Catching up on the past two weeks - Part One

Well, I have been somewhat remiss in providing timely updates these days for those interested in Tesfaye's progress and activities as we plan for his return to Ethiopia in the next month or so. Below is a "catch up" for the week of Monday August 10th to Sunday August 16th:

(Note: double clicking on a picture will enlarge it for viewing)

Monday August 10th, 2009 - Justin's Birthday: My son Justin reached the BC age of majority, 19, and accordingly a group of family and friends including Tesfaye had a lovely dinner celebration at the River Rock Casino Italian restaurant in a private room. Afterwards, while Tesfaye and others went home, Justin went with a few friends to dabble for a while in some now legal vices the casino offered.

Wednesday August 12th, 2009 - JDC Visitors: Nanci and Justin left for Los Angeles today and Tesfaye and I, together with Haley, were scheduled to have dinner with JDC representatives Michael Novick out of Seattle and Alan Gill out of Israel, and Mark Gurvis, Executive Director of Vancouver Jewish Federation. Michael and Mark had met Tesfaye before his surgery but not since, and Alan and other JDC officials were well aware of Tesfaye's situation and so they were interested in seeing Tesfaye while in town. We booked to meet them for dinner at the Boathouse in English Bay, so Haley and I went down early with Tesfaye to stroll around the area on another beautiful summer evening in Vancouver. There is always some good people watching down there, and we spent some time around the Inukshuk monument in English Bay. It was interesting reading the plaque explaining what the Inukshuk is, especially seeing as it forms the basis of our Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics logo.

Thursday August 13th, 2009 - Tesfaye had an introductory English ESL Tutoring session with a nice woman from Surrey.

Friday August 14th, 2009 - Revolving Restaurant: As it was Tesfaye and me alone for dinner, I decided to do something that I had not done in a long time but which I thought Tesfaye would enjoy: Dinner at the revolving restaurant at the top of the Harbour Centre. In the first few days of Tesfaye's arrival in Vancouver back in May we had looked at the building and talked about the restaurant as we sat across the water from it in Stanley Park and glanced at the corresponding pictures in a souvenir Vancouver guidebook I had purchased for Tesfaye while viewing Totem Poles in Stanley Park. It was a very pleasant experience for the two of us, as Tesfaye had certainly never eaten at such a revolving restaurant before and it affords a marvelous 360 degree birds eye view of Vancouver and its surroundings.

Saturday August 15th, 2009 - Canopy Walk: I was chatting with Tiffany Akins from VGH Communications about a planned Global TV follow up piece on August 19th, and in the course of discussion I asked her if she had any ideas for a new Vancouver experience for Tesfaye. She

Tesfaye on Suspended Canopy Walk (video)


suggested something that I honestly was not familiar with, a Tree Canopy Walk at the UBC Botanical Gardens. I looked it up online and decided it sounded interesting and would be something new for the two of us. The only concern I had was whether it would still be too physically challenging for Tesfaye to attempt with his post-surgery back limitations, as it is a 40 minute or so romp on wobbly suspended walkways and platforms through the treetops at the gardens. Well I honestly must say that Tesfaye seemed to effortlessly handle the adventure, much more so than me with my slight aversion to heights. The Canopy Walk was something interesting and different, and we also enjoyed meandering through the forest and gardens afterwards as well -- I would definitely recommend it. As I have mentioned before, Tesfaye really does seem to appreciate nature.

Saturday evening August 15th, 2009 - Ethiopian Dinner at Melaku's: After our botanical adventure we went home and got ready to go to Melaku's place in Chinatown for an Ethiopian dinner home cooked by his wife Dasash; as readers of this blog would know, Melaku (a former journalist in Ethiopia)and his children Mikael, Emebet and Netzanet have become friends through Tesfaye's stay in Vancouver When we got there we first went up to the top outdoor deck of the apartment building to take in the view of the area. We then ate a delicious Ethiopian Injerra meal and marvelled at how far Tesfaye had progressed. We were joined after dinner by their friend Del and his two children; Del is married to Sosina, who also helped out with translating a few times during Tesfaye's hospital stay;Tesfaye and I had met Del, along with Melaku, the second night after Tesfaye arrived in Vancouver, when we went to eat at Fassil restaurant. After dinner Dasash prepared coffee in a traditional Ethiopian coffee making ceremony starting right with the roasting of the beans. The children then took Tesfaye down the street to see the China Town Night Market, and Tesfaye added to his sunglasses collection. Before heading home Tesfaye and friends played some kind of card game that I was not familiar with.

Sunday August 16th, 2009 - Jerus arrives: Today Rosemarie kindly took Tesfaye on an outing to Science World. They got there by bus and skytrain and spent three or four hours there. It was a long day, but Tesfaye told me he really enjoyed it and could have spent even more time there. In the meantime, I took advantage of Tesfaye being occupied to book an early game of golf in Richmond, as I needed to head out to the airport this afternoon in any event. Unfortunately, in my haste to get out to the golf course, even though it was quite early on a Sunday morning an "undercover" police car nabbed me for apparently exceeding the speed limit. It kind of explains why my first tee shot went into the ditch (at least that's my excuse) and set the tone for my overall poor play that followed.

Mid afternoon I went to the airport to pick up Jerus (Sigal) Truneh, an Ethiopian Israeli law student at Ono College that we agreed to host at our house while she is in town for a month internship at Blake Cassels law firm. Similarly in town for the same program is Erez Jegenau Naga, another Ethiopian Israeli law student who is interning at Lawson Lundell, and who will be staying with our good friends Ben and Nancy Goldberg. We waited patiently for their exit from customs, but it took Jerus a whole extra hour to come out, for as it turns out she had to make a lost luggage claim.(They say there are only two kinds of luggage: "carry on" and "lost"!)It was readily apparent that they were both intelligent, nice and good looking, and that we would very much enjoy their company for the next four weeks. I first took Jerus home to freshen up and she met Tesfaye and Rosemarie, whom had just returned from Science World. As my wife was away until Monday night, Nancy Golberg kindly invited Jerus and I, together with my son Adam and Tesfaye to join Erez and the rest of them for dinner; however, Tesfaye was too tired to come. After dinner Jerus and I ran out to the airport to pick up her missing luggage that had arrived from London.