SurfingTheSeaWorld

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a pre-review as I don't have a Switch, which is the console needed for these games. Also, there may be some spoilers up ahead, so don't read if you haven't played the games yet.)

The latest generation of Pokémon games has arrived, taking inspiration from sunnier climes. The region where Scarlet and Violet are set in is the Paldea region, which is based on the Iberian Peninsula, but mostly Spain.

As is the norm in the Pokémon games, the starters follow the Grass-Fire-Water elemental cycle. The Grass starter is Sprigatito (a cat), while the Fire starter is Fuecoco (a crocodile) and the Water starter is Quaxly (a duck). I'm not going to spoil what they evolve into - you'll have to play the game and choose a starter yourself to find out. 😁

You may also be wondering who the mysterious new Pokémon in the title image are. They are this generation's Legendaries, Koraidon and Miraidon, who are the mascot legendaries of Scarlet and Violet, respectively. Again, I'm not going to spoil their types or the story behind them (although tiny spoiler: it's a pretty sad one). Throughout their journey in Paldea, the player can ride on the Legendaries akin to a motorbike to get around faster; their form changes depending on what kind of terrain they're on.

Scarlet and Violet are open-world, as opposed to previous Pokémon games which were heavily linear. Players can freely roam the Paldea region at their own pace, and there are three storylines which can be followed; one is more akin to the traditional circuit of Gyms, while the other two has the player either taking on Team Star, this generation's evil team, or giant Pokémon known as Titans. Each storyline grants Badges whenever a Gym or boss is defeated, making for a grand total of 18 Badges that are collectable. Being open-world may make Scarlet and Violet a very welcome shake-up to the usual formula and possibly the best Pokémon games to date. However, I don't have a Switch and thus don't own the games themselves, but if you do, your opinion may vary. 😉

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet were released worldwide for the Nintendo Switch on November 18, 2022.

Canada Day has arrived again - 2022 marks the 155th anniversary of Canada being an independent nation. However, my celebrations this year will be slightly more muted than in previous years. It's here that I have to tell a rather difficult truth.

While I still love Canada and still dream of seeing it again one day, it does not make me feel the same way as it used to a year ago, and I have stopped thinking about living there. It now just feels like another country to me, one that does have its problems as well as its positives - as any other country does. Since my visit to Texas, my attention has been focused more on the latter, and with some family problems arising in the last few weeks, family is the most important thing for me right now. This means I should feel closer to the place that they call home - and I'm going to start celebrating every Fourth of July too. (As a matter of fact, I'm going back to Colombia on the 7th of July until the 8th of August to attend to family matters, and if all is well, I'll also be going to Spain in September.)

However, this does not mean that I will stop loving Canada - far from it. My mind has simply moved on to other things. This has happened throughout my life and most likely will continue to do so. I've even thought up of ideas for crossovers, so while that flame of passion hasn't exactly gone out yet, it doesn't burn quite as brightly as it used to before.

All that said, I will still celebrate Canada Day every July 1st, in honour of the country that was my dream for nearly twelve years.

And despite all its problems, may you have a Happy Canada Day too.

🇨🇦🍁

My first outing to the cinema since the beginning of the pandemic is a colourful celebration of Colombia, one half of my family’s homeland! (I actually saw this film all the way back in November last year, just before I went to Texas.)

The second Disney movie to be set in a primarily Hispanic country after Coco (which was set in Mexico), Encanto – whose name literally means “enchantment” or “charm” in Spanish – is the story of the Madrigals, a Colombian family who have a kind of magic about them; Luisa, the eldest sister, has superhuman strength and is able to carry four donkeys at once, while Isabella, the youngest sister, can make flowers bloom in a matter of seconds. Antonio is the youngest of the family and has a Dr. Doolittle-like ability to understand and talk to animals. The film primarily focuses on Maribel, the middle sister, who initially does not appear to have a power of her own, but she later makes the earth shake – literally. There’s also a mysterious member of the family who the others have apparently been trying to hide for many years, and they won’t talk about him…

While the film is set in a fictional Colombian town called Encanto (hence the name of the film), the setting does take inspiration from various real-life geographic elements from around Colombia, such as the wax palms and the River of Seven Colours (Río de los Siete Colores). The wax palm, or palma de cera, is considered to be the national tree of Colombia, which is sadly endangered. They are thought to be one of the tallest plants in the world, even more so than the redwoods and sequoias of California. The most famous of these can be seen at the Valle de Cocora in the country’s coffee-cultivating region, which is incidentally the part of Colombia where my family is from. The River of Seven Colors is located a little further away, and its actual name is Caño Cristales, which roughly translates as “crystal spout”. The river is known for its amazing multicoloured waters, which gives it the nickname of the “rainbow river”.

While the film mostly shows a positive picture of Colombia – something that is so desperately needed after a gazillion “drug lord” stories that only seem to focus on the country’s infamous cocaine trade – it does make occasional references to the so-called “Violencia”, or the civil war that ravaged the country for five decades and made it sadly known to many around the world. In this case, however, it simply serves as a bit of backstory behind the family and how they came to be, since many perfectly innocent families were caught up in the conflict and had to flee as a result. After a peace treaty was signed in 2016, the country has settled down by a considerable lot, and people are now beginning to see more of the good side of Colombia, which Encanto might help contribute to. Colombia doesn’t deserve its bad reputation – it should be more well-known for its amazing landscapes, flora and fauna, its green emeralds, and its great coffee. As a popular tourism slogan says, in Colombia, the only risk is wanting to stay. 🦋🌺💎☕️

After four weeks of holiday – plus another week due to a COVID scare (which thankfully turned out to be false) – the time finally came for me to leave Texas. Of course, I did say before that I wasn’t going to be there forever, but saying goodbye is the hardest thing to do, and of course all good things must come to an end.

As I didn’t go out much during the final week in Texas (except to do a bit of shopping and, of course, going to the airport), I’m instead going to bring you some more big news about The Lonestar Boys: just a week after coming out as bisexual, Corpus Christi and Dallas are now boyfriends!

Once again, in a state that is known for being notoriously conservative, it is extremely courageous of both Corpus Christi and Dallas to come out and proudly show who they really are to everybody else. As Corpus Christi himself says in a story I’m currently writing:

Love is love – no matter who ya love. Guy or gal or neither, black or white or any color of the rainbow. Corpus Christi Bishop, 2022

I later put it to my own family (yes, I was THAT overjoyed about it!) as:

Corpus Christi didn’t just come out of the closet. He burst out with a leap, wearing the Bi Pride flag like a cape, and he shouted out loud and proud: “This is who I am!” Sabrina E. Gardiner, 2022

When the day finally came to pack our bags and leave on a jet plane (as John Denver once sang), I felt a mixture of emotions; sad that I was leaving some of my family behind, but happy that I was finally going back to my real home, and that I’d made some new memories and friends.

If I’m going to be honest, when I first landed in Texas, I thought it was going to be horrible, what with its reputation as redneck country and me having being somewhat badly influenced from watching years of American TV (and of course, the former president, whose name I obviously won’t mention). But over the weeks, I slowly started to learn to love Texas and America, despite all their problems (being with my family and being near a major urban center probably helped), and realized that not all Americans are like the ones you see on TV and in the movies. Not all of them are shouty or rude like many people abroad think they are, but they are surprisingly polite and friendly – some called me “ma’am”, others respectfully got out of my way when I was coming through, and a few even waved to me when I looked out from behind the gate of our house. America is a country just like any other country, and it does have its bad side (I won’t deny that), but it has its good side too. TV does not accurately reflect reality; it’s a form of escapism for a reason.

At Houston airport, we got to buy a few gifts for family and friends back home before saying “Hasta la vista” to Texas, including a box of chocolates with some of America’s most famous leaders. I thought it was going to include EVERY president America has ever had – including the former one who must not be named – but it instead only featured those who had played a significant part in US history, such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, the two Roosevelts (Theodore and Franklin), and JFK. I did find some chocolate bars featuring the current president, which is a bit more recent. Imagine if they did this in England with our prime ministers – Winston Churchill chocolate, anyone? 😜🍫

Boarding the plane was pleasantly smooth – probably the easiest boarding I’ve ever had in my entire traveling life – and we soon made ourselves comfortable for the flight home. When the plane took off and was flying high, I was greeted with a spectacular sight: the sunset was painting the sky in a spectrum of colors, almost the full rainbow. I’d never seen the sky like that before, which made the sight even more glorious. It was a beautiful and perfect end to my adventures in Texas.

One day I’ll be saying “Howdy” again, but until that day, it’s “Hasta la vista”, Houston.

🌇🌅

I’m now entering what was supposed to be the final week of my vacation in Texas, but something unexpected means I’m here for just a little bit longer. (I’ll explain at the end.)

We started the week off with an evening drive to Spring, another town that belongs to the Greater Houston metropolitan area, just next to The Woodlands. There, we had burgers and fries at a park that is known locally for its food trucks which serve mostly Latin American food. Despite it being late December (just after Christmas), the atmosphere was positively summer-like with the humidity, the people, and the music that played out over the loudspeakers. I even played a little bit of soccer (AKA football back home in England) in the small grassy area in the middle of the park, though I mostly just kicked the ball around. 😆️⚽️

Two days later was the day before New Year’s Eve, so as a kind of mini-celebration, we drove out to the downtown of Conroe to see the Christmas tree and decorations, even though the day itself had just passed. If there’s any difference between Christmas in America and Christmas back home in England, it’s that Americans celebrate the season in a much bigger way; it’s not uncommon to see massive displays of lights and inflatables that cover an entire house, or a Christmas tree that’s about twenty feet tall. This is the land of Hallmark Christmas movies, which are always about an impossibly romanticized version of the festive season, complete with snow and kisses under the mistletoe.

On New Year’s Eve itself, we stayed at home, eagerly counting down the hours and minutes before we could say “good riddance” to 2021 and “hello” to 2022. We even made our own banner to see in the new year in a sparkly way, sticking it up on the wall of the garage in the backyard.

That night, the real fun started, with my cousin and their partner (and their dog!) coming all the way back from San Antonio to celebrate with us, as well as some other family friends. Five minutes before midnight, I gave each of my family a celebratory hug as good luck and to share the best wishes for the coming year. The clock struck twelve – and in true Texan style, howdy 2022! The neighborhood came alive with fireworks, party whistles and music that could rock the whole of Conroe and beyond.

After getting some sleep, recovering from the party and wishing everybody a Happy New Year, I got to finally visit Houston – AKA the birthplace of Beyonce, AKA H-Town, AKA Space City! (Houston is the home of NASA, hence the “Space City” moniker – as famously said in the 1995 film Apollo 13, “Houston, we have a problem!” I didn’t go to NASA, however.) 🚀

While I have been to Houston before on this vacation, it was really only the outer precincts of it, but this time I got to see the actual downtown of the city – along with a statue of the man himself, Sam Houston. The city bears his name in his honor. (More about Sam the Man later…)

While parked up, we got to visit a small park and garden with a waterfall cascading down a grassy hill. The garden grows many kinds of fruit and vegetables (totally harvestable and edible), but some ornamental plants as well, such as bottlebrush, poppies, and prickly pear cacti. There were also many colorful butterflies fluttering about in the Houston heat, especially monarchs. (Monarch butterflies fly south every winter from Canada and the northern US; it is one of the biggest animal migrations on Earth.)

After making ourselves known to the place we were going to stay for the night – a high-rise apartment in Houston’s midtown – later that evening, to celebrate the New Year, we went for dinner at Maggiano’s, an Italian restaurant downtown. I had some salmon with pasta and garlic bread, which was some of the juiciest salmon I’d ever eaten, with much more left over for later. (Americans do everything bigger – especially in Texas.) 🇺🇸

Before heading back to our place in the city, we got to see the night lights of Houston in all their colorful glory. The Christmas lights and decorations were all still up, despite it being over a week ago, but of course that didn’t lessen the spectacle. There was also a wall of water from which I got a little spray, which was rather welcome after all the heat of the day, and we got to make a short pitstop at a park/playground called Discovery Green, where there was a mini-golf course inspired by all of Pixar’s movies!

The next morning was quite a surprise weather-wise – in contrast to the heat of the previous day, it was actually rather cold and the wind blew strongly. (It gets cold in Texas too.) Sadly, that was also my last day in Houston, which I only wish could’ve gone on for a little bit longer, so I could’ve gotten to see NASA and all the other cool museums. When we left Houston though, we went on a little road trip all the way up to a town called Huntsville, which calls itself the “real” home of Sam Houston.

Besides obviously giving his name to the city of Houston, Sam (1793-1863) was an army general and the Governor of the First Republic of Texas. He was responsible for Texas joining the United States in 1845, a campaign which he started when the Alamo in San Antonio fell to the Mexican army in 1836. He was also an advocate for Native Americans, especially the Cherokee, and ardently supported their rights. Many consider Sam Houston a true American hero – and I do too.

The statue of Sam in Huntsville is 77 feet tall, as seen in the height chart below. (Imagine standing on top of his head!) For fun, I got to climb up on the mount which Sam stands on, and pose in front of him! Ol’ Sammy himself would probably be proud. (Ironically, Huntsville has a taller statue of Sam Houston than Houston – the city that’s named after him. Wonder if Houston gets statue envy?)

Now an explanation as to why I’m in Texas for a little longer: due to the pandemic, anybody who has a flight coming up in 72 hours or less must take a COVID-19 test. We followed the procedure as instructed, but while mine came out negative, my mother’s came out positive. This meant we had to reschedule our flight back home to London for the week after, which was a great inconvenience – but it at least meant I could stay in Texas a little more. (Thankfully, it seems that positive result was just a false one, as when my mother later took another test, that one came out negative. But in times like these, it’s better to be safe than sorry.)