accountable for their own future. Of course, we provide input, guidance, coaching and support but ultimately they have a major say in what they choose to do.
Zach decided on taking Mathematics now in advance of his final year of high school, with his rationale being that he wanted to get this credit out of the way so that next school year he would have extra study room in his course load for a spare period and so could focus on attaining the best possible marks for the courses he’s enrolled in. We have a pragmatist on our hands ladies and gentlemen and definitely a smart one!
Sami chose Year 10 Biology, she decided on this route so that this coming school year she can take her Year 11 Sciences workload, which includes Chemistry and Physics and get ahead of the game between now and her graduation three years from now. Again, I’m blown away but her maturity and forethought. Her master plan is to ensure she has all of the requisite academic courses that Universities in the US require to support and enhance her opportunities for a soccer sports scholarship. Clearly a triple threat with a 90% average, athletically gifted and a great kid to boot! (okay, I may be just a tad bias but hey, I’m allowed to be) :-)
Indelible Tip #2: Supporting dreams Zach and I have been discussing the Universities he wants to apply to, which includes McGill (Montreal), Trinity College (Dublin) – although now out of the running because he doesn’t have a year 12 language, St Andrews (Scotland) and Oxford…yes, as in “the” Oxford (UK) - not too shabby!
Currently he’s sitting with a 95% average across all of his subjects including the two year 12 courses he’s already completed in advance of the his year starting. He wants to major in History, with minors in either Philosophy and Politics but to get into these prestigious schools he needs to maintain his 95% average or better it. Surprisingly he pushes himself to excel, and most nights stays after class till 6:00 pm studying and getting all of his homework completed in prep for the next day of studies. He's one extremely motivated young man!
Sami’s dream of earning a soccer sports scholarship to a US university is still a ways off, but she is clearly driving toward this outcome without any real impetus from my ex or me.
Deep down I know where they get their motivation from...yes, guilty as charged I'm afraid! I've always told them to go after their dreams and let nothing get in your way. Closely followed by the mantra that they control their own destiny. So they are now putting two and two together and going for it - all I can say is that I'm incredibly proud of each of them.
So what’s next you ask…well Sami is representing Toronto at the North American Maccabi Games in Stamford, Connecticut (Aug 7-11) in U18 soccer (they are the current reigning gold medalists so will have their work cut out for them to repeat, but she is quietly confident). This has provided Zach and I with an opportunity for a road trip (which we both love) down to watch Sami play in the tournament. Unfortunately Sami has to fly down with the team, but Zach and I will road trip it and spend a night in Albany, New York (the state capitol) before arriving into Stamford to watch her games.
Toward mid week my ex and her parents are coming down and watch Sami play in the semi-finals and final (hopefully). After the tournament they are then all going to New York City for the weekend. I know both the kids are super excited about this part of the trip as its one of their favorite places to visit and hang out. Luckily for them they have visited many times and have a great affinity for NYC and now also know it quite well. On average they’ve probably visited at least once, and sometimes twice a year for the past five years.
After a cool weekend in NYC Zach is going to drive up to Montreal with his grandparents to spend a week with them before returning to Toronto on the train while Sami will fly back with her mum. As for me, I have some business meetings to attend to in NY so I will be also in the city for a few days and extending into the following week before I drive back to Toronto.
Now that isn’t all for our summer, the final pièce-de-résistance is that the three of us are then heading to Boston for Labor Day weekend. As normal I’ve asked them both to plan what their tour is going to be during our weekend in Boston.
Indelible Tip #3: Active role Since the kids were young whenever the three of us traveled together, each of them have been allocated a half to full day to plan an activity, tour or trip and act as guide for the other two. The only rule is that the other two have to participate actively and not complain about the choices of our “tour guide”. Let me tell you that this has been the most amazing thing to do for them. Not only has it enabled them to actively take part in choosing and planning a part of our trip but it’s given them a real leadership role and helped them mature into the wonderful young adults that they’ve become.
Both of them love traveling, exploring and history as much as I do and so choosing Boston for our trip was an easy choice because there is so much to see and do.
All in all a great summer for them both – with a bit of school and some fun trips and travel thrown in for good measure.
Oh to be young!!!
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“Hanoi Posting”
The phone just rang until he could stand it no more and hung up...damn it!
This week's photos are from my time in beautiful Scandinavia.
Enjoy!
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It’s been an interesting summer all around; especially for Zach and Sami. Instead of taking time off to go to summer camp or taking it easy both of them wanted to enroll in summer school… I’m unsure where they would of gotten this crazy idea, but there you have it.
Now don’t get me wrong I applaud them each for choosing this from all of the possibilities that they could of have chosen from, but their choices are certainly interesting.
It made me take a step back and reflect on their motivations and here's what I came up with...
Indelible Tip #1: Self determination A big part of why I believe Zach and Sami are so mature for their age is that my ex and I have made them accountable for their own future. Of course, we provide input, guidance, coaching and support but ultimately they have a major say in what they choose to do.
Zach decided on taking Mathematics now in advance of his final year of high school, with his rationale being that he wanted to get this credit out of the way so that next school year he would have extra study room in his course load for a spare period and so could focus on attaining the best possible marks for the courses he’s enrolled in. We have a pragmatist on our hands ladies and gentlemen and definitely a smart one!
Sami chose Year 10 Biology, she decided on this route so that this coming school year she can take her Year 11 Sciences workload, which includes Chemistry and Physics and get ahead of the game between now and her graduation three years from now. Again, I’m blown away but her maturity and forethought. Her master plan is to ensure she has all of the requisite academic courses that Universities in the US require to support and enhance her opportunities for a soccer sports scholarship. Clearly a triple threat with a 90% average, athletically gifted and a great kid to boot! (okay, I may be just a tad bias but hey, I’m allowed to be) :-)
Indelible Tip #2: Supporting dreams Zach and I have been discussing the Universities he wants to apply to, which includes McGill (Montreal), Trinity College (Dublin) – although now out of the running because he doesn’t have a year 12 language, St Andrews (Scotland) and Oxford…yes, as in “the” Oxford (UK) - not too shabby!
Currently he’s sitting with a 95% average across all of his subjects including the two year 12 courses he’s already completed in advance of the his year starting. He wants to major in History, with minors in either Philosophy and Politics but to get into these prestigious schools he needs to maintain his 95% average or better it. Surprisingly he pushes himself to excel, and most nights stays after class till 6:00 pm studying and getting all of his homework completed in prep for the next day of studies. He's one extremely motivated young man!
Sami’s dream of earning a soccer sports scholarship to a US university is still a ways off, but she is clearly driving toward this outcome without any real impetus from my ex or me.
Deep down I know where they get their motivation from...yes, guilty as charged I'm afraid! I've always told them to go after their dreams and let nothing get in your way. Closely followed by the mantra that they control their own destiny. So they are now putting two and two together and going for it - all I can say is that I'm incredibly proud of each of them.
So what’s next you ask…well Sami is representing Toronto at the North American Maccabi Games in Stamford, Connecticut (Aug 7-11) in U18 soccer (they are the current reigning gold medalists so will have their work cut out for them to repeat, but she is quietly confident). This has provided Zach and I with an opportunity for a road trip (which we both love) down to watch Sami play in the tournament. Unfortunately Sami has to fly down with the team, but Zach and I will road trip it and spend a night in Albany, New York (the state capitol) before arriving into Stamford to watch her games.
Toward mid week my ex and her parents are coming down and watch Sami play in the semi-finals and final (hopefully). After the tournament they are then all going to New York City for the weekend. I know both the kids are super excited about this part of the trip as its one of their favorite places to visit and hang out. Luckily for them they have visited many times and have a great affinity for NYC and now also know it quite well. On average they’ve probably visited at least once, and sometimes twice a year for the past five years.
After a cool weekend in NYC Zach is going to drive up to Montreal with his grandparents to spend a week with them before returning to Toronto on the train while Sami will fly back with her mum. As for me, I have some business meetings to attend to in NY so I will be also in the city for a few days and extending into the following week before I drive back to Toronto.
Now that isn’t all for our summer, the final pièce-de-résistance is that the three of us are then heading to Boston for Labor Day weekend. As normal I’ve asked them both to plan what their tour is going to be during our weekend in Boston.
Indelible Tip #3: Active role Since the kids were young whenever the three of us traveled together, each of them have been allocated a half to full day to plan an activity, tour or trip and act as guide for the other two. The only rule is that the other two have to participate actively and not complain about the choices of our “tour guide”. Let me tell you that this has been the most amazing thing to do for them. Not only has it enabled them to actively take part in choosing and planning a part of our trip but it’s given them a real leadership role and helped them mature into the wonderful young adults that they’ve become.
Both of them love traveling, exploring and history as much as I do and so choosing Boston for our trip was an easy choice because there is so much to see and do.
All in all a great summer for them both – with a bit of school and some fun trips and travel thrown in for good measure.
Oh to be young!!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Hanoi Posting”
A series of fictional micro-stories by Terence Wallis
Episode 55: Single Minded
John' stepped across the threshold of his plane at Noi Bai airport just before midday, the heat and humidity hitting him like a sledgehammer as he exited the plane and made his way across the tarmac toward the terminal.
After booking his flight to Hanoi via Bangkok John realized that he didn't have an entry visa and so had hastily engaged his legal team to expedite it through the Paris consulate as per the protocol, fortunately for him the Times had been a good supporter of the Vietnamese regime and so there were no hold ups. However, this two day delay had made him even more anxious as he still didn't have word regarding the whereabouts of Bill, Phuong nor Lea.
The line was long at the single passport window inside the terminal, the perspiration ran from John's forehead and dripped from his chin in a steady stream onto his shirt front and floor below. He held his jacket across this arm and tried to fan himself with his passport while slowly inching toward the control point, wondering if this had been such a good idea...
John's secretary has booked him a car and driver to take him to the hotel and after claiming his bag he exited into the chaos of the airport terminal. He craned his neck to try and spot his name in the sea of people, eventually locating his driver and following him toward the car park across the road from the terminal. During this short walk John was almost hit by one of the scooters that buzzed to and fro around him as he crossed the exceptionally busy airport road. He did his best to dodge the veritable sea of scooters that bore down on him from seemingly every direction, "bloody hell" he exclaimed and he was narrowly missed by an overloaded and ancient scooter blasting blue smoke.
Reaching the hotel just before three pm and almost too exhausted to move he struggled to gather himself when the car drew up to the front doors of the Hilton Hotel. As he stepped from the car he took in the beautiful architecture of the hotel, it's French pedigree obvious even to the untrained eye... he could finally take a deep breath and relax he mused.
After checking in and being shown to his room he took a long, cool shower to wash the grim of his travels from his sticky body. Feeling a little more refreshed he set about calling the office number, hoping to speak with someone, perhaps even Lea he thought, maybe she had made contact with them. Noting the phone in his room was a relic that belonged in a museum he smiled and slipped his finger into each number as it slowly rotated, purring as it went and bringing back a flood of childhood memories.
Next week: Episode 56: Touch
p.s. In the coming weeks I will be creating a new blog for Hanoi Posting so that it will have a a new home and splitting it from the main Indelible Adventures blog post - stay tuned!
p.s. In the coming weeks I will be creating a new blog for Hanoi Posting so that it will have a a new home and splitting it from the main Indelible Adventures blog post - stay tuned!
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This week's photos are from my time in beautiful Scandinavia.
Enjoy!
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| Strolling the beautiful streets of Stockholm in the evening light, notice the moon in the background |
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| Some stunning work at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm |
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| Large, embroidered poster for Artists House Music - from the Moki Cherry (1945 - 2009) exhibition |
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| Large steel balls filling a room by artist Yayoi Kusama |
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| Such an ornate and beautiful doorway on the Hanverkargaten in Stockholm, note the tortoise and frog with dragonfly carvings - such workmanship! |
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| Such a cool waterfront in Stockholm with ships of all shapes and sizes - some floating hotels. Very cool! |
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| Living on a boat in Stockholm harbour - I could think of a lot worse places to live :-) |
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| As I said, all shapes and sizes. This old liner ran the Mediterranean route for many years before finding its way to Stockholm. Now a wonderful hotel |
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| Okay, is it just me or is the stroller parking just a little much at the local playground??? |
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| The magnificent clock at the Central Train station in downtown Stockholm |
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| This is what 10:30 pm at night looks like in Stockholm during the summer |
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| The underside of one of the hundreds of bridges that crisscross the canals in Stockholm. Such lovely lines don't you think? |
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| I love the curves of the overpass in downtown Stockholm |
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