Just a quick post to enlighten you to what has to be one of my favourite websites of all time- a website I just recently discovered..

Technology, Entertainment & Design- TED.COM

I wanted to post this 15 minute speech by Yann Arthus Bertrand and ask you to play this from beginning to end..

Thank you

CLICK ABOVE FOR VIDEO CLIP

When I moved to Nova Scotia from Great Britain in 2004 people told me I may suffer with Culture Shock. I wasn’t sure what that meant..

I waited for weeks, months and years to wait for SOMETHING that would indicate that the Nova Scotian Culture had indeed shocked me (grin) but apart from the shocking winter’s, I felt at home, pretty much right away.

I suppose it seemed peculiar to live in a society where I was surrounded by unfamiliar accents (unfamiliar accents I hasten to say that still make my toes tingle pleasantly on occasions) but within a year I no longer thought of the Canadian accent as being any different than my own, and although obviously my voice is quite different than my peers, I never think that at all……..I just think I sound like everyone else.

Living rurally, I have never really come in contact with anyone from my homeland except occasionally and briefly through volunteer work etc, we don’t even have satellite TV so I never listen to british accents apart from on movies so was indeed looking forward to an invitation for an informal tea party get together with BRITS in Lunenburg last night at the Kaulbach House. Several families attended the event which was kindly hosted by David & Jenny and coordinated by Corey Pickens through the South Shore Newcomers Network.

And then, as I sat in the beautiful little drawing room listening to the unfamiliar accents that surrounded me I ABSOLUTELY and for the very first time in my life, experienced which I can only describe as reversed culture shock.

Here I was, surrounded by the loveliest people from my land of birth and it FELT WEIRD…. SO VERY, VERY, WEIRD to listen to British accents again. Had accents changed since I left the UK 5 years ago? Why did they sound so different?

Suddenly I felt an inbetweeny… was I now a Nova Scotian or was I British.

After some contemplation at home last night I decided that I had become NOVA SCOTIAN ISH – at home in Nova Scotia but still a little bit British.

CLICK ABOVE FOR VIDEO CLIP

Multicultural Day at the Museum & Dominik Diamond’s Kilt- part 2

Although Dominik Diamond’s kilt was a pleasant surprise ( I have seen a lot of men in kilts but just never a leather one!) the biggest surprise was hearing him sing. Some great own written and Scottish/Irish ballads with some background information inbetween made for a very entertaining afternoon with other musical entertainment from Collage, Doug Chase & Bruce Oakes.

Over 100 people attended the Multicultural Day at the DesBrisay Museum which really was a good turn out despite the rotten weather and one of the busiest weekends for local events directly in competition……it never ceases to amaze me just how much we have going on here on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. You only have to take a look at our COMMUNITY CALENDAR!

The DesBrisay museum in Bridgewater had an interesting display on too (history of our local newspapers) and was kind of relevant to me being employed by Lighthouse Media Group. It seemed quite amazing to see newspapers called the BULLETIN dating back to 1896 or something! ( I have some film clips which I will post shortly)

What I really enjoyed were the table displays put together by members of the South Shore Newcomers Network where we all observed samples of Scottish, German, mexican, Chinese and British culture (again I have video clips coming soon! )..

More coming soon…

Well here is something for free! Today is the day that you can get your own shortened username Facebook URL. Makes things easier I guess…

Here’s mine

http://www.facebook.com/cekins

Want to get your own for your account?

Goto http://www.facebook.com/username

C xx

CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO

A Day at the Museum and Dominik Diamond’s Kilt- part 1

I woke up this morning not really looking forward to a busy day ahead…. (simply because all I wanted to do was just lie in!) The week has been a tiring one- understandably tensions build prior to an election and this can make things a little difficult at times for all involved, directly and indirectly.

Having committed myself to doing a british display table for the Multicultural Day at the DesBrisay Museum today (In association with the GREAT South Shore Newcomers Network coordinated by Corey Pickens ) panic set in at 8am this morning finding myself faced with

a) 3 sheets of blank Bristol Board and not a display in sight
b) a blocked sewage pipe in the basement..

Sporting bright yellow latex gloves and a 12 ft drain rod, I tackled the blocked sewage pipe first thrusting back and forth, trying to keep my gag reflex in line. I thought I’d cleared it but flushing the toilet 10 minutes later revealed that I would have something to look forward to later that evening when I returned from the museum…

Next on the agenda was the display for the museum. Google and the children came rapidly to the rescue… 20 photos from Google images were dropped into iPhoto which then automatically ran them as a slideshow with music on my lap top! The children ran around the house pulling stuff out from my junk boxes (I have a lot of those) and found cool stuff like an old 1920′s enamel sign of a cup of tea (brits love their tea), goblets, british money, old weighing scales and I pulled out some of my favourite cook books- Mrs Beeton and Marguerite Patten. I threw stuff into bags for good measure like my old sawdust filled Teddy Bear and some souvenir tea towels and a marker pen and surprisingly, the display looked acceptable once I set it up later…. phew

And the day continued to get better and better…………..

People from all different cultures gathered, friends of the museum had the BBQ on, there were several display tables from Germany, China, Mexico, Scotland, UK etc set up by members of the South Shore Newcomers Network, and the place began to buzz. Happy people, happy faces, people forgetting all the little insignificant annoyances that seem to dominate our lives when we concentrate on the negative things and not the positive stuff around us.

And then to cap it all…. Dominik Diamond appeared in a leather kilt…….

And at this point I am going to put my feet up with a big bottle of Londons Porter- Propeller Beer and watch a movie and keep you guessing…

PS It will involve me driving to Mahone Bay, parking up outside marina to use their wireless high speed so I can upload a video to http://www.southshorelive.ca

Make sure you come back tomorrow….

CLICK HERE to plant 10,000 trees

There is always something new to learn- today I learnt that it is WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY (June 5)

QUOTE FROM the UNITED NATIONS website: World Environment Day (WED) was established by the UN General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.

Commemorated yearly on 5 June, WED is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action. The day’s agenda is to:

a) Give a human face to environmental issues;
b) Empower people to become active agents of sustainable and equitable development;
c) Promote an understanding that communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards environmental issues;
d) Advocate partnership which will ensure all nations and peoples enjoy a safer and more prosperous future.

The theme for WED 2009 is ‘Your Planet Needs You-UNite to Combat Climate Change’. It reflects the urgency for nations to agree on a new deal at the crucial climate convention meeting in Copenhagen some 180 days later in the year, and the links with overcoming poverty and improved management of forests…. CLICK HERE