100th Day!

Hi Everyone!

February 10th is the official 100th day of school for Jonah and his classmates! Thanks to all of you, we were successful and collected well over the 100 cards we needed for the project. Jonah counted them all! He opted to categorize them according to who sent them: family, friends, and strangers. The result is a beautiful album which will be shown off tomorrow at the 100th day of school celebration! Looking foward to seeing what everyone else collected.

I've included a few photos of Jonah with his album.

Bonjour tout le monde!

Le 10 février, c'est l 100ième jour d'école pour Jonah et ses amis! Grâce à vous, nous avons eu un grand succès avec ce projet et avons collecté bien au dela des 100 cartes postales qu'il nous fallait. Jonah les a tous comptées. Il a choisi de les organiser selon de qui elles venaient : famille, amis, étrangers. Le résultat? Un bel album qui sera dévoilé demain lors de la fête du 100ième jour demain! Nous avons hâte de voir les autres collections!

Voici quelques photos de Jonah avec son album.

La belle province? Tout à fait.

Notre petit projet encourage naturellement les voyageurs de nous envoyer des cartes postales. Mais comme plusieurs amis et parents voulaient participer au projet mais ne comptaient pas voyager durant les 100 jours du projet, nous avons reçu plusieurs cartes postales des quatre coins du Québec!

De notre ami Lucas (9 ans), une image de pêche sur la glace à Saint-Anne-de-la-Pérade. Le soleil de fin d'après-midi illumine les petites cabanes blanches, vertes, jaunes entourées de neige et de glace. À Sainte-Eustache, ma chère tante Henriette à entamé une vraie recherche historique en ce pointant à la mairie et demandant s'il existait des cartes postales de la ville. Elle en a trouvé plein! L'église historique de Saint-Eustache qui date de 1768, le moulin Legaré construit en 1762, le Manoir Globenski, reconstruit en 1901 après un incendie, une érablière, le couvent des soeurs de la Congrégation Notre-Dame, la maison Chénier-Sauvé (qui a appartenu à cinq députés dont le premier ministre Paul Sauvé et encore d'autres! Lucie, qui fut l'éducatrice de Jonah quand il avait 3 ans, a déniché une carte postale qui date de la construction de du complex La Grande, en Baie James; son père y travaillait. Et Diane, une amie d'enfance, a envoyé un couché de soleil sur les Îles de la Madeleines! Wow, quel beau coin de la terre...

From La Belle Province

Our little project is an obvious attraction for travellers. But lots of friends and family wanted to participate even though they were not planning on travelling in the 100 days of the project. So they sent postcards from Québec!

Our friend Lucas (9 years old) sent a post card of ice fishing in Sainte-Anne-de-Pérade. The colourful little shacks are all aglow in thegolden light of the late afternoon winter sun. My aunt Henriette was undeterred and accepted the challenge of finding postcards from Saint-Eustache. She headed down to city hall and found dozens of postcards! The town's church, built in 1768; a mill built in 1767; Globenski Manor, rebuilt after a fire in 1901; the convent of the sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame; a sugar shack; a home that once belonged to Premier Paul Sauvé and even more! One of Jonah's former daycare teachers, Lucie, sent a vintage card of the road being built in James Bay for the La Grande project (her dad worked their). And my old high school friend Diane sent a gorgeous sunset from the Magdelene Islands. What a beautiful place!

A card from China!

This week's mail brought us a postcard from Beijing, China! It comes from a Chinese friend of mine who lived in Montreal briefly and now lives back home with her husband and 3-year old son. I'm so happy to be back in touch with her, and it's all thanks to this project.

In fact, the project is providing us with a great reason get in touch with friends and family we don't see or talk to as often as we would like. Busy lives, you know how it goes. But we are so touched by the response from our friends and family! They're sending postcards and sharing stories, whether they're at home or travelling. Some are making it a project of their own: Mamie, one of Jonah's grandmothers, sent postcards from every destination on a recent Mediterranean cruise; Denise, a former colleague of Sarah's (Jonah's other mom) lives in England now and has been sending postcards from all of her travels in Great Britain and Europe. My uncle André sends wonderful postcards from Québec City full of tales of what he would show Jonah if Jonah came to visit: Château Frontenac, the Citadelle, the Place Royale. He also sends postcards from past travels, and I`m discovering what an amazing, adventurous spirit he and my aunt Danielle have! People from Montreal are being creative and sending images of Montreal 100 years ago, or of special landmarks.

I have to admit that Sarah and I are far more excited about the project than Jonah. He loves seeing new postcards and we read them all to him. But he doesn't seize how totally awesome it is in the same way we do. We figure he will when he's all grown up! Also, when we show the project to the class and everyone else sees it.

(Français à venir! Merci de votre patience.)

A Special Thank You!

Last week, the most intriguing envelope arrived in the mail from Surrey, England. Inside, there were several postcards: one was of a village called West Horsley and three were from Kenya! They come from Corinne and Linda from the Sunrise of Africa schoolboard. West Horsely is Linda's village in Surrey; Kenya, is where the schoolboard is. Linda mailed the letter once she was back in England, from what I gather.

Along with some postcards of African wildlife (a lioness and some vervet monkeys)Corinne and Linda sent a photo. We couldn't believe it when this photo slipped out of the envelope! It is of a group of children at Sunrise smiling and laughing, looking up at the camera with sparkling, dancing eyes, dressed in green sweaters and orange shirts. They look about Jonah's age, maybe a year older. Some are making goofy faces, others smiling peacefully, others have ear-to-ear grins. With the photo is a letter from Corinne wishing Jonah good luck on his project. I am touched by the thought and good feeling that went into this letter. And Jonah loved the picture of school kids his age!

I'm going to see if we can get a photo of Jonah's classmates and send it back to the Sunrise kids! Wouldn't it be great if they could learn about each other?

Un remerciement spécial

Nous avons reçu la semaine passé une enveloppe très intriguante de la ville de Surrey, en Angleterre. L’enveloppe contenait plusieurs cartes postales : Une du village de West Horsley et trois du Kenya! Ces cartes nous parviennent de Corrine et Linda de la commission scolaire Sunrise of Africa. West Horsley est le village où Linda habite, et la commission scolaire en question (elle y travaille) est au Kenya.

Corrine et Linda ont envoyé des cartes postales avec des images Africaine : une lionne, est des singes. Mais elles ont aussi ajouté une belle photo des enfants qui fréquentent l’une des écoles de leur commission scolaire! Il s’agit d’un groupe d’enfants avec des grands sourrirs, les yeux pétillants, vêtus d’habits oranges et verts. Ils ont probablement le même âge que Jonah, donc bien sur il y en quelqu’uns qui font des drôles de grimmaces, d’autres qui rient et d’autres qui sourient calmement pour la caméra. Corrine à ajouter quelques mots d’encouragement à Jonah pour son projet. Je suis touché par ces belles pensés et la générosité de ce geste. Et Jonah adore la photo des enfants!

Je vais essayer d’organiser une photo de groupe de la classe de Jonah et de leur envoyer! Ça serait génial si ses enfants pourraient profiter de cet échange pour apprendre!

The World in Our Mailbox!

Wow! Our mail carrier must be wondering what is going on! Here is a list of places Jonah has received postcards from in the last 10 days: Madrid; Belfast; London; Tokyo; Christchurch, New Zealand; Montreal; Viet Nam and France(mailed from Montreal).

I can't tell you what a thrill it is to open the mailbox every day! An each postcard brings a new opportunity to chat with Jonah about these wonderful places.

Our scanner isn't working right now, so I can't scan them yet.

Thank you to everyone who has written in so far!

Wow! Le facteur doit bien se demander ce qui se passe chez nous! Nous avons reçu à date des cartes postales des endroits suivants : Madrid; Belfast; Londres; Tokyo; Christchurch, Nouvelle Zélande; Montréal; Viet Nam et la France (posté à Montréal).

C'est tellement excitant d'ouvrir la boîte à lettres tous les jours! Et chaque carte postale nous donne l'occasion de parler à Jonah de l'endroit d`où elle vient.

Je n`arrive pas à scanner les cartes à cause d'un problème avec l'imprimante, malheureusement.

Merci à tout le monde qui à envoyé une carte postale!

We've got mail!

After doing just a first PR blitz, Jonah has started getting postcards! He has a grand total of 11 BUT....10 are from Mamie (maternal grandmother). Merci Mamie!

Another postcard has come in from Paris, France. It's from a Montreal friend who is traveling. It is a stunning view of Paris from a rooftop with a gargoyle. I had a great time telling Jonah all about gargoyles, the Eiffel Tower and stories about visiting Paris when I was 20.

Quite a few people have written in for the mailing address, so we are looking forward to more!


LES CARTES POSTALES ARRIVENT!

Après avoir fait des efforts minimaux en relations publiques, les cartes postales commencent à arriver! Nous en avons reçu 11…MAIS il y en a 10 de Mamie! Merci Mamie!

Nous avons aussi reçu une carte postale de Paris, envoyée par une amie qui est en voyage. Il s’agit d’une magnifique vue sur Paris, prise d’un toit avec une gargouille! Cela m’a donné l’occasion de parler à Jonah de Paris, de gargouilles et de mes propres séjours dans la ville des lumières.

Plusieurs d’autres personnes ont écrit pour avoir l’adresse postale, donc nous en anticipons d’autres!

Welcome!

Hi!

Welcome to the 100 cartes postales pour Jonah project!

This project is for our son, Jonah, who has just started kindergarten at École Laurier in Montreal. His class is involved in an activity called the 100th day of school.

The 100th Day of School is celebrated in elementary schools around the world. It is mostly celebrated by young children who are learning to count to 100. Kids keep track of how many days of school have gone by during the year, and a celebration occurs on the 100th day. Teachers promote activities using the number 100. Throughout the 100 days, students have a fun time counting and sorting objects, food, and anything teacher's can think of. Students will learn to count from 1 to 100 - by ones, twos, fives, and tens in different fun ways.

In Jonah's class, students will present to the class a collection of 100 objects on the 100th day of school. The collections will be featured in a class exhibition.

When the teacher presented this idea to parents recently, I immediately thought of something I knew would appeal to Jonah: We would collect postcards! 100 postcards from all over the world.

Why did I think this would be fun for Jonah? Jonah has heard lots of stories over the years about the world. He has always been fascinated about hearing of friends and relatives who live in different places: His grandfather, Serge, spent the last two years of his life in Africa; we have family on the Canadian West coast, in sunny Florida, friends in places like Venice, New York City, California, New Zealand, Spain, Greece, Morocco, China...we talk about all of these people in all of these places. He routinely uses names of faraway places in his play ("the bad guys stole the Treasure of Africa!" "my team is Qatar, yours is Turkey").

This project will help Jonah and his class form a better understanding of the world and connect with different realites and cultures. I also hope it creates lasting bonds and opportunities for sharing stories and building bridges.

HOW THIS WILL WORK
As postcards start to come in, we will scan them and publish them on this blog. When the 100th day rolls around some time in February 2011, we will gather all the post cards and Jonah will present them as his collection of 100 items!

HOW TO SEND A POSTCARD
If you would like to send Jonah a postcard, simply send an email to JonahCG@gmail.com, and we'll send you our mailing address.

Thanks in advance!! Check back here in the next 100 days to see how the project is coming along!