Tonight is the first night in my new apartment. It feels kinda weird. Really doesn't feel like my place at all. Apartments are pretty foreign to me having grown up in flats and houses. I have also stayed in a few during my travels and this actually feels like I am crashing at someone elses for a while. I keep expecting someone to come home! I'm sure that will change when I start work.
It has very basic furnishings, but everything I need at the moment. The only thing I am really missing is a music device of some sort. I don't know if I will be able to wait for my first pay check to purchase some sounds. I also really wish I had a guitar as I could be filling my spare time with getting back into that but I kinda want a nice one of those too so it might have to wait. We'll see. I'm really happy I went for a furnished place though. It would be bloody horrible moving into a place with nothing.
Tomorrow I am going to go exploring and I have just booked a ticket to go and see the Hobbit at a 3D imax theatre. It is a ridiculous mission to get there so I hope its worth it. I am really missing having a car. (Holy crap, listen to all this stuff I'm gonna be spending heaps of money on. Setting up a life is expensive!) It is also gonna suck going to the movies by myself but I figure I am qualified for that by now. Its really weird not knowing anyone at all in this city I have just moved to. Out of the 2 million people here there has got to be a fair few cool people that would want to go to the Hobbit with me tomorrow but no way to contact them!
Well I'm off nise now. First sleep in Vancouver. Very strange.
Saturday, 29 December 2012
Tuesday, 25 December 2012
Merry White Christmas!
First Christmas in the northern hemisphere and its a white one, couldn't do much better than that! This is the view into Pams back yard.
We're not really up to much today as the kids are gone. Will probably go somewhere for dinner and fill our bellies again.
Merry Christmas!
Sunday, 23 December 2012
White lead up to Christmas
Right, so it has been a while since I've written anything on here but very little has happened. Pam and her family have been fantastic to me and I don't know what I would have done without them. I have been staying here for about 4 weeks now or something!
Its a really nice spot out in the countryside so I have been doing a bit of running. I found a track that runs along beside a river that goes on forever and is part of a Trans-Canada trail or something. Could take a while to get to the other end. Pam has also been very generous and let me drive her truck around which has been great. I really miss driving and can't wait to get a car. I have successfully opened a bank account and obtained a social insurance number.
I have also secured a job with Klohn Crippen Berger which I start on the 3rd. I sent a bunch of emails to a bunch of places and heard back from KCB the next day. I went in for an interview and spent quite a while with them and at the end of the interview I basically got offered a job on the spot. I move into an apartment in Vancouver on the 28th of December. It is a furnished 1 bedroom place for 6 months at $1100 a month (including expenses) to start with so that I can save some money for furniture, car ect.
As much as I prefer real people over children they seem to attract a lot of Christmas spirit which is cool. It has been years since I have seen so many presents under a Christmas tree! Last night we had a pre-Christmas dinner with Pams niece, her partner and her two kids last night and there was a sneaky pre-Christmas present opening.
Other assorted information: I have been introduced to a drink called "a ceasar" which is basically a bloody mary but has some crazy clam juice stuff in it as well as tabasco, wircestershire sauce, pickled asparagus, pickled beans, olives etc. Pretty yum. It has been snowing a bit here which is cool. In between the snow days it mostly melts though so I don't know if we will get a white Christmas.
Its a really nice spot out in the countryside so I have been doing a bit of running. I found a track that runs along beside a river that goes on forever and is part of a Trans-Canada trail or something. Could take a while to get to the other end. Pam has also been very generous and let me drive her truck around which has been great. I really miss driving and can't wait to get a car. I have successfully opened a bank account and obtained a social insurance number.
I have also secured a job with Klohn Crippen Berger which I start on the 3rd. I sent a bunch of emails to a bunch of places and heard back from KCB the next day. I went in for an interview and spent quite a while with them and at the end of the interview I basically got offered a job on the spot. I move into an apartment in Vancouver on the 28th of December. It is a furnished 1 bedroom place for 6 months at $1100 a month (including expenses) to start with so that I can save some money for furniture, car ect.
As much as I prefer real people over children they seem to attract a lot of Christmas spirit which is cool. It has been years since I have seen so many presents under a Christmas tree! Last night we had a pre-Christmas dinner with Pams niece, her partner and her two kids last night and there was a sneaky pre-Christmas present opening.
Other assorted information: I have been introduced to a drink called "a ceasar" which is basically a bloody mary but has some crazy clam juice stuff in it as well as tabasco, wircestershire sauce, pickled asparagus, pickled beans, olives etc. Pretty yum. It has been snowing a bit here which is cool. In between the snow days it mostly melts though so I don't know if we will get a white Christmas.
Sunday, 2 December 2012
Shopping
Sunday 2/12/12
Today we got out of the house to get some supplies. I luckily had a look to check that I brought a pair black pants with me and found I hadn't. I had also been reduced to only one pair of pants when my blues jeans started to self destruct. So I was on the hunt for a pair of jeans, dress pants and probably some shoes since squelching around in my leaky loafers didn't sound fun. Kinda dumb that I carried them all around the world only to find out they were leaky and chuck them out before I ever got to use them. I managed to find a pretty cheap pair of shoes, a pair of Calvin Klein pants (lah di dah) for only $31 bucks and a pair of jeans as well.
Back at home the spa repair had proven to be successful so I went for a run before going to soak in that. Reminds me of Ma and Pas house!
Today we got out of the house to get some supplies. I luckily had a look to check that I brought a pair black pants with me and found I hadn't. I had also been reduced to only one pair of pants when my blues jeans started to self destruct. So I was on the hunt for a pair of jeans, dress pants and probably some shoes since squelching around in my leaky loafers didn't sound fun. Kinda dumb that I carried them all around the world only to find out they were leaky and chuck them out before I ever got to use them. I managed to find a pretty cheap pair of shoes, a pair of Calvin Klein pants (lah di dah) for only $31 bucks and a pair of jeans as well.
Back at home the spa repair had proven to be successful so I went for a run before going to soak in that. Reminds me of Ma and Pas house!
Winter
Sunday 2/12/12
The last couple of days I have not been up to much. I have had some amazing dinners cooked by Pam and last night we went to friends of Pams and Terrys, Martin and Marianne for a tasty curry dinner. Really good people and they are thinking about going to New Zealand so I told them I know some good people in an excellent wine growing region that they can probably stay with!
I have also been looking around in Vancouver at apartment prices and vehicle prices. Really need to figure out if a) I'm gonna get a job in Vancouver and b) how much money I'm gonna get paid to decide what I can afford. Hard not to get ahead of yourself with things like that though.
Yesterday I helped Terry a bit with the "fix the spa" project. He kinda decided that the problem was probably the element so went about removing it. It had corroded in place though so we had to take it to get the nut ground off. After a new element the spa now works again so I guess we can deduce that the element was the problem. I also finished putting the rest of the Christmas lights up on the house.
It is another very winterey day here. The whole country is cooling off with most places getting snow at the moment. Abbotsford is still pretty coastal though so doesn't snow very often. When it does it usually doesn't settle.
The last couple of days I have not been up to much. I have had some amazing dinners cooked by Pam and last night we went to friends of Pams and Terrys, Martin and Marianne for a tasty curry dinner. Really good people and they are thinking about going to New Zealand so I told them I know some good people in an excellent wine growing region that they can probably stay with!
I have also been looking around in Vancouver at apartment prices and vehicle prices. Really need to figure out if a) I'm gonna get a job in Vancouver and b) how much money I'm gonna get paid to decide what I can afford. Hard not to get ahead of yourself with things like that though.
Yesterday I helped Terry a bit with the "fix the spa" project. He kinda decided that the problem was probably the element so went about removing it. It had corroded in place though so we had to take it to get the nut ground off. After a new element the spa now works again so I guess we can deduce that the element was the problem. I also finished putting the rest of the Christmas lights up on the house.
It is another very winterey day here. The whole country is cooling off with most places getting snow at the moment. Abbotsford is still pretty coastal though so doesn't snow very often. When it does it usually doesn't settle.
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