Phew! Its already 2 months since we got back from our South American adventures and time has really flown by! This is an incredible feat because it is winter and normally that means that the days last forever … largely because we spend so much of our time wishing them away in anticipation of summer and sunnier days!
Still we have had a great couple of months here in Ottawa with a few pretty big changes! Since I have been lazy about blogging I’m going to cheat and do a summary blog right now … here is a list of things we have been up to, things that have happened and general Ottawa news!
What’s up Syracuse?!The Joepinator has been playing in a basketball league at the local YMCA since we arrived in Ottawa. He loves it and has made some great pals doing it, I’ve been lucky enough to piggy back off this and become friends with his friends girlfriend’s / wives. So a couple of weeks after arriving back in Ottawa the boys had planned a trip to Syracuse to watch a game of college basketball. College ball is HUGE here and they were super psyched about it. On Friday evening Joep met me for a beer after work before getting picked up by Mikey to head south with a group of 10 guys. I had the extreme pleasure of having a girls night with all the basketball wives. Joep’s Syracuse trip was deemed a huge success! When he got home on Saturday evening to find me still in pj’s on the couch, eating greasy food and drinking coca cola like it was going out of fashion he agreed that my evening with the girls had also been a success. Most of the stories are not blog appropriate … needless to say we both had a great time and feel super lucky to have made such great friends here!
Australia Day in the snow
January 26th is one of the best days of the year in Australia. Here in Ottawa it is just any other day but that didn’t stop us from celebrating! Luyen (my Aussie pal here in OT) arranged for a group of us to meet up at a bar in our Aussie colours for a “few” drinks. It was a fantastic evening! The Aussie contingent was surprisingly small (I guess they're all in Vancouver) but that didn't stop us from being the rowdiest people there! And in a complete parallel from Aussie day at home, we walked home through snow banks, having snow ball fights and rolling around in the snow in general. Which leads me on nicely to my next point …
SNOW!
Oh man. So last winter it was coooold. But we didn’t get a lot of snow. Having said that, there was less snow in Holland this year than we got last year and the whole country shut down … amateurs!! This year, the snow fall has been more significant than last year. It also means that
it hasn’t been as brutally cold as last year. Joep & I have debated about this a lot. Is it warmer this year or are we just better at coping with it? We have agreed that it is a combination of both. The coldest winter day we got this year was -29 degrees which was -39.5 degrees with the wind chill. Yes. I can honestly boast that I walked to work in -39 degrees. I am hard core. Another highlight occurred whilst Anne was driving AM & I to book club one night. There was a
snow storm and the street signs were covered in snow. To help us find the street we needed I got out of the car, climbed the snow bank under the street sign and wiped the snow off it. Yes. The snow bank was high enough to make me face level with a street sign. Now that is some serious snow! The winter wonderland has been a blast and we have tried to make the most of it because it is the last winter we will have in one of the world’s top 5 coldest cities (true story). So to make the most of this winter we have been busy with some winter activities such as …
Skating on the world’s biggest rink
The canal was open again this year for Winterlude and we definitely made the most of it! This year, rather than just using the canal for fun, we used it as a mode of transport! There is something pretty fantastic about putting on your skates to head out to dinner. We have loved it! My favourite date night this winter was when Joep met me after work, we walked up to the Museum of Nature (amazing museum in a big old castle type building … beautiful) and then we skated home! We feel like we have done a great job of integrating!!
Skiing … of the cross country nature
Those of you who know me will likely be familiar with my fear of downhill skiing. I am petrified of it. It brings out the crazy in me. Thankfully, whilst Joep enjoys it, he is not a fanatic so I don’t feel like too much of a burden (or he is just very nice and makes me feel good about my fears by lying to me about his needs … either way I feel good and that is what is important). So this year we decided to take the advice of many of our friends and try cross country skiing. There are heaps of tracks really close to where we live so one weekend we bit the bullet and heading out to do it. It. Was. So. Much. Fun!! We had a ball! Joepinator didn’t love it as much as I did. I seriously loved it. It is by far my favourite winter sport.
Superbowl Sunday!
Superbowl Sunday is a huge day here in North America. This year we headed over to Heather & John's for the festivities. We followed the crowd and supported the Packers 100% and it turned out to be a great choice!! Whilst the game was interesting and the win was fun to be a part of, my highlight of the day was the foooood. Mikey & AM outdid themselves with homemade pretzels and amazing cakes in the shape of football helmets of the opposing teams! Joepinator made oliebollen for the occasion and renamed them 'Super bollen' ... the clever play on words was lost on all those non-Dutch. So everyone. Except Joep & I. But this didn't stop him from talking about it a great deal. This is why we love him.
Hooley’s
I believe that everyone from Ottawa is familiar with this establishment. For those who have not been lucky enough to visit Ottawa, Hooley’s is a bar. We have begun frequenting Hooley’s with some regularity on Friday’s after work. The evenings are always hilarious!! We have had so many laughs there with the usual suspects … and there has also been some drama, such as …
Lost in translation
During a recent Hooley’s night things took a turn for the worse … whilst busting moves on the dancefloor, Mikey sustained an injury. I was dancing with the gals when I saw Joep carrying Mikey off the dance floor. I immediately went to assist. When I found the 2 boys Mikey was in a great deal of pain (knee injury sustained whilst jumping off the stage … we think …) and both of them were convinced that a group of men standing nearby were making fun of them. This upset them greatly. In their defense, I think the guys could have been laughing at them. In the guys defense, it was pretty funny. After icing Mikey’s knee we all headed home for a night of sleep. Whilst on the way home, Joep’s pal Adam texted him wanting to meet up at Hooley’s. Joep replied with the following “Mike collapsed.” Adam, understandably, panicked thinking that something awful had happened. He rushed to Hooley’s to find us and help us. He then called Joep when we were home to inquire about what had happened … after calming Adam down Joep hung up and in answer to my inquiry re what that was all about informed me that “I might have sent a stupid text message to Adam about Mikey.” The expression “Mikey collapsed” is looking to be one that will be used frequently …
Wedding planning
By now hopefully all the save the date cards have arrived!! Getting these cards out was the only task we gave ourselves to do before the end of 2010. We said we would focus on wedding planning in 2011. So far we have not been very successful with this plan. After chatting with friends who are also getting married soon we began to realize that we are less organized than most people. Thank god for mum & dad Delany! They have been amazing with helping us plan and doing all the ground work. We’d be lost without them! So a couple of weeks ago on a long weekend Monday Joep & I headed out for lunch in the market. Lunch turned into a few pitchers of beer and before we knew it we had a napkin and a pen and we were wedding planning!! We managed to fit our entire wedding day onto the back and front of a napkin. This included a sketch of the wedding spot including stick figure bridal parties. We are efficient.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes!!
As most of you will know by now, Joep & I are lucky enough to have the opportunity to move to Southern California this year! We had planned that Joep would move in May and I would follow in June. As fate would have it, changes in the California office have seen Joep heading south earlier than planned. The downside to this situation is that we are back to long distance living … it’s not so bad though. We have spent the majority of our relationship travelling back and forth to each other on weekends and living together continuously for the last 18 months in Ottawa has been QUITE the treat!! Now we are back to living apart during the week but we are lucky enough to be able to see each other every weekend! It is just like living in Holland. Joep is in the south and I am in the north … the only difference is that it is north and south of a CONTINENT versus north and south of a tiny country. Surprisingly, the commute is not too bad. In fact, I am going to risk offending the Dutch here by saying that commuting from Canada to Southern California is actually easier than commuting from Amsterdam to Venlo. I have vivid memories of sitting on the A2 in the middle of a Dutch winter (rain anyone?!) trying to get home. The journey took me 7 hours. True story. 7 hours. In a car. I was hysterical by the time I got home. So the journey from Ottawa to Laguna is about 9 hours. It’s a bit longer but the difference is that we can nap, snack, watch movies, do work and enjoy good books during this time. It is actually quite lovely!! Ask me again in 3 months … I may feel differently … still, we are feeling pretty darn lucky that we are in a position to be able to live in different countries and still hang out every single weekend!! Life is being very good to us!
SO! You are now uptodate with our adventures of late. Never a dull moment here in Ottawa / Laguna Beach … It is going to be a busy few months now until we are back together again and we have so much to look forward to!
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