things that make me happy

Things that make me happy:

-Sun

-Tim Horton's Apple Fritters

-Nestle Drumsticks (chocolate chunk) - this is icecream, like a trumpet really. Soo yum.

-Hot guys in the swimming pool

-Sun

-Colouring in discovery charts and deciding to do WhatEver It Takes (WEIT)

-Stepping outside my comfort zone and contacting a guy who is driving to St John's today

-Going on random road trips with people I hardly know to interesting places

-Being somewhere I can drive for 4 days and still be in the same country! (google says it's only 36 hours, but that's non stop, and not including the ferry I'm assuming) Map here

-Sun

-Mum worrying too much!

Ok, so in case you didn't get the above, I'm off to Newfoundland today. I think. I'm waiting for a phone call to tell me when. Back monday.

p.s. - I didn't mean to be rude below, I just got pissed off at the rude old lady. In fact, at the other pool I go to , there's only 2 lanes, and everyone in the slow lane can swim. It just seems to be this one pool that attracts leisure people that just want to float in the lane swims. Yesterday there was a lady in a pink flowery bikini! Coming to a lane swim. How odd.

Where I come from slow swimming lane means slow SWIMMING

Canada is a continent. New Zealand is an island.

Where I grew up, everyone learned to swim at primary(elementary) school. Often, we weren't great, but that's what we did at school in summer, swam. We had learn to swim classes, then as we got older we had short units where we learnt such water sports as kayaking, played waterpolo, did diving, learnt life saving and generally did stuff in pools. It was part of physical education, the 6 weeks we weren't doing tennis, or gymnastics, or soccer etc.

I suck at swimming. Seriously. I last swam when I was at primary school. In 1995. That was the last time I had to swim in a pool, and apart from a disastrous interview as a lifeguard when I was 19 (they loved me until they saw me swim), I haven't done laps since. My swimming was restricted to jumping waves at the beach (which often involves swimming accidentally) and floating on my back in the sea in summer. The salt makes it easier to float.

This summer, as there is no beach, I decided to go to the local pool. I bought a swimsuit and goggles.

It appears in Canada the slow lane is not for those that swim slowly. I managed to catch up with people when I was doing my slowest backstroke. I ran into people when I used only my arms and no legs. I'm pretty sure my 7 year old sister could swim faster than these people. In fact, my 4 year old brother with floating arm bands on could beat them.

In Canada, the slow swim lane isn't for slow swimmers. It's for people that can't swim. Angry ones too. Old ladies that float along and say in a mean tone of voice when I accidentally bump into them (i was going backwards! I can't see!) and AFTER I apologise, "This is the slow lane you know".

Um yeah. I know. I just thought it was a swimming lane. For those who can actually swim.

I guess I might try the 'medium' lane.

Detroit

Last weekend was a long weekend. Not that I work, but hey. I have friends that do. So, ANYWAY, for the long weekend we decided to rent a car and drive to Detroit. Why Detroit you say? (and believe me, a lot of people did say why. Or - "don't get shot"). Mostly because this cool couple we met a few weeks back live there, plus it's only 5 hours drive.

Detroit was.. insane. It's like dead city. I'm glad I went there, just to see, but seriously I can see why people say Why?! We lasted a day and a half and then went back to Canada for the monday of the long weekend. Windsor just looks so nice and shiny when you look at it from detroit! I have no idea why everyone doesn't just live there. The thing that freaked me out the most was the fact that everywhere you looked there were thousands of parked cars downtown, and no people. It's a downtown of 4 million people, with 6 lane roads through the middle of it. No public ransport, and well lots of roads. Some parts of the downtown area look nice, and then you tun a corner and you are faced with abandoned, vandalised, skyscrapers. It's like, it used to be prosperous once, and then everyone left. Or went underground or something. Odd. Apparently most of the people live and work north of the city, unlike most cities I have ever been in, there is nothing happening in the downtown area.

We went looking for food DOWNTOWN on monday and there would have been more people out in a small town suburb on a sunday. I was so confused... where are the 4 million people who apparently live there? I think it could be an awesome st for an apocolypse movie.

Oh well, now I've been. It was an experience. Although, in favour of Detroit, on Sunday we went to the Eastern arkets and they were way interesting, with lots of cool stuff to buy and awesome live bands jammig in every corner. Pics later.

Jobless

I'm still jobless. I signed up at a temp agency last week, but htey haven't got me any jobs yet. Despite it being a week and a half. Despite her assuring me that I would probably get work soon.

And she doesn't reply to emails either.

So yeah, I have an interview at another place on Tuesday morning. Fingers crossed this will actually get me some work!

Apart from that, I am just chilling at home, enjoying the heat and reading. I wish our place had a balcony.

Weird things in Toronto

Things I have noticed about Toronto and Canada so far:

• The liquor stores close at 9pm. All of them. It's some government thing apparently. Very very odd. You also can't buy alcohol anywhere but at the bottle store.
• St Patrick's station is painted green.
• Last Sunday, on Mother's day, there was a big steel drum band in the park down the road from me. When I walked past, they were playing "Who let the dogs out?". Of all the things.
• There's a million tv channels, but still nothing is on. And they schedule all the good programs at the same time too.
• The weather here is odd. On Tuesday it was about 34. Today (Thursday) it's 11.
• When it rains here, they issue storm warnings. Oh no! Rain! Seriously, the lady on the tv was warning that everyone should go inside AND STAY INSIDE. Right, because the first thing you want to do when it's pouring rain is stand out in it.
• Canadians are really bad at accents. Some people are fine with me, others just look at me like I'm not speaking English (no matter how slow I speak). But yesterday, my interview was with an English woman and she understood me perfectly. She said she has the same problem, she has to speak R e a l l y slooow ly.
• All the streets are North -South or East-West. But when you come out of a subway station and are totally disorientated, there are no signs saying which way is which. Sometimes you come out of a subway station to an underground pathway or a store, and then you are really lost. In that case you have helpful signs that say things like 'homeware' instead of which way to which street.
  
• You have to dial the area code always. Even when it appears to be a local call.
• Even if you have a toll bar and can't actually make a toll call.

Finally, I have gotten used to the cars being on the other side of the road. I look left when crossing. I even remember to make like I'm driving all the time to get in the passenger's seat. However when I am crossing the road and look down at a car (for example if they are stopped at the lights) I always get a shock that there's no driver. And then I realise that they aren't driven by ghosts, just the driver is on the right.

Things

Ok I have been slack in updating. Mainly because I have been doing nothing but reading books. Ahh bliss. If only I could do this always.

Quick update:

Last week I went to a CS brunch. I was a bit nervous, going to brunch with 10 people I didn't know, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was a bit of a relief actually, to meet people who are interested in travelling and travellers. Too many people I meet here have the instant response "I wish" when I say I just took off for a year around the world. They wish, but they have no intention of actually ever leaving. I even met a guy who has only left Ontario twice in his life! Come on! It's 2 hours to the border, max!

So yeah, travellers = good. In fact, I am going on a road trip this weekend with one of the CS guys to Detroit. Yay, random road trips!

Other than that, I have done nothing. My money didn't come through for a week, so last week all I did was slowly eat all my money up, watch a lot of tv, and apply for jobs online. I've decided I'd quite like to be a tourist and be available for random road trips, so I am applying for temp jobs. To leave me free to pop to the US when I feel like it, or whatever.

updates

I have moved! I now live downtown (ish) Toronto. I say ish, becauseit's not really, where I live is quite suburban, and on the outskirtsof town. But, it's still considered downtown, because it's on thesubway line. I can be right in the centre of toronto after a 20 minsubway ride, so it's pretty good.

The area I'm living in is way cute. There are plenty of parks, shops, delis, fruit markets and evena huge park!Oh, and they have a kiwi themed bar. Which is so terribly bad it's funny. The place has a tapa menu with a map of NZ as background, but the sign for the pub has a kiwi with a boomerang on it! Sooo bad.Um what else?

I moved in here on Monday, then on tuesday I caught a ride with my friend's parents to Ottawa. I forgot how pretty Ottawa is! The downtown area with the river, and the canal, and the old,castle-like, parliament buildings. Nice. Anyways, from there I left town and went to see my aunt and uncle thatI lived with last time I was in Ottawa (2000). They now live withtheir youngest son, his wife, and their 4 kids! Woah, it was full on in that house. It was good to see them all though.

So I got back here on thursday night and spent all yesterday tripping to Walmart to buy sheets and pillows for my new place. It came furnished, but without bedding!Ummm.. yeah nothing much interesting has happened to me, I'll start looking for a job soon, but I'm having so much fun being on holiday!Plus, I don't have a computer to print off CVs , so I am borrowing the library's computer. But I only get half an hour here a day, so it's all a bit rushed!

Canada

Well, I've finally arrived in Canada, about 30 or so hours after I left home. It was a long Tuesday 24th April for me, and now, we've only just made it to wednesday. Flying was... well boring as usual. I watched a couple of movies - the pursuit of happyness, and the good year... but mostly I just slept the entire way, as well as reading a book.

I started my journey at 4am at the Airport, my flight left at 6:30am. From there, I went to Sydney, then to Honolulu, then to Vancouver, and lastly on to Toronto. Things I learnt from my trip:

-Carrying a laptop is a pain in the arse. I was carrying my sister's for her to Vancouver, and it had to be unloaded and put in a seperate box at EVERY x-ray machine. Pain in the arse.

-Going to America is shite. Avoid it at all costs. First of all they make you take off your shoes. And they check your bag (which has already been x-rayed) by pulling everything out. And then, they make you go through customs in Honolulu (and check your carry on luggage AGAIN), which means taking fingerprints and a photo of you. This means standing in a line for an hour, going up and down escalators, and finally finding yourself back at the same gate getting on the same plane. I think it's all a big decoy so they have time to clean up the plane personally.

- On domestic flights across Canada they don't feed you. This is bad as (a) they don't tell you they don't feed you until you arrive on the plane, (b) the plane trip is 4.5 hours, which would be an international flight in some places, and (c) they even charge you if you want a blanket and pillow. ($2 but still)

-The view flying into Vancouver is pretty amazing, as is any random islands you fly over in the pacific. Way cool.

Um, apart from that, the flight was non-evenful. Cold while flying = bad.

Ok -Canada. Today I am staying at my friend's just outside of Toronto, Ontario. I have a few things to do: Social insurance number (SIN) to apply for, Bank account to open, phone to get, place to live needed, job etc. lol. Ok a lot. Today I have been grocery shopping and to the SIN number place. Once. However, the stupid people don't take passports as a form of ID, so I had to come back and find my citizenship certificate. The Canadian government is strange. They expect other countries to accept their passports as the ultimate id, but they don't accept it themselves. They don't even have pens in their offices for filling out forms. So now I have to wait an see if anyone is going out again today later (I don't have a car), to go BACK to the office and see if I can get a new SIN card. I actually have a number from last time I was here in 2000, I just don't know what it is. Ugh, bureaucracy pain.

So yeah, that`s my random thought spew for the day. Canada is cold and brown (given all the brick houses and trees that haven`t decided it`s spring yet), my trip was long, camp was cool and tiring, and I haven`t done anything yet.

Photo of the view from the house I am staying in:



It just makes me want to sing the Weeds song...

`Little boxes, little boxes...`

ok, I hope you are all well...

Camp

Camp... was awesome. Met some way cool people. One of which wants to come to Spain with me to throw tomatoes! Yay, La tomatina!

Coming back from camp also cool, no more getting up at 6am, or looking after teenagers, but I was soooo tired. I only had a day and a half to get all my washing done, finish packing and leave. I'm sure I lost half my stuff in boxes that were hastily put away when I found out my cousin was coming, but hey, I think I got most of my clothes.

I also managed to get a cold, which was fun when travelling on aeroplanes. Blocked sinuses and a runny nose for 4 international flights. Woo yeah.

The camp I went on is kinda a lifeskills course for teenagers, and I was, with 21 other people, volunteer staff for a week. We also had a 3 day training workshop. The course was heaps of fun and lots of work. It's like most personal growth course, except for the fact that you have some teens who are relectant to be there, so you get to spend the first 3 days being energetic and trying to get them excited about it. I met some cool people there, and had a great time. Even if I was exhausted by then end! No sleep and a lots of running around will do that to you.

Overall, camp = fun. Awesome people, no sleep, far too much sugar, far too stodgy food, and lots of dancing and good chats with some amazing people. I loved it and will definitely be back next year if possible!

The sun back home

It's sunny! I'm at my parents place, hanging for the couple of weeks before I hop on a plane to the other side of the world. I've been very productive - visiting old friends from University days and running all over town trying to catch up with people. And it's been sunny!

You forget what hanging out on sunny days is like when you have been caged in an airconditioned building for so long! I'll say one thing for hicksville though - it's a whole lot easier to get downtown there. Trying to get down to see people who work in offices here involves driving to a bus stop, paying $6 for a day bus pass and then sitting for half an hour. And then trying to get home in rush hour when it's raining and bus after bus passes you and then other 70 people waiting at the stop because they are full.

In hicksville I walked 10 mins from my apartment, and was downtown.

Things to do... ahh so much.

It's the thursday before easter and I still have to....

UNpack my car and put all the boxes somewhere, then clean the car so Dad can sell it online, then I need to try and find the gear I want to take overseas, and then pull out the gear I want to take to camp next week. All by Wednesday when I leave, and I am thinking of going to the beach for Easter....yeah,

so what am I doing? Procrastinating here, and on Facebook.