Saturday, July 17, 2010

Ban on Crayons.

Today was the big multicultural festival.

My work co-sponsored the Canada pavilion (okay, seriously, that word is weird. It's like papillion but not) so the last week and a half, I've been doing lots for it. I spent all yesterday formatting a booklet of authentic Canadian recipes and folding each of the 400 copies. Yuck.

My boss brought Tim Hortons doughnuts around noon and passed them out to all the volunteers, and as I was handing out mini flags, a man saw my doughnut and his whole face lit up. I laughed and apologized saying no, we're not selling them, but yes, they're very very Canadian.

In a less fun encounter, one man stopped just outside the pavilion and looked in. I asked if he would like a flag, and very gruffly he said, "No, I don't want a French pavilion." and then stalked off.

Now, if I had been a regular run-of-the-mill festival volunteer, I probably would have corrected him. Actually, I probably would have sneered and corrected him rather condescendingly. However, I was not a regular volunteer, I was representing my work, and therefore, I asked a small child if he'd like a flag instead.
In the morning, we spent a couple hours setting up and getting things ready and then the kids were upon us and the sun got mean. I was planning on staying under cover the entire time so I didn't bother with sunscreen. I now have a bunch of tan lines, plus a random white rectangle in the middle of my chest thanks to my necklace. Whoops.
I also spent a fair amount of time colouring. You are never too old to colour. However, crayons suck. No wonder all kingergarten drawings never stay within the lines, crayons are all over the place. No more crayons. Ban on crayons.

Then came the parade. All the different countries lined up alphabetically, except for Canada which came last. A local celebrity, the dad of some of my friends, carried our flag and we marched up and down the grounds, thousands of people watching and cheering. Most people were chattering but when they saw our flag, they started hollering and waving.

I waved my mini flag and smiled real big.

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