A Canadian Christmas and New Year

So next week I have been in Canada for 3 months! It has gone so fast! Thought I'd update you on Christmas and New Year so get a cup of tea and get comfy... it's going to be a long post!
  
This Christmas was a very different one for me of course, being my first time apart from my family at Christmas as well as my first time having Christmas in Winter!

Christmas Eve started it all off. I had to do a restaurant mystery shop so Daniel and I went out for a really nice lunch which ended up being free after I got my mystery shop payment! At night Amy, Daniel and I were invited to Brian and Teresa's (where Amy and I lived when I first arrived) for a Christmas Eve steak dinner. It was great to see them again and we had a great night. Daniel and I both told everyone how we celebrate Christmas in our countries and we opened presents together - very unexpected but highly appreciated presents!! We also played board games and did a puzzle together... it was really nice. After dinner we had drinks and watched a movie at our house, and we pulled our beds out into the lounge room and slept under the Christmas tree =)

Bryan, Josiah, Teresa, me and Kaitlyn puzzling on Christmas Eve

    
On Christmas morning Amy, Daniel and I opened presents together at our house and I made Christmas pancakes - shaped like candy canes, baubles, presents and Christmas trees! Then we headed over to Robert and Ineke's for Christmas dinner. Dinner was amazing, and I was totally overwhelmed by presents I was given... I got so many nice things from people who had only known me for a month or so. We hung around together playing games and chatting for the night.

Amy and I getting totally spoilt on Christmas Day

  
Boxing Day morning we were up nice and early and drove a couple of hour to a place called Manning Park where we went snowboarding! It was such a beautiful drive, there was snow on the trees and it was just gorgeous. Snowboarding was really fun, and even though I was terrible for most of the day I still really enjoyed it. As well as having great teachers, I was determined to persevere and by the end of the day I could stand up for bout 20 seconds or so, which really was quite an achievement! I am hoping to go again soon and just keep getting up and keep getting better!!
  

Mike, me, Amy and Daniel at the bottom of the mountain after snowboarding

  
On New Years Eve we went over to Robert and Ineke's again for dinner, which was great as it always is when we go there! After dinner we went back to our house and Daniel and his housemate Derek came over and we all had drinks (mmm egg nog....) and played poker (which I lost, this time). Just before midnight we went back to Robert and Ineke's and watched the Times Square ball drop on TV. Then we went outside and played with sparklers. After we left there we went to the park and played running races and had a New Years cigar or two!! =)

Amy and I on New Years Eve

   
Later on in the morning I made more pancakes, this time special 2011 ones! I love having Daniel over because he is always so appreciative of my pancakes and will eat them all =)

Daniel with my "New Years Pancakes"

  
On the night of the first, Dan, Amy and I drove up to Capilano Suspension Bridge. They have a special event on over Christmas called 'Canyon Lights,' when the whole place is lit up with Christmas lights and there are special little things going on all over the place like gingerbread man decorating, glass blowing workshops and carol singers. We walked all around the place, went on a treetop walk and looked in the really cute little shop. I thought a lot about my Mum and Dad while we were there because I remembered their photos from when they went!
   

At Capilano Suspension Bridge =)

  
So that was my very different, but fabulous Christmas and New Years! =) I felt very loved and it was great to spend time with so many different people!


Until next time,
{gemma}

Video Blog Update

Had too much to say to write it all down so decided to do a video update instead =)

{gemma}

Slacker!

Okay so I realise that I have been super slack at keeping my posts updated. In fact I can't believe it's been so long since I've written! I guess I have been writing the posts in my head but not actually typing and posting them!


I guess that most people who read my blog are friends with me on Facebook, so hopefully you've been keeping up with my comings and goings via there,a s well as checking out some photos. I'm thinking about doing a photo post and a video blog in the next week or so just to catch everything up, then I'd like to write more regularly. Not that I am sure if anyone even reads this blog anyway! =)


I'll be moving in the next week as well as working so I wouldn't be holding your breath for any new posts. But soon, I promise!! 


{gemma}

Supermarkets, Learning to Drive and a Trip to the Lake

So on Wednesday Amy had a day off (hooray)! So we got to spend the whole day together. First we went to a new supermarket (grocery store) that has just opened and spent about 40 mins looking around at everything. I found it absolutely fascinating! There is so much here that we don't have at home, as well as almost everything being a considerable amount cheaper. At the moment everyone is getting ready for Halloween and all the stores have giant boxes of chocolates and lollies (candy) for cheap. Like a box of 100 fun size chocolates for $12.99! Also in a catalogue I saw a 24 box of cans of Coke for $4.99... my dad would be in his element here!

340g of raspberries for $3.99! And yes I know it says strawberries but they were the same price. Also, Amy told me she thought this was expensive and wouldn't pay that much for raspberries. About half this much would be $7 or so at home!

Things are cheap compared to home but prices are all relative to the wage here. Minimum wage is about $9.25 an hour and if you get $12 for an entry level job you're doing pretty well. From looking at job boards etc most are about $10 an hour which seems like a 15 year old wage to me!


After the supermarket Amy decided that she was going to teach me to drive a manual (I have never driven one before). So we parked in a little rest area and despite my protests eventually switched seats.

So I'm smiling but inside I was freaking out!

Ok so it wasn't as bad as I thought. Amy is a great teacher and I can admit to being a quick learner so it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. I was getting pretty good at changing gears, and the opposite side of the road thing didn't really bother me as long as I could see other cars around. I just need practice on the 'stopping at stop signs without stalling' aspect. I think Amy was impressed with my skills too, although she did spend most of the time just laughing at me, especially when I accidentally did a massive burnout in the middle of a tiny country town!!


I managed to drive most of the rest of the way down to the lake without having a nervous breakdown, then Amy took over for the last little bit. The lake was so PRETTY! It was a beautiful day, sunny and about 20, and we took lots of photos, paddled in the water (it was coooold) and sat on the edge of the lake just talking. All the leaves have changed colour and were falling down, it was a very autumn-y (fall-y) kind of setting.

Pretty autumn trees on the edge of the lake

It was soooooooo nice to have the time to just sit around with Amy and chat, we caught up on a bit of the last 10 years and skipped stones and took photos and climbed things.

Self timer - gold shot set up by Amy

I think we got lucky with the weather that day.. today it is 14 and has been raining on and off most of the day. It's supposed to be raining most of the weekend too. On a better note, the place where we are going for Christmas has had about 7cm of snow - so it's looking good for a white Christmas!!

Super cool twisty tree at the edge of the lake

Anyway that's about all I have to say right now and by the looks of it it's nearly time for dinner. So I will be signing off for now. If you want you can see Facebook for more photos =)


{gemma}

Canadia Ahoy!

Well, after 20 or so hours of travelling and transiting I have arrived in Canada! The trip was good, although it was a bit bumpy between Auckland and Vancouver. We had to sit in our seats with our seatbelts on for around 2 hours because it was too bumpy! I had fun on the trip and met a few nice people - and we got icecream on the plane, that was definitely a highlight! I didn't sleep at all on the plane and last night we hung out with a couple of Amy's friends so by the time we actually went to bed (and stopped talking) I had been up for around 38 hours straight... but not feeling any jet lag or anything! =) Yet.... lol


Amy met me at the airport and we drove home - with a quick stop off on the side of the road to take a photo of me standing in the USA, lol. 


We basically just chilled out last night since Amy had to work early this morning and I had been busy travelling. This morning when Amy had gone to work I went for a walk around the streets here. First impressions of Abbotsford?? Everything is HUGE! The roads are wider, the cars are massive and the houses are like nothing I have ever seen before (see below)!

Massive houses in the street near me - with the Indian temple behind

The house I am staying at for the next couple of weeks (Amy's aunt and uncles house) is sooooo nice! There are something like 16 people who live here. I have met about 7 so far. They're all very nice as far as I can tell!

My house for the next couple of weeks =D (click to enlarge)

Coming soon: The Adventure of the Shower!!


{gemma}

It's Tomorrow!!!

The big day is nearly here! It has come around both so quickly and so slowly! This time tomorrow I will be about to get on the plane =)


So today is my tying up loose ends day... finishing my packing (helped GREATLY by some space bags from Laura!!), packing up the last bits in my bedroom, hopefully getting a travel wallet, photocopying all my documents, dinner with my family and basically a lot of hyperventilating, lol!


Now it is all feeling a bit real. My room looking emptier and my suitcases in the lounge room make it seem like I actually am going. I'm looking forward to arriving and seeing Amy but I am also looking forward to the flights. For me the flight is part of the trip, not just a necessary inconvenience to get to where you want to go. I love watching all the movies and the food and the free alcohol... haha


I'm still feeling excited and nervous and a bit sad.... I'm mostly just nervous about my bags being the right weight/size/quantity etc, even though I've read the baggage information about a hundred times! Excited obviously about a new adventure, and sad because there are a lot of things about Radelaide that I will miss. Nearly got a bit teary this morning thinking about it!!


Okay well back to it, my next post will probably be once I have arrived. Until next time everyone!!!!


{gemma}

One WEEK!!!!!! OMG!!!!

Oh my gosh, only a week until I leave Adelaide for lovely Vancouver! I can't believe it is coming up so quickly! Yet it still doesn't feel real... I am not ready to go quite yet but at the same time I just want to GO ALREADY!!! 

What I will see next Thursday, LOL

Today I managed to pack most of my clothes into ONE case, and it only weighs 15.8kg! Pretty good =) I am going to be able to fit everything I want to take with some space left I reckon, so that's good news!


I also had lunch today with a bunch of old work friends, it was sooooo nice to see them all and laugh and chat! I will miss those girls so much when I go!!


So now I feel like all I have to do is just sort out my stuff, clean and tidy and pack everything. I think I have bought everything I need apart from my tubes of Vegemite!! I now have a new video camera, snow jacket, laptop, digital camera and suitcases. The ipod and hair straightener will have to wait until I arrive, and will probably be cheaper there anyway.


I've been trying to find someone to take over my iPhone plan for the last couple of weeks... has turned out to be such a headache! Hopefully will all be done and handed over on Saturday now. It's going to feel very strange not having my phone, as it's usually the first thing I grab when I am going anywhere. Might take a bit of getting used to. I will miss it so much, it's basically an extension of my hand, as sad as that is!!


So off to watch The Amazing Race with some friends now.... 


{gemma}

Lemur Attack!!

So if you have read my other blog/s you would have seen that for my birthday Steph and Zeph gave me a voucher for an animal encounter at the Adelaide Zoo. They chose lemurs because they thought that's what I'd like but they said I could choose any of the other ones if I wanted to. You can also have up close experiences with lions, giraffes, giant tortoises, squirrel monkeys, chameleons, barn owls, bugs or a bunch of Australian animals like bilbies, possums and koalas. This time I did end up choosing the lemurs, but ultimately I would love to do all the experiences!
 

Me and a lemur looking very interested in the fruit!

Our experience started by walking behind the exhibit and getting a quick briefing and putting on gloves (so they could not get germs from us). Then we went inside the lemur exhibit and were let loose! We could move around the enclosure however we wanted, sit on rocks or branches and just feed the lemurs.

They were so friendly and so gentle, they just took the fruit off me really carefully and were grabbing my hand or sitting on my lap. I LOVED it!!
 
We got to stay in the enclosure for about 20 minutes feeding and interacting with the lemurs. I didn't feel rushed or anything, it was a really good length of time to feed and get some good photos. 
 
I highly recommend this experience to anyone who likes animals and likes getting a bit more into the action than just looking!! THANKS Steph and Zeph!! 

Haha they were grabbing my hands and arms to get to the food!