Some Knot Tying

After our whirlwind tour of Calgary & Banff we were pretty worn out and glad to relax at home for a few days. The relaxation was relatively short lived though because on Saturday we were headed to the nuptial celebrations of Mikey & Anne-Marie.

As you may have gathered from other blogs (see “Bonsai” or “Canada Day”), these 2 are a pretty hilarious couple and we thoroughly enjoy hanging out with them because things have a tendency of getting out of hand whenever we get together. This works for us.

We knew that the wedding was going to be a good time when, on the Thursday before the wedding, we went to the post-rehearsal dinner drinks. We had been in Calgary until the Wednesday so we had missed the first half of the week and it appears we missed a lot. A lot of people had flown in from out east for the wedding. As a result, a lot of people weren’t working all week and could party all night. And there you have it. “Weddingfest 2010” was born. We thought we were going for a few quiet drinks to meet a few wedding guests before the big day. We had no idea we would end up flying around the dancefloor and taking shots of tequila on a Thursday night! Friday was relatively painful as a result but boy were we looking forward to the wedding!

So on Saturday afternoon at 4pm Joep & I were running late to the ceremony (despite the fact that it was less than 5 minutes walk from our house). The weather was gloriously Canadian summer hot and as we arrived at the church Joep announced that he had forgotten to put on deodorant and therefore we would need to go home in between the church and the reception. Fine.

The ceremony was beautiful! Anne-Marie was looking completely sexified in her gown and Mikey had cleaned up nicely for the big day too. After the vows were exchanged and we had enjoyed a few chats with friends we headed for home to ‘freshen up’ as we put it to our friends. A brief stint at home during which time I washed, dried and ironed Joep’s shirt (best housewife ever … I’m sure I could win an award for this) we headed across to the Plaza for the reception.

Penthouse floor, panoramic views of Ottawa and the river, glorious summers evening and great company. This was quite the show! The wedding reception was a hoot. Joep was paying full attention to everything that went on and making many mental notes of things to remember for our wedding. It is the most concentration I’ve ever witnessed. In the end he got a very good idea of what the whole ‘bridal party’ thing means as well as the ‘bridal table’, ‘MC’ and how the speeches should work.

On that note … the speeches were hilarious! The maid of honour went first and I really felt sorry for anyone who would come after her because she was seriously, side achingly funny. Then the best man arrived. And was just as funny! These people were seriously prepared to entertain us. I appreciated it.

I could go into intricate details of the entire night but I think that it is sufficient to say that the food was great, music was fantastic, groove shaking was a hoot and bride & groom were as wonderful as anticipated! The highlight of my evening has nothing to do with any of this. My highlight was that after midnight there was poutine buffet. True story. Poutine. Buffet. Heavenly. I helped myself to more than a couple of servings of this before we had to call it a night and head home (me complaining the entire time about how full I was).

Mikey & Anne-Marie are now married and therefore much more grown up and mature than us but we are quite sure that this will not stop them from misbehaving with us every now and then. We hope not anyway. Oh and now we have lots more idea’s to steal for our wedding … wonderful!!

The Calgary Stampede & the Icefields Parkway - A mini-vacation

The Calgary Stampede – It is advertised as the worlds greatest outdoor show. We decided to see what all the hype was about! Friday morning after a long 4-day working week we found ourselves in Calgary, Alberta. A mere 5 hour flight from Ottawa. Upon arrival Greg and Amy, who were coincidentally on vacation in Calgary at the same time met us.

Seriously, from the second you get out of the plane it is cowboy country. Everyone has full cowboy boots and hats not to mention other cowboy-esque apparel. We were more than a little bit excited!!

After a quick pit-stop at our hotel to drop off our bags and put on our own cowboy gear (at this stage it only included checkered shirts and boots) we headed off for a looooong lunch in the glorious sunshine. We spent the afternoon enjoying cocktails and food and checking out all the latest cowboy fashion trends before heading to a store to kit ourselves out in similar gear. A good amount of time was spent picking out the best possible hats and … trying chaps on Joep. True story. I really wanted to buy them for him. They looked HUH-LAR-EE-OUS but alas he felt silly in them and didn’t want to have them. Boo. So we stuck with the bare minimum – Hats. Joep looked goooooood. This is me saying this, not him, although he said it a lot as well.

After gearing ourselves up we made a quick pit stop at a local rugby match (which Joep thoroughly enjoyed watching!) before heading to the Stampede grounds. First stop – the ticket booth to get some tickets to the chuck wagon racing!! We were there just in time and managed to avoid the irritating Aussie backpackers who were spending a lot of time loudly asking people how many beers they could buy inside the Stampede grounds (there are not many times that I am embarrassed to be Australian, this was one of them … I wasn’t alone. Another Aussie couple, mistaking Joep & I for a Dutch couple, meekly told us ‘We’re not all like that’ as we stood near them. I very quickly informed them that I too was an Aussie and therefore could attest to the fact that we are not all massive bogans. Thank goodness!).

Tickets purchased we headed into the arena. Now I am sure that most of you don’t know the ins and outs of chuck wagon racing. We didn’t either. And I’ll be honest with you; it was hard to figure it out by just watching it!! Here is a brief description (thank goodness for Wikipedia!) … A chuckwagon was originally a wagon that carried food and cooking equipment on the prairies of the United States and Canada. They would form a part of a wagon train of settlers or feed nomadic workers like cowboys or loggers. In the chuckwagon they would carry a stove and tent equipment etc.

In chuckwagon racing, chuckwagons are raced around a figure eight barrel obstacle. The racing team consists of the chuckwagon driver and two to four "outriders" who load the stove and tent poles at the start and must finish the race with the chuckwagon. So basically, a few guys throw a stove and tent into the back of the wagon then everyone jumps on their horses and races around the track. Oh and you lose points if you knock over one of the barrel obstacles or drop your stove/tent. It is complex. It is also very exciting to watch. We lost our minds for the next couple of hours cheering for various teams and trying to figure out the rules. It was hilarious!

After the winners of the chuckwagon racing were announced we were faced with a decision. Go to a pub or stay for the evening show?? We threw the options around for a while and then decided to stay for the show. Given the size of the stage they were setting up we figured it would be pretty good. We were NOT disappointed! The show was incredible. Picture Circ du Soleil mixed with world championship motor cross racing, plus hilarious stand up comedians and throw in famous Canadian pop stars to boot. Add in a few young kids performing ‘Kinderen voor Kinderen (for the Dutch) / Johnny Young Talent Time (for the Aussies)’ type performances and you have what was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. I am not exaggerating. It was so interactive and so diverse! To prove that I am not exaggerating about how good this show was let me tell you that Joep & I barely spoke for the entire show except to say things like ‘OH MY GOODNESS!’ or ‘THIS IS INCREDIBLE!’ You get the drift. In addition, at the end of the show Joep told me that it was so good that he almost proposed to me again. Adorable! That is how good it was.

By the time the show was over it was late and we were exhausted so we decided to end the night on a high and wandered the streets to home. The streets were jam packed with crazy cowboys enjoying the stampede. Words don’t do this justice.

Saturday we were up bright and early and headed directly to the Stampede. It was rodeo time and we didn’t want to miss out on tickets! Tickets purchased we made the most of the Stampede grounds and managed to stumble across the World Horse Shoeing Championships. This might sound random. It was random. It was also very interesting watching blacksmiths make horseshoes from scratch and fit them to horses in a set time frame. It is hard work! I have much respect for these men. Oh and it stinks. The smell of a hot horseshoe burning onto a horses hoof is not delicious.

Championships over we wandered around to check out some of the livestock and to learn how to best train your horse (you have to ride with your legs … don’t pull on the mouth. That is a no-no.) before heading for the fast-food stalls. I ate my first ever corndog. It was gross. For those who don’t know who this is, it is a hotdog wrapped in breadstuff and deep-fried. It tastes like a heart attack. Not in a good bacon-ator way either. But I’m glad I tried it because I won’t die wondering.

Food consumed we were off to the rodeo! Oh. My. Goodness. Grown men staying on bucking horses and bulls for 8 seconds and getting points for it. It was incredible. And do you know what the prize money is for the winner? You will never guess this. I am thinking about taking up bull riding after hearing this. Or at least encouraging Joep to do so. The prize money is $2 million. That is not a lie. $2 million. Just for sitting on a bull for 8 seconds. I reckon I could do it. It looked pretty easy.

That is not true. It looked frickin’ petrifying! But it was 150% entertaining! We were glued to our seats for the next little while, except when it started to rain so we had to move to the undercover seats. What a show!!

Rodeo over, we headed out to enjoy the Stampede grounds again before heading home for a midday nap. We met up with Greg & Amy again for a lovely meal before attempting to find a mechanical bull for Joep to ride but everywhere was crazy busy (Saturday night at the Stampede … to be expected!) so we ended up giving up pretty quickly.

Good thing we did because Sunday was a big day! The World Cup Final!! We had decided, upon advise from our hotel receptionist, to head to a bar called Melrose Place so we were up and dressed in oranje nice and early. Arrival at Melrose Place showed that others had the exact same plan. As we got our first beers of the day and found a spot to stand Joep announced that he thought he knew a guy nearby. He wandered over to see if he was right and … he was!! Matthijs, a friend of a friend of Joep’s was at the same bar as us with his Canadian wife whom I met at Joep’s Nijmegen Cuban party a couple of years ago. What are the odds?? Matthijs was there with a few other Dutch guys who were also with Canadian ladies so they invited us to pull up a stool and make ourselves at home. We didn’t need to be asked twice!

We all know that the outcome of the match was not a good one. But let me tell you – We had a heap of fun. So much so that some Spanish supporters came up to us afterwards to tell us that we should be proud of ourselves because even though we lost we were the most entertaining people in the bar. So the boys felt happy again and we were all able to continue drinking and eating and celebrating. Shortly afterwards we headed off to Matthijs and his wife Kyla’s house for a bbq (hospitality galore!). All in all it was a great if not, somewhat blurry, day and ended our Stampede adventure on a high!

Monday morning we were up early to head to our next stop on our mini-vacation. The Rocky Mountains. We were both so excited about this and after 1.5 hours of driving as we headed into the mountains we were both blown away. Once again, words don’t do it justice. Banff National Park is one of the most beautiful places we have ever seen. Mountains and lakes and waterfalls and all of them totally untouched. It is phenomenal.

We arrived in Banff earlier than anticipated (10am!) and so settled in for a coffee while I researched what we would do. We had already decided that we would do the Plain of Six Glaciers hike on advice from our ‘Once in a Lifetime Trips’ book and I then found a great hike up a glacier further up the mountains!! Realizing that we had not packed for ice climbing we made a quick pit stop at an outdoor store to pick up some winter clothes. Lucky we did! We then drove to Lake Louise for some hiking.

Lake Louise is picturesque to the nth degree. Seriously. It doesn’t not get much more perfect than here! We spent some time taking in the beauty of the area before beginning our hike. When we began the hike it was somewhat clear but looking like it could get colder so we each put on long pants and a long sleeved jumper. It is a 5.5km (one-way) hike and reaches elevation of 2100m. Many of you who know me will now be wondering if, since moving to Canada, I have gotten really fit and started training for things like this. I haven’t. But for some reason, whenever I am on vacation I suddenly think that I am super fit and capable of tackling any kind of difficult hike. Why? I don’t know. You’d think I learned my lesson at Cinque Terre. I didn’t. And this hike was way harder than Cinque Terre. Yikes!!

But I am proud to say that I made it all the way to the top!! Not only did I make it but I made it even though half way up it started to pour with rain (we took shelter under a tree with an Australian couple who were on their way down and told us that we were almost at the top … liars.) – Then when the rain subsided and we began hiking again I didn’t even stop when it began to hail big hailstones. I’m laughing as I write this. I don’t know why we didn’t turn back. It was freezing and we were not dressed for this hike. It was slippery and steep and cold. But we persevered. And when we were approximately 300 meters from the summit I threw my one and only tantrum and proclaimed loudly (with what I believe included a smidge of foot stomping) that I would not go on if the summit was not around the next bend because this is no fun Joepie. This is not a vacation! The summit was around the next bend. Phew! We then sat and played a quick game of backgammon (Joep thrashed me) before making it back down the trail in what I believe to be record time!!

Needless to say we were exhausted. This exhaustion did not stop us from marveling once again at the beautiful scenery on the way back to Banff. Semi-lie – I slept a lot on the way back. But Joep woke me when he saw deer on the side of the road so that was exciting!!

We arrived at our hotel and were more than a little bit impressed by how beautiful it was. And by the fact that there was a big spa in our room to soak our aching muscles!! After a bit of recuperation we made our way down to the town for a big long dinner. Heavenly. Followed by an early night. Glorious.

Tuesday morning we had to be up early to make it to the Athabasca Glacier by 10:40am (a 3 hour drive) for our glacier hike. The drive along the Icefields Parkway (between Banff and Jasper) is pegged as one of the most beautiful drives in the world. It is. There is no doubt about this. It was fantastically beautiful. As we drove along marveling at how lovely it was … it started to snow. True story. Middle of summer in Canada and it was snowing! We started to get a little bit nervous about how well equipped we were for this climb!

Luckily we had nothing to worry about. When we arrived at the glacier we were fitted out with boots, clamps (for gripping the ice) and snow clothing to wear over the top of our winter clothes. Problem solved!

The glacier is approximately 6 km long, covers an area of 6 km², and is measured to be between 90 metres and 300 metres thick. According to tourist guides, travel onto the glacier is not recommended unless properly equipped because hidden crevasses have led to the deaths of unprepared tourists. Exciting!! We couldn’t wait to get up there … although I did have a brief pang of ‘Hmmm’ when asked to sign a waiver stating that if I hurt myself or died on the glacier it was my own fault. Yikes!

The hike was incredible. It was snowing bucket loads while we were up there, which actually made the climb somewhat easier but made it even more difficult to see the ice and therefore the holes. We were instructed to follow step by step behind our guide and we took that seriously. He was incredible and gave us heaps of lessons on ice travel and on the impact of global warming on the glaciers. All of this was very interesting but my favourite part of the tour was when he stopped us, crept forward a few metres with his ice pick, stopped and then called us one at a time to come and look at what he found.

It was a ‘melt well’ which is essentially a seriously huge hole in the ice created by a bit of melting ice that finds a crack and wears it down. This hole was big enough for a few people to fall down at once and dropped 16m straight down before beginning to spiral. That in itself was pretty incredible. But even more than that … if I had been walking on the glacier all by myself there is no way I would’ve seen that hole until I was inside it. True story. It was pretty incredible!!

After a long trek on the ice we made it back to the car all in one piece and with one more incredible memory under our belts!

We then headed up to Jasper to check out the remaining leg of the Icefields Parkway and to find some delicious lunch. Both goals were met. We briefly checked out Jasper (and decided Banff was definitely the better town to stay in!) and we pigged out on amazing Cantonese food … who woulda thunk it!!

Shortly afterwards we headed back to Banff stopping a couple of times along the way to check out the sites including the Weeping Wall and a number of incredible lakes. We were back in Banff just in time for our shiatsu massage … much needed. Two days of serious hiking had wreaked havoc on our muscles so a deep tissue massage was just what the doctor ordered. Except that we were both a bit giddy. So for a large portion of the massages we were in hysterics laughing despite our best efforts to remain serious. Laughter is good for the soul!

Massage over we decided that, despite our mammoth late lunch, we wanted a long dinner too. So we headed out to the town to enjoy an incredible Italian feast! Satisfied, we called it a night.

Wednesday morning we woke up without the alarm and, after packing all our new clothes (winter and cowboy …) we checked out and enjoyed an incredible long breakfast in town. We then headed up to the sulfur springs in the mountain just behind Banff town where we vegged out in the warm outdoor baths for a few hours. Heavenly.

It was with heavy hearts that we headed away from Banff and back to the airport. What an incredible few days! It was so great to get away from it all for a few days!! Having said that, it wasn’t so bad to get back to the real world considering that both of us had great news from work awaiting us upon our return to Ottawa.

And so ends another great Canadian adventure! It was, once again, one of the best trips ever (a recurring theme!). Our Canadian ‘to do’ list is starting to dwindle!! But never fear, there are more adventures to come J

Canada Day!

The first of July every year is a Canadian national holiday celebrating the anniversary of the July 1, 1867, enactment of the Constitution Act, which united two British colonies and a province of the British Empire into a single country called Canada.

We’re really starting to enjoy the multi-national existence that we lead. January 26 we celebrate Australia Day, April 30 we celebrate Koninginnedag and now July 1 we celebrate Canada Day not to mention last years mammoth Fourth of July celebrations we were lucky to partake in! It is so interesting to experience the different ways that nations have of celebrating their existence.

Actually – scratch that. They pretty much all celebrate in the same way. Street parties, concerts, fireworks, food and booze in abundance. Canada was no different in that regard. What was different however was the fact that Queen Elizabeth was in Ottawa for the celebrations!

We were lucky enough to be residents of Ottawa for the Canada Day celebrations. Not only because the Queen was here but also because Ottawa is apparently the best place to celebrate Canada Day. Having now experienced it I do not doubt this for a second.

We began our celebrations when Mikey & Anne-Marie arrived at our door at 11:30am. We started the day with a leisurely stroll down Rideau Street towards Parliament Hill. Now, when I say leisurely stroll I mean picture Prinsengracht on Queens Day or Sydney Harbour on NYE. It was packed with people out enjoying the festivities. There were buskers galore, concerts and even a skateboarding competition out on the street. We happily strolled along and noticed the crowd getting progressively thicker the closer we got to Parliament Hill.

As we neared Parliament Hill it became close to impossible to walk. Why? Because Queen Elizabeth was on her way! The streets were half closed and security was there in abundance so we joined the masses and waited in excitement for the Queen to go by. She went by in a flurry of fancy horses in a horse drawn carriage with the Duke. It was actually quite breathtaking to see! When she was safely on stage the streets semi opened again and we moved onto Sparks Street to check out more buskers. We were not disappointed and were entertained for ages watching the street performers. After a while we headed back up to Parliament Hill and were lucky enough to sneak in onto the lawn just in time to see the Queen speak!

I’m as surprised as the rest of you re how excited I am about this. I never thought I cared about the Royals. Turns out I am a huge fan who is incapable of speech when the Royals are in sight. Strange. After standing in awe until the Queen announced ‘God bless Canada’ and went on her merry way, I was able to enjoy the festivities once more.

Sights seen we headed back towards Casa J&J for some beers and snacks. On the way we hit up the newest restaurant to open in Ottawa. Its not a restaurant. It is a poutine take-out place called Smokey’s and it is the best. For those of you not familiar with poutine (have I already told you about this? Skip this part if I have …), it is a delicious mixture of hot chips, gravy and cheese curds. It sounds gross. It is not. It is delicious! And Smokey’s offers a range of different flavoured poutines including pulled pork & bacon

(which Joep ordered) and sausage (which Mikey ordered). Hilariously, when A-M & I were in line to order there was a woman and her family in front of us. She kept exclaiming excitedly about the different things on the menu only to be bitterly disappointed when her family reiterated to her continuously that it came on top of poutine. For example: Mum – ‘Oh nachos!’ Daughter – ‘Yeah but it comes on top of poutine mum.’ Mum (*disappointed sigh*) – ‘Oh.’ Mum – ‘Oh butter chicken!’ Daughter – ‘Yeah but it comes on top of poutine mum.’ Mum (*disappointed sigh*) – ‘Oh.’ I’m not kidding. This went on for ages. It kept us entertained as the queue moved slowly along.

Poutine purchased and sampled, we headed back home for refreshments on the balcony. I really cannot explain in writing the buzz on the streets so you are all required to imagine Queens/Australia Day at the height of its craziness and apply it to all scenarios discussed in this blog.

We spent the next little while soaking up the rays and the beers on the balcony before grabbing our bikes and heading to a bbq at friends of Mikey & A-M. On the way we passed many bbq’s where people were playing various games. Ours was no different! As the boys set about playing a game of washer toss, us ladies enjoyed some lovely conversations and refreshments. It was a hoot! It was also lovely to meet so many of the people that we’ll be with at Mikey & A-M’s wedding in a couple of weeks!!

An exorbitant amount of time was spent enjoying the hospitality of Adam & Elyse until we realized that the fireworks were soon to begin! So the 4 of us once again mounted our bikes (P.S. J&I were LOVING the reminiscent biking after a few drinks through crowded streets … awww Amsterdam!) and headed back towards the Market where we were lucky enough to have snagged a spot on a friend of a friend of a friend’s rooftop terrace!

The fireworks were actually pretty impressive! So was the company despite the late hour of the day. We spent the next whiiiiiile up on the terrace soaking up the atmosphere before our mammoth day was called to an end and J&I biked home for some much-needed R&R.

All in all I must say that our first Canada Day will be a tough one to top! We had a blast!! This is further supported by the length of recovery time I needed. Having said that, Friday was a semi work day so there has been plenty of recovery time.

In addition, the days following Canada Day have been pretty conducive to R&R. The sun has been shining every day and yesterday we even managed to bike to the beach for some chill out time in the sun! This city keeps surprising us … in the best way possible!

So Happy Birthday Canada! We thoroughly enjoyed sharing in the festivities!

Movin' & Shakin' in Ottawa

I was sitting at work on Wednesday this week when something strange happened. Its crazy busy these days because of IFRS transition deadline slowly moving closer and companies getting more stressed out about how much there is to do … DON’T STOP READING! This blog is not about accounting. I promise.

Anyway – I was sitting at work writing a paper about the appropriate accounting treatment for precious metals stored on premises that an entity has the right to use but no legal title to …. Hahaha joking! I promise that is the last accounting reference. I thought it would be funny to write that because I just said this blog would not be about accounting and then I wrote about accounting but I realize its probably irritating so I’ll stop now and get on with the story.

Debit.

Ok that’s the last one seriously.

SO – I’m at work, sitting in my office, in the accounting zone when all of a sudden things start jumping around. I work on the 8^th floor and sometimes when someone is walking quickly or when workmen are in, the floor shakes a bit. So at first I figured the floor was moving because of that. Then there was a definite lurch and I realized that perhaps there was something more serious going on if the entire building was moving. To clarify: My thought process was nowhere near as calm as it is written here. In reality I grabbed my desk with both hands, made a funny gurgling noise in my throat and thought ‘I can’t believe I am going to die whilst squinting at my laptop writing accounting advice!’ The moving and shaking went on for a few seconds, which sounds short but believe me, on the 8^th floor of a 20 floor building, this is not short. This is a long time to contemplate the amount of concrete above you and the distance below you before you’re on solid ground …

When the shaking semi-stopped I got up from my desk and crept (literally, I was tiptoeing … I guess something in my subconscious thought this would stop the building from collapsing? I don’t really know.) to my door. I stuck my head out and asked, “What the f*#$ was that?” Colleagues all over the office were standing in their doorways looking stunned. Katie was in her doorway looking as terrified as I felt and was the first to answer my eloquently worded question … ‘I think that was an earthquake.’

I’ve never been in an earthquake before and I don’t think your first experience should be whilst sitting in a high rise. As I processed this information, Lynn one of our partners emerged from her office and reacted in a way I could only dream of ever being able to react. She calmly announced to us all ‘Well that was freaky! I think anyone who is feeling uncomfortable should evacuate down the stairwell. I am going to use this opportunity to get some lunch.’ How cool is she? I was almost crying with fear. Literally. I had the big lump in my throat and was holding on by a thread. The only thing that stopped me from crying was the fact that no one else was crying and I didn’t want to look like a loser. I can never be as cool in a crisis as Lynn. Fact.

So we all headed to the stairwell in an orderly fashion while Lynn calmly told us all about the construction laws in Canada that require buildings to be earthquake proof.

We made it out to the street in one piece. The streets were PACKED with people. Every office building in the city had evacuated and everyone was trying to figure out what was going on. Most office buildings promptly sent their employees home for the day.

We were waiting (hoping?) for some sort of similar instruction when we heard that standing in the street next to a high rise building is the worst thing to do after an earthquake. The best place to be is in the building under your desk. True story. I don’t believe it. How on earth can my desk protect me from tones on concrete and metal falling on top of me? My desk does not look sturdy enough for me to stand on and I’m quite sure I don’t weigh as much as 12 stories of a building (despite all the Canadian bacon I’ve consumed in the last 9 months) …

Either way we all headed back up to our desks where we sat feeling jittery for the rest of the afternoon. The earthquake was a 5.5 on the Richter scale and the epicenter was 50kms from Ottawa … madness. It was felt as far away as NYC!! People in Toronto also felt it. I know this because Mel called me from Toronto freaking out (cuteness!). In addition … I think this is cool … some people in our office were on a conference call with Toronto when the earthquake hit. The Ottawa folks said ‘Woah! Can you feel that?’ And the Toronto folks were all ‘Huh?’ Then a little while later the Toronto folks were like ‘What the eff??’ Classic. My first ever earthquake experience. It was not fun. It freaked me out. They should not have them anymore.

Oh and for those who are wondering what happened to Joep during all of this? He was winding down after networking at a golf tournament in Toronto at the time and noticed something moving but figured someone had dropped a fridge or something. These are his exact words. I am not lying. Earthquake versus fridge dropping. Hmmm.

He also won a fancy Callaway golf club at this tournament. It his is current most prized possession. I have fallen in ranking to #2 on Joep’s list of favourite things in the world. That Callaway better watch it …

So that was my excitement for the week! An earthquake. Sure beats a boring accounting story right?

Oh and finally – I called the mother ship later that day and asked if she had seen the news yet. She then listed off a complete summary of news in Australia this week (headlined with the Socceroos followed by Kevin 07’s fall from prime ministerial glory) … when I was able to interrupt I told her that there had been an earthquake in Ottawa. She went silent for a second before calmly asking me ‘Ah Genni, would you not think about coming home?’ Followed by ‘Between hurricanes and earthquakes and motorcycles I don’t know what we’re going to do with you!’ (**Remember to read all of this in an Irish accent**) awwww cuteness mother ship.

And finally finally – Re the precious metals? I think you should recognize it at fair value adjusted at each period end for the spot rate at that day. Why haven’t you stopped reading already? Seriously! This is boring stuff! Don’t judge me for writing it if you’re still reading it …

Bonsai!

So I was unsure about whether or not this story is blog appropriate but then I realized that most people who read this know what Joep and I are like and won’t be offended by the antics … Mother ship you know what we’re like so we have nothing to hide from you!

This last week has been full of randomness. Both Joep and I were in Toronto for work for the majority of the week which was exhausting. I got home on Thursday evening and when I got in the taxi at the airport Mr T immediately launched into a long story about his Bollywood career. Apparently he was a big shot Bollywood movie song writer who lost all his money in the GFC. So now he drives taxi’s but still writes Bollywood songs and records them. I thought he was making it all up but when I got home and googled his name it turns out he has actually made a lot of music.

Anyhow – As he was regaling me with stories of his Bollywood infamy he insisted on playing some of his music for me. It. Was. Blaring. So loud. People were staring at us all around and I was moderately embarrassed but more than anything I was highly amused and kept giving him the big thumbs up sign and shouting to him about how great his music was. Bless him he was so proud! He even showed me some of his Bollywood moves! Fancy!

He also told me that he has recorded his most recent song and it is going to be a big hit in Bollywood and he thinks also in Hollywood! It is about girls who like to diet too much. He explained this to me and at the end of this asked me if I had ever thought about modeling. I said that no I hadn’t ever thought about it (keeping in mind that I have not always been as ludicrously good looking as I am these days) … I also added that I am not at all photogenic (this is factual. I have been told this clearly, to my face, more than once).

He spent the remainder of the cab ride trying to convince me to star in his Bollywood movie clip. He said that girls like me who are tall with shiny faces (yes, exact words, shiny faces … what?) are all the rage in India these days. I have his card. I’ll think about his offer. It could be an interesting change from accounting. Plus he promised that I could wear a sari. That would be cool.

So after a long week of working and travelling we were happy to relax in Ottawa this weekend. On Saturday night we planned on having a nice grown up dinner party with Mikey & Anne-Marie (I think I introduced you all to these guys before).

The evening started off in a very civilized manner. Food was eaten, cocktails were mixed and enjoyed and a few bottles of wine were consumed. OK so perhaps more than a few. As the evening wore on the boys drifted out the balcony while Anne-Marie and I relaxed inside.

At some stage late in the evening Joep burst into the living room announcing that he needed the wheel of cheese. Explanation: Bas & Kamiel brought a wheel of cheese with them from Holland as a gift. It is delicious. Whilst on the balcony Joep and Mikey had heard the downstairs neighbors having a party. They struck up a conversation with some of the party guests and before you know it, Joep had offered them the wheel of cheese. I cannot add more clarity to this situation. I am as confused as everyone else re why Joep would offer them a wheel of cheese. In fact, I’m not sure that Joep even knows why he offered them a wheel of cheese.

Nevertheless, the cheese was offered and Joep is not one to renege on a promise! So he got the wheel of cheese out of the fridge and used one of my scarves to lower it down to the 9^th floor balcony.

Mission accomplished we returned to our evening of wine and laughs until there was a knock at the door … Joep came bounding in from outside (yes bounding, that is the only way to describe the over-excited gangly way that Joep runs around when there is too much excitement going on) announcing that the party guests from downstairs were here!!

And so the night hit a new high … before we knew it we had a number of randoms in our house raving about Dutch cheese and enjoying the hospitality that only Joep is capable of offering.

The next little while is a blur of new faces and a couple of familiar faces (thank goodness Anne-Marie & Mikey were still there!) and random chats but the party wound down eventually and the original 4 dinner party guests were the last left standing. By this stage things had gotten well and truly out of hand. As expected there was plenty of dancing with both couples bringing out their fanciest moves leading to aches and pains galore on Sunday. As the dancing wound down a surfing contest took place in the living room using a chopping board as the surf board.

The evening ended when the 2 boys began wrestling. Why oh why does it always end with wrestling?? As the boys literally tumbled around the room and food and furniture flew around the place (in my mind they were behaving like monkey’s but I’m not sure if that was something they were doing on purpose or not) Anne-Marie and I decided it was time to separate them and call it a night.

We managed to get them out the front door of the apartment and as we made our way down the hallway, Anne-Marie & I walking normally and the boys tumbling (literally), things took a turn for the worse.

Joep was ‘assisting’ Mikey in his tumbling efforts and accidentally rolled Mikey into the door of one of our neighbouring apartments. Mikey was just about back on his feet when the apartment door sprung open and a ninja jumped out!

This is no joke. A small Asian man jumped out of the apartment crouched with karate chop hands out in front of him and shouted …. Well there is some confusion about what he shouted. In my mind he clearly shouted ‘BONSAI!’ Joep heard it as well and concurs that is sounded exactly like ‘BONSAI!’ but we both agree that it is possible he shouted ‘WHO’S THERE?!’ Either way Mikey literally levitated on the spot with the fear of being shouted at while Anne-Marie & I desperately pushed the elevator button.

We made a quick getaway in the elevator whilst collapsing in convulsions of laughter. It was priceless.

After saying our goodbyes on the ground floor Joep and I headed back upstairs. Upon arrival at the 10^th floor I spotted our ninja neighbor, standing still in ninja pose, outside his door. I walked the opposite direction to Joep and pretended I didn’t know him. Joep then went and spoke to the ninja to apologize for our rowdy behaviour. He did not seem willing to accept Joep’s apology and demanded to know which apartment we lived in. Joep told him a number that is not technically our apartment. (Point of note: I was hiding behind a fire extinguisher at this point in time giggling away at the sight of giant Joep being afraid of the tiny ninja).

As the ninja continued to harass Joep about our rowdiness, Joep decided to take a stand by pointing out to the ninja that we always hear him playing his classical music loudly. This seemed to somewhat placate him. I don’t know why. It was a silly come back because I am quite sure that playing classical music loudly in the morning does not equate to rolling a grown man into someones door late at night. Still this tactic worked and Joep was allowed to go home. We both then hid for a little while and waited for the ninja to disappear before dashing into our apartment.

We haven’t received a notice of eviction yet so I think we’re safe. Although I am still nervous walking down the corridor for fear that the ninja will strike again. This is condo living at its greatest.

Another NYC reunion!

There is nothing quite like a bunch of girls reuniting to make your stomach hurt from laughter. This weekend my abs got the best workout they have had in a while when I headed to NYC to meet up with the Perth gals for a weekend reunion.

The last couple of weeks have been full with man related activities while Bas & Kamiel have been visiting. This included lots of beer drinking and eating steaks as big as my head. It was lovely and Bas & Kamiel are fantastic house guests but I am a girls girl at heart so a weekend away with the girls while the men manned it up in Algonquin Provincial Park was exactly what the doctor ordered.

Friday morning I was up at 4am with a pounding headache which I blame entirely on Bas & Kamiel & their relaxed holiday attitude towards reasonable bed time hours. I made my flight to NYC with a brief transfer in Toronto where I met up with Mel! Let the laughter begin. The flight to NYC was spent catching up and gossiping and sharing wedding planning stories … we’re both on the same page with this so that was a good thing. Upon arrival in NYC we realized that neither of us had a map. Typical! Mel at least had had the good sense to print out the address of our apartment (this brings me back to our Euro travelling days … Mel was always more organized. I will never catch up.) … we caught the train downtown and managed to negotiate our way to our apartment. The beauty of NYC is that even when you are map-less it is pretty close to impossible to get lost.

Upon arrival at the apartment we met up with the gals, sang a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Smelaroo and had some good chats before hitting the streets of NYC to grab food and begin the shopping. Now I have never been a good shopped. I don’t enjoy it. In fact, more than that, I dislike it. True story. It makes me question whether the stories my sister told me as a child re me being adopted are actually true.

Nevertheless, despite my severe dislike of shopping, there is something about hitting the stores in NYC with 6 girls that is a bit … well, contagious! Within hours we all found ourselves something we loved and simply HAD to purchase. It could also be the fact that we had found a cinema where tickets for Sex & the City were NOT completely sold out so we jumped on this opportunity to see the ultimate chick flick in NYC! I now own a dress that I am unsure if I will ever wear due to its flamboyant style. What can I say? I got carried away with the NYC fashions … but I life in Ottawa. Uh-oh.

Despite the frivolous spending (or perhaps because of it) we had a fantastic afternoon before heading back to the apartment to get ready for dinner. By this stage Inna had left us for greener pastures only to return shortly afterwards with her pal. This meant that 6 girls were then getting ready in 2 bedrooms of the apartment and unable to wander freely from room to room to get ready. Needless to say it was a challenge! But we made it and, all dolled up, we hit the streets to head out to dinner. Mexican was the order of the night for no reason other than we wanted margarita’s!! Mission accomplished we enjoyed a fantastic meal and some good laughs before heading out to dance.

We spent Friday evening on a roof top bar on Fifth Avenue and it was more than a little bit glamorous. Except when Em insulted our table neighbors by making racist comments. JOKING! Only a little bit actually. So Em was sitting at the end of our group and next door was a table of African American men. Em, as is her natural charm, struck up a conversation with them. Now there is some confusion re what the opening lines of this conversation were but all that we heard was the biggest of the men belly laughing and shouting … according to him Em’s opening line had been ‘You’re black, you must play basketball!’ Em denies this 150%. I am not sure what her story is re what she said but this dude thought she was hilarious and an instant friendship was struck. ‘Bubba’ as Em then dubbed him (*cringe*) seemed to find Em positively refreshing! Classic.

We spent the night enjoying a few drinks and incorporated a bit of groove shaking before the early morning start caught up on us and it was home time. Or was it? A group of Aussie girls walking home in NYC is obviously a recipe for disaster. We managed to get ourselves well and truly lost which is actually really hard to do in NYC! But we did it. After much aimless wandering we eventually made our way home and crashed.

The next morning there were stories shared about the previous night (lead largely by Inna who is the team leader for scandal) … before getting ready for our day’s excursion to the YANKEES!!

Yankee Stadium – The Yankees versus the Cleveland Indians! Isn’t it intriguing that a group of 6 girls raised in Perth, WA  who know nothing about baseball & were raised on AFL and cricket were so excited to see the Yankees? We are certainly products of consumerism. Yankee Stadium is a pretty cool place. The atmosphere is exactly what you would expect it to be and we spent the next few hours eating hotdogs, onion rings, popcorn and drinking beers in the 30+ degree sun. It. Was. Heavenly.

The game however was not very exciting. Sorry America but baseball just isn’t the sport for me! However, just like cricket, it is a great sport for relaxing and chatting and enjoying yourself in the sunshine. Oh and there was one exciting part of the game when the pitcher got hit square in the face with a ball … ouch! I’ll be honest with you … that’s probably the only time I paid attention to the game. Oh AND when the little cleaning men game out to rake the dirt (is that what they were doing? I have no idea actually) but they sang and danced to YMCA at the same time and it was awesome!!

We left the game before it finished (don’t judge us, lots of American’s did the same thing) and headed to Central Park to relax in the sun. Oh New York! I could stay forever. True story.

Rays soaked up and naps in the sun enjoyed we headed for home to get ready for dinner. At some point during the day an executive decision had been made that we neeeeeeded Italian food. So after dolling ourselves up we headed out to SoHo for a bite to eat in Little Italy. People bag on Little Italy for being touristic. I love it there. Great atmosphere, heaps of great restaurants AND an awesome street market with games that let you win stuffed toys! (Joepinator’s heaven) We found a fantastic garden spot for dinner and proceeded to enjoy a few bottles of wine and a whole lot of food. A whole lot. We were also easily the loudest table in the restaurant with our loud stories and belly laughs. I do believe there were tearful moments at the table due to excessive laughing. I certainly had a few big belly laughs myself!

After pigging out and spending a loooong time at our table chatting we moseyed on through Little Italy. I hit up one of the games places and managed to win Joepinator a toy. Well. I didn’t actually win it. The dude was a total scam artist and I am not very good and realizing when I am being scammed but thankfully Em was with me and she realized it was a scam and we got a bear for free. Phew!!

Having over eaten and soaked up enough atmosphere for one day we called it a night and headed back to the apartment to chill out J

Sunday was the last day for Mel & I (the other gals had a few more days to enjoy) and it was spent … shopping!! After a very successful few hours I the stores it was sadly time to call it a day. Mel & I grabbed our bags and headed for home late Sunday afternoon in time for work on Monday.

It was, yet again, a fantastic NYC weekend! Too many laughs most of which have been censored from this blog but will be remembered for some time to come! Looking forward to the next reunion which is most likely to be in Perth – hometown! 

A quick catch up & a few highlights

Goodness me, the whole ‘time flies when you’re having fun’ thing is 100% factual!! I can’t believe how long it has been since I last updated this blog but I make no excuses because we’ve stuck to our ‘restricted travels’ rule and been enjoying Ottawa for the last few weeks so there hasn’t been anything toooooo exciting going on unless you are interested in reading about our every day lives which are very interesting and full of entertaining anecdotes (centred largely around Joep’s pantless existence, Joep’s love of bacon, Joep’s inability to stop speaking in an awkward situation … you get the drift) …

So rather than bore you all to tears with stories of accounting and solar energy generation I shall keep this blog brief and just give a few highlights. These highlights are in no particular order. One highlight is not deemed better or worse than another highlight based on position in the list … we’re all equals around here!

1.     A weekend reunion in Toronto with Julz – So the ‘travel restrictions’ were loosened one weekend in the last month for very good reason. Julz and I were reunited once more, this time in Toronto! I trained it to Toronto to meet up with  a very hungover Julz on a Saturday morning. We spent the entire day wandering the city, shopping, eating and drinking. And of course reminiscing. We solved the worlds problems and created more of them. We even managed to stumble upon my wedding dress! True story. Julz has now left Canada for the sunny shores of the Isle of Scalpay in Scotland. I miss her dearly. Next catch up must not be too far away. Seriously Julz, focus.

2.     Espresso flavoured vodka – Ummmm has anyone else heard of this? Am I the last to know about it? Whilst making new friends here in Ottawa (a relatively successful mission to date … see point 3 below) I was introduced to the wonders of espresso infused vodka. I thought we could be best friends forever but the following morning I decided it is best if we have one of those friendships where you don’t see each other very often but when you do it is amazing! Kind of like what Julz & I have. Still, this discovery is a highlight.

3.     Making friends – They say it takes a minimum of 6 months to make friends when you move somewhere new. Joep and I were so busy the first few months here that we didn’t really have a whole lot of time for friend making however time works in wonderful ways and these last few weeks we have relished in our new-ish friends here in Ottawa. For future reference I shall introduce you to a few of them now … Greg & Amy are fellow board game lovers. Greg plays water polo with Joep, Amy invited me to Bikram yoga with her and I said yes one time. And never again. Why? Because Bikram yoga is inhumane and no, I did not feel exhilarated afterwards. I felt sweaty. And my muscles ached. It was not worth it. However Amy redeemed herself by also introducing me to espresso vodka so she is still my friend. Then we have Stu and Jodie. Jodie is an Aussie. Stu is entertaining. They know how to eat good food and enjoy a few drinks. Nuff said. Final couple of note is Mikey & Anne-Marie … last night we bumped into Anne-Marie whilst buying books. We finished the night at 1am after consuming 3 party kegs on a terrace on a Tuesday night. No more needs to be said there. Friend making has proven successful! And continues to be a work in progress. Needless to say we’re enjoying this a lot!

4.     Ottawa Ladies Book Club – Yes. I finally got around to creating a book club here. I wasn’t sure if it would be as successful as the Amsterdam book club but I was pleasantly surprised. The ladies arrived with books and wine and the inaugural book club was a total success as evidenced by the reduced productivity of all of us the following day … there seems to be a recurring theme here. Mother ship don’t get all worried, we will settle down one day soon.

5.     Visitors – This month saw our first Dutch visitors arrive! Jorn was here for a week after Queens Day. He arrived suffering from a stomach flu and therefore was not able to eat or drink much for the majority of the week but Joep still relished in the manly company. Plus the weather had finally turned (see point 6 below. Yes. Weather gets its own bullet point. I am obsessed with it. Just like all the Canadians are.) … the first few days were glorious and sunny. And then the boys went camping in Algonquin. And it rained and rained and rained. They were supposed to go for 2 nights. On the first night I got a call at 9pm from Joep to say goodnight and to inform me that there were lots of crazy noises outside their tent. Ummmm yes. You are in the wild Joepinator. I then received a call the following morning telling me that they were on their way home. The trip was deemed ‘a great experience’ something that Joepinator was ‘really glad to have done one time’ but not something that is recommended for everyone. The planned camping trip with Bas & Kamiel has now been upgraded to a cabin.

On that note, Bas and Kamiel were in town this last weekend and will be sampling the wonders that Canada has to offer for the next 2 weeks. They are hilarious house guests and we have really loved having them to stay. As I write this they are in Toronto most likely reeking havoc on a dance floor somewhere. The weekend with them was spent enjoying the city and hitting the dance floor. We still have a bit more time with them before they leave so watch this space!

6.     The weather – As I type this it is 41 degrees outside. True story. Lets all flashback now to February, only 3 months ago, when it was -30 degrees outside. That is a 70 degree swing! Crazy. I am in my element. Summer clothes are on, the sun is shining and the city is packed to the brim with tourists and Ottawanegians who have come out of hibernation. It. Is. Glorious. Ottawa really is a great city when the sun is shining. There is so much to do … for example …

7.     The Tulip Festival – A quick history lesson for you. In 1945, the Dutch royal family sent 100,000 tulip bulbs to Ottawa in gratitude for Canadians having sheltered Princess Juliana and her daughters for the preceding three years during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, during WWII. In the time that they were sheltered Princess Juliana gave birth to Princess Margriet at the Ottawa Civic Hospital. The maternity ward was declared to be officially a temporary part of international territory, so that she would be born in no country and would inherit only her Dutch citizenship from her mother. Interesting right? So now the Dutch send 10,000 tulip bulbs every year to Ottawa and there is a big festival in the spring with music and food and … tulips of course! Its actually really worth seeing. We were suitably impressed.

8.     Getting back on the old fiets – We bought bikes! I didn’t realize how much I missed biking around the place but I am so content now. Joep officially notes that his bike is the best one he has ever owned. Ever. No seriously Jenni, ever. My pink bike still holds that title for me but this one is good as well. We spent Monday biking to the beach and back in the glorious spring weather … it doesn’t get much better than this!

9.     Parliament House – We’ve been here for 9 months now and we still hadn’t done a tour of the parliament house. Disgraceful I know. But when Jorn came to visit we did the tour with him and we were impressed! The building itself is beautiful on the outside and inside even more so. There is an amazing library in there which is the oldest building in Canada (nothing compared to the Euro history but still …) and it looks like something taken directly from Hogwarts. So impressive! Those who visit are now required to take the tour. More than worthwhile!

10.  David Grey live in concert – I heart David Grey. Big time. I am a gigantic fan so when tickets came available I was on it like white on rice. He is amazing live. Better live than on his cd’s even. I was literally swooning in my seat. Joep, Bas and Kamiel however were so distracted by David’s twitching head that they could not seem to appreciate the music. But they were happily entertained with their own jokes and I was able to swoon in peace. Everyone’s a winner! Oh and I didn’t get bored at all watching him which is very unusual for me. Usually by the time the encore is on I am already out the door. David Grey if I was not an almost married woman I would seriously consider becoming a roadie and following you around everywhere. Swoon.

I think that rounds it up for now. We’re having an amazing time here and if I’m really honest I would have to say that it just keeps getting better. Ottawa is really winning our hearts now that the sun is shining and walking outdoors does not result in frostbite (FYI frostbite is way more painful than sunburn and takes way longer to heal … way longer!). The icing on the cake naturally is that we’re engaged and wedding planning which is actually turning out to be a lot more fun than people say it is!!

We are happy J