Hey everyone!
We're home! And I have big news!!
First off, in the last week I in Madrid I found out that there was an opening for a short time on Corteo when we go to the city of Seville but not in my act. The difference is that while I am a planche artist I used to be a gymnast, and can still do High bar. When they saw that I could do high bar it was my ticket back. I will rejoin the tour in August for 2 months performing in the High-bar act "Tournik" and will continue training Planche. After this time I'll be heading back home for a few weeks before joining the tour permanently in Paris for the year of 2012!! I was offered a full contract in the last week that I was on tour. I haven't said too much publically yet because I was waiting for the actual contract. It came in today. We have a lot of work to do now with the Visa situation and we really want to both come back to tour. If anyone has any ideas on obtaining a Schengen Visa let us know!!
Before I go back to the tour I have some training to do in Montreal so we'll be heading there for the month of July. Alex is busy finishing up her final course at Western and will be graduating in August!!! We flew back last week and have since been touring around Michigan and Ontario visiting family and friends. It's been an amazing week especially with the big news that I will be joining the tour again. It makes this much more of a vacation than an uncertain trip home. We will be working at a cheerleading camp, visiting more family and taking some time to relax on the boat! We also had a chance to go visit Poag's Jewellers (where we bought Alex's ring) and Coach Trace (Western Cheer).
So far our time home has been busy but it has been productive, trying to get as much done as possible, including planning wedding stuff. Alex has her dress and the bridesmaid dresses picked out and she helped me pick out the tux's too... Otherwise we'd have had a multi-coloured wedding!!
Hopefully we get a chance to stop in and visit you all! We've been all over and are really enjoying all the family time! Our only problem we've run into is gas prices!! When did those get so high!!??
More to come for sure!
'Til next time!
Aa and Alex
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
It's been a WHILE!!
Sorry all for the huge delay in writing the blog. So much has been happening and we've been quite busy dealing with life as it comes! Hopefully I remember all that has happened since the last time..
Firstly, I should explain the Visa situation. We found out that Alex would not be able to receive a working visa, nor could she get a family reunion visa, so we were really left with no option but to send her home. Overstaying a visa is not something we wanted to consider so she left promptly about 70 days into her 90 day allowance. She has been at home for a while, adjusting to the time change, and the lifestyle change but doing well. We also have been talking via Skype every night and things are good. The good side of her being home was that she got to see her brother, Tyler, play college baseball and see her younger sister, Sam, go to prom, as well as be home with the family for a while.
For me, things here have been good. There have been some challenging times and some easy times but for now things are good. My dad and Deb came on Easter weekend!! What great timing. I was starting to feel a little homesick and needed a good break. They came on a thursday and stayed until tuesday morning. We had a great time. It was the first time in Spain for both of them and we had a great weekend. They got to see the show, from the front row, and from backstage and got to meet most of the people I work with. 
After everyone left my world changed... It is quite a difference going from life on tour with someone to life on tour alone again. There's no one at home when you're done work, no one to come to Sunday Brunch, and nothing to do in the morning... On my day off I went into the Casa de Campo park again, which has become my new favourite place!! Not only did I spend 6 hours walking through, I also stood below a tree during a huge thunderstorm with hail!! It was one of the most powerful moments I can remember, and reminded me of canoe trips back when I was younger. I took lots of pictures too, saw lots of birds, but one stands out as the most interesting bird I have seen here... This is a Hoopoe. A sort of mix between a woodpecker and a sandpiper. He was very shy but for about 20 minutes he ate on the ground and I snuck up to him slowly. Pretty amazing.
On May 5, I received an email that puts me in my new current position. I was originally hired here on a temporary training contract. It was originally only until the end of Vienna, however it was extended to encompass Madrid as well. I have been training very well and my skills and performance have been gradually increasing. It is hard to remember that I was only on a temp contract but the email reminded me of this and explained that after Madrid the contract is finished. As of right now, on June 5, I'll perform the last show in Madrid and then head home for a while. We do not know how long, nor when or if I'll be back. I really love this show and the people here and will miss it so much.
Despite the news I have to keep training and I really want to. I am getting better and would like to perform the full act before I go. We have been working hard at it, and this is my new goal. Everything is not completely set in stone and I am basically the first alternate for Planche. There are much more decisions to be made but for now, this is what I know.
On a happier note, while here in Madrid I also had a chance to meet some extraordinary people. Spain is all about football (soccer for the North Americans) and thus the players here are celebrities. We have had numerous players come watch the show and in turn Real Madrid invited us to come see their practice and meet them afterward. It was an amazing experience to see these professionals in their home, doing what they do best. The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium was huge! It seats 80, 354 seated fans and it is monstrous!! Not only did we sit in field-side seats but we also got a chance to go on the field and take photos with the players! Of course, being part of UWO cheer, I needed a tuck picture. I was able to get this photo, on the grass!! After meeting with some of the players there, we left and they came to see the show 4 days later. Some of the players that came to the show were Pepe, Marcelo, Iker Casillas, Xabi Alonso, and of course Cristiano Ronaldo! Also Diego Forlan (best player of the 2010 World Cup) came to see the show. These people came backstage afterward to meet us and we of course wanted to meet them too. It has been quite crazy, but really great meeting all these people!
I think that about covers all the things going on now. Alex is coming back soon with a friend to visit until the end of Madrid, so I am very excited about that! Other than that, thing are quite normal here. The show continues to be great and this week I am performing in all 10 shows. I am currently writing this in between the two shows we have today!!
I hope everyone at home is having a good break from the cold weather and hopefully soon summer decides to kick in! I miss everyone and may see you all soon!
'Til next time,
Aa
Ps. Please continue to keep our grandparents in your prayers. Thanks!
Firstly, I should explain the Visa situation. We found out that Alex would not be able to receive a working visa, nor could she get a family reunion visa, so we were really left with no option but to send her home. Overstaying a visa is not something we wanted to consider so she left promptly about 70 days into her 90 day allowance. She has been at home for a while, adjusting to the time change, and the lifestyle change but doing well. We also have been talking via Skype every night and things are good. The good side of her being home was that she got to see her brother, Tyler, play college baseball and see her younger sister, Sam, go to prom, as well as be home with the family for a while.
For me, things here have been good. There have been some challenging times and some easy times but for now things are good. My dad and Deb came on Easter weekend!! What great timing. I was starting to feel a little homesick and needed a good break. They came on a thursday and stayed until tuesday morning. We had a great time. It was the first time in Spain for both of them and we had a great weekend. They got to see the show, from the front row, and from backstage and got to meet most of the people I work with. 
On my day of we went to my favourite park, Casa de Campo. We took the gondola to the middle of the park and walked back towards home, enjoying Sangria on a terrace too. We got some dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, and had a great evening with a few drinks. They left Tuesday morning, but luckily I was able to get Alex on the same plane home and they flew together. Made the trip much easier for all of them I'm sure.
After everyone left my world changed... It is quite a difference going from life on tour with someone to life on tour alone again. There's no one at home when you're done work, no one to come to Sunday Brunch, and nothing to do in the morning... On my day off I went into the Casa de Campo park again, which has become my new favourite place!! Not only did I spend 6 hours walking through, I also stood below a tree during a huge thunderstorm with hail!! It was one of the most powerful moments I can remember, and reminded me of canoe trips back when I was younger. I took lots of pictures too, saw lots of birds, but one stands out as the most interesting bird I have seen here... This is a Hoopoe. A sort of mix between a woodpecker and a sandpiper. He was very shy but for about 20 minutes he ate on the ground and I snuck up to him slowly. Pretty amazing.On May 5, I received an email that puts me in my new current position. I was originally hired here on a temporary training contract. It was originally only until the end of Vienna, however it was extended to encompass Madrid as well. I have been training very well and my skills and performance have been gradually increasing. It is hard to remember that I was only on a temp contract but the email reminded me of this and explained that after Madrid the contract is finished. As of right now, on June 5, I'll perform the last show in Madrid and then head home for a while. We do not know how long, nor when or if I'll be back. I really love this show and the people here and will miss it so much.
Despite the news I have to keep training and I really want to. I am getting better and would like to perform the full act before I go. We have been working hard at it, and this is my new goal. Everything is not completely set in stone and I am basically the first alternate for Planche. There are much more decisions to be made but for now, this is what I know.
On a happier note, while here in Madrid I also had a chance to meet some extraordinary people. Spain is all about football (soccer for the North Americans) and thus the players here are celebrities. We have had numerous players come watch the show and in turn Real Madrid invited us to come see their practice and meet them afterward. It was an amazing experience to see these professionals in their home, doing what they do best. The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium was huge! It seats 80, 354 seated fans and it is monstrous!! Not only did we sit in field-side seats but we also got a chance to go on the field and take photos with the players! Of course, being part of UWO cheer, I needed a tuck picture. I was able to get this photo, on the grass!! After meeting with some of the players there, we left and they came to see the show 4 days later. Some of the players that came to the show were Pepe, Marcelo, Iker Casillas, Xabi Alonso, and of course Cristiano Ronaldo! Also Diego Forlan (best player of the 2010 World Cup) came to see the show. These people came backstage afterward to meet us and we of course wanted to meet them too. It has been quite crazy, but really great meeting all these people!
I hope everyone at home is having a good break from the cold weather and hopefully soon summer decides to kick in! I miss everyone and may see you all soon!
'Til next time,
Aa
Ps. Please continue to keep our grandparents in your prayers. Thanks!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
¡Madrid!
¡¡Hello everyone!!
Hopefully everyone is doing well and enjoying the end of winter! We've heard the weather has been getting better so that's very exciting. Madrid is very warm, unseasonably warm in fact and we have been trying to get outside as often as possible as we have had about 3 full weeks of hot sunny days! We have been busy working on a few different projects, the wedding has been the focus of most of our off time. Finally setting a date!! On August 4, 2012 we will be getting married in Detroit. We have been working hard on getting all the things needed to secure our date with the different places and we have finally finished with the help of our parents!! Believe it or not, paying a company from Europe with a Canadian or American account is quite a challenging process. We finally figured out the plans and should have more information soon!
Yesterday was a day off, so we started off the day the way we usually do... We went walking. Every Monday we start walking and end up somewhere random and cool. Yesterday was no exception. We started our walk in a direction we hadn't been in and immediately found a huge lookout over the park that the Cirque tent is in. It was a pretty view and even better when we got on the Teleferico, a gondola that takes you from the lookout into the center of the park. The park is called Casa del Campo and it is huge!! We've walked it on two different weekends and still haven't seen a quarter of the park!
On the far side of the park is an amusement park and the zoo! We spent about 6 hours in the zoo of course!! We got to see a birds of prey show, which I usually hate to watch (they typically have the hawks and eagles we see daily at home...) but this one was a European birds of prey show. They had eagles and kites, vultures, condors and a few african species as well. Very cool!!
We also saw the baby panda and baby gorilla that this zoo advertises so much for. The baby gorilla was very cute, and was right against the viewing window so we could see him very close. The baby panda put on a little climbing "show" for us too. He was attempting to climb up a tree in the habitat, but was doing it rather slowly which made it even funnier!
After the babies, we went and saw the dolphin show. It was very good for a zoo! They had explanations during the show of their habitat, diets, behaviours, etc, and it was more of an educational lesson rather than a full on show... But of course they had some cool tricks too! One dolphin did a double-front flip, on corkscrewed out of the water and twisted about 6 times!! Their trainer did a couple dives off them as well. It's fun to watch performances, especially ones that are different that the one we see and do every day!! Alex wants to be dolphin trainer now... Can we get a work visa for that??
We are looking into getting a personal internet connection (USB or Modem) because our internet at the hotel is very slow and we are barely able to skype home. Currently we are at Starbucks typing this, as the maids clean our room... Hopefully we can get a better connection soon and post more often!
Miss you all!!
'Til next time..
Aa and Alex
Please also keep our grandparents in your prayers. Especially Grandpa Stan, Papa Jack and Papa.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Madrid
Hello everyone! (Our internet has been sub-par so bear with us here for a bit... we can't add photos yet)
We've had an interesting and beautiful first week here in Spain. We arrived in Madrid on the 23rd and when we got here we immediately booked a vacation. It was not that we hated Madrid but rather the opportunity was there to take a week and go somewhere. We booked our hotel and flight through booking.com and it was great. 
We got back from our vacation and found out Madrid had been rainy the whole time! Even better news. The next day the sun came out, and has been out since. We've explored a bit of the city and what a vibrant place this is. There are people outside at all times of the day and night. People leave the bars around 5-6 am... Yeah, its a pretty crazy night life. There are patios and terraces everywhere which all serve sangria... So we have sampled a few of those too!! We had a huge “welcome to Madrid” party here last night in a nightclub that was originally a theater. Very interesting building and if we hadn’t been invited guests with cirque it would also have been too expensive. We had free drinks all night, but it could have been 11Euros (15$) per drink!!! It was a long night but we had a great time.
The Cirque tent is located in the middle of a huge park, right beside a metro station and best of all there a lake and a river right beside so there are lots of places to get away and take walks. We have had 3 shows this week and the show tomorrow is the Premiere! It should be huge. The crowds here have been amazing! The applause during and after the show is unbelievable! It is so loud we can’t hear each other on stage! For the last two shows the tent has been filled to 99% capacity. That’s just under 2600 people! It is quite an amazing experience.
Hopefully everyone is doing well! We miss you all. More posts from Madrid to come!
‘Til next time,
Aa and Alex
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Vienna -> Madrid
Hello everyone!!
We took the U-bahn (metro) to the outer areas of Vienna and took a bus halfway up the mountain to get to the area called Grinzing. It is a suburb of Vienna and known worldwide for the wine houses which are considered a tourist attraction. All the way along one street in this town there are restaurants that serve their own local wine that is 
grown, and produced on the mountainside. We stopped a few of these but the season is just beginning, so we only had one glass of wine and a huge slice of pizza at a really nice patio.
On our second last day in the city we decided to go to an amusement park, in the heart of Vienna, conveniently right near our place. It's called the Prater and is famous for it's ferris wheel, the oldest one in the world. We went on a few rides including one called "Exstasy" (I know they spelled it wrong...) which was basically your average spinning-strawberry-style ride except that it spun on every axis imaginable. We were 
completely disoriented and dizzy and even felt a bit noxious. The best part of the ride was that when we thought we were done... it turned the entire ride upside-down and did the whole thing over again!! I still feel sick!! We also went on the world's tallest carousel swing, over 117m high!! After the long day at the park we went to our favourite pub one last time, 1516 and had a burger. The best burger in all of Vienna by far!!
Alex also had a few days of babysitting this week so we thought we'd include some pictures from our day babysitting Lorianna!! It was a fun way to spend our last day in the city. We went to Stephanplatz, the city center, and walked about 200m in 45 minutes. Practical? No, but it tired her out... And Aaron too.
We are actually writing this Blog post on the airplane, as we transfer to Madrid. This morning we got on a bus from our hotel and so far so good, we took off on time and 30 minutes have gone by. Only 2.5 hours to go!! Oh and I just had my 3rd cup of coffee today... 1 McDonalds, 1 Starbucks, 1 airplane blend.... Starbucks wins.
We'll let you know how everything looks in Madrid as soon as we can but for now, we can only see clouds and the Alps...
Well we finally reached the last week in Vienna and what a city this was! We had a busy week with 9 shows in 5 days but Alex and I also had a fun week exploring this city and checking out a few places we still hadn't gotten to. We really wanted to get to an area called Grinzing (famous for wine) and there's a huge amusement park called the Prater that we finally got to go to because it was warmer. We also took a trip to the top of Kahlenburg and walked down the mountain. So let me tell you about it!
Starting with the show and the tear down...
The show has been really good! We had a good week, performed planche in 4 shows and all went well except one. Me and Patrick, one of the other planche guys, basically ran into each other while switching places on the board and I ended up with one foot on and one off. When Olivier landed across from me, I launched sideways and luckily Patrick was there to help guide me back down to earth. It really didn't look too bad but it was pretty scary for a second! Other than that the shows were pretty uneventful, and of course they've been fun!
Alex got to come see two shows this week, as our attendance numbers were starting to fall. A couple shows this week were down to 40% filled. This is new for me but it was cool to see that no matter how many people were there watching they were still very appreciative and it was still a blast performing to them. Cirque offered us 2 tickets for Friday and Saturday free just so we could give them to people we knew or might want to see the show. It was a great and she got to see me actually jump on board which was great.
Tear down happened yesterday and went rather smoothly but like I said last time it is so odd. The show is so complete on stage and looks great and the audience would never guess that while we aren't out on the stage performing we are literally construction workers in the artistic tent taking apart machines and loading the entire tent into boxes. By the time the second show finished the only thing left in the entire tent is our own wardrobes so that we can take our costumes and makeup off... Then they go too.
Grinzing and Kahlenburg
We took the U-bahn (metro) to the outer areas of Vienna and took a bus halfway up the mountain to get to the area called Grinzing. It is a suburb of Vienna and known worldwide for the wine houses which are considered a tourist attraction. All the way along one street in this town there are restaurants that serve their own local wine that is 
grown, and produced on the mountainside. We stopped a few of these but the season is just beginning, so we only had one glass of wine and a huge slice of pizza at a really nice patio.The weather was really nice so we decided to keep going up the mountain to the top, which is Kahlenburg. We stayed for a while taking pictures and enjoying some lemon ice cream, then we walked down. on the same path that I went a few weeks ago. It was such a nice day and we got to see some new birds too.
Prater
 |
| After the ride.... |
 | |
| During the upside-down part... |
On our second last day in the city we decided to go to an amusement park, in the heart of Vienna, conveniently right near our place. It's called the Prater and is famous for it's ferris wheel, the oldest one in the world. We went on a few rides including one called "Exstasy" (I know they spelled it wrong...) which was basically your average spinning-strawberry-style ride except that it spun on every axis imaginable. We were 
completely disoriented and dizzy and even felt a bit noxious. The best part of the ride was that when we thought we were done... it turned the entire ride upside-down and did the whole thing over again!! I still feel sick!! We also went on the world's tallest carousel swing, over 117m high!! After the long day at the park we went to our favourite pub one last time, 1516 and had a burger. The best burger in all of Vienna by far!!Babysitting
Alex also had a few days of babysitting this week so we thought we'd include some pictures from our day babysitting Lorianna!! It was a fun way to spend our last day in the city. We went to Stephanplatz, the city center, and walked about 200m in 45 minutes. Practical? No, but it tired her out... And Aaron too.
Moving to MADRID!
We are actually writing this Blog post on the airplane, as we transfer to Madrid. This morning we got on a bus from our hotel and so far so good, we took off on time and 30 minutes have gone by. Only 2.5 hours to go!! Oh and I just had my 3rd cup of coffee today... 1 McDonalds, 1 Starbucks, 1 airplane blend.... Starbucks wins.
We'll let you know how everything looks in Madrid as soon as we can but for now, we can only see clouds and the Alps...Hope everyone is dong well! Miss you all!!
'Til Next time!
Aa and Alex
Thursday, March 10, 2011
A Great... No... AWESOME Day!!
Hello everyone!
So much AWESOME news to be shared! I'll try to keep it short but nothing I ever write is short.
It is the International Day of AWESOMEness!! I seriously did not make this up... look for yourself.
http://dayofawesomeness.com I have to say today has been a pretty AWESOME day!
Starting with the show, I have been training very hard over the past couple weeks and trying to get my skills up to par and more consistent and today I made a huge step! I actually performed on stage in the act that I'm here to do, Planche. Basically we have two versions of the act. The "short" involves two guys, and is a head to head battle between the two. I have been on stage during these but not performing skills, just spotting. The "long" version uses three guys and has an extra part. Before the two guys battle there is a third guy that jumps across the board and under one of the guys jumping, then switches places with each guy a few times... Then after the switches, we do a follow the leader type transfer section, basically each of us jumps from one side to the other right after each other. Finishing off the section the third guy gets on the board and flies across the whole stage to the other side of the board.
I got to be the third guy. AWESOME!!! This is the first time I got to jump during the show and actually be part of the act! Such a rush!! The video I posted above is the original, not me... But if you follow it, the act hasn't changed much.
Along with today being the first day I got to actually perform, it was also my Grandpa Dennis' 75th Birthday!! AWESOME! Congrats to him and Happy Birthday!!
More AWESOME news, as I'm writing this, Alex is in the air flying back to Europe! I'm very excited to have her back and hear about all the things she got to do while she was home. The wisdom teeth and exam excluded she had a very productive trip home and got to meet with a whole lot of people we've been emailing. We are almost at the point where we have a date for the Wedding!! She met with both the priest and the reception people as well as visited a church all today!! As soon as we have the date for sure, we'll be sure to let everyone know! I am already looking forward to planning it and so far it sounds like it will be another AWESOME day!
What else can I tell you about... Well I finally got a haircut! It had been since Christmas and if you remember how fast my hair grows, it needed a cut. It is still long, which is what the show needs, but not quite in my eyes... in fact it grows more upward. My hair is far from AWESOME, but it'll do...
Oh, I hear the weather at home has been a bit of a rough ride recently. Lots of snow, rain, freezing rain. Well here the weather has been quite... AWESOME! We had about 1 week of cold weather (-10˚C at lowest) but really no snow and then it has gotten much warmer everyday since. Tomorrow's forecast calls for Sun and a high of 12˚C (54˚F)!!
I think that is enough AWESOME things for right now...
'Til Next time! Miss you all!
Aa
Oh ok.. just 'cause I want to write the word AWESOME one more time... Here is something truly AWESOME!! This photo is from the first time that Alex and I met!!! We just recently found it, thanks to Facebook. Wakeboarding on Ramon's boat!! Pretty AWESOME!
So much AWESOME news to be shared! I'll try to keep it short but nothing I ever write is short.
It is the International Day of AWESOMEness!! I seriously did not make this up... look for yourself.http://dayofawesomeness.com I have to say today has been a pretty AWESOME day!
Starting with the show, I have been training very hard over the past couple weeks and trying to get my skills up to par and more consistent and today I made a huge step! I actually performed on stage in the act that I'm here to do, Planche. Basically we have two versions of the act. The "short" involves two guys, and is a head to head battle between the two. I have been on stage during these but not performing skills, just spotting. The "long" version uses three guys and has an extra part. Before the two guys battle there is a third guy that jumps across the board and under one of the guys jumping, then switches places with each guy a few times... Then after the switches, we do a follow the leader type transfer section, basically each of us jumps from one side to the other right after each other. Finishing off the section the third guy gets on the board and flies across the whole stage to the other side of the board.
I got to be the third guy. AWESOME!!! This is the first time I got to jump during the show and actually be part of the act! Such a rush!! The video I posted above is the original, not me... But if you follow it, the act hasn't changed much.
Along with today being the first day I got to actually perform, it was also my Grandpa Dennis' 75th Birthday!! AWESOME! Congrats to him and Happy Birthday!!
More AWESOME news, as I'm writing this, Alex is in the air flying back to Europe! I'm very excited to have her back and hear about all the things she got to do while she was home. The wisdom teeth and exam excluded she had a very productive trip home and got to meet with a whole lot of people we've been emailing. We are almost at the point where we have a date for the Wedding!! She met with both the priest and the reception people as well as visited a church all today!! As soon as we have the date for sure, we'll be sure to let everyone know! I am already looking forward to planning it and so far it sounds like it will be another AWESOME day!
What else can I tell you about... Well I finally got a haircut! It had been since Christmas and if you remember how fast my hair grows, it needed a cut. It is still long, which is what the show needs, but not quite in my eyes... in fact it grows more upward. My hair is far from AWESOME, but it'll do...
Oh, I hear the weather at home has been a bit of a rough ride recently. Lots of snow, rain, freezing rain. Well here the weather has been quite... AWESOME! We had about 1 week of cold weather (-10˚C at lowest) but really no snow and then it has gotten much warmer everyday since. Tomorrow's forecast calls for Sun and a high of 12˚C (54˚F)!!
I think that is enough AWESOME things for right now...
'Til Next time! Miss you all!
Aa
Oh ok.. just 'cause I want to write the word AWESOME one more time... Here is something truly AWESOME!! This photo is from the first time that Alex and I met!!! We just recently found it, thanks to Facebook. Wakeboarding on Ramon's boat!! Pretty AWESOME!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Long time!!
Hello everyone! It's been quite a while since our last post! Sorry, it's been rather uneventful around here, and other than a few little get-togethers it's been rather slow.
New Things... hmmm
Alex went home for a couple weeks. She unfortunately had to go home to write an exam however she thinks she did pretty well on it. The other reason she went home was to get her wisdom teeth out... Not fun. This happens tomorrow! So she'll be home for another week then back here to Vienna. She had some slight problems with flights (they canceled her original flight) due to the snow in Detroit. We rebooked the flight and she was actually home a bit earlier than expected.
The show is going very well!! I'm getting much better and have started to learn the sequences for the stage. Hopefully within a few weeks I'll be in the act! I've learned lots of new skills as well, most involve transferring from one end of the board to the other end! I am getting much more comfortable with the show and performing it and I'm starting to feel comfortable in the character too.
Today and tomorrow are the "double-dark" a fancy way to say 2 days off instead of the normal one. I went to the Museum of Natural History today! It was very cool! So much old historical stuff. I really liked the displays of old tools made of rock, stone and bone. Very neat to see all the modifications that had been made over thousands of years. The museum was set up in a way that you could follow from the ice age all the way through to the current time. There was a huge, I mean really HUGE, display of almost every known animal in the world. They were of course all on display and stuffed but it was interesting to see. They had them in taxonomic order which was great because all the related animals from every continent were beside each other. (ex. All the cats were all together.) There were displays of all the world's bears, apes, monkeys, equines, large land mammals, whales, etc.
A while back there was a display in Toronto called Body Works; human bodies, skinned, and displayed in everyday situations. It was highly controversial but it was also very educational. Today I saw the animal version, Body Worlds of Animals. They had animals that had skin removed to show their inner workings and they were so well preserved. There was an elephant, giraffe, horse, ox, ostrich, camel, gorilla and human amongst some others. They had put the human and gorilla beside each other in the exact same position too. The elephant had been expanded so you could actually see inside and examine all the different parts of its body. There was also "art" hanging on the walls and when I looked closer they were micro-slices of animals. Picture a real cross-section of an animal, they created it using a very thin laser slicer that literally sliced a piece out of the animal and put it between two panes of glass. It was amazing and a little scary all at the same time. This was definitely the most interesting part of my day. It was very good too that the sign that said they had all died from non-human related deaths: some of old age, some of sickness, but none were killed or hunted.
Also very interesting was the number of kids in the building. They were in this exhibit and were doing projects for school. Even a class of kindergarten kids was walking through and they stopped in the middle to examine the elephant. Pretty crazy field trip! Dr. Gunther von Hagens is the inventor of Plastination (replacing bodily fluids with plastic) and his idea for this was that textbooks are not detailed enough to study and that looking inside an animal required the real animal to be present.
Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures... They didn't allow cameras inside. I could have sneaked one in but it wasn't worth it. I just went and enjoyed it. I found some photos online and the website for the exhibit is here. http://www.bodyworldsofanimals.com/en.html
How's the snow at home!?? There's none here. In fact it has been very nice here. Every day has been sunny and about 0 degrees. I went for a few walks in the morning to work (about 2 hours) and the entire way is through parks and on a no car Island. It is very pretty and I've seen a bunch of new birds! This is a photo of where I like to walk. We live right behind the big pointy church on the left, the water is the Donau River and the channels on the island. I'm about 3 km from home looking back on what I just walked.
Now, how about some living animals??!! Here are just a few of the new birds I've added to my European list.
So, there you have it. That's what has been happening. Hopefully you've all been enjoying the blog and sorry for the long time off. I'll try to get another post on here within the next few days. Maybe a "Top Ten thing I've learned About Vienna" List...
Miss you all!! Oh and just in case anyone was wondering... It has been since Christmas since I cut my hair... It is getting longer now, mom will be happy (she's always liked my hair longer) and apparently I still have to grow it. The show has a certain look and I'm almost there... pictures to come soon too...
'Til next time...
Aa
New Things... hmmm
Alex went home for a couple weeks. She unfortunately had to go home to write an exam however she thinks she did pretty well on it. The other reason she went home was to get her wisdom teeth out... Not fun. This happens tomorrow! So she'll be home for another week then back here to Vienna. She had some slight problems with flights (they canceled her original flight) due to the snow in Detroit. We rebooked the flight and she was actually home a bit earlier than expected.
The show is going very well!! I'm getting much better and have started to learn the sequences for the stage. Hopefully within a few weeks I'll be in the act! I've learned lots of new skills as well, most involve transferring from one end of the board to the other end! I am getting much more comfortable with the show and performing it and I'm starting to feel comfortable in the character too.
Today and tomorrow are the "double-dark" a fancy way to say 2 days off instead of the normal one. I went to the Museum of Natural History today! It was very cool! So much old historical stuff. I really liked the displays of old tools made of rock, stone and bone. Very neat to see all the modifications that had been made over thousands of years. The museum was set up in a way that you could follow from the ice age all the way through to the current time. There was a huge, I mean really HUGE, display of almost every known animal in the world. They were of course all on display and stuffed but it was interesting to see. They had them in taxonomic order which was great because all the related animals from every continent were beside each other. (ex. All the cats were all together.) There were displays of all the world's bears, apes, monkeys, equines, large land mammals, whales, etc.
A while back there was a display in Toronto called Body Works; human bodies, skinned, and displayed in everyday situations. It was highly controversial but it was also very educational. Today I saw the animal version, Body Worlds of Animals. They had animals that had skin removed to show their inner workings and they were so well preserved. There was an elephant, giraffe, horse, ox, ostrich, camel, gorilla and human amongst some others. They had put the human and gorilla beside each other in the exact same position too. The elephant had been expanded so you could actually see inside and examine all the different parts of its body. There was also "art" hanging on the walls and when I looked closer they were micro-slices of animals. Picture a real cross-section of an animal, they created it using a very thin laser slicer that literally sliced a piece out of the animal and put it between two panes of glass. It was amazing and a little scary all at the same time. This was definitely the most interesting part of my day. It was very good too that the sign that said they had all died from non-human related deaths: some of old age, some of sickness, but none were killed or hunted.
Also very interesting was the number of kids in the building. They were in this exhibit and were doing projects for school. Even a class of kindergarten kids was walking through and they stopped in the middle to examine the elephant. Pretty crazy field trip! Dr. Gunther von Hagens is the inventor of Plastination (replacing bodily fluids with plastic) and his idea for this was that textbooks are not detailed enough to study and that looking inside an animal required the real animal to be present.
Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures... They didn't allow cameras inside. I could have sneaked one in but it wasn't worth it. I just went and enjoyed it. I found some photos online and the website for the exhibit is here. http://www.bodyworldsofanimals.com/en.html
 | |||||||
| Expanded Elephant |
How's the snow at home!?? There's none here. In fact it has been very nice here. Every day has been sunny and about 0 degrees. I went for a few walks in the morning to work (about 2 hours) and the entire way is through parks and on a no car Island. It is very pretty and I've seen a bunch of new birds! This is a photo of where I like to walk. We live right behind the big pointy church on the left, the water is the Donau River and the channels on the island. I'm about 3 km from home looking back on what I just walked.
 |
| Great Crested Grebe |
 |
| Great-Spotted Woodpecker |
 |
| Tufted Duck |
 | |
| Great Cormorant |
 |
| Little Grebe |
 | ||
| European Robin |
So, there you have it. That's what has been happening. Hopefully you've all been enjoying the blog and sorry for the long time off. I'll try to get another post on here within the next few days. Maybe a "Top Ten thing I've learned About Vienna" List...
Miss you all!! Oh and just in case anyone was wondering... It has been since Christmas since I cut my hair... It is getting longer now, mom will be happy (she's always liked my hair longer) and apparently I still have to grow it. The show has a certain look and I'm almost there... pictures to come soon too...
'Til next time...
Aa
Monday, February 14, 2011
Happy Valentine's Day!!!
Hello everyone and Happy Valentine's Day from Vienna!
Alex and I were trying to figure out a way to celebrate Valentine's Day as it is our first one together. I judged in Kingston last year and I was coaching the year before. Since we're in Vienna we thought it might be fun to go for a visit of the Schonbrunn Zoo, the OLDEST zoo in the world! It dates back to 1752 and was set in the gardens of the Schonbrunn Palace, the former summer home of the Imperial family. Originally the grounds were for hunting but then they put more exotic animals on it to be kept instead of hunted.
The zoo had so many animals!! There were a lot of animals that I had never seen even in a zoo. This is one of the only places in the world that you can see Giant Pandas in captivity there are only 27 living in the world outside of China. (The Calgary, Toronto, and Granby Zoos will have shared custody of 2 Pandas starting this year, and this one has 3!!) We got really close and even took some pictures of the baby sleeping on a tree branch. Pretty cute.
These guys were so cute and we stayed watching them for quite a while, even though it was snowing!
After our Pandas we walked all around the zoo, about 3 hours. It was snowing today which is a huge change from the temperature (15C or 50F) last week! We braved the 1/2 inch of snow and continued to enjoy our day. Some of the other interesting exhibits were the polar region. They had sea lions and penguins. As well, the aquarium/reptile house was very cool, with a 360 degree aqua tunnel where you could walk right through the tank. We got to see a baby elephant and orangutan. There was a huge rainforest house where there was a bat cave, with free flying bats (Alex would not go anywhere near it). There were some pretty birds in the rain forest as well as some giant flying foxes (or just bigger bats to Alex).
Even though this zoo is in the middle of the city, it a very natural environment. They even took the time to set up a walkway through the trees just to see the native birds of Vienna which was nice for
me. Although it is winter most of the animals were very active and although some were in their winter houses, it was still great to see them. I usually don't enjoy seeing animals stuck in captivity but these animals had awesome habitats and really good caretakers. This was one of the nicest zoos we had ever been in for sure.
In the spirit of Valentine's day we thought we'd show you some of the animals also celebrating today...
Training and work has been going really well. I'm performing every show and recently had to change costumes and learn the other half of the Planche Act. It's so much fun to learn new roles! I've been working hard to learn all the skills I need and they are gradually coming. I feel like my timing and my technique is improving daily. Here's a picture of my new costume on the day Alex came to watch the show. We are given two free tickets to the dress rehearsal for our family so Alex will at least be able to watch it in every city once.
Hopefully everyone had a great day! We miss you all!
'Til next time,
Aa and Alex
Alex and I were trying to figure out a way to celebrate Valentine's Day as it is our first one together. I judged in Kingston last year and I was coaching the year before. Since we're in Vienna we thought it might be fun to go for a visit of the Schonbrunn Zoo, the OLDEST zoo in the world! It dates back to 1752 and was set in the gardens of the Schonbrunn Palace, the former summer home of the Imperial family. Originally the grounds were for hunting but then they put more exotic animals on it to be kept instead of hunted. The zoo had so many animals!! There were a lot of animals that I had never seen even in a zoo. This is one of the only places in the world that you can see Giant Pandas in captivity there are only 27 living in the world outside of China. (The Calgary, Toronto, and Granby Zoos will have shared custody of 2 Pandas starting this year, and this one has 3!!) We got really close and even took some pictures of the baby sleeping on a tree branch. Pretty cute.
 |
| Eating Bamboo |
 | ||
| Alex with Pandas |
 |
| Sitting like People |
 |
| Baby Sleeping |
 | |
| Lunch time! |
These guys were so cute and we stayed watching them for quite a while, even though it was snowing!
After our Pandas we walked all around the zoo, about 3 hours. It was snowing today which is a huge change from the temperature (15C or 50F) last week! We braved the 1/2 inch of snow and continued to enjoy our day. Some of the other interesting exhibits were the polar region. They had sea lions and penguins. As well, the aquarium/reptile house was very cool, with a 360 degree aqua tunnel where you could walk right through the tank. We got to see a baby elephant and orangutan. There was a huge rainforest house where there was a bat cave, with free flying bats (Alex would not go anywhere near it). There were some pretty birds in the rain forest as well as some giant flying foxes (or just bigger bats to Alex).
 |
| Koala |
 |
| Rhino with his keeper |
 |
| MONKEY! |
 |
| Penguins |
 | |
| Aaron and a Sealion |
 | |
| In the Rainforest |
 |
| Baby Elephant playing with his food! |
 |
| Alex and her true love |
me. Although it is winter most of the animals were very active and although some were in their winter houses, it was still great to see them. I usually don't enjoy seeing animals stuck in captivity but these animals had awesome habitats and really good caretakers. This was one of the nicest zoos we had ever been in for sure.
In the spirit of Valentine's day we thought we'd show you some of the animals also celebrating today...
 |
| Sea Lions snoozing... |
 |
| Red Pandas Playing |
 |
| Monkeys Grooming |
 |
| Tapirs in Love |
 |
| Elephants eating dinner |
 |
| Giant Anteaters kissing |
 |
| And then there were these two.... |
Training and work has been going really well. I'm performing every show and recently had to change costumes and learn the other half of the Planche Act. It's so much fun to learn new roles! I've been working hard to learn all the skills I need and they are gradually coming. I feel like my timing and my technique is improving daily. Here's a picture of my new costume on the day Alex came to watch the show. We are given two free tickets to the dress rehearsal for our family so Alex will at least be able to watch it in every city once.
Hopefully everyone had a great day! We miss you all!
'Til next time,
Aa and Alex
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)