To get to Vancouver from Toronto I was going to have to catch a flight that I’d booked a few weeks beforehand. The trip to the airport was meant to be pretty stress free, but in true style, it turned to shit. First I had to catch a train, which broke down a couple of stops before I had to get off. After a bit of a wait, a replacement bus, of course when people are treated like cattle, they start acting like them. People were pushing a shoving and trying to force there way onto the bus. After a while we all squished on the bus like sardines, and we were on our way to the bus station… sort of.
We got to the first bus station and the bus driver crashed the bus into the shelter and got stuck. I’m not a racist guy whatsoever and I do my best not to believe stereotypes, but I had a good giggle at the Asian people on the bus rolling there eyes at how bad the bus drivers driving was.
After a while of the bus driver trying to unhook himself from the shelter, a guy, who was also going to the airport, and I decided to give the bus a miss and catch a cab to the airport bus station. It was lucky I left so early but it ended up being a bit of a struggle checking in on time.
Canada doesn’t really have a great selection of airlines. I heard that there used to be a number of budget airlines but they were bought out by Air Canada, so Air Canada has a bit of a monopoly of Canadian skies. Except for West Jet, which is who I flew with. Something interesting about West Jet, is the employees own a share of the company, which makes the staff really friendly and very helpful. Also they are a bit fun, like cracking jokes during the safety procedures etc. I find flying is more enjoyable when it’s not taken so seriously, also I think it relaxes people who aren’t good flyers too. Considering it’s a budget airline, you still get a free drink and also some biscuits as well as free use of the TV, which is something you don’t normally get from a budget airline back home.
Anyway, after about 5 hour flight, I touched down in Vancouver and was greeted by my sister, Jeanette, her husband, Andrew, and my niece and nephew, Phoebe and Jeremy. It was so great to see them! The reason they live in Vancouver now is because Andrew got transferred with his job, and it was also a good experience for the kids, so they moved over about a year ago.
We drove from the airport and went straight to there new home. They live in a suburb of Surrey which is a little seaside area, a little under an hour out of Vancouver city. When we pulled into there street, it reminded me of Wisteria Lane from the TV show ‘Desperate Housewives’. It’s a really nice street with some beautiful homes on it and there house is no exception. I got my own room down stairs with a bathroom and everything! More than anything, it was nice to be in a family environment again and not live out of a backpack for a while.
The first week I was here I really didn’t do a lot, which was fine by me. I really just wanted to chill out, sleep in to catch up on some rest and spend some time with family. As much as I love my niece and nephew, I’ll be honest, it took me a little getting used to having kids around. Having been on my own for quite a while, and not having much interaction with kids along the way, I forgot about how full on they are. They wanted me to play with them all the time, I was pretty exhausted and wasn’t in the mood for being the ‘cool uncle’. When they didn’t get there way, they weren’t to happy about it. But after a while I got used to it and got move involved. In the end I kind of enjoyed listening to them having tantrums just so I could hear the inventive ways they would procrastinate going to bed or the reason why they didn’t eat there dinner but somehow had room for ice cream.
I picked up Phoebe from school a couple of times before she finished for the year. (they finish school in the middle of year to coincide with summer, which is different to back where we finish at the end of the year) and Jeremy just finished Kinder so I got to go to his graduation. It was pretty cute. The kids did some plays like ‘the 3 little pigs and the big bad wolf’ etc. I might be bias but Jeremy was the best little pig in my opinion, and also the smartest – he made his house out of bricks! At the end they got to come up and get there certificate to say they passed kinder. On the way up to collect it, the teacher read out a questionnaire the kids had answered. they had questions like: ‘what was the best thing you learnt at kinder?’ and ‘what is your favourite memory at kinder?’, and you got the kind of answers kids of that age would say like ‘playtime’ etc. but my favourite question was ‘what do you want to be when you get old?’ we got a few girls who wanted to be Fairies and Princesses and Jeremy and a few of the other boys wanted to be Fireman but my favourite answer came from a cute little petite girl who wanted to be… a Hunter!?
I wondered if the kids would have kept there Australian accents or if they have adopted Canadian accents. It turned out they have a bit of both. Phoebe has a stronger accent, that she goes in and out of being both Australian and Canadian. I’ve noticed that when someone Canadian talks to her she flips into Canadian mode. I guess its only natural she’s at school and interacts with Canadian people all the time. Jeremy on the other hand still sounds Australian, mainly because he hasn’t started school full time as yet. But still has some interaction with Canadians when he goes to Kindergarten, so the occasional word has a bit of a twang to it. I’m sure it will get stronger.
Phoebe’s not such a little kid these days, she has developed her own little personality and you can have some grown-up conversations with her too. She’s also learning electric guitar, so I had lots of fun showing her chords and writing silly songs with her. while i was here i introduced her to bands like The Cure (i think 'Love Cats' is her new favourite song, i'd catch her humming it all the time) and the Beach Boys (i think 'Surfin' Surfari' is a close second)
Jeremy is a cute little fella, but he’s also a little terror! He's loud and never stops talking, even when he goes to the bathroom! I was starting to think that he was having conversations with his poo, and maybe it was talking back to him! but having said all that, he has a shy side too. but boy, can that kid eat! it felt like he had an appetite 24/7 - i dunno how it all fits in there! Jeremy’s just hit that age where he likes pushing boundaries and he can be a bit of a handful at times, but deep down I know it’s just a phase and he’ll grow out of it.
They’re both a crack up. So often they would say funny stuff without them even realizing it. In some ways I was a little shocked to find how much both of them have grown. I kind of found it a little sad that I missed out on seeing them grow up over the last couple of years of me living interstate and traveling abroad. And now, with them living over overseas, I’m sure it will be just as tricky.
OK, enough about my family, more about TRAVEL. as i said, i spent a fair bit of time at the family home, but i did venture into Vancouver a few times to check it out. Vancouver is currently planning for the 2010 Winter Olympics and its no wonder they won the bid to hold them here. Vancouver is the 2nd most livable city in the world and it doesn’t get that reputation for nothing - It’s a really nice city.
before i came here i watched 'No Reservations' which is a TV show hosted by Anthony Bourdain, who is a chef. its a really good show. not only does he talk about food in the city, he gives you some really good information and background about the city. one of the things that he bought up food wise was, there is a street vendor that sells hot dogs with a Japanese twist. he does them with seaweed sprinkled on top, and forget about mustard or ketchup, he puts wasabi on the top! i had to give one a go. it was kind of interesting but, i didn't really rate it to highly. 2 thumbs down from me.
We got to the first bus station and the bus driver crashed the bus into the shelter and got stuck. I’m not a racist guy whatsoever and I do my best not to believe stereotypes, but I had a good giggle at the Asian people on the bus rolling there eyes at how bad the bus drivers driving was.
After a while of the bus driver trying to unhook himself from the shelter, a guy, who was also going to the airport, and I decided to give the bus a miss and catch a cab to the airport bus station. It was lucky I left so early but it ended up being a bit of a struggle checking in on time.
Canada doesn’t really have a great selection of airlines. I heard that there used to be a number of budget airlines but they were bought out by Air Canada, so Air Canada has a bit of a monopoly of Canadian skies. Except for West Jet, which is who I flew with. Something interesting about West Jet, is the employees own a share of the company, which makes the staff really friendly and very helpful. Also they are a bit fun, like cracking jokes during the safety procedures etc. I find flying is more enjoyable when it’s not taken so seriously, also I think it relaxes people who aren’t good flyers too. Considering it’s a budget airline, you still get a free drink and also some biscuits as well as free use of the TV, which is something you don’t normally get from a budget airline back home.
Anyway, after about 5 hour flight, I touched down in Vancouver and was greeted by my sister, Jeanette, her husband, Andrew, and my niece and nephew, Phoebe and Jeremy. It was so great to see them! The reason they live in Vancouver now is because Andrew got transferred with his job, and it was also a good experience for the kids, so they moved over about a year ago.
We drove from the airport and went straight to there new home. They live in a suburb of Surrey which is a little seaside area, a little under an hour out of Vancouver city. When we pulled into there street, it reminded me of Wisteria Lane from the TV show ‘Desperate Housewives’. It’s a really nice street with some beautiful homes on it and there house is no exception. I got my own room down stairs with a bathroom and everything! More than anything, it was nice to be in a family environment again and not live out of a backpack for a while.
The first week I was here I really didn’t do a lot, which was fine by me. I really just wanted to chill out, sleep in to catch up on some rest and spend some time with family. As much as I love my niece and nephew, I’ll be honest, it took me a little getting used to having kids around. Having been on my own for quite a while, and not having much interaction with kids along the way, I forgot about how full on they are. They wanted me to play with them all the time, I was pretty exhausted and wasn’t in the mood for being the ‘cool uncle’. When they didn’t get there way, they weren’t to happy about it. But after a while I got used to it and got move involved. In the end I kind of enjoyed listening to them having tantrums just so I could hear the inventive ways they would procrastinate going to bed or the reason why they didn’t eat there dinner but somehow had room for ice cream.
I picked up Phoebe from school a couple of times before she finished for the year. (they finish school in the middle of year to coincide with summer, which is different to back where we finish at the end of the year) and Jeremy just finished Kinder so I got to go to his graduation. It was pretty cute. The kids did some plays like ‘the 3 little pigs and the big bad wolf’ etc. I might be bias but Jeremy was the best little pig in my opinion, and also the smartest – he made his house out of bricks! At the end they got to come up and get there certificate to say they passed kinder. On the way up to collect it, the teacher read out a questionnaire the kids had answered. they had questions like: ‘what was the best thing you learnt at kinder?’ and ‘what is your favourite memory at kinder?’, and you got the kind of answers kids of that age would say like ‘playtime’ etc. but my favourite question was ‘what do you want to be when you get old?’ we got a few girls who wanted to be Fairies and Princesses and Jeremy and a few of the other boys wanted to be Fireman but my favourite answer came from a cute little petite girl who wanted to be… a Hunter!?
I wondered if the kids would have kept there Australian accents or if they have adopted Canadian accents. It turned out they have a bit of both. Phoebe has a stronger accent, that she goes in and out of being both Australian and Canadian. I’ve noticed that when someone Canadian talks to her she flips into Canadian mode. I guess its only natural she’s at school and interacts with Canadian people all the time. Jeremy on the other hand still sounds Australian, mainly because he hasn’t started school full time as yet. But still has some interaction with Canadians when he goes to Kindergarten, so the occasional word has a bit of a twang to it. I’m sure it will get stronger.
Phoebe’s not such a little kid these days, she has developed her own little personality and you can have some grown-up conversations with her too. She’s also learning electric guitar, so I had lots of fun showing her chords and writing silly songs with her. while i was here i introduced her to bands like The Cure (i think 'Love Cats' is her new favourite song, i'd catch her humming it all the time) and the Beach Boys (i think 'Surfin' Surfari' is a close second)
Jeremy is a cute little fella, but he’s also a little terror! He's loud and never stops talking, even when he goes to the bathroom! I was starting to think that he was having conversations with his poo, and maybe it was talking back to him! but having said all that, he has a shy side too. but boy, can that kid eat! it felt like he had an appetite 24/7 - i dunno how it all fits in there! Jeremy’s just hit that age where he likes pushing boundaries and he can be a bit of a handful at times, but deep down I know it’s just a phase and he’ll grow out of it.
They’re both a crack up. So often they would say funny stuff without them even realizing it. In some ways I was a little shocked to find how much both of them have grown. I kind of found it a little sad that I missed out on seeing them grow up over the last couple of years of me living interstate and traveling abroad. And now, with them living over overseas, I’m sure it will be just as tricky.
OK, enough about my family, more about TRAVEL. as i said, i spent a fair bit of time at the family home, but i did venture into Vancouver a few times to check it out. Vancouver is currently planning for the 2010 Winter Olympics and its no wonder they won the bid to hold them here. Vancouver is the 2nd most livable city in the world and it doesn’t get that reputation for nothing - It’s a really nice city.
before i came here i watched 'No Reservations' which is a TV show hosted by Anthony Bourdain, who is a chef. its a really good show. not only does he talk about food in the city, he gives you some really good information and background about the city. one of the things that he bought up food wise was, there is a street vendor that sells hot dogs with a Japanese twist. he does them with seaweed sprinkled on top, and forget about mustard or ketchup, he puts wasabi on the top! i had to give one a go. it was kind of interesting but, i didn't really rate it to highly. 2 thumbs down from me.
a section of town that i really liked was a place called Gas Town. apparently it goes its name from Jack 'Gassy' Deighton (rather unfortunately nick name, don't you think?) for telling long winded stories. but i think the more likely story is that there is gas lighting all around the area. anyway, regardless of the name, i felt it had lots of character. with little boutique stores, vintage clothing as well as some pretty cool furniture and record shops. but it turns pretty quickly from trendy to bumsville. i haven't mentioned this yet, but since I’ve been in Canada I’ve noticed quite a lot of homeless right throughout the country. Vancouver is not exception. If anything they probably have more because it’s generally a little warmer on the west coast also the winters aren’t as harsh. Don’t quote me on this, but I heard the reason is because the government closed a lot of the mental institutions and tried to integrate them into society which obviously didn’t work very well at all.
Granville Island is an interesting part of town too. i guess you would say its a little more alternative. with markets, and art galleries and pan flute, plenty of pan flutes. you can't have a hippy market without them, its practically a prerequisite when starting market, that and someone has to be walking around with dreadlocks.
one thing i've noticed since being overseas is how a lot of countries make a big effort to have a lot of green space, even if they are a massive city. i noticed that Vancouver has a few little parks scattered around the town, but probably Stanley park is the most noticeable one. its really nice to walk around in. not only does it have some amazingly beautiful trees, they little art and craft markets and a couple of restaurants too. i think you could probably spend days just wandering in there. they also had a miniature railway in the middle of the park, and of course the kids dragged us on in. i think its really funny what kids find fun and interesting.
Granville Island is an interesting part of town too. i guess you would say its a little more alternative. with markets, and art galleries and pan flute, plenty of pan flutes. you can't have a hippy market without them, its practically a prerequisite when starting market, that and someone has to be walking around with dreadlocks.
one thing i've noticed since being overseas is how a lot of countries make a big effort to have a lot of green space, even if they are a massive city. i noticed that Vancouver has a few little parks scattered around the town, but probably Stanley park is the most noticeable one. its really nice to walk around in. not only does it have some amazingly beautiful trees, they little art and craft markets and a couple of restaurants too. i think you could probably spend days just wandering in there. they also had a miniature railway in the middle of the park, and of course the kids dragged us on in. i think its really funny what kids find fun and interesting.
one day we went up to Grouse mountain, with is probably the closest ski field from the city. of course it was a little too hot to go skiing but there were other things to check out. they had a bear enclosure there for some bears that were orphaned and also a show on Canadian birds of prey which was pretty amazing. on top of the mountain they have zip lines, which are like giant flying foxes. Phoebe is a bit of a dare devil so she convinced me to go on them with her and her dad. it was lots of fun, some of them go from one mountain to the other, and the view from up there is nothing short of spectacular, but its a shame i couldn't go a little slower that 100 miles an hour. it would've been nice to take in the view.
while i was here we did a week long family trip to Vancouver Island. family holidays are always tricky, especially when your kids are young. there were always going to be plenty of 'are we there yet?' and 'he punched me!' coming from the back of the car. but i wasn't quite ready for the car sickness. we weren't that far into the trip when we got a 'i don't feel well' followed by a projectile vomit, it was like something out of the movie, the Exorcist. lucky Jeanette had it covered and had a some sick bags handy.
first couple of days we spent in Victoria, (which is actually the capital of British Columbia, not Vancouver like me, and most people think) it wasn't a very big place but it was pleasant.
the picture below is where we stayed... just kidding. but it is probably one of the things i was most impressed with. the Empress hotel was built in 1908 for a few million dollars (which i imagine would've been an obscene amount back in those days) i think it would be a great setting to shoot a movie in. don't you think? apparently Hollywood does shoot a lot of movies in Canada, because it keeps costs down.
it was here in Victoria that i did a whale watching tour. Jeanette had gone once before and told me it was a must do. god i'm glad i went. we saw so many Killer Whales and they came up so close to the boat (the closest was probably about 10m away), they are such amazing creatures.
on the way to our next destination, we stayed a night in Port Alberni. Port Alberi is a bit of a nothing town. even though they say its the 'Salmon capital of the world'. i know, its a pretty big call, but we did see some salmon swimming up stream and jumping out of the water. it actually reminded me a lot of the clip below.
from there we spent a few nights in Ucluelet. we did a couple of tours there one was a bear watching boat tour. the boat was flat bottomed to you could go up really close to the bears on the shore. one of the bears even climbed a tree! the other tour we did was to the natural hot springs, which were very relaxing. its kind of hard to believe that the hot water comes from the earth and not out of a shower! to get to the hot springs you have to take a boat, because its out in the woods. on the way back to town we spotted some lousy grey whales, which are much bigger than the killer whales i'd seen a few days earlier. i guess you're wondering why i called them 'lousy grey whales'. most people would find spotting whales pretty exciting, but i was hoping to spot a sasquash. mainly becuase it would've been great to write about in the blog. unfortunately my sasqutch hunt wasn't as fruitful...
from the parts of Canada i've seen so far, i'd have to say BC has some of the most beautiful nature and probably the most stereotypical. plenty of pine trees that seem to be millions of years old etc. it might be all this fresh air going to my head, but i might be joining Greenpeace, chaining myself to trees and throwing myself in front of harpoons soon.
as we were driving around i kept noticing stones getting placed on top of each other, that almost resemble a giant rock person. Phoebe told me they were called Inukshuk's and they were made by the indigenous people of Canada as a marker so they could remember how to get back to the same spot. apparently each tribe had there own design.
we weren't that blessed with great weather so we didn't get to take advantage of the beaches, but still, i had a great time on Vancouver Island, and somehow we managed to get through the week without wringing the neck of one of the kids. bonus!
i know, i'm a nerd, but I’m interested in brands. Mainly because they generally do some pretty strange stuff. It could be just me, but they get even more wacky when you hit North America. One day we went and got ice creams from ‘Dairy Queen’ or as its now known, ‘DQ’ (it seems to be the corporate fashion to abbreviate names at the moment). DQ are known for having a little swirl at the top of there ice creams. Andrew was telling me that they go to great lengths to making the swirl just right, and its so important to the brand, that they have patent the swirl so no other ice cream shop can be serve there ice cream that way! A little absurd, don’t you think? But it doesn’t stop there, as we were chatting one night a Harley Davidson drove passed and he told me that the tone that come out of a Harley’s exhaust is also patent. Crazy, huh?
while i was here, we went for lunch one day at a restaurant chain call 'Earls'. as i was sitting at our table i couldn't help but notice something. i lent over and said to Jeanette and Andrew, ' have you noticed that every single one of the waitresses are ridiculously good looking? like i mean, not one of them is ugly...' Andrew told me that Earl's (and a couple of other restaurants) as known for hiring a certain type of employee. i'm guessing that type is: 5'11'', petite, D cup, Brunette or Blonde. apparently its written into the code of conduct that employees are encouraged to openly flirt with patrons. i couldn't get over it! but when you think about us men seem to fall for it, the more i looked at the patrons, the more i began to realize that there clientele were men, and i guess if you're actually stupid enough to believe that the waitress is really THAT into you, you need your head read. on the other hand, i was a little shocked that in this day and age, they can get away with only hiring attractive people. but as Andrew told me 'how can you prove otherwise?'. fair point.
As I mentioned, the first week I didn’t really do much, so it gave me a lot of time to catch up on movies I wanted to see and watch a bit of TV. Below is one of the as that I saw quite a bit.
You get these types of ads all the time here, its true, we have similar ones back home. But wherever I am when I see one, I always ask myself the same question, ‘Who buys this shit?’. the scary thing is, as soon as this ad come on, i bet a bunch of Stepford wives out there instantly pick up the phone, dial the 1800 number and buy a dozen. i personally think these kind of ads are hilarious - the acting in them is horrible! i mean, who really shakes there head when they open up a crowded closet? but probably my favourite bit is the offers. you know the ones. 'you call in the next 30 seconds you get a free set of steak knives!' the thing is, these ads get run so often it doesn't matter if you don't call now, just call them in the next ad break, where i guarantee the same ad will be running again.
something that, while being here in Canada, has kind of annoyed me.
i noticed that a lot of American tourist pay with American money, which in someways i find a little bit disrespectful and comes cross as a bit arrogant, like the greenback is the only important currency in the world or something. i mean, if your visiting a different country you might as well use there currency. how hard is it to get money from an ATM? actually, come to think of it, i came across it while i was in europe too. i dunno, maybe i'm getting on my high horse over nothing.
well, i guess its time to move on before i start to wear out my welcome. i didn't even realize it but i've been here for nearly 4 weeks! its mainly because i've had such an enjoyable time here. i'll admit, i have noticed that i've slowed down my pace a lot over the last couple of months, perhaps i'm running out of puff? i guess this much time on the road can do that to you. but in a lot of ways, spending sometime with family has made me wind down even more, and i guess its made me feel even more ready to come home. but when i think about it, there's not that many cities left in this trip, so there's no time to get all homesick, i'll be home before i know it.
while i was here we did a week long family trip to Vancouver Island. family holidays are always tricky, especially when your kids are young. there were always going to be plenty of 'are we there yet?' and 'he punched me!' coming from the back of the car. but i wasn't quite ready for the car sickness. we weren't that far into the trip when we got a 'i don't feel well' followed by a projectile vomit, it was like something out of the movie, the Exorcist. lucky Jeanette had it covered and had a some sick bags handy.
first couple of days we spent in Victoria, (which is actually the capital of British Columbia, not Vancouver like me, and most people think) it wasn't a very big place but it was pleasant.
the picture below is where we stayed... just kidding. but it is probably one of the things i was most impressed with. the Empress hotel was built in 1908 for a few million dollars (which i imagine would've been an obscene amount back in those days) i think it would be a great setting to shoot a movie in. don't you think? apparently Hollywood does shoot a lot of movies in Canada, because it keeps costs down.
it was here in Victoria that i did a whale watching tour. Jeanette had gone once before and told me it was a must do. god i'm glad i went. we saw so many Killer Whales and they came up so close to the boat (the closest was probably about 10m away), they are such amazing creatures.
on the way to our next destination, we stayed a night in Port Alberni. Port Alberi is a bit of a nothing town. even though they say its the 'Salmon capital of the world'. i know, its a pretty big call, but we did see some salmon swimming up stream and jumping out of the water. it actually reminded me a lot of the clip below.
from there we spent a few nights in Ucluelet. we did a couple of tours there one was a bear watching boat tour. the boat was flat bottomed to you could go up really close to the bears on the shore. one of the bears even climbed a tree! the other tour we did was to the natural hot springs, which were very relaxing. its kind of hard to believe that the hot water comes from the earth and not out of a shower! to get to the hot springs you have to take a boat, because its out in the woods. on the way back to town we spotted some lousy grey whales, which are much bigger than the killer whales i'd seen a few days earlier. i guess you're wondering why i called them 'lousy grey whales'. most people would find spotting whales pretty exciting, but i was hoping to spot a sasquash. mainly becuase it would've been great to write about in the blog. unfortunately my sasqutch hunt wasn't as fruitful...
from the parts of Canada i've seen so far, i'd have to say BC has some of the most beautiful nature and probably the most stereotypical. plenty of pine trees that seem to be millions of years old etc. it might be all this fresh air going to my head, but i might be joining Greenpeace, chaining myself to trees and throwing myself in front of harpoons soon.
as we were driving around i kept noticing stones getting placed on top of each other, that almost resemble a giant rock person. Phoebe told me they were called Inukshuk's and they were made by the indigenous people of Canada as a marker so they could remember how to get back to the same spot. apparently each tribe had there own design.
we weren't that blessed with great weather so we didn't get to take advantage of the beaches, but still, i had a great time on Vancouver Island, and somehow we managed to get through the week without wringing the neck of one of the kids. bonus!
i know, i'm a nerd, but I’m interested in brands. Mainly because they generally do some pretty strange stuff. It could be just me, but they get even more wacky when you hit North America. One day we went and got ice creams from ‘Dairy Queen’ or as its now known, ‘DQ’ (it seems to be the corporate fashion to abbreviate names at the moment). DQ are known for having a little swirl at the top of there ice creams. Andrew was telling me that they go to great lengths to making the swirl just right, and its so important to the brand, that they have patent the swirl so no other ice cream shop can be serve there ice cream that way! A little absurd, don’t you think? But it doesn’t stop there, as we were chatting one night a Harley Davidson drove passed and he told me that the tone that come out of a Harley’s exhaust is also patent. Crazy, huh?
while i was here, we went for lunch one day at a restaurant chain call 'Earls'. as i was sitting at our table i couldn't help but notice something. i lent over and said to Jeanette and Andrew, ' have you noticed that every single one of the waitresses are ridiculously good looking? like i mean, not one of them is ugly...' Andrew told me that Earl's (and a couple of other restaurants) as known for hiring a certain type of employee. i'm guessing that type is: 5'11'', petite, D cup, Brunette or Blonde. apparently its written into the code of conduct that employees are encouraged to openly flirt with patrons. i couldn't get over it! but when you think about us men seem to fall for it, the more i looked at the patrons, the more i began to realize that there clientele were men, and i guess if you're actually stupid enough to believe that the waitress is really THAT into you, you need your head read. on the other hand, i was a little shocked that in this day and age, they can get away with only hiring attractive people. but as Andrew told me 'how can you prove otherwise?'. fair point.
As I mentioned, the first week I didn’t really do much, so it gave me a lot of time to catch up on movies I wanted to see and watch a bit of TV. Below is one of the as that I saw quite a bit.
You get these types of ads all the time here, its true, we have similar ones back home. But wherever I am when I see one, I always ask myself the same question, ‘Who buys this shit?’. the scary thing is, as soon as this ad come on, i bet a bunch of Stepford wives out there instantly pick up the phone, dial the 1800 number and buy a dozen. i personally think these kind of ads are hilarious - the acting in them is horrible! i mean, who really shakes there head when they open up a crowded closet? but probably my favourite bit is the offers. you know the ones. 'you call in the next 30 seconds you get a free set of steak knives!' the thing is, these ads get run so often it doesn't matter if you don't call now, just call them in the next ad break, where i guarantee the same ad will be running again.
something that, while being here in Canada, has kind of annoyed me.
i noticed that a lot of American tourist pay with American money, which in someways i find a little bit disrespectful and comes cross as a bit arrogant, like the greenback is the only important currency in the world or something. i mean, if your visiting a different country you might as well use there currency. how hard is it to get money from an ATM? actually, come to think of it, i came across it while i was in europe too. i dunno, maybe i'm getting on my high horse over nothing.well, i guess its time to move on before i start to wear out my welcome. i didn't even realize it but i've been here for nearly 4 weeks! its mainly because i've had such an enjoyable time here. i'll admit, i have noticed that i've slowed down my pace a lot over the last couple of months, perhaps i'm running out of puff? i guess this much time on the road can do that to you. but in a lot of ways, spending sometime with family has made me wind down even more, and i guess its made me feel even more ready to come home. but when i think about it, there's not that many cities left in this trip, so there's no time to get all homesick, i'll be home before i know it.
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