Updates Galore

Well, its been a while since I've last blogged - actually its only been less than a week but so much has happened since. Here is a day by day account of my life narrated by photos!

Thursday Night

Eleanor's birthday

SO GOOD - Dairy Queen Ice Cream cake

 

 

Friday morning 2 am 

Black Friday sales. The biggest sale in the States where the shops open at midnight and people go crazy.

The craziness rubbed off onto me causing me to shop from 2am to 2pm the next day.

Seattle Premium Outlet Malls

Crazy long lines in the cold

Awesome!!

 Saturday

My friend from Perth, Peter (pronounced Pee-tarrrr not Pee-terrr according to the source himself) arrived on Saturday from Seattle. He wanted to buy instant noodles so I just had to take him to TNT! The most Asian supermarket outside of Asia. Here, they don't understand when you speak English. Especially Australian English.

So many options

Meat market

Live and frozen seafood market

Vege market

Sunday

These photos aren't very clear but they're filming a new movie behind my Church called 'This means War' starring Reese Witherspoons. That explained why we were hearing explosions and cars being overturned! Its so interesting to see how they make a movie.

 

That night, I invited some friends from Perth over for steamboat (at least they know what that means!) But because I don't actually have a steamboat, we used the stove as a makeshift steamboat thingy. NOM NOM NOM.

Such a funny story behind this too. I didn't actually know them back in Perth, well not unless you count the one time we met on New Years' Eve at karaoke in Utopia (Yes, sadly - that's where I was on NYE) but lets be honest, no one remembered anything from that night. 

Anyway, we have a mutual friend back in Perth who sent out a mass facebook message and basically introduced everyone over fb saying 'You guys are all from Perth but now are in Vancouver - go make friends.' So I left my number on the post and Arthur and Jacinta contacted me. We caught up for dinner on Saturday night and I found out they were looking for a place to stay. 

Funnily enough, the tenants downstairs are moving out and now Arthur and Jacinta will be joining the House of Awesome as my new roomies in the basement suite. YAY!! We may have to rename it to the House of Aussieness since we have four Aussies in the house now (I will count Eleanor as an honourary Aussie since she studied Melbourne for two years and knows exactly what I mean when I say trolley).

We also have another friend, Amy, moving into the basement suite on the same day so now we have the whole three levels of the house to ourselves - 6 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, 3 living rooms and 2 kitchens. So what to do with all this space...I suggest IRON CHEF =D =D

I dont think I can ever get tired of this..

Imagine waking up to this every morning:

Luckily for me, I don't have to imagine it..those are the views from my bedroom balcony =D

On the other hand, because its freezing outside, i'm very relunctant to go anywhere unless its absolutely necessary. I'd count shopping in the States as a necessity =)

Some friends and I went down to the States on Tuesday to pick up some winter gear and it was soooooooooo cold that our car iced over. There were icicles hanging off store gutters. Streets were closed due to the hazardous conditions. People were toboganning on the roads. I was even able to purchase a tub of ice cream to bring back home because the temperature outside was colder than my freezer. So when I say its cold, its cold. I think it dropped to negative twelve degrees that night.

Despite the subzero temperatures, I'm still looking forward to return tomorrow for the crazy Black Friday sales. Apparently the sales tomorrow is the biggest one of the year with stores opening its doors at midnight. I mean where else can you find people getting trampled to death in the name of finding a bargain?

America.

Winter Wonderland

For real!

I woke up yesterday morning to find myself in a magical Winter Wonderland. All my Christmases have come early this year =D

Don't eat the yellow snow

Snowball fight anyone?

I seriously need to get warmer clothes because apparently its going to get a lot colder. 

As much as I wanted to make snowmans and snow angels, I know that meant the snow would soak through my clothes..possibly leading to frostbites. OK, maybe not frostbites...but it sure felt like I was getting them. My feet were going numb through my boots! It's gonna take me a while to get use to the cold. You can't blame me, this is the winter I'm use to:


My kind of winter, sunny blue skies ;)

 

Watching the sunset on the beach

 What a contrast hey.

My ability to withstand the cold, or should I say lack of, became quite apparent to everyone. This was an actual conversation:

Random: You must be the Australian girl.
Me: How do you know? (Thinking it was accent that gave it away)
Random: I overheard people say they had to turn up the heating for the Australian girl.

I looked around to realise I was the only one with my coat still on.

In my defence 1) it was snowing outside and 2) I was wearing a dress. (I was wearing a dress because it was part of the dress code not because I felt like freezing)

Go back and look at the winters I'm use to =P

Things I miss

It's been exactly two months since I've been away from home. That mightn't seem like a long time to some people but when you're traveling on your own, its like forever. Seriously, Perth is just a distant memory for me and although I'm not really that homesick yet, its the little things I miss...like mum and dads cooking. Why didn't I pay more attention in the kitchen?! Having to adjust to a completely new country where I have to relearn everything on my own really made me appreciate what I had. Its true. You don't know what you have until its gone.

Ok, now I'm sounding really emo. It's the weather I tell you *glances at the gloomy skies* It doesn't help that everyone's facebook updates are about going to the beach! It's all good..wait till I hit up the slopes ;)

Anyway, I don't think I would have done this any other way. In the two months I have gained so much life experience which would be impossible if I just stayed in my comfort zone, in my little bubble where Perth was my whole world. It's surprising to find out that some people don't know where Australia is on the map, let alone know that Perth is a city in Australia.

What my whole world is to me, is non existent to someone else. But I have to admit, I didn't know even know whether Vancouver was on the East or West Coast of Canada before I came here...It's on the West for those who don't know ;)

Its been a steep learning curve but its good to know that:

- I am capable of carrying heavy grocery bags on my own

-To look left first before crossing the road if I don't want to get run over

-To stand on the right on elevators and footpaths

-To turn on lights, you have to flick the switch up

-To continue to use "Australian terms" even if it means no one understands me. I think the accent is quite evident especially when we start playing games like Taboo:          

             Them: "What? Waaaall?"
              Me:  "No..War"
              Them: "Waaallll??"
              Me: " War..you know, where they use gu....fail, just said the word" -.-

- Finding out North Americans base what they know about Australia on two things:
  1) Crocodile Dundee
  2) Steve Irwin

-To experience one of the worse winters ever faced in BC.

Even as I miss the little things of home, its great to know that I have a second home here. And really, its the people that makes a place a home and I'm blessed to have made such awesome friends who are so willing to drive me around, to let me drive, to invite me out, to make me feel welcome and just offering me their friendship. And that is something I will never take for granted.

Something to remind me of home

Deep Cove

I found a secret spot in BC!

Well technically, I didn't find it....but check out it out, its called Deep Cove:

 

Its so pretty huh.

But now the weather is getting grey and cloudy, best thing to do is stay indoors to avoid getting wet.

And what is there to do indoors...bake and eat. My two favourite past times =D

Choc chip muffins

Shirlz' delicious cinnamon rolls

Cookies

SO cute =D

Very professionally made sushi rolls

"Hot Pot" aka Steamboat

Sooooooo much food..can't even fit on the screen.

It's time for me to join a gym.

Just another weekend

Its been another crazy weekend...I'm actually glad its Monday so I can finally catch my breath and relax.

After only getting 3 hrs sleep on Saturday, I spent the rest of the weekend trying to catch up on sleep. I'm not a happy chappy without my sleep and I feel sorry for anyone subjected to my crankiness..namely my roomies =P So I've only just got back into my normal sleeping routine today. YAY!!

Oh yeah, on a different note, check out my monopoly money:

So colourful

 

Interesting isn't it..its so colourful! Yep, I get amused easily.

And some photos from birthdays over the past week.

Ying's B'day at Cactus club

Oceanwise wild smoked salmon, avocado, seasoned rice, pea shoots, tofu, tobikko



Three miniature cheddar bacon burgers with red pepper relish



Caramelized onions, beef jus and emmental cheese on toasted sourdough



Shabusen - Korean and Jap buffet

MmMmM..unlimited food...And all I wanted was jello..



=)




It has eyebrows now ^^



Make a birthday wish...



Super yummy birthday cake




















That wrapped up a good night and a good weekend.

Looking forward to more birthdays and fun times =)