You are currently browsing the Maple MOLE weblog archives for September, 2007.

Sun before the Fall

Thursday, September 27th, 2007

Last weekend the weather was amazing so we thought we should make the most of it . We jumped on the sky train to Downtown and then got the bus into Stanley Park. Elliot was out with friends so we just had Oliver and his rollerblades. You see lots of people on blades in Stanley Park, Oliver is still a novice but he managed the slopes well. I have decided the autumn trees must arrive over night in Vancouver, one day they looked green and lush the next they had changed to that lovely autumnal gold & red.

However the sun was warm and we enjoyed the walk, or jog to keep up with that O skating into the distance. Having left home with no preparation – oops the scout in me failed again, we had nothing to eat or drink. There are not to many places to stop in Stanley Park unless you have time to walk all the way around where there is a good coffee shop at Prospect Point. We found a small cafe just before it closed and grabbed some water before heading home. It appears that Vancouver has many weather zones, just like Maidstone & Ashford. Whilst we enjoyed the sun North Vancouver had a rain shower which provided us with a beautiful rainbow, you can just about see the float plane that was heading out to Victoria.

Mirrored buildings

Thursday, September 20th, 2007

On trips to Down Town I have noticed there are lots of glass buildings that create a mirrored effect for other buildings. Snapped these two whilst on a quick outing.

The first is looking south from Robson Square on Robson Street, the second is looking east on Georgia Street out side the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Deer Lake Park

Saturday, September 15th, 2007

So our 1st weekend when we had no real plans we spotted a local event. Night of 2007 lights. Organised by the City of Burnaby. It was a community lantern procession around Deer Lake – Ok around the grassed area, I don’t even know if around the lake is possible. You could go from 3.30 and make your own lantern and watch other larger lanterns being made and positioned for the evening procession. After a slow start to the day I sorted our a bus route that went close by. However we I was mot totally prepared, I left the road map, bus map & time table at home – ops! We arrived about 6pm and viewed some of the site features roving performers on stilts, and a 1st nation group singing and dancing. In the centre of the event was a maze made of tea lights in brown paper bags. Once it was dark it was very effective, and the centre piece was made of large lanterns like the one above. ( had to take the pink one for Michele) Later we joined the procession around the grounds with everybody holding there hand made lanterns, the little children were very sweet.(its a girlie thing) Finishing with a fire display. This was pretty amazing, and looked very dangerous. They danced with large flaming torches leaving trails just you get from a little sparklers. The had them as part of a head dress and well as hand held batons, it was very impressive.

 

 

First week in our new home

Wednesday, September 12th, 2007

So the boys have done 4 days at school and now were getting down to the real stuff. School have an annual retreat and need parents to go as volunteers to supervise small groups or help out on site with odd jobs as part of the payment for going. Sounded good to me, meet the teachers, children and other parents. Wow I got far more than I could ever have imagined. We stayed in a remote place only accessible by boat or float plane. To get there we had to ride in a school bus – you know the yellow ones with the little stop sign that pops out the side, and 2 boat trips. The scenery was amazing, then I got to share a log cabin with 12 students. Oh and by the way my job was to help in the kitchen. School and staff a the base numbered 250, hum.

This was the view soon after arriving at the outer dock. Staff from Malibu then transport you luggage on a smaller boat to the inner dock, which is also where the fun things happen. Below is the outer harbour and the view from the balcony that went around the dinning room.

 

 

To the left is the inner harbour where you can go kayaking, wake boarding, banana boating and ‘the blob’ that’s the long stripy coloured tube, or you can relax in the swimming pool.

There are hiking routes marked out and a Zip line. I was very busy in the kitchen, but did have a 3 hour slot to take pictures and enjoy the home made ice cream. One thing the students comment on is how tasty the food is, Oliver loved the home made Oreo ice cream. The cook certainly knew her stuff and kept us volunteers in check. For those students who didn’t want the to do the energetic stuff, they could relax in the pool.

 

 

Accommodation

Monday, September 10th, 2007

Now you think staying in a hotel is fun. That’s when you know you have a home to go back to. Its an odd feeling when you don’t know where home will be or what it will look like when you get there. With the days quickly being filled with other essential things to do a permanent place to rest our heads was just not happening.

We hadn’t registered that it was Labour day on 3rd Sept so our first weekend here was long weekend for the locals, so whilst we were trying to pack in as much as possible the Canadians were all trying to relax and enjoy the beautiful weather. So emergency measures were called for. At short notice we were able to book a week at the apartment we had hired in June. This gave us some normality and we could admire the mountains for a whole week from every window.

Thankfully we did find a place to call home. Its in an old house……… 30years – Candians just don’t know what an old house is. We live on the ground floor, and the owners on the main floor. We have 3 bedrooms, large lounge and small kitchen. Its 3 minutes to a sky train station which is good because that’s how the boys get to school. It is furnished, all be it basic, but it is clean and we all felt we could make it home until we get more of an idea on where to live, then we will look for an unfurnished place.

We hired a car the day we moved in as we had already acquired more than a taxi driver would take. Plus we planned to visit Ikea to pick up some essential items. So having unpacked a few things we decided to head of to Ikea.

I broke out the road map and navigated us to the nearest store, 20 minutes drive. Only to find it was closed – what, I could never see this happening in England. There is a local strike and other places in Vancouver are also on strike but I never thought this would effect Ikea. Out with the map again and off we went to the next one which is over the boundary line and into Burnaby city where they are not a strike.

Important things to look for when renting a place. We had 3 criteria for our temporary place, 2/3 bedrooms, close to sky train, and high speed internet conection!!! Well a man has to work, or find work.

So we are both set up, him in the office – rather a small desk and me in the kitchen – hum bit on the small side as well. Not to worry there is a table and a huuuuuuuuge fridge. What no dishwasher – so the men of the house have to do some jobs.

The beginning

Thursday, September 6th, 2007

The flight was good, travelling business class was cool. Food served on a plate with a real knife and fork. We had individual media players enabling us to watch tv programmes or play games on, this made for a very comfortable and entertaining flight. Once we landed our experience with immigration was very simple, it only took about 15 minutes. Leaving with the essential paperwork for a landed immigrant. We did go prepared with every possible piece of paper work they might request to ensure we didn’t get held up. I do remember the Scout moto be prepared! (but sometimes I fail)

So we checked in for 3 nights at the Hilton – we got a good deal on the internet. Plus they offer high speed internet connection, essential for maintaining contact with folk and searching accommodation.

Our first day got off to an early start at the boys school. We had an interview with the principle, a tour of the school, a meeting the academic counsellor to organise the boys time tables, and finished off with a school uniform sale. Oh no time to think about jet lag.

Over the next few days we moved in to the boring, yet essential things. Bank accounts, SI numbers, (equivalent NI numbers) looking for furnished accommodation, and the very important mobile phones. Looking for accommodation was a challenge. We visited some ‘interesting’ places, and being reliant on transit (public transport) did slow things down. The transit is good but we was working at a disadvantage – we didn’t have a bus map or time table. There is a bus and sky train, the 2 systems work well together and you you can buy 1 ticket for both, a bit like a travel card for London. The sky train is very efficient, a train every 3 minutes, 6 minutes at weekends & public holidays. Its like Docklands light railway.

An artie picture of a bus and sky train taken by Mark.