24/7

The days are getting longer and the days are getting warmer. Well the days are still chilly but we couldnt be proper Canadians without a good discourse about the weather. With the weather still a bit nippy, getting out still involves a small production. I can't wait til Elspeth can go without several layers on. And when she can hang out on a mat in the back yard while I putter around the garden and yard cleaning things up or tinkering in the dirt. Until then, we will still make our daily trek out of the house. We have found that if we both stay in here all day, by the end of it, we both are fit to be tied.

Spending all day with her, in what amounts to being a single parent, has got me to thinking about what it means to be a parent. It seems that everyone we know is announcing that there is a baby on the way. All the research shows people are waiting longer and longer to have children, to start families, or in other words to "settle down." Our generation has options. The traditional package deal no longer applies. In our knowledge economy we spend a long time preparing ourselves for our professional lives. And to incorporate children into that too early can be disasterous. I am glad that I have accomplished what I have so far before having Elspeth. I know that people juggle more and more in thier lives, however, I wonder what the consequences are for all the added competing priorities. I keep an eye, out of interest, on the world of work. I am interested in how people are doing professionally in relationship to the rest of the things in thier lives or in other words, do they have a good 'work life balance'? I really hate this term because it denotes that these two items are equal. They often are not. For instance, right now, Sarah sees Elspeth for about one hour and a half per day. This is probably about 1/10 the amount she would prefer, however, there isnt much choice at the moment with the Royal College exam around the corner. Work or rather, her professional life takes up much of her time. Being a physician is not something you do, it is something you are. In many ways it is like being a parent, in that you don't really ever get to fully turn it off. She is lucky that, for the most part, her work is both engaging and satisifing. It will only get more so as she becomes more antonamous in independent practice. Not everyone is as lucky though. Some people actually hate thier jobs or strongly dislike them. This post isn't about the work side of the balance equation. It is about the life side or more specifically, the family part. So we know that everyone is squeezed more and more and that time has become, perhaps the most valuable commodity there is. We can't make more time but we can look at our allocation of this finite resource and make sure that we are not wasting it.

Right now, I feel very lucky. I am on paternity leave. I have been off for a couple of months and will be off until the end of july and then a very light schedule until the end of October. My work email will need to be reactivated when I go back. It has been refreshing to be able to focus 100% or close to it on Elspeth. It is a time that will never happen again and I am mindful of that. I make sure I am spending as much time as I can with her and look at her like a empty harddrive or blank piece of paper. Everything that we do, say, etc will inform her world view. It is a powerful position to be in and I don't take it lightly.

I have been off the blog for a while. It means that in a list of competing priorities, that writing on the blog is low the list. As spring emerges, I would like to try and post a bit more often. Spending such long days with Elspeth, I find writing a necessary exercise in self expression and to explain the process of being a parent. Sometimes once I write something down, it becomes clearer to me. So check back soon for more life and times of the Soucerston clan.

We are off this weekend to St. Johns, Nfld to see Aunt Liz, Bibs, Paul, and Adam. It will be a whirlwind trip but will give Sarah a much needed break before the final two weeks of exam preparation commences.

Ciao.......

Spring has......(fingers crossed)

Elspeth is closing in on six months of live here in planet earth. The measurement of time has always fascinated me. How long does a year feel, a decade, where did the summer go? and so on. I can tell you that to have something that you can measure time by who overnight becomes such a central part of your life is quite interesting. Elspeth came into the world on September 23rd, 2010 at 3:46 pm. One of those where were you when moments. From that moment on, everything that we have done, for the most part, has involved Ms. E.B.S. in one way, shape, or form. Fall turns to winter, and spring is around the corner. Each day something different happens. It might be small but bundle them up over the course of a few days or a week and you have some serious changes. It is like watching one of those Discovery Channel moments where they film a flower blooming with time lapse photography. It is almost like we can watch her grow.

So, speaking of growing, you know that it requires good nutrition to grow anything living and Elspeth is no exception! Over the past few days, we have started her on solid foods. By solids, I mean rice cereal that is thinned with her formula. It is about the consistency of yogurt. I will say that feeding a baby for the first time is quite the experience. There has been, from what we have observed, at this point, natural progression toward eating solids. Over the past month, she tries to put virtually everything that she can grab onto, in her mouth. This includes paper, shoes, clothes. Wow, she sounds like a puppy! Today, I fed her for the first time. I placed her in her "bumbo" and got all my instruments prepared. If I were to guess, she probably consumed, 40%. The other 60% ended up either on her, the floor, or me. It was fun though.

Until you are a parent, there is no way that you can possible understand what raising a child is like. Sarah and I often say, (referring to kids) that they are ours, but we don't own them. If you think that through it is a weird concept. We become, in a sense, the stewards, of these little humans, for who/what is another debate. No matter, we are tasked with their care and monitoring of their progression and development in life. Prior to Elspeth's arrival, I thought I should have a firm understanding on all aspects of the care and development of a 0-18 year old. Obviously, this is not possible nor is it necessary. Although, the grow and evolve quickly, they do give you a bit of lead time to make sure you are ready for the next step. I didn't need to learn about feeding her solids until just recently. Soon, I will have to figure out how to baby proof a house. I can't wait for that one : )

So, I guess I am saying that babies, as someone once said, "will change your life". One of my favorite sayings is "blank" or "X" will change your life. My position is that you shouldn't do things that are not life changing. Life is short and shouldn't be wasted on things that don't improve one's quality of life. There are a lot of differing opinions on whether or not, kids improve your quality of life. Less resources, less sleep, less time, etc.. one could make the argument that kids might not improve your quality of life, however, becoming the steward of a little human baby has been one of the most rewarding things that I have ever done. It doesn't take a great deal of brains to produce a baby. The real challenge comes once they are here. So much of the prenatal period is spend talking about the delivery but not the part where you take them home. Now what? Well, you just figure it out. Like I said, you always have a bit of lead time. Each day we get to see something new. It really is like watching one of those time lapse films on a larger scale. The excitement, I think, is to get to witness a human discovering the World for the very first time from the first time they discover they have hands, to seeing their reflection in a mirror, or taking that first bite of something solid. It is, simply amazing. She will lay on the floor, upset and angry that she can't make herself move forward. It is just part of being a human, moving, that is. We take the idea of walking or eating for granted. Well, just think if you were doing it for the first time.

I had promised pictures this post. However, unfortunately I am not able to format them properly on this PC. : (

Til next time,

The Soucerstons.......

Week Three & Internation Womans Day

It is hard to believe that we have been home from Spain for three weeks. The time has flown by. Sarah returned to work almost immediately upon our return. Although, a little sad to leave Elspeth, she definitely had missed work and was glad to get back.

I have been up to my eyeballs. The learning curve has been steep, but Elspeth has been, for the most part, forgiving. Today is International Woman's Day. I believe, that although it is nice to acknowledge one day, it is, in fact, Woman's Day every day. Taking on the roll as primary caregiver, I can assure you that the role of parent of a six month old human baby is a lot of work. Although more and more men are taking on this roll, it still is not equally divided, for a whole lot of reasons. So, for the time being, I am in a roll that for most of eternity has been predominately occupied by women. Sarah met a woman at clinic the other day who's partner was a surgical resident. She equated her role to that off a single parent. Although, I don't feel like a single parent, the role of a resident physician is a demanding one and doesn't leave much time for domestic duties. Taking the lead as chief parent has shown me just what the lions share of ladies the world over contend with. Yes, I have been mostly in charge of household chores, and provisioning, keeping the banking in order, and preparing the meals. However, caring for an infant changes the game. For the most part, there isn't anything in a childless couples routine that can't be changed. Hence, the spontaneity of youth. I often hear some parents lamenting the things (time, energy, etc) that they miss because of children. I think that if you have set things up right, then you should be able to enjoy the process. It doesn't mean you will have more time or energy necessarily. It just means that you will have your values aligned with having a baby running your life.

A topic that I find fascinating is engagement. Whether that be specific to work or more general to everyday life, engagement in my opinion, is the glue that holds life's activities together. It is a measurement of how "together" you are or in other words how much satisfaction you are deriving from the various components of life.

Over the next while, I hope to explore the concepts of engagement through parenting. I want to challenge some of the modern assumptions of what it means to be a parent in 2011 and specifically what it means to be a father who is taking on the role of primary care giver.

I will also continue to share the adventures of the Soucerstons and will keep everyone up to date on how we are all doing.

Til next post,

Jeremiah

PS: pictures in next post.....

Back Home

Well the week has flown by. We have been home for almost a week and I have yet to write my closing post for our Spain trip. We did not get to post in Madrid due to an absence of internet and too little time. Madrid in a nutshell: big. I checked out the population and it is about 5.5 million, a far cry from Sevillas 1ish million inhabitants. It was great to go early and spend a couple of days. We ended up on the big bus tour which had two loops: the old city and the new city. As previously preached, it is a great way to see a city's sites in a short amount of time. We are glad that we spent our month in Sevilla. We had placed Madrid on the table as an option. We got to the Renia Sofia Museum which houses Picasso's Guernica (shown above). A masterpiece with an impressive history. A large collection of other Picasso, Dali, and Miro are also housed here.

The flight home (last Friday) was mostly uneventful. Our first flight was Madrid-Franfurt and left Madrid at 1035 am. We arrived home in Ottawa at 430pm the same day. It is quite biazzare to fly against the clock. Elspeth only had one small meltdown on the airplane. It seemed like it was hours but probably was only seconds to minutes. I now have a better understanding for people who have small babies on airplanes. I am certainly more empathetic now.

This post, initially was going to look at the differences between Spain and home. It wasn't going to be a pros/cons list, but simply a parallel of things that we enjoy in both places. I certainly missed my own bed, my routines at home, and walking down the neighbourhood strip to buy food at the local shops. I missed having a good old fashion hamburger. Yes, there were hamburgers in Sevilla but I didn't get a sense they would be what I was looking for. On Tuesday, I satistifed that craving at Petit Bills Bistro for lunch with Angus (my friend, not the meat). Although I enjoyed the weather there, I like the distinct four seasons that we have in Canada. Winter can be cold. We like to complain and talk about the weather, but it is nice to have skating on the canal, flowers, popping through the still frosty ground, summer BBQs and picnics at beaches and parks, and walks through the woods on a crisp autumn day with the leaves transitioning to thier fiery oranges, reds, and yellows or a stroll through a farmers market over flowing with the bounty of a successful season. I would miss all of that if I lived in Spain or somewhere else where the seasons are not so distinct. I have written a few times about the way of life in Spain, how people interact with one another, and the daily vibe that North Americans often talk about when returning from Europe. I know it perhaps one of the most annoying things ever, to hear your friends talk about how things are in place X. It is annoying, but some of it is true. And maybe it is annoying because it is true or perhaps it is a different way, maybe a better way to live. Returning back home, I needed to do some provisioning. I headed out late on Saturday, a day after arriving home, down the Wellington Strip. If any place were going to feel like Europe, it should be here. A place with lots of small independent food shops, resturants and cafes. I went to the local meat shop, Sasloves, to pick up a few things. Normally, I wouldn't head to Sasloves on Saturday afternoon at 5 pm, maybe the busiest time ever to go there. However, this was a perfect time and place to see some "social interactions" occuring. First of all, it was a borderline zoo. It always is at this time. I always joke that the "Sasloves girls" are like the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. If it is too busy and you are being indecisive you are not going to get served and they may just send you packing. I always have a bit of fear when ordering there. So, I am standing there waiting patiently staring forward at the sausages when another women, lets call her a girl, comes up and proceeds to order. I know, I know, you are going to say it was busy and it was an innocent oversight? I don't think so. I am not huge, but I am of average weight and am fairly visable while standing looking forward toward the sausages. Although the store was busy, I was the only person standing at the counter. Why am I making such a deal about this? Because. I feel it represented the over all atmosphere there. Everyone was busy, trying to get thier meat and get home on an otherwise, chilly Saturday afternoon. Maybe I am not being fair. Maybe we Canadians don't cope well with the winter. I don't know. What I do know is that we don't engage our fellow man/woman as much as we could or should. Yes, it is possible to have a large network of close knit friends and to foster those relationships and have satisifying, meaningful connections with people. I am talking about people that you do not know. This, I believe, is the ultimate test. How do you treat, engage, and interact with a person that you do not know, that you may never see again, and really, will not change your life one way or another if you speak to them, in my view, is the ultimate test of human connectedness. In Spain, as I mentioned many times already, we had literally too many to count interactions with Elspeth. If I were to guess, it would be 2-3 a day x 28 days. Do the math. How they, as a culture, engage with babies is really impressive. Yes, she is a cutie, but that was secondary. Sarah told me of a story of someone she knows who had someone touch thier baby. This person lost thier s^%t on the toucher of the baby. For the most part, over the past couple of days since I have been back and have been out and about with EB, she has been for the most part invisable. I can go through maybe 8 different situations where people would have to go out of thier way not to notice her. Really.

Sarah and I had a conversation about how do we hold on to those things that we find when abroad? When you travel, you soak up every moment. Everything is new and different. It is like being a child in ways. We observe details that we simply would not tune into if we were at home. Details of a tile on the side of a house, the way a tree bends, or the narrowness of a street. Things that are way too boring to notice when life gets busy. We talked a lot about engagement, a topic that I find facinating from an organizational sense. For us, we decided that engagement was about being in the moment. Not fixating on Friday, when it is Monday or fixating on being home where it is warm when you are stuck at the meat shop with everyone else. So, we have decided to try to stay engaged, or stay in the moment. We don't expect this to be necessarily easy. It is sometimes difficult to stay grounded when everything else is moving rapidly around you. I have just finished my first week with Elspeth and caring for a five month old infant is the ultimate test of living in the moment. They do not allow you to do anything but. She is giving me a really good lesson in living and being in the moment. Perhaps, a crash course!

I will leave it at that. Our Spain voyage is over, however, a new chapter in the Soucerstons adventure book is unfolding. Elspeth and I are going to find all sorts of great things to do over the coming months and our plan is document some of our adventures here on the Soucerston family blog. We hope you enjoyed following our trip over the past month. Stay tuned for more adventures to come............

Sevilla: Last Day

Today, marks the last full day spent in Sevilla. Although our trip is coming to a close, it isn't quite finished yet. Tomorrow, we hop the train back to Madrid where we are going to spend a couple of days. Our flight is out of Madrid and we decided that we have the opportunity to see the sights, albeit quickly. I will, in a public forum, admit a travelling secret: The Big Bus Tour. If I have only a day or two in a city, no matter where in the World, I find the Hop On, Hop Off bus tours an absolute gem. They usually cost about 15 bucks and depending on where you are, they might feature a real live person delivering the play by play as you navigate around the city. At worst, it is a recording. These buses take you to all the major sights around the city. You can usually stop where ever you want and get off and pick up the next bus and off to the next sight. Yes, you could use public transit, but these tours take you from one sight to another. Anyways, we will most likely try the hop on, hop off in Madrid. We did forgo it here in Sevilla, given the amount of time we were here. When Tara, Maria and Julia were here, we did, however, go on a carriage ride. It was a great recap of all the sights we had seen over the past month. 

A second century mosaic roman floor that was "pilfered" by a well to do archaeologist (married to a mayor of Sevilla). She transported these and a staggering amount of other ancient "stuff" to a palace here in Sevilla. It is still owned by the family, however, it is now used mostly for touring. It is quite hard to explain how utterly stunning these floors were. A mere 2000 years old.

More floor....

An orange tree in one of our favorite courtyards.

Elspeth with her sunnys on. Purple haze duuudddeee.......!!!

Yes that is a pink hat, and yes, a pink shirt.

Canada vs. Bulgaria (not that it is a competition)

So, we will be off tomorrow. A bit sad to leave here as it has become home, of sorts. When we left for a few days and went to Granada and returned, it was a bit weird. It felt like we were returning home, even though it wasn't home. I guess it is where we have been hanging our hat for the past month.  We will post again, hopefully Thursday night, before we officially depart Spain for home.

Jeremiah/Sarah/Elspeth

A picture is worth a thousand words.........

It has been a couple of days since our last post. Things have been busy. Maria and Baby J arrived and there has been lots of exploring to do. Tara arrived last night after a crazy long trip from Kashchewen to Sevilla!

I wish I had some pictures of the oh so amazing tapas that Sarah and I had the other night. Even in a thousand words, I won't do justice to the food that we had. Maria graciously watched Elspeth a couple of nights ago and Sarah and I headed out on the town. Keep in mind, we have not really been out late in all the time we have been here. It is part of going to Spain with a baby. We have enjoyed lots of other parts of the daily food rituals but have not partaken in the late night tapas dining. This is where ESLAVA comes in.

We read about this place a few weeks back and walked by it many times. It was either closed, or once it was having a kitchen overhaul. No matter, we didn't get to eat. It isn't solely a late night spot but it certainly takes on a different vibe at 10 pm.  Sarah and I arrived at 10 something. It was packed and we had already taken a look at another spot that we were contemplating which was equally jammed. We decided to brave things and just jump in. We got a spot against the wall, by the bar. The bar was full but we figured that it wouldn't be too long before we could get a spot. A waiter got Sarah's attention and some sort of  dialogue was exchanged. She said, "I think we are getting two beers".  That was exactly what we got. I am not sure if that is just want people have but we certainly didn't ask for them. We did, however, enjoy them! A few short glasses of beer was exactly what was needed to get into the pace of ESLAVA. A small dish of olives appeared and we commenced snacking on olives and another yellow corn looking thing. We were eating what appeared to be large kernels of corn in their entirety, however, we realized after that the outside was not suppose to be consumed. Oh well, just a bit of extra fiber!

The kitchen was hopping and plate after plate of food passed by us. With our minimal Spanish and some assistance from the servers, we ordered some food. Everything (almost) was 2.20 euros! The first, and perhaps the best dish was a small cake, maybe ginger. A little bit sweet and a little bit savory with a perfectly cooked egg yolk on top of it served with two sauces; one a mushroom sauce strengthened by black truffle and another, a caramelized wine sauce. I could have consumed a small pail of this last one. I am definitely going to try and figure out how this is made. So simple a dish, yet perfectly balanced flavors of complete ridiculousness. That good. We figured out another handful of dishes to try, all equally delicious. Following the two glasses of beer, I tried a Sangria. I wasn't trying to be cliche or ironic, it was there, on the bar, in a pitcher, just waiting to be had.  So I tried two glasses, while Sarah imbibed upon a nice Spanish red. We have been drinking mostly Riojas here. Sadly, it is the most famous wine region in Spain and I really have been trying to try other, not so exported wines, however, it isn't  as easy as you might think. We have had many wonderful Riojas from a wide range of vintages.  Back to the meal.....we decided that our precious real estate should be put back into circulation for the next round of hungry diners, so we packed up and left. With 6 tapas, dessert, and 5 drinks, the bill came to a whopping 26 euros! That is about 32 Canadian dollars. We thought that was pretty good value for what we got and comparing it to a similar experience at home. I couldn't find a link to the restaurant itself, but here is what people said about it on Trip Advisor .  Since then, we or rather I have been back a couple of times. We found another tapas bar that would be a neck to neck competitor for Eslava. Sarah, Tara, and Maria had a girls night out last night and perhaps they will fill you in on Azotea!

Here are a few pics from the last few days!

These boots are made for walking?

I am in full time training to be goofy.

Add caption

Baby J has her eye on you.

Oh deer......

Little known fact - one of the new Star Wars movies was filmed in Sevilla. Sarah auditions for role in upcoming sequel to the prequel.

We are in our final week here in Sevilla.  Tara leaves Monday for Barcelona, and Maria leaves Tuesday to return back to Bulgaria. We will be back home by dinner time on Friday and thus will close a memorable chapter in the Soucerstons adventures.  Overlapping our respective leaves has been great. We call this one month, "handover". It has been great for the three of us to spend time together and I getting briefed on the nuances of the care and feeding of Elspeth. It is, however, a moving target! Sarah returns to work a week from tomorrow. Both sad and excited to get back to work. Sad that she won't have the time to spend with EB and happy and excited to reengage back to work. Although she was been off for a number of months, she has been logging many many hours in preparation for her Royal College exam that is coming, (sooner than later). Well the end of April to be more precise. If people could send bits of good vibes and energy her way that would be great. If that sounds too hocus pocus for you, a phone call or an email would alternatively work too.

Over and out....

Jeremiah (reporting on behalf of the Soucerstons adventure team)

Granada and back....

Well, at last report there was a contemplation for a small trip. Since then, we have been to and from Granada, Spain which is just a bit west of Sevilla. It took us 3 hours on one of Spain's mid speed trains. Not high speed and not low speed! We left Monday morning and returned Tuesday night. It was a whirlwind trip but it was good to change the scenario. It was a trip in a trip.  Like a backpack for a backpack....No matter. The main focus of this trip was to go to the Alhambra. Sarah, I believe posted a link earlier to this amazing site. Since my camera battery died midway, you will just have to rely on the UNESCO website for the Alhambra striking beauty! Both Sarah and I decided that we had seen very little Islamic art and architecture in our travels. We are talking about intricate designs of great complexities of geometric and mathematical feats created 800 years ago. The patterns were absolutely mesmerizing and simply, quite unbelievable that it was done so long ago. I guess, what amazed me most, was that someone decided, at some point that we need a palace. It is hard to explain how large and expansive this place is. I have not found out, but I guess that it took many hundred years to complete. Like many of the cathedrals around Europe, they took 2-300 years to construct. So, many craftsmen would have started as an apprentice, developed their trade and became a master craftsman, passing on the trade to the new generation and eventually passing on, never to see their work to full completion. There are a whole whack load of business books about "vision" and "team work". My guess is that these projects didn't follow our modern frameworks of contemporary management and leadership.

Today, one quarter of our blog follower ship arrived in Sevilla. Maria and baby J arrived from Sofia (Bulgaria) where they have been hanging out since just after Christmas.  They will be here enjoying the good weather and food with us for the next week. On Friday, Tara (Nevins) arrives to do similar. She is travelling in from Moose Factory, ON for a few days off from a hectic schedule of keeping the north well.

We will be back soon with more adventures from the crew....

Oh, you think this is a garage can? If you had thought that, you would be wrong! Although it looks like a trash can it is part of the broader collection system. These is where you bring your various garbage bits. Under neath the bricks are, what we think, a huge reservoir that gets sucked out by a truck occasionally. The streets here are not wide enough for north american style rubbish collection. It is, actually, quite an efficient method of collection.

I am too sexy for my hat, too sexy for my hat, what cho think about that?

I had to try them. Yes, there is wonderful "jamon" or what we would call prosciutto or cured ham everywhere in Spain, and I suspect this is like much of the regional chip branding/flavors you see around the world (like wasabi in Japan) however, these taste 100% like Canadian hickory sticks or smokey bacon. Ruffles has just got lazy. Do they not think global travellers will try chip flavors in other countries? It is the exact same flavor. I feel duped and had to taste jamon/hickory flavor through the whole train ride back to Sevilla.

A remote view of the Alhambra from the neighborhood we were staying in

Another....

Does this really need a caption? Really?

I love lamp!