Send off From Chennai

What a crew! We didn't even realize what -1 c was going to feel like, still +30 in these pictures.


See you all soon! Good luck in Germany (Elliot-McFayden) and good luck at the salon (Meghan-Jane)!


The Bus - Large and at the same time not large. We had 9 people and about 18 bags to stuff into this white Mercedes. Thanks Gregg for booking it! All sitting comfy like a can of sardines.....

I love the airport - we had two porters to manage 4 luggage carts. With the tip they made about 20 bucks, and it was worth every penny as inside we only had to stand in line and check in.

Dave

Winnipeg Bound

The bags are packed

The time has come

The bus is here

The sun has set

And we are ready

Lets get back home

And see some Snow

Not a rhyme, just some words.

Dave

Amy's final Thursday Ritual

The time has flown

The time has passed

Amy's last Thursday

Didn't really last

We tried to stay

We tried to play

At least we've had

Good times, not bad

Lets remember when

We first arrived

Lets remember Amy

How she was deprived

All outer sanity

has been removed

By three short months

of Thursday moons

PS I love pants

And Amy

You will be missed very much by this pseudo Indian family

Love the OMatthes Clan

And Dave's (Brandy's) pants

PS

Sorry B

I made a small hole in the rear.

D

Got Fro?

This is real. The helmet. The quoff. The poufier. The Fro.

Touch it. Believe it. This is real.

Gage man and his prized do.

"I'm not cutting this thing until we get to Canada. Then everyone will say 'holy - your hair is big!!' Then I'm going to cut it short so when we go back to India everyone will say 'holy - you cut off your big hair!'"

Awesome.

DM

Its Not Butter . . .

It's Not Nutella...
It's Not Butter...

It's Nutter.

Say it with me again ... NUTTER.

This is funny to me, this chocolate spread. This delicious treat.
I smile when I say it. NUTTER.

Nutter is a delicious spread, and it has many uses.

Taken from the actual jar label:

Direction: Spread it like dairy butter on bread, toast, pizza, etc.

Read it again.

Nutter.

You can enjoy many new sayings with Nutter:

Can you pass the Nutter?
Bust a Nutter!
Man, I really can't get enough of that Nutter.
Oh, damn! We are out of Nutter!


You know the best thing about Nutter?
It's healthier than butter.
Zero cholestrol, 100% vegetarian.

You heard it here first. Nutter is where it's at.


DM

Suckers and Peanut Butter

We are getting closer to the fantastic voyage home, today is the penultimate Friday we will be here in 2006.

Had a fun day today; took the bike to work, Gage had a disco, I won a game of 10,000, Amy learned to drive.

Tomorrow we are off to Kerala with our fingers crossed it will be hot and sunny to enjoy the beautiful beaches to Trivandrum.

See you all soon!!!!

Love Dave

Check out this funny little video of Emerson playing in the car:

The new colour?

Wow! We made the local paper, the Deccan Chronicle. I am one step closer to greatness and world domination.

How it all happened:

We spent Thursday evening at an art gallery kick off party for a family member of our company out here where Brandy, Emerson and I had our pictures taken. We thought nothing of it at the time, I think all three of us just felt cool because a bunch of photographers were taking our pictures. Well I did anyway, and I actually thought they were trying to just take pictures of Emerson as she was looking really cute in her green and yellow outfit.

A couple of days later on Saturday morning I was leaving the office when Brandy calls me to say she received calls and remarks about us in the paper. On the way home I made a point of stopping at 5 places on the Bajaj to sweep up a copy, apparantly it was not easy to find a paper here. I was really excited when I finally found a little stand with papers and got a copy! Leaving the element of surprise open I stuffed the paper into by bag and saved the first view till I arrived back at the bubble.

When I reached home I frantically started thumbing though the paper - I went all the way through to the back cover. Behold! There we were! All checking out a nice little statue at the Gallery. Awesome.

According to the headline 'Chennai gets new colour' .... the new color is white?

As one of our favorite sayings go:
Only in India.

-Nearly famous white guy giving Chennai it's new colour.

Gettin Goofy

I love this place - I have experienced more in the last 4 months than many have in a lifetime. I can't say the same for some of my team, these two are gettin a little goofy.

Love Ya
Dave

Sorry AMY!

On the Road Again

Aaagh I am on the road again
The winding climing road again
I can be free like the wind in the trees
I can honk at worshippers on their knees
I can yell at moving trucks and bikes
No more tuk-tuk searching hikes
No more waiting for drivers rides
I can jam and pass their hides
I can ride and honk at will
I can show off my skill
I am a man with a plan
I am here with my clan

And I have a Maruti 800.


Aaagh I am on the road again.



But have I told you this?
Its another sweet collection of rhymes.
If you don't care or don't have time,
F*ck off and at just drop me a line!
Of course I'm just kidding again,
I am known to do that now and then.
The point of all this babble
Is to tell you some fine drabble
Its amazing, its fast, its 100 CC's of rocket power.

BAJAJ. Say it with me . . . . BAJAJ.


Aaagh I'm on the road again.




So let me spin you one more time,
Let me tell you a few more lines.
We are kickin it live in India
The Maruti - Bajaj Combo
Indian Logistics are in effect!

Aaagh I am on the road again.


Peace from the OMatthes Clan

Double Take

Wow - India. This place is filled with people, and I think people around the world have real similarities that we can all relate to.

For instance I always have enjoyed a cold drink, and I ususally end up having a sleep not too long after.
Indian locals also enjoy the drink, and of course the sleep comes here too.

Double Take - Driving home a few days ago I saw a man laying in the road (the MIDDLE of the road) just inside an intersection who I thought was dead. Two days later I saw two men in the same spot, who also looked dead. WTF? Turns out they just chose to sleep right there on the road, which is outside a local wine shop.

Another example is driving during the day. We all have our moments of road rage, and I think even in India you are allowed to have a little rage.

Double Take - just a leisurly drive, going about 30KpH and looked left. What was unusual? I saw a man on a bike try to pass two other bikes - they got a little too close and the guy passing went through and crashed the two slower guys - each wobbled and swerved, they both were carrying passengers who calmly held on. After all regained control, the passing bike driver looks back and lifts his arms as if to say oops?

Had that happened in Canada, anywhere, can you imagine the bullets that would have been fired?

Anther driving example with motorcycles - just around town you see lots of bikes with two people; a man driving and a woman side saddle. you also see similar configurations but with a small child on the gas tank. Or a large load that a truck should be carrying like a door or a bunch of rebar or even tanks of propane (plural). The best is seeing families of 4, all sitting calmly on the bike travelling wherever they need to go.

Double Take - have you ever seen a white family doing the same?

Diwali Week

I have been slacking on the blog entries, to all the loyal fans this is about a full week behind.

Diwali Week

WOW! I had a blast this week, literally. The build up to the festival of light has been amazing, all around town firework shops have set up shiops to make explosives easily accessable to the general public. Greg and I walked to our first shop on a Sunday afternoon and watched as locals were buying up huge boxes of crackers, and spending 1000's of rupees at a time. The shop we found is a larger size, just up the main RA Puram road. I think it was run by a family, the husband and wife working the counter and their child of about 5 or 6 years 'working the back'. I watched the kid hear what a customer wanted, and he would have to run up the shelves to grab whatever it was - the shelves were packed solid with stuff and it looked like a grand stage - with a little kid as the fast moving picker.

I started to ask for some stuff, not knowing what was what so I just pointed at whatever looked cool - here is a list of the names from our purchase:

7 shots
Letter bombs
Crackling king
Disco inferno
Black and whites
Sumo bombs
Flower pots
Fire pencil
Surveyor rockets
Hydrogen bombs
Whizz serpents
60 shot popcorn
Hitler crackers
Peacock crackers
Sparrow crackers
And of course some sparklers for the kids.

Here are a few visuals of the weeks nightly pyrotecnic shows we put on ourselves before the huge finale on October 21st: 

You Tube? You bet

WOW Google has made their bid and will take You Tube for a cool $1.5 Million. Not bad for a 2 year company that started in the garage!!

****Correction - that sale was for $1.6 Billion dollars. More dollars than people in India. ****Thanks Johnny!

I went to their site, signed up and put a video online just to see what all the buzz is about, it was really easy and now I can share with you a special video.

Here is the short training video of Daksh explaining to our new maid servant the requirements and wishes for working at the OMatthes house.

Enjoy!

-Dave

A trip to Snake Park

What an adventure - this past monday (the 2nd of October) was Gahndi's Birthday. It is celebrated here in Chennai as a holiday, so I took Amy and the kids to the local reptile zoo called Snake Park.

Most of the excitement happened before we actually arrived at the zoo. It all started with the walk from the bubble to our closest taxi stand. Amy was feeling a little nauseous and dizzy, I asked if whe was ok or if she wanted to go back. With her reassurance we continued into the auto rickshaw and were on our way.

We were about 10 minutes into the ride when Amy asked me if we were getting close, I didn't know but when I looked at her skin a tinge of white was starting to show - As a veteran vomiter myself recongnised the situ and I aksed if she wanted to pull over.

YES.

Without any special place to stop, we pull infront of a tea stand luckily containing chilly bottled water of which I bought 2 bottles to help Amy wash out her mouth.

Onward we go.

Feeling better, we arrive at the entrance to the park and I pay our driver a whopping 50 Rupees and he drives off. As we start our short walk in I realize I have left my backpack containing Emerson's diapers for the day, my camera, some snacks and other items, in the back of the auto.

CRAP.

So I start to run after it ... the entrance road was about 300 Meters away, and I could still see the auto driving. Here is my internal dialoge of the run:

Yep there he is. F*ck why did I forget my bag in there?
Speed up slightly.
Mmm he is getting closer to the end of the road. My camera is in there.
Speed up again, running about 70% of full speed.
He is at the corner of the road, turning left. Sh*t. My camera is in there.
Speed up again, passing lots of locals on the way. A woman says 'ooh' and another 'what is happening?'
Auto turned the corner and is out of site.
RUN that might be the last time I see him!
I am at Full speed now, and I turn the corner to see the auto picking up speed on the main road. Luckily I can run fast, I made it up to the left rear corner of the cab, starting hitting it with my hand and yelled loudly 'HEY! STOP'
Driver turns his head in horror to see a sweaty white guy running and slapping the side of his ride yelling - about two seconds after that shock he smiles and pulls over.
'I forgot my bag', I said camly as I reached in and took out my backpack.

Being calm and cool I casually walked back to meet up with Gage, Emerson and Amy and passed all of the locals I had just sprinted past.
'Nice run sir'
'Scary sir'
'Very fast sir'
Just a few comments from startled looking indians.

I reach my team and we are off to the entrance. Gage was laughing a bit, Amy told me later that when I was about half way running he said 'if he loses that bag that's like a million rupees!'

We got to the entrance and paid the 32 rupee fee (which included a digital camera photo pass) and walked in.

At the first snake exhibit I ask Amy if she wants to just chill out for a bit, she says ok then vomits on the sidewalk, there goes all of the chilly water she drank on the way. No problem, I always say it is best to get it out no matter where you are. Using the rest of the second bottle we rinse and clean up Amy.

Gage in the background is gagging because he can not only see but can hear what is happening, that is enough to trigger his weak stomach.

After Amy finished and I was able to get Gage to concentrate on the Cobra show, we had a nice little morning.

Whew! Won't forget Snake Park.

Love Ya Amy sorry I had to tell the story!!!

Dave


Web Album to come, check out this link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/davematthes/SnakeParkIndiaOct22006

Happy Campers

Greetings from Chennai!!!!

Love From:
Brandy and Dave
Mom and Dad
Aunty and Uncle
OMatthes Clan Leaders
Sir and Madam
Parental Units
Mama and Papa Bear
Lovers
Friends



Miss you all!!!

Here are a few pictures from Brandy's first exploration mission to Mumbai (Bombay). The Hotel with the crazy dome roof is the Taj where she stayed, and the other building shots are the Gates of India - a famous structure that marks the entrance from the sea into enormous Bombay (15 Million and counting!!). The others are pics of the pollution you can see from the wharf among the small boats, the ocean filled with giant cargo ships on the horizon, a wicked storm blowing in, and a people pimp standing on the corner (he forces children to beg for money and food from passing cars and only lets them keep a small portion of the money).

Alot to take in for a small town Portage La Prairie girl!!


Miss everyone, congrats to Angie and family she finally added a girl to her baby farm in Carmen!!

DM 

Bottles of Hot Garbage

Greetings and Welcome - you are looking at the nearly famous creek that runs below the train tracks. I say nearly famous because to me I am completely awestruck at the variety of life that surround this polluted body of water, but to local Chennai - ians it is a simple bump in the road.

The first time I went out for a walk in India I crossed this bridge close to our street and looked over my shoulder at this sewage stand; a water world filled with garbage, bugs, sludge, and I would bet on bodies. A creek that supplies the small shanty villagers with water to wash their animals and boil for cooking their dinners - I would love to test their stomachs to find out what viruses and worms reside. I have spotted chickens, goats, cats, dogs, a boar or pig, and many birds taking a drink in the hot afternoon - not too far from a butcher where you can have 'fresh chicken' slaughtered, cleaned and packed up right before your eyes. I think this is where the term street meat comes from.

Take a close look at the pics, you will see there are really people living along side this! And when the garbage on the sides grows a little too high, you will find small fires burning to shrink the hills.


Everytime we take a walk you must cross this bridge, it is on the way out of our area. We have nicknamed it the stinky river. Go figure!!

Gage likes to look, but not for too long. Gage's keen sense of smell grabs the pungent fumes in a very short time and if we don't move on the gag reflex kicks in.

Emerson likes to look too, she takes a little longer to squirm to move on but she has taken great pride in yelling 'there's that stinky river!!' everytime we pass in a car, tuk-tuk or by foot.


This shot is just along side the bridge, where the bulk of the garbage is dumped and the fires are usually burning at night. Where there is fire there are bulls, last night when walking home from the noodle restaurant the fire was high and hot and two bulls were chewing their cud close beside just like it was a camping trip!!


If you look closely you can see the effluent mixing into the sludge; this is runoff from the streets and from the sewers. All of this slowly flows into the sea, and you won't be surprised but it goes into the 'local' beach called Marina beach where Ex Patriots like myself are advised to avoid.

As you can tell this is all very interesting to me, a stinky river under the tracks. I will do my best to bottle some of the surrounding air for all of you to sniff when I get back at Christmas!! Although how would you know the difference if I just bottled the air from a pile of hot garbage back home? You will have to take a whiff and decide for yourself.....


Love Dave and the OMatthes River Dwellers 

Album Posting? Awesome

This post is using a new feature from Google called Picassa Album; checking to see how it turns out.

We are all doing great and ALMOST used to the heat and time, I will try to send some more posts over the next week with some news of what we have been upto.

Take care!!

Love the OMatthes Clan.

India Sept 20 2006

Sep 20, 2006 - 12 Photos

Winnipeg Airport

A nice shot of the hooligans we love to call Family! Miss you all.




A few shots with the send off crew who made it to the airport, we had some fun before jumping on our first plane to Montreal. Spirits were high and emotions were flowing, we had no idea what was coming and how the kids would take the long flights ahead - actually how we would take the flights ahead!

Last weekend at the Cabin

Great times came and passed; we had a huge fire and yelled at the stars for one of the last times in a while from this side of the earth. The pit smoked for 3 days despite Brandy's delightful hosing!

We came home and focused on getting packed and ready for our upcoming adventure to Chennai, India - thanks everyone for all your help!

Pics and stories from Chennai coming soon.


Love Dave 

Nice Snakes

Gage and Emerson helped catch a few garders, 3 in the cage and there were more who escaped our evil grasp.




This was the biggest, saying hello to the camera.




Funny hair in the wind, Emerson loves to climb everything.


Well these snakes have seen better days compared to these pictures, we left them in the cage (GASP) all week and with all of the rain they managed to swell up beyond the point of no return.

We had a stinky snake oil slick in the backyard that will make a nice snack to any of the local racoons!


Peace
Dave 

Feel the burn

Dumb ass - should sunscreen cover the whole back? Feeling the burn still on Tuesday from a very hot and sunny Saturday at the lake.

On a good note I did get a sh*tload of wood cut for our send off burn, I am hoping to have a cord or 1 1/2 cord fire before we leave. See you there!

-Dave 

Super Cousins part 2

Well here is agrid of the kids from this weekend, it was too windy for tubing but we had tons of fun swimming and playing outside.

Jayden
Gage
Emerson
Kolton


See you at the lake
-Dave 

Big Rock

Kap-Ki-Gi-Wan in the North of Ontario - nice place to play.

Ultra Cool

My boy Gage chillin with Speedy on a casual Thursday night. Speedy was not up to his usual hyper wiggling and he was ultra cool just hanging out on G's shoulder - he is as long as my arm from elbow to finger tips!!

Take it easy all you cowboys out there.
-Dave 

Birthday Celebration

Happy days are here again - Gage and Emerson take a breath before blowing out another trip around the sun.

Gage - 8 1/2
Emerson - 2

Pass the spoon!!


-Dave 

Super Cousins

The squinters unite - just chillin on the 'beat up bench' at the cabin. Good times for all.

-Dave