Adventures and Interviews!

Siwash Rock!

Recently we've quietened down on the whole tourist thing and gone low scale, choosing to do cheap and cheerful activities, and things which are a little more off the beaten track.

Last Tuesday we took another opportunity to tackle Stanley Park. The first time we went a month or so ago we walked a portion of the sea wall and then cut through the middle, and with me in my crappy cheap trainers which I brought back in the UK, was a sorry mess by the end of it. Good shoes are a must, and quite frankly I was in agony by the end of that day. This time I was more prepared. I have purchased some ridiculously comfortable shoes (thank you Payless Shoesource!) and armed with those and a crap load of water we were off. This time we walked down Davie street, past English Bay and went clockwise around Stanley Park. Along the way we came across Siwash Rock, a beautiful rock formation which we had to clamber across a rocky beach to get to and sat on for a considerable amount of time, taking in the gorgeous views and watching the boats drift by. A very memorable and beautiful experience.

View of the sea wall - taken while sitting on Siwash Rock!

I'm in the Hollow Tree!

We continued further along the wall, going under the Lion Gate Bridge and then cut into the Park to take in some of the stunning trails available. After a considerable amount of walking (and for a portion of it going round and round in circles as I'd forgotten my map) we eventually stumbled across the Hollow Tree, a huge Western Red Cedar stump, estimated to be about 700-800 years old. The stump was almost removed in 2006 after it was damaged in a storm, but locals formed a society to save the tree, and thus it still stands.

All in all, we had a great day, and were both knackered and fulfilled by the end of it. Stanley Park is such a beautiful location and one that just keeps on giving. There's so much of it to see.

This weekend we dived back into Chinatown again, I think it's fast becoming one of our favourite areas. With the Chinese Market taking place every weekend, I can't get enough of the place, and this was my third visit (so far!) We were there for Chinatown's second Outdoor Film event for this year, where we watched Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon. Again we came prepared with pillows and snacks, but we couldn't help feasting on Chinese food from the vendors. I snacked on my favourite - sweet and sour pork and then some delicious stir fried rice rolls from the Dim Sum Express stall, which where incredibly filling and I would highly recommend. The film experience itself was brilliant (if a little dark to begin with, but they fixed the contrast eventually!) and if they had more films planned, I would definitely go. Next up for Outdoor films is Raiders of the Lost Ark, however this one takes place at Second Beach, so I realise it's going to be very busy and a different experience entirely.

For some reason it makes me look rather small!

On Sunday evening we had a lovely meal out with another couple - our first 'double date' in 3 years, which was great fun, we had a meal at The Templeton (yes again, we really love that place) and then one evening this week Ian and I hit up our local pub again. It was the day before I had a big session of job interviews, to help steady the nerves of course!

The last few days have been a blur of job interviews for me, things have finally started to come to fruition so I have high hopes something will appear very soon. I've had a real mix of opportunities crop up suddenly, including one for a bakery, one for a hostel and one for a contact lens company. Once I nab that elusive job I'll make sure to post about my job hunting experience.

This afternoon I had another job interview, one I'm rather excited about getting as it's in a pretty cool location, and I'm very enthusiastic about. Fingers crossed I get a call back from them for a second interview!

I've also been rather busy with Birthday plans, as it's my better halves birthday this coming Tuesday. I have a surprise lined up for him which I'm really looking forward to, I think it's pretty awesome and I can't wait for him to find out what it is! I hope he likes it! More on that later!

Forests and Fireworks!

So last weekend was a three day one due to Canada Day, and boy did we make the most of it. The weather has recently blossomed into a gorgeous summer and I'm loving the constant sunshine, but not the heat of our bedroom, I swear its a sun trap.

Friday night we frequented the pub that we have fallen in love with, and somehow spent quite a lot. The food there was nice but not amazing (apart from the Yorkshire puddings which were great!) so we're going to stick to just drinking there. Saturday we had a chilled day, we had a chilled out morning with a jugo juice protein shake and short walk and later in the day I precooked our picnic for the next day. Sunday was our cool planned day out at Lynn Canyon Park so I wanted to make the most of it. Sunday morning and we were up bright and early, we took the Skytrain down to the waterfront, and then made our way to the Seabus (I was slightly apprehensive about the boat thing as last time I was at sea I was on a a catamaran for 8 hours and seasick for a large majority of the journey, however on the 12 minute crossing I was absolutely fine.) The seabus is pretty darn cool, you get amazing views of downtown Vancouver and Stanley Park as you cross the harbour. From there we took the #228 bus, (you can take the #228 or #229 to get there) the journey takes about 20 minutes, driving through North Vancouver, which I would say is very pretty, but much more suburban than downtown. It's more kids and families orientated than any other part of Vancouver I've seen so far.

On our way in we spotted a bear warning sign, which both excited and intimidated me equally. I have yet to see any bears, though I am tempted to soon go and see the ones at Grouse mountain, it's on my to do list!

Anyway, onwards we went and came to the canyon and suspension bridge. We choose Lynn Canyon as a day out mostly because it costs nothying. There is another, the Capilano Suspension bridge which is also in North Vancouver and is supposed to be amazing, but costs $25 to get in while Lynn Canyon is completely free. That being said, it was not disappointing. The bridge is quite big, and the drop is substantial. The damn thing moves and the more people who walk on it the more it sways. It might be safe as houses but when it wobbled I did not feel it. I'm a bit of a wimp sometimes, so I clung to the sides. Our first trip over the bridge wasn't too bad, as it was still relatively quiet, but later in the day when it was considerably busier, I was quite apprehensive at crossing.

Crossing it is very much worth it though. On the other side is the 30ft pool, a stunningly beautiful water pool where you can swim and play or in our case, as we hadn't bought any swimwear with us just dipped our feet in. On the plus side it was so hot outside your feet dry off very quickly, and the coldness of the water was very refreshing. We walked more around the area, checking out the Twin Fall waterfalls further down stream and walked through the gorgeous Park, which is classed as a temperate rainforest. We snacked on our amazing picnic of homemade salsa (Mango, cucumber, red onion and lime juice) and cold pizza and crisps, and finished the day with ice cream from the cafe. (They love their peanut butter flavours out here! T'was delicious!) And finally on our way home I managed to take some cool shots of Downtown from the front of the Seabus!

The following day was Canada Day, so we got up with the aim of wandering down to Canada Place to check out the festivities. But on our way we were waylaid by the Busking Festival going on along Granville Street and we spent most of the morning there instead. Some of the artists were so talented, there was the artist who drew a Pit of Terrifying Doom on the ground (see right) Bendy Em, a contortionist who fit her body into a small box, Reuben Dot Dot Dot, a strength and gymnast type act who performed feats of strength on a pole (It's more impressive than it sounds) and many more to take in.

In the evening we headed to the Canada Day parade, where we enjoyed seeing floats and exhibitions from different communities of Vancouver. The emergency services and army, (we saw mounties!) UBC, people from so many different ethnic communities it's impossible to name them all, Chinese, Japanese, Saudi Arabian, Philippinno, Thai and Latinos are just a handful. There were also representatives for Gay pride, dance troups, Vancouver Canucks, BC Lions, the list goes on and on. From there we had a cheeky dinner, then hit up Canada Place again for the fireworks. We got a pretty good spot just behind the Olympic Cauldron, and though my firework photography was awful, I got some pretty good videos. Below is some pictures of the parade, and then the firework finale for your enjoyment. And then we trekked home and collapsed into bed, ready for another week!

Mounties!

 

 

 

And the video:

Recent Shenanigans

So I've had a somewhat hectic week of events, including a packed out weekend where I decided to squeeze in as much as humanely possible, I had lots of things I wanted to be doing, and not enough time to get it all seen to! In an effort to make more progress and to stop my woeful procrastination I am treating job hunting like a job. Monday to Friday 9 (ish) to 5 I am putting my efforts into finding a job and on the weekends and evenings I'm relaxing and doing the fun stuff.

Crazy good xylophone skills!

Make Music Vancouver!

So Friday evening rolled around and Ian was working late, and I had nothing planned. I heard that there was a free music event down in Gastown so I grabbed my bag and headed for the Skytrain. On route I came across a small community event where a group of young people were playing xylophones (very skillfully I might add!) so I actually spent a good portion of the evening standing on a patch of grass 2 blocks from home just marveling at them. I got a bit jealous. If my school had a band like that, I would have 100% joined. Eventually I tore myself away and hopped on the Skytrain down to the Waterfront and checked out the Make Music Vancouver event in Gastown. It was relatively early when I arrived, but packed! There were around 25 different locations across the event, and each one had 4-5 acts throughout the evening so there was a lot to be seeing, I slowly wandered up and down Water Street, picking out acts that appealed and listening for awhile. My personal favorites were the Vancouver Didgeridoo Players and a Samba band named Bloco Energia (who I am very tempted to contact and try and join!) Just wandering and soaking up the energy and atmosphere made for a great evening and hung around till around 10, and then headed off to meet Ian for a cheeky Subway!

Saturday was a packed day. I had planned on spending the morning exploring Kits, but a lay in somehow worked its way into my schedule, and we had a relaxed morning just chilling out. Ian headed off to meet a friend, but shortly after he left I got a noisy phone call from him to tell me that Robson street was all closed off and the Jazz festival was in full swing, full of people and music and to get my butt down there and check it out. I could hear it all in the background and excitedly grabbed my stuff and power walked there! I wandered through the venue and loved the atmosphere, but I only had a quick look round, I had plans! I then met up with the lovely lady I have mentioned before (Louise, you got another mention!) and we made our way to the Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival. There we watched a few races, dragon boats looking somewhat like canoes and come with a rich Chinese history, we enjoyed taking in the views, the racing and chatting away the afternoon.

Dragon Boats mid race and Science World.

Later that evening, Ian and I made our way to Chinatown, to check out the Chinese Market which is held in the evenings every weekend from May to September. It's a great little place, with food stalls on one side and shops selling clothes and other such things on the opposite side. To be fair we were only really interested in the food, so I'm not entirely what they were selling. We tried a few dishes, some of which were delicious, I had a sweet and sour one which was so moreish! And then we hung around and waited for the real reason we were there - an outdoor cinema! Around 9:30 we plonked ourselves in the middle of a car park (armed with pillows we'd brought from home for our comfort, I swear we were the only ones who did, it must have been crazily uncomfortable!)  and waited for the sun to go down. Steadily the sky darkened and the screen being projected onto the side a building emerged. And then the fun began! The film was Iron Monkey, not the best film in the world I must say but it was more about the experience, being outside and surrounded by people. It just has a great feel about it, and we'll definitely be returning for Enter the Dragon in a few weeks time!

Sunday was Jazz day. We wasted a few hours doing boring household type things like shopping and such (yawn!) and then finally we got to visit the Jazz Festival. After my brief wander round the day before I was really excited for it, so we had a walk around and took in a few sights, then plonked ourselves on the steps of Vancouver Art Gallery and spent a few hours listening to some great music.

 

Tuesday is ordinarily quiz night, but this week we switched to another, so we took the opportunity to visit the aforementioned Vancouver Art Gallery, as Tuesday nights between 5-9pm its entry by donation. (Ordinarily its $20 to get in!) It was quite a small space, with 2 main exhibitions, one on Flemish art work and another on Hotel architecture, we whizzed around it, there were a few pieces we liked but honestly most of it wasn't quite our cup of tea. The whole thing took us about an hour, and I'm pretty glad we didn't pay full price to be honest.

Yesterday was quiz night, and I'm not sure the quiz was quite as good as the Lamplighters, I think we might try somewhere different. Following the quiz Ian and I hunted out a pub on Granville Street. We've been after a more pub style establishment rather than the bar type places that make up the majority of drinking holes in Vancouver, we'd done some online research and with this place we struck gold. It has a cool vibe, its smallish and quaint, the staff were great, the drink selection was wide, it even had a pub kind of smell. In celebration we had a pint each and a bowl of poutine. Great way to end an evening! Its not even very far away from where we live, and now plan on going there for dinner soon, roll on pub times!

Vancouver... in picture form.

So far during this blog I have included the odd picture, but they have been sparing, so here's a collection of favorites so far, enjoy!

Gastown

The Olympic Cauldron at Coal Harbour

Ian on the Digital Orca Statue

Stanley Park and the mountains.

Pender Street

False creek

Dr Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Classical Garden

Us!

Stanley Park Totem Poles

Goslings!

Beaver Lake - me

Beaver Lake - Ian

Tra la! Plenty more to come in future posts I'm sure!

The Final Countdown!

So.

Hows it all going you ask?

Busy. So very, very busy!

I'm not going to lie, attempting to leave the country with 3 weeks notice is pretty damn fun, but my God there's so much to do. It's a good thing I'm a list person because quite frankly without my lists scattered everywhere I would lose my head.

Since last we met, we've booked accommodation for the first couple of weeks, we picked a place in the  Shaughnessy neighbourhood, about a 15-20 minute bus ride from downtown, as the host sounded very helpful, and she let us use her address to set ourselves up, so day one will probably be lots of form filling, for banks, SIN's, phones and ID cards!

Our AirBnB accommodation takes us up till June 1st, so we now have to find somewhere to properly live from then onwards. I'm currently checking various sites on a daily basis and beginning to make enquiries into places we like the look of, now we have a general idea of where we'd like to go. We're hoping to set up viewings between now and when we leave so we can find somewhere quite quickly, and then can relax the second week, so fingers crossed for that!

My beautiful family :D

The last week or so has been more about goodbyes than anything, we spent a few evenings in the pub with friends last week, then I had a family day over the weekend and popped down to see the
boyfriends family where we made the most of the beautiful weather which has erupted recently. Then I've got work this week (3 days left, hurrah!) I'm currently organising a night out for this weekend, which should be a good'un, another family day, a trip to see an old friend and her newborn and then I have left myself just one day to do my packing!

I'm also starting to think about jobs and getting my resume sorted and Canada ready, got to get my Canadian Dollars, print all my documents, sort out my proof of funds statement to show at immigration, sort out my phone contract and a few other bits and pieces!

So it's busy little bee mode at the moment, but I am loving it.

Bruges. It's in Belgium.

In an attempt to finish my little European trip write ups before we go away, I'm going to write about our second to last trip. I can't believe this was a year ago!
 
Having loved our shenanigans to Paris, within a few weeks we booked a few days off and had a four day weekend for another little adventure. This time our destination was Bruges. (Our choice in destination was definitely influenced by watching the film!)

After loving the Eurostar, we were quick to book this up to use them again, and I was even happier to find upon booking that on the way there we'd been upgraded to 1st class seats for the outbound journey. This got even more exciting when we were on the train and someone came round with a trolley, and we realised we got free breakfast.

This is how excited we were about breakie!

The Eurostar took us as far as Brussels, where we then had to get off and hop onto a normal train (the price for this was included in our tickets, so no messing around with buying any others!) I personally really enjoyed the change of scenery, I loved that they have double decker trains, for me it was a novelty having never seen it before. And their trains run very efficiently, they were ALL on time.

A few hours later and we hit Bruges! The train station is on the outskirts of the city, but Bruges being quite a small place it was only about 15 minutes to our hotel and the weather was beautiful, so we walked. Walking through Bruges for the first time is gorgeous. You catch sight of all the little cobbled alleys and want to run down them all and explore.

We were booked in at Martin's Brugge, a lovely hotel smack in the middle of Bruges, right behind the Belfry. You couldn't ask for a better location, and I would highly recommend them. They were very polite and helpful when we asked for a change of room, I can't remember why we asked to be moved though..

So into Bruges itself, we quickly set out to explore! One of the big things for us was that we loved the film In Bruges (Ian particularly loves his films) so we tracked down the tourist information and got a map of the film locations, and made a plan to visit our favourites. The thing about film is how deceptive it is. They make things look so different to reality, so we were shocked to see the differences. That being said the film definitely choose the best settings.

The next day we tried to visit the Belfry, but unfortunately it was closed to the public for the winter, so we were unable to go up. We had a wander around though and the square is pretty, lots of dodging the horse and carts, and surprisingly busy for a cold February. We visited a few chocolate shops, you have to in Bruges! My favourite was The Chocolate Line with some delicious flavours, alongside some very weird ones. Cola, tea, vodka and passion-fruit were among some of my favourites. Havana cigar flavour (yes really) curry, crisp fried onion, wasabi and sun-dried tomato and black olive flavoured chocolate sounds all a bit too odd for me. I do wish I'd tried the bacon flavoured one though!

We tracked down many of the film locations from In Bruges, the hotel they stayed at, the bench scene in front of the statue of Jan Van Eyck (See right) the park scene at Koningin Astridpark, the bridge at Meestraat (see photo above) We also went a bit mad, and tracked down the restaurant Cafedraal, where Ray and Cloe have a date in the film, and had dinner there one evening. We managed to nab a table in almost exactly the same place where they did, you wouldn't believe how much smaller the place is. It's teeny! During the course of the evening a gentleman on the next table attempted to teach me a little Flemish. He taught me one word, and I promptly forgot how to pronounce it. Sorry good sir, but thank you for the kindness.

The Basilica of the Holy Blood

We also tracked down some of the other lesser known locations mentioned, but which weren't as recognisable. Such as the Basilica of the Holy Blood where they keep a vial containing a piece of cloth with the blood of Jesus Christ. every Friday they bring it out for veneration, and apparently they get 50,000 pilgrims a year!

The food in Bruges was lovely. The stand out restaurant for me was Sacre Coeur which was a chilled out restaurant that very kindly gave us a table quite late one evening. Another night I indulged in mussels in garlic sauce, which was served in what looked like a cauldron, I've never seen such a huge portion! Unfortunately we didn't get the chance to sample any Belgian beer while in Bruges on this trip. We would both love to go again (we nearly went this winter but decided to save more for Canada.)

My absolute favourite part of Bruges was Minnewater. It's a beautiful lake to the south of the town (also named the Lake of Love) surrounded by swans and we befriended a ginger cat too. We wandered here for quite some time, it was less busy and quite serene.

In the background is a building called the chateau de la Faille, which had previously been a hostel but was closed and empty when we visited. Such a shame as it's the most gorgeous building. If I had the money I'd buy it!

Overall Bruges is a beautiful town, it's small and quaint, with lots of museums (we did visit one gallery while there) and chocolate shops. It's a great little place for a little get away, I would say for an extended weekend it's perfect as there's just enough to see and do, but no more than 4-5 days.

Oh hai there visa!

So I may have just experienced the most life changing weekend of my life so far.
I'm moving to Canada in just over 3 weeks!

Here's how the last week panned out:

Recently people who had already booked flights had started to fly to Canada without their visas, intending to enter as visitors and then return to the border to activate the work permit once it was issued. However many were being told on arrival to immigration that their visa was on the system, and it was issued to them on the spot and off they went into Canada with a shiny new work permit. So it transpires peoples visas have been issued and just not sent to them!

Last Sunday (April 14th) we hit the CIC's self imposed 6 week deadline, at which point we said we'd go nuts in trying to contact them and find out just what the hell was going on. Luckily we had some time off work (for our 3 year anniversary!) so we spent a day doing research. A young woman mentioned on an online group that we're part of that they were beginning to respond to emails, so you can request information on your visa and they do get back to you. So we sent emails out to both the Canadian and London offices, and spent a few hours trying to call the CIC in Canada (lord knows how much that cost :S) but we made little progress.

So we sat back and waited. I enjoyed a few days to myself. I got my first tattoo (I'm so far loving it, and considering getting a small one for each country we visit, maybe this time next year I'll get a maple leaf!)

Then Friday morning I woke up and checked our emails:

Your application has been approved. Due to technical issues, your original letter of introduction was not sent out.

A new LOI was sent out today and should be available in your MyCIC account.

And there they were! It turns out we were both issued our LOI's (above listed as POE Introduction Letter) on 17th March. So the last month it's been approved, but they just hadn't informed us.

So Friday was spent dancing round the house in excitement (on my part anyway!) we contacted STA travel and booked an appointment with them, and spent the evening checking out flight prices. The following day we went to the STA office in Cambridge, and within an hour booked our flights for the 15th May. (Return flights with flexi tickets, which means we can change the return dates 3 times if we so wish!) Which gives us a little over 3 weeks before we go! I can't believe its happening so quickly.

Yesterday we booked up our insurance for the year. Today I handed in my resignation, and am sorting out my bank accounts. Things to do this week includes booking up accommodation for the first few weeks, writing a Canadian resume and planning leaving do's (one for family and one for friends.) After that it's researching areas we want to live in, jobs and notifying Student Loans and HMRC we're leaving the country. Then we should be good to go! Pretty simple really!

The Canada 'Bucket List'

So I haven't posted anything Canada related in awhile. Mostly because all this waiting around for the damn CIC to sort out themselves out (where's my visa?) means that not much has changed.

Therefore, instead of worrying about visas, money, insurance, flight prices going up and quitting work and finding a new job and a place to live, today I'm going to focus on the fun bits.

So I give you, in no particular order, the stuff I want to do while I'm away! (No doubt this list will grow and change considerably as time goes by!)

• Make a gazillion new friends and acquaintances.
• See some ice hockey.
• See something at/take part in an event at Vancouver's Film Festival.
• Go to the beach!! I can't remember the last time I went to a beach, and I will quite frankly behave like a 5 year old.
• Join a Canadian gym - at home I've been weight training with Kettlebells for a few years now. Obviously I'm not going to take my bells over with me (it would take up my entire weight allocation for a start) so a gym is a must. I've never set foot in any gym ever, so this in itself will be an experience. My new goal - pullups!
• Go mountain biking, cycle in Stanley Park and on the sea wall.
• Go hiking.
• Visit Capilan Suspension Bridge Park.
• Grouse Mountain - I'm considering paragliding!
• Visit Victoria/Vancouver Island
• Bard on the Beach - Yes you read it correctly, Vancouver has its own Shakespeare festival *squeee* I simply must attend, hurry up visa, I want to book early bird tickets!
• Toronto - I have family on the East Coast USA, so hopefully will be able to head to the east side and see them again and show Ian Niagara Falls (I went back in 2004 with my family.)

  

  Niagra Falls - Boxing Day 2004

• Seattle - I've watched way too much Grey's Anatomy to not make a trip here at least once. (Could also be combined with the next point)
• Visit Pacific Raceway - Kent, WA. As a massive drag racing fan, (and seeing as I'm missing the European Main Event and Finals AND our families 10 year drag racing anniversary :( *epic sad face*) it would be an amazing experience to see some NHRA racing, if I can afford it and figure out how to get to the track!
• Snowboarding. I've got to try my hand at winter sports, its in the mountains for crying out loud, I can't not! I'm pretty sure I'll end up looking like Bambi, but it's something I've got to attempt.
• Banff - just look at it!
•  Visit Harrison Hot Springs! Potentially try my hand at kayaking, canoeing, parasailing or windsurfing!

As you can tell I've got the adventure bug! No doubt this list will get huge as Canada gets closer. The more research I do, the more I find! I'll try and keep on top of the list and keep you up to date with additions. Also, if anyone has any recommendations of other things to include, get in touch!