HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1979-03-08, Page 23sijkes
Oh yea, I almost forgot.
As you read this informative offering
we are smack dab in the middle of
National Procrastination Week.
So everything you planned to do this
week can simply be put off for another
time. It's time to get behind.
The week has 'been set aside as a
national celebration for putting off
until tomorrow or the next day -or next
week of anything that required urgent
attention.
Personally, the week is of great
significance, since I tend to be a
procrastinator of the all-star variety. I
mean by the time I get aro0nd to
putting my underwear in the hamper
it's time to wear them again. •
You get the drift of what I'm saying?
It's not really an intentional thing but
just a nagging problem that creeps up
and tends to haunt me later on. And
despite repeated vows, uttered in good
faith, to cure the habit I habitually fall
back into the procrastinating course.
Lucia Zmekhol, 17, of Brazil will be living, in Goderich this year as part of
the Rotary Youth Exchange program. She is presently staying with Dan and
Muriel Murphy and family but will be living with several other families in
town throughout her year here to vieW a cross section of Canadian lifestyles.
(Photo by Joanne Buchanan)
Ins�.de:
The Sound of •
Goderich '79 ....... ®... Page 2A
Gravel running
a dea-dly game Page -3-A
Recreation for everyone„ Page• 11A
Captain Comet colouring -
contest. Page 12A,
Huron County
farm news Page 15A
But since this is National
Procrastination Week I thought it only
fair to offer readers a few suggestions
on matters thatrequire immediate
action and shouldbe left no longer.
If you've been1 meaning to trade in
the old Studebaker on a new one, better
act fast. Word is that the production
lines may be closing up.
If you have been hanging on to that
subscription renewal for Life magazine
for years send it in. The magazine is
making a comeback.
Write a scathing letter to Prime
Minister Diefenbaker complaining that
if inflation continues at a rampant rate
Canada will find itself with a devalued
dollar, continuous strikes and one of
the highest cost of living indexes to be
found anywhere in the world.
Make haste in getting word to
Montreal Canadiens General Manager,
Sam Pollock, explaining that Guy
Lafleur would make a poor first round
draft pick and would probably find it
tederich
132—YEAR 10
difficult to crack the Montreal lineup.
Immediately hustle the family
wagon down to the garage for a fitting
of snow tires. There could be a flake or
two in the offing yet.
Without delay, make a phone call to
Toronto, Maple Leafs owner, Harold
Ballard', and insist that due to his
team's recent inept performance in the
National Hockey League, team coach
Roger Nielson should be let go im-
mediately.
Get a group to write to Canada's MPs
explaining that if our dollar continues
to run at $1.03 American our exports
will decline rapidly;; Frustrated
football fans should contact Toronto
Argonaut head office demanding that if
the team is serious about winning a
Grey Cup they might contract the
services of an up and coming coach
named Leo Cahill and an obscure
running back naemd, Leon McQuay.
Alan Eagleson must finally get the
point that if the NHL is to beat the
Russians in convincing style the league,
should pick an all-star team and play
the Russians in mid-season when the
players are at their peak of con-
,ditioning. If Eagleson had any brains
the series would only Fie a three -game
affair and played in North America
using NHL referees and rules. We just
couldn't lose.
Frustrated Canadian sports fans,
considering the plight of the Leafs and
Argonauts, should urge the city of
Toronto to go after a majorbaseball
league franchise and by buying top rate
talent they. could narrowly edge the
Expos for the Vanier Cup. If you,live in
Toronto any cup will do. '
• And finally, Signal -Star. .readers
should petition the newspaper, via a
deluge of nasty letters, to nurture an
entertaining, witty and humorous
columnist to liven the newspaper.
Actually I'm just procrastinating and
will get around to writing a decent
column in good time.
SIGNAL—STA'
THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 1979
SECOND SECTION
Brasil student getting used to Goderich winter
Everything here is different
BY JOANNE •
BUCHANAN
Snow, milk and
squirrels running free.....
They were all strange to
Lucia Zmekhol of Brazil
when she arrived in
Go -de -rich -en January 21.
After spending about
two months here though,
she has gotten used to the
snow. In fact she is
delighted with the white
stuff that so many
Canadians curse each
Winter. She has even
gotten .used to the
squirrels which she had
seen only in zoos in her
own country. But she still
hasn't gotten used to
drinking milk. She sticks
to her favorite drink --
coke.' '
Lucia, 17, " will be
staying in Goderich for
the year as part of the
Rotary Youth Exchange
Program. She is
presently living with Dan
and Muriel Murphy and
their seven children but
she will be moved to other
• homes throughout 'her
stay here so she can view
a real cross-section of
Canadian life styles.
Lucia lives alone at.
home-inBrazil with her
father, an economist and
poet who has had a book
of poems published, and
her' Mother, a housewife.
She has an older brother
and sister and three
nephews. When she left
her home to come to
Canada, her parents were
so lonely that they took in
an exchange student' of
their own from Pen -
sylvan ia.
At -the Murphys, Lucia
is learning •what it is like
to live with a large
family. She says she
thinks she is becoming
very noisy. It is quite
impossible to feel sad or
homesick at the Mur-
phys, explains Lucia,
because.4ey are such a
-big, happy -family. With
several teenagers in the
family and all their
friends coming and
going, she always has lots
of company.
Besides, says Lucia, it
makes no sense to be
homesick. She will return
to Brazil in December to
spend the rest of her life
there but she will
probably never have the
chance to live in Canada
again.
Lucia did become.
slightly homesick
recently thinking of the
big Mardi. Gras
celebrations being held in
her country but listening
to some taped music she
brought with her helped
to overcome this feeling.
Lucia lives in Sante
Andre, a city with a
population of about
700,000. It is 3.0 minutes
from Sao Paulo, the
biggest city in South
America and one of the
biggest in the world. She
feels a'bit guilty saying it
but she admits that her
city is very polluted
because of the heavy
industry carried on there
and she has come to
prefer a smaller centre
like Goderich.
Lucia was fascinated
with large houses in
Goderich and their
unique styles too. On her
street in Brazil there are
about 15 or 16 apartment ,
buildings housing about
5,000 'people. On the
Murphys' street in
Goderich there are
several large "homes
housing about 35 people.
Lucia is finished high
school in Brazil and hopes
to attend university when
she returns. But first, she
says, she will have to
study for her entrance
exam. She would even-
tually like to become a
translator or interpretor
of Portuguese and
English (and maybe even
French).
She has found the
Canadian school system
very different than that of
Brazil, she says. Here,
the students move from
class to class and can
choose their own ' sub-
jects. In Brazil, Lucia
had to take 15 different
subjects but did not have
the same ones every day
as she only went to school
from 7 a.m. to 12 noon.
Other students in Brazil
go to school in the af-
ternoons only and others
go in the evenings only.
Lucia studied English
in Brazil at a special
school affiliated with
Cambridge University in
England for seven years.
'She says she doesn't
know how she passed the
final exam but she did.
"Her written English is
excellent," says Mrs.
Murphy. "But when she
first came here, she
spoke in a monotone with
no expressionin her
voice."
Lucia now has lots of
expression and animation
in her spoken English and
she is helping Mike Grace
of Goderich to learn'
Portuguese since he has
`been chosen to go to
Brazil as an exchange
student from Goderich.
At. G.D.C.I. .Luciais
studying .French and
English at the Grade 10
level, sociology at, the
Grade 13,- level and..
.theatre arts, history and
people in politics at the
Grade 12 level. All the
students and teachers are
very friendly to her, she
says. She laughs about
one mix-up that occurred
recently at school though.
A' spare teacher was
filling in for another
teacher in one of her
classes and he decided to
give a quiz. He was
speaking quickly and
Lucia didn't understand
what he wanted her to do.
So, instead of writing
down all the answers, she
wrote down all the
questions as he read
them. She showed what
she had done to the
student sitting next to her
and they both started to
laugh. The teacher
became angry and asked
her what was wrong. She
said - she had not un-
derstood the quiz and
when he asked why she
had not understood, she
told him that she was
from Brazil and was still
having some trouble with
the language here.
"He didn't believe her
until the others convinced
him," says Janet Gar-
dner, a Goderich student
who will be going to
Australia in August on
the Rotary Student
Exchange Program.
One other thing that
Lucia has noticed about
school here is that the
students dress up to go to
school but don't 'seem to beaches while she was
care what they wear to freezing in Canada.
parties while in Brazil Brazil is noted for its
nobody_ _cares what they-- ex-port-of-coffeebut-Lucia
wear to School but they . says she • doesn't drink
get really dressed up for much of it. It tastes about
parties. Also at parties in the same here as it does
Brazil, the people dance a in Brazil too, she says.
lot more than -they do With meals in Brazil
here, says Lucia. people mostly drink pop,
Lucia herself likes to juice or water never
play the guitar but says milk, she says. In fact,
modestly that she doesn't . Lucia has never had
play well. She has ,at- milk. In Brazil there is
tended a Harry Chapin only reconstituted milk
concert while staying from powder. Here she
here and really enjoyed has tried chocolate milk
that, but not white milk yet.
Lucia says she likes to
EVERYTHING eat. She misses the'black
DIFFERENT beans that she eats at
home in Brazil. Not as
"Everything here is many potatoes are eaten
different," says Lucia in Brazil as in Canada,
matter-of-factly. She is she says. Rice is eaten
getting used to most instead. Lucia's favorite
differences though. thing is coke.
It is much colder here "She's a coke addict,"
than in Brazil but she says Janet. "She drinks it,
likes the cold. dt school all the time."
"One day she bought a
new sweat shirt and she
went outside with just a
turtleneck sweater, jeans
and the sweatshirt. I told
her she would freeze but
she said that she liked the
cold," says Mrs. Murphy.
Lucia is especially fond
of the snow which she had
never seen much of
before. She has been ,
cross country skiing once
and really liked it. Every
time it snows, she -gets
very excited. But she •
doesn't like the rain.
There are seasons in
Brazil but theyare not as
extreme as in Canada.
She recently received a
letter from a friend in
Brazil who was talking
about lying on warm
Besides eating, laughs
Lucia, one of her favorite
things is talking. She will
get a chance to do lots of
this when she speaks to
various clubs here and in
Brazil on the exchange
program.
This past weekend she
attended a Rotary
Exchange Conference in
Michigan for the central
states district and had the
chance to speak with two
other Brazilian friends
who are living in
Walkerton and Hamilton
on the exchange
program.
Lucia says she is very
lazy.
"The biggest chore En
this family is getting
Lucia out of bed in the
' Turn to page 2 A .
Somewhere the child misunderstood.
All that talk about loving and being
kind to animals wasn't a total loss but
some of it had to be misunderstood. I
assumed that she understood that I was
talking about animals that were still
alive.
For as long as she has been able to
understand, and longer, we've been
telling our daughter to be kind and to
love animals. Ever since she first
stuffed play dough in the dog's ear or
carried the cat around the yard while
the poor creature gasped for breath
because of the choke hold my daughter
had on it my wife and I have been
stopping her and explaining kindness to
animals. It couldn't have all been just
talk either. After all she stopped
pushing her baby buggy over the head
of a sleeping dog and she no 'longer
plays covboy with the poor canine
using her skipping rope to harness the
dog to the car all but hanging it.
I guess I shouldn't wonder how she
figured to make that mouse her pet. I
just assumed she would understand
'that kindness to animals is usually
confined to those that are alive. After
all how many children have a dead cat
for a pet.
I don't know where she found this
new pet. I was Working away outside
when she came rushing up to me like
there was a tornacb about to lift the
house away. I' calmed her down and
waited til she caught her breath to' ask
what the problem was. She held out her
hand and sadly announced that it was
dead. '
I couldn't get upset because I didn't
even know what it was. I still didn't
think it could he that little black thing
in her hand that had her so upset.
She practically scolded me when I
asked her what it was. She looked at me
like I had two heads and sharply an-
nounced that it was a mouse and it was
dead. -
Dead! If it hadn't of been winter it
would have long since decomposed. It
died several months ago and was
preserved in winter's ice. I tried to
explain that field mice aren't like dogs.
Mice live outside where life is tough
right? Mice have to learn to take care
of themselves because just about
everyone is after their buns. Mother
Nature only has room for so many mice
and some have to die.
It was then I wished Walt Di'Sney had
never created Mickey Mouse. I should
have recognized that 'no way' look in
her eye. when I suggested she put the
carcass in the garbage. As she walked
away wondering who could ever kill
something so tiny I went hack to work
and forgot the whole thing.
She must not have gotten the
message. She saw no need to take a
perfectly good mouse and -throw it in
the garbage even if it•was dead.
When -she walked in the house her
mother was on the phone giving her
just the opportunity she needed.
Watching carefully to see if her crime
was spotted she hid her new pet from
view and went off to her room. Only my
daughter and possibly Dr. Spock would
have a reason for her to put the tiny
animal on her'shelf.
In my book her reason wasn't good
enough. She told her mother she was
keeping the animal as an ornament for
her room. I suppose as far as she was
concerned there was no difference
between her ornament and the ceramic
ornaments her mother and grand-
mothers give her. At least she knew
that at one time her ornament was a
living thing. Her mother didn't agree
and demanded that the thing go out-
side. I think she was ready for that
reaction. She didn't kick up too much of
a fuss. I'm just glad it wasn`t, a dead
cow she found.
jerf
Seddon