Canada Day 2015

On July 1st, 1867, the British North America Act was enacted, bringing together three British colonies -- New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the United Province of Canada (which was basically the southern parts of present-day Ontario and Quebec) -- into a single country called Canada. To celebrate this day, we have Canada Day. Wikipedia says that "Canada Day observances take place throughout Canada, as well as among Canadians internationally" and so to keep the integrity of Wikipedia, we felt that as Canadians living internationally, we had better take place in some kind of observance and/or celebration. And so that's what we did.

It all started on Tuesday, my first day back at work following our trip to the Côte d'Azur (which will be featured in another blog post -- I hope), and which also happened to be the final day of the fiscal year 2015. FY15 was a good year for us, and since some big goals were achieved right at the end, everyone was in a good mood including management, and they saw it fit to give us an extra free holiday some time in the week following the start of the new fiscal year. This was announced on Tuesday evening at our celebratory barbecue, and since the window for free days began on July 1st (previously explained as a day where one should perform some kind of observance and/or celebration), I took the opportunity presented to us post haste and announced that I would be somewhat of a no-show the following day, July 1st, and would instead be performing a patriotic and support of online collaboration duty by going to a cottage and drinking some brewskies if I were in Canada, but since I was not, doing something somewhat of that nature.

The thing somewhat of that nature that we ultimately settled upon was a trip to Starnberger See (apparently called Würmsee until 1962), the second-largest lake (by water volume) in Germany. Interestingly, it is also where King Ludwig II (of Schloß Neuschwanstein fame) was murdered/commit suicide/accidentally drowned on June 13 1886. We took the S-Bahn (essentially like the GO Train) south from Munich for about 30 minutes to the lake. We found a shady spot under a tree, and then, for the first time in approximately 3 years, tried on our wetsuits! As an aside, I will compete in my first triathlon in approximately 3 years this weekend: the Tegernsee Olympic Triathlon, and it would be nice to see if my wetsuit still fits, and to see if I remember how, or am able, to swim in it. As it turns out, all three seemed more or less to be the case and I in fact did fit into the wetsuit, remembered how to swim while wearing it, and was physically able to do so. Sandi also was able to squeeze into her Xterra Pro but that will be the last time until probably next Spring at the earliest!

Following a short swim, we then went for a Canada Day lunch in the local biergarten. And this is as good a time as any to reflect on what, after nearly 3 and a half years abroad, a national holiday might mean to us. I certainly don't feel German, and nor will I ever. And I'm certainly happy that I got to be born in a place that has allowed me to live the life that I have thus far. But equally, I can't exactly look to Canada and its place in the world, if you will, and clearly not to its present government, and feel any sort of pride. I can instead feel happy about the people that I know there, the beauty of the country, the fact that for the most part Canadian people are tolerant and accepting, and the fact that no matter how long we live anywhere else in the world, we will always be, and feel, Canadian. I will feel it in some explainable ways, like English will always be the easiest language for me to speak, but mostly in a non-specific, can't-put-your-finger-on-it, inexplicable way, perhaps not all that different from how Catalonian people say that they do not feel Spanish.

After a lunch of burgers and beer (Wasser mit Sprudel for Sandi), we went back to the waterfront to sit in the shade, stare at the water and the boats going by, and read. Appropriately enough for me, it was Richard Ford's 2012 novel "Canada", about a boy learning to cope with life and loneliness on his own following his parents being sent to jail for robbing a bank (note that it was appropriate simply because the title of the book is, and much of the content takes place in, Canada, and not because I am coping with a loneliness in my life or that my parents have robbed a bank to my knowledge). The sun sat high in the sky, without a cloud anywhere to be seen, and the temperature held at a hot, but comfortable in the shade, 28 degrees. It was perfect Canada Day weather, in a "Canada-like" location, with water, ducks, and sailboats dotting the horizon, sitting just in front of the hazy Alps, seen far in the distance.

In the late afternoon we walked to the ferry terminal to see if we could end the day with a boat ride. Unfortunately the last ferry had left for the day, so instead we drank frozen coffees on the waterfront and wrote postcards that we bought in France but never got around to sending while we were there. By now it was nearing 8:00 PM and though the sun could still be seen above the mountains on the far side of the lake, the Canada Day Full Moon was visible as a complete white circle in the sky. We took some last pictures, made our way back to the train station, and rode back home to Munich.