The Next Question

Could the unimaginable loss of life been prevented? There’s an argument that it could have been – http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO412C.html
Link courtesy of my Uncle Rick. It’s hard to imagine that they had the ability to warn people on the coasts of South East Asia and simply didn’t.

Canada is failing

Is it just me, or is Canada’s involvement in the aid efforts for South East Asia pathetic? I’m embarrassed when I’m reading the news articles from canada.com.
Small things, but when you look at the whole package I’m sitting here wondering what the hell is taking us so long to get up off our asses and help. A $40 million donation is a good thing, I’m not begrudging that. Can we give more? I don’t know, I have no idea where the money comes from, or how much we have to give, and I am glad we’ve committed to giving something and it’s more than the original $4 million we committed.
That said, there are reports of the Canadian Embassy in Thailand charging Canadians to replace their passports. In response to that claim a spokesperson for the Foriegn Affairs Minister said ”to exercise maximum discretion in determining the needs of Canadians affected and to provide assistance tailored to their individual circumstances, including waiving fees for passport if necessary.” If necessary? For fuck’s sakes, if someone lost their passpost if a bloody tidal wave, isn’t that enough to waive the freaking fees? Christ.
The other thing I’m completely confused about is why it’s taking so long to decide to send out DART. Is the preliminary assessment team there yet? Have they made any decisions? Seriously, are we doing ANYTHING? Have we sent bodybags yet? Water purification experts? I don’t care how complex the workings are, give us some information at least. And why is it so unorganized there? The US has dealt with hurricaines in the past (not the same scale, true, but the basic organization stradegy might be the same, no? And if no, why not?), they could be the ones running the show, getting things done instead of what appears to be confused and over-extended governments in South East Asia? Governments shouldn’t be running it anyway, it’s always way to bloody slow to get anything done, that’s the nature of government.
Plus, what the hell is up with Prime Minister Paul Martin? Don’t you think a natural disaster on a “biblical” scale warrants cutting short your vacation to oversea our involvement, especially since one of the reasons to be proud to be a Canadian is that we are perceived as peaceful, helpful people internationally? Honestly, the man probably doesn’t do any of it anyway, I realize that, but fuck, for face value, as the main representative of our country, at least televise a public statement instead of sending a note to your people back home. He’s probably drunk and gambling in Morrocco. Stupid ass.
And other countries have sent planes to gather their stranded people. Has Canada? No.

A year ago around this time, Steve and I and a close friend of ours were in Phuket, Thailand. I’ve been feeling incredibly blessed and overwhelmed. Even though I see it on the news, and I see the pictures, I simply don’t understand this sort of tradegy. And everything I might tell you about my own life, although normally rather mindless on Amberism, seems petty and shallow this week. Our Christmas was quiet and wonderful, I couldn’t have asked for more. I hope yours was the same.
If you’re Canadian and you want to help, here are some organizations accepting cash donations to send to Asia via Canada.com
Canadian Red Cross: 1-800-418-1111
Oxfam Canada: 1-800-466-9326 (1-800-GO-OXFAM)
World Vision: 1-800-268-5528
UNICEF Canada: 1-877-955-3111
Canadian Tamil Congress: 1-416-751-8777
Canadian Relief Organization for Peace in Sri Lanka 1-416-429-2822
Development and Peace: 1-888-664-3387
Christian Children’s Fund of Canada: 1-800-263-5437
UJA Federation of Greater Toronto: 416.631.5705
CARE Canada: 1.800.267.5232
Doctors without Borders Canada: 1-800-982-7903

Merry Christmas!

Best wishes for a relaxing and wonderful holiday season from Chateau Amber & Steve. We send all our families and friends love and hugs and kisses and all that good, gushy stuff.

Hee! Presents!

My friends rule. Christine and Sab sent me a little package with a cd of the wedding photos they took, a very cool Christmas card they picked up in Hong Kong, and home-made soap! My little cubicle area now smells like peppermint, it’s very yummy! Thank you so much! It was an awesome little surprise! And some of the photos were hilarious !
I spent the morning dealing with postal issues. One of the major drawbacks to living out in our little bit of paradise is that postal service is truly lacking. The room we call a post office has limited hours and is basically never open when you’d actually be near the post office to do postal like errands. The “box” that we get our mail in is teeny-tiny so anything that bigger than a bill doesn’t fit in the box so they throw in a package card (even for big envelopes) and you have to figure out a way to get your packages before they’re sent back. Not only that, it’s not the place you can really mail Christmas presents from. So, I had to pick up my package (hee! thanks again guys!) and then find another postal outlet in Parksville to get stamps, and then went to Mail Boxes Etc. to mail my parcels because no where else would guarantee that they would get there before Christmas (yeah, yeah, I left it late, sue me, I just got married and I’m using that excuse for as long as it suits me!). The mailing of the parcels cost more than the contents did. Postal service is one of the insane aspects of living on an island. Of course, all the perks still out weigh the odd inconvenience.
What I really miss though? Ikea. Honestly. Who knew that Ikea had made such an impact on life!
ETA: Speaking of fun presents, my boss and his family bought Steve and I a cat couch from Catnap! Its the beatle in orange and it’s ADORABLE. It totally made me giddy, I love it! So far, the cats are not convinced it’s as good as the human couch, but we’re working on those picky creatures!