Lifes Adventure: An Early Christmas Gift in More Ways Than One

Life takes us in so many different directions. Sometimes we know where we are headed, sometimes we don’t and other times we don’t even realize we are headed in a direction. The eventual direction our life takes us is full of moments. Some moments are trapped forever in time, some are forgotten, and some slowly fade into the background.

There is a common quote often used to describe our understanding of life, which is simply, “life happens while we are busy making other plans.” That was exactly what I was doing before I met Nicole, while living in Kuwait. Having moved half way across the world I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with myself and my future. I was just starting my first year of a two year contract with Dasman Model School. Returning to Canada in the next five years was not option in my mind, nor was entering a relationship. Life for me was just one day at a time and it was a rather simple life in Kuwait; since there was literally nothing to do; aside from the crazy work life which provided my with a lot of unnecessary stress due to the corrupt nature of the school life. All I did was go to work, come home, sleep, workout, go back to work and in between that travel. It would be unfair to say I had not met a lot of fantastic people and my time spent with them was most enjoyable .However, where I wanted to be and where I was on a personal note perhaps was not the most ideal, but then again I had no better place to be.

So where did this all leave me? Well one Monday morning on February 21th 2011 I was spinning in circles on my chair waiting for class to start. I had just returned from a two week vacation. The first week spent in Egypt during the revolution and the second in Lebanon a much more peaceful experience. While rather unhappy and unsure of my future plans or goals I had decided to logon to Facebook, which has become a lasting moment in my life forever. While it was a Monday morning for me, it was a Sunday night in Calgary for a girl named Nicole, and perhaps I have a bottle of champagne to be thankful for. As I logged on a mutual friend of ours messaged me right away telling me that there is someone who thinks I’m really hot and is interested me. Two things need to be stated here. The first point, Nicole was having a conversation with our friend saying that she wanted to find a good guy. So our friend searches her memory banks and I am the guy she comes up with me. The second point, I was lied to, Nicole hadn’t even seen a picture of me yet. While I thought my legged was being pulled because I was halfway across the world, it was a much appreciated compliment. Nicole didn’t actually see me for the first time until five minutes later when I was told to go onto Skype.

Now you’re probably still wondering what that bottle of champagne has to do with anything. Well Nicole and our friend were supposed to put a coffee table together and drink it afterwards to celebrate their accomplishment .They managed to accomplish drinking the bottle first. That bottle of champagne was the whole reason for the conversation that my name would be mentioned, and the reason why we would be on Facebook at the same time. To our friends surprise and many others mine and Nicole’s first encounter took off in a direction no one could have predicted. Oh and by the way the coffee table didn’t get put together that night. It was done a few weeks later by the guy hooking up Nicole’s internet when he asked if there was anything he could help with and the poor guy was suckered in putting together the coffee table for her.

Even though I didn’t know Nicole or even speak a single word to her yet, she was the best thing that has happened to me in a long time. I remember constantly telling our friend you realize I’m Kuwait for another three and a half months until the summer break. That I have one more year left on my contract. All I was told was Nicole doesn’t care she’ll wait for true love forever. If it’s possible for a man’s heart to melt, in that moment mine did.

For the next while Nicole and I would message each other over Facebook. During those messages we even came up with the name ErNic, for the eventual dinosaur fossil we still plan on finding. However soon enough we took our relationship to the next level and we starting skyping, woah!!!! I know crazy right. Perhaps the craziest part was that it didn’t even feel weird but instead simply natural. We were skyping f about once a week at first. Then things started to get really intense (get your minds out of the gutter).

All year I had refused to use the cell phone the school gave us. If anyone wanted to get a hold of me they could come and knock on my door. We lived in six story apartments beside each other and there was literally nothing to do so where else could I be. However, when I found out Nicole had a BlackBerry I realized I could bbm (text) her free internationally. So I went all out and bought a used $300 smartphone. By this point I had only messaged Nicole over Facebook a few times and skyped 2 or 3 times. I really liked her and if this was a relationship that was going to work I needed to be able to talk to her all the time. To be honest my thumbs are still sore from all the texting.

As the amount of time we spent texting each other continued to increase, so did the amount of time we spent skyping. Here are a few examples to put into perspective the amount of time we devoted to skyping. What started out as once a week for a small amount of time quickly turned into essentially every day, up to three to four times a day, for easily a total of six or more hours. Believe it or not that nine hour time difference made it easier for us.



One time we spent literally two to three hours trying to maintain an internet connection that disconnected every thirty seconds, for what literally ended up being a two minute conversation in the end. Another time we had a hand stand competition, I obviously lost. Needless to say we had become extremely comfortable skyping with each other. So much so that eventually we would just lay on our beds stare into each other’s eyes and not even say a word, just impatiently awaiting my return to Canada.

Perhaps I should also briefly put into perspective how much we actually texted. During my last vacation I had travelled to Turkey for a week. In the first day my battery died and I no longer could use my phone. For the next day and a half my only thought was to find a new battery so I can regain contact with Nicole. Upon completion of this goal one of my friends had said, “Well looks like Eric’s vacation is now over”, as I was feverishly looking for a Wi-Fi network to connect to.

As you could imagine our texting and skyping had become a natural part of our routine in our everyday lives. Perhaps even a little bit too natural, because some nights I would only get four hours sleep. All I wanted to do was talk to Nicole. Four hours later I would be on skype with her as I arrived at school. Despite the zombie feeling from the lack of sleep talking to Nicole was the only thing that kept me going in Kuwait, while I was counting down the days of my return to Canada and the first time I would I get to hug and kiss Nicole.

Finally the day comes that I will return to Canada. The days leading up to this point were rather hectic with so much to do. I remember Nicole telling me she was going to visit a friend in British Columbia. So during my last few days she wouldn’t be able to skype with me. I really didn’t think much of it. I was so busy anyways that I really didn’t have too much time to skype.

As I entered the terminal in Kuwait for the last time there was a lot of excitement and anxiousness in me. I can’t believe I’m coming home and Nicole is all that I can think of. However, I wouldn’t see her for another three weeks. I was driving out to Calgary, to be with her which would also be the first time we would meet each other in person. You might be wondering Eric, what about your two year contract? You might also be thinking you only have two and a half months before you have to return to Kuwait and the first three weeks you won’t even see Nicole. Well to clear the first and second question up I had resigned. There were a million reasons for me to have left in the middle of the year and a million reasons to just not return. There was only one reason for me never to go back and that was Nicole.

Two flights later and about fifteen hours of travelling I was back in Canada. On the flight to Toronto I travelled with two friends. As we gathered our luggage in Toronto we had parted ways as they had connecting flights to catch. However they had accidentally went to the arrivals corral and were there before me. So as I came up to them I pointed them in the right direction. One of my friends says your mom is here. As we part ways again I attempt to look for my mom in the middle of all the commotion. All of a sudden time stopped, my eyes became fixated only one person. My brain is running in circles and the whole place that was so chaotic became completely silent. Standing right in the middle of the room was Nicole. For the first time I finally saw her in person. After all the travelling I couldn’t even process what was happening, she was supposed to be visiting her friend in British Columbia. What was probably a minute felt like a lifetime to me as I looked at Nicole, breathless. Well you might think, if you’re going to build a relationship on lies they might as well be good ones, especially when this surprise greeting was planned months ago.

In Nicole’s job she meets a lot of people and socializes with many of them. On one particular occasion she is talking to a lady about me and how we met. As the lady listened to Nicole, she told Nicole you have to meet him at the airport when he comes back in June. How would Nicole do this, flight are not that cheap. Astonishingly, the lady gives Nicole a buddy pass for West Jet, which means she can fly on standby and only pays the tax for the flight. This conversation happened back in March. As you can imagine, Nicole had been keeping this a big secret for a long time.

A few months later Nicole was telling her friend who works for West Jet about the whole plan. Her friend simply said I’ll make you my travel companion; meaning Nicole could travel anywhere anytime on standby wherever West Jet flies, paying only the tax for the flight. So while I thought Nicole was in British Columbia, she was in Ontario the days leading up ready to meet me at the airport.

She always tells me how nervous she was standing there waiting for me, but you would never have known it, if you saw here in her beautiful dress holding balloons for me, which I lost in about the first ten minutes, while trying to process that Nicole was really standing there with me. So as the three of us left I walked with Nicole to her car so we can drive to my house together. Finally after three and a half months Nicole looks as me as we are on the top level of the parking lot with the sun setting in the background and says to me “so do I finally get my kiss?’ I look at her and say, “Yes.” For the next three weekends until I drove out to Calgary, Nicole flew back to Ontario.

There is a lot more that can be told in this story that brought Nicole and I together, and perhaps a lot of questions might enter your mind needing to be answered. To be honest no amount of eloquent words can truly ever describe the love that we share and how we overcame odds that most people would have considered impossible. I have proof that those odds can be beat no matter what people may say or think. On our mantle in a picture frame is a calendar I made. With every day that passed I would cross it off knowing that I was a day closer to Nicole. I can’t tell you how many countless hours I stared at the piece of paper thinking to myself only 80 more days, 50 more, 20 more… Or if you really want something to laugh about you can check out all the pictures I took of Nicole via Skype during those months. In nine and a half months I went from not knowing where I was going to be in the next five years to knowing who I want to spend the rest of my life with. Life can and will take you in many different directions, and just when you’re about ready to count yourself out don’t because that’s when things get exciting.

What is a Canadian?

It has been quite some time since I have lost updated my blog post. There are numerous reasons as to why this has happened. However, over the past few months to be honest this had become one of the last few things that concerned me or entered my mind. As most of you know I signed a two year teaching contract to work at a school in Kuwait. Over these past few months my continued employment and service here had been continually challenged based on my own personal beliefs. In the past three weeks approximately I had decided to officially resign. The weeks leading up to my final decision I had been struggling to find any possible reason to stay at this school, but I also could not find a reason not to comeback. However recently, I had found one or two reasons not to return, that story is for another day. in Canada, but it is where I want to be. Also, I am trying not to freak out this very second because I had literally just finished typing up my blog post and somehow I deleted it, and I have no idea how the screen just went blank, C’est le Vie. I’m also on an important deadline, I promised Nicole I would have a new post up for

As the my final days (76) here in Kuwait are limited I thought I would start to catch up on all the posting I had missed and enjoy myself before I have to begin the horrid job hunt for teaching positions back her to enjoy her oatmeal with.

I will begin this new posting with my adventures of Jordan, back in November. Now I’m pretty happy my original post was deleted because I wasn’t too happy with what I had typed. I am going to be very honest, I do not want to story tell all of my adventures of what happened in Jordan. If that is what you’re looking for then come find me in the summer and I’ll give you the slideshow accompanied by music and any questions you have, I will answer. Now where will you find me? The answer is Calgary, I’ll be at the stampede enjoying certain beverages not available in Kuwait.

So what is it that I want to inform you about my travels to Jordan, well there are soooo many things that I could tell you right down to the fine details, but I feeeel since this is my blog post I will only tell you want I want. This posting is directly related to my experience in Petra. If you do not know what Petra is, then please refer to my pictures on facebook, or watch the movie Indian Jones and the Last Crusade!!!

As I wandered throughout the ancient city of Petra, I knew the main reason why this place has been remembered and it should be obvious is because of the endurance of its structures and buildings carved into the sandstone that has survived over a thousand years and the centuries of disasters and the elements. Had all the structures simply crumbled and vanished into dust leaving no trace of its existence then no matter how impressive, powerful or interesting a civilization that had once lived there we would have never known about it, nor cared.

So I started to think about where I am from and all the things that we have built in terms of buildings. Yes, some of them are amazing feats of science and engineering but it seems as though now we are at a point in our existence where we are just trying to push the boundaries of what we can build and one day we will be able to figure out how to make the impossible possible. So what am I rambling on about now?

In an instance if our society was devastated by an earthquake or eventually built over there would not be a trace of our accomplishments left behind.

Even now when you look at our cities, buildings are continually taken down and are forgotten, only with new ones to take its place, we are constantly renewing ourselves. I kept thinking to myself what would Canada be remembered by? All these ancient civilizations had built themselves on such strong solid foundations of rocks and stone and they are remembered for this because we can find traces or whole cities of what they had. There is a great deal to tell about a civilization by simply looking at its structures, even if you have no idea what they are about or were used for; the size, material used, the details and so on give us so many clues. What about our society and cookie cutter houses, our buildings that are so bland; what will someone from outside think of our foundation?

During my time in Petra and up until now, I have concluded we won’t be remembered for anything that we have built, or contributed to science or a great person. As a country we struggle to find what makes us Canadian or what is our identity as a nation, is it really hockey and Tim Horton’s? What can we tangibly put our finger on? If you want my honest opinion nothing, there is nothing that you can physically see that makes us Canadian or can you and you have just not paid close enough attention?

What you will see when you walk outside and around look around is a country a place so diverse that you think you weren’t even in Canada, whatever that means. But what is it that makes us Canadian then? We can list hundreds of things that make Americans, American, or British, British and what they will be remembered for.
What makes us Canadian is the strong foundations of a simple piece of paper, our constitution and entrenched within it multiculturalism. The words in the constitution give us the freedom to be who we choose to be are what make up our culture. Those words not the fear of violence allow is to be who we choose to be. We are a culture of people who are open minded to the lifestyles and beliefs from everyone all over the world.

Now many would argue that by allowing people to enter Canada and keep their beliefs and bend over backwards to please them we lose our sense of Canadian identity and what we were built on. I’m not too sure what Canada was built on, the seven years’ war, the Canadian Pacific Rail Road??? What this country is built on and what everyone believes in our country is the freedoms and rights we have been given; to live a life free from the fear of persecutions of what we as individual might believe in.

All Canadians no matter where they are from in the world when they came to Canada all have this common bond. We all believe in the same basic principles of freedom to choose how we want to live. Nowhere else in the world will you find a country as open to so many lifestyles and what some would even consider controversial at time, consider our views towards marriage. Although why should it be controversial? Yes I understand the deeper issues surrounding the topic however that is exactly my point.

When these “controversial” laws considered by other parts of the world are passed, as Canadians we read the headlines in the paper, (and we might not agree with it, and that is our right) and then we quickly flip to the sports section to see if the Maple Leafs have finally ended their drought and won the Stanley Cup and then we say next year will they will win it.

The real point here is as I have travelled you do find you get two responses towards Canada, either it is viewed as a bit of joke and not a real country, or you can see how much in awe people are of where you come from as they understand the opportunities and life style that exist that you can have.
Canada may never have a unique and exciting history that you can go on about forever and be dazzled like some other countries. We probably will never be the economic power house of the world, or have a military and foreign policy that can influence and dictate the way the world runs, which in some perspectives is considered to make a great country and one to be remembered. Instead we are a country that finds its strength in our freedoms, and equality and even now we are still not perfect at it, but we are the best at it in the world at it.

Canada maybe 15 000km away from where I am living, but I can tell you this much we are more open minded and aware of what is happening in the world than the people who live right smack in the middle of what we call the world. So the next time you in doubt of what makes us Canadian to look for a famous writer, athlete, scientific contribution, and yes I know we have contributed a lot but look within our society, go to the mall, ring on all your neighbours doorbell because I can already tell you the answer the reason why you are seeing the entire world in your backyard is because of our beliefs for the freedom of all to live in peace and happiness, and that is what all countries should truly aspire to. This is what makes a Canadian a Canadian and separates us from the rest of the world.