Canada Week One

Hail.

Well, It's been an eventful start to my overseas adventure. I am not
sure whether I would categorise it as an overwhelming sucess just yet
but at least things haven't been dull.

Hmm... where to start... I might start this off with bad stuff and
work my way to the good stuff, that way I won't have a bitter taste in
my mouth when I finish.

Ok - so I have told y'all about my chutney (Some sort of Oil
Chutney... yum yum), I had to throw out a few of my really good shirts
and some shorts and a jumper.. but I have almost let that go now, the
bag is still a bit smelly but I have it hanging outside in a garage
with access to the enormous amounts of sunlight that are pouring down
over us right now, so hopefully that will do the trick, I have tried
just about every remedy suggested to me and now that bag smells a bit
like air freshener rather than Chutney, so that is better than nothing
I guess. I was almost passed all that when I managed to tip over a
beer on my camera. Now my camera is broken. Sigh.

Anyway. That is all just material stuff but it sure is annoying. At
least I am still alive and kicking... For now... If my rate of beer
consumption doesn't slow down (and it has..) then I will probably hit
the deck pretty soon.

The Canadians around here are pretty interesting people for the most
part, I tend to think they are almost like a cross between
Australian's and American's... some lean more towards being U.S
citizens, stupidity intact... that isn't very nice but until I
actually visit the States my cultural bias will hold firm!

Case in point, the other night just after destroying my camera a girl
decides to sit next to me and starts asking a whole bunch of
questions.. the conversation was something like..
Do you like Jessica Simpson?
Umm.. no.
Do you like Britney Spears?
Umm... no.
What swear words do Australian's have?

(glancing towards Dale, frowning slightly.. slight pause..)
We speak English in Australia.
Ohhhhhhhh really!!!
Yes.

Sheesh.

Here she is..I have a cheesy grin on my face



Anyway, apart from this girl most Canadian's seem nice.. it was just
really suprising to meet some people who are exactly like some of the
characters you would see in some of those bad American college jock
movies. For any of the American Pie fans out there I met the spitting
(or is that splitting??) image of Ostriker.



This guy had the intelligence of a pile of dirt, was built like a tank and had two
girls draped over him. I was pretty jealous.

Dale and I have been to a fair few pubs around the Vancouver downtown area. I am really impressed with the service you get. You don't even
have to leave your seat, they just bring you beer all night long. This
is not particularly great for the budget or for the stomach but it
sure is nice. The tipping system throws me off.. I am still not really
clued up on who I am supposed to be tipping and how much to give.. but
I am sure I will get it.. eventually.

We have found a place to stay, which was a pretty good thing - nice as
the hostels are, there is nothing like having the security of your own
apartment. The renting scene is totally different to Australia. There
really is no such thing as a real estate agents, you don't have domain
and you don't go inspect places on the weekends. The apartments around
here all have signs out the front with "Vacancy" or "No Vacancy"
depending on the availability and you just ring the number listed on
the sign. We tried doing this will about 20 different places and we
were getting a bit worried because there was nothing that would offer
a 6 month or month to month rental term, everything was a year
minimum.
Luckily, while walking past a pub one night during the week, Dale said
-

Lets go in there!!!!

Quote of the Post - "Are you guys looking for some sluts??" After Dale asked a girl whether there were any strip clubs in Vancouver.. totally innocently, the bartender jumps in with this classic..