Lögberg-Heimskringla - 24.01.2003, Side 4

page 4 » Lögberg-Heimskringla « Friday, 24 January 2003

This column recognizes people oflcelandic descent who have made or are making a contribution to the IcelandicfNorth American community. Please let us know ifthere is someone
you would like to see featured. Contact (204) 284-5686 or email us at logberg@mts.net
Icelandic Canadian Brothers in Mauritius
PHOTO COURTESY OF GILLES AND STEPHANE TAILLEFER
Gilles Taillefer (left), Stephane Taillefer (right).
Mauritius, the home of the extinct dodo bird, was a
Portuguese, and successively a Dutch, then French, then
English colony. It has been independent since 1968 and is a
member of the British Commonwealth. English is the otlicial
work language. French and Creole are spoken everywhere.
Gilles and Stephane Taillefer
Mauritius
Here we are in the republic
of Mauritius, in the middle
of the Indian Ocean. If you had
asked us a year ago, we would
never have dreamed of this.
Our parents are Jean-Marie and
Lynne (Magnusson) Taillefer of
St. Adolphe, MB. Our mater-
nal grandparents Kristjana
(Sigvaldason) Magnusson-
Clark and the late Albert
Magnusson of Surrey, BC grew
up in the Icelandic communities
of Arborg and Hnausa. Our late
paternal grandparents were
Edouard and Adelaide Taillefer
of LaBroquerie, MB.
How we, two half Icelandic-
Canadian and half French-
Canadian brothers, ended up on
Mauritius is not all that compli-
cated. We would encourage any
other young people with open
minds and spirits to contact us if
they want to get information on
how a wonderful experience like
this is possible.
We were sent as part of an
exchange program with UNE-
VOC Canada, a subcategory of
UNESCO. UNEVOC is a stu-
dent exchange program put in
place by the United Nations.
Sadly discontinued in the USA
for security reasons, young
Canadians can still take advan-
tage of this great program.
We are both computer pro-
grammers and needed some
good hands-on experience to
include on our resumes to
impress potential Canadian
employers. We have designed
and created a new web site for
the Mauritius Sugar Industry
Research Institute (MSIRI) as
well as software for their
intranet, where employees can
search the library database for
certain publications. We then
also wrote the code for a pro-
gram that will keep track of the
inventory of the MSIRI. The
software can be used to perform
many different types of queries
about the company’s hardware,
software and ofi&ce equipment.
The software also allows users
to maintain the database by
adding, modifying and deleting
equipment.
So here we are in Mauritius
for six months. We have discov-
ered that your impression of a
place changes drastically the
longer you live somewhere. Yet
we will speak of constants that
have not changed since we have
been here. The landscape here
is beautiful, just amazing. The
water is the purest colour of
turquoise and so dense that you
float without effort. When you
get further out to sea, the water
changes to indigo blue. The
tropical flora with abundant
fruit and intensely coloured
flowers is a welcome change to
snow and ice. Mango and litchi
trees overloaded with fruit can
be seen everywhere.
Unfortunately the people
here seem to throw garbage
indiscriminately. In an effort to
keep the island clean, authori-
ties have placed billboards,
advertisements and garbage
receptacles every where, but you
still see garbage on the streets
and beaches. Some people are
getting the message but it is not
like Canada. The air pollution
from vehicles here is quite stun-
ning as well. It is a very popu-
lated island after all and the
vehicles have no standards for
emissions. This year they will
be introducing unleadéd gas so
hopefully this will help.
The best aspect of
Mauritius we have kept for last
and that is the truly good hearts
and sincerity of the Mauritian
people. The people here make
this island really worth visit-
ing. We have never felt so wel-
come as in Mauritius. If you
want to talk to just about any-
one, they would love to chat
with you. They will also go out
of their way to help you or make
sure you are having a good
time. Mauritians are very
happy people who have a posi-
tive outlook on life. Making
friends here is not a problem.
They will invite you to their
house and introduce you to the
entire family and prepare a nice
meal and ofifer you drinks. Many
people have quaint little houses
and not too much money, but
can live comfortably and will
prepare something extravagant
when there are guests or during
the holiday season.
They also know how to
have fun. Everyone in Mauritius
dances and they all know the
words to all the Sega and Sagai
(local music) songs. A lot of the
parties are done with family and
they do the Full Faya (big
party).
We will leave a lot of friends
in Mauritius but we will not for-
get them because they were all
very sincere and generous.
GamlársRvöld
Continued from page 1
One year Ásta left her home in a
perfectly plain pair only to retum
with a set more likened to giraffe
or leopard print. I am now regret-
ting opting for my sexy leather
knee high boots in lieu of packing
the fire retardant body sock.
After dinner, Shawn left to
spend New Year’s with Icelandic
friends leaving three of us to ring
in the New Year. Ásta and Derek
proceeded to set off fireworks in
the backyard, which I thought
was terribly unsafe. Ásta’s dog
Gretta agreed as we Both sought
shelter behind the door. Gretta
pointed out that neither of them
was wearing their protective ‘as
seen on TV’ eyewear. We only
peeked out when we thought it
might be safe again.
The bonfires and fireworks’
displays officially got underway
at around 8 pm in most areas of
the city, but the closer it got, to
midnight the more unoíficial dis-
plays joined in. Gretta decided
she would stay home, so Ásta,
Derek and I secured the windows
and made our way to the PearJ.
The Pearl is a prime destina-
tion on this night as it olfers an
almost unobstmcted view of the
entire city. By prime destination
I mean we were caught in traffic.
The Pearl has an unobstructed
view if you don’t notice the thou-
sands of people standing next to
you setting off their own fire-
crackers through their cham-
pagne induced “protective eye-
wear” (goggles) directly into the
dry and brittle trees, grass,
crowds of people, and parked
cars. 1 had a somewhat obstruct-
ed view because I am not used to
being surrounded by fire and
drunk people with explosives. I
am also not conditioned to enjoy
being hit in the head with bum-
ing pieces of firecracker, but
found myself mysteriously joy-
ous when I noticed that some of
the pieces were no longer on fire.
The Icelandic people didn’t seem
to mind any of this.
Being a foreigner and know-
ing the sky would look phenom-
enal, 1 had brought along my
trusty no-frills manual-wind
camera. When I finally gave up
on trying to feel safe in the bum-
ing chaos around me and decided
to look up, I was at a loss as to
where to aim. I wanted so much
to be able to take a picture of the
entire sky at once. Whenever I
saw an absolutely beautiful array
of colour I fear I was too slow to
catch it. When I get my film
developed in June sometime I
will probably have forgotten
what these coíourful bJurs were
supposed to be.
Amid the cracks, snaps, and
bangs, the screams of fire truck
sirens, the screams of frightened
foreigners, the car alarms, the
chunks of buming fallout in my
hair, I experienced something
tmly magnificent. Although the
sky had been alight for most of
the evening, midnight brought
something truly extraordinary. I
imagine if the sun were to
explode it would look just like
this. Millions of bits of colour
shooting out in all directions,
lighting up the entire sky. And
although it goes on for quite
some time, when it is finished it
leaves nothing but darkness.
I have heard the following
statistics but have been unable to
confirm them. Apparently in
1999 (2000 New Year), China
(most populous nation in the
world and the inventors of fire-
works) blew up 50 tonnes of fire-
works, and in the same year,
Iceland (nation of 281,000) blew
up 160 tonnes. After this experi-
ence I am almost embarrassed to
think of the way I celebrate New
Year’s at home. This is definite-
ly something that I will be doing
again and I recoinmend it to
everyone.
<m ih Rin* im mv .wwist m n wBtRr hht'k^h^n 4* nnt 4 nn wwHitt