A Few Fun Things

Hello again my neglected blog!

Next week Katriny is going to be here and we are heading on a grand adventure to the mountains. So before that has already happened, I need to update you on the last few months.

In the last 2 months and 2 days...

- I have continued to look after three super cute boys (& also sometimes, like today, the girls across the street). They are so fun! I really love hanging with them!
Mr Almost 8 can talk about animals, angry birds or lemmings (remember that game from the early 90s? yep I got them addicted) endlessly. Like literally endlessly.
It's been fun to watch him play baseball this season. His team made it to the grand final & came in as the silver medalists. Sport here seems pretty intense - for baseball he would usually have 2 practices and 2 games a week, sometimes more & in hockey season he even has 6am practices. Is that normal at a 7 year old level? I'm not a mum so maybe it is, just seems like a lot.

Mr 5 is getting ready for Kindy. He has 2 weeks left of pre-school and then starts Kindergarten in September. I'm so impressed with the preschool he goes to. The stuff he gets taught there is amazing! Preschool here is half-days & Kindergarten used to be too - this September will be the first time all BC schools have full-day kindy! It's interesting to see parents' reactions to that, when it's been normal at home for...well I don't know how long, longer than my life.
A few weeks ago E and I went on an adventure to the Vancouver Aquarium & Grouse Mountain for the day. It was so fun! I mean I went to the same places with my family and really enjoyed it, but when you have a five year old who is so excited to see frogs and fish and hagfish (look these up. they are grossssss!) that he can't stop bouncing, it makes the day feel like Christmas! I even surprised him with a trip on the Miniature train & lunch at Subway. Best. Nanny. Ever. ha not really. but it was so fun! 

Mr 2 is learning to use the potty. It's exciting times.
He is super smart. It amazes me the connections he makes between things! (Which of course I can't think of any off the top of my head... but just trust me) He has a crazy big vocabulary & so much energy. He is also super cute. If you ask him how old he is he will tell you he's 5. I'm pretty sure he thinks he's one of the big boys. He is learning to ride on one of those balance bikes. Sooo cute! He is pretty fast when he's focused. The problem with being two, though, is that life is never about the destination, but rather the journey. (not always a problem, unless you have a deadline, dinner to cook, 2 big brothers waiting or it's raining) Any flower, leaf, bug, sign, car, drain, um those metal box things that have cables in them, puppy, person, driveway, piece of garbage or other interesting thing must be stopped for, admired & discussed before moving on (and there seems to be no rushing this process).

Other things of significance:

Mum, Dad and Lauren stopped by a month a go (a month tomorrow actually). It was really lovely to see them & spend some time in Vancouver with them!
We checked out Gastown and Chinatown, went to Grouse Mountain to see the bears & the view of Vancouver, visited the belugas at the aquarium (& Jack the Harbour Porpoise. He is my favourite).
We spent a day in Langley, so I could show off where I live & the Fort. And my families got to meet.
Mum & dad are heaps more posh these days after their Fairmont, 5 star treatment adventure. I hope they are coping back in normal life.

After mum and dad left, Lauren and I spent a few more days in downtown, we went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge & did the seawall bike ride around Stanley Park. The weather was strangely really good while they were here! It was so nice to explore Canada with them all!

I went to Seattle.
I got to hang with the lovely Mindy again for a weekend. I'm sad that Mindy is moving to Mexico, because it's been so fun to have someone to visit in Seattle! We watched Men in Black 1 & 3. Ate at a drive IN restaurant (oh that was fun!). Got our toe nails painted really pretty (mine still look cute!), saw a waterfall & watched a baseball game! America was REALLY American that weekend, it was Memorial Day weekend. They were even more patriotic than usual. AND at the baseball game they actually sang "take me out to the ball game!" ha! I seriously felt like I was in a movie that weekend!
I guess I may have to pop down to Mexico before I go home...

Aunty Nel & Uncle Pete came to visit.
Last weekend Aunty Nel & Uncle Pete were driving through Langley so they popped by for some Tim Bits and Nanaimo bars (& weird vanilla flavoured coffee I found in the cupboard) on their way past. It was so good to catch up with them and hear about their adventure to the far north!

It's Birthday Month.
As a countdown to turning 30 (eeeeek!) my twin and I are celebrating the thirty days between our birthdays with thirty presents! It was so exciting to get a really pretty box of presents in the post (or mail as they say here... people think it's weird when I say post. but I like saying post. like when I say "you got a message!" and they say "you mean a text?" um yes, it means the same thing.)! I get to open a present a day! The boys are really helpful with this. I like that they say "Kaye, it's day 4 today! Which means it's 26 days till your birthday!" (fyi it's actually day 7 today) See, inbuilt birthday countdown! Also fyi I am not turning 30 until it's July 9 in Canada. This was part of my sneaky plan for getting an extra day (well 17 hours) of being 29. It doesn't quite make up for being away from my friends on my birthday though. I was sad about that the other day. But I am in Canada! Oh I like Canada! AND I have a twin. If you are going to turn 30 it's best to have a twin so that you can celebrate together even when you are far away!



So that's a wrap up of the last few months... It is nearly half way day. Argh I can't believe how fast this year is going!!!!
I miss you guys!

Also. Do you like my photo montages? I can't take credit for all the pictures. I stole a few from mum, Lauren & my twin.

The Slackness of Kaye

So I have been reminded a number of times that I am the slackest blogger ever.
I mostly think I don't have anything new and interesting to write... even though I am having the most fun... and then 7 more weeks have passed and it feels weird to write about things that have just happened (like the story of the nanny who garborated the seven year old's tooth after dinner tonight...Argh!) when I have missed the last few months. Hmm.

Which brings us to here.

So I've decided I will just ramble about things & hopefully it will take us somewhere & my loyal readers will get their Canada fix & at least briefly feel like I am keeping in touch! Argh I didn't think I would be this bad at this keeping in touch thing, it's actually something I thought I was good at... ahem, let's begin.

Our story today begins in Canada, where it is actually Spring! I don't think Spring has ever really meant much to me...sure some flowers bloom and such, but it has never really seemed like a big deal to me until this year (I am not actually the gardening type, which may have something to do with it). Well Canada knows how to do Spring.


Winter was lovely here. Snow. Snow capped mountains in the distance. Good hot chocolate weather and such. But as soon as Spring arrived "BAM!" from those dead looking plants came billions of different colours! (and they are colours over here, not colors, which is nice because I'm quite partial to the 'u')
Sooo much prettiness! It makes me so happy to walk to school in the mornings past the cherry blossoms and daffodils and tulips and... other flowers (sorry mum, that's the extent of my flower knowledge). Ahh! So pretty!
I realised today that my twin and I painted a reminder of Canada on my bedroom wall before I even came! Who knew their were so many cherry blossom trees here?! (If you knew, why were you with-holding this information from me? hmm it's ok, I've enjoyed the surprise. Ok I did warn you there would be rambling).

So nannying continues to be fun! The boys are...well there's not just one adjective to write here. I really like them. It's fun to get to hang with them every day & I love their different personalities. They definitely require a lot of energy from me...which somedays I have, and somedays... not so much. The two older boys love crafting with me, so I try to make sure we have some sort of craftiness happening each week. Maybe I'll do a separate post about that (do you trust me? I wouldn't either). They all love playing outside & reading books... we love the "Don't let the Pigeon..." books at the moment and wrote our own this week. I've also made sure to include a bunch of Mem Fox in our reading & Mr two loves finding that green sheep "he's RIGHT THERE!"

They are typical boys who love potty talk and wrestling, as long as they aren't the one who gets hurt. Hockey season is over, so now we've got Baseball & Spring Hockey (no 6am practices)...aswell as skating lessons, school, preschool etc. Definitely busy! Baseball uniforms are so cute.

The nanny who was living across the road was a kiwi (well she still is a kiwi, she just isn't there anymore). It was fun to have someone so close to hang with on the weekends and nights off! It was good to have someone to be a tourist and swap kid & crazy canada stories with. But alas Europe called her & off she went. Since she's been gone I've picked up a few days (well one past tense, but a few more future tense) minding the girls she looked after. Oh life is so different on that side of the street! So much pink and ponies and such!

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I've also picked up work on Friday mornings for the church I go to with the family. Basically I help supervise the 3-5 year old kids for 2 hours while the women's group is happening. And I get paid! When does that happen at a church? This church has about 7 million kids. not quite. But there are a lot. Though today there were only 10 in our group. But usually...

So, I've realised I have no idea what is happening in the rest of the world apart from snippets I catch on facebook. It's sort of sad that this is my source of news. I watched the news the other day at Mindy's and actually felt a bit sick. There were so many horrible things. But I think it was just a normal amount of horrible things. It's scary that that can become normal when I watch the news everyday. I don't want the news to not bother me. I don't know if that makes sense, but I did warn you (rambling).

Oh yeh. Easter. Easter here is in Spring! Which is really cool! And actually a bit more meaningful in a way... like the whole new life, coming back to life from the dead thing (see my spring paragraph above).
I went to Mindy's for Easter. In America. I actually got really excited when we crossed the border on the way down (it was not as exciting on the way back after a 70 minute wait in the line!).
It was so fun to hang with Mindy & her siblings & her friend & her friend's hedgehogs. I HELD A BABY HEDGEHOG. I think this may make it in the 'top twenty things of kaye's trip' list. Sooo Cute!
Other highlights of the weekend at Mindy's: becoming addicted to the show Psych, playing Candyland, shopping at an American grocery store (oh the fun things that they have!), eating froyo, going to UW, eating froyo again a few hours later, a city-wide Easter egg hunt for grown-ups (we came 4th! woohoo!), holding a hedgehog (oh wait, I said that one already), church, eating muddy-buddies & an Easter lunch that started with coffee tasting, scones (pronounced like Scone the place) & vegetables, followed by pavlova, then beef... a few hours later. I love hanging with Mindy!




Hmm what else what else.
Walmart!
Creme Egg McFlurries!
Red Robin! (the restaurant...though may I did see some robins today, I'm not sure, they were a bit far... does Canada have robins? Maybe I should look that up before I make statements like "I saw some robins today..." meh. You can do the research yourself... let's leave it at 'I may or may not have seen some robins today')

Ok. I am going to find some pictures now for my visual friends.
I will try and blog soon.
And I apologise again for my slackness.
And I would also like to add an apology for my dodgy grammar & rambling. Actually I warned you about the rambling.
And also sorry about the photos. I really wish there was an easier way to put photos in a blog and make them look pretty, not just slapped on the page...but at least they are all up the right way this time.
I hope things are going well in your world!

SO HOW IS IT GOING? (dedicated to Lisa and her enthusiastic questioning)

 Hi Everyone,
So... as of tomorrow I've lived here for 4 weeks! Wow that has gone fast!

I am living with a really lovely family! The three boys I am nannying are 7, 4 and 2 (well 2 tomorrow). The kids are really cute, very active, super clever and lots of fun. The parents are so nice! I have seriously been so blessed to be put with such a great group of people!

Ok... where to start...

About Where I Live:
Canada is so pretty! The first day I moved here there was snow! I really should have taken photos that day, because the snow didn't last. It was so pretty though! It was even cold enough to use outside as extra fridge/freezer room. ha

It has either warmed up since then, or I've just got used to the cold. (it has only snowed once since... so maybe it is actually warmer). The area I live in has really beautiful big houses that look like a cute suburb straight out of the movies!

I also have mountain views from the end of the street! Oh such an amazing view!!!!! I don't think I will get tired of massive mountains in the distance.

Look at these cool big trees! I can't wait to see them in Spring... and Autumn!!! wow!

It does happen to rain here a lot... feels a bit like home really! haha
Oh it's such a pretty country! I like it here!

About what I've done so far:
Well for a week and a half I had the house to myself while the family were holidaying. It was such a great opportunity to get to know the town (and house), join the library, get a bank card, work out the crazy bus system, hang out with Mindy, meet some fun French nannies, hang out in Vancouver a bit (it's so far away by public transport! bleh!) and look at mountains.

Since they got back I have been the boys' nanny for 2 weeks! The schedule changes a bit each week depending on the parents' work, but basically the 7 year old goes to school, the 4 year old spends 3 afternoons at preschool and 2 at skate lessons and the 2 year old is potty training (oh the fun!).

I like to try and have a little something planned to do with the boys (2 and 4 year old) each morning... and with the rain we haven't been able to do much outside play yet. So... we've painted, pasta-printed, made pasta necklaces, baked lamingtons, valentines cupcakes & banana muffins, bubble-painted, visited the library, accidentally ended up at toddler gym (it was actually really fun!) and 'sewed' these cute 'secret-note' envelopes for valentines day (I got to have the paper one because Mr 4 decided it was important to make the dog a proper one...but mine got to have the REALLY BIG glitter circle so that makes it ok :)  haha).

We've also read close to a million stories (I can quote 'Tiny Little Fly' word for word, which comes in handy when trying to entertain a 2 year old while waiting at school in the rain...and also when heads get in the way of the pages while you're trying to read) and watched 'gummy bear' sooooo many times I have dreams about that green bear!

Hmm ok. I need to sleep, but I will continue to update you soon. :)

PS orange cheese actually does taste good, despite being orange.

The People Along the Way

So. (I realise I start alot of posts like this... sorry)
I left Australia 51 days ago.
Because I'm feeling a little bit friendless today (I guess that's what happens when you have a stay at home day) (also I very much know I have tons of friends...they just happen to not be in Langley) I thought I would write this post to remind myself about the amazing people I have met in the last month and a half.

Each of these people has added colour to my adventure and really made it the fun trip that it is! I am seriously amazed at the fun and beautiful people I have met! Oh I hope I don't forget anyone...


In LA: Bec & Bree. Bec & Bree were the only other non-asian people on our tour, and actually they were from Australia AND they had just spent a year being nannies over here (well in the US). I really appreciated spending 3 days with these girls because they had so many stories about the good, the bad and the ugly of being nannies, but they both really enjoyed their experience. AND Bec was only a year younger than me, which was nice, because most nannies are 18-22ish & I had been feeling a tad old. It was a great way to start the adventure. (also they were lots of fun and even like posing for crazy pictures with us)

Then we met our distant cousins who we didn't know existed until recently! They live in Solvang, where our tour happened to stop for and hour or so, so they took us for a dutch lunch! It was so lovely to meet them! I wish we had longer to spend in their cute town and getting to know them!



On the plane to Vancouver: I got to sit next to an unaccompanied minor (the flight attendant even came and briefed me about assisting him off the plane if there was an emergency). He was a sweet 12 year old kid from Mexico.

The Immigration people at Vancouver Airport were not my friends.

When I got off the train at Vancouver a girl helped me drag my suitcases up the stairs (yep no lifts). Thank you stranger!
I had to change trains and getting to the other train was an awkward experience - through a shopping centre, up and down stairs (um Canada, this is not practical). By the time I got to the other train I was sobbing a little bit. A girl, Christina grabbed one of my bags and helped me on to the right train. She also got off at the same place as me and even dropped me at my hostel! How nice is that! Also her mini had a name. But I forget what it was. It was nearly as cute as Albert.

At the hostel I shared a room with Anna from Russia. She had trained as a teacher and was now studying in Vancouver. It was really lovely to have someone to share school stories with, as well as fears, challenges and exciting things about the adventures we were starting.


Next I went to Vancouver Island. Jackee and Larry were super lovely and took me in for a week. Jackee is a distant relative that I didn't know existed until a few months ago. It was great to celebrate Christmas with 'family' and I was quite spoilt!


Then it was off to Seattle to hang with Mindy who I had never met. She was the perfect hostess and took me to so many fun places! Mindy is super lovely and I'm glad she lives not too far away, even if it is in another country! But we do have a mission to see every fort in the world now! (we've seen 2 so far...and the year is still young :) )


Back in Vancouver I was put in a room with a Taiwanese girl. I can't remember her name, but she was quite sweet. Her whole goal in coming to Canada was to see the Aurora Borealis (this is also secretly my dream... I hope I get the opportunity!). She was waiting for the perfect day so she could hop on a bus for 36 hours to go north to see it. It was fun to chat with her. She had been to Australia and it was fun to hear about my country from another's perspective. She also loved my Perry the Platypus and got so excited later in the week when I was put back in the same room and she spotted Perry on my bed. Cute cute.

Between my two stays in room 15 with the afore mentioned girl I spent 4 days in Whistler. In Whistler I happened to be in the same room as an Aussie. Ok that's not so weird at Whistler... I think Whistler is an Australian state. But this particular girl, Carmela, was a teacher. At a Christian School. In Sydney! It still amazes me! It was so cool to have someone to ski with (ok, so she was actually good at skiing and I had forgotten how...so we didn't ski together too much), travel with, have lunch with, chat with & even ice skate with granny frames with!


On the way home from Whistler Amy Adams sat next to me. Not really, but her identical canadian twin did. (Amy Adams is a movie star who happens to be in Enchanted which has my favourite movie scene in it - where everyone bursts into song and dance) This particular Amy Adams was heaps of fun and a lawyer and a cheese lover. It was the funnest trip home from Whistler I have ever been on (yes and also the only one).

Hmm Edmonton... I didn't really make many friends there. But the people I chatted to were super lovely. Like Jenna on the Legislature tour who went out of her way to welcome me to Edmonton & the guys waiting for the streetcar with me.

In Toronto there were some nice girls in my dorm from England (there were also some girls who didn't sleep... I am never sharing in an 8 people dorm again. ever! Sorry getting off topic).
I had lunch with a self-proclaimed Sheldon Cooper - um he films chemical reactions.
And on the Niagara Falls tour I met the German stunt double of my lovely Kristie-Lee friend. She was just as lovely. It was fun to be around someone else who got excited about the way the mist made artistic ice sculptures on lamp posts and fences!

Back in Vancouver for my last 2 nights I was sharing a room with Claire from England. We went adventuring through Gastown and Robson St in search of shoes and party clothes. It was a fun day!

Which brings me to last week.. no wait 13 days ago, boy that's gone fast!
I moved in with the family I am going to nanny for... and I love them already. The boys are super cute and smart and fun! And the parents are lovely! Oh I like it here.

Well that was probably a boring list for anyone that's not me. But it was nice to re-cap on all the lovely people I have met so far & made me feel less all alone (cue violins! haha).



*** My blogs and photos don't seem to mix. so sorry the photos aren't in good spots and that there aren't more. I have spent over 40 minutes just trying to put the pictures in. grrr.

The Cheese Mystery - SOLVED!

So.
If you know me in real life (or if you've read the bit at the side of my blog) you will know that my favourite food is.... CHEESE!

If you have read my posts so far or even my facebook statuses (statii?) you may remember my horror at the orangeness of American and Canadian cheese.

But a visit from my friend Mindy, and also some recent conversations with some Canadians has helped me to realise that the problem with cheese is not actually cheese problem... but a colour-vision-optics-reception problem!

Ok. I will illustrate this with pictures:

This is the colour of cheese here.
(This is actually a cheddar-mozerella mix...cheddar is the carrot coloured one)
Now, I have brought up with several people the fact that the cheddar here is orange, only to be met by quizzical looks and defensive 'that's not orange' remarks...

(Um...how is this not orange?)

It wasn't until I showed Mindy some normal coloured cheese that it all made sense!
Me: See. This is yellow cheese.
Mindy: No, that is white cheese.

This same statement has been verified by other Canadians... cheese this colour is 'white cheese' here.

Dear people,This cheese is yellow.
It is also the normal colour for cheese.
                                  from Kaye.

See! It all makes sense now!
My findings are conclusive: all Canadians and Americans have trouble seeing colours!
Especially orange and yellow!
This is why their cheese is a weird colour!


PS This next cheese is actually white cheese.

I Got the Shirt!

As you may or may not know, one of the reasons I wanted to go to Toronto was to get an “I Love Toronto” t-shirt. And guess what! I had success! (It’s bright yellow even! See!)

Incase you don’t know me in real life or get why I wanted this shirt... I work right next to Toronto, Australia. Let’s just say the Australian version is not as big and glamorous as its Canadian cousin, and also they don’t see Toronto t-shirts... hence the need for me to travel 15000km! Ha!
I can’t wait to wear my new t-shirt to work next year J

While I was in Toronto, I decided to make the most of my 5 days, since the shirt buying actually didn’t take that long.

I went on two tours of the city – a walking one with a guide named Dave and a bus one with a tour guide with the flu... but she still managed to sound enthusiastic so it was all good!
Fun things I learnt about Toronto I learnt from the tours: (I feel a list coming on....)

-          - Toronto has a castle. Casa Loma I think it’s called. It’s pretty fancy and was used in a whole bunch of movies including X-men & the Pacifier (they are the only 2 I remember). It was designed by EJ Lennox. Let’s get to him in a minute.

-         -  The Eaton Centre (a shopping centre) has an artistic installation of Canadian geese (sorry no photo, I forgot to charge my camera) & this one Christmas the centre decided to put a red ribbon on each goose for Christmas. The artist saw what they had done and they ended up in court over it. The artist won. So his geese have been ribbon-less ever since.

-         - The street called Front Street used to be at the waterfront, but then the city reclaimed a whole bunch of swampy land so now Front Street is 800m from the shore in some places & it’s waterviews are blocked by a whole bunch of buildings and a highway.

-        -  When the developers were excavating for the Fairmont hotel they discovered the skeleton of a blue whale (this is weird because it’s not near an ocean). They found out that there used to be a zoo on that site and the owner had a blue whale brought in.... it didn’t live more than 1 week in captivity, but the zoo still sold tickets for the next 2 weeks until the smell became so overpowering that they had to bury it.

-        
- EJ Lennox designed a whole bunch of buildings in Toronto, including ‘Old City Hall’ (and the castle I mentioned before). With City Hall he was way over budget and over time so the councillors were mad at him... so in retaliation he sculpted caricatures of some of them into the building. He also wasn’t allowed to put a plaque on the building to say it was built by him... so instead he sculpted the letters of his name into the ornamental eaves of the building. Haha this guy is funny.

Also.

I went up the CN tower. It was the highest building in the world until a few years ago.

That day was nice and clear so it was cool to be able to see the city!  (this picture is not the city... it's just a cool display of the CN tower in the CN tower)

They have a glass floor, 327metres above the ground, which doesn’t look scary at all until you go to step onto it. It’s such a weird feeling.

I spent one day on a trip to Niagara Falls. It wasn’t frozen over (dad). The water was moving so fast! It was amazing!

I must say that Canada’s Horseshoe Falls were significantly more impressive than the American falls... sorry America.

The best thing about going to Niagara in the winter was that the mist from the falls had frozen on all sorts of things – posts, fences, statues and such, creating some amazing natural artworks!

SOoooo beautiful!

The strangest thing was being able to see the US. Yep, just on the other side of the river. Funny.

The sad thing was that the Maid of the Mist boats don’t run during winter... it’s a tad dangerous! Apparently sometimes ice chunks 10 storeys high float down the river (at crazy speeds) and crash over the falls... probably not a good idea to be under them then hey.

During the 5 days I was there the weather fluctuated by 24 degrees -from minus 12 with wind chill (still had nothing on that Edmonton day) to a balmy 12 above!   Crazy! So there was snow, clear but very cold, rain & overcast moments. Funny weather.

One other thing I managed to fit in in Toronto was see two movies  - Sherlock & Tin Tin. There was a cinema right near my hostel where movies were only $5 on Tuesdays... and I think $6.50 the other day. Good movies! I’m just sad I missed the Muppets L. There will be a dvd I’m sure...

Anyway, that was my trip to Toronto. It was a fun city!

Oh wait! I forgot the potatoes! The hostel I was staying in had a cheap-ish cafe. So I had dinner there this one night & there was a choice of salad or mashed potatoes on the side... those mashed potatoes were so yum! I even facebooked about them! Needless to say I had to eat there again the next night. Mmmm.

So right now I am back in Vancouver... In 40 minutes I will be checking out of the hostel and making my way to Langley to meet the family I will be living with this year! So excited and nervous all at the same time!

Next time we meet I will be at my home for the next 11 months! Eeeek!

Why are you going to Edmonton?

I spent the last 4 days in a little place called Edmonton.

It's actually the capital of Alberta, the province (like state) next to British Columbia (the province where Vancouver is). It took about 1.5 hrs to fly from Vancouver. It is north and east (which in Australia would take you warmer and actually into the ocean... but here it takes you inland and much colder.

I'm not really sure why I decided to go to Edmonton, it's not a very popular tourist destination for Aussies & most people I talked about it to were dubious about anything interesting actually being there.

But I loved it!

Edmonton has a lot of character. I was staying right near Whyte Ave, which is a street of historical and cultural significance. there are some historical buildings there, and also lots of cute shops! They were like Newtown type shops - interesting and cute things - shoes, vintage clothes, quirky nik naks and such. It was really nice to wander along!

Day 1 actually tricked me. I think the weather was about 2 degrees, so 2 shirt layers, a jacket, snow boots and a beanie and I was sweating! It was quite pleasant.

Day 2... was the coldest day of my life.
I dressed the same as the day before except for snow boots, because my feet got so hot the day before. The hostel was recarpeting, so once I left at 10am, I wasn't allowed back in my room till 6pm.
I have never experienced cold that cold. It was only minus 6... but the wind was horrible. According to the website the wind chill made it minus 19ish.
I wasn't actually outside for more than 10 minutes at a time, just enough time to wait for a bus or walk to the next place, but even in that time my clothes turned to ice, my legs & face began to sting and it was tricky to find the air that you breathe. It took about 2 hours to thaw. ha. oh dear. Needless to say, I took extra extra layers with me the next day and wore my snow boots :-)

Apart from the ridiculous cold I actually had a really good day! I was planning on doing the Science museum and art gallery, but I accidentally spent 6 hours at the Science museum and was there until closing.
The Science museum was really interesting! (obviously)

I wish they had science museums this good in Newcastle! Everything was interactive and broke complex things down really well for kids! The best bit of the museum is the Margaret Zielder dome. It's like one of those sky domes you lay under at the observatory and look at the stars...but ALOT bigger and digital and in colour! I think there was about 300 reclining, swivelling chairs under the dome. I watched two exhibitions in there - it was sort of like watching a movie in reverse-3D - with depth instead of coming-towards you 3D. Amazing! I could talk about it for ages, but I won't bore you.
There was also a Titanic Exhibition on display at the moment. At the start you get a boarding pass with the story of one of the passengers who was actually on the Titanic. My passenger was originally booked on the Olympic, but got nervous about it needing to go in for repairs so swapped to the Titanic.
It was so interesting to see artefacts from the ship and listen to eye-witness accounts (recorded I mean). It was a sort of unnerving experience to "travel" through the designing and construction and looking at the decadence of things created for the ship, when you already know how the story is going to end.
At the end of the exhibition is a list of names of people who survived and people who didn't. I nearly cried when I found the name on my boarding pass on the survivors list. I think it's easy to forget the personal aspect of things that have happened in history. hmm

Day 3
I went to West Edmonton Mall. It used to be the biggest mall in the world. I don't think it is anymore, but it's still pretty big... there is a water park, a theme park, ice skating rink, bowling, seal shows, an aquarium and putt putt golf within the centre.
I went on a rollercoaster, mostly just so I could say "I went on a rollercoaster in a shopping centre". It was a weird sort of one, the cart spins as you're going round the track, so sometimes you go down the hills backwards or sideways. ha funny.

Day 4 - the day of fun!
Well the day of fun started with getting a cute new camera, because it seems my other one didn't like the cold of Tuesday (neither did I actually). Then I went to the Art Gallery (which I could take a picture of because I had a camera... See!)

After a bit of looking, I walked to the Legislative Building on the other side of town. I got to do the free guided tour, which was actually really interesting (I do realise that I am a nerd), the guide took us to the 'magic spot' where the fountain, 5 levels below, sounds like it is pouring on your head, weird accoustic trick. She also showed us the first mace, which was made in a hurry (it seems it was a bit of an afterthought) from some plumbing pipe, bedknobs and a toilet float and painted gold. It was meant to be an interim mace, but they ended up using it for 50 years! haha funny Canadians.
Random fact: women weren't considered people in Canada until 1929, that's crazy!

Our tour ended abruptly when a Chinese gong sounded and some dragons started dancing. I stayed for the ceremony (I'm not sure if I was allowed to... but I did, mostly because there were Nanaimo Bars - not that I actually got to have one). It seems they were celebrating a 30 sister-city relationship with a province in China.

After the ceremony we all went outside and they lit up the ice sculptures with coloured lights. The sculptures were amazing! The opening of the Ice on Whyte was meant to happen simultaneously, but unfortunately alot of the sculptures there had melted because of the hot weather... I think it may have reached 2 degrees. So some other artists were going to be sculpting new sculptures ready to open today.

Anyway back at the Legislature they had free Chinese art workshops! So fun! I learnt a few new skills, drank some hot chocolate and was an extra in the CTV news report on the Ice Festival! Such a fun vibe!

After the art lessons I headed back to Whyte Ave on a free, newly refurbished, 1912s streetcar, with a live saxophonist! The streetcar usually only runs in summer, but the government put it on especially for the festival! So cool!

So all in all Edmonton was definitely worth the visit! I had so much fun! (And I'm very glad they were having unseasonably warm weather... I'm told it often gets to minus 40 there in winter...eek!)

Now I am in Toronto, which I will tell you all about next week! ha! It's funny being 15 minutes up the road from home, but not.