Sunday

This morning I decided that I needed to buy some walking shoes so that I could get out and enjoy the sunshine and the flat, easy walking. Chris dropped us girls (Jenna, Diana and myself) off at the mall – an even bigger one than the last one. We spent 3 hours there and didn’t even see it all. I bought some shoes – good walking/running shoes for $19.97 – do you believe it? Clothes here are so cheap. I also bought a couple of tops as it’s so hot that the wardrobe couldn’t cope!

Jesse has found his soulmate! A guitar hero friend. This is Seb and Jesse spending the morning playing. Andy and Jenna got in on the act later being the singers. Is there a future career here?

After lunch we decided to go for a walk to experience the great Tim Horton’s coffee that we had been told so much about. We walked for about 15 minutes in the beautiful sun, just enjoying the day. Unfortunately, Tim Horton’s don’t have soy so I will probably never get to experience that.

We wandered on down the road to Starbucks and had a good quality hot chocolate – hadn’t had one since leaving NZ so it probably seemed better than it actually was.

Here are the photos of us sitting enjoying our drinks.

We walked down “the big hill” – that’s what Seb called it. We joked about it being just a gentle slope. Along the way we met some really friendly Canadian Firefighters who were only too happy for the kids to climb into the fire truck and have their photos taken. One of them assumed we were Australian but they were quickly put right. Of course that led to discussions about Flight of the Concords (the man I’m talking to, it was his favourite show).

After that we walked to the bottom of the hill and found a Mulberry tree. We sampled the mulberries, they were not as juicy as raspberries but still very good. In the Mulberry tree was a black squirrel. He moved way too quickly to get his photo taken which was a shame. I don’t know quite how when he had been feasting on the mulberries. Anyway, just as cute as the other squirrels!

We walked on through the “forest”. I thought we might see a snake (freaking out a bit) but we didn’t. I’m told that snakes here only live in the forest and are quite harmless which I’m pleased about. The forest was quite different from in NZ. The trees were very tall and the undergrowth was very sparse. We walked for ages alongside a stream. It was just lovely with the sun coming through the trees. Along the way we were treated to a sighting of a chipmunk. These are even cuter than the squirrels! Tiny, about the size of a small rat but very fluffy and with a long feathery, fluffy tail. It was very shy and no matter what noises I made to encourage him to come and play he wouldn’t. What a treat, though to see him.

All and all, we walked for about 2 hours and by the time we were heading home poor Jesse was exhausted. He is having trouble adjusting.

Later this evening we went for a drive to look for a rental property. This was good to see what was around. We also saw some houses that were just monstrous! House prices are so low here - $300 buys you an amazing house in a good area. We are looking at under $1500 a month for rent for a 3 bedroom semi-detached or detached house.

Saturday - Starting to Feel More Alive!

Saturday morning and Andy and I were up bright and early. Cristina had a doctors appointment so Chris took us for a drive while we were waiting for her.

I took these photos of some of the houses so that you can see what they look like. They are really different from NZ houses.

Houses are usually detached or semi-detached (shares one wall with another house). Chris and Cristina live in a semi-detached which is probably what we would refer to as a townhouse.

In the afternoon we went for a lovely walk around the neighbourhood. This picture is of Chris and Jesse in front on their house. Also shown here is the family's extremely reliable biological security system Zorra. She's the most beautiful mini schnauser who is very lively. She barks whenever anyone comes to the door. For the first couple of days she barked at us every time she saw us but as you can see, she has come to terms with us being in her home and even let Jesse take her walking.

Zorra

We went to the park which was at a school - interesting school, had no fences around it. They were talking about the hill at the school which turned out to be a mound of dirt - we know what hills really are!

It's just so flat here and it's lovely to get out and walking. The weather is lovely too. We eat outside at every opportunity. No wind!!!! The food doesn't blow away.

Day 1 in Canada

Well, today we slept till lunch time (almost). Andy and I woke up at about 6am thinking, "Wow, this is great, we'll just get up and be readjusted" - not so. We fell back to sleep and the next thing we knew it was 11am!

We got up then and by the time we showered and the kids were up it was after lunchtime. Chris took us down to Wall Mart because we needed to buy some pillows and we wanted to look at mobile phone plans. Turns out that Canada is way behind NZ on anything technical so we can't use our iphones here - we'll have to buy new ones but they are really cheap with a plan so we may send them back to NZ to be sold there (any takers?).

We didn't spend long at the shops because we were just too tired. Chris was complaining about the weather - there was a few drops of rain in the air but it was still hot and we were thinking it was great.

We went into the local supermarket which, it turns out sells nothing gluten free so will have to investigate the ones further afield for that.

Oh, by the way, this morning we saw a squirrel in the backyard. It was so cool. They are just like they look in photos. I haven't been able to nab a photo of one yet but as soon as I can I will post it. They run up and down the trees and along the fences, just like the birds do at home. Apparently they are really common but they have been somewhat hiding from us I think. They are so incredibly cute and have long fluffy tails. We are told that black ones are rare so can't wait to see one.

After dinner we went to the mall and stayed until about 9pm. It was very busy and overwhelming. Bought some Canadian chocolate - not like NZ chocolate at all - dark chocolate in NZ is very bitter but this was very sweet, but then most things here are very sweet.

When we came home we just sat and chatted with the family, they are really interested in NZ culture so we are learning from each other. Don't know whether I said in my last blog but they are Romanian family living here in Canada so it's a different culture again.

Because of the time zone readjustment we ended up not going to bed until late because it was still the middle of the afternoon for us. We went to sleep pretty much straight away though so we must have still been tired.

The Longest Day Ever!

The day started at 3am - had been awake for ages, just in case I slept in.

We had to check in at 4am and my sister met us at the airport at 4.30am to have breakfast with us which was really nice.

We boarded the plane and flew to Sydney. The flight was good and Air New Zealand served us breakfast (not bad but a totally inedible gluten free roll!).

We arrived in Sydney and had what seemed like just enough time to check in and we were off boarding the plane again. Andy was stopped at security and we found that he had not one pair of scissors but a whole manicure set in his toilet bag. After they found it I remembered putting it there months ago and thinking that I must remember to remove it before we went on the plane - whoops!

The flight from Sydney to Vancouver was long and very bumpy. For a large portion of the flight the seatbelt sign was on. Every time I wanted to go to the bathroom it was on and when it went off everyone would rush to queue. Then the sign would go on again so we'd have to wait. At one point the flight attendants even had to sit down. Hot beverages were not served for most of the flight because it was so bumpy.

We arrived in Vancouver 14.5 hours later. It was really hot so went and got changed into my summer clothes. It seemed like we were there for a long time but by this time it was still only 8am Thursday (on the same day we left Auckland at 3am). The pilot did tell us that they were turning down the lights in the cabin so that we could get some sleep before we started our day all over again in Canada. It was our first introduction to Canada and we saw things like Root Beer and Dr Pepper in the shops. We were impressed with the price of Starbucks - $13 for drinks for us all.

The weirdest thing is the way the toilets flush - they fill up with water and you think they will overflow and then all the water disappears. It's just strange!

We boarded the plan at 11.30am Vancouver time and then flew for 4 hours and arrived in

Toronto at 7.30pm so we lost some of the time that we had gained. It's just funny that we were going backwards and forwards in time. When we got off the plane in Toronto it was 27 degrees and we found it stifling hot.

Cristina and Chris (our neighbour in NZ Radu's sister) met us at the airport and it was so nice to see a smiling face as we were very tired. We had to take 2 cars to get all of our belongings to their house. They are wonderful people and have two fantastic children, Sebastian and Diana. They have made us feel incredibly welcome.

We are sleeping in their basement which has 2 rooms and a bathroom so it works well. It was cool in the basement so we were happy.

We were so tired but the time in NZ was early in the morning so we didn't feel like going to sleep. We eventually went to bed about 11pm Toronto time and slept for 12 hours!