A pre winter mishap ...

Winter in Canada has not quite arrived yet. The first official day of winter is 21 December 2009 which is next Monday. This concerns me some what because it is already colder than anything I have ever experienced. Forecasts for the coming days indicate maximum temps of -16 degrees. Minimum temps fall as low as -24. Oh lord.

However, Joep and I are embracing it. We invested in sturdy winter coats and it is more than manageable. I still walk to work every day and I even managed to get my Christmas shopping done and make it home in one piece through a snow storm on the weekend!! This is quite a feat for someone as accident prone as I am.

In addition to managing it, we also see the funny side of it. Last week the snow started for the first time. So when the snow storm hit on Wednesday morning, Joep decided he would walk me to the office. We rugged up nice and warm and set out. The wind was blowing a gale and there was a decent amount of snow coming down. Even the Canadian’s said it was a lot so it must be true! Within minutes of leaving the house we were both in hysterics laughing. As you probably saw on the polar bear photo’s, the hoods on our coats don’t allow for much peripheral vision meaning that you have to turn your whole body to be able to see either right or left. Having a chat is therefore quite difficult. Made even more difficult by the fact that every time you turn left or right you slip on the icy roads. It is also very entertaining. Our walk took a long time due to numerous laughing breaks. 

My walk to work is broken up by the Rideau shopping mall, which provides a nice warm break from the street for a few minutes. Whilst in this mall Joep decided to turn back and leave me to walk the rest of the way alone. I don’t blame him! I made it alive and the work day went on. The walk home was not as stressful because the storm had passed so I was left to wade through snow banks without the wind knocking me over. Plus the novelty of having snow banks to wade through kept me very excited!

HOWEVER – On Thursday morning things got more interesting. I had an early presentation at work which saw me leaving the house before 7am and therefore before the sun had risen. Joep didn’t offer to walk me to work this time!

As I left the front door I was amazed at the amount of snow that had fallen in 24 hours! It’s deceiving though because all the snow from the roads gets plowed to the sides of the roads so it seems like there is more than there is. Either way, as I reached the first crossing on my walk to work I had to climb up a snow bank to get onto the road. It was only a meter high however when I reached the top I lost my footing and slid down the other side to the road below. It was dark. No one saw me. So I gathered myself up and hit the road again.

I reached the mall without further incident and basked in the warmth for a few blissful minutes before exiting the mall on the other side and preparing to cross a relatively large, busy intersection. As I exited the mall I saw that the pedestrian light was about to go red and, being the impatient soul that I am, I decided to rush across the street. Alas, I had forgotten that I was wearing uggs and that the road was slick with ice and snow.

I was reminded of these facts very quickly.

I set one foot hastily onto the road and was about to dash across when I lost my footing. I slipped and slid with my arms waving in the air loudly proclaiming ‘WOOOAAAAAHHHH!’ for a meter or so until I was nicely positioned right in the middle of the traffic waiting to drive. Then, just as I reached a central point, both of my legs rose gracefully into the air and I fell with a not so graceful thud onto my butt in the middle of the intersection.

I was mortified. Which of course made me start laughing. Which then made it very difficult to stand up again. I tried to stand up a couple of times but my feet kept slipping out from under me and every time this happened I would laugh a bit harder than the time before. My ability to stand up was further impeded by the fact that I was wearing about 15 layers of clothing. I was like a pregnant woman trying to get out of an overstuffed armchair whilst holding a giant handbag with a laptop and a lot of pens in it all of which were rolling across the road. Eventually I had to roll myself around a bit in order to manoeuvre my legs under me before I could stand up. Disaster.

After an obscene amount of time I finally made it back onto my feet and sheepishly slid across the road. By this time, the light for the waiting traffic was well and truly green and changed to amber within seconds. I would like to give a huge shout out to all Canadian’s at this point in time. Not a single soul honked their horn at me. They all waited patiently without getting annoyed. I am very impressed and grateful because I was embarrassed enough without anyone drawing more attention to me. 

I think things could get pretty interesting here in Canada when winter hits for real … Canadian’s are hardcore. I am a very big fan of them AND of their hilarious snowy, unbelievably cold winters. For now.

A celebration of life in a city full of life!

Incredibly, it has been a year since our world was changed by a motorcycle and a chicken in the jungle of Cambodia. Time flies when you’re recovering! It has been a rough ride (no pun intended) but here we are, 1 year later, living life to the full in Canada and not letting ANYTHING stop us from enjoying ourselves!

Friday was the big day and let me say a big THANK YOU to those of you who remembered this day for us and sent through sweet messages and emails. It was touching to hear that we were on your minds and in your hearts once again, but this time for better reasons J

Joep and I decided a long time ago that we would mark this auspicious event by celebrating in style to show the powers that be that we are more than appreciative of the second chance they gave us! Alas, a big night out on Thursday night left us both feeling a bit worse for wear on Friday so instead of burning up the dance floor we snuggled in for a relaxing dinner and some reminiscing about the times that have been and how amazing it is that we’ve gotten through it. Wonderful!

Saturday morning we were 150% recovered and we hit the road for the town known for its nightlife … MONTREAL! It is just a stones throw away from Ottawa so we arrived well before lunch time and left our car at our hotel. We had decided to treat ourselves to a really nice hotel …. We were not disappointed. Hotel Gault in Montreal has been given a lot of very very good reviews. Not just for the style of the hotel (it is an 18 warehouse refurbished to be the ‘most glamorous of the boutique hotels in Montreal’) but also for the high level of service.

It deserves every single one of these reviews and then some. Upon arrival we were welcomed into the hotel like we were old friends. The staff were so friendly and had no problem with the fact that we were early, they took our car and our luggage off our hands and gave us directions to a fantastic café for lunch as well as a short walking tour of the old town. Splendid! So off we headed for lunch. The café was amazing. People have told us time and time again that Montreal is exactly like a European city. This is true in some ways but the charm of Montreal is not in the fact that it is similar to European cities; the charm is in the people and the service. We were so pleased with our welcome at our hotel. We were once again pleasantly surprised by the service at lunch. Everyone speaks 100% French, 100% of the time. Joep and I don’t have more than a couple of words of French between us. In my experience as a native English speaker, this can lead to poor service and unfriendliness from all kinds of angles. In Montreal this was most definitely NOT the case! The staff will convert to English instantly and keep smiling the whole time. It is so welcoming!

After a delicious lunch (seriously delicious, not a scrap of food was left on our plates!) we headed off for our walking tour of Montreal’s old town. This then lead to a quick metro ride into the city centre which lead to a spot of shopping. The festive season has definitely begun! There were carolers and brass bands and lights and trees galore all over the city! It was hard not to get caught up in the thrill of it all! After a spot of shopping we stops for coffee and cakes (sticking to our plan of celebrating in style!) before heading back to the hotel.

We were NOT disappointed when we got up to our room. We had a big loft room with floor to ceiling windows on three sides. Glorious! I could have stayed there for a week! Alas we only had a couple of hours to rest up before it was cocktail hour and the night began!

We rugged up (it is well below zero most days now … in fact, this week there are days when the MAXIMUM temperature will be -13 degrees. Yikes!) and headed out for some pre dinner drinks. Bubbles were the order of the day and we tucked ourselves up at the bar of one of Montreal’s swanky establishments to start the night on a high! After a few drinks we made a move for the restaurant. We booked a table last week at Ferreira because we were warned in advance that it is very difficult to get a table at this highly recommended Portuguese fish restaurant. The restaurant was packed to the rafters so we were glad we booked!

Once we started eating we were even more pleased with our choice … my goodness. The service, once again, was incredible! Montrealer’s have this amazing ability to be welcoming and friendly without being fake or imposing. It is so refreshing! We had planned on eating dinner and then hitting up the club scene in Montreal however dinner was so wonderful that we stayed at our table for a very long time with only brief interruptions from friendly staff bringing us more delicious goodies. Whilst every course was great I have to say that the dessert was the highlight. We shared a plate of the chef’s favorite desserts. Before it was delivered to our table Joep imposed a ‘No Rules’ rule meaning that it would be all out war to get a decent amount of dessert. After 3 years together I am now more than able to fight for my food … it comes down to survival. And as we know better than most, the human instinct to survive is hard to fight!

Things got ugly for a short period of time there and at one point Joep lunged across the table to take food from my fork which I thought went against the rules but was very quickly reminded that the rule was that there are no rules. Fine. I took it back off his fork. I am surprised that neither of us got injured and that we didn’t get asked to leave. Thankfully the restaurant has a very hip atmosphere to go with its incredible food so we were not deemed too disruptive and allowed to stay.

Meal over we enjoyed a few more drinks at our table until we were contentedly fully and ready to retire for the evening. We then enjoyed a late night stroll through Montreal back to our hotel where we relaxed; completely content with our celebration and remembering with a lot of pride just how hard life was a year ago and just how far we have come.

Sunday morning we slept in before heading down for breakfast, which goes from 8am-2pm on Sunday’s. Yes. 2pm. Now THAT is Sunday brunch! After a long breakfast we headed up to Mont Royal, the ‘mountain’ that shadows Montreal and the place where Montreal was first declared to be French many years ago. History has it that the park was privately owned for many years before the guy who owned it chopped down a bunch of trees during a particularly cold winter (who could blame him!) which caused outrage amongst Montrealer’s. The city’s people then came together to purchase the land for $1 million back in 1875 … quite a big sum for back then! So now it is public land. We took advantage of this and spent a portion of our morning hiking up to the Maison Smith where there is an impressive look out.

After enjoying the sights and catching our breath up the top we strolled leisurely back to the car to head back to Ottawa. I cannot wait to go back again! Montreal is one of the best cities I have visited and I have visited quite a few cities in my time. The city itself is lovely and has a lot to offer but that is not what made me fall in love with it … it’s the people. They are amazing!

Shortly after leaving Montreal we were arriving in Ottawa and heading off to buy Christmas decorations and a Christmas tree! YES! A real live Christmas tree!

We spent the last few hours of our celebration weekend decorating our tree with our newly purchased decorations and busting out Christmas carols. It looks lovely but we will need the help of some little Australian children to get some decorations with a bit more flare on there … Raido, Niamhy, Beanie and Ky you better get busy!!

A year later and life just keeps getting better and better. We can’t ask for much more than this – And we won’t. The plan for the next 12 months is to keep doing what we do best … Laughing and living every second of every extra day we’ve got!

New York! New York!

I sit here on a Monday night completely exhausted after a fantastic weekend in the world’s greatest city … New York! There is no place on earth like it. I say this every time I go there. It is incredible!

Joep and I had planned on going to New York next weekend to meet up with the Sgrizzi’s however a slight mix up with weekends meant that the Sgrizzi’s were in town THIS weekend instead of next weekend. No worries! We have drifted from our Dutch ways and stopped planning every weekend months in advance. I know, its unheard of. They might revoke Joep’s citizenship. We have learned to leave weekends open and flexible! Incredible. It is so liberating!!

So, thanks to our new found freedom, we were able to change our plans and head down to NYC on Friday! Joepinator picked me up from work and we hit the road. The drive there was uneventful apart from a couple of wild goose chases to find McD’s. The signs on the side of the road that tell you there is a McD’s nearby are not always accurate in the USA.

But we eventually found nourishment and made it to NYC just before midnight. Finding the hotel was relatively easy … actually I must correct myself. Joep printed out directions to the hotel. I was sure the hotel was on 48^th street, the directions lead us to 46^th street. Joep was adamant that this was correct. Needless to say, it wasn’t. So when we pulled up outside the computer shop at 201 48^th street Joep was a bit sheepish. And frazzled because driving in New York City is an experience all by itself!! Thankfully the hotel was on 48^th street like I thought so we didn’t have to spend too much time driving!

We checked in and made sure we got a good night of sleep in preparation for Saturday. Saturday morning saw us up and out the door in reasonable time. We hit the streets to wander around and soak up the atmosphere. The city is just gearing up for Christmas so all the window displays are getting set up and it is serious business in NYC. They sure know how to do Christmas!

After wandering around a bit we headed to Macy’s to do a spot of shopping. I, of course, had no patience to look for myself (mother ship I am sure you are not surprised by this), but we did manage to shop up a storm in the men's department!! Joepinator was very pleased. Right down to insisting on wearing his brand new jumper IN the store rather than waiting till we got home to change. Delany girls its just like when we were little and got new shoes and would put our old shoes in the box in the store so we could wear the new ones right away hahaha classic Joepinator.

Shopping complete we headed out to meet up with Joep’s colleague from the LA office who was coincidentally in town at the same time as us. It was after midday so we were justified in finding a nice bar to settled down in and people watch for a while. LA Matt hung around for a few and then had to hit the road but Joep and I were set for the afternoon.

We sat at the bar in Carmines enjoying beers and people watching. After seeing numerous people ordering delicious looking meals we decided to get in on the action and ordered a pasta dish. It. Was. So. Good. We were more than satisfied.

A few hours and a few too many beers later we decided to head back to the hotel to plan our evening. On the way back to the hotel the evening ended up planning itself! We had just enough time for a quick nanna nap before heading out to see the Sgrizzi’s! REUNION! Thais and I have not had a chance to cluck at each other for a very long time so we were long overdue. Thankfully emailing has allowed us to keep up-to-date on most things so the clucking was left to idle gossip and chit chat … yes. What we are best at.

After a couple of cocktails at the Hudson (virgin for Thais naturally!) the four of us hopped on the subway to Soho to meet up with Michiel for a few more drinks. The subway in NYC was once again an experience. Last time Joep and I were in NYC we were in the subway late one night completely lost and chatting with friendly bums. This time we passed the time people watching and rat watching. Yes. Rat watching. I saw the biggest rat EVER down there. This thing walked up the stairs like it was the easiest thing ever. Scary!!

Once on the train there was some delay and confusion. Thankfully we were entertained by a friendly local who was daring people to try to hold themselves horizontal on the train poles. He was offering $5 to anyone who would do it. This story would be so cool if Matt had heard the challenge and taken him on. It is one of Matt’s greatest talents so Joep and I were both pretty surprised he didn’t jump at the chance. Alas, Matt wasn’t paying attention to the gentleman offering the wager so the opportunity was lost. Noone was more upset about this than Matt.

To make up for the disappointment we headed to Balthazar’s for drinks with Michiel! We spent the next few hours enjoying the atmosphere and chin wagging before heading to a late night pizza place for a snack. At this point the Sgrizzi’s left us for the evening while those less responsible members of the group headed out for a few more drinks. Hours later we found ourselves standing at the entrance of a club that Michiel is very fond of. Whilst waiting to go inside we witnessed a very charming young lady get escorted from the building whilst trying to hit the bouncers with her shoe. Oh lord. It was time to go home. The night was deemed a huge success and Joep and I went back to the hotel content.

Sunday morning was less pleasant. We were up in time to meet up with the Sgrizzi’s for a greasy breakfast. Exactly what the doctor ordered. After breakfast we took advantage of the amazing weather and walked up to Central Park. Oh New York! The weather put on a real show for us and we basked in the sunshine for a long time. The boys left Thais and I to cluck in peace for a while which we very much appreciated and it was with a heavy heart that we walked back through the park to go our separate ways. Sadness. But hopefully not separated for too much longer … Right Thais? Yes? Right? Good.

After saying our goodbyes we headed back for a last bit of shopping before preparing for the drive back home. Now, the drive to NYC is just under 7 hours which is a decent drive but Joep and I love road trips so its perfect for us.

The drive back from NYC was much longer than the drive to NYC. There are 2 reasons for this. Both of them involve us getting lost.

We left the city and all was going well until we missed a turn off and ended up half way to Philadelphia (look on a map, this is the opposite direction to where we needed to be). This one was manageable and we had a good chuckle about it. Once back on track we shared driving and at the border in Canada we swapped for the last time. I fell fast asleep next to Joep for what was supposed to be the last hour of driving before we were home.

I awoke a couple of hours later to feel the car doing an abrupt u-turn while hearing Joep cursing next to me. Why? We were lost. And not just a little bit lost. Poor Joepinator had pulled off the freeway to get fuel but, as happened many times on the way to NYC, the sign saying there was fuel nearby was lying. There was no fuel. And Joep couldn’t figure out how to get back on the freeway. Uh oh.

We drove around in circles for a bit while I spoke in a soothing voice that apparently was not very soothing. Eventually we spotted a road that said it headed towards Ottawa. GREAT! Not really. We took this road and soon found out that it was not a highway. It was a very dark, very scary back road that showed no sign of ending. There were also no fuel stations. It was stressful! We found a fuel station at one stage and pulled in to fuel up. It was a self service spot that allows you to use your credit card to pay outside. Noone was around. Seriously it was like the beginning of a very bad horror film. So Joep was trying to fuel up but the machine wasn’t working. Whilst waiting for him in the car I let my imagination get the better of me and, convinced that a serial killer was waiting in the shadows to jump out, I completely freaked out and demanded we hit the road. Hysterical. My imagination is far too active. Thankfully Joep has the patience of a saint and let me be a cry baby. Phew!

Not so thankfully, we still had no fuel. And no sign of getting fuel. It was stressful but, as seems to be the case very often in our life together, luck was on our side! We were just about out of fuel when we re-joined the freeway and there was a fuel station! Thank goodness!! The last hour of driving home was less stressful and we were able to laugh about the situation.

We laughed even more today. Joep called me at work in hysterics laughing and asked me to look on google maps to see where we had been last night. Turns out the highway he had accidentally turned off was the wrong highway anyway! We were headed to Montreal, Quebec. If he hadn’t gotten off that highway we would’ve driven straight through Ontario and ended up on the wrong side of the state entirely. The highway we found was a total fluke. We both feel rather like Dumb & Dumber but silver lining of all of this is that we got lost. If we didn’t get lost we would still be driving back across the country right now!

We’re buying a navigation system this week. Lesson learned.

And despite the getting lost the weekend was fantastic! The Sgrizzi’s remain a favourite and their return to this continent is a must! New York will be visited again asap … just try to keep us away!

The Polar Bears

As you all know, a few weeks ago we lived Joep’s Canadian dream by heading to Quebec to see the whales in the wild. This weekend it was my turn and, I may be wrong here, but I think that my Canadian dream kicks Joep’s Canadian dream’s butt!!

Friday night saw us boarding a flight to Winnipeg … yes, yes, this doesn’t sound very exciting. Have some patience!!

We arrived in Winnipeg laaaaate on Friday night in time for a good night of sleep prior to our 5am start on Saturday morning. Yes, a 5am start. Very early. But were we cranky? NO! We were far too excited to be worried about lack of sleep!

At 6am we met up with our tour operator Don of Heartland Travel at the dinky little charter air terminal in Winnipeg. Three and a half hours later we were landing in Churchill. Why? To see the polar bears in the wild!! Churchill is a little town on the southwestern shores of the Hudson Bay. For those of you who don’t know the Hudson Bay, Google it OR think of Toronto and head way northwest. Way. Canada is very big remember.

The population consists of 900 permanent inhabitants and many many polar bears that visit between the months of August to early November. OK so here is a quick explanation of why the bears are there and then I will tell you all about the wonderful adventure we went on!! So the Hudson Bay is frozen solid for the winter however is melts completely over the summer, refreezing in November. As a result, all the polar bears come ashore for a little summer vacation!! Although it’s not my idea of a great summer vacation because the poor bears don’t have much to eat for 3 months and only survive on their fat reserves built up over the winter (after 2 months in Canada Joep and I could probably survive a summer on our fat reserves too!). So, after hanging out on dry land for the summer, the bears all head towards the coastline in late October early November in anticipation of the refreezing of the Bay. Once the ice freezes over they head out and start feeding again.

All of these things please me greatly because it allowed us to head up north to see actual polar bears in the wild!! How exciting!

We have had this tour booked in since our arrival in Canada and have literally been counting the days till we arrived there. I was NOT disappointed. Joep’s expectations weren’t as high as mine so imagine how much HIS expectations were exceeded!

Now –As mentioned above we flew to Churchill early Saturday morning and arrived at about 9:30am. Once disembarked, we hopped onto a bus to head to our Tundra Buggy. This is a special vehicle with special wheels on it to allow it to travel across the tundra (**shores of the bay**) without causing any environmental damage. As you can imagine it is all conserved land here. And rightly so! On the way out of the airport we drove past the polar bear jail.

Yes. Jail. It was set up as a means of protecting town locals from curious/hungry bears who wander into the town in the summer months. This is a bit unfair though because the town falls right onto the migration path of the bears so they kind of have no choice. Awwww, poor bears. But provided they don’t hang around for too long they are ok.

If they DO hang around too long however, they are captured and placed into polar bear jail for 7-10 days where they are given only water to keep them going as a means of deterring them from returning to the town. Once the poor bears have served their sentence they are air lifted by helicopter approximately 40 miles from the town to resume their wait for the ice to freeze.

When we were in Churchill there were 11 bears incarcerated. We weren’t allowed to visit them. Shame! 

But we weren’t disappointed for too long because within minutes of passing the jail we spotted our first bear! Just strolling down the beach in the distance. Un. Be. Lievable. I was so excited and this was just the beginning! We hadn’t even reached the tundra buggy yet!

We arrived at the tundra buggy shortly afterwards and took up our positions to head out into the wild. The buggy was heated indoors and there is a viewing platform on the back where you can go outside and soak up the atmosphere. I must say, even without the bears, the scenery is phenomenal out there. It is so untouched and I hope it stays that way because it would be a shame to see it change.

It is also pretty cold up there but apparently while we were there is was unseasonably warm. Huh?? Luckily Joep and I bought our winter coats last week and they are good to -40 degrees in a t-shirt. True story. We tested them out on Saturday and I must say I was toasty warm for the entire day! Perfect!!

So our first bear sighting on the tundra (and I won’t bore you with all of them don’t worry!) was a mother and her 2 cubs. It was incredible. They are such beautiful animals! They were walking towards us when mum smelled our bus and made an about face with her cubs in tow. They then marched off into the distance much to our disappointment AND the disappointment of one of the cubs who was very curious about us and kept trying to make a break from his mum to come over and say hi. Mum wasn’t silly though!! However, a few minutes after heading away from us mum stopped again, sniffed the air and made an even faster about face to head back towards us … why? There was a huge male in the distance and she was not risking her little cubs around him! Apparently the males do not often attack young cubs but they will give them a scare if they come too close. Awwww, big bullies! Another interesting fact – The difference in size between the male & female polar bear is the largest size difference between sexes for any animal. The male can often weight double the female … having said this; Joepinator and I are pretty similar to polar bears. Except Joep doesn’t weigh 600kg. Yes, a male bear weighs 600kgs. Incredible. I seem to use that word a lot in relation to this trip.

So, this sighting was very exciting and believe me when I say it was only the beginning. As the day wore on we saw close to 30 bears!! Even our tour guide Don was amazed. According to him it is normal to see 5 or 6 bears in a day so we were very lucky!!

Even more so when you consider that a couple of big male bears were so curious that they actually came right up to our bus, stood on their hind legs and had a good look inside. Incredible! My heart was in my mouth! I have never in my life seen anything more impressive than these bears. They are so huge and they literally do not make a sound when they walk along.  At one point there was a small bear hanging around the tundra buggy very curious about what was going on. He was so curious that he didn’t hear or smell a very big male coming up behind him … when the big bear got within swiping distance the poor little bear got the fright of his life and ran a mile (Delany girls – it was just like dad that time he was changing a light bulb and mother ship crept up behind him and shouted BANG! I can’t write that without laughing …).

There are so many highlights of the day but I won’t bore you with all of them because I am sure this is not as interesting to read as it was to live. Instead I will tell you Joep’s highlight of the day. There was 1 child on our tour. He was really sweet and very well mannered. I chatted to him a bit. Late in the day we spotted a bear looking much worse for wear. He was covered in blood. It was really sad …. Until we found out that he had been trying to fight with a mama bear and her cubs. She gave him what for and he was left licking his very nasty looking wounds. Awww. That’ll learn ya!

So anywhooooo, this young child on the bus was very upset about the hurt bear. I took it upon myself to make him feel better by telling him that it’s just what boys do when they grow up and that the bear would be fine. I then went on to announce that he would do exactly the same thing when he was a grown up. And I finished with the grand finale, which Joep repeats to me excessively at the moment ‘I’m glad I’m not a boy!’

She wasn’t a boy. She was a very sweet little girl. The awkward silence that followed my monologue about the behavior of boys should’ve given this away but it didn’t. I kept going with the ‘boy’ comments until her father politely slipped the fact that he is actually is a she into the conversation. At this point I stopped speaking to them out of sheer mortification. Joep, on the other hand, had a field day with my humiliation.

Being stuck on a bus with someone you have inadvertently offended is awkward so it is lucky that I didn’t know of my error until the end of the day.

Feeling sufficiently excited, exhausted and a little bit embarrassed we headed back to Churchill for a crazy Saturday night out. Of course, I am using irony here. But Churchill is a lovely town! We had a great dinner, we wandered around the town in the sub zero temperatures as the snowstorm got progressively worse and we chatted to some of the locals who were very excited about the Olympic torch, which was run through Churchill on Sunday!

Late Saturday night we all met at our designated spot and headed for our chartered flight back to Winnipeg. Exhausted. And more than satisfied after a day of unforgettable memories with the bears in Churchill!

I recommend it to EVERYONE! You will not be disappointed!

Go Sens Go!

As most of you know, I have never been a huge fan of sports. I have never had much interest in sitting for hours watching people throw balls to each other or scoring goals. Joep, on the other hand, is a sports addict!! He is a complete sports nut. 

This weekend we found a common thread on the sporting front. A wonderful moment for our relationship ... Canada is full of surprises! 

Mel & Geoff headed to Ottawa this weekend. Our very first house guests! They arrived Friday evening and we sat down to a lovely dinner and a few too many beverages. Geoff very kindly brought his playstation with him so, once again, the boys were entertained while Mel & I gossiped until the early hours of the morning.

Saturday morning we headed for a big breakfast at one of our favorite restaurants in Ottawa. We then wandered around the market for a while and enjoyed the city until the boys got bored and wanted to play computer games again. Off they went while Mel & I shopped and gossiped and drank pots of tea … just like the old days!

We were home in time to have a brief afternoon nap to build up our energy levels in preparation for the big game. The whole point of the trip was to go and see an ice hockey match with the 4 of us.

I LOVE ICE HOCKEY. It is a wonderful wonderful sport! We caught the bus to Scotiabank Place and made our way to the seats … rink side. Yes. That close. Mel had done extraordinarily well to find us these tickets!! The game was Ottawa Senators v Boston Bruins.

Before we left Amsterdam our Canadian friends had given us conflicting reports regarding which team to support in the NHL however there was consistency in their advise to NOT support the Senators. Given that we live in Ottawa I was dubious about taking this advice. I am still undecided. I feel like I should support the Sens coz I live in Ottawa BUT they lost on the weekend in a penalty shoot out and after watching all of the Mighty Ducks movies I firmly believe that this is because they didn’t fly together. Not a good sign of things to come. In addition to this, the Boston Bruins have this guy on their team (I can’t remember his name) who is gigantic! He is bigger than Joep. He is so big that he cuts slits up the back of his shorts to fit his giant legs in them. It is awesome to see this dude skate. In addition to this they have a player who is teeny tiny. They also have a player called Wideman. He is not wide but it is a funny name. They are diversified. And they won on the weekend. And everyone likes a winner right? So I don’t know yet. I’ll decide soon.

The game was amazing though! I have no idea what the rules are but it is a fast paced game! I was challenged enough just keeping up with the puck. In fact, I didn’t even manage to keep up with it most of the time. My favorite parts of the game are when the players' body check each other against the side of the rink and when they fight. Mother ship don’t stress out!! I will not do the fighting!

But seriously, these guys are all padded up to play hockey. Then within the blink of an eye they have taken off their gloves and helmets and are throwing crazy punches at each other. The referees stand and watch the fighters without intervening until they fall over onto the ice. At this point they separate the 2 players and send them to the naughty box. On the way to the naughty box the players celebrate their fighting success and get the crowd all riled up. It. Is. Hilarious!

I have never liked physical fights (except when us 4 Delany girls were little and fighting over toys … or when we were teenagers and we were fighting over clothes …  ok so maybe I’m not as anti fights as I thought …) anyway … in my later years, physical fights scare me a lot. Joepinator loves to stop and stare when people are fighting. I hate it. Imagine his (and my!) surprise when I thoroughly enjoyed the fights during the hockey match.

At one stage during the game as a big body check happened right in front of us Joep turned to me with shocked eyes … I had no idea what was up. Apparently I had been chanting ‘Smash him! Smash him!’ out loud as the opponent came in for the body check. Awesome. I love this sport!! My dream is now to be a hockey commentator. I don’t know the rules yet but I don’t think there are many to learn plus the game is so fast that I don’t think it matters if you know the rules or not.

Accounting will soon be a thing of my past. I am destined for ice hockey greatness.

After thoroughly enjoying the match AND making in onto the TV (we were sitting directly behind one of the bigger fights and a colleague spotted me jumping up and cheering loudly … he was very impressed … Joepinator missed this particular game highlight coz he was getting beers. Poor kid.) we headed for the bus back to the city for late night pizza and cocktails. A perfect end to the evening!

Sunday morning rolled around far too quickly. We had a big pancake breakfast before Mel & Geoff hit the road back to Toronto. Joep and I went shopping for winter coats … we shall both look ridiculous but who cares when it is minus 40 degrees!

Another fantastic weekend with Mel & Geoff …  many more to come no doubt!!

A Whale of a Time!

This weekend was Thanksgiving weekend in Canada! Yes, this is a month earlier than the US Thanksgiving. There are various reasons for this however here’s the story I have researched. It was first celebrated in 1578 to celebrate a British explorer making it across the Atlantic. In 1872 it was then transferred to be the official celebration of the recovery of the Prince of Wales from a long illness … so the efforts of the British explorer were deemed less important than the recovery of the Prince. Nowadays it is apparently a celebration of harvesting … similar to that of the US but harvesting apparently happens a month earlier in Canada. So there you go. That could be completely incorrect but I gave it my best shot!

To celebrate the British explorer/survival of Prince of Wales/harvest time, Joep and I decided to make the most of the long weekend to check out another Canadian city – Quebec City! Before we moved here we both chose 1 thing we really wanted to do. Joep’s was whale watching (actually, he had two … lobster fishing is also on his list … I don’t understand it either) … mine you will hear more about later! So we combined the trip to Quebec City with a whale watching tour!

On Friday night we picked up the car and hit the road! We also decided to mix things up a bit and I gave the driving a shot … something I haven’t done for a long time … while Joep gave navigating a shot … something he won’t be allowed to do for a long time. Needless to say we had some navigational issues, which ended in hysterical laughter and eventually, finding our hotel late in the evening.

Saturday morning saw us sleeping in and enjoying a loooong breakfast before hitting the road for Baie-Sainte-Catherine, which is a small town right near Tadoussac. The drive there was amazing and once again we were blown away by the beauty of a real fall/autumn whichever you like to call it. It really is a whole spectrum of colors!! There were a couple of slight hiccups along the way. First we got stuck in an astronomical amount of traffic … this put us a little behind schedule so then we were rushing a bit. Whilst making a speedy recovery from this set back I glanced at the fuel gauge to see that it was on empty … and flashing. I announced this is a very panicked voice to Joep who responded to this announcement with a similar state of panic. Why? Because it is Canada, which is bigger than Australia and in Australia, it is a long way between fuelling stations. In Canada it is only reasonable that it is even further between fuel stations. A tense silence followed broken only by Joep announcing to me that ‘My hands are shaking Jenni! My hands are shaking!’ My fear was less because I had already concluded that I would not be the one walking in the snow (yes, snow was falling at this point) to the nearest fuel station. Thankfully, the reserve tank of a Toyota Yaris is at least 40km’s meaning that we made it to Baie-Sainte-Paul just in time to refuel. Crisis averted!

After fueling up and taking a few relaxing deep breaths whilst finally seeing the funny side of the situation, we hit the road again and made a beeline to Baie-Sainte-Catherine. We arrived just in time to make our boat … Relief!!

 The boat tour was amazing. It was freezing cold (literally … it was well below zero) but it was worth every freezing second of it! We spotted so many whales including minke whales; hump back whales and even a blue whale that came very close to the boat. Might I add that the blue whale grows to 27m long and is the second largest creature EVER to exist … yes, including dinosaurs. Incredible! Furthermore, all the whales in that area are there to eat up before winter hits. They double their weight in the months of August, September & October to survive the winter. A little bit like what Joep & I have been doing since arrived in Canada … joking! A little bit.

Whale watching over with we hit the road to enjoy a night in Quebec City. We were not disappointed. After wandering around the city for a little while we settled on dinner at a lovely, romantic spot called Le Maria Clarisse … perfect choice. The food was phenomenal. The service was infallible. The atmosphere was the epitome of romance. And the wine wasn’t too bad either! After enjoying a long meal we headed to a club recommended by our breakfast waitress … Chez Maurice. Hilarious. We hit the dance floor with gusto, enjoyed a few more drinks and had an absolute ball!

Sunday morning rolled around far too quickly and we were up early to make the most of the city. Quebec City is the only fortified city in North America. It is also one of the oldest cities in North America and is the home of many firsts. First girls school, first stone church etc. etc. It is also home of the oldest North American newspaper and oldest North American hospital. Random information. The city itself is beautiful and full of things to see and do. We were hard pushed to fit everything in and as a result we will most definitely be planning a return trip!

 Oh and there is so much to do that it is very easy to get confused between sights … for example, while walking down the street away from the Notre Dame an older couple stopped us and asked if we knew where the Notre Dame was. I confidently pointed them back the way we had just come. The lady was confused by my directions but her husband was grateful and they headed off. 5 minutes after this, as we walked in the opposite direction, we stumbled across the Notre Dame. Huh? No, the other church was not the Notre Dame. Joep, of course, already knew this. Right.  I. Felt. Terrible. And also a little bit scared that the people would find the Notre Dame and me in front of it and shout at me. The last hour of sight seeing was therefore a little bit stressful as I was afraid of bumping into the strangers and Joep was hopeful that we would.

We headed back to Ottawa shortly after this incident and made it back without issue. Monday we had planned to make a Thanksgiving feast. A 5kg turkey, sweet potato pie, broccoli and homemade stuffing were served … yes, enough food for a whole family. Or one ‘Jen & Joep’. True story. Dessert was still consumed … tarte tatin. We had it as dessert at the restaurant on Saturday night and decided to make it ourselves. It was a success!

The remainder of the day was spent vegging out in elastic waisted pants … and picking at the leftovers …

A perfect first ever Thanksgiving celebration!!

Joep for Prime Minister!

Our agenda for the coming months in Canada is jam packed with exciting weekend trips so to ensure we have enough time to enjoy our new relaxed North American lifestyle we have planned weekends off between each weekend trip.

This weekend was one of those weekends! Except … it didn’t go as planned. During the week an email was sent around my office notifying everyone of a draw to win tickets to a live bull riding show on Friday night in the Deloitte corporate box. I was excited!! Apparently I was also very vocal about this excitement because when the draw winners were announced on Wednesday morning many people came to offer me their condolences that I was not a winner. Devastation ensued however it was short lived because a very nice colleague of mine made life that little bit brighter by inviting me to join him on a Saturday trip to Vankleek Hill! Yes. It sounds like a random town. And you are right; it is a random town between Ottawa and Montreal however this weekend it was home to one of the many Canadian versions of Oktoberfest!

Imagine my joy! (Mother ship is sighing in despair as she reads this … I can hear it from here!)

More than my joy … imagine Joep’s joy!!

Saturday morning we were up bright and early to catch our 10am bus to Vankleek Hill to join the German festivities. Our bus was slightly delayed and we arrived in Vankleek just after 11am. The party was just getting started.

For those of you who have been to Oktoberfest (every Australian reading this knows what I am talking about) … imagine the joy of Oktoberfest first impressions. Now flip it 180 degrees. You have Vankleek Hill. Basically the festival was a farm yard with a few beers tents around the place. Joep and I were dubious. But as we have learned … never judge a beer festival by its cover.

We joined the queue for steins and beer tickets immediately upon arrival … right in front of the fully clothed police officers who were queuing for the exact same thing. A sign of things to come? Believe me.

The tone of the day was set and we joined Fraser & Lindsey at a nearby haystack to watch the arrival of the town mayor. He arrived in a wagon sitting on a haystack. The locals were excited. They were also wearing very short Canadian versions of lederhosen despite the fact that it was freezing cold. That is not the Aussie in me speaking; the Canadians who were not from Vankleek Hill were also cold.

Either way, the arrival of the mayor was most definitely a highlight. But not as much of a highlight as the kinder fest. This was the area for children, which had been a big selling point for Joep and I. We were promised a ball pit, face painting, 50 pounds of playdoh and a petting zoo!! The ball pit was a cardboard box approximately 10cm deep with one layer of balls. Children stepped in, children fell over, balls rolled out of the pit. It was not effective. The face painting was well below par. But the petting zoo! Now that was a sight to behold! The llama with bangs was my favorite animal. Joep loved them all equally and was highly entertained for an extended period of time pretending he had food to trick them into coming close to him and then laughing at his own ingenuity at tricking the farm animals. Hmmmm …

I ridicule him now but I was highly entertained by him at the time!

Petting zoo finished with we resumed the remaining Oktoberfest activities. We found a table and sat down to enjoy steins of beer, duck schnitzel and delicious elk sandwiches. None of that is made up. Canadian food rocks my world. More on that later.

As the day progressed Joep, as would be expected, began to befriend many of the locals. This included 2 little old ladies who educated him on the mating call of the Elk. True story.

Sadly, in his drive to make friends he also alienated a few of the locals. Many of the people from Vankleek Hill are missing teeth. It was a very strange phenomenon and Joep & I were curious re the dental healthcare availability in this area. So Joep asked one of the local girls if there is a dentist in town. She said that there was in fact 1 dentist in town. She then left in a huff. I don’t blame her. She had nice teeth.

Towards the end of the night as we all sat in a beer tent enjoying the festivities things really got out of hand. Random women kept stealing the ‘Vankleek Hill’ flags which required them to stand on various tables and cheer loudly. Men, seeing the success of the women began to race each other across the tent whilst hanging upside down on the ropes … I’m talking fully grown men with no teeth shimmying across ropes. Joep was tempted to join them … thankfully he was easily distracted to do something else. Talk to the people next to him.

I am not sure what happened in the conversations after this because I was involved in my owned spirited conversations however before long I heard shouts announcing that Joep was ‘awesome’ and should, without a doubt ‘be voted the next Prime Minister of Canada’. Joep took the responsibility in hand and decided to show his leadership skills in full force by building the crowd up to even louder shouts of … I think they were saying ‘Cheers’ but I cannot be sure. Sitting next to the future Prime Minister meant I got pure noise. No sense.

The bus back to Ottawa was booked for 9pm so the festival organizers shepherded us all to the bus shortly after this time. We were told that we could not take any alcohol past the fence. Rather than getting rid of his beer, Joep made his first Prime Ministerial decision and moved the fence. It was the funniest thing any of us have seen for a while. He would pick up the fence, walk a couple of steps on his tip toes before replacing the fence, looking around sheepishly and taking another mouthful of beer. Classic. Until the intoxicated police, who had been laughing along with him for most of it, called him out. His beer was empty by this stage so he was happy to leave.

His arrival on the bus was met with cheers fit for a Prime Minister and we were off to Ottawa!

Arrival back in Ottawa city saw us head to Zak’s for more food and … beer. It was at this stage that I was treated to my favorite food experience since arrival in Ottawa. Except for the red meat of course … Poutine! It consists of chips, gravy and cheese curds. It sounds disgusting. It looks disgusting. It is delicious.

It was also a perfect way to end our evening! Sunday was spent on the couch with good food and the usual great company =) Our planned weekend of nothing was superseded by Oktoberfest but it was a worthy sacrifice to make!

Where are all the moose?

This weekend Joep and I had planned on embracing the Canadian lifestyle and become those outdoorsy type people that we have always somewhat feared … no we did not buy Nordic walking sticks. Although I won’t say that we never will. 

Now on the note of integrating into Canada might I also note that there are a few things that we may not choose to embrace. (Nat I think you are the only Canadian who will read this and I hope you will not take offense …) Firstly, almost everyone in Ottawa has a tattoo. This may or may not be an exaggeration but I am pretty sure it is not. There are HEAPS of tattoo parlors in the city and so many people have tattoos it is crazy! Mother ship, do not freak out I will not be getting a tattoo. Promise.

Another thing that we will not be embracing is … wait for it coz this one will shock you … CHEWING TOBACCO! Yes. You read that correctly. I am not making this up. Let me explain. Last Thursday I was at an IFRS training seminar (don’t fall asleep! That is the last accounting term I will use!) … the seminar was outside of the city centre meaning that I could not walk there meaning I had to figure out public transport which is not my strong point because I have a short attention span and also because I attract freaks so every time I take public transport a random crazy person will sit next to me. Those of you who know me will attest to this. Realizing the predicament I was in, I asked a colleague for a lift to the seminar. He was very kind in giving me said lift. At the end of the day he had also very kindly arranged for another colleague to give me a lift home. Now I had heard various stories about this guy including one particularly disturbing story which involved him taking off his pants in the office … because he is overly sweaty. Yes. Random information to know about someone you don’t know. Anyway, he was very nice to drive me home and who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth!

Once settled in his car (which he had trouble locating in the parking lot … something I thought only my mother had troubles with **flash back to childhood grocery shopping expeditions with 4 Delany sisters and one frazzled mothership looking for her car on the wrong side of the shopping mall**) he opened a little metal container and very politely offered me some of its contents. I asked what it was. He answered very calmly that it was chewing tobacco. Oh. My. Lord. I politely refused and let him stuff his mouth. I was shocked into silence (a rarity). As we drove along it dawned on me that in all the western movies I have seen, the chewing tobacco requires the chewer to spit out some sort of residue. I asked my driver about this. He answered that yes he would have to spit it out. I stupidly questioned where he would spit it out. He lifted up a clear plastic bottle which I had not previously noticed. It was full of spit.

GROSS!!

In fairness he was very discrete about the whole spitting thing. And yes, I was overly dramatic about how disgusting it was. Oh and btw he says that the chicks dig it. He is married so I don’t argue that point too much.

That was a very long story with the moral being that Joep and I will not be getting tattoos or taking up chewing tobacco. Yet.

One thing we WILL be taking up however is exploring the great out doors!! This weekend westarted off by doing the Haunted Tour of Ottawa on Friday night. It is a very cool tour with lots of ghost stories about the city. Very scary if you believe in that stuff … like I do. If you don’t believe in it … Joepinator … then it is just a good excuse to make ghost noises in front of a large audience. We were both content =)

Saturday we were up early to head to Algonquin Provincial Park. It is 2 hrs from Ottawa, the biggest provincial park in Ontario, and when I told people that we were headed there they all told me to expect to see moose. We were excited!

On the way to Algonquin we stopped at a tiny little village for snacks and were treated to the best sandwiches we have ever eaten! Upon arrival in Algonquin we headed to Opeonga lake for a spot of canoeing. Yes, correct. We went canoeing! I was scared about capsizing, Joep was not. He was right. It was bucket loads of fun! We canoed out across the massive lake with a break in the middle to check out one of the small islands dotting the lake area. It was breathtakingly beautiful and so peaceful! That is, except for the moose mating calls that Joep was doing throughout the entire canoe ride.

He was as excited as I was to see moose and when there were none wandering out to greet us he tried to attract them using his version of a moose mating call. This sounds something like … ‘Yaaaaaaak! Yaaaaaaak!’ I am no nature expert and I could be completely wrong here but I think that is the mating call of the … yak. Needless to say, it was not effective in attracting any moose.

After finishing up our canoeing adventures we went of 2 short hikes. One to a lookout with a great view of the park and one which took us past 2 beaver dams. Both were fantastic! The colors in the park were unbelievable! Fall in Canada is a must see!

We finished the day exhausted and content! I think this new outdoors life will be very good for us … until it gets to -20 degrees. Then I think I’ll be hibernating … until then though we will continue our moose hunt!

A weekend reuinion in Toronto!

The infamous Mel Wolter and I have been separated for far too long now after many years of being partners in crime in Perth. The last time we were lucky enough to have some time together was in 2007 when Mel popped over to Amsterdam for a weekend to visit to we were long over due for a catch up! (Yes yes we spoke almost every week on the phone for a good hour … still its not the same as sharing life stories over a glass or 10 of wine!) 

Ottawa is a 4.5 hour drive from Toronto – A meer stones throw! After settling into Ottawa and surviving my first week at work it seemed the perfect time to head down (across??) to Toronto for some QT with Mel and her better half Geoff!

We set off at a reasonable hour on Saturday morning after having our first night in a real bed in 2 weeks. The road trip there was very uneventful and we found Mel’s place without any trouble. The reunion was as you would expect. We squealed, hugged, jumped around and squealed again. We’ll never grow out of it. You can all stop hoping.

After the initial squeals died down we headed up to have some quality time with the boys. This proved difficult given that Joep’s face lit up with glee upon seeing the playstation … Xbox doesn’t work here. He was supposed to check this before we left Holland. He didn’t. He now has a perfectly good Xbox and may games that he cannot use. Thankfully he got his money’s worth from the Xbox in the last few months but he is currently suffering from withdrawals from lack of computer game playing… so needless to say, the sight of a perfectly good playstation sitting unplayed drove the poor Joepinator to distraction so we put him out of his misery and let the boys play their games while we caught up … HA! That is such a lie. A big fat one … mother ship, there would be a black line down my tongue right now if you could see me. Mel and I encouraged the boys to play the playstation so we could gossip about life over the past months without any distractions =)

Gossiping out of the way, we managed to tear the boys away from their game to head out to check out the city and grab a bite for dinner. Mel had chosen a FAB spot for us! The food was delicious and the cocktails were the best I have had in a long time! In addition the wait staff were fantastic!! 

The only downside of the dining experience was the music. Normally this shouldn’t ruin an evening … it didn’t ruin ours but did provide us with hours of entertainment. Every single good song that was played by the dj was mixed with loud sirens. It was horrific. Joep encouraged me at one stage to request something other than what was playing. I accepted the challenge and asked the dj if he would play a request. He said maybe and asked what I wanted. I asked for a Michael Jackson number (Joep’s request). He abruptly said that no that would not be possible. I then asked him if that was because he would only be playing awful music all night. He answered yes … then hesitated … processed my question and gave me a filthy look. I laughed.

I then turned around to find Joep standing in the middle of the dance floor with his hands over his ears screaming ‘Make the sirens stop! Make the sirens stop!’ Mel was nearby laughing heartily and Geoff had taken it upon himself to have a good talking to bar manager to let him know that the music was really causing some problems with their dining experience.

Phew! Mel & I eventually rounded up the boys (are noticing a theme here?? How many of you Perth-ites would ever have imagined that Mel & I would be the responsible ones in any outing? How times have changed …) and we headed off to the next bar.

The next bar saw us hitting the dancefloor for a good groove shaking session. Whilst dancing around a large (large … massive …) security lady walked by me. Geoff then told me a story re her being the scariest security guard in the city which is impressive coz she’s a chick.

After hearing the story I turned to find Joep on the dancefloor … spinning the massive security guard around! Whilst doing this he was grinning like a monkey and shouting ‘360! 360!’ I don’t know what was going on. But she loved it and the 3 of us were provided with yet more entertainment!

The rest of the evening past by in a blur of drinks, dancing and laughs before we headed for the nearest pizza joint for a pre-bedtime snack.

Sunday morning rolled around far too quickly and after a bit of a sleep in and a looooong breakfast Joep and I hit the road back to Ottawa … never fear! We are only 4 hours away from another reunion! Plans are already being made …

The first few weeks ...

Here we are! Living the dream in Canada! Its been a few weeks now and things have been working out splendidly!

Arrival in Ottawa saw us arranging visa’s and setting ourselves up in our serviced apartment. The flight over had been uneventful and surprisingly relaxing but, having never seen our city of choice in the flesh, we grew more and more curious (?? Alright, alright … we were nervous!) as we got closer and closer to landing. There was no need to be.

Day one saw us up early to check out our new home and we were NOT disappointed! Those of you who have been here will already know that it is a beautiful city! Exceptionally pretty. The Rideau canal runs through the city (every single Ottawan **side note - Joep calls them Ottawanadians ... love the Dutchman** you meet will not hesitate to tell you how it freezes over in the winter and is the worlds largest natural ice skating rink … this is a very specific title because apparently those Damn Manitobans (the neighbouring province) decided to steal the Ottawan’s thunder and built a bigger ice skating rink but that is not as cool oz its not natural … hmmmm) … anyway I got side tracked for a second. The canal runs through the city, there are many beautiful buildings including the National Parliament and all in all the city is very well laid out. A brief wander around the city also indicates that it is not particularly large making it more than manageable by foot … Joep’s dreams of owning a large 4WD are slowly dwindling.

As planned we hit the ground running and from day 1 we were very busy setting up appointments to see houses. In the first 3 days we saw 20 apartments and townhouses. Sound excessive? Perhaps. But worth it to make sure we got the best place for our new home!

And find it we did!! A 2 bed/2 bath condo in the Byward Market. The Byward Market is the main going out district (don’t get excited! The nightlife here is very quiet … Perth, eat your heart out!) meaning that we are walking distance from many great restaurants and bars and a very nice shopping mall (Delany girls take note – this is something to entice you to come visit!). Oh and PS, a condo is just a fancy name for an apartment complex with amenities. The Canadians have random names for all kinds of stuff. I just learned Dutch and now I have to figure out Canadian?? Pffft.

SO apartment found, we were all set to get furniture and get out of our serviced apartment. Now, I’ll be honest with you. It hasn’t been all sunshine and roses. The getting furniture bit has proven more challenging that you could imagine. We have received many furniture deliveries

Most of them have been incomplete, incorrect or … just haven’t arrived. Now Joep and I both hate shopping with a passion. We have a good 10 minute window to find what we want and get out of a store before we get side tracked, cranky or both. Buying a whole apartment worth of furniture was always going to be a challenge. You have no idea.

We went to the Ikea every single day for a week in order to return things, ask where things were or return things or … ask where things were. It was unbearable. The Ikea in Ottawa now has a customer file on us with a record of all of our problems. It was so bad that they gave us free stuff. This may also have been to stop me from crying hysterically at the returns desk or to stop Joep from shouting at them … either way, we got free stuff. Good cop, bad cop act is very effective. Who would have guessed that I would be the good cop in this scenario??!!

The important thing is that we have finally managed to get furniture. We have also abandoned the Ikea.

So within weeks of our arrival we have found and furnished our new home! We have also both started working … I am yet to recover from the shock to the system after 6 weeks off. My feet hurt a lot from wearing closed toe shoes every day after being in thongs for so long. 

Never fear though! We have made sure we have had enough time to enjoy the local nightlife, restaurantlife and relax a bit ... we haven't changed a bit!

We have also spent much time lazing around local parks reading books and trying to cuddle the squirrels ... the squirrel cuddling is just me. Joep keeps trying to stop me in case they have diseases but locals tell me that the squirrels are safe. Its the racoons you have to be careful of. 

Oh yeah! I also meant to mention that the weather is gloooooorious! The sun has been shining almost every day and it has been wonderfully hot! There is talk of winter temperatures as low as -40 degrees but that is hard to imagine at the moment! I believe them though. So we are making the most of the good weather.

Let the adventures begin!!

Goodbyes!

The first blog! And what better way to start a new adventure with a bit of reminiscing on the past. Saturday 29 August rolled around faster than we could have imagined. The weather was as could be expected for a Dutch summer (torrential rain anyone?) however this did not deter the guests from arriving and drinking the bar dry.

The venue? Cafe Wester. A meer hop, skip & jump from our pad allowing Joep and I to wander happily down the Bloemgracht for one final hoorah in Amsterdam prior to leaving for our newest adventure.

I had planned on writing a great big description of the evenings events however this is unnecessary given that the majority of people reading this blog were there! Old friends, new friends, and a few blow ins arrived for an evening of drinking and a little bit of boogying. The grooving proved more difficult that anticipated given the huge turnout of guests AND the torrential rain outside forcing everyone to remain inside. This all contributed to the great atmosphere though! 

The only hiccup of the evening was the musical battle that continued throughout the evening. Thais had compiled a fantastic playlist for Joep & I to ensure sufficient dance opportunities were presented throughout the night and also to prevent my horrific music taste from ruining the evening. We were very appreciative of this however Joep's friend who was our bar tender for the evening was less appreciative and made an executive decision that his music taste was better therefore continually changing the music. The battle that ensued this was one to behold and provided us with a great deal of entertainment. I am sad to say that Joep's friend came out on top. He had sobriety & the ability to use the switchboard without pressing every button on his side. Lucky man! But Thais gave him a run for his money & we managed to get in a few great tunes as well!

The evening ended in the early hours of Sunday morning at Cafe Nol. Only the hardest core managed to go the distance. Joep & I were impressed! We were also very impressed with the fact that we were able to last that late given our recent reputations as the most likely to go home early. Sunday was a non event as most of us recovered on couches across Amsterdam.

The goodbyes were exactly as they should have been! Fun filled and tear free =) Monday was spent cleaning and packing and packing ... and packing. Tuesday we flew to Ottawa. And here was are. Apartment hunting, learning our way around the city & enjoying some downtime away from the hectic Amsterdam life. Being friendless is quite relaxing!! 

Needless to say we shall miss all the Amsterdam crowd dearly! We anticipate visitors in abundance here in Ottawa and are apartment hunting with this in mind. Until then we will continue to keep you posted on life here in Canada!

Thanks to EVERYONE who came to the partaaaaaay - We loved seeing you all one last time & look forward to similar evenings in the future at various locations around the globe =)