Gosh, so much time has passed!

And it feels like ages since I've posted. So sorry to all the fans of the "Aloka Rain" fan club! An insane amount of change has been happening for all of us, and most of you all know now. Josh and I have decided to separate, though we remain quite close. We have a great friendship and truly love eachother. Aloka is doing very well despite it all. It's been such a stressful previous year of trying to get work permits, work, Josh being sick, and getting settled here without all our stuff, that this isn't really too dramatic for her considering what she's had to go through already. In fact, she's getting some really great quality one on one time with Josh that is really feeding her spirit. Whenever she comes back from being with him, she always seems very relaxed and happy. And on a side note, Josh is doing really well too. He has been able to eat almost anything now, including soy! Amazing, isn't it?
The thing that's been the most stressful for her is moving, which we're currently doing right now. Everything is packed in boxes, and she has some fear of boxes now, after everything of hers (and ours) went into storage for almost a year and a half. So when she sees me pack her books, she is worried she won't be seeing them again. We're trying to have some sort of rhythm in her day, she really seems to thrive with that. It's hard but we're both really working on it. Regular meal times, regular bed times, it all seems to contribute to a happier Aloka.
We are also really placing a lot of value on family time, and are trying to incorporate that into our schedules as well.
So, I just had to write this because it was so cute this morning; Aloka woke up bright and early. She started telling me this huge long story about how ice cream cones are made. It took her about 5 minutes to describe and explain it to me. When she finally finished, she said "Wasn't that a lot of talking? I'm really getting much older!"
I have my new computer, but it's not set up yet, but once it is, I'll be able to send pictures again. We're moving out of this house this weekend, and Josh moved out a few weeks ago into his place, which is a beautiful little house in the greatest location. I'll try and send photos of everyone once we're all settled!

My little gymnast

Ta Da!!

Aloka loves gymnastics! She has so much fun and does the class with 3 other little girls. It's the perfect class size, and the girls are all so attentive. One of her friends is in the class too, Sophie, which makes it all the more fun!
I've got some vidoes too but haven't uploaded them to the net yet. Life has been very busy. This week I'm starting to sell salads (rice and pasta) and cake to a couple cafes in town. It's a good way to earn a little extra cash, and I'm also venturing into the travel agent world again. I've got an interview with a local agency here in Nelson next week, so exciting!





Here are also some fun photos of Nile's 2 year birthday. Yes, that's Aloka whaking on a pinata!
Melissa made a beautiful cake, and she has some great pics on her blog as well, so check it out.

Oh, and Aloka says "Happy Fools Day!"

I have a story to tell

This is a lot of words, and not a ton of photos (if any in fact) but our weekend was crazy and bizarre and hilarious and exhausting.
It all started with me needing to go down to Spokane to get my chocolate tempering machine. I was going to go down with my friend Melissa on Saturday morning. Come Friday night, Josh had found a really great looking car to buy for himself on the internet. It was a 1982 Audi sedan with a diesel engine and only 69K miles, for $1995 a la Craigslist in Tacoma. It sounded too good to be true (which it was), and we called the dealer about it. Josh decided to go down with me to Spokane, and catch a flight to Seattle, pick up the car in Tacoma (half hour cab ride from Seattle), and drive it back to Spokane all in a days time.
Ok, so when we relayed this plan to our parents, you can imagine the groans and warnings that came with it. Josh knew it was completely dangerous to buy a car sight-unseen but we were hopeful. Sadly, we didn't realize about CarFax until it was too late, but that will come later.
SO, we drove down to Spokane. We had a brief delay at the border crossing where we learned that it's absolutely NOT OK to bring kiwi's bought in Canada to the US even if there IS a huge "grown in California" sticker on them. So, there we were, Aloka and I hoovering 4 kiwis as fast as possible, while the border guard waited for us. She was kind enough to let us eat them and not report them as a 'confiscation' which would go on our record. "Note To Self, never bring fruit across border".
We then continued on our way and got to Spokane with not much time to spare, and by the time we got to the airport, Josh's flight was due to leave in 10 minutes and we practically had to throw him out of the moving vehicle. He was off on his adventure, and I had no idea if he'd even make the flight. Our cell phones weren't working so we couldn't stay in contact.

I had to get to the Dept. Of Licensing by 2:30pm and I got there at 2:20pm. No, wait, I actually got there earlier but then realized I needed US cash to pay for my records I was requesting. So I had to shove Aloka back in the car seat and make a mad dash for an ATM, getting back to the DOL 10 minutes before they closed. I made it. Aloka meanwhile is miserable with a cold and so sick of being in the car for hours on end, and she's still hanging in there. I perked her up by telling her she could get some gum at the grocery store. She was very excited. They have the good kind with no chemicals so I was content with that.
The grocery store was a strange culture shock for me. I haven't been in the States for almost a year and a half, and I'd forgotten what a consumer society it is compared to Canada. You can get anything your heart desires practically. They had a million kinds of Annies mac and cheese, a million kinds of chocolate bars, and a zillion kinds of cheeses. And don't even get me started on the deli section! Even the juice bar was HUGE! I had a mixture of euphoria and revulsion. It was weird.
Ok, so we're off on our adventures with gum in hand. Aloka and I took a few photos of ourselves in the car out front of the grocery store which I'll post tomorrow, and then we headed to REI. My dad and stepmom had given me an awesome REI gift card that I had never gotten around to using and I finally ended up with a great pair of new xcountry skiis. I'm beside myself with excitment! Those of you who know me well, I worked it, getting an insane deal! They were having a mega clearance, and I got them to knock an additional 10% off, plus 20% off my ski pants too. I left there pleased. I love getting deals!
By now, we're completely exhausted. Aloka has now been asking to go to the hotel for the past 3 hours and we finally do. We check in, I have no idea how I manage to carry all my bags and my exhausted and sick child at once, but I do. We get to the room, watch a $10 pay-per-view movie and snack on odds and ends. I still have no idea what's happening with Josh. For all I know, he could be stuck in Tacoma with a car that doesn't run.
Around 11pm Josh gets to the hotel and crashes. Apparently he didn't miss his flight because it was delayed 40 minutes, but he did get interrogated for having "liquid" in his carry-on. He had no idea what they were talking about until they told him it was his roll-on deodorant, and that he should know better than to pack that.
He tells me that the dealer was pretty sleazy and the car isn't quite what he thought it would be, but nonetheless, has a good strong engine and got him to Spokane, even though it was pouring rain and there was no defrost in the car, so the windows were cloudy the whole time, and Josh could only drive 60mph at his fastest. It took what should've been 4 1/2 hours, about 6. He was exhausted.
Our hotel room had some kind of banging pipe situation every 3 minutes or so the whole night. So that kinda sucked as far as sleep was concerned.
Then in the morning, Josh told me the rest of his story. The car no way felt like it only had 69k on it and our fathers warnings were of course, correct. Two of the door handles are broken (one of them being the drivers side), the other in the back. Apparently, this car had been abandoned, had a window broken (which has since been fixed) and rain poured into it for weeks on end, resulting in half the car being covered in a layer of mold. According to CarFax, the car had 89k miles in 1999, so it had definitely been tampered with.
But, the flip side is that it still runs well, and gets over 50mpg. We're just not sure how many miles is on this car.
The next morning we went to our storage locker, got as much stuff out that could fit into two cars and headed off to Nelson.
I missed an exit. We ended up 2 hours off course. Josh is following behind us, and every time I stop and need to talk to him or he needs to get out, he has to climb out of his window because the passenger side is full of boxes and his door is broken. So, finally a kind woman tells us how to get back onto the correct highway and we finally get to the border crossing a couple hours later.
Josh was supposed to have had an appointment with a woman at 4pm, and we got to the border at 3:30pm so he was pretty stressed. He called the woman on the phone in the border patrols office and could only get her voicemail, so he leaves her this message saying he's so sorry he's supposed to be there in a half hour and he's still at the border. Meanwhile, I'm looking at the clock which is reading 5pm. Crap! Daylight savings! So, he's actually already an hour late and she's been waiting for him in a cafe for god knows how long.
Oh well. The border people ask us a million questions and have us fill out too much paperwork. At this point, we are declaring all our earthly possesions. We also found out that we're supposed to put a dollar amount of everything we own, ha!! Luckily the ever-so-very-cool border officer lets us just put a dollar amount per box. As opposed to the not-very-cool-at-all superior border officer who didn't even let us get a temporary vehicle permit for longer than 30 days, and barely let us use our vehicles, lame. They have SO much power by the way, those border guys. It's kind of scary.
The cool border officer (we don't know his name except by Officer 11204 or something) actually took Aloka into the office (where normal people are so not allowed to go!) and set her in front of a little hidden TV under a desk and played "Zooboomafu" for her. What he is doing with that movie, I have no idea, except that he has 3 kids himself and maybe he needs to entertain them every now and then, or maybe he's just an insanely cool border dude that has a "kids corner", which by the way, was complete with a red fish and a blue fish.
So by the time we had finished all this insane paperwork, we finally got home around 7pm. I can't believe we had only left the morning before. It feels like I've been gone a week.
I've got some pictures but if you could see the house right now, you would understand why I currently can't find the camera. Besides the very many boxes everywhere, Aloka was VERY excited about her two boxes of books, and there are now approximately 40 kids books strewn across the living room. Pictures will follow!

Where have I been?

It feels like forever since I've been able to post! My computer is officially dead, my hard drive crapped out.
I'm on borrowed time so it might be another couple weeks until my next post, but I wanted to get out an update for all.
Life is extremely busy here for us all. I still haven't gotten anything out of storage, but planning on making a trip down to Spokane next week sometime to at least get my chocolate tempering machine so i can start making truffles and selling them at local cafe's here in town.
I'm thinking about taking a doula training workshop in the spring, which would also include postpartum doula, so in other words, taking care of mama's after childbirth. Flexible hours, decent pay, and I could do it while Aloka is at school.
Aloka just got over yet another stomach flu. I swear, this child gets every stomach flu that's going around, and then some. I'm not sure why she's so predisposed to it, but believe me, having only one set of bed sheets makes for a lot of laundry not to mention creativity when she gets sick. All too often I find myself sleeping on towels, dish towels, and once even clean clothes because she had thrown up in the bed so much one night.
Just around the time of my last post, Dena (Aloka's teacher) had a lovely tea party for the students and their families. The children made thumbprint heart shaped cookies, there was rose tea, and a little present for each parent and each child set at the table, which was also adorned with heart shaped and red accents. The parents got a little set of 3 heart cookie cutters and a nicely printed out shortbread recipe, and the children got a cute little hand felted heart shaped doll. It was wonderful!
Here also is a video and a couple pics of Aloka's new belly dancing costume, which is utterly adorable! And YES, that's Josh wearing a belly dancing costume as well! Something only a father would do, eh? Pure love!

The other day we went cross country skiing up at a friends house, and I got some cute footage of Aloka on her skiis. She really takes to physical activities, and seems to have great coordination. The day was gorgeous, and I'm always in awe at the beauty of the West Kootenay's, our home.


In further news I'm making the big switch over from PC to Mac, so next time I post it will probably be from my new iMac, so exciting!
oh, and one more thing... there's a sweet picture of Nile and Aloka on my friend Melissa's blog, so take a look; her blogs are always fun to read! And that huge awesome carousel she mentions in Spokane is going to get a visit by us next weekend. Can't wait!!
Until then....

My little ballerina

Aloka started a ballet class a couple weeks ago. It wasn't my idea, but my friend Ana has her daughter in it and one day she offered to take Aloka to the class and take her out afterwards for a couple hours. In this video, Aloka starts out on the far left:

And this next one is funny because Aloka is SO good at following directions! She started walking backwards because that's how the teacher was doing it.

And just one more cute one. The little girl Aloka is holding hands with is her good friend Elora (Ana's daughter):

And by the way, I just realized I haven't even posted about these huge milestones yet. I can actually leave Aloka at home with Josh now! This happened about a month ago. I had to leave, because I had a belly dance class that was too late for her to come to, plus no children allowed. She wailed and screamed, I closed the door behind me thinking I'd get a call on my cell in a couple minutes.
Josh reported however, that as soon as the door clicked shut she turned to him, stopped crying, and said "so what should we do?"
So now she's able to be left with friends. How quickly it happens!
I took some really cute videos of this class for all to enjoy~
Oh, and I'm also including some photos of Aloka with her new skis!

Aloka's imaginary people

Aloka is in the full swing of make believe play now. She's always pretending "her daughter" is doing one thing or another, or that we're someone she knows and she's their child. She often makes up names for her pretend family and friends. My (and her) two favorites are "beautiful dress" and "meconia" not to be confused with "meconium". These are both names that she calls her "daughter". Her daughter is someone she talks about as if they're not in the room. Like, "my daughter is out getting a treat right now" etc etc. The other night when she announced that her daughter's name was Meconia, Josh and I just about choked. I was laughing so hard. She didn't realize of course what meconium is. I'm not sure where on earth she heard this word. But in any case, it's hard for me to control my laughter anytime she talks about this daughter of hers. Tonight when she was telling me a story about her, I again started giggling, and she looks at me all serious and says "mama, it's MeconIA, not MeconIUM!" Then Josh said, if you're daughters name is Meconia, maybe your mama's name is Diarheena. My stomach is still sore from the fits of laughter I had! Now Aloka and Josh are walking around calling me by this hilarious yet disgusting name. ha ha very funny!

Final update on this freakin' permit!

Ok, we finally have our work permits in hand! We are at back and all is well and legal, and we have not been kicked out of this country we call home. It went incredibly well! First off, it was a gorgeous day, crystal clear blue skies with sparkley snow on the ground but spring in the air. I also made a few phone calls and found out we could go to a much closer border crossing only 45 minutes from here. There's no immigration officer there which is why we didn't think we could do it, but I found out we could go there and they would fax our info to the pertinent people and it worked out great.
In fact, even when we had to drive through the US border crossing in order to turn around to get to the Canadian crossing, the US border patrol officer was from Canada! She said she got this job offer but had been a permanent resident in Canada for 30 years previously. She welcomed us to Canada before we even got back to the other side. She was happy and excited for us, something we certainly hadn't expected from the US side of things! We knew after that, things would go smooth, which they did. I had phoned in the day before so everyone at the Canadian border was expecting us, and it was just smooth as can be.
I can't believe what a relief it is to be here legally and be able to go back to the US as much as we need to, to visit friends and family, to get our stuff, yippee!
So now some busy work. I have a giant list of things I need to get in order. Here it is (why I am writing this in my blog, I have no idea): Get our Social Insurance Numbers (this is like SSN in the US), Get our Health Insurance Cards, Apply for Child Tax Credits (we can get $150 monthly for Aloka from the Govt.), Get drivers licenses, get car registered and plated, get a medical exam so I can work in the childcare or health professions if I need to, etc etc.
How was that for boring? There's more on my to do list, but I'm refraining. I think I'm making this list just to get it organized in my head, ha! I need to write this down somewhere, I'm feeling some overwhelmed-ness in the air! But yay! I'll take it anyday over being an illegal alien!

Work permit update

We still haven't picked it up yet at the border, for those who have been wondering. We've been waiting for some decent weather to drive down as we have to go over a pass and would love for it to be as clear as possible. It has been dumping snow here!

Here's a few pics of Aloka, who made a couple snowmen the other day. By herself! I was so proud, I was kvelling! (yiddish for "oozing or swelling with delightedness", for you non-jews)
I had also taken on the semi-large-for-me task of shoveling our driveway and stairs, of which I gave up after an hour, and thankfully Josh finished up. Not that it made too much of a difference, because there was a 3 inch layer of ice under all the snow, and now I swear the steps are more treacherous than when there was a foot of snow on top of all of it. I give up! We're using the back stairs up to our car, so we don't have to drive down the icy driveway nor even glance at the piles of snow and ice that is our front yard.
A couple more things: we are taking care of a friends' kitty while she is in Mexico until March. The kitty's name is Tigger, and we love her! She is such a sweetie and a delight to have around. It has been a nice reminder of how much nice energy a cat brings to the home. And it really makes me miss our lost kitty Zooey too.
So, Tuesday we're finally driving down to the border to pick up said work permit. Wish us luck, that they don't deny it to us, and make us move back to the states. (worst case scenario), but that instead they issue it without any issues or problems and we get back to Nelson before nightfall (best case scenario). I'll keep y'all posted!

Woo Hoo!! Long awaited NEWS!

FINALLY! We got our work permit. I got a call from our lawyer Jeffrey last Friday saying that our approval letter just got faxed to him. What this means for us now is that we get the letter from our lawyer via email, take it down to the Port of Entry and the immigration officer there will issue it for us. Josh will be the main applicant, and I will get an "open" work permit, meaning I will be able to work anywhere I want.
It will be a big drive, because we are up to our eyeballs in snow here in the Kootenay's. SO much snow. But there doesn't seem to be much complaining, and more a feeling that Nelson celebrates the fact that it is a skiers paradise. There are so many people out playing in the snow. People are even out cross country skiing right downtown. This photo was from a day where the snowflakes were literally the size of feathers. You can't tell at all how huge these flakes were from this photo, but you can get an idea sort of. It started coming down so heavy at one point, it was crazy! Like a giant pillow leaking from the sky.
Our car isn't the best in this snow, but I've gotten a lot more confident driving in it than I was a couple months ago. I need to take some photos of our front yard and post them in the next couple days. It's hilarious how much snow there is.
So, I'll keep the blog updated as we get the permit, which should hopefully be this coming weekend, and then getting our giant load of possessions out of storage.
It's strange, but I'm not so excited to get our stuff anymore. We've been living without all this stuff for over a year, and it's funny how I can count on one hand the things that I miss: My bed, my pots and pans, my blender and food processor, Aloka's books... It will be so nice not sleeping on an air mattress anymore. Not that it's been that bad, but this is our third one now. They're not exactly meant for long term use. Here's a photo of Baker street from the other day, they keep it pretty well plowed.
And here are four photos of Aloka at Lakeside Park. She insisted we go there one evening. She loved it!

All done with chicken pox

I was actually fully recovered by last Friday, save for the remnants of little red bumps here and there. But I was feeling completely better and ready to cruise out of the house. Staying confined at home just isn't a happy thing for me. I love being at home, but I also really need to get out almost every day, even if it's just for a bit of fresh air and a change of scenery.
So, with that all pox stuff behind us, I'm trying to make some changes in my life. I'd like to find a job of sorts while waiting to start the toy store. I've contacted various places, and we'll see what comes up for me. It's exciting to thing about, actually being able to earn some money and contribute in some way.
We've had a few mbira nights at our house and Aloka played with Phoenix and Cypress, the daughters of my amazing belly dance instructor, Sarah. They all dressed up like little belly dancers and put a groove on! So cute!

An update from Pox-land

Well, it's a fact. I'm definitely not as cute as Aloka was with pox all over her face. No, my pox look more like some disastrous acne situation. Hers were nice and neat little red spots all over her. Mine look like some horror you'd see in a book at a dermatologists office. Or perhaps a "before" photo hanging on the wall.
BUT, due to the demand of all you friends and family, I'm humbly including some pictures anyway. Actually, this one just below here, I really like because A. my pox are somewhat hiding in the shadows, but especially because B. I think I look a whole lot like my Mama in this photo. Sorry about the cleavage to anyone who could possibly be offended.
This is my back, which got it the worst, I have no idea why.
So for the most part, things have been great, or at least as great as it can go having this type of thing. I never did get feverish or flu-like and overall feel pretty fine. I'm just itching to get out of the house though. HA. I'm making myself laugh tonight! It must be cabin fever.
Oh, and one more thing I forgot to post about, but the day before I got these dots all over me, I got my belly button pierced. Sort of unfortunate timing, because I can't take any soothing baths due to this piercing, but a shower is actually just fine anyway.
And I just love it. It celebrates my dance, my womb, my belly, my womanhood.

I spoke too soon.

Ok, I must not have knocked on wood or something. Yesterday I came down with the chicken pox. So far so good though, no fever, not feeling too sick. I just have lots of annoying and itchy red bumps mostly on my back, chest, and head. Fun!
The incubation time (they say) is 2-3 weeks, and this showed up on day 19! I really thought I was was out of the woods! So, I'm going to lay low for a bit and you'll hear from me again in a few. I'm throwing in a picture for fun. Aloka drew this, something with whiskers and the arms are sticking out the sides! And then just a cute picture of Aloka sleeping.

In itchy-ness,
Sabrina

Still no chicken pox!

I sort of can't believe it but I actually haven't gotten it yet. I didn't feel like I was going to, it's just so strange seeing as I got that antibody test showing that I definitely had never contracted it before. Maybe I'm one of those lucky immune folks. Anyway, Aloka did splendid as you could probably tell from the last post. She never did get itchy at all, and the pox are almost completely gone now. I'm so happy to have that behind us!
This week has been quite hectic. And I can't post any photos to this post because Josh's computer crashed and all the pics are on his computer, but stay tuned in the next day or so because I'll do another post soon since I haven't for over a week, and this one is so empty!
Oh, one very exciting thing to report (and I wish I had a photo, ha!), my very awesome friend Melissa went down to Spokane and got my vacuum cleaner out of storage!!!! Oh how happy I am to have it back. My dear White Star Miele, my dirt cleaning companion, my dust bunny sucking friend. We have been using a huge and really loud shop-vac, which I hope I never have to use again.
Another strange and surreal thing is that I accidentally sucked up one of Aloka's finger puppets forcing me to have to cut open the old bag to retrieve it. The bag was nearly full of lots of old Vashon dirt! It was so strange what I found in there. It was like looking through a really really gross scrapbook. One full of cat hair, old food chunks, and bits of things that I strangely recognized.
Unfortunately, I don't have any new Miele vacuum bags, and I'm not sure I can find them in Nelson. So, it might be a bit longer of the dreaded Shop-Vac.
Ah, well, I'm just so happy to know our stuff in storage really does exist, and it's not just a strange and far away dream. A dream of things we could have sworn we had, but now are starting to wonder, was it real?

Rooster Pox and Happy Solstice to all!

Well, what a week. Or two. Aloka came down with chicken pox last Friday, or "rooster pox" as she likes to call it. In fact, a couple days ago she said "mama, do chickens get human pox?". She's very curious about the whole chicken connection to it all.
She's been handling it pretty well, actually. She only had a low fever for a few days, and she's barely scratching anything. She only had one night of somewhat restless sleep due to discomfort. I'm posting this video only because my blog settings are private and not open to the public. But it was just such a funny one! And you can see the good spirits she's been in through the whole thing.

And this one was just when she was starting to break out:


Her pox are now starting to crust over and heal and she's definitely over the worst of it, which wasn't even so bad.
I've never had chicken pox as far as I know, if you can believe it. So I've actually lived my whole life in fear of getting them as an adult. I even had a blood test many years ago which confirmed that I never got it.
I often thought that because I had been exposed to it many times as a child, I perhaps just got a mild case or something, but no such luck. But, now that we're here in the feared and dreaded Chicken Pox land, I have very little concern. I feel strong, healthy, and I'll just deal with it if I get it.
We were both exposed to it on the 19th, and she got her first pox on the 22nd. I'm still going strong so I'm wondering and hoping that maybe I'm one of those folks that has a natural immunity.

Luckily, we celebrate the Solstice so we didn't miss any holiday activities, seeing as on Xmas day we were all in quite a different space than most.

We had a very nice Children's Day as it's called in my Buddhist upbringing.
We set up a beautiful Children's Day shrine with a King and Queen at the top. They symbolize the King and Queen of the kingdom of Shambhala, an enlightened society.


Aloka loves the King and Queen! When we put them up, she said "mama, are they always meditating?" and "mama, are they always Japanese?"
While she was at school on Solstice (Thursday), the King and Queen brought her some gifts, and some treats were place on the shrine. She was so excited when she came home! It was so magical.

Here's a picture of the giant rainbow silk that we gave Aloka for her Children's Day present.


She is such a "delayed gratification" type of personality. She nibbles a little bit of chocolate, and then hides it in her fort. Believe it or not, the chocolate is still in there today! Occasionally, she asks me if she can have a little nibble even though she's sick. She definitely did NOT get that from me!! My chocolate is gone before I even realize I ate it!

On Thursday evening, we had Melissa, Nick and Nile over for french onion soup that Josh made (so YUM!) and a nice salad. We had a great time. Melissa has some nice pics on her latest blog entry too. Here's a great one of Aloka and Nile that Melissa took below! Melissa made an awesome shirt for Aloka as a gift, with the word "Authentic" on it. I really want to see her sell these, they're great!

And lastly, here are a couple pictures that Melissa took of Aloka and I with our Tribal Belly dance turbans on!
























I still have yet to post about the lovely advent spiral we did with Aloka's school plus the Waldorf Xmas faire, so next time!