August 3, 2009

Day 3


Happy Civic Day! I doubt people actually say that in Canada, but the first Monday is August is a holiday. That means Kevin started his first day of work in Canada alone. Well, the other Americans were at work today.
Kevin's Work Station - a.k.a. Cubicle

The exit sign was in English and French

I did some google research to figure out what Civic Day actually is. According to suite101.com (which appears to be more like Wikipedia and may not be all that reliable), the day was created in 1875. It’s considered to be the middle of summer and is sometimes referred to as “August Long Weekend.” However, not all of the provinces or territories recognize the day.

According to suite101.com, Ottawa refers to the holiday as Colonel By Day, but this has only been the name since 1996. John By was a British Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal Engineers who supervised the building of the Rideau Canal in the 1820’s. According to ottawakiosk.com, the building of the Rideau Canal required a yearly work for of up to 7,000 workers and close to 1,000 died due to accidents and disease. Apparently Ottawa was originally called Bytown. (I don’t know ANY Canadian history, folks. I’m just a googling queen!)

Lieutenant-Colonel John By


The Rideau Canal in Summer

The Rideau Canal in Winter

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1 comment:

  1. Kevin and BekahThursday, September 03, 2009

    You aren't a dummy - I didn't really publish a lot of places that I would be home alone for a month. Kevin applied for a pilot group with DCMA to spend 2 (originally 3) months abroad. Germany was our #2 choice, but his area of expertise was needed in Ottawa.

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