Day 5 Video

Day 5 Pics

Liberation Day Parade

Day 5

Well another late night for yours truly, didn’t realize what time it was when I finished, but man I slept well. But I was able to talk to Julie and the kids so this perked me up a little bit to keep me energized.

Today, Day 5, is our celebration day. I would compare to Canada Day in Canada, a lot of festivities and quite a lot of partying. Don’t get nervous folks I can assure you that the kids were not allowed out after supper and will all be in bed in about 20 minutes.

The morning began with a radio interview with a local Dutch radio station that featured Sarah and Brendan and really did a wonderful job talking about the meaning of all of this from a Canadian perspective as well. From there it was onto CBC Island Morning with Karen Mair and Emily and Patrick once again did a great job of speaking about the meaning of what they are experiencing...yeah they are getting “it” but I don’t really think there ever was a doubt!!

This morning we are representing the youth of Canada at the annual Liberation Day Peace Symposium. We have been selected because of my background in global issues and I suspected it would be very “dry” but at least something they could say they did. Unfortunately, their “participation” at this point will be limited to listening...difference in wording but they are fine with it!

The topic was about international freedom and the fight that continues around the world to maintain the freedoms that we so readily enjoy in our country. The kids will get a chance to listen to 3 different speakers but because of time issues they will not be able to stay and ask questions, although at this point I can guarantee that Brendan is the only that would dare ask anything in this type of situation. Lisa and Mark I apologize if he returns home a little different, different in the fact that after 5 days I think he is finally figuring out my sarcasm...he has heard enough of it for sure...haha!!!

The first speaker was a female Iranian news reporter who was speaking about the connections of what is going on today in Iran in comparison to what took place in Europe under Hitler and the Nazi movement. Only 2 minutes into the speech and I know they are hearing something very powerful as she compared the current Iranian leader of the Taliban, Ahmaddinejad to Hitler. I always thought the name Hitler seemed very eerie in Canada, well I can tell you that when you are amongst a group of people who were directly affected by a monster like that, the word sounds even worse in Europe.

The second speaker was a tad bit more “dry” (literal translation boring...) but he is a high ranking official in the European Union that deals directly with crisis intervention (Kosovo, Balkans, etc). Also present are the Queen’s High Commissioner and the third and final speaker, the head Dutch General in charge of the Afghan mission. The major general began his talked and continued to talk in high reverence of Canadians. My chest is sticking out now, as it should when you are this proud to be a Canadian in a foreign country. Loving it for sure!!

He furthered his discussion by talking about how we too often take our freedoms for granted until they are challenged, it took a major general in the Dutch army to back the majority of my messages in my Global Issues class..wonder if he would be interested in being a guest speaker??? Following the 3^rd speaker we are now off to lunch at the central location for the Liberation day parades.

Lunch became another interesting adventure as we were eating emergency rations provided to the troops currently serving in Afghanistan. The choice was either ravioli or curry chicken in a tin. There was a catch, the tin and food cook by themselves when you press a button on the bottom of the packaging. When the button is pressed a chemical reaction is begun in a separate compartment at the bottom of the tin and within 5 -7 minutes the meal is boiling hot!!! Loved it!!! SO much I ate 3, both Barb and Sarah Gillis’. I have spent a lot of time with Barb and especially Sarah because she rarely eats her meals...the meals in general have been really good but we are with teenagers you know. We have yet to get chicken fingers and fries so there is usually plenty for me to eat at any time. They don’t believe how much this body can put away...haha just ask my staff!!!

During the whole time we have been here, Brendan and the boys have been complete infatuated with the large number of battle re-enactments that are going on. The girls could care less because the horses are “poopin’ everywhere” and the artillery shells are “scaring the living .........out of them”. The whole afternoon seemed to revolve around poop in their minds for some reason, which strangely enough is a word Brendan is incapable of saying(too too funny!). Sounds kinda weird but he is going to say it before he leaves Europe...Ironically enough the day finishes with another instance involving a horse and its droppings so one might say we had a sh**** day!!!

Enough about that. These kids really enjoy the celebrity lifestyle. They all have spent the day mingling with the Dutch people and giving them everything Canadian(mini flags, pins, cards, etc) that they have. I can’t believe how much stuff people brought with them and how much the Dutch want anything with a flag on it. After a couple of hours we needed to get into position for the parade, because of another miscommunication or at the least misinterpretation of emails, not all of the kids get to walk in the parade. In all honesty both groups of kids had great experiences. The ones positioned on the parade route got to see everyone and especially the vets, who wanted to shake hands with all of the kids, while the ones in the parade with or flag got to be cheered on for an hour by at least 100,000 people...pretty darn cool. I will try to upload some pics after I finish writing.

The parade began with the releasing of flock of doves and then a fly over by some WWII planes which included a very fast moving spitfire!! As Rachel, Patrick, Brooke, Chloe, Shannon and I moved along the parade route. By the way I hope you have noticed I have been trying to use different kids for different parts of the tour, Emily and Pat have been the only repeats(interview + march) because they were willing to wait in line for two hours and walk for another hour, somehow that just didn’t appeal to some!!!

Let me tell you, I have been a part of a parade before(insert Lobster Carnival here) and have even been front and center(haha) on a float with my kids who won the National Award for History research a couple of years ago on the Legion float. But I have never been made feel the entire parade was about us and us alone. Although each school had 5/6 kids and with 58 schools represented(you do the math I am tired and bad with numbers to boot!), each footstep we took people wanted to shake our hands and continued to clap and say thank you, sing O Canada, etc. WOW!!! I had the easy job of passing out pins and such to little kids, teenagers, young adults, middle aged adults and seniors alike, they all wanted something Canadian and they couldn’t get enough. In fact at one point I went over to a group of little kids, 5 little blonde(they are all blonde it seems) kids. I reached into my pocket and shook their hands and proceeded to give them a pin. 1,2,3,4......uh oh I am all out of pins and I am only 15 minutes into the damn parade and the kids are now ahead of me so I can’t go back. So this poor cute little 4 year old boy looked pretty sad and I looked like a big Canadian jerk!!! Well, the next look was priceless, as I reached into my bag the other group of 5 years were looking intently at their pins I grabbed a large Canadian flag and wrapped it around him. The look was truly priceless, both from him and the others kids who got stuck with only a chintzy pin!!!

We continued on for another hour and moved passed seated vets and some guy from the Dutch Royal Family, sorry I didn’t get his name and I was scared to go near him with a pin because I might get tazered(sp?) or something, but nonetheless he looked pretty royal. Everyone continued to cheer and shake our hands, the kids were having a blast and I wished they all could have participated. (IN the end the kids who were along the watching route said they had a blast so I am not sure who had a better time...good problem to have!)

The crowds seemed to get larger and larger the closer we got to the end and by the time we finished the number going around had grown to be about 120,000 people. Yeah that’s right!!! We have about 135,000 people on the island and we were just cheered on by almost the entire province of PEI. Funny side to that story, we wanted to order pizza for supper and the front desk said that there were really no pizza shops in town like Domino’s and such, only available in restaurants. I said to him that I found that very strange, he replied not really because it was a tiny town of almost 40,000 with 120,000 in it today!

In the end I think each of your kids had another “once in a lifetime” experience today. Supper was another one of these as we had to wander through a lot of “celebratory” people who have been enjoying their day to say the least. The kids thought it was pretty interesting to see, there is one rock concert rumbling our rooms on one side of the hotel. The other side, Marilyn’s side is being serenaded to sleep with death metal on the other side and I can hear some rap off in the distance as well....gotta head to bed because the Bruins will be on soon so another late night!!!!

I will leave you with one last story. As we approached the end of the parade I asked Shannon to pick out a family for me....so she choose a family of four with two blonde boys about 8 and 10 years of age, roughly a little older than my Mya and Max. So as they held out their hands to shake mine, instead of giving them a maple leaf pin I surprised them as I pulled another flag out of my bag and wrapped it around them both. Both of their parents were extremely happy and grateful for the gift. Truth be known, I am more grateful than they are right now because I was able to experience what being a Canadian is really about! It doesn’t get much better than this and each of the kids were able to learn more about that today. Imagine learning more today about being Canadian thousands of miles from home, more than they have learned probably every day they have lived within our borders...fun stuff!!!! Cheer for the Bruins all and thanks for your time and patience in reading what my wife says is my usual wordy self!!! Must be why she loves me so much, either that or my handyman abilities around the house!!! Good night!!!

Off to Amsterdam and the Jewish remembrance tomorrow...and shopping for the girls!!!

Here we go Bruins Here we go....I can hear you cheering Jeff Brant!!!!

Pics from yesterday(Day 4)

Liberation Museum 1944-1945 and March of Silence to Groesbeek Cemetery

Day 4

Good evening everyone...wow what a day.....are you ready for this?? Well today was expected to be of our big days and it certainly was. AS I mentioned earlier today the Bruins won last night so that offset the 2-2.5 hours sleep I got last night, plus on a more personal note we are heading to a country that I have never been to before and I am very excited about that. However, before we head to the Netherlands we are heading to the medieval city of Brugges, Belgium.



Although the link I have provided you with is not ours, it still gives a great sense of what this city is all about and for the most part we hit almost everyone of those sites in a short period of time and the girls even had a hour to shop. More on the shopping later! By the way if you watch the entirety of the video you obviously need to check out the architecture of the city, truly breathtaking and also pay special attention to about the 8:36-8:40 mark and you will see a sculpture in a church and that sculpture is of the Virgin Mary and the babe and is one of the few sculptures of Buonarroti outside of Italy. Amazing eh!!!

I truly hope none of you said “Who the %^LL is Buonarroti?”....just being a smart ass again. The sculpter is probably better known to you as Michelangelo, and no not the Ninja Turtle!!! The piece was really neat to see!!!

Tour complete of Brugges and now their first bit of free time, only 1 hour but hey it is better than nothing (although I did mention this was not a shopping trip, a few of the ladies don’t recall that being mentioned!!!) So when everything starts to shake down and kids are pairing up with teachers...how the H E Double Hockey Sticks do I get stuck with 4 women whose sole desire is to do as much shoe shopping in an hour that would make some chick from “The Hills” blush!!! Anyways, Rachel, Emily, Ashley, Shannon and I are off to find some shoes...how exciting!!! Ah heck let’s just make the best of it and of course set some ground rules early!!! Rule #1 No underwear stores for this cat.....Rule #2 only 1 pair of shoes per girl per store...Rule #3 10 minute time limit in each store...Rule #4 Chiz is the boss and this is not a democracy....

For the most part everything worked out well and all of the rules were followed and only Emily and Rachel walked away with any items..well unless you count Emily and Shannon’s 15th chocolate covered Belgian waffle in the last 24 hours!!! And I thought I could eat...wow!!!!

From Brugges it is about a 3 hour drive to Groesbeek which was the location of the silent march to the CWG Cemetery at Groesbeek. However, before all of that happened the kids were treated to a lot of fun and information at the Groesbeek Liberation Museum 1944-45. It was here the kids were able to interact with some Dutch people who were alive during the occupation. One of which in particular Martiin Dekkurs spoke with the kids about what it was like to be held captive in your own country. He furthered hammered home the message about not forgetting these individuals(Canadians) because of what they did...they could have stayed in the country(Canada) and lived their own lives, instead they gave their lives to liberate the Netherlands from the Nazi occupation and this is why the people will be forever grateful. A few tears were shed from time to time. The kids also got to sing karaoke..ya go figure! Well there was a 77 year old Dutch man singing period tunes and after some of our kids began to chat with him, the next thing Marilyn and I noticed, he was off the stage singing to them. It moved from that to Sam Mundy singing with him on stage and then all of a sudden about 15 of them were on stage singing a song they used to sing about “Beautiful Canada.” They were having a ball and go figure they were the life of the party amongst about 300 other kids at that point.



From there we walked to a dinner hall to have a great dinner of pasta (not bland French pasta...but something delicious) that was prepared by the local people of Wageningen. Yep they fed and served over 2500 people, don’t get me wrong, I am sure it was catered but the people were there to help serve, so it was fun to meet some more of the Dutch.

Following supper we assembled in the town square to get ready for the 45 minute Silent March of Remembrance back to the cemetery at Groesbeek. Picture it, about 2500 people plus townspeople marching silently through the beautiful valleys for approximately 45 minutes...wow!!! The kids were awesome!!! As we reached the cemetery every student and/or adult Canadian stood in front of a Canadian soldier throughout the entire ceremony. I did mention it was a beautiful sunny day but with a cool north wind...and it got even cooler! But the kids stood straight and listened to the Dutch and English speeches of what took place so many years ago, and it was very cool in both senses of the word. But the cooler it got the more impressed I was with the students, no complaints at all. They were getting it...this was nothing compared to what the 23 year old lying buried in front of me went through 65 years ago...not even close!!! When the ceremony finally ended each one of us lit a candle and left it at the base of each headstone along with our island clay inuksuk.....a fitting gift for worthy recipients!

Well another emotional day is in the books and we finally made it back to the hotel we are staying at for the duration of the stay in Wageningen, which is a blessing because tomorrow’s May celebrations are right down from the hotel and there are only 4 of the 58 busses within walking distance!!! No bussing tomorrow...also in the AM the kids will get to sleep in a little longer as we don’t need to be at our Symposium until 9:45 and it is actually in our hotel. Then it is onto the celebrations and I think the kids are going to really appreciate an upbeat day as opposed to the more downtrodden days of remembrance.

I am going to sign off and I feel I was a little boring today but it could be due to the fact that I am going on 3 hours sleep..but the Bruins did win so who cares...oh yeah just remembered we finally got through our first completed count off today without delay....our number 32 Bradley even shouted his number out for the first time!!! We are going to try it backwards next...we will be in Charlottetown before we figure that out!!! Hope all is well at home and I am heading to bed...I have two interviews in the AM and I need my beauty sleep..ah heck they are radio interviews so who cares...in the AM Brendan, Sarah and I are doing a Dutch radio show and then I think I need to do another one at 11:00 my time with CBC Radio’s Island Morning...supposedly they have been reading the blog..if I find out who gave it to them..they are in big trouble!! Take Care!!!
DC(Dutch Chizzy)

PS No pics until AM I am beat!!!

Day 3

Up at 6:15 am



Breakfast was decent and kids really haven't complained too much about the 2 meals they've had....they are getting to know French  cuisine.....

last night it was chicken and pasta. Plain pasta with no  sauce, I remembered from my previous trip that unless you go out and unload some

coin in a fine restaurant, the French are very plain and bland when it comes to every day meals...Julia Childs may disagree but I now understand

Max’s infatuation with plain pasta and ketchup...it’s not that bad!!! Thank goodness for the ketchup.



7:45 AM and off to Beaumont Hamel... Beaumont-Hamel is home to the Royal Newfoundland regiment’s main memorial in France.  Of the

five memorials established in France and Belgium in memory of major actions fought by the 1st Battalion of the Newfoundland Regiment,

the largest is the thirty hectare site at Beaumont-Hamel, nine kilometres north of the town of Albert. This site commemorates all

Newfoundlanders who fought in the Great War, particularly those who have no known grave.  Here are a couple of links to what the

kids were able to see today...isn’t

the weather just gorgeous!!!

The drive to B-H is a breathtaking drive through some of the most beautiful valleys that these kids will ever...yes even though

they live on PEI. These valleys are located in the Somme Valley.  Now its time for you to get your history books out and remember

so key points about the Battle of the Somme.....I’m waiting????  In order for you to study up on our trip I am going to provide a link to look at what the

Royal Newfoundlanders went through on that very first day of the Battle of the Somme.... 

The Royal Newfoundland regiment was not always called the Royals, this honour was bestowed upon them by King George V and

this site holds a lot of really wonderful stories that accompany those great Canadians in the afterlife, but for many Newfoundlanders

is also a place of profound sadness.  On that note today was to be Shelby’s day..... well it is everyone’s day everyday because of the

experiences so far, but so far each of the first two days has meant something in particular to a couple of us and so this morning would

be in honour of Maxwell James mercer.  MJ Mercer, as his name appears at the B-Hamel memorial, was killed on July 1, 1916 during

the initial onslaught of the Newfoundland regiment.  It was certainly an emotional time for Shelby as we walked and talked about what

took place along these battle lines.  As we approached the “Danger Tree” we stopped and explained that this was the objective point for

these men, only a few hundred yards removed from “St. John’s Road” trench about 85% of the men never made it this far and then I

showed her just beyond the danger where these brave soldiers lie.

As Shelby and I walked another 100 yards towards the Newfoundland cemetery we eagerly anticipated finding a grave dedicated to

MJ Mercer and thus making him our first grave rubbing of 2010.  Well the good news story has to end there because unfortunately

MJ Mercer is one the 200 men who are still buried in the battlefields of B-H.  This was the case in many of the areas of the Somme

valley because of the soft and fertile land that was blown to bits from shellfire and thus became a deep mud pit with which some

bodies could never be recovered.  So Shelby and I decided that we would do a grave rubbing anyway, so I told her that FT “Mayo”

Lind would be a good choice.  Go ahead and Google his name and see what you find.  I dare say nary a Newfoundlander would

not have heard his name before.

We then moved back toward the group who was just beginning their formal tour through the battlefields at the Caribou monument.  

The Caribou was the official symbol of the Newfoundlanders because as a pack animal a caribou never dies alone, someone from the

pack will always stay with the sick until it dies and then it catches up to regain it place with the rest.  Look it up I kid you not!!  

Well this opportunity was perfect timing as we arrived the staff member at B-H was just finishing up her speech about the monument

when I asked if I could have Shelby come up front and introduce her friends to her great-great-great(I think that is the right number)

uncle MJ Mercer. Once again a few tears were shed, I wished I would have been able to bring home something concrete like the grave

rubbing for Shelby,but I am sure this memory will last forever with her!!!





From there we moved onto Passchendaele and its beautiful surroundings.  It today stands as a beautiful little town,

but this was not the case almost 100 years ago.  Passchendaele is home to Tyne Cot cemetery, one of the largest grave sites

you will ever see.  Although Tyne Cot was not originally on our schedule I had asked our tour guide to make a small detour

so the kids could see the magnitude of what took place at Passchendaele.  Tyne Cot is the resting place

of over 11,000 Commonwealth soldiers and further commemorates another 34,000 on the back

wall of the structure who have no known grave...over 45,000 dead and that is just the Allies and does

not obviously include the Germans. Unbelievable.....this was the place of my last adventure when I truly began to realize

the magnitude of what had happened during the First Great War.

After leaving the cold wet and windy weather in Passchendaele, (if you are really paying attention a little while ago

linked a video from B-Hamel and mentioned the beautiful sunny weather...RIGHT!! It has been cold, wet and windy...basically

downright miserable!!! But the kids have not complained one bit!!!) we were off to Belgium.  Crossing into Belgium was a nightmare, we

had asked all of the kids to bring their passports as we were leaving the country but of course not everyone listened.  SO in that

case we were forced to leave a couple of them at the border and we said we would be back to pick them up in about 4-6 hours.  Don’t

despair we left some food and some cards so that

Brendan, Alix, Emily and Erica could entertain themselves while we attended supper in Ieper(Ypres) and then the Menin Gate ceremony.

However, prior to Menin Gate I took them on another off road adventure to Langemarck cemetery.  Langemarck is a German cemetery

and I really wanted them to see the difference between the Allied and German cemeteries.  There is a major difference in tone and feel

through these ones as compared to the Commonwealth sites.  In the same area is a really neat monument, actually Canada’s main

monument in Belgium, “The Brooding Soldier” located at Vancouver Corner, St. Juliaan, Belgium.  Cool stuff all around!!! The 4 kids we

left behind would have really enjoyed both of these sites for sure!

To the Puchniak’s, Ronohan’s, MacDOnald’s  and Barry’s I truly apologize for what happened today.........hehe just kidding!!  That

was the big joke earlier today, going from France to Belgium was like leaving “Southwest Lot 16 and entering Central Lot 16” as

Sam K and Trisha explained it.  The European Union agreement has basically removed all international borders between those

countries...my apologies again, but I thought it was rather funny!!! Did anyone drop??  I hope no one swore at me either!!! Tom how

is Cathy feeling???...sorry buddy!!!

The weather began to improve a little bit as we walked through the town of Ieper on our way to supper.  This is one of my favorite

towns in all of the world, it is rich in history, rich in chocolate(my god some of you are going to gain about 50 pounds when you see

they chocolate they are bringing home) and obviously steeped in tradition as the ceremony at Menin Gate we attended tonight will

attest to.  This ceremony has taken place every day (yes 365 days a year) since 1928.  It is very similar to our Remembrance ceremonies,

but the amazing fact is that they show reverence to the dead every single day.  During the German occupation in WWII, the ceremony

still took place but in Britain, so in essence the Menin Gate ceremony has never stopped!  Too cool!!!

Thus our day is winding down and I am once again losing steam.  I need to pack as we leave in 6 hours and I still need to sleep and

watch the Bruins game during that time, all the while mixing some sleep in at some point.  I can sleep on the bus tomorrow as we

head to Bruges for some fun and then on the Netherlands for the remainder of our stay.  You kids are well and fairly happy, tired as

heck and not really keen on the 6 AM wake up calls but they have been the best behaved and most respectful at any site we have

been at and that is the truth unlike the story about the border incident.  Sorry again to those families who were ready to call Mr. Sabean

and have me fired while overseas!!!  All in fun!!!  Take care all and have a great day!!  Here we go Bruins here we go!!!!!

dc