Living Below the Line ...

A few weeks ago Hugh Jackman began promoting a great fundraising activity called living below the line. This initiative requires participants to live off $1.50 worth of food a day for 5 days.

Not a lot of money right? Yet it is what approx 1.4 billion people live off every day! True story. The stats are baffling!! I was blown away by it and decided I simply had to participate. Oh and I love Hugh Jackman. That shouldn't have anything to do with this ... but it does. Don't judge me.

The week rolled around sooner than anticipated and so, after a lovely brunch with friends on Sunday morning I went shopping with my $7.50 in hand. We normally get our shopping done in about 30 minutes and spend considerably more than $7.50. It’s amazing how quickly you can shop when you don’t look at the price of anything. On Sunday it took me a good hour to spend $7.50. It is a ridiculously small amount of money! After a lot of searching I managed to spend it and have the following food to get me through this week:

• Spinach - $0.99
• Corn - $0.99
• Noodles – 5 x $0.29 ($1.45)
• Oats - $1.00 (the box of 10 sachets was $1.99 but I am only eating 5 of them this week … it is not delicious)
• Rice - $2.49 (750g of rice … 150g per day for 5 days)
• Soy sauce - $0.58 (the bottle was $1.38 for 590ml … I’m only allowed to use 250ml for the week … it think it is probably a bit too much. If I don’t use it all I’m going to use 1 tea bag on Thursday … I would love a cup of tea)

Sunday evening Joep & I ate a considerable amount of veggies and Joep then very kindly systematically ate as much of the other fun stuff in the house as possible to ensure I wouldn’t break under the pressure (while he is living it up in California). He is very considerate. One other thing I did on Sunday night was to look up how many calories per day someone my size needs to consume to maintain their weight. It’s about 2000. Based on the food above, I am eating max 1000 calories per day this week. But never fear, I will likely make up for the reduction this weekend.

Monday began with me feeling very optimistic and sure that I would make it through the week without tooooooo much trouble. Then I tasted my oatmeal. It was not delicious. In fact, it was pretty gross. I have eaten 3 weet-a-bix for brekkie every morning of my life (this is sadly not much of an exaggeration). It was a rough week without them. The rice and soy sauce I had for lunch was ok. It filled me up for sure. But it was not as wonderful as my usual chicken, rice and salad from the Kebob Kebob guy downstairs which costs more than my entire weeks worth of food this week … boo. Dinner was a delicious feast of 2 minute noodles (curry flavor). They were $0.29 per packet and were my greatest find of the shopping trip. They really were delicious and I found myself wishing that I had just purchased 25 packets of these noodles with my $7.50. That would give me 5 packets per day … oh that would’ve been a better option. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

By day 2 I was doing ok but I was a bit hangry (definition: hunger induced anger) but coping. Just barely. Then hanger passed quicky and by day 3 I was ... tired. I wasn't really hungry but I would gladly have eaten an entire packet of tim tams in one sitting) and I was extremely lethargic. On Wednesday I spiced up my daily meals by having noodles for lunch and rice for dinner … I know. I was out of control. And just when you thought things couldn’t get further out of hand, I threw some spinach and corn into the noodles! Yes. Wednesday was a big day.

Note: Spinach from a can is not delicious. In fact, it is barely edible. Oh and on that note, I oatmeal very quickly became my favourite meal of the day. True story.

I also received an email on Wednesday from the US coordinator telling me I was doing great and then informing me of how she was doing. She said that it wasn’t the hunger or the bland food that was hard, it was knowing that 1.4 billion people live like this every week of their lives.

Whatever. Those people don’t have to sit in day long accounting meetings with clients who, despite not understanding a lot of what I say, look at me as though I am the idiot. These meetings are much easier on a full stomach.

I’m clearly joking here – I don’t really think that it is harder to be an accountant in a developed nation than to be unemployed in a developing nation. But I can’t say that I didn’t seriously think the above sporadically over the week. Judge me if you like. You’re not eating oats, rice and noodles every day. I did, however take a great deal of solace in the little things. Like the fact that I got to go home every night to a comfortable apartment where I could have bubble baths, sleep in a comfortable bed (which I did for 10 hours a night!) and shower every morning. I also made an executive decision to trade in my soy sauce for a tea bag. White rice is fine by itself. And a cup of tea?? Oh my lord. I had my first cup of tea on Thursday morning. I used the same teabag 3 times in one day. It was delicious.

One other point of note is that I think Canadian’s are getting jibbed. We were on the same program as the US yet people in the US were able to afford fresh fruits, meat and then similar things to me with their $7.50. My bag of rice cost $2.49. People in the US got their bag of rice for $0.69 … whaaaaaaat?! It hurt my heart to look at this so I stopped. By Thursday my little pile of food on the bench at home looked miserable and I was very happy to have only 1 day left of eating like a poor person. I’m not going to lie to you … I was exhausted.

But Friday arrived and the food routine was the same as every other day and even though it was super tough, I survived it! The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing in Laguna Beach with Joep and I couldn’t help but look at the price of everything I ate and realize just how incredibly lucky we are to be able to live the lifestyle we live. Things I learned from living below the line:

1. The poverty line is seriously low. Brutally low. The idea that people live with this little food and even less creature comforts every day is pretty heart breaking when you consider how luxuriously we live by comparison. It makes me want to try to complain less …
2. Once you’re living below that line it has got to be super hard to get out of it. I had no energy for anything by the end of the week. I cannot imagine having to work up the energy to scour for more food, try to find work, care for children or look for a home all the while feel hungry.
3. Being poor in Ottawa, Canada is harder than being poor in the USA. Seriously. These dudes were buying fresh fruit, meat and bread with their $7.50. Rice was $0.69 in the USA, $2.49 in Canada. If I am ever unfortunate enough to be living below the poverty line I am hitching a ride across the US border and pigging out.
4. You can’t be hangry if you’re exhausted.
5. Oatmeal, whilst foul and gag inducing at first, will become positively delicious after a week. That is a true story.

A huge thanks to everyone for your support and sponsorship! I highly encourage you all to do it next year … oh and FYI all my clothes were loose on my by Saturday morning and Joep was less than impressed by the fact that he could ‘could my ribs without you even sucking it in Jenny!’ Don’t worry. I reversed all these effects over the weekend.

GAMLIO

Joep has made a number of very good friends in our time here in Ottawa. They are all 'Grown Ass Men Living in Ottawa' and they all have a great deal in common.

For example, they all love outdoor sports activities. They all also love beer. And most importantly they all love to do all of these things at the same time. A few months ago, while enjoying a few beers at the bar, Joep & Mike decided that it would be a good idea to arrange a man's event that would involve the 2 things they all love most. Outdoors sports and beer.

And so the GAMLIO Olympics was born.

The gusto with which the boys threw themselves into this day is unprecedented. I'm pretty sure that for a while there Joep was more excited about this day than he is about our wedding day. This is not an exaggeration. And its understandable.

For weeks the boys plotted and planned. Michael and Marcus were likely the most enthusiastic planners and Joep was mighty disappointed to miss out on the numerous planning meetings that took place (because he was in California, naturally) but the day was arranged with amazing precision. Teams of 3 were formed and events were planned.

The events of the day included:

• 3-on-3 basketball
• Baseball hitting - They actually invested in a ball pitching machine for the day ... true story.
• Tug o' war
• Rock throwing - This is exactly what it sounds like. They threw a rock and whoever threw it the furthest won.
• Golf - Just chipping and putting.
• Bocce ball - They made it more manly than it sounds. I'm not sure how but I believe Joep when he tells me this.
• Tire flipping - Again, they arranged a giant tire for the day ... this one hey just borrowed, not purchased.
• Rib cooking - This was one of my favorite events. Ribs were cooked and voted on. It was serious business.
• Trivia - Based on Canadian trivial pursuit card questions.
• Flip cup - The age old drinking game was the finale of the day.

The above list may not be exhaustive. I wasn't there so I may have missed a few events (I just promised Joep I would blog this for posterity). I do, however, know of a few of the highlights of the day. Firstly, the night before the Olympics Joep informed me quite late in the evening as we were just about to leave the house for a party that he needed to prepare ribs for the following day. Sigh.

The 2 of us then set about creating a delicious basting sauce for the ribs and getting the marinating. Joep then agreed that he would get up at 5am the following morning to put the ribs in the oven. Try to get Joep out of bed at 5am for work and you will struggle. Getting him out of bed at 5am to prepare ribs? Easy peasy lemon squeezy. After a relatively late night on the Friday he still bounded out of bed at 5am to get the ribs prepared. 4 hours later the ribs were prepared and Joep was heading off for his day of fun!

As I mentioned, I was not there to witness the craziness of the day but Joep provided me regular updates throughout the day. There were 12 men in total and the competition was stiff. A score board was carried around at all times to keep track and the points system was a serious one. Aykarumba. Joep's highlights of the day time activities were when he fell over during the tug 'o' war and also when he fell over whilst flipping the tire and landed upside down inside the tire. Slap stick comedy at its finest.

I joined the festivities in the evening in time for a bbq and to judge the rib off competition. The ladies were responsible for tasting and judging. Joep's ribs came in a very very very close 2nd to the winning ribs which left the score very very close. The winners would be decided by the final event of the day. Flip cup.

Let me set the scene for a second. Joep was in the blue team. They were ahead by a few points but in order to win overall they had to come first or second in flip cup. The white team was the only other team that were in contention to win. If the white team won flip cup and the blue team came 3rd then the white team would win overall. Tense.

The first round of flip cup saw Team White win! Yikes. And so it was down to the wire. Blue versus red. If Team Blue won then Team White would win overall. If Team Red won then ... Joep would be very happy. The flip cup was based on a best of 3. The first round was won by Joep's team. Excitement ensued. Round 2 was controversial. Team Red won however there was a discrepancy noted. They had flip cupped in the wrong order. When this was pointed out to Team Red there was uproar. Literally. Could this mean that Team Blue were the winners? No. The uproar lead to a group consensus, Team Red was given the win for round 2. And so it came down to round 3.

Team Blue was ready to go. Steve went first and did a stellar job of sculling and flipping. Marcus followed. Always the pro, he sculled and flipped in the time it takes me to pour a beer ... Team Red was neck and neck with Team Blue. Joep was up. He sculled and he flipped. The first couple of flips were unsuccessful. Thankfully this was also the case for Team Red. The tension grew. On the third flip Joep's cup landed in the middle of 2 slats on the table, wobbled around for a second and then ... settled! Nanoseconds before Team Red finished. The excitement!

Joep's reaction was one of the most awesome reactions I have ever witnessed. While his team mates jumped around like they had just won the gold medal for Canadian ice hockey at the Olympics, Joep ran backwards with a very serious expression on his face shouting 'BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!' while firing his hand guns at the crowd. He doesn't know where this came from. I don't either. But I would like him to repeat it. Often. It was hilarious.

And so ended the inaugural GAMLIO Olympics. Team Blue was crowned gold medal winners and awarded The Works vouchers (best burger joint in Ottawa) and a group of very tired, very intoxicated, grown ass men were chaperoned home by their respective girlfriends / wives.

Joep is committed to coming back to Ottawa next year to compete again. I've said 'we'll see' which usually means no ... but don't tell him that just yet.

Some QT in the OC

It has been a hectic few months with Joep & I splitting our time between SoCal and Ottawa. Alas we still have a few more months to go but I made the executive decision to take a week off after Easter break so that we could be together for more than a couple of days at a time.

It was the best decision ever! After an incredible weekend with Will & Em in San Francisco Joep & I caught our Jet Blue flight to Long Beach (watching the Lakers lose to New Orleans on the way ... glorious!) where we settled in for a week in the sunshine! Well ... I had a week in the sunshine. Joep went to work every day mmmmmmwahahahahaha!

Sadly I was also working for a few days to meet an unexpected project deadline but it is not so terrible to work when your sitting on a deck over looking the ocean on a glorious summers day!

The week was absolutely lovely and gave us a bit of a taste of the life we will have in the second half of this year. We even made some evening trips to the surrounding suburbs to go shopping and watch movies. All in all a very lovely working week.

The royal wedding on Friday kept me glued to the television (loved it) and to kick off the weekend we enjoyed the usual evening bbq on the deck with some wine. Whilst enjoying a beer and lamenting the fact that we were missing Queens Day in Amsterdam we spotted a mum and baby whale swimming close to the shore ... it was incredible! It is hard to believe that we are lucky enough to live in a place as amazing as this! As if that wasn't enough, we also decided to do a day trip on Saturday and so, after a great night of sleep, off we headed to the San Diego zoo!

This is one serious zoo. The weather was amazing so we spent a good 5 hours walking around non-stop visiting all the animals. We debated over favourites and I am quite clear that my favourite animals of the day were the capybaras. Joep loved the leopard ... we were the only ones at the enclosure for a little while and after spotting us (no pun intended), the leopard got up, walked to the front of the enclosure, stared at us for a while and then walked off again when more people arrived. Joep was mesmerized!

It was such an amazing day and so nice to be warm again. The zoo is phenomenal and I can see us making many more trips there in the coming months!

After the zoo we headed out to dinner at Zoolu which was recommended to us by a few people and is apparently the best restaurant in Laguna Beach. It was less than average and we deeply regretted not going to one of our usual spots for dinner. But still, we tried it. At least we won't die wondering. Feeling contentedly full we walked home for a night of movies and chill out time (we are certainly mastering the art of chilling out!) before Sunday morning when it was time for me to go home. Boo.

Randomly, when we got to LAX on Sunday afternoon there was heaps of security around the airport and they were doing random checks of cars before you even enter into the airport car park. Joep & I were bewildered ... until we heard the news of Osama. The celebrations in America have been pretty insane and its been interesting to hear so many seemingly compassionate and empathetic people celebrating the death of another human being and displaying gruesome pictures on their facebook pages. Joep & I have talked about it at length and thankfully are of the same mind about it. Its the same frame of mind that most of our friends are in as well and its pretty well summed up by the Martin Luther King Jr. quote that many have posted on their social networks - ‎"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

Still this is not meant to be a political forum ... the message to come out of this blog is that Joep & I had a great week together in SoCal and as time goes by we are getting exponentially more excited about the move that is coming up!

Now we just need to get organized for it ...