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!
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